Test Shots - Still Images

Pearson Park

Bankside Close

River Hull

River Hull

Derelict Factory on the River Hull

Near the Derelict Factory

Derelict Factory on the River Hull

'Witham Tandoori'

'Trade-ins'

'Massive Sale Now on' - Good Example of some of the shots of cheap, sale signs I would like for my film.

Abandoned shop.

Closed shops in broad daylight.

Boarded up charity shop.

Mcdonald's clearly the most dominant and outstanding feature to this picture however at the same time simply blends in, as it has become that normal to see the Mcdonald's sign.

These are some practice shots I got while going out for a drive around Hull with my dad. I feel that these images really show the contrast from derelict, tatty old buildings to beautiful ponds and green trees, all within a few metres of each other, and that is one of the strangest things about the city. In terms of mise-en-scene, the city connotes a stereotypical, Northern England 'working class' city, that will be the perfect home for my working class character.

Blog Poll

The results from the poll on my blog are in, with a total of 3 results.
It would be inaccurate to say this represents my target audience as this is a very small percentage of it.
Furthermore, the results from a blog poll are only quantitative data, and for my specific audience research I wanted to find out opinions and feeling about the unemployed and the city of Hull around them therefore a focus group and interviews to gain qualitative data were more important and more useful in finding out my target audience.

Focus Group - Summary

In summary, from my focus group I found:

• YouTube was the main place for looking short films.
  As all of the participants in the focus group were of the younger generation, this may be the reason for all of them using either Google or YouTube, having been brought up in today's technically advanced society.
• Hull wasn't really described as a great place to live - 'not the best' and also those who didn't live in Hull had gathered that those that live there don't really like it.
• Unemployed are misconcepted - some may be 'lazy' and some aren't as jobs require experience but someone with no experience can't get a job?
  Being on the dole is too much of a popular choice - those on the 'dole' presumed to spend it on drugs and cheap food, living from government provision when really they could and should be getting a job.
• In terms of jobs - they understood money was the main motivator for getting a job however two already worked as dance teachers, which they enjoyed and were vocational choices.
• Documentaries were popular and the most important factor for the documentaries were to be interesting. The idea for having a short film with a meaning similar to a documentary seemed to get the group interested.

Focus Group Questions

If you were to watch a short film, where would you look?

How would you describe Hull as a place to live?

How do you view the unemployed?

What is the most important aspect of a job for you? To do something you like or the pay?

Do you feel enough is done for the unemployed?

Do you like watching documentaries? If not why, if so why?

If you feel documentaries are too long would you prefer the information in a short 5 minute film?

Location Ideas - Taken from internet

A shot driving past for the opening sequence - can link to the lazy theme again.

Already taken these shots now - can use the merry-go-round, big wheel and the big wheel with swings around to all imitate the circle of life - work to live, live to work.

I thought this might be an effective shot as it will represent the dominant ideology theories that I want to link into my film i.e. marxism and hypodermic needle theory.

Shots of this and the train platform to show people going to work - in contrast to the 'lazy'

Annotated Poem: Phillip Larkin - Toads

Idea for Introduction: Song (Witch - Lazy Bones)

The term lazy bones is a common term, slang for someone that's lazy and can obviously can have connotations of unemployment when linked to my video - as the unemployed seen as 'idle' or 'lazy' and thus also linking to the name of the film - idle thieving bastards.

I intend to use from 0:00 to 1:47 of the song as the song comes to a fitting break at 1:47 in which I can fade out into the main bulk of the narrative/story. In this opening sequence, I plan to show the contrast in people going to work (for example along the busy railway platforms and bus stops of the Hull and surrounding areas train stations) compared to those who are not going to work for the day - the idle thieving bastards.

This song fits perfectly to the message I want to put across - misconceptions of the unemployed with this song clearly representing these misconceptions. The lyrics in the part of the song I wish to include show a man (singer) talking about a girl having 'the lazy bones' which could easily be linked to unemployment. 'Don't tell me you can climb those mountains while your sleeping' could be interpreted as don't tell me you're trying to find a job when all you do is sleep and stay in bed all day.