AHEM Productions

We needed to create the name for our supposed production company for our film, so decided to combine the first letters of our first names (Alex, Hannah, Emma, Mary) to create the acronym of AHEM Productions. We used a local barbershop quartet to sing the word 'productions', and it created an effective and professional sounding finish to the film. However, it was fairly comical and we were not sure if perhaps it undermined the serious content of our media product.

Name Of Our Film- Ideas & Final Decision

To begin with, we brainstormed a variety of names that could be potentially used and that wee suitable for our film.Here are the original names we discussed:
-The Exchange. This name is fairly bland and uninteresting, and only suggests one aspect of the film. We decided this would be a bad name as it made the audience focus on a less important aspect of our film.
-The Afterparty. We were quite keen on this idea as all the thriller action occurs after the original party shot at the beginning, so was sensible and fairly clever. However, it did not fit perfectly with our plot line and did not get very good reviews with potential audience members, so we decided not to use it.
-Paid In Full. We were very keen on this name as it left ambiguity as to the content and made the film mysterious. The 'paid' aspect of the title is in reference to the exchange but then in how the boy paid for his actions with his life, a very 'full' payment indeed. Potentially, as the film continues, this name could still be relevant as we see the exchange mans idea of justice in his world.
-On A Knife Edge. We did not deem this idea as particularly suitable as it gave the idea of a prolonged chase of some sort within the film, and nobody within out film was in fact 'on a knife edge' excessively, although you can see aspects of this within the 'protagonist' as he nervously looks around,fearful of being followed.

We decided the name 'Paid In Full' would be most suitable for our film production as it is mysterious yet gives off the right impression in that it is quite a dark name that is sinister and begs a question in its name to lead the audience on to be more interested.

Certification Guidelines-BBFC

There are several aspects of my film that must be considered when deciding its classification.
-The consumption of alcohol
-The consumption of drugs
-The murder itself.

Therefore, out film would either be considered a 15 or an 18 in its classification.The guidelines are as follows:
Drugs
No work taken as a whole must promote the misuse of drugs and any detailed portrayal of drug misuse likely to promote or glamorise the activity must be cut.
Horror
The use of frightening elements which might scare or unsettle an audience is part of a long tradition in film making.Many children enjoy the excitement of scary sequences, but, where films are targeted at a younger audience, classification decisions will be taken into account such factors as the frequency, length and detail of scary scenes as well as horror effects, including music and sound, and whether there is a swift and reassuring outcome.
Violence
Works which feature the following are likely to receive more restrictive classification:portrayal of violence as a normal solution to problems, heroes who inflict pain or injury , callousness towards victims, the encouragement of aggressive attitudes, and content which depicts characters taking pleasure in pain or humiliation. Sexualised violence or works which glorify violence will receive a more restrictive classification.

I think, therefore, that our film would be a 15 classification.

As we do not dwell on the violence and it is not sexualised I think that it is not necessary for the film to be classified as 18. Also, we don't want to cut out a potentially vital target audience for our film. It is aimed at around 15 upwards in content and therefore giving it as high a classification as 18 would cut out a major part of our audience.

Sound Effects- Ideas & Final Decisions

At several points during our film we thought it necessary to add sound effects during editing to make the film more effective and interesting. We wanted to add sound effects when:
-The 'protagonist' is in the bathroom. In this scene, we can still hear the music of the party, although now dulled via editing. The boy is washing his face and, as he looks up, he sees the figure of the murderer in the corner of his eye behind him. As he sees this, the music of the party fades out and we decided to cross fade it out with the sound of a high pitched violins to add suspense coming in. This creates a feeling of fear amongst the audience for the 'protagonists' safety. As he looks behind him to see if he is correct in what he is seeing, he realises there is in fact nobody there. He turns back to face the mirror and shakes his head at his foolishness, the music of the party in the background fading back in to bring the audience and characters back to reality.
-The stabbing scene. As we see the shadows of the protagonist being stabbed by the murderer, the scene then slows and we decided, to enhance the drama and intensity of the scene we would layer a heartbeat sound effect over the top. This we then gradually slowed to represent the young man dying. This was effective in increasing the tension and drama of the scene as it gets the audience fearful of the outcome of the situation and seems to draw out the events of the scene.

We sourced sound effects from various free sound effects websites such as:
-http://www.stonewashed.net/sfx.html

-http://www.a1freesoundeffects.com/

And these were perfect as they had many different options for one sound and they were copyright free.