Age Ratings

There are five different age ratings for films in the UK, these are...

= ''Suitable for All''.

A 'U' film should be suitable for audiences ages four years or older. 'U' films should be set within a positive moral and the film should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

= ''General Viewing''

Some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A 'PG' film should not disturb a child ages around eight or older. Parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger children.

Both symbols mean the same thing, the material is only suitable for those aged 12 and over. Works classified as these may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them. The 12A category exists only for cinema films, nobody younger than 12 may see a 12A film unless accompanied by an adult. An adult may take a younger child if they feel that it will be suitable for them.

The 12 symbol exists only for video works.

The above symbol means that no persons younger than 15 can see or rent this film.

The above symbol means that no persons younger than 18 can see or rent this film.

Devotion

I have done some research into our film inspirations and have discovered that the film age rating was mainly U with some being PG and 12a for mild swearing and scenes of a sexual nature.

• Emma = U
• Pride & Prejudice = U
• Sense and Sensibility = U
• A Room with a View = PG
• Becoming Jane = PG
• The Duchess = 12a

The rating for our film we have decided will be a U. We decided this because we feel the film we are creating has no offensive or suggesting scenes which will not offend children and will be suitable for everybody for enjoy.

Costume

Maid

    
The maid's costume looks simple and plain. This is to suggest her status within society. Her costume consists of a plain white t-shirt, a dark brown apron, a brown skirt, and a mop hat.

Elizabeth's costume needed to portray her higher class. We dressed her in a black dress, with a white, decorative lace collar, which was joined with a black jewel. The sleeves had lace cuffs to add a more expensive feel to the costume.  

Billy



Billy's costume will consist of black trousers, a white, regency styled shirt, and a brown waistcoat. We have decided to use brown colours, to show his background as a farm boy, and to imply warmth and the safety of home for Elizabeth. We decided that this brown waistcoat would suit the period of the film more. We wanted to imply Billy's farm background, but we also wanted to suggest that he is continually trying to impress Elizabeth throughout the film. 

Character Development

Billy Walters Played by Ash Coombs

Age: 19

Billy is a young boy who comes from a poor background, living with his aunt and uncle on a farm as his mother and father tragically died just after he was born. He falls in love with Elizabeth, and continues to write letters to her throughout the film. She does not reply to any of his letters. As an audience we know that the maid and Elizabeth's husband are keeping all the letters from her. However, Billy cannot understand why she will not reply, and his constant paranoia will change him as a person.

Costume: He has light brown hair, that is scruffy and out of place. He will wear a white baggy shirt, with a working, brown jacket. This colour is a warm, country colour, and will emphasis the fact the characters background. He will wear riding boots and trousers, which would have been the correct equipment to use whilst riding a horse.

Elizabeth Harding Played by Nicola Tee

Age: 18

Elizabeth is a young woman who comes from a middle-class family but lives with Philip Jeffories in his manor house. She is training to be a primary school-teacher and enjoys charity work. She is forced into getting engaged to Philip Jeffories by her parents even though she is in love with Billy Walters. 

Costume: Elizabeth has long dark blonde hair normally left down and wavy. She typically wears a black day-dress with a white collar and plain black pumps.

Maid Played by Jess Oxley

Age: 17

Role in Film: Billy delivers his letters to one of the maids. Elizabeth trusts this maid above all others, and so Billy trusts the maid to deliver his letters to Elizabeth. However, Jeffories (Elizabeth's husband) has instructed all his staff to dispose of the letters Billy sends. In the opening sequence, the maid lets the letter blow away from the house. This introduces the fact that the staff cannot be trusted.
Costume: The maid will wear a brown, ankle long skirt. Plain black, working shoes. A black shirt, with a dark brown apron.  She will wear a bonnet, which will keep her long brown hair away from her face. She wears a shawl to protect her from the cold.

Philip Jeffories Doesn't appear in opening sequence.

Age: 24

Philip is wealthy manor house owner keen to make Elizabeth his wife.

Costume: Philip is a tall, slim male with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. He normally wears beige trousers with a black day jacket, waistcoat and skirt. 

Title Sequence - First Draft

Title Sequence First Draft

These slides are not in the time that they will be seen in slide.  Cross dissolve will be slower in transitions.  The pan will be smoother, and steady.  Pan/tilts will be more clearer when filmed. 

Shot 1 (Opening shot/logo) - Production Logo with appear on this shot.  The logo will fade in and out.  Once faded out the camera tilts downwards to show shot 2.  

Shot 2 (Establishing shot of area) - Titles will appear in the centre of the screen.  Pan camera right slowly.  Cross-dissolves into shot 3 when reaches the end of tree line.

Shot 3 (Introducing Billy) - Camera will tilt downwards slowly to shot 4.

Shot 4 - Camera then follows the horse (at same speed) by panning to the left, and stops at shot 5.  This shot will introduce to the audience how atheletic the character of Billy is.  And will also connect Billy to a working class background due to his horse/costume/appearance.

Shot 5 (Long Shot) - This shot will show the audience how far away Billy is from Elizabeth - Distance between the characters emotionally and physically. 

Font
We liked the idea of using a similar font type to the writing which we are going to use for the letter Billy sends to Elizabeth. Our titles will have a hand drawn effect. An example is below;

Title Sequence Second Draft

As you can see from the image above we have managed to add an effect which we can add to our film shots and make them look hand drawn. 

Moodboards

Women Outfits

Maids Outfits

Mens Outfits

Filming Locations

School Drama Room

We will be using the facilities available at school to film the first part of our film and the voice-over. We can use the room as its dark and we can light it however we want.

Sandwich

We will be using locations around Sandwich to film the second part of our title sequence, we liked the look of Sandwich as its a historic town with many great areas that suited the genre of our film. After scouting around we found an archway with a door ('Fishers Gate') which was perfect for filming the sequence where Billy gives the letter to the maid. As well as the arch we also used local fields and a bridge to film parts of our film.
The archway can be seen below.

Our production company name and logo

After analysing and looking at many professional companies we decided to call our production company SkyLine. We have also developed and come up with a logo (displayed below). We liked the name SkyLine as it sounds like a professional company and its universally attractive, audiences of all ages would be interested in our company name.


Idea One

Idea One (developed)

I drafted a range of logo ideas and brainstormed with Miranda. We liked the idea of having a city as it represents audiences and people. After designing our first draft and adding it to our film we decided that it didn't fit in very well with the 'period drama' feel. So I have re-designed a more suitable logo below using relevant imagery which represent us as a company.

Idea Two

Idea Three

We finally decided on using idea three, we feel as though idea three fit in best with our production. The feather symbolises the soft, romantic period drama we have created. The blue text still ties in the production name 'skyline' while the cursive writing combines the 'period drama' feel into the logo. 

Skyline Productions produce very professional romantic films. Genres which Skyline Productions are likely to produce are: Period Drama, Romantic, Rom-Coms. All the films that Skyline Productions offer are dreamy, romantic and happy.

Production Companies

Before deciding on a name for my production company and designing my own logo I have done some research into real production companies and their logos.

DreamWorks Animation

American production and distribution company.

Founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

DreamWorks aim to product high-quality family animations. Their aim is mirrored within their logo as the typography is colourful and fun, appealing to young children and the images are 'dreamlike' and build on the fantasy which is featured in many of their productions (such as Shrek). The logo overall appeals to families and has appropriate images which reach out to their target audience. The logo is bright and eye-catching which will appeal to adults as well as children.

Pathé

French production and distribution company.

Founded in 1896 by brothers Charles, Emile, Theophile and Jacques Pathé.

The pathé company logo stands out and gives a off a fun vibe which will appeal to younger audiences specifically. The speech bubble coming from the chickens mouth is comical and will also appeal to the younger generation. The typography is dynamic, the different sized lettering and bubble writing makes the text stand out against the orange background. The logo is clear and easy to read which also will appeal to younger audiences. Altogether I think that this logo mainly appeals to younger audiences due to the playful imagery and bright orange colour.

Universal Studios

American production company.
Founded in 1912 by Carl Leammle.

One of the nice things about the Universal logo is that it has incorporated both the word and image together, the picture of the world mirrors the 'Universal' name. By doing this I feel that it portrays the message that Universal is a world-wide production company that produces mainstream films that appeal to the fourth quadrant, audiences around the world. The Universal logo, I feel, has a more professional, sophisticated feel to it than the others I have analysed so far, this is due to the fact that the logo has used a bold hard font and cold colours compared to the previous logos. The professional look is more likely to attract older audiences as they will associate the high-class feel of the logo with good, high-quality films. However Universal have still tried to attract younger audiences with their logo by the 'fun' image of the glowing world and stars. Altogether I do like the Universal logo and think that it does appeal to the types of audiences they target and represents the type of high-quality films they provide.

 20th Century Fox

American production company.

Founded in 1904 by William Fox.

The main eye-catching component of the 20th Century Fox logo is the bold 3D lettering which makes up the production company name. The audience recognises immediately the company name as soon as they see the logo. Much like the Universal logo the 20th Century Fox logo also has a sense of sophistication about it due to the deep rich colours. The imagery used, specifically the spotlights pointing to the font, makes the company image look superior. Overall I feel that this logo appeals more to adult audiences rather than children as it uses little imagery and plain colours giving it a more professional feel and look.

Job Roles

• Produced By-  Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Directed By- Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Light/Sound - Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Cinematographer - Miranda Amess & Hannah Emery
• Musical Director - Hannah Emery & Miranda Amess
• Editing - Hannah Emery & Miranda Amess
• Costume - Miranda Amess
• Set Designer/Locations - Hannah Emery
• Script - Miranda Amess
• Storyboard - Hannah Emery
• Actors - Ash Coombs & Jess Oxley & Nicola Tee

Me and Miranda have chosen to do most of the work together as a team. We work well together and think that we can both work efficiently as a team. As we have chosen to do most of the work together we both get to have a go at everything, learning and developing our knowledge of the process that goes into making a film.

Genre Analysis

Why have I chosen to focus on this genre?
I have chosen to focus on the Period drama genre as I was interested in the regency styled films, I loved the lavish costumes, vast landscapes and big houses. I also have read books by Jane Austen (our biggest inspiration for our film) and enjoyed her way of writing. 

What have you learnt from your genre analysis?

I have learnt from my genre analysis that families wanted their daughters to marry into rich families to create financial support. In the films I have watched this pressure often causes the female leads to rebel against this way of the society and find love not finance. 
The female leads are often outspoken and confident characters, with a sense of naivety and gullibility. The male leads are often strong figures with a sense of mystery behind their true identities, they draw the audience in.

Chosen Genre, Film Title and Plot

After lots of discussion on whether to do Thriller or Period Drama as our genre we finally came to the decision of Period Drama*. 
The era we are going to be focusing on is regency/late Georgian.

We decided this as after doing lots of genre analysis we enjoyed the unique characters, eccentricity of the clothing and the lavish filming locations.
We have done lots of genre analysis on films, especially 'Emma' and 'Pride & Prejudice', looked at the types of clothing that is suitable for the period and researched locations which will fit in with the era. We will apply our genre analysis to our production by choosing our locations, cast and props carefully, we need to make sure they fit in perfectly with the time period.

*Period Drama
''Costume drama, a period piece in which elaborate costumes, sets and properties are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular era''

Inspirations

Jane Austen (novelist) was a big inspiration to us when deciding on doing a Period Drama film. Jane was born on the 16th December 1775 and died on the 18th July 1817. She wrote fictional books about romance and is one of the most widely read writers in English literature. She wrote her first novel, love and friendship, aged just 14.
Many of her works have been re-worked and published, for example, Pride & Prejudice was made into a big blockbuster film in 2005 and Northanger Abbey was made into a popular TV Series in 2007.


We have chosen to call our film Devotion.

Definition: feelings of ardent love.

Plot line:
"Devotion" is the thrilling period drama of local farm boy, Billy Walters. Raised in the small village of Sandwich, Billy  is a hopeless romantic, who meets Elizabeth Harding, well respected primary school teacher, who is involved in charity work through the community, and in particular, local farms.  This is how the two become to know, and fall in love with each other.  Philip Jeffories, who takes residence in Sandwich Park Gardens, is in a desperate search for an heir to his inheritance. He over sees Elizabeth's charity work, and instantly sees her potential as a outstanding mother and wife. He forces the arrangement of their marriage, and takes away Elizabeth from her community, and from Billy. Billy desperately tries to maintain the relationship by continually writing letters to Elizabeth. He can not understand why she will not reply.  We follow the story of how Billy tries to discover why his soul mate will not keep contact, and the struggle he goes through to maintain his love for Elizabeth.

Period Drama title sequences and openings

Pride & Prejudice (2005) directed by Joe Wright

Title Sequence

The first title logo you see are the Focus Features and Working Title. This lets the audience know about the companies that have produced the film. Many may recognise these two companies as they are popular and famous for their previous films which gives the audience high expectations. The audience then hears the diegetic sounds of birds and water dripping, this helps creative an idyllic ambience, the production titles are shown in clear formal fonts (in a warm gold colour). The title of the film (Pride and Prejudice) is then displayed, this title is a lot bigger than the others and lasts longer on the screen showing the audience that this is the film name.

Opening Sequence

The opening shot is of Elizabeth Bennet (played by Keira Knightly) walking through a large open field reading a book (this is a medium close up as you can only see from the shoulders up), lots of light is cast overhead creating a beautiful and soft feeling to the shot. In the background you can hear the diegetic sound of birds along with the non-diegetic sound of a piano. The costume Elizabeth is wearing is simple and her make-up is minimal creating a vulnerability to the character, the camera then pans down to view the book she is reading. You suddenly see her close her book and the camera cuts to a long shot of her walking over a river, this is setting the scene. The non-diegetic music is still playing. Elizabeth then walks though rows of white hanging washing (the camera tracks her movement), the white of the clothing symbolises innocence. The piano music is still playing, joined by the diegetic sound of ducks and chickens on the ground.

As Elizabeth walks away the camera stops at a doorway she walks past, it then pans forwards to view the happenings going on inside the house, you see lots of colour and women dressed in long lavish dresses running around, this indicates the old-fashioned time period and sets a happy and exciting atmosphere. 

he interior of the house is large, old-fashioned and grand symbolising wealth, fortune and also helps contribute to the period era of the film. All throughout the opening sequence no dialogue is spoken.

Emma (1996) directed by Douglas McGrath

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O8vVqUlaaM

Title Sequence

At first you see the title 'Miramax' production, then the words 'A Matchmaker Films Producer' and 'A Haft Entertainment Production' appears, this lets the audience know about which companies and responsible for the creation of film. After the production company names a list of all the main stars in the film is shown. In the background a shot of the space and a spinning earth is shown. The shot then cuts to black and the film title 'Emma' in bright orange cursive lettering is shown, making it known that this is the film title.

Opening Sequence
When the title sequence is over the shot then moves into the spinning earth, you see the signs 'London' and 'Highbury'. This sets the location of the film. The spinning earth then zooms out and you see a lady holding an earth, this brings the sense of reality to the film. You then see lots of people dressed in smart evening wear in a church, the setting is lavish. The music playing is soft and gives the atmosphere a romantic feel. As the camera zooms into the world again the scene changes to a dinner table in a large house, the light is coming from candles and a fire which gives the scene a dark and grand feel.

Thriller film openings

The first opening that i am going to analyse is Jaws directed by Steven Spielberg.

The opening starts by panning through the dark ocean, this automatically gives a mysterious and eerie tone to the movie. The music played is tense and builds up slowly as the camera continues to pan the dark ocean, the way the camera is flowing makes you feel as though you are the shark. The shot then abruptly changes to a party on the beach where people are laughing and celebrating, this makes the audience anxious about the welfare of the characters as they all seem oblivious to danger that is lurking in the waters. The music is still building up when the shot cuts to the top of the ocean and displays a silhouette of a human floating innocently on the surface of the water. You are aware of how vulnerable the human is. As the music climaxes you know something is about to happen, a series of loud screams are made. The shot then begins to change again quickly and it looks like a struggle is happening.  All through the opening the mystery is kept up by not revealing what creature is luring under the waters.

The second opening I am going to analyse is Casino Royale directed by Martin Campbell.

The opening scene of Casino Royale is intense and audience grabbing. The opening sequence is filmed in black and white, emphasizing the black tones, the scene is very stylised. James Bond (the main character) is casually sitting in an office with another mysterious character, the scene is very tense, no noise is made, there is the occasional sound of dialogue from one of the characters. The scene then suddenly cuts to a violent, action packed sequence of James Bond fighting, background music is played and used to build suspense, this scene dramatically contrasts with the other scene as now it is filmed emphasizing white tones. The scenes keep switching between one another which creates suspense. After James Bond has finally drowned his victim the scene drips into a plain red background which the title sequence is then played onto, red symbolises death and murder. The scene sets up the main character, James Bond, to be a edgy, cold-blooded killer.