Narrative Structure

In order to create an opening sequence that will lead on to the rest of the film in a suitable manner, the rest of the film has to actually be planned. With the help of my filming partner, Abir Mohammad, we have decided on the final narrative structure for our British Social Realism film.

EXPOSITION
We are introduced to the main character whom is denoted writing an anonymous blog entry about his life. bullies, near death experiences etc. He mentions how nobody truly cares for his existence, he never got much appreciation and is always ignored. He has another aim of getting the attention of a girl in his class, Jenna. The audience finds out that he is not exactly the smartest student in terms of school grades, and that this is his one true way of finding something that he can gain credit from.

AGENTS OF CHANGE:
Within this section, the audience are presented with scenes of an anonymous call being made. This moment is done only on the side of the bullies so that a sense of tension of created. The bullies are then sent to go after the Antagonist, Jenna's sister. Before this we find out that Jenna is a girl that goes to Ben's school and is very protective over her sister. This is again done from a restricted view, but makes the overall film turn into being omniscient.

CONFLICT COMPLICATION:
Once the bullies get into action, they threaten Jenna's sister with a knife and beat her up. Ben sees this incident, but doesn't get involved and carries on walking. Jenna then finds out about what has happened and wants to get revenge on the bullies.

ELABORATION:
Jenna then realises from one of the bullies than an anonymous caller had set this all up, so she sets a goal of finding out who this anonymous caller is. She then finally gets a moment alone with Ben and thanks him, this then leads them to gain a closer friendship. Ben gets closer to Jenna as he realises she isn't acting herself, because he doesn't know that it was Jenna's sister that got attacked. Jenna then allows Ben to hear her plan for revenge, in which he tells her it's a good plan but does not speak much of the topic. At this point, Jenna and Ben are now dating. One time around Ben's house, Jenna is there. He pops out to make a phone call in which Jenna goes onto his laptop and sees his blog open. She reads some of the things and finds out that he is the anonymous caller. Ben sets up these situations to make others feel oppressed and miserable just like how Ben is. This infuriates her. Once he comes back in, Jenna tries to get it out of him, but he acts casual and expresses no sign of admitting the truth.

CLIMAX & RESOLUTION:
After not finding out the truth directly from her boyfriend, she storms in mid assembly, in front of the entire school and tells everyone, showing them the blog on the projector. After having everyone yell mean things to him about how they can no longer trust him, how shocked they are and how negatively they see him, Ben runs out of the school immediately. Once he gets home he throws his awards the ground, picks up his phone and a £20 note then heads out the door in a rush.
CODA:
Ben then walks out in anger and heads to a park. He then stops by the lake inside the park and watches the view, thinking about what he has done. Then suddenly a gang member appears behind him taking revenge by killing him and leaving him to die. This ends the film on a sad note as the protagonist dies at the end of the scene.

OTHER POINTS TO NOTE:This film will be made from an omniscient perspective as we see views from Ben, the bullies, Jenna and others. This will help to allow the audience to see different perspectives as well as being able to pick up clues that may help them realise who the caller is.
The narrative will contain some form of non-linear movement as the first scene that is presented on the screen will be part of the last scene. This will help the tension to be increased as well as creating an enigma as the audience are unaware of what has just happened. This cut to action technique is also known as a 'smash mouth opening'.
The following themes are all encountered:

Violence
The bullies are set up to do violent things such as knife crime. They must threaten, and in some cases actually do, bad things that may end up getting them into tough situations.

Aspirations
The whole point of this is so that Ben can find a new life. At the start of the film he does have a 'new life' and the audience are shown the transition through his voice over. We then see that this new life has gained him a girlfriend. But then, as a typical BSR convention, the aspirations have all corrupted and he loses everything.

Family
Jenna and her sister connote a close relationship in the film as Jenna is quite protective over her. Also, Jenna risks getting into a lot of trouble in order to save her sister in the future.

Bullying
The people organised by the caller bully others into certain situations, as well as being bribed (a form of bullying) into doing this themselves. This can be a great way to dive into what many people, typically the youthful population, go through.

There are also many typical BSR conventions that my film contains. We explore the typical things such as having fights, rejected dreams, negative family situations and neglected from love.