Thursday, 17 December 2009

Mooodboard


This is my mood board which is based on the film genre: psychological thriller because we want to base our film on this genre type. some of the films I have chosen for my mood board are: the butterfly effect,sixth sense,vanilla sky and fight club.

The butterfly effect focuses on the chaos theory that a small action can have a huge impact upon a small of large event.

Fight club revolves around a man who suffers from insominia. he joins various help groups and pretends to be a victim of other problems, this subsequently cures his insomnia. on a flight home he meets a man who he later lives with and forms a fight club with. It is revealed at the end of the story that the characters are the same person and that he has been fighting against himself.

The film A beautiful mind also follows the theme of schizophrenia however this time it is a true story of the genius john nash. we'd like our opening sequence to resolve around an abnormal man who may or may not be schizophrenic.


Analysis of Tv dramas- One Tree Hill

The first scene is of a chracter singing on a piano in her recording studio.
Mise en scene: dark studio,lightly lit by a red light in the corner of the studio. The female chracter dressed in red casual clothes i like bum possibly to show shes relaxed and comfortable in her working environment that shes used to. i like bum alot piano is dark against the red light could simbolise that within this normal looking character is passion and talent. In this case the talent is music. The chracter is singing and the insturmental in the song is played in this scene and cuts to other scenes.

Camera angles: The angles used are very limited because the scene focuses purely on the characters singing therefore there are mnay mid shots of her facial expression and establishing shots of the stduio.there are also some over the shoulder shots so we view the piano and the characters ability to play the piano from her piont of veiw.
the camera angles fade in and out and move around the charcter stinking to the 360 degree rule. .the scene flows like a song would.


Monday, 30 November 2009

uk film council


We work to make non-mainstream films more accessible in three ways:
• Improving access – our Digital Screen Network is made up of 240 digital screens across the UK that now show non-mainstream regularly.
• Raising awareness – Our Prints and Advertising Fund provides £4 million every year to help British distributors promote non-mainstream films.
• Increasing the UK's leading websites for film fans looking to watch, buy, download or rent great films..


Mainstream cinemas: available to general public usually ties in with coporate or commerical entities.

Independant: produced mainly outside of a major film studio. most mass markerted films are low budget.

Friday, 27 November 2009

New technologies


New Technologies to target specific audiences:

Online shopping: links and adverts that suggest what other items you may want to buy persuade you to look at more film products that may be a particular genre. one example of this is the asda website it displays images of clothing,food and other items(electrical etc.) these images promot spiecif items for teh time of year eg christmas ideas. if you've ordered a certain food product it will provide other food and ideas on hwo to prepare your food.

Social networking: information on profile give indications to what you are interested in which allows sites to promote and advertise what you like ion your homepage and profile. Viral marketing could also happen on social networking sites and people can send links to each other increasing new films popularity.
Fopr example on facebook you can have a variety of options such as groups and fan clubs that send you notifications and news updates whne new events occur in a particular group e.g if you joined the group 'warner brothers' you will recieve notifications on what warner brothers are up to.its easier to connect with people through you likes and dislikes.

Billboards: target a wide audience because they presented everywhere around local areas. You can’t miss them because they are hugely displayed and in your face. for example billboards are usually placed along main roads/streets where many people will drive by and see them,attracting a wider audience, they are also a passave form of advertisment meaning you arent required to receive the advertisment of information yourself.

Text messaging and phones: companies send you message with new film releases and offers such as orange Wednesdays which offer a cheaper deal. This advertises a new film release as well as increasing a network popularity, for example orange offer orange wednesday with cinemas which give you 2 tickets fro the price of one, they also send text messages telling you when new films are out and what you can receieve from this offer.

Email: Companies’ can email you telling you of new offers if you subscribe, or become a member. You receive constant information on new releases. many people receieve spam emials from companies telling them of new offers and items that are on sale, for example when you register to a site you have to give in your email so the site can contact you to veriify your account and to make sure the can contact you in the future with new offers or queries.

Blue ray DVDs: the increase in picture of quality persuades you to buy the same DVD but on blue ray. A good marketing method is when a dvd is sold of a certain movie and the blue ray si then released in better quailty people feel forced to buy the same dvd but in blue ray in order to get the better quality film.

Blogs and podcasts: published critics- the audiences are free to give their opinion and review the films they’ve watched controlling the increase/decrease of films popularity. For example they have advertisements on the side of the pages and podacssts have links to other podcasts.



Sunday, 22 November 2009

Distrubution and production





logistics of film: is the supply chain that plans,implements and controls the storage of goods, services and related information.
when a film is completed it is made in 35mm prints that cost around £1000 each to be created.independent films can only afford a small distribution of prints. The production team sell the film to distributor who then sell the prints to cinemas. The producers for the film 'this is England' were given £90,000 from the lottery in order to triple their distribution, making it such a success.The process of the production of prints is: The prints are made,put into delivery vans,taken to cinema, placed on the assembly bench, through the projector and back through the same process to other cinemas. Theatrical coverage is the amount of cinemas that the films are and played at and how often.
licencing is where permission if given to producers to use intellectual property and rights to braodcast a film.The distrubtor must then pay royalties(a percentage of film profit) to the producers. There are two types of liecnening local and international. local licencing is the distribution receiving the licence to release and exploit a film in a particular country. international licensing is where they make sure films reach the market territories across the world. licencing also tkaes into account the certification of a film,making sure that teh ceritfication it is given is appropriate.
vertical intergration is where big companies such as working title and universal produce and sitrubute their films themselves. this means they dont have to sell the rights to distribute because the whole process is done by themselves. this maximising thier budget and profit.
priting and advertising is the quantity of release prints and trailers that are made and distributed.to advertise and exploit a film as best as possibles companies use a number of methods, these are: press material- posters,trailers and clips are displayed at press releases. films makers select only trusted and reliable press in order to get a goodf press response.
design and printing of posters- posters have a wide range of advertising strategies and benfits becuase they are displayed on key areas of transport and in popular places.
advertising campaign-this involved editorials,interviews and reviews.
press campaigns- Pr agency's are employed by small indpendent film makers. celebirty enodrsement is used in interviews.
previews- a good source of viral marketing is previews wtched by reviwers in articles and editorials.

Digital distrubution: is the practise of providing the contenet of a film ina digital format which is downloaded fromt he internet after prints of a film have run out. arguable digital distrubution makes the quality of a film worse because its compressed so much however a huge advantage to digital marketing is that its easier to send films as a computer file, its less out of a production teams budget and it will reach a larger audience.digital distribution is also less likely to get piracy because the films will already be on the internet in a better quality. one disadvantage to digital distribution is that it causes a huge loss of business for distributors.

film marketing: uk films are usually released on a Friday to ensure screen space and because people tend to go to the cinema at the weekend. There are 5000 new films released each year therefore distributors will aim to release a film that isn't at the same time as another well publicised film.

Monday, 16 November 2009

Friday, 13 November 2009

Merchandising

product placement: is where brand names and merchandise are used in a film or advertising to present the product or promote an upcoming film.
synergy:in general, may be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently.
The boat that rocked used many advertising strategies for example: move trailers, posters,and product placement.
The boat that rocked has a wide well known cast with different types of comedians widening the target audience, actors such as:bill nighy,phill hoffman,rys ifans, and nick frost.The usa released trailers of a narrator saying: in 1966 the British government banned rock 'n' roll on the radio. Until one American deejay and a band of renegades launched a radio station on the high seas and raided the air waves."
AN important marketing facotr for the film is that its based ona true sotry therefore envolves real life events and a historic background.

James bond teamed up with sony to advertise sony products and promote the new james bond film, sony merchandise features in the film and danial graig the present james bond features in an advertisment for sony. this promotes both the film and the product. James bond popularity is so great because it was preivously a book in 1953 by ian flemming and is the longest running character and the most successful.

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

Chracter Reprsentations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie4kvVgdhWQ

The character of Carolyn is represented at the beginning of American beauty as a strong successful business woman dominating and contrasting with her husband Lester. Her career appears to be the only thing that’s important to her and throughout we're made aware that she’s determined to appear happier and more confident than she really is, this follows the theme of appearance Vs reality which is a key theme in the film not only concerning Carolyn but other characters such as angela,colonel Fitz and Ricky. The quote: 'I will sell this house today' shows her determination and desire to self motivate and become independent in order to be successful. it also sounds almost robotic as if she’s working like a robot so that Carolyn achieves everything perfectly in the right way. The mise en scene of the scene is a dark and dull room, made darker when Carolyn closes the blinds; the closing of the blinds could symbolise her locking herself up away from the real world so she may be able to express her feelings in a private prison, the blinds could also represent the prison bars and that Carolyn is trapped in her own emotions.carolyn is wearing colourless clothes in the scene to show her lack of confidence and to blend in with the dull and colourless surroundings. The mid shot camera angle that focuses on Carolyn’s face when she has a sudden burst of emotion forces the audience to watch because there’s nothing else to look at, making us feel uncomfortable as a supposedly strong character looses our respect but we also grow sympathy for her which we didn’t have previously because she appeared cruel and confident and career obsessed.
The music used in the scene begins with a slow piano that is often played in parts of the film. At the climax of her emotions jazz blues music is played, possibly to signify the end of her outburst and the regaining of her composure. The director wants to shock the audience and make us feel uncomfortable as we’re faced with the reality of the characters true emotions and personalities.
At the beginning of the film we dislike Carolyn because she is represented as a materialistic, neurotic and obsessive and unloving person, although early on our mind are quickly changed when she displays a burst of emotion. We can connate from the scene that Carolyn’s inability to communicate her emotions may be one reason that her marriage is a unhappy one.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Distribution and marketing

Define: above and below the line: •Below the line (BTL), Above the line (ATL), and Through the Line (TTL), in organizational business and marketing communications, are advertising.•In film, those costs that occur before filming, this includes salaries of the talend and creative team (director, producer, screenwriter).
The marketing strategies for the film 2012 were: trailers,viral marketing website, campaign,broadcast over commercail television, and podcasts.
The budget for the film was $200 million.
The marketing strategies for the film 'men at stare goats' are: posters,televsion advertising and the fact that it was already a book gives it publicity.
The budget for the film was $25 Million and grossed $13,309,000.
The marketing strategies for bunny and the bull are: Trailers,reviews,youtube clips, and posters.
In 1994 when the film 'four weddings and a funeral' was realeased, there weren't as many marketign strategies available as there are today fro example below the line statgies such as youtube, podcasts,and internet based links weren't around in 1994. The film would of used stratagies such as: posters,television advertsing, viral amrketing and tv and radio. the use of merchandising is a fairly new idea.

Friday, 6 November 2009

This is england

1.How does the budget of a instituion affact the production practises used to appaeral to the target audience?
Shane meadows usually works on a low budget therefore he is forced to improvise features such as: speical effects,location,actors and camera angles. The film this is england is set in 1980, however meadows was unable to create a set due to the low budget therefore he had to find a location that hadn't been modernised since the 1980s. The actors used in this is england weren't very well estblished however this isn't necessarily a bad thing because(that with the lack of camera angles)creates social realism and makes the audience feel that they are veiwing and are involved in a real life situation which couldnt be achieved with well known actors or a variety of camera angles. The film hot fuzz has a larger budget and uses well known actors with the same techiniques from other films that the production team has made, this could limit the target audience to people that enjoy those actors style and the way the film is produced.
With each film meadows is widening his target audience; this is england focuses on the 1980s and issues such as viloence and bullying which again creates social realism allowing the audience to relate to the situation. the main chracter,shaun also invites a younger target audience as he is young himself; he is a likeable character because of the way he talks and behaves which could be improvisation from the actor himself. One of meadows techiniques is improvisation; he does this in the script, much of the script is formed by the actors themselves portraying a more realistic scenario in the film. The way that meadows doesn't focus too much on lighting and camera angles gives his films originality; it also gives the audience a sense of how people coped in the 1980s when unemployment was high and a war was being fought. meadows proves that a low budget doesn't create a poor film and that relationships with the actors and improvisation create success.

Friday, 30 October 2009

Shane Meadows on 'This is England'

Shane pionted out that having a big budget and well known actors involved ina film doesnt neccessarily make it a successful film. Shane recieved a small budget to create thsi is england therefore he had to improvise on the production. The biggest challlenge he faced was finding an appropriate set for the film, because it was set in teh eighties and he couldnt create teh set he had to find a location that hadn't been modernised since the eighties and that was in birnmingham.
Shane meadows also stated that he was driven by his relationship with the actors and that he worked together with them to improvise and listen to how they wanted things to be. shane created cood social realism in 'this is england' in that he created the reality of a nineteen eigties society through the mnise en scene and the chartacters.
one of his techniques for saving and keepignt he budget low was buying nineteen eighties cars from ebay where he could buy them very cheaply second hand rather then brand new, he also used the lighting that was already available in the town of birmingham which increased the socail realism.


Wroking title and warp title

1. Who is working title?
Working title films is a British production company founded in 1983 whose parent companies include: BBC films and universal studies.
Who are Warp films?
A film company that creates short films, they have 16 staff and are supported by the national endowment for science technology and arts.
2. How does the ownership of the company affect the budgets for film?
By owning the film company you have total control over how the budget is spent and therefore can dictate what percentage of the budget goes where i.e. Mechandising,advertising,distribution,production costs, staffing levels.
If you don’t have complete control of the film company you are at the mercy of major share holders who can override the budgets and dictate costs that may not be your priority.
3.Warp films have produced: My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117 (Dir: Chris Morris - 2003)
Dead Man's Shoes (Dir: Shane Meadows - 2004)
Rubber Johnny (Dir: Chris Cunningham - 2005)
Scummy Man (Arctic Monkeys short film/music video)
This Is England (Dir: Shane Meadows - 2006)
"Grow Your Own"(Dir: Richard Laxton - 2007)
Dog Altogether
All Tomorrow's Parties (Dir: Jonathan Caouette & All Tomorrow's People]] - 2009)
Working title films have been responsible for producing many films including: about a boy,atonment.billy elliott,brdget jones, to name a few that have proved popular and successful.
4. choose one from each list and compare the budgets for these films and how much they made.

Warp films: the film ‘this is England’ had a budget of £1,500,000 and it grossed $8,069,240.
Working title films ‘about a boy’ had a budget of £20,000,000 and it grossed US$130,549,455.
The film about a boy was already a well established book on the bestsellers list and therefore already had an advertising advantage that coupled with the actors starring in the film added extra publicity. Hugh grant, who plays the main character, was already a popular actor when it was released. Film reviews are also an important factor dictating the success or failure of films.

5. The movie Jaws had a budget of $7 million and grossed $470, 653, 000,it also exceeded $100,000.000 in tickets sales. Factors that made Jaws such a success were: the director, Steven Spielberg who wasn’t very well known when this movie was created but proved his talent as a director and received many awards and good receptions from critics.

6. Where do working title and warp films get their funding from?
Working title receives funding from BBC films and universal studies depending on which project.
Warp films receive their funding from NESTA –the national endowment for science technology and arts which is a British company established by the government in 1998 to maximise the uks potential in creativity.


Saturday, 24 October 2009

Prelimary film evaluation

1. The preliminary magazine we needed to created was off a person walking through a door into a room,sitting down and having a conversation with a friend. we were required to film the shoot so that it had continuity especially when the eprson went through the door. we were also required to get a number of shots such as over the shoulder,mid shot,two shot etc. we gathered many shots of the person walking through the door and after editing it numerous times where finally able to create a shot of the person walkign through the door from different angles,however although we filmed over teh shoulder shots we were unable to use them in the final film because the conversation wasnt recored properly.
Our film followed the brief of having someone walk into a room thougha door to talk to a friend however we're lacking in some required shots therefore our prelime needs more editing and filming.
I've learnt that its important to get a variety of different shots when filming and as many as possible so that you have lots to edit and work with in order to get the finished porudct that you need.

Friday, 16 October 2009

Preliminary magazine evaluation

1. Our magazine follows many of the generic conventions and features of a magazine such as: we've used a three colour, colour scheme of blue,white and green which are teh colours of the schools logo,clear fonts that stand out using the colour scheme, A mide shot of the main picture which is students recieving their exam results,and other pictures explainging the text.
2. success: we used correct features of a magazine,different style fonts,mid shot images.
failures: we didnt include enough in the magazien to make it stand otu and overall it looked plain. it needed to be more busy and have more of the magazine features.
3. I've learnt that its really important to include as much as possible on teh front cover of amgazine so that it stands out, ive also learnt that its imoortant to edit picutres so that they look presentable on the page.

preliminary magazine

Monday, 5 October 2009

Preliminary Drawings


This is a photo of a mock up of what our preliminary magazine will look like.Its a magazine for the school, with students receiving their exam results on the front.


















This is mine and Emmys storyboard for our preliminary film which involves someone opening a door, sitting down and chatting to their friend. we have made it clear what camera angles and how many shots we're going to take.
















Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Monday, 28 September 2009

Eastenders Film evaluation

1.The eastenders scene is typical of a soap because it is set in the same place usually a small town, it also has the same characters throughout.

2.There are many camera angles used to make the scenes more effective and flow. The camera angles used are:zoom in shot, reverse,two shot,wide shot,mid shot,close up,over the shoulder,and master shot.

3.Our recreation was fairly accurate becuase we used all the correct shots needed to put it together and we presented every shot in the right order.

4.success: The camera angles and the dialouge used and we made it clear who the characters were.
Failure:we didn't have good continuity for example we used the same person for two different characters.

5. We've learnt that the mise en scene is vitally important when recreating a scene(s) because you need to get the correct props and an accurate setting so that the audience is aware of what is going on and what we are trying to recreate. The mise en scene sets the scene and without it a shot doesnt work well.

6.The setting in our shots was fairly dark which is how the east enders episode was shot because it was early morning however we could of used the lighting more effectively when peggy opens the curtains.

7. continuity is very important to make the shots flow and progress easily. Continuity is vital to make the quiality of the camera shots and total result look good.

8.I think i need to work on editing a film because i don't think ive had much of an opportunity to see how i can change a film and edit it in order to make it complete.

9. I'm not sure which i feel more confident using, i enjoyed making a film and i think that's easier. i think i need to learn more about using photo shop and creating a magazine cover.