CASSETTE: A LOVE STORY

Charlotte Westall
FINAL FILM PROJECT

CASSETTE
SHORT FILM PROPOSAL
 INDEX:-

-CONTENT OUTLINE
-TARGET AUDIENCE
-MARKET COMPETITORS
-PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS
-CAST AND CREW
-BUDGET
-PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
-RESOURCES
CONTENT OUTLINE:
The final idea for my final major project is thirteen reasons why inspired. I took the inspiration from
the book and TV show called thirteen reasons why because I liked the idea of using cassettes tapes
as a form of communication. I am taking the idea of the use of cassette tapes but use it as a mix tape
from a boy giving it to a girl that he likes a lot but has no confidence or courage to confess it to her.
The song titles and the themes of the songs explains the boys feelings for the girl. The mix tape was
given to her from the boy at a young age and is rediscovered in modern day. When the girl
rediscovers the tape, she listens to it realising it is a mix tape. Throughout the film, as the tapes are
playing the playlist, there are flashbacks to visually and aesthetically please what the boys feelings
for the girl.

The story starts in the classroom in 1978, where a shy boy likes this girl in class scared to confess his
feelings so he gives her an envelope with the mix tape in cassette form. When the girl receives the
envelope, she gets confused to why the boy is giving it to her. The girl goes home with the envelope
with the mix tape inside she puts it to the side into a box to look at later but ends up forgetting it. A
flash forward from 1978 to 2017, the calendar throughout the years in fast pace showing the passing
of time. In the modern day, the girl is moving out of her family house and is sorting out her stuff. As
she is sorting her stuff she rediscovers the envelope with the mix tape inside, curious to what was on
it so she finds her cassette player and presses play. As the tape plays, she realises that it was a mix
tape that was made for her from when she was young.

When the first song starts playing, a flashback sequence plays. 1978- Boy really likes girl in his class
and doesnt have the courage to tell her, so he gets an idea to make a mixtape for her so he goes
home. Turns on his record player and rips a playlist of songs onto a cassette tape. The next day, in
the classroom the boy gives her the mix tape in a envelope. After the mixtape was given to the girl,
the audience is shown two different attempts that the boy tried to talk to the girl. The first attempt
is when the girl is on a bike ride with her friend the boy tried to talk to her but she ignores him. The
second attempt is at a field in a park when the girl and her friends are having a picnic having a fun
time laughing, the boy approaches them and her friends laugh at him apart from the girl. After the
two attempts have been shown, it transitions back to modern day where the girl takes out the tape,
gets into her car, and puts the tape in her stereo and drives. Whilst she is driving she drives past a
record shop then it morphs into flashbacks. In the flashback, it shows the third attempt of the boy,
the girl and her friends enter the record shop having a good time whilst the boy is in eye distance
and giving each other eye contact whilst in the record shop. The fourth attempt is set at a carnival;
the boy is helping at one of the stand watching the girl having fun on the rides. After the fourth
attempt, it goes back to reality where you see the girl stops the car, gets out of the car, and leans on
it. When she stops the car, the last song on the mix tape finishes. She gets out her phone and logs
onto Facebook, types in his name and sends a friends request and a message. Then the short film
finishes.

The song list on the mixtape consists of:

1-Everytime Two Fools Collide by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West (1978)

2-Ever Fallen in Love by Buzzcocks (1978)

3- I Will Still Love You by Stonebolt (1978)

4-Teenage Kicks by the Undertones (1978)

TARGET AUDIENCE:
I made a survey on survey monkey asking people on
what they thought what the target audience should
be for my final project. All of the people said that the
socio economic group that the short film idea would
be for Class E as it appeals to students as a
demographic as the actors featured in the short film
are of similar age group. As a result, from my survey
they thought that the age range suitable for my
project to be attracted towards would be between
the ages of 15-21. They said this because they
thought that the short film would be more relatable
and it features a love story that would be aimed at
the younger generation. In addition, aim all of the
candidates that completed the survey thought that
my project would majority at the female gender because of the romantic appeal of the narrative of
the short film. One person said that romantic videos appeal more to females than males therefore
backing up their reasoning to why they thought that it would be targeted towards the female
gender.

The target audience for Grease when it was released in 1972 was not targeted for the teenagers
generation it was targeted toward young adults who have experienced their teens in the early age of
rock and roll. Even though the film was meant to show the historical revolutions that took place at
the end of the fifties and early sixties. Nowadays, the target audience has appealed to the younger
generation as it showed teenager life during the fifties and the characters would be of the same age
as the audience giving them a way of being able to relate to the characters on screen. Rom-coms
tend to be directed at 13-25 year olds, it typically tends to target the female gender allot more than
the male gender. This is due to the light-hearted romantic nature of the films that are produced
from that genre. Typically the films in this genre tends to target the audiences that are of similar age
as the characters portrayed in the film as for example Dirty Dancing would attract the slightly older
end of the spectrum of young adults as the film title features the word Dirty hinting themes of
sexual references. The main target audience for the particular theme of romance would target
towards women as the romantic pursuit of a happy ending, which women would tend to enjoy.

MARKET COMPETITORS:
The competitors that my short film would have Distant Voices, Still Lives as I am using music to tell
a story with no dialogue. In Distant Voices, Still Lives it uses a narrative device of music majority of
the film to highlight the emotions of each scene and give us another voice to what is happening on
screen. The film was directed by Terence Davies, it evokes working-class family life in Liverpool
during the 1940s and early 1950s paying attention towards the role of music, Hollywood cinema and
light entertainment within a community. Music was a core device binding the characters as well as
helping them have a voice beyond their repressed lives. The songs were mainly sung by the cast, as
an example of the popular music they had around the time it was written. The songs that were
featured in the film include; There's a Man Goin' Round Takin' Names by Jessye Norman, I Get the
Blues When it Rains by Marcy Klauber, Oh, Mein Papa by Eddie Calvert, Roll out the Barrel (Beer
Barrel Polka) by Jaromr Vejvoda, A Hymn to the Virgin by Benjamin Britten, Pastoral Symphony
No.3 by Vaughan Williams, Love is a Many Splendored Thing by Mantovani, Up the Lazy River by
Hoagy Carmichael, Galway Bay by Tommy Riley. This film is a competitor to my short film in the
sense that I am using music as a device to give the characters a voice as in the short film there is no
dialogue within the film. Although the target audience would be very different because my short film
is aimed at the younger generation at the ages of 16 -25 whereas Distant Voice, Still Lives would be
towards the older generation because the themes and the characters are of similar age as the
audience.

Another competitor, is the film Grease (1978), which is a musical starring John Travolta and Olivia
Newton-John as Danny Zuko and Sandy. Throughout the film, the Pink Ladies each go through
character development as for example Rizzo goes through physical and psychosocial development as
she is thought to be pregnant, Frenchy goes through emotional development as her self-esteem
needs develop as of her lack of success in beauty school and return to high school after dropping
out. Not only the secondary characters get to go through character development, the two lovebirds
Danny and Sandy also go through major character development. Danny goes through psychosocial
development as he has trouble with identifying with his identity against how he should represent
himself as he wants to uphold his bad boy reputation at school but he wants to shape up for Sandy.
Whereas Sandy is also experiencing with her identity and role-confusion between her morals and
values that her parents taught her and conforming to peer pressure to be a Pink Lady. The narrative
of Grease is that is set in 1950 America, after a summer fling between good girl Sandy and greaser
rebel, bad boy Danny never expected to see each other again until they start senior year at the same
school. Sandy as the typical new girl, trying to fit in with her new friends, negotiate the dramas of
their final year at high school. The film deals with themes of pressures of high school, confusion of
identity and teen romance. Throughout the film, it deals with some issues like alcohol as it shows
scenes of under-age drinking in a light-hearted way, peer pressure as Sandy is encouraged by the
Pink Ladies to drink, smoke and lose her virginity. In addition, it features themes about pregnancy as
Rizzo fears that she may be pregnant after the condom breaks but at the end it turns out that she is
not, there is many references to sex and smoking as there are many conversations about sex,
contraception. In Grease, the lighting used has a combination of high key and low-key. The lighting
helps to define dramatic effect of the scene itself due to the low-key as well as other scenes were
more energetic and bright due to high-key lighting. Not only high-key and low-key there is some
three-point lighting used in some scenes to properly highlight the frame as faint shadows are visible
in the background of the scene giving the frame more depth. The settings that the film takes place in
colourful locations that aesthetically please the period that the film is set in. Majority of the film
takes place at Rydell High School and the diner called Frosty Place. In Grease it is essential to have
the appropriate costumes and attire for the period, which is the 1950s. As to identify groups of
clichs there are different type of costumes as for the Pink Ladies, they were colourful shirts with full
skirts with a neon pink jacket with Pink Ladies in craved on the back. For the T Birds they wear
rocker clothing, which tends to be rolled up jeans, t-shirts mainly in black with black leather jackets
with T Birds written on the back. The costumes helps the audience identify the main characters and
what period that it is set in without actually telling the audience with words.
PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS:
For my project, I will be working around the availability of one of my actors, Imogen Pike, as she is a
school student. Therefore, I will only be able to film after school and during the weekends. Other
than working around my main actor, there are no other personnel requirements like dietary, living
arrangements as my actors live in the local area. In case my actor is unable to make the filming
scheduling, I have a understudy ready and knows what is expected.

CAST AND CREW:

Imogen Pike- Actor

Archie- Actor

Charlotte Pooley- Understudy

Amy Joseph- Understudy

Emma Handover-Understudy

Charlotte Westall- Camera/Director

I chose these actors to be part of the production because I thought that they would play their
perspective characters to a high standard as both actors does Drama GSCE. The two main actors are
very passionate about their art. Also I saw them fit as they are of similar age to the characters I want
to portray in my production.

BUDGET:
Equipment:
Camera (CANON EOS 7D) - 35 a day
https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00212-canon-eos-7d/

Tripod (MANFROTTO ADVANCED FLUID TRIPOD)- 11 a day

https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00242-manfrotto-advanced-fluid-tripod/

Steadicam Smoothee tripod- 6 a day

https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00557-steadicam-smoothee/

GOPRO HER04 - 17 a day

https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-01980-gopro-hero4-silver-edition/

LITEPANELS MIRCO PRO Light- 11.50 a day

https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00360-litepanels-micro-pro/

Microphone (RODE Video Mic)- 4 a day

https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00256-rode-video-mic/

Total for Equipment: 253.50 for three days

Personnel:
Transport- 40 petrol
Actors- 35 per hour
https://www.peopleperhour.com/freelance/freelance+actors

Total for Actors: 630 for three days

Props:
Costume- 15 per actor

Car

Cassette tape (Maxell UR90)- 4.99

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/?iid=291829803600&&&adgroupid=33676502101&rlsatarget=pla-
271883326755&abcId=893836&adtype=pla&merchantid=107399624&poi=&googleloc=1006789&device=c&campaignid=707291931&crdt
=0&chn=ps

Sound of the Suburbs vinyl- 6.46

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/?iid=172433997408&&&adgroupid=41262231517&rlsatarget=pla-
293266141147&abcId=1058846&adtype=pla&merchantid=107439696&poi=&googleloc=1006789&device=c&campaignid=796834294&crd
t=0&chn=ps

Total for Props: 131.45

TOTAL: 1,014.95

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE:
Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
24/4/17 LO1 Planning/ Developing ideas
1/5/17 LO1
8/5/17 Proposal / Pitch Planning Booklet Filming
15/5/17 Booklet Pitch Filming
22/5/17 Filming/ Editing
29/5/17 Filming/ Editing
5/6/17 Editing DEADLINE

RESOURCES:
o https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/?iid=172433997408&&&adgroupid=41262231517&rlsatarget=pla-
293266141147&abcId=1058846&adtype=pla&merchantid=107439696&poi=&googleloc=1006789&de
vice=c&campaignid=796834294&crdt=0&chn=ps
o https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/?iid=291829803600&&&adgroupid=33676502101&rlsatarget=pla-
271883326755&abcId=893836&adtype=pla&merchantid=107399624&poi=&googleloc=1006789&dev
ice=c&campaignid=707291931&crdt=0&chn=ps
o https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00256-rode-video-mic/
o https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00360-litepanels-micro-pro/
o https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00557-steadicam-smoothee/
o https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00242-manfrotto-advanced-fluid-tripod/
o https://www.hireacamera.com/en-gb/products/HAC00-00212-canon-eos-7d/
o https://www.peopleperhour.com/freelance/freelance+actors