Pre Production: Illustration

So as I said before in my last post my illustrator has dropped out of my project due to time constraints. However my graphic designer has said she will give doing some illustrations a go for me. The old illustrator sent me some rough drawings she had done so I thought Id send them onto Danni to see what she could do with them. I also annotated the drawings with some notes that I thought would be useful;

Pre Production: Logo idea

So after my graphic designer and illustrator both pulled out at the beginning of this week, I was beginning to panic. After frantically trying to find a graphic designer, I eventually found one in the form of mel's friend who has just graduated from studying graphic design. She was really helpful and got back to me with 3 designs very quickly. These were the designs:

The one I like the best and have chosen to use is the middle one. I think it has colours that will appeal to both boys and girls, has raddish included in the logo and really gives the tone and style to my piece nicely.

Pre Production: Cast

I have now got all the cast that I have chosen to play the different roles in my film. I have also gained agent contact details and appearance details that I will include in my package that I will present in the end.
These are the actors I have chosen:

• Andy: Ellie Darcey Alden
• Mum:Helen Baxendale/ Martine McCutcheon
• Dad: Ben Crompton
• Dave: Steve Spiers
• Graham: Ben Kerfoot
• Katie: Millie Innes
• Ruby: Lisa Coleman
• Zen: Philip Graham Scott
• Crystal: Sarah Rayson

I have chosen the cast based on who I think would fit best for the characters. As its channel is CBBC, I have chosen the majority of cast who have appeared on CBBC at some point so that they are instantly recognisable for children. The minority of cast that are not on CBBC are  people like Ben Crompton who I have seen on BBC three and would be great in a children's film as are funny and relatable.

My main character Andy will be played by someone relatively unknown but has had small parts in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Her name is Ellie Darcey Alden and I think she is a great up and coming star who will be perfect for  the role of Andy.

Pre Production: Script update

I now think I have got my script up to a very good standard. I have sent Simon my second version which I have made some changes in.
The main points that I have focused on while creating this version are:

• The ending wasn't very good; we didn't really see what happened to each of the families in the end so I have now added a Christmas scene which I think sums everything up quite nicely.
• I have also built up Andy and Graham (her step brother) relationship more.
• I have also added in an new character and extra scenes. Anna is Andy's best friend who she walks to and from school with. However Anna gets fed up with listening to all of Andy's drama and finds a new best friend leaving Andy on her own.

I am definatly much more happier with this version and think it is now much nearer completion.

Pre Production: Location pictures

The other day I started taking photos for my location piece I am creating for my package. Here is a little preview of two of my locations which are:

• Lakespur Gardens
• Dad's house

Pre Production: CBBC comissioner

2 months ago I emailed the commissioner of children's programs at the CBBC, Sue Notts. I had given up hope waiting for a reply but last week received one! It made me feel a lot more positive with my whole idea and concept as her reply was on the whole a positive one. This is the reply:

Dear Maddie,

Many thanks for your email and apologies for the delay in replying.

I think it's valid to suggest CBBC as your hypothetical channel for 'The Suitcase Kid'.  Jacqueline Wilson is, as you've already identified, a big draw for our audience of 6-12 year olds and several of her books (besides Tracy Beaker) have been televised.  Both 'Dustbin Baby' and 'The Illustrated Mum' have been made into TV films - 'Dustbin Baby' for CBBC and 'The Illustrated Mum' (I think) for Channel Four – though it might have been ITV.  

It's less usual for us to do feature length adaptations of this nature – partly because they're quite restrictive scheduling wise and partly because they're relatively expensive to make – but as you rightly say, we do put films out during holiday periods, so it's a reasonable suggestion to make.

Hope that helps.

Good luck with your project!

Best

Sue

 

She has backed up my idea, which was that several of Jacqueline Wilson books has been adapted for television so 'The Suitcase Kid,' is a valid suggestion. It has also made me deffinatly decide to show my feature film in the holiday periods as that is when the majority of all films are shown on CBBC.

Pre Production: Questionairre

This is the questionnaire that I gave to a class of 30 year 6's to get their opinion on how the character of 'Raddish' would look in the feature film.

The questions are:

1. Are you a boy or a girl?
2. How old are you?
3. Which picture do you find more interesting to look at?
4. Which rabbit do you think would best fit the story?
5. What colour do you think the rabbit should be?
6. Who is your favourite cartoon character?
7. When do you watch television the most?

I have chose to ask the question 'who is your favourite cartoon character?' so that when I get the results back I can look at these favourites to get a better ide of how I would like Raddish to look.

I am awaiting the results at the moment.