Confirmation of Availability with Actors

Age Certification

   All ages admitted. There is almost nothing unsuitable for children aged 4 years and over.
     All ages admitted, but some certain scenes can be unsuitable for young children. They should not disturb children aged 8 or older. May contain mild language  or sex/drug references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context. A parent may wish to check the content before they let their children watch or play it.
    This category applies to cinema only releases since 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for young children. Cinemas in the United Kingdom are only permitted to supply tickets to see a 12A film to children under the age of 12 if they are accompanied by an adult aged 18 or over. However, it is unlikely to be suitable for children under the age of 12. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate language, moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Use of strong language may be permitted based on frequency and how they are used, as well as contextual justification. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.
   This category applies to cinema releases from August 1989 to 2002, and home media since 1994. Suitable for people aged 12 and older. It is illegal to supply a video work with a 12 certificate to anyone under that age. 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the VHS/DVD version unless extra material has been added that requires a higher rating. The content guidelines are identical to those used for the 12A certificate.
   Suitable only for people aged 15 and older. No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. It is illegal to supply a video work with a 15 certificate to anyone under that age. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may be shown if discreet and justified by context. Use of very strong language may be permitted based on frequency and how they are used, as well as contextual justification.

    Suitable only for people aged 18 or older, which means adults only. No one younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema. It is illegal to supply a video work with an 18 certificate to anyone under that age. Films under this category do not have limitation on the foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticized or excessively graphic, in which a work will require compulsory cuts where possible.

         The majority of short films are not released in cinemas like mainstream films are, they are instead released at film festivals, on websites and on YouTube. Despite this difference they still need to be certified by the BBFC even if they are just being shown on YouTube. For our short film we are looking to tie it into an age rating of 15 due to the mental illness side of the story which arguably is rather shocking for audiences and has to be viewed by those who are mature enough to understand what is going on.

Of Unsound Minds - Animatic

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Releasing Short Films

http://tubularinsights.com/filmmakers-share-secrets-releasing-short-film-online-case-study/

I read through this case study and it gave a number of great tips on how to reach out to a large target audience when releasing a short film online.

• For example the common mistake is to just send it out on YouTube at any given time yet these experts believed that the best site to use in order to gain the widest audience is Vimeo as it is full of short film enthusiasts. 
• 12am is a suggested time to release the film as it gives the film an entire 24 hours to total up a wide range of views and comments. 
• By posting on as many social media sites as possible using each of the crew members accounts the total number of views is increased to the maximum potential as it becomes available on all possible sites.
• Targeting key sites and influencers who have thousands of followers by emailing the site can even give your film the opportunity to be spread across their site and boost its audience width.
• Finally by constantly badgering away at this process there is high chance of gaining thousands of views

Production Schedule

Focus Group

Social Media Research

To help get more responses for our schizophrenia questionnaire I posted it to my Facebook and Twitter pages.

Screenplay Draft 1

Screenplay: ‘Of Unsound Minds’

Characters:
Main protagonist (Rob)

Doctor

Personality one (Drug Abuser- Army veteran) (Daniel)

Personality Two (Young girl) (Lily)

Words in red overlap between characters.

Set in a small dark hospital psychiatric room.There are 4 chairs set in a circle with the main protagonist facing the doctor in the room- lit lightly by the spotlight. The other personalities are sitting either side of the main protagonist.
Doctor is wearing a smart shirt, jumper and smart trousers and is sitting upright in his chair with his legs crossed. The protagonist is sitting with bad posture and scrunching himself up in his chair, is also wearing a suit in order to show the role he has in society.

The 1st personality- Daniel is wearing a military outfit and is sitting with both feet on the floor with his back straight and hands on his knees. Lily is wearing typical young female clothes and has a band in her hair- she is sitting with her legs crossed at the bottom and twirling her hair.

Dip to Black and cut slowly to the establishing shot of the room.

Sound fades in slowly- starts off quiet and becomes gradually louder.

(joins the treatment in media-res)

Doctor:

What do you mean?

Rob:

I’ve been struggling, I’m worried. I've been talking with Daniel a lot too- he’s been telling me that nothing will be the same again.

Daniel:

It won’t- it was never the same for me. The world don’t accept me anymore, it never accepted me!

Doctor:

Daniel, you have nothing to worry about. We are all here to help you, we are here to make you feel welcome. I believe that the issues are with the other people, not you- they have the problem.

Lily:

Daniel, has been speaking bad about the world. He says that everyone is out to get us. He say no one want us here. He scare me, he make the world scare me.

Rob:
Scare me.He says that we aren’t normal, that people are scared of us. Daniel thinks that we don’t fit in. I don't think we fit in, anymore. Did we ever really fit in? Was we ever really normal? I was always different, but no one ever wanted to accept me. The neglect I felt hurt, do you know how that feels?

Doctor:

Lily, Rob, you are not neglected I am always here for you to talk to, Daniel faces a problem different to the rest of you- he’s still suffering. It will take him more time to recover than you two.

(Daniel sits rocking his chair in fear)

Daniel: There’s nothing wrong with me- it’s the world around me, that’s the problem. It just doesn’t accept me no more. It doesn’t accept anything that challenges the status quo.

(Daniel jumps out of his seat and crouches into a ball on the floor- he has heard a loud bang like a gunshot)  

RETREAT! RETREAT! UNDER FIRE, REPEAT WE ARE UNDER FIRE!

Doctor:

Daniel, listen to me, listen. It’s okay you don’t need to worry you are not back there- you are here with me and we are here to help you. Talk to me Daniel. What are you seeing?

Lily:
Daniel stand up, stop being silly Dan.

Rob:
Dan. Daniel you are scaring me- get up Daniel. What are you hiding from?

Daniel:
The shooting, they are shooting. It’s her (points at the doctor) she is trying to destroy us.

Rob:

Us. Why would she do that? She wouldn’t do that would she?

Lily:

No! She wouldn’t. She’s a friend, she help us. Daniel, stop being silly it’s not her fault. IT’S NOT!

Doctor:

Lily do not worry. Just stay calm- Daniel is just having a moment, he will see that the people here are here to help. He knows this is just a blip.

Daniel:
That’s your problem. You don’t understand me- you don’t understand what I went through- you don’t understand anything about my life, but you feel like you can help me. What do you really know? How do i know I can trust you? I‘ve got no reason to trust you.

(Pause)

I’ve got no reason to trust anyone. I was abandoned at 16 by my parents- the disappointment of the family. None of you have seen what I’ve seen- you don’t know the truth about the world like me.

Rob:
Me. The truth of the world is that they don’t really understand any of us! We are labelled as ‘ill’ because we aren’t normal to our society. Daniel has seen the dark truth, but I know the real truth.

Lily:

Dan, Rob (pause) stop being silly, you do not know the truth- how would you ever know the truth, I never told no one the truth.

Doctor:

What truth Lily, what’s your truth?

Lily:

What? What are you talking about. I never said nothing silly.

Rob.

Silly. (Pause) Lily you better not have told anyone the truth.

Lily:

I just told you I never told no one. Why do you never believe me? YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME!

Daniel:
Shut up Lily! Do you ever stop moaning?

Rob:

Moaning? Guys be quiet. Just be quiet for one minute please. I can’t even gather my thoughts properly.

Doctor:

Do you have anything you want to discuss guys? It seems like you all have something on your mind and I really don’t want you to suffer on your own.

Rob:

No, we have nothing to tell you. Even if there was, what evidence is there to tell me that you can do anything for us? It is best we just leave everything be.

Lily:

Be. What use is it doing keeping secrets anymore? Everything is found out somehow. Like when them people at school found out about my illness- they had no way of finding out, but they did.

Daniel:

Well you should know that nothing stays secret, it’s better to just get it over and done with. I know the best that there's always a way of discovering everything.

Rob:

Everything. No we don’t need to say anything, why do we have to say anything. If they can’t accept us then they have to deal with the consequences.

Doctor:

Nobody has to deal with anything. Theres plenty of help for everyone. The worst way that you can suffer is in silence.

Lily:

The truth is, there is no truth so really no one is suffering at all (Lily giggles nervously)

Daniel:

The truth is that doc will find out anyway- we just need tell her so you get in less trouble.

Rob:

The truth is that no one needs to know anything, what is there to know anyway? It's not like they would believe anything WE would say is there

(Camera pans round back of main protagonist- Rob and fades to black. As the camera begins to pan out into a wider angle shot the room now only has two chairs remaining- one empty chair and the main protagonist)

(Rob is the only remaining character in the scene. He gets up and walks off through a set of doors. He enters a small room- which appears almost like a closet. As he enters the room you can see a young male tied up in the corner- he appears ill and weak. He shows no signs of trying to battle against Rob)

Rob (speaking as Rob):

No one will ever need to know- this is how it has to be done.

Rob(speaking as Daniel):

They were always going to find out (pause) it’s better this way.

Rob (speaking as Lily):

I’m sorry, i’m so sorry, but telling the truth now would just be silly.

END.

History of the Drama Genre

When speaking about drama the main genre is usually split down into many sub genres e.g. Political dramas, historical drama or even sometimes comical drama. These sub-genres usually mean that the drama has a specific setting or subject-matter. 

History of the horror drama:
Horror films are made in order to target the part of the brain that creates a less logical sequence of events. They can tell dark stories about the unimaginable or target the realistic anxieties that we have in life.

The first known horror film is a film called 'Le Manoir du Diable'- which was produced in the late 1890's. Japanese horror is one of the first sub genre of the horror genre to be created. The earliest films date back to 'Bake Jizo' and 'Shinin no Soseis'. 

Many books turn into horror films such as the first adaptation of Mary Shelley's book 'Frankenstein' was made in 1910 which followed in the footsteps of Robert Louis Stevenson's book 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' made in 1908.

During the period of 1930-1940 Gothic horror took off with films such as Tod Browning's Dracula and another adaptation of Frankenstein this time by James Whale in 1931. During this period Gothic horror films were sometimes infused with the science-fiction genre to create films such as: 'The Invisible Man' which featured a mad scientist.

During the 1950's-60's the Gothic horror was surpassed by sub genres such as the Demonic film. The film production company 'Hammer' was created during this era. Also the events of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan led to the creation of 'Godzilla'. Peeping Tom made in 1960 was the first of the slasher genre which cemented place as a horror sub-genre with the film 'Psycho'
The 1970's-1980's was the development of the low budget gore films. The 1990's was very similar to the previous years and followed the same genre. Many of the films created during the 70's to 80's got their sequels in the 90's.

During the modern day period of the genre a lot of film companies focus on producing remakes of popular horror films and the production of horror T.V. series such as 'The Walking Dead' and 'American Horror Story' have become ever prominent.

Many horror dramas focus on imperilled characters dealing with an emotional struggle which is very realistic to them. Many often involve dysfunctional family relations, shown within a horror environment. The horror sequence usually unravels against a dramatic plot. This would be good for our film as the horror element of the mental illness could compliment the dramatic sequence of the man having the conversation with 'himself' which the audience doesn't know and therefore are waiting and listening to the conversation.

History of the Thriller genre

The thriller genre is one of suspense and excitement. Tension is built by delaying what the audience sees to be inevitable but is built through situations which are seen to be inescapable. Thriller films are usually hybridised with sub genres such as action thrillers or sci-fi thrillers. For example ours will be a psychiatric thriller.

1920's-30's
In this era producers used to constantly regurgitate common ideas at the time with the instalment of long running franchises with each film ending with a cliffhanger that sees the hero in great danger. The 30s was the age of witty gentlemen detectives who constantly used one liners rather than violence to get out of a tough situation. Sir Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" was seen as setting up the template for exotic action action-adventure thrillers. The film was filled with chase sequences and a constant exchange of innuendos between Robert Donat and his leading lady.

1940's
In this period the genre toughened up with a flourish of urban crime in which there were fedora, trench coat wearing figures stroll through the cities late at night in order to solve mysteries. The plots were dense and the mood was hard bitten which went perfectly with the weary post war period. George Cukor brought in a psychological thriller in 1944 called "Gaslight". It was about a husband who plotted to make his own wife go mentally insane in the hope that he would gain her financial inheritance.

1950's - 60's
Alfred Hitchcock made a dramatic change to the thriller genre but bringing in the use of colour so that they were no longer black and white. Glamour was also added to his famous thrillers with the introduction of  'icey blondes' in the casting of his leading ladies. The first of these was "Strangers on a Train" in 1951. Constant repetition in thriller films in this period lay down the basic building blocks for creating a thriller film. "Peeping Tom" was a 1960's psychological thriller which featured a serial killer cameraman - the film was seen as controversial and received and extremely harsh reception.

1970's
This period brought in a increase of violence and horror to the thriller genre. There was almost an overlap between the horror and thriller genre with films such as "Wake in Fright" and Hitchcock's "Frenzy" which received an R rating for its vicious and explicit strangulation scene.

1990's
Thrillers began to have recurring elements of obsession and trapped protagonists who struggle to escape the clutches of a villain. Then the detectives who chased down a serial killer seemed to be the next trend for thriller genre. "The Silence of the Lambs" is a famous example of a thriller film in which a cannibalistic psychiatrist engages in conflict with an FBI agent whilst she hunts down a transgender serial killer.

Character Analysis

Main Characters

Main Protagonist - Called rob works in the city as a stockbroker 8am-6pm. Rob doesn't get enough sleep as he gets home at 8pm and continues to work at home until 1am  because he feels he isn't as successful as everyone else at work and feels if he does extra work he will be on par with everyone else as he is having a rough period and only gets 5 hours sleep as he has to get to work at 7:30, making him stressed because of the environment he works in is very fast paced and you can't put a foot wrong as the whole businesses reputation is on the line. - Wearing full 2 piece suit

Therapist - he is doctor trying to comfort in rob and help him get over his mental health issues, very intelligent, cool, calm and collected and handles intense situations with ease and really tries to get to the bottom of Rob's problems and brings the truth put in him as he knows that he is the only person Rob can confide to  - Wearing a shirt with black smart trousers and smart shoes

Personality one (Little girl) - Is called lily, young innocent 12 year old meaning she isn't very intelligent, naïve and relies on other people to help her all the time as she was spoilt when she was younger and got everything her way meaning she lacks independence - She will be wearing a white dress which shows her innocence

Personality two (drug abuser/hippie) - Is called Daniel and is Being rejected by society, not doing well in education and not being able to fit in or find illegitimate ways to make money (known as double failure) leading him to turn to drugs. - Wearing a floral shirt with socks and sandals and shorts