Development of ideas

The results I got from my questionnaire about the mockumentary genre, were very different to what I predicted. I thought that people on the right wing of the political spectrum would like the mockumentary genre because it is often focused on right wing people, mocking left wing people and certain religions. For example, Borat is a Christian and we see him being anti-Semitic and ignorant towards American/Western culture. The reason this film is actually mainly meant to attract a left wing audience is to mock people who show these ignorant attitudes. For example, in Borat, they are not mocking Jewish people, instead they are mocking people with these right wing views about different religions and cultures. My questionnaire suggested that a lot of people who are interested in the mockumentary genre are left wing and mockumentaries are often politically themed. Borat in fact is almost a documentary because there is a scene where the protagonist and his camera crew travel with a real group of conservative Americans and the film exposes their fascist and xenophobic views. This influenced my plan for the script because it made me decide to involve more political themes such as the upper class divide between the teachers and the students.

The most useful insight that I got was about what types of teaser trailers the respondents. I asked if people prefer classic cinematic trailers which reveal a majority about the film, trailers which focus on a single scene, or footage that does not exist in the film. I asked nine people and found that two-thirds of them said that they like the classic cinematic trailer the most.  The reason why I it was the most useful insight because it made me rethink my approach to how I plan the trailer. My original plan was to show one scene of the character because I thought it would hype the audience up for more. I chose this because it was a trend that I spotted in mockumentaries, such as David Brent: Life on the Road, and Borat. I plan to combine my insipiration, and questionaire results together, to make a trailer that has a feel of the single clip style, as we see in Borat, but also has some cinematic elements for example, the trailer of The Bad Education Movie which was also an inspiration.

My questionnaire was quite effective because it made me have a better understanding on people's political views, and how they can impact on people's interests. However, there were sereval limitations I had during my research. They are that I mainly asked teenage boys, who are quite left wing. I should have expanded and asked more people because I asked only one female responder, there was a struggle because I go to an all boys school. In the future, I might expand my research, and ask more people from different areas to get more respondents who are female, or on the right wing side of the political spectrum. If I had more female respondents, it may have impacted what gender is more interested in the mockumentary genre, The age range also made my results less useful, because I did not see if age had something to do with people's interests in the mockumentary genre. However, I do think I choose the right people for my focus group, It was the same category of people who mainly asked the survey.

Overall the research was useful because I got some good feedback which changed my idea's for the teaser trailer, however I realise they are are limitations to the pool of people that responded so that led to getting a narrower view.

BBFC

Film classifications are used so the government can monitor which audience is exposed to certain themes and content in a movie. The BBFC is a non-governmental organisation which means the government has to subscribe to it. The government takes advice from the BBFC. For example they will try to prevent under 18s buying and renting DVDs without ID, if the BBFC decided on an 18 as its rating. However, due to attitudes changing classifications that were awarded in the past will be different today.

My mockumentary will be a 15 because the film as a whole would have a lot of swearing and some sexual innuendo.  However, the trailer itself only has one swear word present, and a cartoon drawing of genitals and so the trailer is going to be rated 12a.  

Universal means it's suitable for everyone. No violence, language, sex, drugs, or adult themes in this movie.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means kids at the age of 8 and over can watch this. It can contain some mature themes, but they are not explored in depth. There is moderate violence but it's fantasy. For example, the Christopher Reeves Superman films are all rated PG.

12A means you can watch the movie if you are under 12, but you need to be accompanied by an adult. This rating is only used for the cinema. It can contain mature themes, moderate violence, sex references, nudity, mild drug use, strong language, and very strong language was introduced in 2015.

12 means you have to be 12 or over to watch the movie. Since 2002, this rating was given only on DVDs. This rating is usually what 12As  become when they are released on DVD.

15 states that you have to be aged exactly around 15 or over to watch this movie.  These movies contain strong language, sometimes very strong language, strong violence, sometimes some sexual activities, hard drug use, sometimes bloody violence, and adult and disturbing themes like suicide or racism.

18 means you have to be aged 18 or over. These movies contain strong language, very strong language, strong bloody violence, a load of sexual activities, hard drug use, and adult themes are really explored in depth.

R18 stands for Restricted 18. These films with these certificates can be only shown in licenced sex shops if they haven't been given the 18 rating. Some films have even been not suitable for R18 even though they are still legal. These movies are certain to have hardcore pornography.

Storyboard

This is the overview of the storyboard of my teaser trailer for the mockumentary based in a school. I have the total of 20 sketches present in the storyboard. 

Top row, left to right: 1) Stop-motion writing of "Welcome 2 Ashburn" 2) Student draws an 'H' next to "Ashburn" and then runs back to draw a male penis. Transition 2-3: fade to black and fade back to 3) A wide shot of the teacher fiddling with his microphone. 4) Close up of the teacher being asked the first question. 5) Stop-motion writing of "Meet the class".

Second row, left to right: 6) Flashback of the teacher not having control of the class 7) Teacher lies to the interviewer that he has a good relationship with the students. 8) Flashback of student requesting for help from the teacher. 9) Teacher sends another student to help the distressed student.

Third row, left to right: 10) Close up of a student who looks like the stereotypical geek. 11) Another student puts his hand up asking the teacher "Do you like my creps?" 12) Close-up of the students shoes. 13) A teacher confused with what the student asked him, mocking his lack of understand to the younger generation, and slang.

Fourth row, left to right: 14) Back to the interview with the teacher, who claims he has the class under his control. 15) Teacher looks around when a student shouts out saying "You're shit!" 16) Stop-motion writing of "Meet a former student" 17) The former student is introducing himself to the interviewer, and explaining about how he got kicked out of Ashburn. 

Bottom row, left to right: 18) Close-up of the teacher who is implied by the former student that he punched. 19) The former student then makes the teacher presented in the picture. 20) A title reveal done in Stop-motion writing saying "Ashburn College: A Life".