Presentation of our completed proposal

Completed branched narrative flowchart

Detailed character backgrounds

Log line, treatment and theme

Log Line:

A plane bound for Budapest has crashed in a remote wooded area. An injured man from the wreck regains consciousness to the sound of screams, making it apparent to him and the other survivors that their problems have only just begun; there’s a killer in the woods amongst them.

Treatment (backstory):

An aeroplane full of passengers departed from St Petersburg bound for Budapest. The plane mysteriously crashes, splitting into three sections across remote, uncharted woodland. Most of the passengers have sustained injuries and some are dead, however the lives lost are still unknown.  Having gone through such a devastating experience the remaining survivors are left isolated and vulnerable with no idea where they are, or how to seek help. Among those that survived are Mason (a middle age, introverted male), Summer (a young optimistic nurse), Pierce (a soft-hearted, humane, single father) and his shy teenage daughter, Natalie.

Due to the plane splitting into three parts the survivors have been spread across the desolate woodland, instinctively, those that remain are trying to find each other.  Meanwhile, a passenger is found dead in a suspect manner, creating trepidation amongst the survivors. Despite their already perilous situation, the survivors now face a greater threat. Sunset is fast approaching and their bewildering surroundings intensify their fears.  With no authority figures to guide them, and nowhere to hide, the choices each person makes will dictate who survives.   

Theme: Wood You Survive? Is an adventure drama with aspects of a thriller narrative. 

Setting: We chose the woods as our setting because we felt it was theme appropriate as the woods isolation provides the right tone and feel for a drama with thriller elements. The enigma of the unknown within the woods adds to the dramatic tension of the situation as it plays on the wilderness and draws the audience (player) to create an idea within their head about what could be waiting for the charter in the woods; whether that is other survivors, opposition or wild animals. 

Continued ideas and planning

Having successfully completed the majority of our planning our focus as a group has now been towards refining the small details of our work. For example, upon reviewing the original flowchart slight amendments have been made. We decided that each alternative ending should represent a different theme: safety and relief, self-inflicted isolation, strength and survival, and lastly doomed inevitable defeat. We felt like this would add an increased sense of importance and significance to the choices the views made and show a lesson. We also altered the beginning sequence in order to add a plot twist, which allowed the opportunity to incorporate foreshadowing expositions. Furthermore we refined the backstories of each character, adding a considerable amount of death; by doing so we affirmed our understanding of the characters as well as aiding the actors get into the mind-sets of their character. We felt that creating greater depth would enable us to portray the characters more effectively whilst authenticating the film more.

Upon identifying these improvements, we have come to realise the importance of self-criticism. In hindsight, choosing an indoor setting with a similar isolated appearance may have been more beneficial. This would negate potential issues during filming such as the weather, or accessibility. Despite this, we are still satisfied with our choice of a wooden area as it conveniently accommodates our creative plotline and theme.

 

Continued ideas planning sessions

Since our initial brainstorms we have now fully decided on our plot and have created characters and the interactive choices they are presented with. Each member of the group now has a designated role in the production based on their strengths are skills. Rosie has created the character backstories; Conor and Lauren have created the storyboards and Andrea has created the flowcharts and treatment. Once these are completed initially we will review them as a group to analyse and amend any changes. We also picked our on set production roles, which are as follows: Andrea, Director. Rosie, Audio. Conor, Camera. Lauren, first AD.

Research Commission: Task Two- Secondary Research

After looking into my specific area of interest,  I then began to explore the product area of promotional videos, my chosen product for this task. I first looked into the meaning of promotional videos and cross-referenced from a number of different websites to gain an across the board definition. From this, I then looked into the logistics of promotional videos and decided on the styling and genre that I would want mine to be. I also did research into similar promotional videos, for example, I looked at university and college websites to gain an idea of the type of styling and formatting of their videos. From this, I then looked into any companies that specifically made videos for schools, colleges and universities and came across Affixxius Academic. I studied their portfolio and looked into their aims, and goals as a company, as well as watching some of their promotional videos. This helped incredibly as they had created a wide range of different videos, using different styling techniques in relation to their customer needs.
Since all my research is now collated into a portfolio, I am now able to analyse the results of my research and draw a conclusion on the findings to see whether my proposal is plausible or not.

Bibliography:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-promotional-video.htm

http://www.reelmarketer.com/2011/01/how-to-make-a-video/

http://www.ox.ac.uk/research/research_impact/impactsvideos.html

http://www.affixxiuseducation.co.uk/portfolio/loretto-school

http://www.carshalton.ac.uk