A proposal for an age rating for the White Room

The age rating that I would give The White Room based on the factors provided on the BBFC website would be 12. There are multiple factors that the age rating for a (short) film is based on. However there are only a few which feature in our film. There is no discrimination, drugs, threat, nudity or sex in our film however, there are four factors that could apply to our short film. 

There is no promotion of imitable behaviour in our film, however, it does feature. Promotion could be seen as the films protagonists carrying out certain behaviour that could be considered illegal. The biggest example of this in modern films is drugs. However, all the illegal activities or imitable behaviour is carried out by the antagonists. There is a long scene about the two antagonists, Wayne and Aaron talking about how they plan to kidnap the main protagonist Christopher. The end scene is Aaron putting the plan in motion and kidnapping Christopher. The scene ends before anything too graphic is shown however. There are no weapons used as Aaron uses his strength to overpower Christopher. Even though there is no promotion of this kind of behaviour the audience is still supposed to see Aaron as a victim. He is displayed as Wayne's goon and has no choice in what he does. He doesn't want to kidnap or hurt any one and Wayne is the one making him do it. Even though they may pity Aaron, they still don't feel influenced by his behaviour as they know that it is wrong due to him still being portrayed as an antagonist. 

Bad language is the main reason why the rating of the film may be increased to a 15. Typically a film rated 12, 12A or below doesn't feature any swear words that could be considered "strong". However, the second line in the whole film is Wayne saying "Cos we don't have any fucking money". That is potentially enough to raise the film up to a 15 rating, however, it does state that the odd use is acceptable but repeated uses of foul language will definitely make the film a 15. Other than the odd use of bad language in the first scene, there is no other uses of bad language in The White Room. This could also link to the films imitable behaviour as the only time bad language is used heavily or aggressively in the short film is by the antagonists. There is a minor use by Christopher when he says his degree is going "shit", however, when put in context, it is a lot less aggressive than when Wayne or Aaron swear and he swears a lot less. 

The violent scene in the film is not a very long one at all. It is a scene of Christopher walking towards the camera. It then cuts to Aaron hiding behind a wall. As Christopher passes by he begins to follow him and then violently grab him from behind. However, before the scene can get too graphic the film ends. There is a lot of talk about the kidnapping between Aaron and

Gaining feedback

Before finishing the project we felt that it would be of great importance to change the film depending on how our target audience felt about our short film. In order to do this we showed the film it our CDM class as that they are all between the ages of 17 and 19 which means that they fit within our target group. As well as this I felt that it would be necessary to allow for impartial feedback from people who do not know us personally. In order to attain this I set up a survey on www.Survaymonkey.co.uk and posted a link to it on Reddit under a section of the website devoted to surveys

On the survey I asked only two questions the first being "on a scale of one to ten how do you feel that this film fits into the genre of suspenseful- thriller films" and the second was "if there was something you could change our film what would it be"

Above: The survey monkey as well as.an example of a response 

The focus group meeting watch the film 

It was this meeting that lead to us to us deciding to edit the opening scenes music and adding a dark filter.

Planning matching production

The planning matches the storyboard at the end of the final scene. You see Aaron, the kidnapper, approach Chrotopher from behind and grab him. The shot then fades to black. This is what happens in the actually scene in the film. This is an example of the storyboard (planning) matching the actually product.

final film

Following the storyboard

Below is evidence of the final shoot for our short film, The White Room, matching a piece os planning that we produced in pre-production before the film. It matches some parts of the storyboard. The storyboard shows Aaron following Christopher and grabbing him at the end. This is also shown in the film screenshot below and is evidence that our shooting matched the storyboard. I thought that a cut to black before the kidnapping really got started would leave the audience interested and wanting more as they would want to know what has happened to Christopher. I thought suspense would be a good technique to use for a crime thriller as it makes the audience feel nervous and excited which is what we would want our film to make them feel.

Although the storyboard was made before the films production and sometimes people don't stick to it, our group has stuck to it well and our final film shows it multiple times.

Below is another example. Although every shot doesn't match, a lot of them are used in our film. These include a close up of Matt (Aaron) opening the door to leave his house. and a shot of each character tying their shoes. Although the shot of Matt (Aaron) getting the balaclava out of his draw is slightly different, as is the shot of Aaron coming his hair, it still takes inspiration from the storyboard, as do most of the shots we used in the first section of the film. The shot of Aaron combing his hair actually features Joe (Christopher) in the final film. The shot of Joe (Chistopher) putting on his shoes starts blurred and out of focus and then fades in to focus. Although this is nto mentioned in the storyboard, it was added for effect but still tooka lot of insperation from the storyboard.

Offline edit

When editing the final footage of a film together it is common for studios to create an offline edit which is cut of the film which has no effects added to it at all no music, no visual effects and no liner or non- liner editing. This means that the editor can get a good sense of the tone they are trying to convey before beginning work. We decided that it would be in our teams interest to create an offline edit of the white room so that we could more easily decide on the final shots which we wanted to use and in what order. Specifically this applied to sequences such as the opening crosscutting scene and the final kidnapping scene. It is important to note that this edit was created before the final cut was prepared which means that some of the shots may not be the same versions as the ones used in the final product and it will be longer than the final film as that shots are not cut down for the purposes of editing. As well as this they be out of order of have audio issues which will be corrected in the future.

Evidence of Logging Rushes & Creating Edit Decision List

TITLE: White Room Edit Decision List

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

001  AX      NONE  C        00:00:00:00 00:01:21:22 00:00:00:00 00:01:21:22

* FROM CLIP NAME: Part 1.mp4

AUD  3    4

002  AX      AA    C        00:01:22:19 00:02:15:10 00:01:22:19 00:02:15:10

* FROM CLIP NAME: Part 1.mp4

003  AX      V     C        00:00:00:00 00:02:14:10 00:00:00:00 00:02:14:10

* FROM CLIP NAME: Part 1.mp4

004  AX      V     C        00:02:14:10 00:02:14:10 00:02:14:10 00:02:14:10

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

004  AX       V    W000 025 23:00:01:00 00:00:20:13 00:02:14:10 00:02:35:23

EFFECTS NAME IS W000

* FROM CLIP NAME: Part 1.mp4

* TO CLIP NAME: MVI_2416.mp4

005  AX      AA    C        00:00:00:00 00:00:21:00 00:02:15:10 00:02:36:10

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_2416.mp4

006  AX      V     C        00:00:00:00 00:00:20:13 00:02:15:10 00:02:35:23

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_2416.mp4

007  AX      V     C        00:00:20:13 00:00:20:13 00:02:35:23 00:02:35:23

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

007  AX      V     W000 025 23:00:00:12 00:03:00:22 00:02:35:23 00:05:37:07

EFFECTS NAME IS W000

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_2416.mp4

* TO CLIP NAME: Part 2(2).mp4

008  AX      AA    C        00:00:00:00 00:03:01:22 00:02:36:10 00:05:38:07

* FROM CLIP NAME: Part 2(2).mp4

009  AX      V     C        00:03:00:22 00:03:00:22 00:05:37:07 00:05:37:07

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

009  AX      V     W000 025 23:00:01:00 00:00:25:20 00:05:37:07 00:06:04:02

EFFECTS NAME IS W000

* FROM CLIP NAME: Part 2(2).mp4

* TO CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

010  AX      AA/V  K B      00:00:00:00 00:00:25:20 00:05:38:07 00:06:04:02

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

010  AX      AA/V  K    000 01:05:11:18 01:05:37:13 00:05:38:07 00:06:04:02

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

011  BL       V     K B      00:00:00:00 00:00:00:01 00:06:04:02 00:06:04:03

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

011  AX      V     K    000 01:05:37:13 01:05:37:14 00:06:04:02 00:06:04:03

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

012  AX      V     K B      00:00:27:14 00:00:29:13 00:06:04:03 00:06:06:02

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

012  AX      V     K    000 01:05:37:14 01:05:39:13 00:06:04:03 00:06:06:02

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

013  AX      V     K B      00:00:31:06 00:00:32:20 00:06:06:02 00:06:07:16

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

013  AX      V     K    000 01:05:39:13 01:05:41:02 00:06:06:02 00:06:07:16

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

014  AX      V     K B      00:00:34:13 00:00:36:06 00:06:07:16 00:06:09:09

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

014  AX      V     K    000 01:05:41:02 01:05:42:20 00:06:07:16 00:06:09:09

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

015  AX      V     K B      00:00:38:01 00:00:38:11 00:06:09:09 00:06:09:19

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

015  AX      V     K    000 01:05:42:20 01:05:43:05 00:06:09:09 00:06:09:19

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

016  AX      V     K B      00:00:40:04 00:00:41:22 00:06:09:19 00:06:11:12

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

016  AX      V     K    000 01:05:43:05 01:05:44:23 00:06:09:19 00:06:11:12

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

017  AX      V     K B      00:00:43:15 00:00:45:12 00:06:11:12 00:06:13:09

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

017  AX      V     K    000 01:05:44:23 01:05:46:20 00:06:11:12 00:06:13:09

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer

018  AX      V     K B      00:00:47:05 00:00:54:02 00:06:13:09 00:06:20:06

FCM: NON-DROP FRAME

018  AX      V     K    000 01:05:46:20 01:05:53:17 00:06:13:09 00:06:20:06

* FROM CLIP NAME: MVI_9965_1.mp4

* KEY CLIP NAME: Adjustment Layer