Finally Filming!!!!!!!

After 2-3 weeks of script writing and perfecting we finally got down to business.
However filming wasn't easy but wasn't hard neither this was expected, there were some major changes made during filming and other happenings....

People and their positions:
Martin: Camera-Man/Director/Screenwriter/Script Supervisor
Ayo: 2nd Assistant Camera-Man/Co-Director/Actor/Co-Screenwriter
Paige: Floor Manager/Co-Screenwriter
Tasha(not a group participant; volunteered actor): Co-Floor Manager/Actor

Started Filming Date: 13/12/10
Finished Filming Date:15th Jan 2011 


1st Change (Character Design)
The original plan was to have a mysterious character and for the audience not to see the antagonist's face in the opening sequence. His appearance consisted of a white shirt, black trousers, black shoes, a damaged Trench-coat (that seems to be damaged by a wild animal of some sort) and a blood stained red tie. After two weeks of approaching our filming period we started to question our original concept... Then the week just before filming we decided to change the character as we came to the conclusion that this character design was too typical of horror character. According to our past studies a typical horror character would be fine for a high-budgeted film however as we are using college equipment and do not have large funds for this project, a less obvious character would be simpler to use also that it would increase the antagonist shock value(surprising/scaring the audience).

2nd Change (Location,Location,Location)
Our first location was supposed to be abandoned nearby park/graveyard for the 'chase scene', but just as our original character design this was too typical for a horror scene. We wanted to place the audience at a state of uneasiness. So we chose a small/occasionally populated tunnel in Waterloo; Bansky's Tunnel is a tunnel where graffiti is freelanced and is legal. As we agreed that the antagonist's face will be seen by the audience the tunnel fitted the antagonist's character better as he was young adult/old teenager and a tunnel filled with graffiti could be labelled as  a 'teenage habitat'.

3rd Change (Roles)
On our first day of filming we discovered a problem with Martin being the antagonist he was the only one with a steady camera hand out of the crew and cast. I was the only male available to replace him,so I became the actor for the role of the antagonist. This meant I had to learn the lines which 'shouldn't of took me time' as I was the co-scriptwriter. My appearance wasn't  too different than that of Martin's or Tasha's which good especially from Tasha because she was the victim I would approach her in the scene. So our appearances being on similar terms meant that our random encounter would look more natural as it is a method of 'chatting up a girl/getting contact information off a girl'(that the out going person admires) that a contemporary and even an universal audience could relate to. Consequently the audience will not see the antagonist with suspicious eye so they will be no exposure of our antagonist's actual dark plan.

4th Change (Script-Speech)
 So as I became the actor for the antagonist, even though I was one of the contributors to writing the script I didn't know the antagonist's lines and as we already was planning to film we couldn't call it a day and film the day after instead. Fortunately my lines were not a lot to learn, i remembered some of them and I understood the plot well so I was able to use a little improvisation without from diverting or missing vital lines. Tasha too also claimed to have real experiences of turning down interested males so she naturally knew how to respond if I trailed off the script. Like the role-changing there was a pearl in an oyster, the adding of improvisation made our acting more realistic as my character would've had to have been spontaneous if he had been in a similar real life situation. So all was well and ended OK :).

5th Change (Script-Background and Action)
Originally our intention for the background story of the script was the victim to be on their way to work and the antagonist sees the victim from his bedroom window as he is fixing his tie in the morning. Then he follows the victim so he can plan to execute his attack.However! Due to limited locations and the time-scale we were given, this idea had to be scraped! (Also regarding the fact the clip was roughly meant to be two minutes long). So we decided that the victim would be making their way to college in the morning and was using her normal route via the tunnel innocently and has no idea that she will being having a 'killing encounter' while our 'hungry' antagonist sees 'fresh meat' approaching him. Once the knowledge has been acquired she's in danger she runs through the tunnel and accidently runs into a dead end and then goes into flux of panic. At this point the antagonist says nothing and seems to value the actual killing of the victim.

Genre presentations

Film Poster

Title: Adulthood
Director: Noel Clarke
Writer: Noel Clarke
Main Cast and their roles:
Noel Clarke (Sam Peel)
Scarlett Johnson (Lexi)
Adam Deacon (Jay)
Jacob Anderson (Omen)
Femi Oyeniran (Robert)
Red Madrell (Alisa)
Ben Drew  aka Plan B (Dabs)
Cornell S.John (Uncle)
Nathan Constance (Ike)
Genre:  Action/Social Realism
Budget: n/a
Gross Revenue: £3,347,811
Sequel of: Kidulthood
I had to research on the social realist genre. Then present my research via a Powerpoint presentation and discuss   social realist films generally and how the case study film I chose fits the genre or if it doesn't. Social realist films tend to place the audience out of their comfort zone similar to horror films, however horror films are more extreme. They place the audience out of the fantasy world that big budgeted mainstream films place them in and slap the audience's face with reality. Social realism allows the audience to understand the everyday life of a character based on people around the world like a cinematic documentary experience. Due to this most protagonists of social realist films are tragic heroes or are good people dying tragic deaths. These films tend to be aimed to leave the audience with some food for thought regarding their mentality, their insight and their lifestyle.  


The themes that usually show up in social realist films are based on real life issues;tensions between rich and poor, the benefits /drawbacks of law& politics, people cultures, depression, the struggles of 'social rejects'/ 'social minorities', racism, sexism, crime, domestic violence, drugs, prostitution and other realistic themes. Social realist often voice out the feelings and emotions of an unheard group of people and question things that a single person or a group of  people would be scared to express vocally.


The storyline of adulthood (from imdb) :
Six years after Sam Peel is released from jail for killing Trife, he realizes that life is no easier on the outside than it was on the inside and he's forced to confront the people he hurt the most. Some have moved on, others are stuck with the repercussions of his actions that night, but one thing's for certain - everyone has been forced to grow up. Through his journey Sam struggles to deal with his sorrow and guilt and something else he didn't expect - those seeking revenge. As he's pursued by a new generation of bad boys, Sam sets about trying to get the message across to his pursuers that they should stop the violence, much like Trife tried to tell him all those years ago. Can Sam stop the cycle of violence and make something positive from the destruction he caused or will his journey into Adulthood end here?


Derived from my research, my respect for social realism has increased, I respected the genre before but as I previously touched on, I value the voice of the film which (in this genre) tends to express the voice of the voiceless views of society. 

Learning about filming techniques

Preliminary Task

  We were introduced into the 180 degrees rule in class then told to make a short 30second video using the rule and make a quick script in a hour working in teams of three this was our Preliminary Task. Jack,Sonia and I were my group and we managed to finish script making and recording in our hour lesson.
The task was to make a short trailer of a film that was set in school and the genre we could decide so decided to do a teenage drama in school and to start the trailer with me asking to borrow Sonia's homework as an example to do my own.
Despite the 'trailer' form of our work we didn't put effort into planning as we mainly focusing displaying our new found skills.
I enjoyed this task it was nice and simple, acting with Sonia was good too, she seemed to be able to comfortably think of what responses to make if i improvised. Sonia and Jack were both patient people to work with as a few mistakes were made and shots had to be taken from different angles to explore more professional aspects of filming i guess.

I would like to have both of them in my group for the later opening sequence task because we work well together.