Character profile - Sarah

Sarah is the antagonist in the opening two minutes. We first see her getting out of bed much like Isabelle. Showing that they are binary opposites in character.

 In the beginning our idea was for the audience to see Sarah; when they first see her we want the audience to feel sorry for Sarah. A sense of narrative enigma about Sarah. We don't know her past, we see her on the outside of the clique. Compared to films such as mean girls; generally the girl on the outside is the protagonist. the girl clique is intimidating and tend to hurt the protagonist. However in Neighbours Sarah is the antagonist. We portray this by Sarah watching the girls. But there is confusion as too why, which becomes clear at the end. the audience are sure what Sarah's motives are until the end of the two minutes; where things begin to clear up.

 We wanted Sarah to come across as dark and mysterious in comparison to Isabelle. Her clothing was darker that Isabelle's and her bedroom was different. Helping the audience realise what the distinction is between the protagonist and the antagonist. 

Terminology

Anchorage - a way of ‘tying down meaning’, without anchorage meaning could be polysemic – open to various interpretations, EG. a caption anchors meaning to a photo, music anchors mood in a film

Audience - a key aspect of Media Studies – how audiences are identified, created and addressed and how audiences access, interpret and respond to texts

Auteur - a film director whose films show a personal vision or style

Avant gardeA- innovative, experimental work which breaks main stream conventions

Binary oppositions - the theory that you cannot understand good if you don’t understand evil, eg heroes and villains

Cliff hanger - an ending that creates suspense, often used in a ‘soap’ to make the audience watch the next episode

Climax - the point in the narrative where conflicts/enigmas are resolved

Closure - the completion of a narrative in a classic narrative, eg the happy ending in which the hero defeats the villain

Connotation - the meaning associated with a sign, eg a red rose could be associated with love

Denotation - he description of a sign, eg the dictionary definition

Convention - established ways of treating genre, codes, narrative or representations

Decoding - the processes by which media audiences interpret meaning in a media text

Dietetic sound - the sound that actually comes from the set or studio like dialogue, not added later like music to set mood

Non-Diegetic sound - sound that does not come from the set/location, usually added in editing , eg theme music, voice-over

Encoding - the process by which media producers construct meanings in a text

Enigma - a question posed in a text

Film noir - type of film made in the 1940s and 1950s which used low- key lighting, shadows etc to reflect the dark side of human nature

Genre - a set of conventions or common practices which guide the production, marketing, identification and interpretation of texts 

Ideologies - shared beliefs and values in any social group (see dominant and oppositional ideologies)

Intertextuality - links between texts, eg genre, stars, subject matter, spin- offs

Mise-en-scene - whatever happens in the frame, ie characters, set, props etc

Narrative inigma - Leaving something out to give a sense of Mystery

Preferred reading - the idea that texts contain messages which support mainstream ideology, ie how the maker wants the audience to read the text

Propaganda - texts which use emphasis and selection to try to persuade the audience of a particular view point

Resolution - the outcome of a narrative conflict

Serif font - typeface whose characters have short strokes at the ends, eg Times (used to connote tradition and to aid readability)

 Sans-serif font- typeface whose characters do not have strokes at the end, eg Arial (used to connote modernity)

Semantics - the study of the meanings of signs and codes (as is studied in Language)

Signifier - the physical form of the sign, eg BBC

Stereotype - representations of people, places or events in an instantly recognisable way, eg Scots with red hair wearing kilts

Target audience - the main group or groups of individuals at whom the product is aimed

Semiotics - What make a film, EG. music, camera shots, lighting 

Pitch - initial film idea

Overview:
The feedback that i got from the audience was overall positive. For example they liked the idea of the film being a black comedy and most people think that it the my idea behind the colour costume, separating the different cliques was simple yet effective. Howvever there were some worries when I mentioned the idea of filming in the school corridors, due to other people being around and they may not fit in the scene. I will overcome this by filming after school and then there will be minimal people in the corridor, so we don't need to get all of those peoples connect to be in my film. 
  there were also concerns when it came to the funeral section. However i think that it would actually be more effective if there was simply 3/4 people surrounding the grave. This keeps the eyes on the grave and makes it more suspicious of why these girls are standing over this particular grave. Leaving narrative enigma for the audience with in the first few minutes. Wich will help me create the sense of wanting to watch more for the audience. Brining them in.