New Location Pictures

On  26th January , me and Andrew referred to the location research. We thought of creating a more visual mindset on the location of the film we had planned for "Ragged 2wice". We just had to see the location for ourselves and make sure that the location is suitable , fits perfectly in the shots we want. Here are some of the location pictures.

This is the main entrance gate of the "Beaconhouse School System - Jubilee Campus". It is actually an O'/A'level school but we have referred to it as "college" in our film so that it may be taken in a more generalised meaning. This is actual location for Scene 1. We wanted the environment and misc-en-scene to feel more like a college which is why we will utilise extras in our film to make the "school" feel more like a "college".

This is another shot of the entrance gate. Notice that this angle has a more wider view of the misc-en-scene. This will enable the audience to comprehend what the environment must be like. For example: Students walking through the front gates will show that it is a college. The guards will show that there is security and it is indeed a reputable university. We will be taking shots of the car when it arrives in front of the main entrance gate.

This is how the rest of the environment of the college looks from the point-of-view of the entrance gate. We will most probably use this shot when Kamran's mother drops him off , and he is walking into the gates. Notice that it shows the parking. In the shot , most probably the parking will be full and there is be a large number of students rushing towards the front gate. This will show that how excited the "apparent" first years are to check the noticeboard.

This is the shot of the main entrance gate that our main character will walk through. The reason that i have chosen the small gate instead of the bigger counterpart is because the bigger one is used only in home time and is normally closed when entering the "college" premises in the morning. This is most probably due to security reasons.

This is the opposite view of the same gate shown in the picture above. Our main character "Kamran" will be showing walking into the college premises via this shot. Notice the security checkpoint. This will give the audience an idea that the school has finance to support security checks etc. Which will in turn give the idea of the college being elite and top-of-the-line.

This is probably a better shot than the one shown above. It has more headroom and generally gives the audience a better view of our main character and his surroundings. It will also allow us to pan the camera towards the A'level section towards the right, which is where the rest of the film will be shot.

This is the entrance of the A'level section. The corridor is located towards the left. This is section where a large part of our film will be shot. I consider this shot amazing. There are reasons , firstly, this shot has the clear view of the Principal's Office and the Staff room to make the environment feel like a college and secondly , it clearly shows the noticeboard towards the wall on the right , where the students will be gathering to check their class and sections. This shot will help us define the location of the noticeboard and the principal's office.

 This is the opposite side of the A'level entrance shown in the picture above. This shot will also be used in the film. It will clearly show the weather of the film. The weather that we have predicted is suppose to be early morning when colleges start. This shot will help us convey this to our audience.

This shot was taken from when there were no students present. During the shoot, students will be present ,roaming and finding their way onto classes etc. The noticeboard that be seen attached on the wall towards the right. Kamran will check his class/section from here and go towards his class , where he will be caught up by the bullies who will take him to the back alley. He will meet the bullies towards the stairs on the right hand side.

This is a shot of the Back Alley. The bullies will bring Kamran here to rag him and tell him to dance. The back alley is usually not occupied by students any more , this is probably the reason why we chose this place as our first preference while thinking as to where Kamran should get ragged. The 3rd Scene will be shot entirely in this location.

This is another shot of the back alley. The bullies will bring Kamran at this point , make him wear a tutu and tell him to dance here. They will also record his video here.

This is the exact location where Kamran will get ragged in our film. Since the most important scene of our film revolves around Kamran getting ragged. There will be a need for successful panning and match on action to carry the ragging scene out. This is probably why we have taking pictures from different sides of the back alley , because the shots will keep on changing in a short amount of time to create enigma and show tension.

This is an ideal location for the bench to be kept.

This is a shot of the Ground Floor corridor. It is probably the best place to show the students attending/looking for classes etc. Since most students travel through this corridor for connecting classes. All the classes shown in this shot belong to the A'level section.

This is the outside of the classroom that we have chosen for the 4th scene. This location was more ideal since we did not want a lot of extras in the hallway. Having less students in the hallway gives this assumption that most students are studying in their classes.

This is the exact same door shown above , but it has been taken from a different angle.

This is the classroom in which the 4th scene will be shot. Notice , that this classroom was chosen in particular because it can easily hold upto 20-30 students and is neat and clean. The wide angle will also help in panning the camera towards the teacher who's expressions will be made visible to the audience while he is teaching.

This is another shot of the same class shown above. The seats will be arranged in a different manner though.

This shot clearly shows how neat and well maintained the classroom is. It also shows how much space the classroom has for example: it can be seen that it can easily hold 20 or more students.

This is another side view of the same class shown above. Shows how neatly the chairs are classified in order.

Ragged 2wice - Shot Divisioning

Working Title: “Ragged 2wice”

Genre: Teen Drama

Shot Divisioning:

Scene #	Shots	Duration (seconds)	Transition
1	Still Long Shot of Car parking towards the College gate	5	Cut To
	Still Mid Shot of Kamran getting out of the car and waving his mother goodbye	5	Cut To
	Panning Shot of Kamran walking through the College gates	4	Cut To
2	Panning Shot of Kamran walking into the College premises	4	Cut To
	Still Mid Shot of the student crowd standing in front of the notice board	4	Cut To
	Still Reverse Mid Shot of crowd of students in front of the notice board	4	Cut To
	Still Mid Shot of Kamran trying to get out from the crowd of students	4	Cut To
	Panning Shot of Kamran walking towards the classroom and stopping by to wash his face	6	Cut To
	Over The Shoulder Still Mid Shot of Kamran looking at the bullies after washing his face and the Bully leader starting a conversation with him	4	Cut To
	Over The Shoulder Still Mid Shot of Kamran being grabbed by bullies	4	Cut To
3	Long Shot of Bullies taking Kamran to the back alley	5	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Kamran being pushed onto a bench , ragged and then forcefully made to wear a tutu	6	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Bully leader speaking to Kamran	30	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Kamran looking at Bullies wihle the bully leader is speaking to him and then Kamran replying to him	10	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Bully Leader talking to Kamran and then leaving when done	10	Cut To
	Extreme Close Up Shot of Kamran thinking of what to reply and then replying to the bullies	5	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Bullies stopping and then looking at Kamran and leader talking	6	Cut To
	Long Shot of Kamran preparing to dance	4	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of the Bully Leader looking at Kamran and then telling him to dance	6	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of another bully taking out his cell phone and playing a song to which Kamran is supposed to dance	3	Cut To
	Mid Shot of other Bully making Kamran’s video as he struggles to start dancing and Moving Shot to Kamran who starts dancing	8	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Kamran dancing	4	Cut To
	Over The Shoulder Long Shot from the viewing Angle of the Bullies to Kamran dancing	3	Cut To
	Close Up of Kamran dancing	6	Cut To
	Mid Shot of the Bullies laughing	3	Cut To
	Moving Mid Shot of Kamran dancing	10	Cut To
	Long Shot of Kamran dancing and then stopping when finished	20	Cut To
	Moving Mid Shot of Bullies laughing at Kamran and then leaving the Back Alley	8	Cut To
	Long Shot of Kamran taking his tutu off , then staring at the ground in shock	6	Fade to Black
4	Point Of View Shot of Kamran asking the teacher’s permission to enter and then entering the classroom	6	Cut To
	Moving Mid Shot of Kamran standing at the class door , entering and sitting down at an empty seat	5	Cut To
	Long Shot of Teacher teaching the class	5	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of Kamran concentrating on the teacher’s lecture , while preparing notes and the student sitting behind him putting a cigarette pack in his Kamran’s bag	10	Cut To
	Over The Shoulder Shot of Kamran turning and looking at the person sitting behind him after taking out the cigarette pack from his shirt	10	Cut To
	Point Of View Shot of Kamran looking at the teacher , who comes over to him and starts talking to him	5	Cut To
	Long Shot of Teacher walking out of the classroom, taking Kamran with him to the principal’s office	15	Cut To
5	Long Shot of Kamran standing in the principal’s office	4	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Principal sitting on the desk and then starting a conversation with Kamran	15	Cut To
	Close Up of Teacher sitting in the Principal's office	4	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of Kamran listening to the principal and then explaining to her what really happened in the class	15	Cut To
	Close Up of Principal telling Kamran that he has no proof to support his argument , reaching the pen to sign expulsion letter	8	Cut To
	Extreme Close Up of the Principal's pen, with her picking it up and nearly signing it	5	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of Kamran explaining his innocence and begging her to trust him	5	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Principal telling Kamran to wake up , shot moving on towards the teacher	10	Cut To
	Extreme Close Up Shot of Kamran	5	Cut To
	Point Of View Shot of Kamran's eyes rolling and him falling to the ground/apparently fainting	8	Fade to Black
6	Extreme Close Up Shot of Kamran's eyes flickering then opening	5	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of Kamran's Mother waking him up	5	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Kamran and Mother sitting in the car	4	Cut To
	Close Up Shot of Kamran again	4	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Kamran getting out of the car	5	Cut To
	Panning Shot of Kamran walking over to the College gate	5	Cut To
	Mid Shot of Kamran observing the College gate and then Moving Shot of him walking through the gates	8	Cut To
7	Panning Shot of Kamran entering into the Corridor of the college	5	Cut To
	Long Shot of Kamran pushing through the crowd of students at the noticeboard and then being able to finally get out of it safely	8	Cut To
	Moving Shot of Kamran walking in the corridor, looking for his class room, turning backwards after hearing some voices	10	Cut To
	Close Up Shot from behind and Kamran turns his head backwards	4	Cut To
	Moving Mid Shot of Kamran walking and finding his class, he stops	8	Cut To
	Someone placing his hand on Kamran’s shoulder , asking him a question and then he looks behind	5	Cut To
	Point Of View Shot of Kamran looking at the Bully leader from the dream	5	Cut To
	Extreme Close Up Shot of Kamran screaming and then running away	15	Cut To Black

Hollywood Research

INTRODUCTION

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period. Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year than that of any other country. Hollywood has been consistent in making and breaking stars. Famous names such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe come to mind when we think of Classic Hollywood stars. Hollywood has also made its fair shares of iconic producers/entrepreneurs for example: Walt Disney. The major film studios of Hollywood are the primary source of the most commercially successful movies in the world. Some of them include Titanic(1997) , Star Wars(1977)  and Avatar(2009).

The Major Genres of Hollywood Films

There are some conventional genres which have emerged from popularity and recognition by Hollywood. The genres include Animated Movies such as Despicable Me , Rio and The Shrek Series, Comedy Movies such as The 40 Year old Virgin and Balls of Fury , Documentaries such as Bowling for Columbine and March of the Penguins , Drama and Action such as 127 Hours and 300 , Foreign movies such as Amelie and Bad Education , Horror movies such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Dark Water and Musicals and Teen Movies such as High School Musical series and 10 Things I Hate About You.  

Budget of an average Hollywood film 

Although highly variable , the total cost of making a film including Below-The-Line and Over-the-Line costs in Hollywood can run somewhere from 1$million to 20-30$million or even more.  At the most basic level, one could define a “Hollywood film” as one that is released and/or distributed by a major studio. We have to keep in mind though, that studios often acquire and distribute films that they did not actually make, but were originally produced independently. One of the best known examples of this is “The Brothers McMullen” (1995) by Edward Burns. He produced the film himself for $25,000, but after winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, 20th Century Fox purchased and distributed it. Of course, much more money was spent to distribute and market the film, but since we aren’t counting that into our calculations of average movie budget, the total cost of production stays at $25,000. Is “The Brothers McMullen” a Hollywood film then, since it was produced independently? Since it was acquired by a major studio and had a widespread theatrical release, it should indeed be counted as such. In recent years, the gap between the highest and lowest budgets has widened as studios spend more and more to attempt to lure people from their Home Theatre Systems and into theatres with 3-D effects and amazing computer animation. On the other side of the spectrum, as the cost of quality tools for shooting and editing movies has come down, and online movie consumption grows, budgets may become even smaller. But for now, it still costs about $139 million to make a major Hollywood film.

MAJOR HOLLYWOOD INSTITUTIONS

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (CPII) is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The studio was founded in 1919 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt. It released its first feature length film in August 1922. In its early years, Columbia Pictures was a minor player in Hollywood, but then began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.

In 1982 , the studio was brought by Coca-Cola. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which merged with Tri-Star to create Columbia Pictures Entertainment. The Columbia Pictures empire was sold on September 28, 1989 to electronics giant Sony for the amount of $3.4 billion, one of several Japanese firms then buying American properties. The sale netted Coca-Cola a handsome profit from its investment in the studio.

Columbia's logo, a lady carrying a torch and draped in the American flag (representing Columbia, a personification of the United States), has gone through five major revisions. It has been changed time and again to what it currently is.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production/distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount is consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) movie studios. Paramount Pictures Corporation is a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, with robust and multi-faceted divisions across all areas including digital, home entertainment, network and cable television distribution, studio operations, and consumer products and recreation.  A unit of the leading global entertainment content company, Viacom, Paramount is part of a family of prominent and respected brands including MTV Networks and BET Networks.  aramount consists of several film labels including, the legendary Paramount Pictures; leading youth brand, MTV Films; the preeminent family entertainment label, Nickelodeon Movies; and specialty film labels, Paramount Vantage and Paramount Classics. In addition, the Studio will continue to release a number of films under the DW label. Paramount also has established distribution deals with iconic comic book creator, Marvel Entertainment and renowned animated film producer, DreamWorks Animation. The Company’s global business operations include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group and Worldwide Television Distribution. Paramount Digital Entertainment brings tailored entertainment to consumers through today’s evolving digital distribution platforms. Paramount Home Entertainment is responsible for the worldwide sales, marketing and distribution of DVDs and Blu-ray discs for films and television shows distributed by Paramount Pictures Corporation. Paramount Pictures International is responsible for marketing and distributing Paramount movies to audiences around the world. Paramount Licensing handles worldwide licensing and consumer products for all Paramount properties. The Studios at Paramount offer world-class production facilities for feature films, television shows and commercials.  Paramount Famous Productions is the made-for-home entertainment division of Paramount Pictures Corporation.  The division develops and produces prequels, sequels and remakes based on the libraries of Paramount Pictures.

WARNER BROS ENTERTAINMENT

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. (though the name was occasionally given in full form as Warner Brothers during the company's early years), is an American producer of film and television entertainment.

One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York, New York. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network. Warner Bros. has produced some remarkable movies over its course as a media giant and one of the largest six film entertainment studios in Hollywood. Some of these include.

 The Jazz Singer, 1927

Considered a cinematic landmark, The Jazz Singer was the first feature-length Hollywood “talkie” film. Warner Bros.’ production head Darryl F. Zanuck was presented with a special Oscar at the very first Academy Awards ceremony in May of 1929.

The Public Enemy, 1931

Because of the famous grapefruit scene, for years afterward when dining in restaurants, fellow patrons would send grapefruits to actor James Cagney, which – almost invariably – James Cagney would happily eat.

Robin Hood, 1938

James Cagney was the original actor slated for the title role, but he quit Warner Brothers, and the production was postponed for three years.

Casablanca, 1942

Casablanca won 3 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Studio publicity in 1941 claimed that Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan were scheduled to appear in this film, and Dennis Morgan is mentioned as the third lead.

Today, Warner Bros. Entertainment is a fully integrated, broad-based entertainment company – a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of creative content and their related businesses, across all current and emerging media and platforms.

20th CENTURY FOX

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, with hyphen, from 1935 to 1985) — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios as of 2011. Located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio is a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

The company was founded on May 31, 1935, as the result of the merger of Fox Film Corporation, founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz. 20th Century Fox's most popular film franchises include Avatar, Star Wars, Ice Age, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks, X-Men, Die Hard, Alien, Speed, Revenge of the Nerds, Planet of the Apes, Home Alone, Dr. Dolittle, Night at the Museum, Predator, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Chronicles of Narnia (which was previously distributed by Walt Disney Pictures), The Beach, plus famous TV shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS FOLLOWED BY HOLLYWOOD

Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories – technical and symbolic:

•Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film.

•Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character's actions show you how the character is feeling.

Some codes fit both categories – music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre – it is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camera work, without saying how it is conventionally used in a genre. An huge institution such as Hollywood also follows and abides by certain codes and conventions laid down by the classical film makers in its birth. For example: Nowadays if we carefully analyze films we can see how the same codes and conventions are being followed repeatedly. For example: The extremely popular James Bond series. Throughout the James Bond movie series , firstly , the technology shown in the movies (considering the time at which they were made) was and still is very advanced. Laser buster combined with fully automatic tank cannons. This has been a convention of the James Bond series from the very beginning. Secondly, in all the Bond movies, there has always been one girl (female character) who has supported James Bond in achieving his goals. Both of these conventions can be seen throughout the series, Quantum of Solace , Die Another Day etc. for example: The Saw Series. Throughout the Saw series , one popular convention followed is that when the Antagonist “Jigsaw” kills a victim , he does not carry it away from detection but instead wants the body to be detected so that the story would continue onwards , so he simply lets it stay there until it is discovered by either the police or by special agent. For example: In one part in Saw 2 , the body of a victim is left to rot for more than 20 days until it is finally discovered the police and then taken away. There are various scenes in all the other Saw Films that follow the exact convention.
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Director Research - James Wan

James Wan (born 27 February 1977) is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage

LIFE AND CAREER

Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia of Chinese ethnicity. He was raised in Perth, Western Australia from a young age. It was his dream to make films from the age of 11. He went on to study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, completing his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Before becoming popular in the film industry, he made his first feature film Stygian with Shannon Young, which won 'Best Guerrilla Film' at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2000.

He met future business partner Leigh Whannell while studying at RMIT. He would later go on to co-create and direct the 2004 horror film (and franchise), Saw with the help of Whannell, who wrote the script. Wan and Whannell made a short version of the film to showcase the script. Whannell played the role of David in the short film, and the leading role of Adam in the feature film. The three producers who saw the short film and read Whannell's screenplay agreed to produce the film before Wan and Whannell even landed in Los Angeles. Wan and Whannell decided to forgo upfront salary in return for gross profits. Shot for a low US$1.2 million budget, the producers had a straight-to-DVD release in mind. However, Saw was to become a surprise record breaking theatrical horror franchise, earning Wan and Whannell much more than they had originally predicted.

Since creating the franchise, Wan and Whannell have served as executive producers to the sequels Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D. He has been busy creating other works with his film school partner Leigh Whannell. In 2007, he went on to broaden his filmography with another horror movie, Dead Silence, and the action drama Death Sentence. Having worked on his last three films back to back, Wan told CraveOnline that he is ready for "a bit of time off just to chill... but at the same time I'm using this opportunity to write again. “Wan also directed a trailer for the survival horror video game Dead Space.

It has been announced that James' next film will be an adaptation of the graphic novel Fall Night, about a criminal sent to a Texas prison run by vampires. According to IMDB the film is titled 'Nightfall' instead of 'Fall Night', it is unclear which is the official title. As well as this, Leigh Whannell has stated that he and Wan are writing another project together called X Ray and described it as a film noir horror film. It has been reported that James Wan's next project will be Specter a supernatural thriller and will star Nicole Kidman.

WHY I CHOSE JAMES WAN

Wan's current film, Insidious, premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival and began its theatrical release in April 2011.He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. Since my short film “Ragged Twice” is a film belonging to the teen/suspense genre with a dash of comedic structure in nature, it is unconventional for me to choose James Wan as a director to research since he is popular for making worldwide acclaimed films from the “Slasher” genre. There are various reasons which encouraged me to accept the fact that I had selected certain traits of James Wan’s style of direction in “Ragged Twice”. Firstly , James Wan has been known to create enigma/suspense in his movies which makes the audience wary. Since I had the same purpose in mind for the audience of Ragged Twice, I watched and analyzed his work in detail and came to the conclusion that I should use some of his techniques in my short film. He is known to create suspense by setting the misc-en-scene in perfect order. “Perfect order” refers to the placement of even the minute details in a particular shot, for example, grass. In the first film he directed (before he shot to fame), Saw (2004), he has used this technique various times. A particular scene shows one of the main characters walking through an empty street(he is about to be abducted) , where suddenly time-slows down and the ambient sound effects focus on the conversation of the abductor, almost as if the character can hear what the abductor is thinking in his mind. I for one loved this technique and decided to use this in one of the shots in Ragged Twice. As our main character, Kamran steps into college, a couple of apparent “bullies” catch his eye. He is shown nervous, his heart pounding, and then the sound effects will be directed towards the conversation of the bullies “Hey, there’s another one!” for example, one might say. The suspense will be thrown onto the audience’s faces, since Ragged Twice is a short film and there will not be enough time to fully utilize stereotypical representations of objects in our film.

Another technique which James Wan has used commonly in his movies is that he makes the character’s emotions completely clear to the audience via the usage of frequent close-ups and extreme close up shots. I have to make it clear to the audience as to how Kamran is feeling at different stages of the short film. Throughout the Saw series, James Wan has used this lapse in which all other ambient sounds in the backgrounds are elevated, the camera focuses on the characters and only the characters.  In Ragged Twice, when the seniors are forcing Kamran to dance, the camera must switch back and forth between Kamran’s emotions and the bullies; this has been done in Saw 2(2005). Saw 2 basically revolves around the story of seven people, abducted and kept in a trap house to survive. One by one, the characters make certain mistakes, lose concentration and die. The sequence of them includes mid/close/extreme close up shots of other characters to show how they are reacting to the sequence. In Ragged Twice when the bullies force Kamran to dance, this technique will be depicted exactly, starting with a close up of Kamran, then one of the bullies laughing, then Kamran again and so on. This will show tension building up as Kamran will at first refuse to dance. This sequence is aimed at capturing the most of the audience’s attention, which is probably why James Wan’s movies are a big success.

It is no secret that the Saw franchise and “Ragged Twice” are far apart in terms of content, genre and plot, but what they resemble are the basic techniques which will be used to create enigma amongst the audience so their attention span is not broken in the middle of the short film.

ANALYSIS

Analyzing James Wan’s style of directing movies, I was able to pick up a few points why most of his movies are critically acclaimed and successful. There are certain elements that support James Wan. Firstly , his cast , the violence which is mostly considered as gore but still artistic in for example: Saw. James Wan has indeed been very successful in providing captivating thrillers with strong storylines(for example : Saw/Insidious series) and terrifying violence which has resulted in growth and popularity of the slasher film genre. He has been known to write captivating storylines and add his dash of imagination into his films. The “Saw” storyline is a classic example of a strong storyline and captivating horror which ties audience till the last part.

James Wan is a big David Lynch fan and considers him as a big influence for his groundbreaking movie , Saw. Quoting: “I can't point anything specific out, but I'm a big David Lynch fan, he's a big influence on Saw, and another director I truly admire as well, is an Italian, Dario Argento? These two guys have a big impact on us, Deep Red, Lost Highway.”

James Wan’s films are usually targeted towards mature audiences. As in, audiences to which the slasher film genre appeals to. But still, they have gained such success, this is impressive as the target audience to which James Wan is trying to appeal is limited.

Ragged 2wice - Treatment

TREATMENT

RAGGED 2WICE

Our film begins with our main character “Kamran” walking, until he reaches his destination. He breathes in deeply and enters. After entering, he browses the college ground. There are students walking towards classes and probably friends meeting each other after the holidays. He goes to the noticeboard to get to know his class and section. After knowing it , he goes off to the corridor to enter into his class. There are probable seniors standing here and there, almost as if waiting for their target. Kamran goes to the washroom to wash up. He assures himself that it is only a little ragging and that it should be over soon. He is stopped by three seniors and told to dance in a tutu. He refuses, but realizing what problems this could cause in the future, he agrees to dance. They take him into the back alley and make him dance whilst videotaping it. They leave after they are done. Kamran goes into the washroom again to wash up. He washes up and goes to attend his class. The class is already in progress. He enters the class with the permission of the teacher and sits down. He notices something being slipped into his pocket by the student sitting behind him. He reaches his pocket and it turns out to be a packet of cigarettes. He is caught by his teacher and taken to the principal for breaking the school’s laws. The principal explains how the school authority does not accept this kind of behavior and that they will have to expel Kamran as he has broken such a crucial law on the first day. Kamran panics and tries to convince the principal that the cigarette pack was actually not his. The principal demands proof which Kamran is lacking in. Thus, the principal picks up his pen to sign on the expulsion letter when he starts telling Kamran to wake up. The principal’s secretary is doing the same.  Kamran is confused and stares at both of them. He wakes up in his mother’s car and soon realizes that it was all just a dream. He actually gets to college this time. His mom wishes him goodbye. He enters the college gates , when he sees a familiar environment which was present in his dream. The leader of the three seniors comes up to him and asks Kamran if he is new here. Kamran screams from frustration.

Ragged 2wice - Story

Story: It is Kamran’s first day at college. He is being dropped off by his mother near the college gates. The history he has read about past ragging in the college and made him nervous and vulnerable. He isn't happy about the first day at college unlike the other newcomers. He has a strange feeling that something very bad is about to happen. Kamran enters the college and after a huge hurdle amongst the students , gets to know his class and section. He walks through the corridor where he sees seniors standing in the batch with spray cans in their hands. He feels scared and rushes towards the bathroom to wash his face and to shake the fear off. As he washes his face and leads himself to believe that ragging isn’t a big deal , three seniors(probably second years) trap him in the washroom. His instincts kick in , telling him to flee , but it is too late. One of the members asks him if he is a newcomer. He replies yes. He tries to flee , but his departure is interrupted by one of the seniors. They then rag them , put black paint on his face and tell him to dance with a tutu on , so they can make a video. Firstly, he refuses, but after being threatened he decides that it is best if he just shuts up and do as the seniors tell him to.

He is taking to the back alley where students are scarce. One of the seniors positions himself to make the video and Kamran dances. It is clear that he does not know how to dance judging by the way he is dancing. They leave after they are satisfied. Kamran feels humiliated and goes into the washroom to wash up. After washing up , he swifts pass the corridor to enter into his class. The teacher is already teaching. He enters the class with the teachers permission. He sits down and tries to concentrate on the lecture but he is interrupted by the guy sitting behind him , who apparently slips in an item in his pocket. He slides his hand in to check, it is a pack of cigarettes. The teacher , unknowing of the actual event, takes him to the principal’s office. Kamran becomes startled and is in shock. The principals explains that the college does not allow such behavior and disobedience of the rules and since he broke them on his very first day , he will be expelled. Kamran panics and begs the principal to forgive him. The principal pulls out his pen to sign the expulsion letter. However , to Kamran’s surprise, the principal looks him into the eye and tells him to wake up. He is confused, he is not able to understand what message the principal wants to convey. He scans through the principal’s secretary. He , also is stating the same dialogue. Wake up , wake up. The voice turns into his mother’s and  Kamran finds himself waking up after a horrible nightmare in his mother’s car. It seems that he had been sleeping on his way to school.

He gets out of his mother’s car and waves her goodbye. He enters the school gates and beams by the corridor to check his class and section. After hurdles with other newcomers , he finally comes to know and starts walking towards his class, where he is stopped by the “bully leader” which appeared in his dream. The apparent leader leans his arm on Kamran’s shoulder and asks if he is new to college. Kamran is frightened and screams from frustration.

Ragged 2wice - Plot

Working Title: “Ragged Twice”

Genre: Teen Drama

Plot: Karachi, August 2011, 7:45 a.m. Kamran was on his way to college. Being his first day of college he had come to know rumors about how newcomers were ragged in the college in the past, this had made him nervous. It was constantly on Kamran’s mind as his mother was driving him to college. He simply could not get this out of his mind. Kamran is an anxious and shy individual which is the main reason for him being worried too much about ragging. The car stopped, “Have a nice day now sweetie!!” his mom said as Kamran got out of the car to enter the college. Kamran nervously entered the school gates. He scanned the area for noticeboards, till he found one. Unfortunately, there was a whole batch of newcomers in line waiting to find out their schedule besides their names. Scanning the area, he become even more nervous since he had stopped a group of probable “seniors” gossiping and shaking cans of spray paints, almost as if waiting for their prey.

He rushed to the bathroom to wash his face and to have a little chat with his conscience. “There is nothing to worry about, it’s just a little bit of ragging” he self-explained while looking at himself in the mirror. He splashed some water on his face and hoped for a stable day, but to his surprise spotted three seniors behind him. They were all standing in different positions, almost as if to trap him. He felt this sudden urge to run; maybe his sixth sense was trying to convey a message to him. One of them, who apparently seemed to be their leader, started of the conversation. “You new here?” he asked. Kamran decided to flee, but was grasped by the shoulder. “Not so fast boy, you need to get what you are here for” he exclaimed while pulling out a bottle of black paint and rubbing it over Kamran’s face. The other two guys picked him up while one of them strapped a tutu around his waist. “Now you have to dance for us in this tutu”, Kamran was thinking at this threshold limit as to how he should react to this. “See, we have a bet, and you’re gonna help us win it by dancing, and we’re gonna make a video”. Kamran had always been shy, and so he shook his head in refusal and muttered “I won’t dance”. The “leader” took a deep breath and looked towards the other two seniors. It was clear that he was trying to make it clear for Kamran, the consequences of not doing what they say. “Look boy, you can either dance right now or get this over with, or we will ruin your whole year at college, the choice is yours”. Kamran realized what he had to do. He had to get it over with before this could go on any further”. “I’ll do it” he replied. The group stopped, the leader turned around and said “Good choice” with a witty grin on his face.

They decided to take Kamran to the back alley. A place which is almost always, deserted and where other students would most likely not show up. One of the seniors booted his cell phone camera and got into position to shoot Kamran dancing. “Come on boy, dance!” another shouted. Kamran started to dance, feeling foolish and dumbed down to his knees. It was clear that he did not know how to dance, judging by the way he was dancing. When they had captured the video, the seniors just left, leaving Kamran’s hopes for a good first day, shattered in the back alley.  He felt ashamed and humiliated and went once more to the washroom to clean up. After washing up, Kamran went to scan the timetable to find out his schedule for the day. Walking briskly, he reached his class, and found out that the teacher was already teaching. He entered the class with the teacher’s permission. He took out his stationary and started to concentrate on the teacher’s lecture. He suddenly noticed that the guy sitting behind him had slipped something in his pocket. He shoved in hand in his pocket and pulled it out. It was a cigarette pack. Now being aware of his unusual activity, the teacher stopped his lecture in the mist and said “Oh, so we have a smoker with us, let’s take a trip to the principal’s office, shall we?” The teacher then took him to the principal’s office.

Kamran was standing in the principal’s office, not being able to fully digest what had happened to him on his first day of college. He was in shock, his heart was beating fast and he was sweating. He took a deep breath and assured himself that he can deal with this situation. He then started to concentrate on what the principal was saying. “We do not tolerate students who break rules, and you have broken one on the first day. I am sorry, but I have no other option but you expel you from his college”. This came as a major shock to Kamran, who had always been excellent in his academics. He explained “Sir/Ma’am, the student sitting behind me slipped it into my pocket, I did not even know of it till I pulled it off from my pocket, I do not smoke!” “You had been found in possession of it, and you have no credible proof that the student sitting behind you had slipped it into your pocket” the principal replied and by the end of the sentence picked up his pen to sign on his expulsion letter. It seemed as if Kamran’s world had been stuck with lighting, his heartbeat was through the roof, and he could not concentrate. He started to plead the principal not to expel him but got interrupted in between because of shallow breathing. The principal looked at him straight in the eye and calmly explained “Wake up”. Confused and terrified at the same time, he scanned the principal’s assistant who also seemed to be explaining “Wake up, Kamran”. “Wake up, wake up, wake up”, he could listen to the voice from all directions of the room. They slowly transformed into his mother’s voice and Kamran woke up, only to find out that he had been in his car all along, dreaming. “College is here son, have a nice day!” his mother said as she drove off dropping Kamran near the college gates. “It was only just a dream, it wasn’t real, and everything is perfectly fine” he thought to himself. He entered the college gates and swept passed the corridor to have a look at his time table. At a huge hurdle, he found out his class and section and hurried towards his class. To his surprise he heard some voices which were to present in his dream. He shook his head, smiled nervously to himself and ignored the hint. Walking down the corridor he saw a glimpse of a familiar figure walking towards him. It was the same bully leader from his dream. He put his hand his Kamran’s shoulder and asked “Hey man , you new here?”. Kamran panics and screams from frustration.

THE END