Audience Research

Looking at the book's target audience it seems to have no exact specification to what audience to appeal to. Due to this we decided to aim for young adults to adult age, I do not believe that the story line is eligible for younger public. Therefor due to the violence and manner of the film an older target audience was best suited to the film.

Actor Research

As our film opening is based around the protagonist of an 17 year old boy it became very simple for us to find an actor of that age group as it matched our own, we needed someone who related well to the character and had some acting experience yet this wasn't completely needed as there was no dialog involved and only minor scans of their body. In the end we went for Tom Downey who luckily is doing drama a-level and also media so would understand the process of filming ect. He fitted the role perfectly and did an amazing job with putting up with 4 girls for the whole day.  

Costume Research

Due to our deep research on Peter we wanted his costume to fit mostly his personality but his age and his male sexuality. This then lead us to look at the death wish poster and the overall feel about the letter and what occur further on in the book. Therefore we decided on a black rolled sleeve top, blue jeans and white trainers. With this look we believed that we captured Peters look with the added prop of the large lense glasses really added to the darkness and aroma of Peter's character. 

 

Props Research

For our opening many props were needed due to the protagonists personality and how jodi picoult describes him in the opening chapters. This information also added to the decoration of the set what would be appropriate for a 17 year old boys bedroom. Due to the book being set in america we had other challenges to face as we need to incorporate certain implications that it is based in America as we were based in England therefore we expressed this by buying American based sweets that could give key points to an American based society. Peters glasses were a large influence to his character this lead us to purchase some large lensed glasses to incorporate is announced 'nerdiness'

 

    

Also we wanted to include the band that was stated he liked and also brought about more about his personality,and a collage of other school shootings to foreshadow the upcoming rest of the film as to suggest it wasn't an impulse shooting but a thoughtful process he had confided to.   

Props List:

• Death Wish poster
• DVD’s (Star Trek, Superman, Doctor Who, X-Men etc.)
• Bin (which is overflowing)
• Laptop
• Laptop Mouse
• Chair
• Desk
• Metal Frame Bed
• Pot of Pencils
• Desk Lamp
• Dirty Socks
• Bowl of old, uneaten cereal
• Monster Energy Drink
• Books (fiction, non-fiction)
• Superman tin lunch box
• Black dressing gown
• Clock
• American sweet wrappers
• Newspaper cuttings (linked to shootings)
• Glasses

Location Research

Once all the theoretical attributes were finished we started thinking practically; first where are we going to shot. We discussed many places, then i suggested my older brothers attic room. This location became a success as it was a smaller room; that brought around filming difficulties, yet it was inclosed and was painted to suit a teenage boys room. Because of separation of the room compared to the rest of the house enabled well with the plot of the book as it suggests that the protagonist would want the exclusion from everyday life.

Due to the need of a desk in the room we were able to create a desk out of draws, a plank of wood and some table legs. This then finalised the creative outlook and the perfect setup of our opening.

Shot List

My group and I found after drawing up the Story board that we did not include as many shots as originally thought, although this due to our opening to keep information hidden the use of more close up shots help keep the audience attracted by not revealing large amount of story line.  

Story Board

Story Board; a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television production.

What is the purpose; the purpose of a story board is to bring the written screenplay into a visual picture and to get and understanding of the shots that may be used and how expression, position, depth etc will come across in the production. 

Challenges faced; our first challenge with writing the screenplay was deciding which shots to present the greatest story line and connected well with what was occurring in the section. Therefor we wrote our shot list at the same time to be able connect them together. 

  

Sketches

Once we had decided and finalized our ideas we have adapted the book into the protagonist Peter sitting at a desk in his bedroom typing on a computer his suicidal note. From the information in the book we found he likes a band called Death Wish, lives in america, is seen to be quite nerdy and is bullied. Therefore to involve this information we incorporated a poster, american sweets and books and films that may be seen for his personality and preference to watch.  

This image is a ruff sketch of the setup that the room may look like and we hope to achieve. 

   

Film Treatment

Film Title: Nineteen Minutes

Production Name: MAGC Productions

Film Duration: 2 Minutes


Roles
Director: Chloe Kennedy
Assistant Director: Grace Chambers
Production Manager: Andrea Simpson
Camera Man: Maisie Baker


Characters
Peter Houghton: Tom Downey


Costumes
Peter Houghton
* Peter will be wearing wire rimmed glasses, as described in the book. He will wear the typical clothing of a 17 year old boy, a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans and some trainers. His hair will be very neat


Synopsis:
Sterling is a small town in New Hampshire, and the home of Lacy Houghton, whose job as a midwife is to bring new life in to the world. But on March 6th, her son Peter did the complete opposite, when he walked into his high school with a gun instead of books, shooting down 10 people. The book travels between the time before and after the shooting occurred, showing the knock on effect that the shooting has on everyone around Peter. As the narrative continues, we begin to realise that despite Lacy’s every efforts, she barely knew her son at all, and we follow the turmoil as Lacy wonders if there was something she could have done to stop Peter. The novel creates many questions in our head, especially, is the victim ever allowed to strike back?


Setting:
We have chosen to set our film in a bedroom location, and then dress the bedroom to fit Peter’s personality, perhaps with posters over the wall, and a computer in the corner on which he will write his letter.