Characters

For the protagonist, we have chosen Agata ( a member f m group). The reason for this choice is to create the ‘Small girl in a big city’ effect. The protagonist will be dressed in affordable fashion, showing she is in style, but has a very low budget. This shows that even though she has the ‘celebrity’ look, it’s quite cheap, she may be dressing to the role she desires as most musicals a character is waiting to be a star.

She will be dressed in colourful clothes as most musicals use colour to present the ‘happy’ atmosphere, exaggerated and exciting, unusual and stand out from the others which is also important as the audience will see the dull dressed public and the protagonist standing out.

Props

Props are a needed in musicals. For example microphones, speaker’s etc. musicals are full of props. Some examples in our opening are;

·      The suitcase- this represents the fact that she is foreign or has travelled, she is new to the location, an important factor for the audience to understand. The suitcase cuts time out, instead is us filming her coming from the airport and the train station, it cuts all of that and saves time and brings the audience straight to the point.

·      The map/A-Z with an image of the theatre- this also shows that she’s foreign or a tourist, she is vulnerable to getting lost. In an opening, there is no need for dialogue, so the map would show that she’s foreign. But there’s a small exchange of dialogue to show her reactions.

Locations

In our opening, we will be showing the protagonist exiting Piccadilly Underground Station to indicate that she has just arrived in the 'big city'. Our inspiration for this location has come from our researching of musicals as it is clear apart from the theatre stage all musicals are typically set in the city, a busy place.

Considering this, our group have chosen Piccadilly tube station to film as it can be very busy at times and will capture the feeling of the film exactly desired. Also we will be using Bishop Thomas Grant School's stage because every musical Is based on a stage also this will establish exactly the genre of the film, and this is the reason for the second location.  The use of point of view shots will indicate her excitement, full body shots to establish the colourful costume.

The reason we have chosen to base it in Piccadilly is that most musicals are in the 'big city' and the big screens make the area look very theatrical. Unlike most of the musicals which are based in New York or Chicago, we had to compromise with our location. The character will also be seen walking into a theatre in Central London, but the inside will be filmed in Bishop Thomas Grant as previously explained.

Music

http://www.unsigned.com
This is a site where lots of unsigned musicians put up there music for the public to here. I found this website while doing my GCSE's, we were told to make a music video for an unsigned artists song, so i remembered the site and used it to get examples of songs and sounds.

Music is crucial for any musical as the lyrics reflect on the dialogue of the play, also the more lively, loud and exaggerated the music, then the interesting the play is as the music sets the audience mood e.g. a quiet solo performed with two instruments means that an upset mood is being expressed, a loud shouting with loud instruments means angry mood is being expressed and a lively loud song with all instruments usually mean dangerous and exciting moods are being expressed. 

Examples of popular musicals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0XPCjhOHK0&feature=related

A example of Musical trailers

                                                                              

example of camera shots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReHAg29c-64

We are trying to achieve the shot that lasts for 0.13 seconds

High and low angle shots are very commonly used. The low angle shots make the character look powerful and strong whilst the high angle shots make them look small and timid. High angle shots are commonly used when the character is performing on stage. After researching and analysing all the camera shots of the three openings ( A Chorus line, Chicago and Haispray) we have come up with shots that are essential to reflect on the genre e.g. close ups of main character and camera following the actions of the character to focus on body language and facial expressions.