Research - Audience and Industry

For my industry research I researched into the similar films to mine and discovered that the films that were about football were appreciated by many people, for example the film Bend It Like Beckham made over £46 million worldwide and the 3 Goal films made over £20 million worldwide, 4 very successful football films that have made it big. Bend It Like Beckham made £1.1 million in the first weekend in the cinemas worldwide. This shows that these types of films are extremely popular with the public and my film would be able to emulate their success.

Script

LONDON FC MANAGER: I went to one of your training sessions recently and I was very impressed with your performance and I'd like to offer you a position at our club London FC.

SAMUEL: Ok, thanks.

Location

I decided to film my teaser trailer at a local football courts, it was a nice enclosed space and could easily be taken as a good teams training facility. My other location was filmed in a field in a local area, this also looks good as a lot of professional teams have a field that they train in. Both these locations were good as I could film at them at any time during the day as they were always open and both were easily accessible.

Casting

I decided to use my friends that normally play football as I knew I could direct them easily and get in contact with them easy, for the London FC training I used the players that played for my local football team where we trained and just filmed one of our training sessions as London FC's training session.

Research - Textual Analysis

After I had done my initial ideas and decided which one I was going to create I had to conduct some research into finding out what similar films there were in my field.

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM

Bend It Like Beckham is a 2002 dramedy film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley and Archie Panjabi first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha. Its title comes from the football player David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free kicks by "bending" (curving) the ball past a wall of defenders.

Plot

Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) is the 18-year-old daughter of Punjabi Sikhs living in London who work at Heathrow Airport. Juliette "Jules" Paxton (Keira Knightley) is the daughter of an English couple. Jess is infatuated with football, but because she is a woman her parents do not allow her to play. However, sometimes she plays in the park with various boys and her good friend Tony, a closet homosexual. When Jules discovers Jess' skills, she invites Jess to try out for her local team, the Hounslow Harriers, coached by Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). He is sceptical of a new player joining the team, but when he discovers her skills, and that she gels instantly with Jules, he puts her on the team. Jess lies to Joe about her parents being on board with the idea.

Jess' parents learn that Jess has been playing and become more strict, ensuring she does not attend matches.

Thanks to Jess and Jules' skill, the Harriers reach the finals of the league tournament. Unfortunately, the final is held on the day of Pinky's wedding. Joe pleads with Mr. Bhamra to allow Jess to play, but he refuses. He does not want Jess to suffer as he did when he was kicked out of a cricket club because of his race.

Joe accepts that Jess will not play and the final begins without her. Halfway through Pinky's ceremony, Tony convinces Mr. Bhamra to allow Jess to play. Tony drives Jess to the final, where the Harriers are 1-0 down, with half an hour remaining.

Jess and Jules tie the score, and when Jess is awarded a free kick, she must bend the ball around the wall of players to win the game. She succeeds, and Hounslow wins the tournament. Jess and Jules are offered football scholarships to Santa Clara University in California. Jules tells her parents immediately, but Jess has trouble telling hers.

GOAL

Goal! (also known as Goal! The Dream Begins in the United States) is a 2005 film directed by Danny Cannon. This is the first installment of a trilogy named Goal!. This film was made with full cooperation from FIFA, which is one of the reasons actual teams and players are used throughout the movie. The second installment, Goal! 2: Living the Dream..., was released in February 2007. The third installment, Goal! 3: Taking on the World, was released straight to DVD in June 2009.

Plot

Santiago Muñez, a skilled Association football player and enthusiast, is the son of a gardener, who lives in the Barrio section of Los Angeles, having illegally entered the USA from Mexico ten years earlier. Besides gardening with his father, he works as a busboy in a Chinese restaurant. However, his ultimate dream is to play football professionally. Due to his poor life and the fact that he plays solely for a local club consisting of Hispanics who work in a Car wash, he feels it is unlikely. One day, however, his skills are noticed by Glen Foy, a former Newcastle player and scout who works as a car mechanic. Glen manages to get him a tryout with Newcastle United, which has recently signed a new player, named Gavin Harris. Needing to get to England, Santiago starts to save his money which he stashes in an old shoe. Unfortunately, his father steals his savings to buy a Chevrolet truck, allowing them to work for themselves. His dream is not lost, though, when his grandmother, who loves football as much as he does, sells off some old jewelry and buys him his tickets.

Glen warmly welcomes Santiago to his house and takes him to his tryout. Unfortunately, he is unused to playing in England, and plays badly. Glen manages to convince the manager that Santiago needs a month's trial to show his full potential. Santiago does not tell the full truth to the club nurse, Roz Harmison, in his medical test and does not mention his asthma. After a month, in a reserve game, a jealous teammate crushes Santiago's inhaler. His asthma causes him to play badly, and his coach lets him go. On his way to the airport, though, Santiago meets Harris, Newcastle's new signee, who was late for training due to stolen car tyres and needed the same taxi. Harris finds out what happened in the reserve game, and makes him explain it to the manager, who lets him stay, provided he gets treatment. Santiago manages to get a contract for the Reserves team and moves in with Gavin. He finally makes it into the first team, as a substitute in a match against Fulham. He manages to get a penalty for Newcastle, winning them the match. Unbeknownst to anyone else in his family, his father watches the match on TV in the USA, and after finally watching his son play, he leaves a proud father. Despite the victory, the manager informs Santiago that his weakness is that he does not pass the ball. That night, he and Harris go out partying, only for a picture of the two to wind up in the tabloid The Sun, causing anger from the manager. At the same time, Santiago's friend, Jamie, suffers a career-ending injury that only causes him additional grief.

Back in Los Angeles, Santiago's father dies of a heart attack. Devastated, Santiago plans to return home. While in the airport waiting for his flight back to Los Angeles, he decides not to return. Believing he may not play any longer, he goes to St. James' Park to feel what it's like there, and is informed by the manager that he is playing against Liverpool. On match day, Harris puts Newcastle into the lead. Before half-time, Liverpool makes a comeback with two goals, from Igor Bišćan and Milan Baroš. In the dying minutes of injury time, Santiago assists Harris in scoring the equaliser by finally passing the ball to him, to make it 2-2. However, a draw will not be enough to earn Newcastle a place in next season's UEFA Champions League. Mere minutes before the end of the game, Harris is tripped and Newcastle gain a wide free kick, which Harris gives to Santiago. Santiago, with the hopes and prayers of the whole city of Newcastle resting on his shoulders, scores, and Newcastle win 3–2. Glen reveals to Santiago that his grandmother is trying to call. She mentions that his father did watch his first match against Fulham, after learning this from a fellow supporter. Santiago shouted to Glen that his father saw him play and was proud of him before he died. The film ends with Santiago shedding tears of joy while embracing his realised dream.

GOAL 2 

Goal! 2: Living the Dream is the second part of the football film trilogy Goal! and was released on 9 February 2007 in the United Kingdom and 29 August 2008 in the United States. The story follows the fictional footballer Santiago Munez's life after joining Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Plot

The film starts at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. FC Barcelona defeats Real Madrid and Gavin Harris is misfiring and has failed to score in 14 matches since signing for Real from Newcastle United for £5 million.

Back in England, Santiago is continuing to impress at Newcastle, which sparks the interest of Real Madrid, and Glen draws out a move to the Spanish giants for Santi, using the real life move of Michael Owen to Newcastle as an exchange deal. Santi and Roz fly to Spain and Santi scores his first Real goal after coming off the bench for Gavin. Roz soon has to head home to carry on her studies. Santi continues to impress at Real and the manager and director of football are seen arguing over whether he should start. However, life becomes complicated for Santi when his half-brother learns of his relation to Santi and shows him a picture of his mother. Santi's mother left his dad years ago and is now living in Spain with a new husband and a son. Enrique learned of this and went to tell Santi; Santi is freaked and drives off. From then on, his life goes downhill; he makes his first start in a home game against Valencia CF and he is sent off after five minutes when he hacked down Vicente. He drowns his sorrows at a bar with Jordana García (a journalist he met at a party hosted by Gavin).

Things get worse for Santi as he misses the team airplane for the game against Rosenborg BK and he then starts falling out with Roz as he becomes more selfish and arrogant. He sacks his agent Glen Foy, who had given him a chance in football. Meanwhile, Gavin is scoring again but he loses his house and moves in with Santi. Santi gets injured while playing football with Gavin outside his home and his coach bans him from returning home for Christmas. Roz begins to think that Santiago is cheating on her.

Frustrated that his mother will not allow him to be a part of Santi's life, Enrique follows Santi to a bar and steals his Lamborghini. Santi jumps in a taxi and orders the cab to pursue the car. Enrique crashes the car and is seriously injured. Santi rushes Enrqiue to the hospital and then is interviewed by the police at the hospital. A paparazzo sneaks in and takes a picture of Santi talking to the police. Santi, enraged immediately gets up and hits the photographer, and kicks his camera against the wall, shattering it. As he is being restrained by the police he finally sees his mother. The two glance at each other before Santi is dragged off.

Harris scores the winning goal against Barcelona in the Champions League. Real Madrid get past Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League semi-finals with goals by Harris and Santi at the Santiago Bernabéu. Before he goes onto the pitch to play the final against Arsenal F.C. Santi phones Roz and apologizes for his behavior and begs for a second chance. Roz is seen sitting on the steps in tears, and when she heads upstairs it is revealed that she is pregnant with their child. Real Madrid concede a penalty in the first few minutes of the match, and the penalty is successfully converted by TJ Harper. Real Madrid go into halftime after a poor first half and are lucky to be only down one goal. Santi is brought on to play behind Gavin, in hopes of re-creating the magic the two had previously shared at Newcastle. Striker Thierry Henry beats a defender to make it 2-0 Arsenal. Real concede a second penalty. However, Arsenal miss the penalty and after a strong throw from keeper Iker Casillas, Santi kicks a long pass onside to Harris who volleys it into the top corner. Santi hits the bar before scoring during injury time. Tying the game 2-2. With seconds to go, Santi wins a free kick just outside of the penalty box. Beckham bends a shot past the wall of defenders and keeper to score to win the UEFA Champions League Final for Real.

GOAL 3 

Goal! 3: Taking on the World is the third part of the association football Goal! film trilogy, directed by Andrew Morahan written and produced by Mike Jefferies from the first two Goal! films. Unlike its two predecessors, this film did not have a theatrical release and was instead released on 15 June 2009 straight to DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom.

Plot

In the third installment of the football drama trilogy Goal!, Kuno Becker returns as Mexican footballer Santiago Munez, who, along with his best friends and England national team players Charlie Braithwaite (Leo Gregory) and Liam Adams (JJ Feild), are selected for their respective national teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany. This time round, Munez is not the main character of the film (he has very little screen time) with that role going to Liam Adams and Charlie Braithwaite.

However, as the three attend the shooting of a film Braithwaite is featured in, tragedy befalls them. All three best friends and Braithwaite's new love interest and soon to be fiancée Sophia Tardelli (played by Kasia Smutniak) suffer a car accident which puts Munez out of contention through injuries. Meanwhile, Liam Adams discovers to his horror that he has a new daughter, Bella, from former love interest June (played by Anya Lahiri). This only adds to Liam's preexisting alcoholism and release from Real Madrid. It is revealed that Munez is set to return to England as a Tottenham Hotspur player under a two-year contract, along with Adams, who re-signs from Newcastle United, the original club of both ex-Real players. The film goes on to depict the World Cup from the English perspective. Liam scores against Sweden (2-2), assisted by a header from Charlie, and England successfully qualify for the knock-out stages. However, in the match against Ecuador, Braithwaite is injured, and later collapses in the changing room. Braithwaite is rushed to hospital, and dies on the way from an aneurysm (from the car accident). Italy beat France on penalties in the final to take home the crown of champions of the world.

England crash out of the quarter-finals against Portugal as Adams misses a crucial penalty against Portuguese keeper Ricardo while Cristiano Ronaldo converts. Despite the loss, the movie ends on a high note.

Also following the tournament around Germany in their St. George's Cross festooned camper van are the "Geordie Boys", whom we first met back in the first Goal!film.

After conducting all these textual analysis' I could begin planning my own 2 minute advertisement for my own film. 

Initial Ideas

First I decided what initial ideas I was going to do, I decided to pick 4 initial ideas and pick the one that appealed to me most.

1. Back Of The Net. Young boy gets scouted by high team, goes to training, goes well and gets a trial at the high team, scene cuts to high team training and ends on a cliffhanger.
Location: Goals, Office, Street/Garden
Genre: Sport/Drama
Target Audience: Teenagers 13-19, anyone interested in football.

2. Five Finger Discount. Group of robbers rob a jewellery store stealing everything they can. As they leave 1 of the robbers gets shot by the owner and held hostage, the robbers then try and get there companion back.
Location: Jewellers
Genre: Action/Drama
Target Audience: 15+

3. Don't Cross The White Line. Drug dealers get caught dealing drugs to minors and get caught by the police and thrown in jail, they have to break out 15 years later and go and track down the policeman who put them away in the first place. The title Cross The White Line refers to a line of drugs and crossing a metaphorical line.
Location: School, Alleys, Police Cell
Genre: Thriller
Target Audience: 15+

4. Bad Dream on Edward Avenue. Spoof of Nightmare on Elm Street, young teenagers move into a flat once owned by the worst serial killer in the world, when they fall asleep he tries to attack them in their sleep with hilarious consequences.
Location: Flat, Streets
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Target Audience:15+

After I thought about what I would do with all the initial ideas I decided I was going to do Back Of The Net as this one grabbed my attention the most and the location of the scenes would be easier to film than a jewellers or police cell for example.

I decided I was going to do this genre as well because it appealed to me the most as I am extremely interested in sports especially football, and I believe that sports is the most easy genre to film as it involves just following the action, there doesn't really need to be a back story filmed. The teaser trailer can just be about the main idea you have, only in the film would you have to include other little stories parallel to the main story