Niche - a film made to appeal a specific group of people.
In today's we were given a task and put into groups to create a film and we were given a genre and a target audience that we had to meet.We were put into groups of threes to allow us to work with those we would not choose to work with and I was put into a group with Rory and Charlie we were given the genre comedy and the class of Middle aged workmen.
This is a PowerPoint that shows are ideas for what our film would look like if we had to make a film targeted at Middle aged workmen an had to be a comedy.
In today's lesson we learnt about institution and independent vs mainstream films. We learnt about the 'big six' production companies in the film industry and some of the famous films they have produced. We also learnt that the ages 16 - 24 years are seen and know as the main audience of a cinema.
Also the way the cinema make most their money is through popcorn and drinks as most of the money from the films/Tickets goes straight back to the film institutions. Distrubuter companies acts as an agents to ensure the movie is being shown in as many cinemas possible.Sometimes the cinema charge film makers to showcase their movie, if the film maker is unknown or unpopular especially if the film maker cannot afford advertisements. Sony
The Walk
Fury
The Interview
Amazing Spiderman 2
22 jump street
Pixels
20th Century fox
Fantastic Four
Night at the Museum
How to train your dragon
Taken 3
The faults in our stars
Diseney
Inside out
Cinderella
Frozen
Avengers: age of Ulton
Warmer Bros
Gravity
Magic mike XXL
Focus
The hobbit
Get hard
Entourage
Paramount
Mission impossible
Area 51
Hot tub time machine
teenage mutant ninja turtles
Universal
Straight out of Compton
Ted 2
Pitch perfect
Unfriended
Dumb and dumber to
Fast and furious
There are also production companies called 'Mini Major's' These include companies like Lionsgate, MGM and dream works Lionsgate
Hunger Games
Saw
Twilight
MGM
Creed
Robocop
Also has links with some of the big six productions such as paramount in hot tub time machine
Practice Edit - Dancing Bears Music Video & James Bond Extract. This is a video what I made and practiced edited on Adobe Premiere Pro. On this practice edit I learned how to use the basic tools of editing and their shortcuts, one example of this was cutting the black scenes out & putting on effects. In this video I learned how to changed the color of the video. The effect I put on mine was changing it to black and white for the dancing bears video. Another thing i did was putting in transitions on to make the videos & backing music run smoother. I also did a a blackout so it obvious that the two videos are separate.
In today lesson we learnt about that goes into making a film-
Camera
Sound
Editing
Mise en scene
Camera
Frame- Theses are the six main frames while shooting a film
Angle -
Worms Eye View (Low Angle)
Level (point Of View)
Birds Eye View (Hight Angle)
Movement-
Pan Left/ Right (on tripod)
Tilt Up/Down (on tripod)
Tracking shot - follows something
Steady cam- Makes the camera look like it is gliding or floating, smooth shot.
Handheld- shaky cam for fights. makes it look gritty, more real, movement with object
Sound-
Dialogue- what is being said and how it affects the scene.
Music- digetic ( what is recorded in the scene) or Non-diegetic ( what put on top of a scene) Parallel (music goes with scene) or counter parallel( when music doesn't go with the scene)
Editing-
Transitions-can add to pace of movie or add to the cinematic artsy part of the movie
Order of Narrative - Mixing a story up to get interest, so using a bit from the future at the beginning as the first seen part of the film this would gauge interest with the watcher asking questions etc
Pace - How fast or slow you want a scene to be i.e a love scene slow and intimate pace, fighting scene fast pace to add to confusion and intensity of scene etc
SFX - Sound Effects added in after filming to add more to a scene like creaking floor boards for a horror film.
Mise En scene-
(Meaning- All the major things what are in a scene and make it)
Costume- Georgian suits = Georgian Period
Lighting- The time of day,
Actors- Class, gender, voice, appearance and body language.
Makeup- Sci-fi Characters, Fantasy Characters, dead characters etc.
Props- uses in the background, The meaning it has that to that character.
Setting- The set of where the filming is taking place e.g. School, Space, war-zoneetc.
Film language - Boys n the hood
Camera:
There are three main aspects for camera. Frame, Angle and Movement. There are several types of frame shots, here is the list from closest to furthest away. You can have extreme close ups, close ups, mid shots, medium long shots, long shot and extreme long shot. These are all used to show effect and they are helpful on describing a situation with these different frames, for example if you shoot a close up, you would want to capture facial expressions to help connote what the character is feeling/thinking. Secondly, the angle of the camera is very important in film because it shows all different types of the filming situation and you can choose a type of angle which sets the scene best. The types of angles are worms eye view, birds eye view, level shot/POV. Last of all, movement is key for the camera, it can keep up with the situation to control action packed scenes, or the movement could be quite acute but it still is very effective. The types of movements are panning right and left, tilting up and down, tracking shots and stedicam- handheld filming/amateur.
Editing:
Editing is important because you can cut out all of the bad scenes and outtakes and you can cut the best scenes into one brilliant end product. There is a very helpful acronym for Editing:
Transitions
Order of narratives
Pace
Sound effects.
Mise en scene
These are all of the background necessities you need to cast a film. Without Mise en scene, you couldn't possibly have a film or storyline. I also have a helpful acronym for Mise en scene:
Costume
Lighting
Actors - class, age, gender, ethnicity, body language.
Makeup
Props
Setting
Sound
Sound is key for films can it highlight and express themes through the type of music, or it can be the everyday background music that you can hear.
Firstly, parallel/contrapuntal sound is fairly random, it is when music doesn't go with what you are doing. Secondly, Diegetic sound is the sound actors would hear, for example, this would be background music. Non diegetic sounds is the opposite to Diegetic and it is usually put in for effect, such as narrations/voiceovers and soundtracks. Dialogue is the last type of sound, it is the type of music which makes you think what/how, it can help complement confusing parts in films.
The opening of Boyz n the hood shows a lot of these film language very effectively.
I have designed a logo for if I had an film institution. I used nature as the background to make it neutral yet still interesting. I also used nature as a background because from looking at the big six institutions and seeing most but few had used nature as their background for their logo e.g. paramount, Dream-works. I made my background black and white so my text would be the main concentration of the screen. I also choose the text to be orange so it pops out at the person who is looking at my logo. I also chose for my logo to be orange because it not for boys nor girls it is a neutral color yet still eye drawing enough to make people attracts to look at it.
Audience- The most common audience group is 16 to 24. This is because they do not count the younger children. Meaning it effects the results because only teenagers and adults are accounted for.
Uses and Gratifications (meaning to gain pleasure from the media)
Information is when people view media for non-other than information. Whether it be recent events in the form of news or past occurrences in history displayed by a documentary.
Personal Identification means when somebody watches media and can feel relevant to it and can feel the similarity to an event in their lives and the event on the form of media.
Enigma - The questions asked and the mystery what comes from being asked.
Levi Strauss
-Binary opposition-
Female- Male
Hero- Villain
Good- Evil
Black- White
Rich- Poor
Todorov
-Structure
Equilibrium
Disruption of Equilibrium
New Equilibrium
Restoration of Equilibrium
Meaning: Obstacles and coming over obstacles through the story
Propp
-Characters
Different characters
Types of role in the film
Their personality
E.g.- The Hero
The Villian
The Donner
The Dispatcher
The False Hero
The Helper
The Princess
The King
The prestige
Barthes Narrative Theories shown through out the opening scene of the film the prestige
Enigma Code
What has the narrator who is an old magician in connection to the big theater magic?
What does the man rushing down the stairs know about the magician drowning in the tank?
"Are you watching closely" What as a viewer should we be looking at?
Action Code
Old Magician flattens bird cage.
How the magician ends up in the tank full of water and is now now drowning because it is locked.
The girl clapping because the bird reappeared.
Symbolic Code
The old mans simple trick represents whats going on stage.
The bird in the cage represents the man in the tank.
Another film we analysed was a Pixar film called jack attack
At the start of the movie ,a young girl is being interviewed. She seems to not be taking the situation seriously. The scene which happens after the interview is that same babysitter on the phone to the child's mother saying hows everything is going well. suggesting equilibrium, with the typical characters of the a misbehaving baby and a squeaky clean babysitter. But then mysterious thing start to happen in the scene, the baby keeps disappearing & strange things start, which suggests a destruction of the equilibrium.
The baby is not acting like a normal child of that age and is behaving extremely odd/badly for example when the babysitter shows a picture of a campfire to the baby, the baby decides to take upon himself to set himself a light. This would be an another destruction of the equilibrium. The babysitter frantically manages to put the baby out, restoring equilibrium but then quickly the movie cuts to a scene showing a destruction of the entire house.
Finally the babysitter who is looking very tired & distressed while holding the playful baby is then shown,this is an Propp which is stereotypical in all films. After the scene of the babysitter a stereotypical villain shows up at the door & the film ends and is left on a cliff hanger.
So overall the babysitter manages to overcome many obstacles creating a curve in the equilibrium of the story line which makes the story interesting to the audience watching and keep them watching to find out what happens next. Another film i choose to analyse was the film Plastic.
At the start of this short movie a moth is flying around an apartment, when a typical aged women (propp) her wardrobe and try to put on clothes what clearly don't fit, her phone then starts to ring and she answers with a man asking her on a date. She then starts to blush while breaking her necklace because he has moved the date forwards. Now stressing she runs to the bathroom where she looks at a magazine while frantically opening a tub. This is the Equilibrium. Which she then proceeds to rub cream on her face. The cream then makes her face like clay which enables her to change it they way she wants, this sends her into shock , leading to an Disruption of Equilibrium. The new equilibrium is that she now can make herself look exactly the way she wants, which she decides to have some fun before on going to make herself society view of perfect.Her date then turns up and she is looking nothing like herself when the month decides to come back in and fly up to a light, that is when the Restoration of Equilibrium happens because she decides to return to her normal state before answering the door to her date. So overall the women desperately wants to fit into society but when the curve ball of when she is able to she realizes this keeps the audience watching to see what she will do and too find out how she will answer the door to her date and keep the audience to think what is going to happen next.
Setting: Old council estate in England what is full of drugs, graffiti, guns and 'chavs'. Dark and gloomy lighting, also black and white filming to make it feel cold.
Characters: The main group of characters are a group of young thugs who were all wearing dark clothing which were all tracksuits.
Narrative: From this opening scene you gather that the council estate is run by a gang of boys who abuse drugs and use a range of violence. They then riot round on a motorbike messing around with gun trying to inanimate a women with a baby. In the end they end up shooting her so they try to run off but get hit by a lorry.They all seemed to find the whole situation funny and that everything that did happen was just considered as joke no matter how serious it is.
Theme: Hoody Horror/ Drama and realism
Icons: The use of drugs, hooded clothing, single mothers, glorification of weapons.
Camera: The camera looked ammature filmed and it looked like the camera had been filmed by one of the character to make it look you were part of the group and action. Another techniques used is that they heightened all the senses to make you as an audience member feel like you're on the same drugs as them
Guardians of the galaxy
Setting: Another planet like Mars with varied different sky's like purple and pink colour with no greenery only dusty rocks and caves. No vegetation or human structures e.g. houses, offices. dull settings to ensure you're focused on the action of the characters.
Characters: Middle aged man in leather jacket who is wearing jean, Wearing a tape player listening to 70's upbeat music.
Narrative: From the opening scene you can see that the man is on the other planet which is inhabited by lots of alien animals e.g. dinosaurs He first puts in his ear phones in cave like setting as he is walking through while dancing and singing the little creatures are trying to attack him. He then gets to a valley where he fly over it to reach two humongous metal doors which he opens with a key. He then jumps happily through the opened doors. He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a 'magical' ball which he then puts onto the floor rolling it to a purple structure in the background. Him as a character.
Theme:Sci-fi with a hint of comedy
Icons: The parallel music playing on the actors tape recorder is also the soundtrack, the key what he uses to open the gigantic gates and also the glass glowing ball what he pulls out his pocket at the end.
Camera: At the start it is zoomed into the tape recorder which shows product placement but it also is zoomed in because the date is on the tape recorder so it gives the view an idea of the setting and what era it is placed in.It is also zoomed out a lot to get a lot of the background in it to show a clear viewing of galaxy background.
Clueless
Setting: Teenage girl living in an upbeat privileged American type of suburb. Bright and colorful setting. Also is set in an rich area so it is well maintained and all the houses are clean and freshly kept.
Characters; Teenage girl who wears trendy up to date fashion (at the time)also is focused about everything being perfect and correct. The teenage girls dad is a high priced lawyer who wears a bland suit and is more concerned about making money which is the bipolar opposite to his prestigious daughter .
Narrative;In this opening scene it is set in an upbeat sunshine town in America. There first is an pool party of teenagers from the 90's having a good time. It then goes on the main character where she wakes up in her mansion, where a machine is choosing her clothes. Shes then does a voice over saying information about her dad as he walks down the stairs for breakfast where she meets him and tries to get him to drink orange juice . She then in her new fashionable jeep where she runs over a plant pot on the way to pick up her friend who also lives in the rich suburb.
Theme;Teenage Romance
Icons: Clothing machine what was clearly high-tech for the type of era the film is set in ,Orange juice which she tries to get her dad to drink because she is all about being healthy lifestyle.Her White jeep what most adults wouldn't be able to afford let alone teenage girl but in her lifestyle it is normal.
My choice Legend
Setting: Gangster Eastern London during the 1950s and 1960s.
Characters: Identical twin gangster, who are dressed very smart and top of the fashion. These twins are very violent but sophisticated in the way they go about things.The two twin characters have opposite personalities with one being caring and sensitive with the other one seeing to be fearless and like a bull in a china shop.
Narrative: In this opening scene from Legend the crays brothers both walk into a pub they en start a fight thinking it is going to be a shoot out but instead its a punch up so one of the Krays brothers walks out swearing.
Theme : British crime thriller
Icons: Coats with a gun instead , beer glasses getting smashed. Fits the 1950s era.
The person at the front of the picture is clearly the main character because of his prominence. He is also larger and bigger than the other characters showing that he is the most important/ main character. This character is also wearing black and yellow which represents danger like a wasp or a bee. He facial expression also says a lot because he is smirking which gives a hint that he is satisfied but wants more of something e.g. money.
There is a lot of chaos in the background of this poster which is set in a work office. All the background characters seem to be having a huge party. There is also gold confetti at the top of the poster of the film and confetti is normally used in a celebration of some sorts also the colour gold represents fortune so clearly the company is earning a lot of money and is having a chaotic party to celebrate.
Throughout the whole picture there is money notes scattered across the floor meaning the character could be quite selfish and careless of what happens to the money. This also they have a lot of disposable money to spend on pointless things what are shown in the picture e.g. the monkey. stripper and the midget to throw.
We randomly chose four movie genre out of a box, then we went outside with a camera to take pictures of what a snapshot of the film genre would look like. The first picture is a frame from a romantic film as you can see the two people who are the main characters in the picture are having a romantic embrace to show their emotions of being in love. In the second picture is animation genre, in this picture frame we are moving our bodies as superhero characters traveling through set of the galaxy. The third genre was Sci-fi so we used the sectioned off rocks as props and that we were observing our props (the rock) in great detail almost like it was very dangerous. Us scientist characters were looking into the alienated rocks (props) The final movie genre what we did was fantasy so we pretended Harrison was a dragon character and Georgia and I as knight characters has slayed it him and we were celebrating the victory in the scene.
This is the opening scene of the Wolf Of Wall Street. The setting behind this film that is it upper class set in the 80s of the United States Of America. The theme is about how money hungry people get and what they will do to get it.
