Planning/ The Rave Scene Synopsis

The Rave Scene

1990, Margaret Thatcher said goodbye to Downing Street for the last time, we were taken into another war and eyes across the country were glued to our CRT television sets watching England compete in another Fifa World Cup. Going into a new era with a bang... The banging sound of a squelching bass, Britain a place were youth tested the previous generation, one subculture after another. But defining the 90's was the Rave Scene.

Kelly finds herself on the last day of school, a place she never fit in, thankful she'll never have to return. Since her mum passed away, Kelly lived with her nan on Dover House estate, her new face attracts the attention of Donovan Cutler, a few years older than herself, Donovan was seen as someone who held authority over everyone who knew him, and who didn't know Donovan Cutler. Kelly feeling lost and not knowing what to do now she's left school as well as anger filled grief over her mothers death was taken under Donovan's wing. He welcomes her into his group of friends, Ant (Donovan's best friend) Georgia, Jen and Tony, the group our as thick as thieves.

Donovan introduces Kelly and the group to raves, acid house music and drugs. We see friendships soar, Kelly and Donovan becoming engrossed with each other and a place were everyone was united. Until we see a dark turn, heavier drugs come into play, deceit which breaks strong friendships and tests Kelly and Donovan's relationship. Kelly and Ant connect with each other when she discovers he has also lost a parent, they end up sleeping with each other, whilst Donovan's sinister side comes out when he is to discover the pair getting close reminding him of his troubled past which gets the best of him and he turns to heroine.

As the group goes into melt down Georgia overdoses on MD and this brings the group to their senses except Donovan, the group are disgusted and frightened once they catch on to Donovan's addiction the massive come down from what was once a huge high meant the group were to go there separate ways. Yet despite the madness Kelly had finally found herself, and she knew she would be a better person for it.

Research / Diary Post 1- The Death of Subculture

Shane Meadows is a director I'm looking into because I'm a fan of his film,  This is England and also the series he has gone onto make from the film. In this clip he is mostly talking about his final series (This is England 90) but I'm interested in this particular interview because my idea for my film trailer will be based on a particular subculture between the 1980's and 1990's, as my genre is Historical Drama.

In the clip he says there was always a new subculture every 2-3 years, from skin heads to the raving scene. I'm delving into different narratives with different subcultures for now before I settle on a idea, for example if my trailer is set in the 80's but is based on a subcultural group I will have to design and look at costumes best suited for this idea or say if I am going to go down the 90's route I will have to compose and choose a soundtrack which represents that era.

Another reason for my interest in Shane Meadows is the fact Warp Films is an independent film company, I do not want my trailer to be seen as a blockbuster, I want it to be seen as a film which can relate to a national audience/ local audience and involve truthful hard-hitting subjects rather than it being glamorised and be made for entertainment, as I feel like the genre, Historical drama, should be informative or give a realistic representation.

Research & Planning/ Mood Board

Research/ Weekender Poster Analysis

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Research/ The Weekender Theatrical Trailer Analysis

• As soon as the trailer begins we're shown glimpses of the genre through reference of the era,"a fall to the floor beat" we know music is a heavy influence in rave culture, and acid house music was defined by its distinctive base line. Along with the voice over a visual of a spinning record which is edited in time to the music that is played through the trailer then sets the tone.
• We're introduced to the two main characters 10 seconds into the trailer, the credit labelling them as "Two Ravers" and edited into credit is the symbolic raver smiley face again reminding of the genre, historical drama. Seeing them in a split screen, Dylan on the left shown grinning I think it's a clip from when there in Ibiza,  this may show him becoming more independent and this challenges his friendship with Matt on the right or the split screen, he's shown in a rave but the focus is on him although he is surrounded by chaos, this may represent him as the wiser one of the duo, being seen as the eye within the storm.
• When they are discussing holding their own rave the camera angle is canted, contributing to the theme of drugs, the illusion of "tripping" Dylan says that within in scene also. 
• Each credit creates a brief story line of the main narrative with symbolic images, a cassette , passports. The turning point in the trailer were we're shown darker scenes and were their may be problems for characters the credit says "Killer come down" and it has been edited for the bright colours we've seen through the trailer to turn into black and white.
• There are numerous locations used throughout, giving the trailer and story more depth, giving us subtext to narratives and characteristics of all characters from information the locations give us.
• The dialogue, relates to a younger audience and a national audience rather than a global one, because we're familiar with the Manchester accent. This can also draw in an older audience as well as a young one, because the rave scene was more current for teens in the 90's so now that audience would be mid/ late 20's to 30's. 

Research/ Generic Conventions of Drama

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Research/ This is England Poster Analysis

Research/The Notebook Poster Analysis

Research/ Legend Teaser Trailer and Official Trailer Analysis

The teaser trailer is more of a montage of the film, silent scenes are played whilst there is music, fitting to the era, being played over it. Roughly half way through we have little dialogue from the film as a voice over as dramatic effect. There are titles used through out giving us information to engage with about the film, such as the plot, the back story, the director Brian Helgeland and the leading actor Tom Hardy. This establishes the most basic elements to the film by giving us clues for example the genre and the style of acting, we know this will be a crime/thriller genre by Tom Hardy being associated with similar roles.

Before the official trailer starts we're shown this image which we are familiar with before we watch trailers, this informs us of the age of the appropriate audiences in the box which says 'Restricted' we're shown the age limit and what the further scenes consist of. We're shown the main institution which invested into the film, Universal, whereas the teaser trailer just showed the logo of the distribution and production company. We begin with a voice over and background music to dramatise the trailer as well as it being a clear introduction. We're also shown clips of scenes throughout with dialogue building a more detailed story and parallel story lines. Although there are titles like the teaser trailer we're relying on the action to give us depth to the characters and story. Certain parts are emphasised such as Ronnie talking about his sexual orientation, Reggie's relationship, and the turning point of the brothers relationship, this is done by the pace of these clips being slower then others. The official trailer is more theatrical and creates more excitement about the film.

Year 12 Blog Link

http://frankiejohnsong321.blogspot.co.uk/