Saturday, 11 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
Friday, 3 December 2010
Target Audience
This is Terry and Maureen who are a married couple who both work full time and are currently in their 40’s, they love attending the cinema in their spare time and both of their favourite films are James Bond films and the Bourne Identity which fall in to the same genre as my film so my film should appeal to them. This is good for my film as I am reaching a massive audience as it ranges from 16 to 40+ so the majority of the population should be attracted to my film as I am targeting a massive audience which should see my film to be successful.
Target Audience
This is Abbie Howell, she is currently 16 and she also attends a 6th form college where she enjoys her chosen subjects as well as the social aspect of attending the college as she is very popular, Abbie often goes out with her mates and she says that she enjoys seeing new movies with her pals at the cinema and she said that she has a wide range of taste on films but her favourite genre would be the romantic genre so she said retrospectively her favourite film would be the Twilight films. As Abbie said that she likes a lot of films my film should fall perfectly into her taste so hopefully she will like my film. As Abbie is 16, again she falls directly in to my target audience which is good as it shows that I am reaching a wide audience as I am aiming my film at men and women.
Target Audience
This is Craig Heyneke and he is a young man who’s main interests are cycling/off roading and watching films. Craig is currently attending a 6th form college where he is studying Media so automatically he has an interest in the media industry. Craig is 17 years old so he fits in perfectly with my target audience which currently lies between the ages of 15 and upwards. Craig's favourite film genre is action, so our film should automatically attract him which is good as we know that we are reaching our audience easily. Craig's favourite film is Salt and this film also fits in to the same genre that my film falls into which again is good as my film should be more attractive to him. When Craig finds spare time he generally watches films so we hope that my film will attract him as he falls perfectly into my target audience and obviously it is vital to attract our target audience other wise the film is likely to be a flop.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Initial ideas for our film trailer
When filming and developing our film trailer there are some key factors to consider and they include the use of camera angles, the editing process, sound and sound effects, music, special effects the setting and the dialogue with the film trailer.
Camera Angles: Camera angles are very important in any media filming and we should take care over what ones me and my group use when filming for our trailer. We should consider the use of suitable equipment for example a tri pod, we will use a tri pod to keep the camera steady so that the shot is not unsteady or shaky as this will portray to the audience that we were not competent in using the right equipment. There will be many different camera shots and one of the main ones that we will use is a low angle shot of the proposed killer as they are the most powerful character where as when we are showing vulnerability and weakness we will mainly use a high angle shot to portray this to our audience. Through the use of both of the shots we will be able to easily identify the power/superior difference between the two people.
We may also use a tilt shot starting from low down then rising up to show the power and emphases of the killer and this will also help to create tension and it will help to set the genre of the film if the audience did not know what one it fell into and we will frequently use close ups to show the characters expressions and emotions as this is a key part to our trailer because there are so many feelings and emotions being portrayed within it.
We may also use over the shoulder shots as we feel as a group that this will effectively show the audience two sides of the same story and we hope through the use of this shot that it will create even more tension and we will see different things through different characters views.
Editing: As a group we decided that we want to start our trailer with a high emphasis with lots of tension but starting of at a slow pace and we will try to do this by making cuts in certain scenes where it may show suspense or tension and we hope that this will give enough information to the viewer without giving the whole plot away. When we see romance we will effectively have lots of different shots to show romance but the speed of the shots will be slow to allow the viewer to absorb the romance but when there is drama or tension we will make cuts but at a higher speed to show that it is an action thriller and this will help to draw the viewer in further. Through the use of speed we hope that it will make the genre of the film known and we will also include captions within the trailer that effectively tell some of the story and on the captions we will use certain effects to make them fade in and out of the trailer to match the pace of the trailer at the time and this will also help to break the trailer up and as the captions have a high emphasis placed upon them this will help to make the viewer aware of what is going on because they will think about what they are seeing on screen.
We are also planning on having certain parts of our trailer in black and white and this will help to show that parts of our trailer are being portrayed at two different times.
In our trailer we will use different types of music as we believe that it is a key part to our trailer as some of the music will help to set the scene and may also build tension so it is vital that certain music is played at certain times during the trailer as we hope that some of the emphasis will be on the music and it will create tension at places and peacefulness at others and also through the use of music it will help our trailer to run more smoothly and flow much more better where as if we didn't have music then the trailer would be dull and boring so the music side to our trailer is very important.
Mise-en-Scene: Through our mise-en-scene it will allow us to portray different people and there characters for example the villain, the victim or the hero. In our trailer both the villain and the hero retrospectively will be both wearing suits, this is because when people see suits they automatically think of power or authority and as both of these characters are capable of anything we thought that the suit matched the part perfectly. The victim will be wearing normal clothes as this is the opposite to a suit so we hope that this will portray her innocence and vulnerability. We plan to film in different locations and one of the main locations being the woods, we chose this as this effectively portrays the sense of being trapped and we will also use different locations of enclosed spaces as this will again show the sense of being trapped we may also follow some conventions of the film noir period through the use of blinds and gates where the lines will run across there body's to show that they are trapped or being targeted and that they are unable to escape or hide.
Sound effects and music: The music we have chosen to use in our trailer will consists of a heartbeat as this will show tension between the characters and it will also help to define the genre of our film, we will also use another music track to again help set the pace of the trailer and through the use of different music it will allow us to place different emphasises on different parts of the trailer and we may also use some sound effects to portray fear and danger for example a scream or a loud bang which also follows the conventions of the genre of our film which is action/thriller.
Setting: Some of our trailer as i have said will be filmed in the woods as this shows the sense of being trapped and enclosed and we also believe that this location will add to the variety of locations that we will use in our trailer, we will also use the school grounds as this will enable us to again show the sense of being trapped and enclosed. During our trailer we will also have a car getaway scene to represent the sense of escapism and we will speed the scene up though our editing process to show the car moving in excessive speeds this is because we could not carry this practice out in real life as we had laws that we had to abide by
Dialogue: During our trailer there will be the bare minimum of dialogue as we feel that the music and the footage alone will generate enough sense of tension and will create the genre of the film its self but when we use speech it is for a reason as the parts where speech is present carries a high importance as it either tells parts of the story or it informs the viewer of something happening in the trailer.
Camera Angles: Camera angles are very important in any media filming and we should take care over what ones me and my group use when filming for our trailer. We should consider the use of suitable equipment for example a tri pod, we will use a tri pod to keep the camera steady so that the shot is not unsteady or shaky as this will portray to the audience that we were not competent in using the right equipment. There will be many different camera shots and one of the main ones that we will use is a low angle shot of the proposed killer as they are the most powerful character where as when we are showing vulnerability and weakness we will mainly use a high angle shot to portray this to our audience. Through the use of both of the shots we will be able to easily identify the power/superior difference between the two people.
We may also use a tilt shot starting from low down then rising up to show the power and emphases of the killer and this will also help to create tension and it will help to set the genre of the film if the audience did not know what one it fell into and we will frequently use close ups to show the characters expressions and emotions as this is a key part to our trailer because there are so many feelings and emotions being portrayed within it.
We may also use over the shoulder shots as we feel as a group that this will effectively show the audience two sides of the same story and we hope through the use of this shot that it will create even more tension and we will see different things through different characters views.
Editing: As a group we decided that we want to start our trailer with a high emphasis with lots of tension but starting of at a slow pace and we will try to do this by making cuts in certain scenes where it may show suspense or tension and we hope that this will give enough information to the viewer without giving the whole plot away. When we see romance we will effectively have lots of different shots to show romance but the speed of the shots will be slow to allow the viewer to absorb the romance but when there is drama or tension we will make cuts but at a higher speed to show that it is an action thriller and this will help to draw the viewer in further. Through the use of speed we hope that it will make the genre of the film known and we will also include captions within the trailer that effectively tell some of the story and on the captions we will use certain effects to make them fade in and out of the trailer to match the pace of the trailer at the time and this will also help to break the trailer up and as the captions have a high emphasis placed upon them this will help to make the viewer aware of what is going on because they will think about what they are seeing on screen.
We are also planning on having certain parts of our trailer in black and white and this will help to show that parts of our trailer are being portrayed at two different times.
In our trailer we will use different types of music as we believe that it is a key part to our trailer as some of the music will help to set the scene and may also build tension so it is vital that certain music is played at certain times during the trailer as we hope that some of the emphasis will be on the music and it will create tension at places and peacefulness at others and also through the use of music it will help our trailer to run more smoothly and flow much more better where as if we didn't have music then the trailer would be dull and boring so the music side to our trailer is very important.
Mise-en-Scene: Through our mise-en-scene it will allow us to portray different people and there characters for example the villain, the victim or the hero. In our trailer both the villain and the hero retrospectively will be both wearing suits, this is because when people see suits they automatically think of power or authority and as both of these characters are capable of anything we thought that the suit matched the part perfectly. The victim will be wearing normal clothes as this is the opposite to a suit so we hope that this will portray her innocence and vulnerability. We plan to film in different locations and one of the main locations being the woods, we chose this as this effectively portrays the sense of being trapped and we will also use different locations of enclosed spaces as this will again show the sense of being trapped we may also follow some conventions of the film noir period through the use of blinds and gates where the lines will run across there body's to show that they are trapped or being targeted and that they are unable to escape or hide.
Sound effects and music: The music we have chosen to use in our trailer will consists of a heartbeat as this will show tension between the characters and it will also help to define the genre of our film, we will also use another music track to again help set the pace of the trailer and through the use of different music it will allow us to place different emphasises on different parts of the trailer and we may also use some sound effects to portray fear and danger for example a scream or a loud bang which also follows the conventions of the genre of our film which is action/thriller.
Setting: Some of our trailer as i have said will be filmed in the woods as this shows the sense of being trapped and enclosed and we also believe that this location will add to the variety of locations that we will use in our trailer, we will also use the school grounds as this will enable us to again show the sense of being trapped and enclosed. During our trailer we will also have a car getaway scene to represent the sense of escapism and we will speed the scene up though our editing process to show the car moving in excessive speeds this is because we could not carry this practice out in real life as we had laws that we had to abide by
Dialogue: During our trailer there will be the bare minimum of dialogue as we feel that the music and the footage alone will generate enough sense of tension and will create the genre of the film its self but when we use speech it is for a reason as the parts where speech is present carries a high importance as it either tells parts of the story or it informs the viewer of something happening in the trailer.
Initial Storyboards
These are my groups initial stoyboards and they give a little insight into what will actually be in our film trailer, this is what we will be working from when filiming because this how we planned what type of shots will be used and what the location should look like to fit our visions and ideas.
Monday, 29 November 2010
The movie J.F.K. is about a District Attorney from Louisiana who is trying to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Jim Garrison the district attorney makes trips to Dallas where the assassination took place he along with his co-workers from his office would put together a plan of how the assassination happened.
JFK is a thriller with a political side to it, You know the film is politically influenced by the opening sequence to the film. The opening sequence starts with up beat diegetic music that contains drums, the fact the music is a drum beat shows its importance which could be represented as a salute to a political leader?.
The film title is JFK, so we know it will be about assassins which makes it a thriller, they don't need to emphasise on this point anymore as the audience will generally be able to make the link between the film and the happening of the event.
Genre
What is Genre? Genre is where a film is put into a category depending on its settings. Films can be organised according to three principal concepts: setting, mood, and format. A genre can be defined as a group of movies that share similar elements such as scripts, types of actors, scenes, film techniques, camera shoots, sound, music, illumination, edition, etc. There are many different types of film genres consisting of:
Action: Includes films that have tremendous impact, continuous high energy, lots of physical stunts and activity, possibly extended chase scenes, races, rescues, battles, martial arts, mountains and mountaineering, destructive disasters (floods, explosions, natural disasters, fires, etc.), fights, escapes, non-stop motion, spectacular rhythm and pacing, and adventurous heroes - all designed for pure audience escapism with the action sequences at the core of the film. An example of an action film would be the recently released Inception.
Adventure: are usually exciting stories, with new experiences or exotic locales, very similar to or often paired with the action film genre. An example of an adventure film would be Avatar.
Animation: are films where individual drawings, paintings, or illustrations are photographed frame by frame (stop-frame cinematography). Usually, each frame differs slightly from the one preceding it, giving the illusion of movement when frames are projected in rapid succession at 24 frames per second. An example of an animation film would be Toy Story 3.
Biography: biography is a book about a person's life. If that book is written by someone else, it's called a biography. If it's written by the person himself or herself, it's called an autobiography, am example of this would be the Social Network.
Comedy: Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter through the use of one-liners and jokes by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters an example of a comedy film would be, Due Date.
Crime: Crime (gangster) films are developed around the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters, particularly bank robbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. An example of a crime film would be The Shawshank Redemption.
Drama: Dramas are serious, plot-driven presentations, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. An example of a drama would be, The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Family: is a film genre that is designed to appeal to a variety of age groups and, thus, families. To attract these diverse audiences, film makers often create works that operate simultaneously on several levels of appeal, an example of this genre would be Elf.
Fantasy: are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic or exotic fantasy worlds, as distinct from science fiction films and an example would be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Film-Noir: means "black film" in French and features themes which are more negative than positive, with an overall dark and shadowy outlook--being filmed in black and white. This film genre takes in detective and crime noir as well as many gangster films of the 1930's and an example of Film Noir would be Double Indemnity.
History: often cover a large expanse of time set against a vast, panoramic backdrop and an example of a film within this genre would be Saving Private Ryan.
Horror: are designed to frighten and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience and a film within this genre would be The Strangers.
Music/Musical: films are cinematic forms that emphasize full-scale scores or song and dance routines in a significant way usually with a musical or dance performance integrated as part of the film narrative and an example would be Step Up.
Mystery: are films that explores the unsolved crime, particularly murder, disappearance, or detective, investigative intrigue. Emphasis is usually placed on the person solving the crime and the reasons and events leading to the crime and an example of this would be Salt.
Romance: These films are based around love stories, or affairs of the heart that center on passion, emotion, and the romantic, affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage and an example of this would be, Eclipse.
Science Fiction: are often visionary and imaginative that involve heroes, aliens, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology, unknown and unknowable forces, and extraordinary monsters and a film that comes under the sci-fi genre would be District 9.
Sport: are films that have a sports setting for example, football or an event such as a fight or a race and the character/or athlete is normally central and predominant in the storyline. A sports film would be The Blind Side.
War: These films normally acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting against nations or humankind on land, sea, or in the air provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film and an example of a war film would be The Great Escape.
Western: these films have defined the genre of the American film industry, a eulogy to the early days of the expansive American frontier. They are one of the oldest, most enduring genres with very recognisable plots, elements, and characters with six-guns, horses, dusty towns, trails, cowboys and Indians and a film that falls into the Western film genre category is A Fistful of Dollars.
Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp created a theory in the early twentieth Century. He studied Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of different characters and they are, the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. However he did not state that these characters were all separate people for example the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type for example the hero, it’s easy to guess what they will do for example save the princess, defeat the villain, marry the princess etc, this is because each character has a sphere of action and this method is easily relatable to films and programmes today. Vladimir Propp's work became vital to the ideas of theorists such as Claude Levi-Strauss.
Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian philosopher who is well known for specialising in the literary theory, he came up with the idea of equilibrium which is possibly one of the most well known media theories known to man. His theory was structured to fit all narratives, he said that all films started with a beginning (state of equilibrium)then comes a middle (disruption to the equilibrium) and an end (reinstate the equilibrium) but the end does not have to be the same as the beginning. Certain happenings in the plot may cause the characters to find themselves in a new state of equilibrium that is very different from the first stage.
Claude Levi-Strauss
Claude Levi-Strauss often looked at the narrative structure in the terms of the binary oppositions. Binary oppositions is the opposite values which lead to the revealing of the selected media text. Claude Levi-Strauss looked past the happenings of events and mainly looked deeper into the arrangements of themes, for example if we looked at an action thriller film we would identify the series of binary oppositions as being:
Good - Bad
Hero - Villain
Peace - Violence
Peace and order - Crime
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Freytag's Pyramid
Gustav Freytag was a Nineteenth Century German novelist who saw patterns in the plots of stories and developed a diagram to analyze them. He diagrammed a story's plot using a pyramid like the one shown.
1. Exposition: consists of setting the scene. The writer introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background.
2. Inciting Incident: something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main conflict. The inciting incident is often referred to as the complication.
3. Rising Action: the story builds and gets more exciting.
4. Climax: the moment of greatest tension in a story. This is often the most exciting event. It is the event that the rising action builds up to and that the falling action follows.
5. Falling Action: events happen as a result of the climax and we know that the story will soon end.
6. Resolution: the character solves the main problem/conflict or someone solves it for him or her.
7. Denouement: the ending. At this point, any remaining secrets, questions or mysteries which remain after the resolution are solved by the characters or explained by the author. Sometimes the author leaves us to think about the theme or future possibilities for the characters which could result in another film.
Denouement can be thought of as the opposite of the exposition: instead of getting ready to tell us the story by introducing the setting and characters, the author is getting ready to end it with a final explanation of what actually happened and how the characters think or feel about it. This can be the most difficult part of the plot to identify, as it is often very closely tied to the resolution.
If i look at Freytag's triangle i will be able to relate it to films and how they follow this structure and this will enable me to relate to this whilst producing my film trailer.
Film trailer pitch
The protagonist is the villain/bad guy and the vulnerable women proves to be the hero. The action thriller film trailer links to the crime genre, a man on a mission with a women caught in the crossfire, but the women is not a weak glamorous women who she appears to be retrospectively she is not afraid to get her hands dirty.
When my group pitched our plot to the rest of our class they gave us some feedback and we took that on board and changed the key elements that they picked up on. They told us to re summarise the plot and make it more clear to bring this across in the film trailer.
Within the film trailer there are some key points that we should meet and they are:
A clear genre?
Unique selling point?
Who's our audience?
Whats our plot?
Good story line?
Is there any gaps?
When my group pitched our plot to the rest of our class they gave us some feedback and we took that on board and changed the key elements that they picked up on. They told us to re summarise the plot and make it more clear to bring this across in the film trailer.
Within the film trailer there are some key points that we should meet and they are:
A clear genre?
Unique selling point?
Who's our audience?
Whats our plot?
Good story line?
Is there any gaps?
My chosen option
For my A2 media production coursework, i have chosen to produce a film trailer, and within my production i will also include a promotional package consisting of the actual film trailer, a poster and a magazine front cover for a film magazine.
Through the use of my blog i will post my research and work on there.
At the beginning we had the choice to either create a music video or a film trailer and i chose the film trailer as i felt that i could put my ideas into action more easily on a film trailer and i also felt that i would be able to use more media texts and conventions during the procedure of creating a film trailer. Overall i had more eagerness to create a film trailer as i would be able to be more creative and i felt that this would put me in a good position to create a film trailer of high quality that would be exciting.
As i completed media at As level i could bring my skills forward from that experience and put them into practice during my A2 production and as i have to create a poster and magazine front cover i can use my photoshop skills that i learnt during As level media to create a poster and magazine cover to a high standard. Creating a film trailer also drew me in as i wanted to do something different as i created a music magazine last year i felt that i wanted to do something different and creating a film trailer matched my requirements so this is why i opted to create a film trailer.
Through the use of my blog i will post my research and work on there.
At the beginning we had the choice to either create a music video or a film trailer and i chose the film trailer as i felt that i could put my ideas into action more easily on a film trailer and i also felt that i would be able to use more media texts and conventions during the procedure of creating a film trailer. Overall i had more eagerness to create a film trailer as i would be able to be more creative and i felt that this would put me in a good position to create a film trailer of high quality that would be exciting.
As i completed media at As level i could bring my skills forward from that experience and put them into practice during my A2 production and as i have to create a poster and magazine front cover i can use my photoshop skills that i learnt during As level media to create a poster and magazine cover to a high standard. Creating a film trailer also drew me in as i wanted to do something different as i created a music magazine last year i felt that i wanted to do something different and creating a film trailer matched my requirements so this is why i opted to create a film trailer.
Introduction
As an A2 level media student and an introduction to the course I was given the task in a group to reenact a scene from a film, I was handed instructions to follow and the sheet consisted of what shots were to be used etc. The sheet also instructed us on what shot type to use, the sort of action that was to be included in the scene, the ideal location to match the opening of the film and how long the shot must be.
This task was very difficult to carry out, as I was working in a group we had to find the balance of having fun whilst working and the majority of the time we couldn't find that balance as a group so this added extra pressure on us to do well. This task also needed a high level of concentration and corporation again this proved very difficult as we were allowed to choose our own groups we tended to choose our friends and this inevitably lead to the group messing around which did not help our case whilst trying to carry out this task successfully.
As a group we identified that the right attitude and equipment would put us in a good position to carry out this task successfully but as we were all new to camera work we found this very difficult especially when we tried to copy a camera shot from the film.
From this task I have found out that a lot of things need to be taken into consideration when filming our actual a2 piece of coursework such as the background noise will need to be kept to a minimum as this will help us during our editing process and the use of the right equipment for example a tri pod will allow us to shoot a steady scene where as if we was just holding the camera it is more likely that it will be unsteady through the movement of the hand.
Also for my final A2 production I have learnt from my opening task to take it more seriously as this will allow me to think more seriously about the different shot types and I feel that through the use of serious planning this will all enable me to reach the higher grades that I should be pushing for.
This task was very difficult to carry out, as I was working in a group we had to find the balance of having fun whilst working and the majority of the time we couldn't find that balance as a group so this added extra pressure on us to do well. This task also needed a high level of concentration and corporation again this proved very difficult as we were allowed to choose our own groups we tended to choose our friends and this inevitably lead to the group messing around which did not help our case whilst trying to carry out this task successfully.
As a group we identified that the right attitude and equipment would put us in a good position to carry out this task successfully but as we were all new to camera work we found this very difficult especially when we tried to copy a camera shot from the film.
From this task I have found out that a lot of things need to be taken into consideration when filming our actual a2 piece of coursework such as the background noise will need to be kept to a minimum as this will help us during our editing process and the use of the right equipment for example a tri pod will allow us to shoot a steady scene where as if we was just holding the camera it is more likely that it will be unsteady through the movement of the hand.
Also for my final A2 production I have learnt from my opening task to take it more seriously as this will allow me to think more seriously about the different shot types and I feel that through the use of serious planning this will all enable me to reach the higher grades that I should be pushing for.
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