A main part of my film is the work that i'm doing on Adobe after affects. I wanted to create a type writer affect with the words appearing like someone is typing. From my work on my titling at AS I had a basic knowledge of how I may go about it. I began and the easiest way I found to do it was add in each letter and then move it to the appropriate place, then moving the time in each letter along. I did the first section, which was the writing "Ask me my three main priorities for the government.." "Education Education Education, Tony Blair, Prime Minister 1996-2006". The whole clip lasted around 11 seconds and it took my three hours to edit.
Luckily I began doing this nice and early so left myself plenty of time to edit all of the bits needed like this.
So far I have written in my plan that i'm going to have three four individual sections of type writer writing appearing. The first one is the "Ask me my three main priorities for the government.." The second is "Education, Education, Education, Tony Blair, Prime Minister 1996-2006" The third is the definition of female explained in my last post and similarly the definition of being male, which is also explained in the post previous to this.
Originally I was onlu going to have 4 bits of type writing because I wasn't sure how they were going to look, however now I really like the effect and it makes it a little more interesting. Im thinking on ending the piece with the words "David Cameron's Broken Britain" to retract back and link in to my original theme of politics in the first type writing episode.
When I was thinking about the music I could put with my short film I realised how much music I listen to that has really similar meanings to the meanings i'm trying to convey in my film. Just earlier on my walk home from school I was listening to the song Plan B- Playing With Fire. Its all about social corruption and gang warfare with youngsters. Obviously this isn't completely the same, but some of the key themes are displayed such as peer pressuring and wanting to fit in to a certain clique. I found the lyrics of the song very interesting and inspiring.
Obviously I wouldn't be able to use this song, or anything by an actual artist because of copy write reasons, however i'm going to try and trawl through youtube and music sites to see if I can find anyone that doesn't mind me using their song because rather than just putting some emotional piano music over the top that has no relation, i'd like to use a song by someone that means something to them, or has more depth.
Costume: Girl- Sixth Form Suit Boy- Sixth Form Suit. Props: Girl- Mascara Perfume Boy- Roll up cigarette Phone
Nursery Location- Magazines Newspapers Paint
Luckily the extent of my props and costume isn't that much, I wanted to keep the parts of my film where real people are acting in it, very naturalist. Hopefully this will contrast with the slightly more surreal meaning and rest of my film. Luckily the locations that I used didn't need any tweaking props wise except for the nursery, where I just had to add some paint covered newspapers and magazines.
Whilst continuing on the very time consuming and arduous task of editing my bits of type writer style writing on Adobe After Affects I suddenly realised that I hadn't really explained why they are there. I came up with the idea at first because I wanted to explore the differences between the male and the female constraints of school and society, I wanted to think about an interesting way of portraying the difference using the type writer effect, but without just simply writing male and female when the scenes changed. I suddenly came up with the idea of definitions. Throughout our whole life in school and out of school we develop by learning the meaning, or definition of things. I looked up the dictionary definitions with the Nouns, synonyms and adjectives and decided to have the full definition appearing in lettering. However I felt that this doesn't have enough depth. Creating my short film this year I am trying to ensure I do a full amount of research to make the meaning of my film far more intricate. I realised that through looking at definition and their place within our lives I had opened up a whole different kettle of fish. An interesting point I found was that Alasdair MacIntyre who is a Modern Virtue Ethicist believed that all people, whether they're scientists, philosophers, politicians or just the general public are now subject to looking far more into the intrinsic meaning, or definition of actions or words, rather than combating the issue or trying to raise new ideas. Surely as a nation or a universe what a thing means is just half the problem, people should spend more time arguing over making resolutions and solutions rather than bickering over a meaning. Alasdair MacIntyre also speculated that because of this the universe has fallen into a kind of moral vacuum. This is ultimately caused the corruption that had occurred within our culture, because of this there are three main groups of people that have taken over. -Bureaucratic Managers (MP's Government officials etc..) -Rich Aesthetes (Celebs etc.. -Therapists. This is very interesting in terms of my film. Within my film i'm displaying how politics intervention with society, especially within school doesn't actually achieve much in most cases and how as a nation we're influenced by media far more than the government and the media leads us to feel pressure to act or look in a certain way, maybe leading to negative effects such as smoking, drinking or eating disorders. If you look at the 3 main authoritative figures mentioned before there are undoubted links. This shows that in fact Alasdair MacIntyre's theory about there being a moral vacuum really is true. I understand that looking into school dynamics means that i'm not looking at the universe like MacIntyre is, however I believe school is like a microcosm of the greater population. My research into philosophy and ethics and definitions of words etc may look like a tenuous link, however this ties in with my slight surrealist feel of heightened realism. I want to ensure I have a wide knowledge so that the choices I make within my film aren't uninformed and after all surrealism is just looking at societies issues and explaining the in a heightened, dramatic or erratic way.
The location I chose to film the scene with the boy smoking was on the steps behind the leisure centre. I got my inspiration to film here mainly from the film Brick, by Rian Johnson. In his film he uses lots of easily accessible locations because he's on a low budget.. in my film I have no budget, therefore have taken a leaf out of his book. I have tried to ensure the leisure centre car park doesn't look like the leisure centre car park, I've tried to use low angled and close up shots just on the protagonist, rather than establishing shots. Of course I don't mind the fact there's hints of the car park because that fits in with the theme of heightened realism that I want to display in my film. Also seeing as my film is set in a school, filming there is just being true to the actual plot.
I got my actor, Jordy, to sit on the metal stairs shown in the picture, I filmed very close up shots of him, some through the bars. I wanted this to represent the isolation he's feeling. It represents the fact that he feels trapped, even though if he just looked at the bigger picture he could see he has the potential to do well. This is why I filmed his bit outside, with the young girl I purposely put her inside because the anguish and stress she's feeling is far more psychological, it;s much more difficult for her to escape. However with Jordy's character it's more a case of laziness and just giving up.
My second location is Mulberry Day Nursery. It's just across the road from my house which is very convenient. Also very useful if when I come to editing I realise I've missed anything out, I can just pop over there and film a little more. The reason I chose to film in a nursery, rather than just using my school was to emphasise the journey through school life, starting as an infant somewhere that's filled with colour and evocative tactile things that are supposed to stimulate development, learning and growth. Sociologists and psychologists such as Frued, Fromm and Kohlberg speculated that in the first five years of your live everything you do is without a conscience or as you've not yet developed into an autonomous being yet. All the decisions you make are either made for you by a person of authority (parent, carer, teacher etc) and this has some effect on the person you're going to become in later life. I found this interesting and that's my main reason why I chose to film in an actual nursery. Whilst I was in there I was very much aware about how gender stereotypes are established at such an early and impressionable age, for example pink and purple trays for the girls and green and blue trays to the boys. Princess toys with long blonde hair and low cut dresses. I understand these things are a social norm, however should this image of 'perfect' be put into children's head so early on. If people like Kohlberg and Fromm are right then this is effectively one of the most important ages, by subconsciously telling the girls they should look like skinny blonde princesses or hinting at boys that they should be muscular and toned like action man surely we are embedding these things into their mind, that when they get past the impressionable age and into autonomous thinking through reasoning they will subconsciously strive to fulfil the stereotype taught at the age of 5.
I am trying to display this within my film by having paint sodden magazines and newspapers. Two very important conventions of social media. In the magazines I ripped out pages to do with dieting, hair products, alcohol consumption and tiny skinny models. I covered this in red paint. Red is a colour that represents a lot of things, blood, death, love and so on. I wanted it to represent the negatives that these magazines are doing to young woman. By publishing endless articles about diet fads and what women should look like it's causes hundreds of teenage girls to become dangerously obsessed with what they look like. By filming this part in the nursery i thought it makes more impact. Having the little miniature chairs and tables reminds us of where we begin, and then having the red stained magazine articles is a shocking representation of what we become and how easy it is to get hold of this potentially damaging social media.
I begun filming today; my first location was the slightly dingy girls toilets in the south block of my school. I wanted to film with in the school to reinforce the pressures that occur in the school environment. This particular loo has no windows and no mirrors, this emphasises the isolation felt by the young lady.
The colour scheme is blue and yellow, both primary colours, however the actual décor is crumbling and of extreme lack of attention. This represents the fact that when you're in a school you're surrounded by bright colours because they're supposed to evoke creation and happiness, its something we all associate with our time at school. However this girl is clearly going through something very adult, she's having to make big decisions in her life. The crumbling and decapitation of the walls and paint mimics her mental state and the fact that the school can no longer provide her with the safe, happy environment that it could once when she first joined in year 7.
I understand that my new concept of dealing with issues founded within the high school system is very serious, the issues that I wish to display in my film aren't something to be joked about, so I've done some research into this sector to make sure that none of the footage from my film is offensive. I want it all to be truthful and well informed. I have read an article written by the BBC talking about how Body Image should be taught in school and it's all from media consumption that young people are getting warped images of what we should look like. It was a very interesting read seeing as it holds the basic concept of my film. Here is the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18260133 I also came across Jo Swinson MP talking in Parliament about how the media has infiltrated the minds of young people.
I also found quite a few interesting articles about media doesn't help young people smoking. I found it interesting because even thought people know for a fact that smoking really does kill, they see their favourite star on television, or papped in a magazine smoking and they believe it's cool.
Close up shot of girl
putting mascara on one eye. Cuts to washing hands. Intense and heightened sounds of actions. Almost unsettling. Cuts
to spraying perfume onto neck. Cuts to putting bag on.
Black.
Close up shot of
smoke coming out of boys mouth. Wheezes and Coughs.
Close up shot of boys
hand rolling a fag. Cuts to shot of boys phone in his hand
shown on screen “7 missed calls, 4 texts”. Cut to shot of exhaling smoke. Cut
to shot mouth coughing.
Black.
Shot of girl sitting
outside school on the fence, staring straight at the camera. Camera positioned
across the road. School children walking past but speeded up, girl still
sitting still.
“I used to understand
it. But now? I don’t.”
Long pause.
“if you asked me what
I wanted. I wouldn’t know.
Shot moves two over
the shoulder shot from point of you of the girl. Cars rushing by, sped up.
“Control. it’s not something we get taught in school, or at home. Or
anywhere. In my eyes, it’s a taboo”
Shot of her blinking.
Fades into a shot of the boys eyes opening. Over the shoulder shot mimicked but
with boy instead.
“what’s there to understand?”
Long shot of boy
across the road sitting on the same fence, staring at the camera. Sped up.
The concept of my piece is not to explore surrealism, I want to explore certain social injustices within the school environment, but using a few themes from surrealism. I've done a lot of research into Dada and the first surrealist movement and I like the idea of exploring things that cause issues within society then display it in a way thats far more dramatic. However this isnt the key theme of my piece. I want to the issues that people face in the last year of school. After talking to a number of people in my year group I have gauged an understanding of what issues are surrounding us, this is what I want to look at. During school everyone is in a "high school bubble" and emotions are magnified and dramatised, this is similar to the themes in surrealism, about hightened realism. I don't want to take idea's from surrealist practioners such as Bunel etc because I want to try and create something that is far more original. I really like the idea of exploring how politics seemingly controls the state school system, yet actually the main figures in politics have probably never even entered a state school in their life. That's where my inspiration from Tony Blair's speach "education education education" came from. As far as these politicians are concerned the only problems within school are how the grade boundaries must be changed, however there are much more intricate issues concerened with emotion. These MP's are in control of everything within out culture, education, media etc. I want to explore the paradox that the media is the cause of much corruption within school, such as body image and girls wanting to change themselves to fit these media stereotypes, but at the same time grade boundaries are being changed, courses are being changed and it's adding stress on to people. I also like the idea of how we start off our education being extremely juvenille and year by year more and more pressure is added on. I want to try and show how the pressure is piled on in the last year of school and this is why people find themselves doing things to try and release the stress. I want to show how the issues that occur in school are important, they shouldn't be ignored because they are serious.
1. Shot of stain glassed window. 2.Yellow paint dripping 3.Green paing dripping. 4.Red Paint dripping. 5.Black- Writing appears (education...) 6.Toilet door. 7.Black- Writing appears (female...) 8.Girl putting mascara on. 9. Washing Hands. 10. Perfume on. 11. Putting bag on. 12. Smoke from boys mouth. 13. Black- Writing appears (male...) 14. Boy rolling cigarette. 15.Looking at phone. 16. Exhaling smoke. 17. Coughing. 18. Long shot of girl accross the road. 19. Over shoulder shot of girl on bench. 20. Blinking girl. 21. Boy blinking. 22. Over shoulder shot of boy on bench. 23. Long shot of boy on bench.
This is as far as I have got when it comes to the order of shots. I haven't quite worked out how to end my piece. Because it's slightly surrealist and I aim for it to be relative to each individual person watching it, I almost want to leave it on a cliff hanger. Thats the reason i'm only having little snippets of the character. I dont want the audience investing the whole time in these characters, I want them to think about things relating to themselves, or opinions they have. Although i've written a bit of speech for the characters, its going to be incredibly minimal and it will be recorded, so it's more of a narrative. This leaves who is saying it open to interpritation. One of my main worries is that i'm not going to have enough content. I know from past experience that its important to film as much footage as I can, and from different angles and things, however because all of my shots are going to be fairly short im going to need a lot of footage.
Aimee Shingfield: I chose Aimee because she has had a lot of experience in acting before, she's done both GCSE and Alevel drama, as well as doing a lot of drama outside of school. I wanted to choose someone that I knew was a very able actress so that I could direct her and she would know how to comply. The part of the girl has quite a lot of subtext which isn't going to be obviously shown in the film. Aimee will hopefully be able to get a grasp of what i'm trying to get accross. I wanted a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, to try and play on the stereotypes of school girls that care about their image.
Jordan Giles:
Jordy was the first person I thought of when I was writing the script for my short film. Jordy has always had an interest in drama and has taken A-level media, therefore has an interest in film. I have used him before in a few things in media and he's a very capable actor. He know's exactly what it's like to deal with the pressures of filming and repeating things over and over, so he will be a good candidate. I think Jordy will bring a lot of truth because I know he's dealing with some of the issues that i've included subtextually within my film; such as what to do when leaving school etc. I wanted to use someone that could relate to the character, so its more than just actors mindlessly playing a part. He may even be able to give me some imput, which would be incredibly helpful.
Girl: 1. Who am i? My name is Lucy Frost. I'm 17 years old and I live at home with my mum and dad. I'm an only child and I attend sixth form. Im doing 3 A-levels; English Lit, Drama and Politics. I was born in Herefordshire just outside Wales, however when I was 10 me and my family moved to Winchester in Hampshire. It was just before I moved to high school, so starting a new high school in a new area was daunting however I do a lot of drama so I'm a fairly confident person. I've been brought up to make an effort with making as many new friends as possible. I hope to go to university to study fashion and journalism. Image has always been an important thing to me and I'd love to go into the fashion industry as a writer or reviewer. My family would much rather me do something more conventional, but i'm not afraid to follow my heart rather than my head. I have a good group of girl friends at school, we do everything together, theres always a party or something to do at the weekend, which ensures there's always plenty to talk about within the group. Its hard being in a big friendship group because sometimes its difficult to know who tell really personal things to. 2. Where am i? I live in a average sized, semi detached cottage on the outskirts of Winchester. I'm at home in my bedroom. I'm surrounded by all of my school work. I have loads of pictures of me and my friends stuck to the wall next to where I sit. There's magazines and catalogues stacked up high. I spend most of my time in my bedroom when i'm at home, so everything I need is here. I keep it tidy because mum always said "Tidy surroundings, tidy mind". I supposed I can be a bit of a perfectionist. 3.When is it? It's 2012, Autumn time. Im in year 13 so I'm thinking about my exams that are coming up in January. Quite a stressful time. There seems to be a lot going on. 4.Where have I just come from? I've just got home from the gym. Popped to the gym after school so i'm fairly tired. I had a 5 period day today and I need to go shopping later on because there's a party on Saturday and I need a new dress. I can do my school work when I get home tonight or in a free tomorrow. 5.What do I want? I want people to like me. I want people to think i'm perfect.I guess I kind of wish they'd envy me. I try and succeed with everything in life, which means i'm normally quite busy. I want to look the best and I will try and do that even if it means not eating for a couple of days, or wearing a few extra layers of foundation. I want to be in the fashion industry so that's what you have to do. Beauty is pain. 6. Why do I want it? Because I don't want people bitching about me. School is a bitchy place and it's only going to get worse in the real world. I want to be able to fit in and caring probably a little bit too much about my appearance is something that needs to be done for me to be able to fit in. You have to fit in to stand out. 7.Why do I want it now? When else can I get it? I have a few more months left in this high school bubble. I've managed to conquer being a big fish in a little pond whilst at school, I need to prepare myself for life at uni. There's no point letting yourself go at this age. 8. What will happen if i dont get it now? I will get it now. I'll work for anything I want. I'm an ambitious girl. One of the things that I can control is my weight and my looks to a certain extent, I can manage that. If I dont get into the fashion world, i'll try harder until I do. If I don't get accepted into what's classed as the social norm then i'll change myself, If I dont get noticed i'll change myself, I'm not bothered. I will do whatever it takes to fit in. 9.How will I get what I want, by doing what? To get into the fashion industry you need to look right. So I just will do what ever that takes. I wont eat, i'll dye my hair, i'll buy new clothes. Anything. I just need to put myself out there, get talking to the right people. In that sort of industry it's not what you know, it's who you know... and often what you're willing to do with those people. I am driven, I just know it's not that simple to get what you want. 10. What must I overcome? I guess I need to overcome myself. My fears. My worries about not being accepted.
Boy: 1. Who am i? My name is Toby Wilson. I'm 18 years old and I live with both my mum and step dad. I go to sixth form and do my a-levels; Business, IT and Biology. I enjoy them, but could probably work a little harder. I'm not really sure what career I want. I know I want to go to uni to study business, but I haven't really thought about where that going to take me. I guess owning my own business would be nice. My mum and dad split up 3 years ago. But I still see dad when he's not too busy. Me and my step dad don't speak that much. Me and mum get on, but I think she worries about me and my school work. Apparently i'm clever; just lazy. I guess I see where she's coming from. I'm quite a sociable person. See my friends as often as I can. Would much rather be out than at home. I get so bored at home. 2. Where am i? In my car, just outside my house, just trying to organise where all my mates are. I think a couple of them are picking up, so i'll drive to their house in a bit. I have a part time job in a local pub to pay for my car and stuff. I'd hate to rely on mum, I'd feel really guilty. I spend most of my time driving around, girls seem to like the fact i'm happy to drive everywhere which I guess is a bonus. 3. When is it? Autumn 2012, about 9:30pm. Its a Thursday night. Have school tomorrow, so i'll try not to be out later than like mid night. It's really cold as well so I don't fancy staying at much longer anyway. 4. Where have i just come from? I was at sixth form earlier, then went home. Had a girl over. She's not my girlfriend, I think she wants to be but I cannot be bothered with the whole relationship thing. There's not much point. She's nothing that special, probably about a 6 or a 7. She's a nice girl. I wont call her easy, just... keen. I tried to do abit of school work when she left. Did a bit of my IT. Should probably be doing a bit more right now, but I just couldn't be in the house much longer. I needed a fag anyway and I'd rather see the boys. 5. What do i want? I dont know what I want. I want to be successful one day. I'm just not really sure how yet. Maybe I want to have a bit more focus and drive. I want to be someone that is naturally clever and never has to work for it. Half the time I slack because I don't want to start making the effort. I want my dad to notice, and try and help me out. It's hard not seeing him 24/7. But i'd never admit it because that makes me sound like a right melt. 6. Why do I want it? Because I feel insignificant, I dont know what I want. Teachers dont seem to care about you if you're not an A* star student or if you're completely failing. The people in-between dont get a look in. Im just average. I just go with the flow. I do everything I do just to fit in with what's going on with my friends. 7. Why do I want it now? I'm 18. Everything is about to begin in my life. If I get my grades for Uni, then that's what i'm doing next. I would like people to notice me a bit more. I want my dad to notice, and there's only a few more months for him to do that. I feel a bit like everything's happening incredibly quickly. Should probably get off my arse and work a bit harder. 8. What will happen if I don't get it now? I'll feel like i've failed. I'll just have to sit around and get some dead-pan job, live at home with mum and her partner. Might retake if my a-levels are that bad. 9. How will I get what I want, by doing what? I just need to get myself into gear. Stop smoking, stop going out every evening, stop seeing so many girls. I don't want a girlfriend, they take up to much time. I just need to focus on myself probably. Maybe take a bit of time talking to mum properly; perhaps even get to know my step dad a bit more. I think perhaps I should care. But whenever I care, something rubbish happens. 10. What must I overcome? My fear to un-achieving. I know that if i dont work for something i'll do bad. I just dont want to do a load of work and then fail, it will just be embarrassing. I hate embarrassing myself, especially in front of my friends. I need to overcome my bravado I guess. Stop being so lazy and arrogant and sort myself out.
There are going to be two main chracters in my piece, however we never hear them speak and we never see any of them as a whole. I want everything we see of them to be really fragmented, this mimics the fragmented social system we have, which is ultimatley stemmed from the media. Mass media is consumed within schools, mainly by teenagers. Media and Education is government run; this links nicely with my idea of using a little bit of Tony Blair's speech "Education Education Education".
Character One Brief Overview: Female 17 Years Old Blonde Would be considered a typical teenage girl, cares about what she looks like, cares about what other people think. Take a lot of time over her appearance.
Character Two: Male 18 Years Old Blonde Would be considered a "lad". Has a very big brovado. Takes on the typical alpha male role.
From the outside, if you looked at these characters without knowing anything about them you wouldnt think they have any worries at all, although each of them has a series of problems and worries.
One of the most effective ways of delving into a character is doing the ten RADA character questions; this is a drama technique to get to know a character that you're playing; however I want to understand these characters really well, so I can display them as well as possible.
Reverting my idea back to using surrealism I have a lot more scope in what and how I do things. I needed to have a think about some of the issues I could display in my short film and I had a chat with a few of my friends.
The main issue i've chosen to address is body image and being part of the social 'norm'. I understand that things such as body image, delving into problems like anorexia and bullemia is a very difficult subject to talk about, however because i'm approaching them in a surrealist way, so hopefully nothing I choose to do will be crass or disrespectful. The other issue I want to explore is being a part of the 'social norm'. As teenagers we do things that makes us seemingly fit in with our peers, things such as drinking and smoking; we know that there are severe health implications, however that doesnt cross our mind. I want to explore all these issues.
I almost dont want these issues to be completely prominent in my short film and they're not really the key themes. I still want the key theme to be growing up and the development throught school and the changes.
I want to begin the short somewhere really juvenille and innocent, perhaps a nursery school. I want to use the idea's researched before about using bright colours to display innocence and the memories we have when we're younger.
I think the thing that's going to make my piece have the more surrealist edge is the use of sound. I did some more research into surrealist practictioners such as Artaud and had a think about how sound really evokes feelings. This is the way I want to get audiences attention.
I love the use of fragmented sound, its really interesting to deconstruct the meaning of the sounds and what the overarching themes are. The interesting thing is that in surrealism its social issues are displayed not only in a more dramatic way, but also in a way that each individual person can relate to it however they want. This has always been something I want to get accross in my film.
I've realised that filming within different primary schools is going to be a very big challenge, one because of the age of some of the children, its going to be difficult to explain my idea and get them to do exactly what I want. Also, because i've emailed the local schools and they're being a nightmare about getting back to be and thirdly, after being in school for nearly 14 years I have realised what hoops staff have to jump through to allow filming and photography of the children. I thought I may be able to combat these last two problems by filming in a private nursery near my house, however i've just decided to adjust my idea slightly.
A had a slight panic when I thought about changing my idea, however I looked back over my previous research and remembered all the work I had looked into concerning surrealism. I've always liked the basic message of the surrealist movement.
Surrealist artists such as Dali, film makers such as Bunel and theatre practitioners such as Artaud all want to express something. They take social issues and then create something showing them at the absolute extreme. I like the idea of dealing with some kind of social issue. Perhaps a social issue that's incredibly current, yet timeless playing on the traditionally paradoxical theme of surrealism.
I realised that already, my original idea of education and the journey through school, is an idea in itself. Its plagued with different injustices that I can extract and play with.
Using "Education" as a heading a mind mapped a few ideas just to get my brain into gear. I thought about that political aspect of education. I did some research into the education sector and minister for education etc, however I found nothing inspiring...
...Until I had a eureka moment.
I was repeating the word education in my mind to try and evoke some sort of stimulus as idea's were running dry and then I remembered Tony Blairs 1996 pre election speech "Education, Education and Education"
It made me think about what politicians idea of what schools actually are like. The majority of MP's have most likely attended some of the most prestigious schools such as Eton and then jumped through hoops to attend either Oxford and Cambridge. This in itself surely is an injustice.
This made me think about what impact government decisions have on myself, as an average school girl. The only things that came to mind where the occasional change in grade boundaries and the scrapping of the national diploma's. Small things like that.
I suddenly realised how awful it is how little I do know about the educational sector of the government. I thought back to the last time me and my friends had a conversation about governments intervention with the state school system... probably never.
I then brain stormed all the things me and my friends do talk about. Key themes such as:
-Weight Loss
-People's smoking habits
-Boys
-Uni
-Parties.
I thought perhaps that this is something I could play on. Focussing the issues individual people go through, especially through their teen years at high school. Its relevant and extremely close to home.
Camera angles within film is incredibly important, its a sort of punctuation within the film, it breaks up the actions so it appears far more real.
Framing or Shot Length: 1. Extreme Long Shot (ELS) sometimes used as an establishing shot. The camera is the furthest distance from the subject. Emphasising the background.
2. Master Shot (MS) similar to an establishing shot, often used at the beginning or the end of the sequence as a reference point.
3. Establishing Shot (EL) Defines the location and gives the audience a perspective on the action that is to follow. The are often essential to the defining genre.
4. Medium Long Shot (MLS) When the shot focusses on the subject knee's upwards. Permits balance between the subject and surrounding.
5. Medium Shot. When the camera frames the actor from the waist up.
6. Close up (CU) Shows a small part of the scene and surroundings of the actor. Emphasises on something, such as a characters face and neck etc. All the detail needed.
7. Extreme Close Up (ECU) singles out a portion of the face, isolates certain detail and magnifies the focal point.
8. Point of View Shot. Camera is positioned to imply the camera is looking through the eye of the subject.
9. Two Shot. When two people alone are used in the shot.
10. Over the shoulder shot. When the camera is placed at shoulder level and is shot this way.
Camera Angles:
Straight on Angle. Most common angle used. The angle that is straight at eye line level facing straight.
High Angle Shot. A shot that captures the action or the subject from high up, looking down.
Low Angle Shot. Shot the captures the subject from a low angle looking up.
Shot Types: Rule of Thirds. This is a rule that is used often in photography. Its stated to be divided into 8 parts, by 2 lines going horizontally and vertically through it. The four points of connection are to aline features in the image. Its said to add balance. Tilt Shot. The camera is in the same position, but tilts up or down creating a more dramatic shot than a basic straight angle shot. Panning. Panning is the horizontal movement or rotation of the camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally.
Luckily I began doing this nice and early so left myself plenty of time to edit all of the bits needed like this. 
