R&P Post 17: Casting

Casting:

When it came to casting we used a website called Star Now  which is a website which allows talented actors, musicians, models, dancers, photographers and more to be connected with casting professionals. We looked at various different actors for our film 
project but eventually decided on these two actors to play Maya and Drew for our film:

Maya will be played by Cqimere Douglas

We chose Cqimere Douglas, aged 22 years old and educated at the BRIT School and Identity School of Acting, to play the role of Maya because she has a distinctive look to make Maya's character more memorable for the audience, making her stand out more as a result. She is also quite a confident and cheeky person which strongly suited Maya's character. 

Drew will be played by Hytham Sympa

Coach Stiles will be played by Shakiel Bahia

For Drew, we decided to cast Hytham Sempa, educated at the BRIT School to play this character because he is a confident and bold person, who again had quite a strong look to make Drew stand out more to the audience. Also, Hytham has many years of experience which convinced us that he would be able to play Drew's character to the best that it could be. 

When we were doing our location planning and went to look at McKenzie's Boxing Gym, one of the coaches who actually trains people at McKenzie's said that he would be happy to star in our film as Coach Stiles. This is really helpful for us because, as he is in fact an actual boxing coach in everyday life, he has the knowledge and experience of being a boxing coach, making him very well suited to playing our own character of Coach Stiles. But as well as this he will be able to teach our other actors any tips and tricks for boxing as they are not very experienced in boxing. 




Now we have planned what props and costumes we need and what location we are going to use we are pretty much ready to film. Come back soon for an update on our final script and storyboard!

R&P Post 16: Costume Planning

Costumes:

In terms of costumes we are only going to use quite simplistic, everyday clothes to give our opening scene a more natural and realistic feel to give a sense that our film is about someone's real life. When deciding what exact costumes our characters should wear, we looked at what people wear to the gym in general. For example:

We also looked at what clothing boxer fighters wear:

As our film project is only shooting the opening sequence of our feature film and we want this to be about the beginning of Maya's story as an aspirational boxer, we have decided for our costumes that we are going to use gym clothes instead of traditional boxer fighting clothing which you can see just above. Later on in our film we will build up to a big fight scene where you see our characters wearing this particular type of clothing to show how our main character, Maya, is really aiming to be a professional boxer. 

The costumes that we are planning to use for each character are relatively similar; this is  an outline of what each character will wear:

• Maya: sport leggings, hoodie, waterproof jacket (only when entering the boxing gym)and trainers.

• Drew: jogging shorts with sport leggings underneath, vest and trainers.

• Coach Stiles: tracksuit bottoms, hoodie/sweatshirt and trainers. 

R&P Post 15: Prop Peparation

So once we had chosen where to shoot our opening sequence we had to think about what props and costumes we would need for the day of filming.  This is a draft list we created when thinking about what props we would need:

Once we had created this list we had to think about where we would get these props and how we would get them to the location when it came to shooting.

For our props, the boxing equipment (speedball, punch bags, boxing gloves and hand wraps) will be supplied by McKenzie's Boxing Gym itself as they said that they would allow us to borrow some of their equipment as props.

Then for the other two remaining props (the gym/equipment bag and the headphones) will be provided by the actress who is going to play Maya.

So this means that our group will not actually need to bring any props for the filming day which makes things easier for ourselves and more practical.

R&P Post 14: Location Planning Update

Hello there, welcome back! Our group have now decided on which boxing gym we are going to film our opening sequence at. Keep reading for more information:

When we got together as a group and looked at the different possibilities for our filming location, we decided that as Left Hook boxing Club was in South-East London, this was too far for our group to travel. This left us with Miguel's Boxing Gym and McKenzie's Boxing Fitness. When we phoned up Miguel's Boxing Gym they told us that we would not be able to film there because they could not permit filming on their premises. This meant that we only had two options left.


So we then tried McKenzie's Boxing Fitness. They were very helpful and enthusiastic about our project over the phone and told us that we would be allow to film there. As well as this, they also gave us a date and said that we can film on Saturday 25/2/17 and that if we need another Saturday we can have it. This is perfect for our group as a whole and we have all made sure that we have no plans for this day, just filming.

R&P Post 13: Location Planning

For our location planning we looked at various different boxing gyms to film at. These are the different places we looked at: 

Miguel's Boxing and Fitness Gym:

Miguel's boxing gym is situated in Brixton, South West London and caters for people of all abilities. It would be a good place for us to film our opening sequence because the gym itself is a wide, open space with many punch bags which we will need to use for our filming.

Left Hook Boxing Club:

Established in 1992 by professional boxer Enzo Giordano and amateur boxer Oner Avara, Left hook Boxing Club provides boxing training for abilities; for both recreational and competitive boxers to train and compete. It is located in South East London. As well as this, this particular boxing gym has lots of equipment that we could use for our opening sequence including punch bags, uppercut bags, skipping ropes, medicine balls and more, and it also has boxing ring which we need for our last scene.

Photo of the interior view of Left Hook Boxing Club

McKenzie's Boxing Fitness:

Situated in East Dulwich, London, McKenzie's boxing gym which was founded by Clinton McKenzie, a former boxing champion who represented Great Britain in the 1976 Olympics which took place in Canada. This boxing gym also has a variety of equipment available, such as a range of punch bags, speedballs, cycling machines and it has a boxing ring as well. The range of speedballs available in particular will be very useful for our opening sequence as we have storyboarded our opening shot to be of Maya practicing her technique at a speedball. Here are some photographs of McKenzie's boxing gym:

Overall from this research into various different locations for our opening sequence we have now got three different possible locations for our opening sequence. Come back next time for an update on our location planning!

R&P Post 12: Refining our Characters

For our opening sequence we have decided to include only three characters for its entirety. Here is who they are:

Maya Cordero:
Features of Maya's personality:

• Determined
• Tough and strong
• Independent
• Lonely (due to her father being away much of the time)
• Skilled boxer who loves boxing.

Maya is an 18 year-old girl who has a strong passion for boxing and hopes to become a professional boxer one day. As the main character in our opening sequence we chose to make her into a counter-stereotype instead of a traditional stereotype. This is because she is a female character who loves fighting which goes against the typical expectations of the audience that boxing is simply a sport for men only. Consequently, by reversing their traditional expectations, the audience becomes more interested in the film and what is happening in front of them.

Drew Myers:

Features of Drew's personality:

• Cheeky
• Hard-working
• Diligent
• Observant
• Caring
• Passionate boxer

Drew is a nineteen year-old boy who is also a very talented boxer who is typically portrayed in our film as "the perfect one", making him more of a stereotypical character, although this is not necessarily true as the audience later finds out. He comes from a wealthy background but his parents do not approve of his passion for boxing as it is a violent sport. In spite of this Drew continues to box and aims to improve his boxing ability every day he trains.  

Coach Stiles:

Features of Coach Stiles' personality:

• Motivational
• Zealous
• Wise and knowledgeable
• Good adviser
• Pushes people beyond their comfort zones.

Coach Stiles, now in his later thirties, is a European ex-champion boxer who won many world-famous titles during his boxing career. Now retired, he has set up his very own boxing gym to help aspiring boxers reach their absolute best. Two of his youngest clients are Maya and Drew who he constantly pushes to reach their highest potential.

R&P Post 11: Drafting Our Script

Hi there! Welcome back to another research and planing post! In this post you will learn about our ideas for our script and how we are planning it out. 

Once we had started to draft our storyboard, we then began to create a a script for our opening sequence. Our ideas for our script have mostly come from how we want to portray our characters and what their personalities are like. As well as this, however, we drafted our script based on the action that we want to happen during our opening scene. For example, as it is a sports/drama film about boxing, we want to have a scene of boxing played out by our actors during the beginning of our script. 

Below you can see the pictures of our drafted script:

Now we have drafted our full storyboard and script we can begin completing our final versions of both of these, allowing us to be prepared for our filming day.

R&P Post 10: Drafting our Storyboard

Hello again! We now have an update on our plans for our opening sequence as we have started to draft our storyboard and brainstorm our ideas for our project:

For our storyboard what we did was all separately think about different shots for our storyboard and we then created different parts of the storyboard from this. Then we all got together as a group and looked at the sections of the storyboard that each person of our group had created and put it all together, with improvements here and there, into one storyboard for the whole of our opening sequence. Here you can see the part of the storyboard that I drafted:

When we had our storyboard meeting, we did use most of what each member of our group had already created but we also changed some parts here and there. For example, the third shot of the drafted storyboard above was changed into a medium shot of Coach Stiles calling Maya's name in the background, whilst Maya remains in the front of the frame rather than having an extreme close-up of Coach Stiles calling Maya as I planned in my storyboard. The change of this shot was definitely an improvement on our storyboard and we all discussed any changes with each other, in order to make sure that everyone was happy with any changes made and also to see if anyone had any more suggestions for further improvements. 

Come back again later to see how we have begun to develop our script!

R&P Post 9: Planning our Characters

Hi there! Welcome back to another research and planning post! In this post you will learn about how we have planned out our characters and summaries of what they are going to be like.

Outline of our characters:

• Maya Cordero: Maya is our main character for our film and the audience's attention will be centred around her. She is a strong, hard-working and resilient character who has a great talent for boxing but she has also grown up in a damaged household as a teenager as her mother passed away when she was just fourteen.
• Drew Myers: Playful yet diligent, Drew is another important character in our film who is a also a gifted boxer. Unlike Maya, he comes from a wealthy and privileged background and is an intelligent and observant person.
• Coach Stiles: Coach Stiles is also a significant character in our opening sequence. As an ex-champion boxer he is very knowledgeable about boxing and has many years of experience behind him.

Where did we get our ideas and inspiration for our characters from?

Maya:

When our group got together to brainstorm ideas for what we wanted our characters to be like, we started by researching similar characters in films that had already been made. For Maya we looked at films which included a strong female boxer as the main lead, such as Girlfight (2000) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). Each of these films star a female character who is training to be a professional boxer. In both films this character is represented as a resilient person who wants to defy the expectations of people around her, as they think that women are not good enough to do this. However, both Maggie Fitzgerald and Diane Guzman are portrayed as strong female characters who are determined to be excellent boxers, particularly Diane Guzman who is usually viewed as a trouble-maker by those around her but the audience soon sees she is much more than this and she is actually seen to put those who undermine her in their place.

                                       
















In regard to our own film, the way in which these characters are portrayed in both of these films is how we want our character of Maya to come across. Our aim as a group is to represent Maya as a resilient, hard-working girl who has a significant passion for fighting and defies the expectations of those around her, just like the main characters in both Girlfight and Million Dollar Baby.

Coach Stiles:
When it came to Coach Stiles we decided that we wanted to represent him as more of a stereotype rather than a counter-type like Maya. For this we took inspiration from several different films, including Bleed For This (2016), A League Of Their Own (1992), Remember The Titans (2000) and The Rookie (2002). All of these films have strong coaches who are strict with their trainees but give them positive feedback on how to improve.

From this research we decided as a group that we wanted to represent Coach Stiles in a very similar way to the way in which the coaches in these films were represented. The way in which we are planning to portray Coach Stiles is as how he is someone who pushes people beyond their limits to get the best out of their abilities but also someone who cares about his trainees and gives constructive feedback for improvement. 

Drew:

Unlike our other two characters, we came up with Drew's character by ourselves. We did take part of the idea from drama/sports films in general but we came up with Drew's particular personality traits ourselves. From other boxing films we saw that the main character- the boxer- was usually accompanied by their coach and their sexual partner throughout the entirety of the film. Although Drew could have represented Maya's potential boyfriend, we decided not to make this clear during our opening sequence in order to make the audience more intrigued by Drew so that some of their focus would be directed to other characters instead of just Maya.

So there you have a summary of what our characters are going to be like. However, to find out more information about our characters come back again soon for an update on the details of our characters.

R&P Post 8: Our Synopsis and Plot

Hello, welcome back! Our group have now developed a plot for our film project which you can read about here:

Synopsis of our film:

Maya is an aspiring boxer who has grown up in a damaged life. Her mother died when she was only fourteen hers old and her father has now re-married and often stays with his new family in a different house but Maya refuses to come, leaving her on her own frequently. Many people do not have faith in Maya and do not think that she will succeed in life. However, she regularly attends "McKenzie's Boxing Gym" where she finds security and happiness and loves to box. Maya's coach is named Coach Stiles. He is an ex-champion boxer who really believes in Maya's boxing potential despite being very tough on her. Drew is a nineteen year old boy who comes from a wealthy background. He is also a very skilled boxer and loves the sport. As well as this, he is a cheeky character who likes to be helpful. Maya likes him but does not show it and acts in the opposite way around him. However, as time goes on Drew and Maya get to know one another more and start to become friends. Meanwhile, Coach Stiles keeps pushing Maya past her limits to be the become a better and better boxer. With the help of her coach and the encouragement of Drew, Maya becomes a champion boxer.

Below you can watch an animated video of our synopsis:

Plot of our opening sequence:
The entirety of our opening sequence is filmed in a boxing gym. The film opens with Maya walking into the gym. She then practices her technique at the speedball, only to be soon called over by her coach. He calls her over to a punch bag to practice her punching skills and pushes her hard until he is satisfied with her technique. After this, Coach Stiles then leaves the scene, allowing Maya to take a break. As she takes a break he catches Drew looking and smirking at her. A little dialogue is exchanged between them before he asks her to show him her boxing skills. At first she refuses but then eventually accepts. They have a small fight in the boxing ring which ends with Maya knocking Drew to the floor. The scene then fades out and ends.

And there we have the summary of our film idea. I hope you like it and think that it is an interesting and stimulating idea. Stop by again soon for more updates on our casting, location, costumes and more! See you again soon

R&P Post 7: Researching Film Festivals

Welcome to my sixth Research and Planning post! In this post I will look at different independent film festivals that would be suitable for playing a role in distributing my groups' film project. Enjoy reading!

London Independent Film Festival:

The London Independent Film Festival (LIFF) is an annual British film festival which takes place in April. It was founded in 2004 by Erich Schultz and focuses on low-budget independent films. The combination of this concentration on independent film-making and low budgets makes this film festival ideal for our film as we only have a small budget and are choosing independent UK-based film production companies to create our film.

 LIFF winners from 2016 include:

British Independent Film Festival:

Organised by the Film Festival Guild, an international company who specialise in organising events that feature the best film and animation from across the world, the British Independent Film Festival is run by independent filmmakers for independent filmmakers. It provides the opportunity for these filmmakers to have their movies screened at red-carpet-style venues which attract a wide audience including journalists, film professionals and students and also the general public. This film festival would be a good distribution choice for our groups' films as well as it focuses on the talent of independent filmmakers which is what we are. Also, we will have access to a wider audience, enabling us to expand beyond our own target audience which will mean that more people will see our film, hopefully allowing it to get a wider and better critical reception.                         
            


British Independent Film Awards (BIFA):

The British Independent Film Awards is an annual film ceremony which looks at the most creative and inventive filmmakers and their films in the UK. It was founded by Elliot Grove and Suzanne Ballantyne in 1998, who founded the Raindance Film Festival, a worldwide-famous independent film festival located in major cities across the world, in 1993 as well. Winners of the BIFA from 2016 include Moonlight (won Best International Independent Film), I, Daniel Blake (won Best Actor) and American Honey (won four awards including Best British Independent Film). This film festival would also be good to distribute our film because it highlights the skill and creativity of independent filmmaking, and as we are ourselves independent filmmakers, BIFA would be a suitable choice for our film.

R&P Post 6: Researching Online Film Distributors

Hiya! I hope you have found my blog interesting so far and are still excited to read more about my current project. In this post I am going to look at different distribution companies that our group have decided would be suitable for our film. Enjoy!

Vimeo:

Vimeo was founded in 2004 by  Jake Lodwick and  Zach Klein. It is a global video-sharing website on which users can upload, view and share various videos. Also, Vimeo is a subsidiary of the U.S internet and media company IAC (InterActiveCorp) who have over 150 brands across 100 different countries.

Since the December of 2013, Vimeo has attracted over 100 visitors per month and has over 22 million registered users. This demonstrates the extent of its success and popularity and shows just how many people visit the site. During the October of 2007, the company announced their support for high definition playback (in 720p) which made it the first video-sharing site to support consumer HD. This meant that its videos were now higher quality, allowing people to enjoy them more.

Vimeo would be a suitable choice for our film distribution company because it is widely used by the younger generations who are a key part of our target audience, enabling our group to get our film out to our chosen audience. Also, due to its high video quality, more people will be able to enjoy watching our film which will hopefully give it a better and wider critical reception. Furthermore, it is free to upload videos onto this website meaning that we will not actually have to pay for distribution which will allow us to do more with our film as we will have a bigger budget.


Dailymotion:

Based in France, Dailymotion is a video-sharing website which allows people to watch, upload as well as share various videos. It was founded in March 2005  by Benjamin Bejbaum and Olivier Poitrey from the living room of Poitrey's apartment in Paris. Dailymotion is also owned by the French multinational media conglomerate Vivendi which, like Dailymotion, has its headquarters located in Paris.

Additionally, this website is available across the world as it is accessible in 35 different countries, in 18 various languages. As a website, it offers a range of content for its users, premium partners and independent creators. Dailymotion is also one of the biggest video platforms in the world.

One of the main reasons why Dailymotion would be a good choice for distributing our film is that it shows a range of content from independent filmmakers. As we our independent filmmakers ourselves, this means that our film would be able to fit into this website. In addition to this, it is also free to upload videos onto this site, just like Vimeo, which again means that we will have more money to spend on improving our film.


Mubi:

Formally known as The Auteurs, Mubi was founded in 2007 by entrepreneur Efe Carakel who originally created the site as a social network for cinephiles. Currently, Mubi is a global film website which offers a video-on-demand service at the price of a monthly subscription and is avaible in over 200 territories in the world. It is available on a range of devices, including smartphones, tablets PlayStation3 and smart televisions and can also be accessed in a variation of languages, such as English, German, Norwegian, Italian, Turkish and more.

Our film would benefit from having Mubi as our distributor because they only have low licensing fees as they limit their availability to 30 days. This will mean that we will not have to pay a lot of money in order to distribute our film, enabling our budget to be larger. Also, although the site primarily shows arthouse film, it is also a big distributor of independent film, allowing our film to fit into this category.


BBC iPlayer:

As well as all of the above companies, we are also considering BBCiPlayer as a distributor for our film like I mentioned in my previous post. We are considering this company as well because it is widely used across the UK by several different groups of people, but particularly young people who are he main part of our target audience.

                      Here are some of the films that BBC iPlayer is currently showing:

                            
               

                                                           


Although BBCiPlayer does show a range of well-stablished an popular films, it does also show some much less well-known films, for example Passion (2012) (had a budget of $20 million but only grossed $1.3 million worldwide). As this site shows a range of independent and non-independent films, our film would be able to fit into this site and people all over the UK would be able to watch it, making this site a suitable choice for distributing our film.