R+P Post 10: Reflections so far/looking ahead

Overall, I am feeling very positive about how our film opening is going to turn out. Emilio, Sayo and I have worked very well as a group. We are very comfortable sharing our ideas and concerns with each other and have done well to keep in touch frequently on our WhatsApp group and by attending meetings twice a week. We've all contributed something to the development of this film opening, and the process itself has been enjoyable.

R+P Post 9: Our opening sequence's soundtrack

We have chosen a remix of 'The Devil in the New Dress' instrumental to play over the beginning of the opening sequence and also at the very end when the film's title appears.

We chose this music for our soundtrack because we wanted to pay homage to the typical, neo-noir soundtracks that usually include a jazz score, films like Chinatown.

'The Devil in the New Dress' has a similar smooth tone to jazz, which will set a familiar tone for people who are fans of crime dramas, only it is a new song for a modern age. It is also a remix of the song by Kanye West, a music icon amongst young adult audiences, so the music choice will not alienate our target audience.

The music will be diegetic at the beginning of the sequence as it plays over the opening credits, but when it is revealed that it is Raj playing the song through his headphones, we will switch the music to diegetic, with the sound perspective coming from behind Raj, where the camera is. Thus, we will make the song sound quieter and tinny to make the sound perspective appear realistic. Such a technique is used in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

The music will come back in at the end as the movie's title card appears to create a sudden contrast with the silence that occurs after Peter's murder has been revealed, allowing the audience to relieve their tension and continue with the film.

We sourced this remix of 'The Devil in the New Dress' from a video on YouTube, where the person who owned the remixed version of the instrumental had left a link in the description where we could download the music copyright free.

Another track we have decided to use is 'Funky Suspense', which is smooth backing music that the owner has described as 'inspired by 70s movies and TV shows'.

It is very typical of detective programs with a fun twist, such as BBC's Death in Paradise, which uses Reggae music as its predominant soundtrack. 

This light hearted tone is perfect for the tone we would like to create in the opening sequence; it compliments the comedic moments with these teenage characters very well, and highlights how few of them take the investigation seriously during the equilibrium period of this film. It also helps deliver more shock to the audience when the mood of the action suddenly changes as the bombshell is revealed.

We sourced 'Funky Suspense' from the website BenSound.com, where the track is free for us to download and use in our film opening as long as we credited the owner.

Sound effects will be important to our opening sequence, as they need to be loud and detailed to raise the intensity of the action in the scene. The sound effects we will need are a door opening and closing, the sound of the document being slid across the table and a chair scraping against the floor. We can record separately these sound effects separately in post to make them louder and more detailed than if we filmed them on location. 

Sound effects can play a big part in intensifying the on-screen action, such as in the interrogation scene of the Matrix where the sound effects are incredibly detailed to make the various 'clicks' and 'buzzes' in the scene feel as tangible and dangerous as possible, particularly when paired with silence like we intend to do for some portions of our opening sequence. 

R+P Post 8: The credits in our opening sequence

Our film opening begins with the logos for our production and distribution companies, Film 4 and Screen Gems, which will play in silence.

This will be followed by white, lower case text on a black screen which will read 'a film 4 and screen gems production'. This style of text will give the unique, subtle tone of an independent film.

The same text and font will appear for the rest of the credits, which will appear superimposed over the close ups of the five teenagers. This is an homage to the extensive credits sequences that occur in older neo-noir films, which credit a long list of people in their opening sequence. An example of this is the opening credits for The Usual Suspects, which have white text superimposed on footage of rippling water.

 In order to keep the story interesting for the opening sequence, however, we have decided to place these credits over footage with more detail relevant to establishing the setting of the interrogation room and the characters, in order to keep our teenage audiences intrigued and invested in the film.

The superimposed credits that will appear are (in order of appearance):

• 'directed by r.r. banks'
• 'produced by jack edmondson'
• 'screenplay by mary pan'
• 'cinematographer sayo aloje'
• 'music by emilio francischelli'

The action of the opening sequence will now occur. After the bombshell hits about Peter Smith being found murdered, and Raj is set up to be the first one to be questioned, the title card for the movie will be shown, appearing as 'what happened to peter smith?' on a black screen with the same white font. 

R+P Post 7: Our opening sequence's planned mise-en-scene

The set-up for our opening sequence is relatively simple: the room is an interrogation room, which in is displayed traditionally as a dimly lit, empty room, containing only a few pieces of set, such as a table and chairs. One such interrogation room that adheres to this image is seen in The Dark Knight.

Our interrogation room will contain a blank, white table and two clinical chairs.

We will also use a bulb that will hang on a wire from the ceiling, which we will use as our sole light source. The use of high angle lighting is seen in many interrogation scenes to create high-contrast between the key-lit areas of characters and the areas that are left in shadow; this will create a sense of each character's, including the detective's, moral ambiguity. The use of lighting in this way is called the Chiaroscuro effect, which is demonstrated in the opening scene of The Usual Suspects.


We will use our camera to create certain effects; for example, we will keep the framing of characters tight, and use multiple close-ups in order to achieve a claustrophobic tension to the scene, similar to the interrogation scene in Now You See Me.

We chose to add props that will compliment the feel of an authentic interrogation room; this involves an official folder that will contain a plastic-covered picture of Peter, which is an item seen in a lot of crime dramas, such as in the BBC drama Luther.

We will also use props that carry the plot of the opening sequence; a mobile phone and earphones that Raj will use to listen to music, and a box of tissues to use when Cherish starts to cry.

Costumes will be our biggest piece of mine-en-scene, because they will be the biggest first impressions the audience get for these characters. This is incredibly typical of traditional neo-noir crime dramas, where the appearance of each suspect would say a great deal about their social status and their personality, which the film will either conform to or challenge; this can be seen evidently in the line-up near the end of The Usual Suspects.

For instance, Tyrone will wear a dark hoodie in the opening sequence to conform him to a general negative class stereotype that labels young males of lower class as gang members, who are represented as wearing hoodies in many forms of media. This is a representation that will be challenged later in the film.

R+P Post 6: Our opening sequence's characters and how we plan to represent social groups

We have a large number of characters in our opening sequence, each with their own personalities and identities, and all with different relationships to the murdered Peter Smith. They were the last people to see Peter before he died, as that night they were all at the same party.

Our representation focus is teenagers, and we wanted to represent the many social groups that make up this social group. This includes representing young people of different ethnicities, genders and classes.We thought that this would positively represent youth groups as it is a truthful representation of the diversity seen in modern youth groups.

Rajesh Singh:

• A cheeky, Asian nerd who makes humorous remarks about the ineptitude/ laziness of the detective, making it clear that he thinks he knows better.
• Relationship with Peter Smith: he is Peter's best friend - he doesn't think seriously of Peter's disappearance until the end of the sequence, when he finds out he is dead.
• Inspirations for how he want to represent this character include Data from The Goonies.

Data is a highly intelligent young boy whose inventions, made from junk, help get the Goonies out of some sticky situations. We wanted to use this stereotype in our representation of Raj that Asian characters are typically very clever, but we also wanted to challenge that by also making Raj very cheeky and laddish; where Data was very agitated at what the adults would think of their actions, Raj openly critiques the detective using his intelligence.

DC Sean Mann:

• An apathetic, professional detective who bitterly dislikes the attitude he is shown by the teenagers. His job is hanging on a thread after previous failures as a detective.
• Relationship with Peter Smith: he is investigating Peter's disappearance/murder.
• Inspirations for how he want to represent this character include Alec Hardy from the BBC series Broadchurch, and Jim Hooper from the Netflix series Stranger Things.

Alec Hardy is one of two detectives we follow in Broadchurch; he does not let his emotions show that easily, and his interactions with others are, for the most part, strictly professional and cold. We wanted to represent DC Sean Mann similarly in behaviour and appearance (e.g. his scruffy hair and his costume). Alec Hardy has a reputation as a failing detective, which is a character point we used for the portrayal of our detective.

In the video above, Hooper talks very sternly to the three children in order to try and get proper meaningful answers out of them, and appears overtly frustrated and tired with their petty squabbles. We wanted to replicate this older detective-younger suspect relationship in our representation our detective and his relationships with the teenagers he interviews. 

Cherish Beauguarde: 

• A young woman with an 'ego' aesthetic, but who is deeply empathetic and emotional. 
• Relationship with Peter Smith: she is Peter's boyfriend, and shows genuine distress about his disappearance.



Tina Cohen-Chang is played by South-Korean born American actress Jenna Ushkowitz, who begins the first series wearing dark, edgy clothes and black eye makeup, and also has a variety of genuinely heartfelt relationships. We thought that the 'emo' aesthetic was commonly represented with white people, and with very little empathy or three-dimensionality. We thought it was interesting to challenge that representation by, similarly to Glee, casting a non-white actress to play Cherish and have her be in a close relationship. 

• Inspirations for how he want to represent this character include Tina Cohen-Chang from the Fox series Glee.

Lucy Patterson:

• A gossipy, judgemental young woman that is eager to know everything about the case to tell her friends
• Relationship with Peter Smith: she didn't know him well, but still finds him annoying. It was the place and time of her party where Peter was murder.
• Inspirations for how he want to represent this character include Regina George from Mean Girls.

Regina George is a privileged, bitchy and manipulative character in the film Mean Girls. We wanted Lucy to replicate this behaviour by being mean and gossipy, but we noticed that these character traits in college age girls were typically represented by white actresses, and we decided to challenge this representation by casting a non-white actress to play Lucy.

Tyrone Beckham:

• A black, working class young man; he is misunderstood as being lone, mean and intimidating, but is shown later in the film to have qualities of loyalty and empathy.
• Relationship with Peter Smith: he does not like Peter, and it is hinted that he bullied him at school.
• Inspirations for how he want to represent this character include Moses from Attack the Block.

Moses is a young, black man who is first shown to be an intimidating thug, but is later developed to be a loyal and brave member of the group. We wanted Tyrone to represent the young black male social group in a similar way, first by establishing the negative stereotype of an anti-social bully in our opening sequence, but fleshing him out to have more positive qualities later in the film.

Simon Smith

• A chilled out young man who is not worried or bothered about the police proceedings.
• Relationship with Peter Smith: he is Peter's older brother, and it is clear they do not have a close relationship, as Simon doesn't seem to care that Peter has disappeared, saying 'he keeps making himself a target'.
• Inspirations for how he want to represent this character include Rodrick from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Rodrick is a bully to his younger brother Greg, is lazy and wears lounge clothes a lot of the time. Besides the rock aesthetic given to Rodrick (e.g. the black eyeliner), we wanted to replicate his laid back characteristics in the character of Simon, leading to a slightly negative portrayal of fraternal relationships. 

R+P Post 5: Our opening sequence idea

The story of our opening sequence takes place in the interrogation room of a police department. We chose the scenario of an interrogation because it is an immediately identifiable feature of crime dramas and one that would immediately invest the audience into the genre. The Usual Suspects is a traditional neo-noir crime film that has an interrogation scene.

Five teenagers are questioned by a detective about a schoolboy, Peter Smith, who disappeared two nights ago after leaving a house party where the teenagers where. They are asked by the detective about what their relationship with Peter was like; most of the teenagers, besides his girlfriend, are not too worried about Peter's whereabouts and express their dislike for him. An officer interrupts one of the questioning's to whisper something to the detective. The detective reveals that Peter's body has been found and the teenagers are all there for further questioning.

It will begin with close ups of all the teenagers and the detective, showing them tapping the table and blinking nervously. Close ups are used to great effect to establish a character's mood in one episode of the TV series Black Mirror called Hated in the Nation.

The close up accentuates Karin's pained expression as she faces the inquest

The main body of the opening sequence shows the questioning of the five teenagers. This is done by inter-cutting the police interviews so that the multiple conversations are edited in such a way that they seem like one flowing conversation. This technique is used in one episode of the TV musical show Glee. 

The conversations will include editing techniques such as shot/reverse shot, to make the conversations between the detective and the teenagers flow naturally. We will also use sound bridges and blend shots together using fades to make the inter-cuts appear as if they were one conversation.

Here is a page of our script for the opening sequence:

We will use the age difference between the detective and the children to create binary opposites, as well as the formally dressed detective conflicting with the informally dressed teenagers including long shots taken from the side of the table to show both characters in profile and therefore creating a visual comparison between the two.

R+P Post 4: Our film's genre, title and plot outline

Our film is a mystery drama with the title of 'What Happened to Peter Smith?' The title was chosen for its homage to some mystery and thriller films that have questions for titles, such as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Our film is told from the perspectives of five teenagers, all of whom are being questioned by a police detective about the murder of a boy from their school, Peter Smith. The film is framed by the interrogations of these children, which all take place in the interrogation room of the police department. The stories of these characters are told through flashbacks, as they recount their experiences of the night where Peter went missing, which was two nights ago at a house party of one of the teenagers.

Equilibrium: The teenagers are brought in for questioning, at first believing that the case is merely to find the whereabouts of fellow student Peter Smith.

Disruption: It is revealed very early on that Peter's body has been found and it turns into a murder case, with all teenagers being kept in the interrogation room for further questioning. The detective's job is also revealed to be hanging on the successful resolution of this case.

Attempt at resolution: The detective tries to garner evidence towards finding Peter's killer through the alibis of the five teenagers, where we discover, through the flashbacks, that all the teens have had some motive to kill Peter. An attempt of a resolution is made when detective discovers one piece of evidence that appears foolproof, but it turns out to be a dead lead.

Resolution: The detective finds himself unable to find the killer, and, fearing he might lose his job, he puts the blame on Tyrone, who bullied Peter. The killer is not revealed, and the film ends on the unsettling idea that the real criminal escaped scott-free.

R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

We approached this brief as if from the perspective of a real production and distribution company. This meant that all of the decisions we made during research and development were influenced by the characteristics of those companies.

For our distribution company, we chose Film 4 Productions.

Film 4 Productions is a British independent film company. It is famous for producing, distributing and backing a large number of films, most of which have a dark, gritty tone and a 'kitchen sink' style, meaning they take place on a smaller scale and focus on people's domestic lives, such as at home or in the pub. An example of a Film 4 kitchen sink drama is the 1991 film Riff-Raff directed by Ken Loach.

We decided that because our film has a relatively closeted feel to it, as it is framed by the police-interrogations which take place in one room, it would fit in within Film 4's filmography. Furthermore, Film 4 has been associated with films that have targeted both young adult audiences, such as The Inbetweeners Movie, and fans of crime drama, such as In Bruges. 

For our production company, we chose Screen Gems.

Screen Gems is a studio production and distribution subsidiary company of Sony. Similar to companies like Fox Searchlight. Although they are famous for their co-production and distribution of horror movies, Screen Gems have released independent films that are a variety of genres. They have also co-operated with a Film 4 Production before with Attack the Block, another young adult film with a main cast of teenagers.

As our film is an independent film, it would most likely be necessary to receive help from the BFI for funding. Films that include some 'British flavour', for example British directors and actors, often receive tax relief or grants to make production of their film cheaper; schemes like this include the BFI British Cultural Test, which can offer 25% of qualifying film expenditure to films that have enough British actors, directors and locations to achieve 18/35 on their test. This money is sourced by the BFI from the National Lottery Fund, which would then be distributed to our film for financing.

R+P Post 2: Our target audience and how we plan to attract/address them

Given the genre of our film, our chosen target audience is for fans of crime/mystery dramas, skewed towards British fans audiences and young adults aged 15-25. We noticed that crime dramas have the potential to be very popular with fans; for instance, the BBC crime drama series Sherlock, which is a show that is heavily discussed and liked by students at our secondary school, as well as trending consistently on Twitter when it airs.

Because we chose Film 4 as our production company, which is an independent, British production house, we decided that the film should also be targeted towards British audiences.

To skew our film to our chosen target audience:

• We will use young, British adult actors from our year group (ages 16-17) 
• We will have the actors depict a group of teenage protagonists
• We will have identifiable tropes of crime dramas

Having the film star a group of teenage protagonists alongside a few adult roles, all of whom are of multiple genders and ethnicities, will allow our film to appeal to a larger public bracket past fans of independent films. This means that the film will appeal to the main four audience demographics; male, female, over 25s and under 25s. TV and film often benefit a lot from sporting such a broad appeal; one example of a four quadrant show is the Netflix original series A Series of Unfortunate Events, which stars young main actors for Violet and Klaus, as well as adult celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and Alfre Woodard.

R+P Post 1: How we intend to work as a group

I am a member of Group 3:

We have decided to allow each other equal input onto each of the key decision areas of developing this film opening; we will have open discussions about how we want our opening to look, what the characters will be like, how we should skew to our target audience etc. This means when it comes to creating the timeline and storyboard, we all have a similar understanding of how the finished product should turn out. We also planned in advance when it comes to the production of the opening to have each member of the group be chosen accordingly to our main strengths; for example, as I am a Drama student, I will be heavily involved in acting in our opening.

To work efficiently as a group, we stage group meetings, which we organise in our media lesson and do in our free time, which is usually in lunch time, after school or during a study period. Group meetings are done in the media department and always include all three of us so that everything that is decided is understood by everyone in the group.

We also have set up a WhatsApp group to communicate to each other when outside of group meetings or media lessons. This is useful if we need to share information about potential actors and filming locations to solidify the decisions made at school.