Response to curse words within the script

In my script, there is a fair amount of potentially offensive language within the dialogue. My teacher has commented on one of my scripts with the following: "The exam specifically states that students should not be allowed to present material that is too offensive/unsuitable for their age - if you include the language in full we will not be able to watch and present it in a school environment"

I have had discussions with various people about this issue, as I believe it is an important issue to raise. Whilst I understand that regular use of foul or offensive language will restrict my audience of the film, but I wish to keep the regular use of it for several reasons. First off, I plan to film some quite graphic scenes which will obviously restrict my audience without the foul language, so I believe it is the lesser of two evils in this situation. Also, my film is supposed to be regular people reacting to a terrifying situation, all of which are above the age of 18, so I believe they would use foul language in the conditions they face.  The BBFC classify a 15 certificate as a film that can: "Can contain adult themes, hard drugs, regular use of foul language and limited use of very 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." 

There is no sexual content, drug use or strong sex references.  There will be restrictions on my film to a 15 because of the violence as a minimum, potentially more depending on the level of gore shown and therefore, I believe I am justified in the use of regular foul language, as none of it is sexist, racist etc nor is it with reference to sexual acts. An article about censorship from 12 to 15 is linked below.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/30/bbfc-profanity-made-in-dagenham




I realise that this restricts my target audience to 18+, but that is who I plan to aim the film at anyway, and as an 18 year old myself, I am completely and legally able to produce and watch the film I am making.

Identifying Genre: Film

My brief is to create a short film, and I have chosen horror as I enjoy the genre. To create a successful horror film, I believe that I have to provoke fear in the audience, either by jump scares, terrifying concepts or shocking imagery. At the heart of the genre, the sole purpose is to scare the audience. Other conventions include:

• Isolated setting such as a wood or small urban town.
• Amplified diegetic sounds (e.g. footsteps) along with unsettling non diegetic sounds (e.g. protagonist's heartbeat).
• Editing not in bias of the antagonist. The horror from these films is usually achieved from the unknown, and we therefore don't see much of the antagonist, but when we do, it is sudden and gruesome or we see a shadow move in the background which builds suspense. There are examples of films that break conventions, for example, most zombie films have zombies in the main focus.

Within the genre however, there are many sub genres, all that have there own conventions. As my film will incorporate conventions from found footage films and slashers, I will focus on those


Slasher film often revolve around a person who has either been succumb to trauma or been abused as a child and as a result is insane. A typical storyline of a slasher is a person returns to their hometown and kill those that he thinks deserve it, this is usually a group of teenagers, as they would deem them immoral. The killer succeeds in most murders but may fail and either be taken into custody or killed. An example of this is the franchise 'Halloween' in which a killer institutionalised since childhood escapes from his psychiatric hospital and stalks his sister. His psychiatrist expects his movements and tries to follow him. He kills teenagers as they commit 'immoral' acts and eventually attempts to kill his sister, when he is repeatedly shot and supposedly killed.

Identifying Genre: Radio Advert

I have a clear idea of the film's plot and direction and therefore, have a good sense of the genre. I am creating a found footage/slasher hybrid short film. However, I am not just creating the film. I have to create a poster and radio advert.

In my presentation about about the film, I showed the conventions of horror radio adverts and showed examples, that part of the presentation can be found here:

http://prezi.com/gvmiujpnmz3z/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

The radio advert could be exhibited in a number of ways. It can be played by:

• A public broadcast station,
• A commercial station,
• A community station.

My advert would be best suited to specific community station as the audience would likely be horror fans, were I to pick the right station. An example of this would be the station hosted on this website: http://www.horror-theatre.com/ The station discusses horror stories and would be perfect for targeting my audience as the audience would be horror fans. Community radio stations of this type should be my primary focus. The other methods would be impractical as the cost to broadcast an advert would be too high and I would be advertising to a large portion of people who would not be interested. A film advert on a public broadcast station would be out of place, regardless of it's genre.

Furthermore, there are several types of station according to where they are situated and the numbers they reach:

• An international station, 
• A national station, 
• A local station,
• An online station.

The most beneficial choice for me to advertise on would be online, as they are more likely to reach the specific audience I want to advertise to, and would have the largest reach to the specific audience. They are also the most likely to fall into the category of community radio, which also helps narrow down the audience I target.

Presentation

I have already thought quite far into the process as I am enthusiastic about the project. We were tasked with pitching the idea we had so far to the class, I presented this to the class :

http://prezi.com/u15qipv4bexd/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

I presented two plots and gave out forms to try and narrow down to one plot. I received answers back, every single one preferred plot one, so I am definitely using that plot. There was a joint majority decision between the second and third ending. People said that they preferred the intrigue and mystery of the second ending, but they thought the gore at the end will be a good way of continuing the theme of the film and is a good way of making the audience uncomfortable, which is what the horror genre attempts to do. I have therefore chosen to use the third ending, as I think it will be a good challenge on my current skills.



This is an example of the sheet they filled out after the ideas were pitched to them.

Pete Buckingham: Audience Theory

When identifying my audience, I briefly mentioned Pete Buckingham's methods of classification, The  SlideShare presentation explains his theory in detail and the ways he has categorised audience types

Audience pete buckingham what people go to see from Elaine Humpleby

Falling Red Presentation

For this presentation, we were given the task to analyze a piece of media and ancillary products relating to it, including aspects of audience theory as well as the areas of production, distribution and exhibition. I chose the album 'Empire of the Damned' by Falling Red and I presented this to my A2 class on Monday the 23rd of June.



I received feedback on this presentation and it is mostly good. The main issue was that the images were a bit hard to see, which I completely overlooked as I was focused on the creation of the presentation. I have learned to test all media before I show it. The mind map is shown below;



After this, I have decided that I do not want too choose brief 1 as the task isn't as interesting as the others to me and I am already heavily involved within the music industry.