American Independent Cinema.

I have decided to make my film in the style of 'American Indie' films. Such films as 'Little Miss Sunshine', 'Juno', '(500) Days of Summer', 'Igby Goes Down', 'Dan in Real Life' and 'Lars and the Real Girl' fall into this category and I aim to replicate some of the technical style used when creating these films in my own film: 'Being Xara'.

The idea of independent cinema came about in the 1980's with a great change in filmic styles. Around this time directors such as Spielberg and Scorsese came on the scene, and although they are not making films that follow the ideas of independent cinema, such as low-budgets, character driven plots, they brought with them new styles of filming. Many of the directors of this time had studied at Film schools, building up their skills in a newer way to the previous directors of the 50's and 60's. However these directors have produced films that have been mass released across the whole of the U.S.A and Britain, whereas generally Independent films are released through the means of platform, where the film is released in a few cinemas in the country to see how well it does before being released in more cinemas. This is due to the fact that they are made with a low-budget, and the better way of earning the money back that was spent, is to release it on a lower scale than the Hollywood Block-busters. For example the British independent film 'Submarine' was released in a select few cinemas across Britain, before, after a week or so after is first release, being released in the cinema in Hull.

This film is similar to a lot of American independent films as it is character driven, by the protagonist Oliver Tate. We are given a great insight into his personality, his life and his thought-process through Richard Ayoade's use of Cinematography, Mise-en-scene as well as his screenplay. However despite these basic similarities between the British Independent film 'Submarine' and American Independent films, there are also differences.

As I am doing the opening sequence of my film, I have looked at the opening sequences of various American Independent films such as 'Little Miss Sunshine', 'Igby Goes Down' and '(500) days of Summer'. The opening to 'Little Miss Sunshine' has 40 shots in it, during these shots we are introduced to each character and we are also told through filmic aspects, the characters traits and parts of their lives and interests, as well as a link to the rest of the narrative, mainly through the daughter, the father and the Grandfather. During these 40 shots there is also very little dialogue, this links with my opening sequence as i aim to use very little dialogue in my sequence, but use mise-en-scene and other features to show the narrative and thoroughly introduce the protagonist.

The number of shots differs in 'Igby Goes Down' from 'Little Miss Sunshine' quite substantially as it only has 25 shots. what also differs is that the opening to 'Igby Goes Down' does not particularly introduce the characters personalities as much, but rather introduces the two brothers relationship with their mother more, as well as showing the audience a bit of Igby's lifestyle, past or present is unknown at this point. This how helps the narrative as it shows the stark contrast of Igby's life in the past to how he is living by the end of the film.

With '(500) Days of Summer' there are 18 shots in the opening sequence. In these we are introduced to both of the leading characters as well as a brief history of their past and character traits and also a bit about their present and where they came from. However this differs from the previous two as this is driven through the voiceover used. There is however a link with 'Igby Goes down' as part of the opening sequence in both is from an event that happens later in the film, and both subvert your expectations of various things, relationships or occurrences.

Costume List

The costumes I will be using are:

3 Suits including suit jackets, trousers and skirts, smart shoes, black and/or tan,
A pair of jeans and a casual t-shirt with casual shoes and a jacket,
A pair of dirty jogging bottoms and another casual, but also dirty, t-shirt, with trainers.

These items of clothing should represent the changes in Xara's life from smart and well-respected, to uncaring and relaxed.

Set List

This is the list of the places I will be filming.

A flat hallway and outside landing,
On the street at a bus shelter,
2 office rooms,
A busy street in the town centre.

These are the only locations I shall be using.

Prop List

This is my prop list:

A bookshelf,
Books (preferably historical),
A clock,
A key bowl,
Historical themed art,
A set of keys,
A set of Sennheiser headphones,
2 desks,
2 Computers,
2 office chairs,
Economic themed art for office walls or graphs,
other office equipment (e.g staplers, paperwork, pens and pencils, pencil pot etc).

This is a list of all of the items I'll be needing for my film sequence.

Aims and Context

Aims:

My film sequence, called ‘Being Xara', will be in the style of ‘American Indie’ film and will be of the comedy-drama genre. This sequence will attempt to establish the protagonist character and the narrative situation and the main aim is to make the audience sympathise with the character. I aim to use mise-en-scene to do this, using features of mise-en-scene to show the monotonous life she lives as well as her social situation and hint at the impending change that she faces during the sequence. This should help me achieve my aim as the mise-en-scene should show the protagonist as someone to sympathise and empathise with. I also aim to reflect the current economic climate were jobs are concerned.

Context:

I will create a 3-5 minute long sequence from my imagined film called ‘Being Xara’. I will take up the roles of Director, editor and cinematographer, when creating my sequence. The target audience of my film is 18-30 year olds as this includes university students and people in the early stages of their careers. Due to the fact that my target audience includes university students and part of the cross-over audience, they will appreciate the drama part of the genre, which is generally targeted to the cross-over audience as appose to the comedies and action genres. It is also the age range of those most affected by unemployment and lack of jobs due to this economy. The protagonist also falls into this age range. This means that the audience will more likely sympathise with the character. The certification will be 15 as it is closer to the crossover audience range and also it will allow the film to include language and themes that are inappropriate for a younger audience, but happen to link with the plot of the whole film. Also as the target audience is older than 15, the subject matter links more to their possible life situations and will be of no particular interest to those younger than 15.

Script

This is the first draft of my script, I will edit and perfect this, until it is right for my film and my aim:

Boss Lady: Will you step into my office please?

Xara: Sure (concerned expression, Xara follows Boss to her office)

Boss Lady: Due to the current climate, our company has had to make some cut backs. This includes staff cut backs. Unfortunately we are going to have to let you go. You have ten minutes to clear your belongings away and leave the building. I apologise for the whole situation, and wish you luck with finding another job.

(Xara gets up and leaves the office, expressionless; she says nothing in response to her recent bad news)

Characters

There will be only two characters in my opening sequence. This is because I only need a small number of characters to open the story, The main character, Xara to introduce her to the audience, and also thoroughly show the audience the sort of person she is, as the film is character based. The second Character is Her Boss. This character is needed as in my opening sequence Xara is fired, therefore the boss is needed in order to do this.

Characters:
Xara Morris
Boss: Julia Davidson

Unemployment

The reason behind the protagonist's preliminary downfall, is the current economic climate and unemployment issues. On a graph on Google it is shown that 20.9% of people (both sexes) under the age of 25 are unemployed. 18.8% of women under the age of 25 are unemployed while 22.6% of men under the age of 25 are not in work. In comparison for 25 to 74 year olds the unemployment rate is 5.8% with 5.2% of women and 6.2% of men out of work. This shows how the current economic climate effects the under 25’s more than it effects those over that age. This links with the drama genre my film will be of, as they generally show of-the-time issues. Because unemployment and lack of work is such a prominent issue in today’s society and life, I feel it is the right current problem to include in my film. This also links with my target audience as they fall into the group which has the highest unemployment rate.

The Title

I chose the title ‘Being Xara’ because it refers to the narrative of my film. The title shows how, at the beginning of the film Xara is not ‘being’ herself but being someone else for the benefit of her friends, and when the narrative concludes Xara is finally ‘Being Xara’. The Title Therefore sums up the narrative without giving away the plot. Also the use of the character’s name links with many ‘American Indie’ films, which is the style I am trying to emulate. Examples where a character’s name is used in the title of films within the style are: ‘Juno’, ‘(500) Days of Summer’ and ‘Dan in Real Life’.

Protagonist Name and Background

first name:
Xara

Surname:
Morris

The protagonist, Xara Morris, is in her early twenties and lives in an important city in England. She was working in administration in an office, the only job she could get when she left University. She has a history degree and wanted to go into a career of research. Xara is from a lower class background, her mother’s parents were immigrants who came over during the Second World War, and settled in the country with very little money and her father’s parents were from a mining background in Wales. So she had very little money, but managed to get into Cambridge due to her being a high grade student. At the University she met a group of people who are all from very privileged backgrounds and thus have a lot of money, and live with high expectations of how other people should be, especially those they associate with. In order to fit in, Xara dressed in particular clothing, similar to that of her friends. However the lack of money means she lives in a small flat in the city and has no money to be able to afford a car, so commutes to work via the bus. She lives a monotonous life with the same things happening at the same time every day, so when she is fired it comes as a complete shock to her and she has to come to terms with the change in her schedule. This, in turn, leads to her becoming slovenly as she does not know how to cope with the stark change and difference.