Influences

Pitch

Health and Safety - Risk assessment

• As there are no action/fast paced sequences in my film opening, there are not many obvious, dangerous risks.
• My main hazard is the use of drawing pins and knives - as they are both sharp, there is the risk of the person using them getting hurt. However these are central to the title sequence, so these remain a continuous risk throughout filming, although the camera person and the person using the pins will both pay attention to where the pins are and to take precautions not to jab them into their hands.
• Another hazard is the roads getting to the outside location. Fortunately these roads are not too busy, and there are zebra and pelican crossings to use to get us from A to B.
• Another risk is offending/unnerving the public. As we are using a fake grave, people may get uncomfortable or perhaps mistake it for an actual grave (although this is highly unlikely). To combat this we are going to film in a relatively isolated place away from public foot traffic, and make it obvious that it is a fake setting purely for film. I decided against using a real grave as it is not something I am comfortable with, and making a fake plaque gives us more freedom to place it and film anywhere.

Props

Prop issues - CHANGES Gravestone vs plaque vs grave marker

Although initially I was going to make a traditional headstone, instead of using a real one which could be seen as disrespectful, I realised it would take too long to make a decent, realistic gravestone in the time and with my limited craft ability. This left me with two possible options - I could make a smaller plaque, which would be easier and more simplistic to make, or I could make something that is sometimes used in cases of sudden death, and no plans have been put in place to make a proper gravestone (like what happened with the suicide in 13 Reasons Why). As well as being quick, it would add a sense of realism to the story, and be convincing as well as simple. If making the plaque does not go to plan, I may use this instead.

Focus Group BLOOPERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcN1RZFnnBU&feature=youtu.be

Focus Group

https://youtu.be/ZLYdN6EAhz0

NOTE: I would recommend watching with the captions on, as the volume fluctuates throughout and some of the answers cannot be clearly heard.

From this focus group, I have learnt that, overall, it doesn't matter if the actors are famous or not (excluding Star Wars), as long as they do a good job at portraying the character. I have also learnt what my target audience would expect from a crime thriller, and what genres they would otherwise be watching/avoiding. In addition, they also told me what media products from the genre they already watch and like, which could give me inspiration as to what to include in my product.