Genre Research- Conventions and History

Scripting Final

NEWS BROADCAST

(over dinner scene)

Doctors and scientists remain to be perplexed by a new virus that continues to spread rapidly across the UK. Reported cases so far have identified teenagers as the sole victims, who suffer from a severe allergic reaction to skin to skin contact, resulting in a rash which appears to be highly contagious, and in some cases, fatal. Postmortem results are currently being awaited on the 12 known fatalities so far, but doctors caution the public to stay away from crowded spaces and to practise good hand hygiene, as the cause of the outbreak has not yet been identified.  

The World Health Organisation remains vigilant, with similar outbreaks being reported across Europe, the US, Canada and parts of Asia. Scientists continue to work on identifying the pathogen, and caution parents to keep children over 12 years old at home and isolated wherever possible. The government's emergency committee, Cobra, have met and are putting in place a response to the outbreak reaching pandemic levels.

Now over to our science correspondent, Michael Cliff, with more details... fade out

Voice-over Research

• A voice over is a piece of narration in film which is non-diegetic and not part of the narrative. 
• Voice over are very common in film trailers and can be used in a variety of different ways. 
• The voice-over can be the focus of the trailer or just be in it for a small proportion and it can be spoken by a character in the film, or be spoken by a voice actor. 
• Voice-overs help t get the genre and the narrative of the film across to the audience in film trailers.
• Don Lafontaine was a very famous American voice actor and recorded voice-overs for over 5,000 film trailers. 
• Some of his nick names included: Thunder Throat, The voice of God and The King of Movie trailers.

Draft Storyboard

Risk Assessment

Colour Palette

Title

We decided to call our film 'Contact', as it is simple and very appropriate to the theme of the film, without giving too much away. Contact is relevant, because in our film no teenagers can touch. It creates a sense of irony, mystery and intrigue as opposed to calling it 'No Contact'.
The message in our film is about how the constant lack of physical contact between teenagers, due to fear of terrorism, the rise of technology and the increase in social media, has led to the spread of a disease that means they can actually no longer make physical contact without protective clothing. This is foreshadowing what could happen, it is a warning to all teenagers. The irony is that social media has meant teenagers can no longer be truly social. The full irony cannot be portrayed in the trailer but will be hinted at. The whole film could in fact be a metaphor for terrorism, because people are scared to get too close to other people incase something terrible happens. People, particularly teenagers, stay rooted to their technology, chatting online and not going out as frequently as their predecessors. Also a lot of terrorism is carried out and magnified through the use of technology and this is how people stay in contact and are radicalised.
The title, we believe, will keep audiences wondering, making them more active spectators wanting to see more.

Girl with the dragon tattoo promotional package

Futuristic technology

Our film is set in the future, but it is not going to be particularly obvious to the viewer, instead we are going to include futuristic technology to hint at this. By doing this it will also add to the dystopian feel of our trailer and make it seem more realistic. We were advised to watch a trailer and a series that included futuristic technology so that we were able to get inspiration and come up with the technology we would like to use.

Black Mirror

One of our inspirations for futuristic technology was Black Mirror, in Black Mirror there are a variety of technologies used, as in each episode there is a different type of new futuristic technology introduced that we learn about. An example of new technology is an app that people have and every person you see you can give a rate out of 5. The higher rating you have the better life you lead as it means more privileges are available. Consequently, everyone tries to be nice to people so that they give you a high score. If your score goes below a certain point there are also penalties. All of the technologies used in this series are ones that do not exist yet in the world today.

Never let me go
We were advised to watch this trailer because it also has a few examples of futuristic technology. One of the main technologies we were inspired by and thought would go well with the idea of our film,  was a way of registering students. It also had the added attraction of not being too difficult to recreate. As students walk into assembly they press their wrist up against a box that beeps and marks them in. We wanted to use this in our trailer as our film is about teenagers so they would still be in school, so it would be relevant.

Research- Black Mirror

For our research it was recommended we watch an original Netflix series called 'Black Mirror'. It centres around dark and satirical themes that examine modern society, particularly in regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies.

The writer of Black Mirror commented on it saying "each episode has a different cast, a different setting, even a different reality. But they're all about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes"

After watching Black Mirror we decided that to make our film seem more futuristic and dystopian we would include futuristic technology. Doing this would suggest to the audience that our film is in the future without directly stating it.  Black Mirror is also set in the future and includes lots of technology that does not exist in the current world. As an example, there is an episode where people wear a device, like contact lenses, that records everything in your life and means you are able to go back and watch them whenever you want to, but memories can also be deleted. Another example of this is an episode where a head piece is attached to you and it contours your mind and tricks you into thinking you are somewhere and downloads all the information from your brain to be able to confront you with your biggest fears; the idea is to see how long someone can last. 

All of this has helped us to understand how to create futuristic technology and what will look good. It also helped us to think about what sort of technology we want to include in our own trailer to give it more of a dystopian feel and what elements of film form are most appropriate to this type of film. 

Scripting Draft

NEWS BROADCAST

(over dinner scene)

Doctors and scientists are perplexed by a new virus that is rapidly spreading across mainland England and Wales. Teenagers appear to be suffering from a severe allergic reaction to human, skin to skin contact. This initial anaphylactic response is then followed by the sudden development of severe skin sensitivity. The most extraordinary manifestation of the allergic reaction is that it appears to be contagious.

 Doctors are struggling to treat their patients and over half the schools in England have been shut down in line with planning for a pandemic. This level of response to an outbreak has not been seen since the Bird Flu scare more than 70 years ago. Parents have been advised to not let their children out of the home at risk of spreading the infection. The virus was first seen with one teenager, referred to only as patient Joseph, and now has been seen in more than 140 different medical centres across the country. 

Discussions are taking place to place the country in lockdown. Scientists from Germany, Switzerland and America have been testing cures in their labs however no result has been seen so far. There are worries about how this is going to affect teenagers' education and healthcare. Mental health is also being effected as having no human contact has been found to have a profound effect on the mind.

DIALOGUE 

(spoken by male protagonist) 

Did you hear Kyle from my English class touched someone last night and he’s already not allowed to leave the house. I tried to go over there but his parents wouldn’t let me in.

They’ve literally trapped him in one room.

His little brother doesn’t understand why he isn’t allowed to go near him or why he isn’t allowed to eat with the family. 

Imagine what that would be like, I think I’d go insane.