Audience research (age/gender)

This is a Psychological Thriller as it is between two characters battling against each other's minds, though the mental state. This means it can be aimed for older people as Psychological Thrillers are more mentally challenging.

Should be aimed for females as they may feel more emotion and empathy for the girl due to motherly connections to the girls in the film. And also because generally, if the main character is a girl then a film will tend to be aimed to girls. Also there is research to show that females are more interested in psychological thrillers as they generally have more empathy and boys.

15 rated rather than 18 rated audience certificate means there will be a wider audience, meaning more people can go. Therefore a higher profit will be mad. This means it  must fit the 15+ guidelines. 

According to the BBFC...


15 rated: No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children

Limits - No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

15 rated film can have; 

• strong violence
• frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
• portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• sexual nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• discriminatory language or behaviour
• drug taking

AC

Costume: Man

The other character in the film ,apart from the girl will be a man in his mid 40's.  Going along with the idea in the film, of him seeming a normal level headed man, who seems to have lost his child, we don't want his outfit to be creepy, or smart.  We want it to be really casual, and subtly mimicking what builders wear to give a 'geezer' effect, making him seem ordinary.  We took inspiration from the film Shifty as the men had a manly urban look.  Also this fitted with the characters they played in the film, so as the costume worked with their general look, we thought we should use them as inspiration.

Also in Collateral, the character Jamie Foxx plays gives an 'ordinary guy' feel, and we thought he would be good inspiration as we don't want the man to look like a kidnapper.   Also in Jamie Foxx's character, he wears glasses and through his actions, he seems to have a slight edge, making him be more than just an ordinary man.  We want to think about this when choosing props and when filming, as we don't want only the costume to portray the character of the man and his purpose in the scene.  

This is a mood board of what we want him to wear, making it easier for us to picture the character.  We wanted him to wear simple clothes, as if he is about to start a normal day.  We think this will be a thrilling contrast to the girl cowering in the other room.  It also builds the thrill as he seems so ordinary but is capable of kidnapping, and creates the idea that your neighbour could be a kidnapper as he seems so normal.  At first we though of tracksuits and baggy tops, but going with the 'dad' theme we also added shirts, jackets and jeans, to make him seem older, adding to the creepiness.  The cigarettes will give the scene an urban gritty feel and again will add to his ordinary perception.

IW

Location: Girls Room

Due to the idea of the opening that we want to create, I am picturing the teenage girl in a very modern stereotypical, young, childish style room. Making the room resemble a child's room of today makes the rest of what is going to happen a lot more realistic and therefore more thrilling. The photos above is my interpretation of a young girls room of around 12 years old. The idea of having an older girl aged around 17 placed in a room which resembles a young girl will immediately look out of place and suspicious. This is the type of effect that I am trying to portray. It should slightly unsettle the audience and create questions. A lot of the bedrooms I looked at it is mainly pink with toys and posters on the walls.

As we do not have access to this style of room we are discussing if we could transform a bedroom temporarily to accomplish this look. This would include posters being stuck on the walls, pink accessories, a diary, and different subtle additions to the room. This means that we can have an establishing shot as the camera pans around the children room creating an eery environment. This effect is fairly easy to establish due to the audience taking in other horror and thriller films shooting in a child's bedrooms, this means that they will automatically anticipate something to happen. The following shots are from different films using similar ideas:

This first screenshot is from a horror film called 'Women in black' and is taken in a young girls room just before they are made to commit suicide. Although the set does not resemble the bedrooms above, it shows similar ideas but is set much earlier in time.

This is from a film called 'Ouija', again it is a fairly scary film which is about a young girl reaching out to spirits, a lot of the beginning of the movie is set in her bedroom where she first finds the board etc. The room is of an older girl but still gives off a very innocent characteristic which contrasts to the film making it eery.

This is a young girls room which stars in 'Annabelle' which is a horror film, this room is made to resemble a nursery room and is where the doll, and main features of the film are located.

I have only given three examples but this idea of using a child's room to create a sinister ambience due the fact that it is meant to be a safe and innocent room as it is where your child is at its most vulnerable state. Using this knowledge which the audience have prior to watching the opening of this film it means that we are able to suggest that something is wrong without spelling it out leaving a slight mystery to the scene.

EB

Costume: Girl

The main girl who has been kidnapped, needs to clearly portray her emotion, and this can be shown through her dress.  As she is probably going to be in her early teen (14+) then we want her clothes to be stereotypical of that age group and gender.  

When thinking of inspiration the main girl form the film ‘Lovely Bones’ inspired us as she gives off an innocent feel, and as her character as a whole seems to work with the plot of her getting kidnapped, we thought she would be good inspiration. 

This is a mood board of the types of things the girl should wear.   Aswell as looking at the girl from Lovely Bones, we took inspiration from what teenagers commonly wear, but also referring to our interpretation of the sterotype of a teenage girl.  To make the scene look more creepy, and to exaggerate her youth, we were thinking of making her clothes more similar to what a 5 year old girl would wear(pale pink, dungarees, kids brand logos)

The mood board was quite easy to create as we based it off our own clothes when we were younger and also from the clothes we see young children wearing, nowadays.  The jewellery and frilly socks give off an innocent feel that would suit the girls character.  I tried to get accesroies that little girls would want, from what I've seen in shops aimed at this age group like 'Claires'.  

Our other idea was that the girl has been dressed by her kidnapper in his scruffy baggy clothes.  This would add to her vulnerable look and make her seem more exposed.  It was also make the connection between the man and the girl more obvious.  Again, this is slightly exaggerated as we really wanted to portray the manly look.

Our main inspiration for manly clothes came from what characters in tv shows such as 'Eastenders' and 'coronation STreet' and what the builders tend to wear.  We also based it off what our dads wear as the man in our film is going to be around the same age as our dads.  They are quite baggy clothes and details like the socks being mens which add to the first impression of the girls state, which is very important.

IW

Coursework

• ·      Style/Genre – Tone, atmosphere, night, day, light.
• ·      Research into similar media texts.
• ·      Idea – Treatment
• ·      Visually interesting, camera angles, movements, positioning.
• ·      Script, dialogue, voiceover.
• ·      Foley sound
• ·      Audience
• ·      Storyboard – organization, stages, visual
• ·      Cast – ‘look’, stereotype, archetype, realistic, actors
• ·      Costume, props
• ·      Locations/recces – day, winter, time, interior, exterior, light
• ·      Film language vocabulary
• 
  

Skyfall Analysis

• The scene starts with long shot to establish where she is and shows what she is doing, as it shows the train track where the train with bond on will come.  Then it switches to close up, which shows us she is thinking of shooting, but also makes the scene suspenseful as you can see her shaking and her emotions. 
• There is a lot of cross cutting between the action of bond and the bad guy, and the woman awaiting the train.  This builds tension and a lot of suspense as there is constant action being shown.  This is emphasized also by the high sped editing, creating a sense of franticness. 
• The use of parallel sound, builds the suspense as it has a reoccurring beat and speeds up.  There is a split audio edit between the music in bonds fight, and the woman in London, which is clever as it carries on the suspense and makes the woman's decision in London more dramatic.   
• The high speed editing builds even faster, between the woman about to shoot, the woman in London and the fight between Bond and the bad guy, which gives the audience a lot to look at, drawing them in and making this scene more gripping.
• Then there is a point of view shot of the bad guy watching Bond fall into the water, which is dramatic as it is so close to him
• Then when the shot is fired, the music stops and there is a loud gun shot, then there is silence until he drops into the water, which creates a sad tone and puts all focus on the possibility that Bond may be dead
• There is a reaction shot of the woman who just shot Bond, showing her again shaking, and accentuating her guilt and despair shown.

Life On Mars Analysis

• Large leather jackets, with flare collars and the general colour themes of the clothes gives it a seventies look.  The colours of the car also fits with this, and the shape is unlike modern cars, suggesting its an old type.
• The office is presented by the grey cabinets, and stacks of papers, as well as the men at their desk, suggesting it is a busy working office, and then its implied it is a police office rom the references to crime further on.
• The newspaper cuttings of women, again is not like what you would find nowadays.
• In the title credits, the main g is holding a police badge, so the mise en scene introducing that suggests he is a policeman.  Then there is a group of men holding the guns so this also suggests danger.
• There is also a policewoman, wearing old fashioned uniform, and her haircut is again quite old fashioned. So already there is an idea presented that the films going to be about crime, justice and danger.

Physco analysis

• There is no speech in this scene, making it feel very empty and the girl feel alone, which makes the opart where she is killed very dramatic, as another person ebing there and her screan is very contrasted with the previous shots.
• The mise en scene of her in her bedrokm, with flowery curtains and duvets, and dressing tables with mirrors, gives a very feminine feel, making her seem vulnerable and helpless.  Also she is in a silk gown which presents her as luxurious and wealthy, which alliterates her vulnerability,which is preempting us for when she is killed.  ALso her hair is properly done up and there is over head lighting, giving her a glamourous look, just before she gets in the shower, which makes her seem very posh and again, weak.
• The camera pans, and follows the woman to the bathroom, and a this point the focus has been just on her for so long that the awkwardness of this makes the suspense build as you begin to wait for someone to enter the frame, and this makes the murderer entering even more dramatic
• When she is in the shower, you feel as if you are also there, because a low angle is used to clearly show her closing the curtain, and as we can see in he shower this creates the feel that we are on the other side of the curtain.  Also the point of view angle of the shower is effective as again this creates the illusion that you are her or with her in the shower.
• When the murderer comes, the weighting of the shot is of her on the right side of the frame but then as the murderer is on the left, this weighting means your focus immediately switches to him.  There is also a slow zoom, and in the mise en scene, the use of the shower curtain to obscure him, makes them much more mysterious and dangerous feeling.

Taken Analysis

• At this point in the film, this is probably the tensest part, and there are extreme close ups on both the dad and daughter the keeps crosscutting, and this means the main focus is on their dialogue and builds the suspense.  Also the reaction shots used on the daughter when the dad reveals bad news makes you feel sympathy for her and creates a desperation to the scene. 
• Then there's a low frame just on the kidnappers feet, with Foley sound added of loud footsteps, and as the whole body of the kidnappers isn't shown, this adds mystery.  The loud footsteps get louder and louder so this creates large suspense, which would leave you unsure of what's going to happen next.
• When the kidnappers are in her room, again you only see their feet, and the angle the frame is shot, mimics what angle the girl would be at.  Then a point of view angle is used, so this creates the feel of you being in her position, which makes speechless and tense, waiting to see whether she gets found. 
• The lighting is very dark under the bed where the girl is, and there is only low lighting creating dark shadows, so this creates a sense of danger, and suggests she is in danger.
• When the kidnappers are leaving and there is slight relief, there is an extreme close up of the girl, and the angle quickly changes as she is shockingly dragged from out of the bed, and again Foley sound of a scream is added, which makes this so dramatic.  It quickly cross cuts to a reaction shot of her dad, who is speechless, and then Foley sound of her screaming down the phone is all we see of her being taken, so this makes you feel sympathy for the dad.
• Finally, there is a slow zoom in on the dads face, when he knows there's someone else on the phone, which stops as soon as the man answers with 'good luck' which is a chilling part in the scene.

Children Of Men Analysis

• It starts with open frame of large huddle of people, which creates a clustered feel and as they are all looking worryingly at a screen the open frame with people in all of the frame feels bait chaotic.  This makes the scene feel flustered and tense
• Top lighting on the crowd makes them look vulnerable and weak, which again creates tensions as its prompting there may be something bad about to happen.
• The colouring is a cold blue, swell as their clothing and the setting being dark harsh colours, which gives the mood a serious feel
• When the man enters he is in the middle of the scene and as well as all the people gradually moving, the camera slightly shakes, creating a larger disruption, bringing more attention to him
• There is then a point of view angle, so we can see what the crowd are watching, and as the camera is making you feel part of the crowd, this raises the urgency and suspense, but also the confusion as we are still unclear on what is happening. 
• The angle and movement of the camera when it follows the man out the café, feels very like someone following him as it mimics someone walking aswell, and this again focusses on him and tells the audience he is a main character who has some importance.  Then the panning establishes the scenery and gives us a overview of the location, and the fluid panning stops and then there is an explosions so this is pointing the focus on the explosion
• Finally the scene ends by the camera again mimicking the motion of running, so you feel like you are part of the film, which again raises the tension as you feel in danger.

Film Festivals

Sundance Film Festival


The Sundance Film Festival, which takes place in Utah, is the largest independent film festival in the USA.  It is a programme introduced by the Sundance institute and is to present new work from international filmmakers, which can be long or short films, dramatic or documentary.  Films such as A Streetcar Named Desire have been featured in the festival, and the growth of this festival meant that a  low-profile venue for 'small-budget, independent creators from outside the Hollywood system to a media extravaganza for Hollywood celebrity actors, paparazzi' was created.
Toronto Film Festival

Held each September, the Toronto film festival in 2012 had an audience of
400,000 attendees.  Famous films like, The Silver Linings Playbook and the 127 hours have had their premiere here as well as Black Swan.  Its highest amount of films showed there was a huge 460 films, making it second to Cannes Film Festival in terms of high profile market activity.

Venice Film Festival

Venice Film Festival is said to be apart of the 'Big Three' film festivals in the world and is the oldest running film festival.  Being one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world it takes place in venues such as Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi. This year was the 72nd Venice film festival, which took place from the 2 to 12th of September. 

Berlin Film Festival

Also said to be part of the Big Three, along side Canne and Venice, Berlin film, Festival is said to be largest attended film festival with 500,000 admissions.  Up to 400 films are shown each year, and in early February this year they celebrated they're 65th year of the Berlin Film Festival.

Seattle International Film Festival

This festival is considered one of the top film festivals in the US, and has been running annually since 1976.  Each year the popularity rises, and in 2006 it had 160,000 attendees.  Films such as the Illusionist and The Notebook have appeared at the Seattle International Film Festival Gala Events.

The Film Industry Part 5

Q. Choose an actress from the list above.  What would they bring to a role in a film?
A. Angelina Jolie is a really famous actress so what she would bring to a role, is her fan base, and if someone favourite star is in a film it is more likely they want to see it and will go to see it.  However, it also means the star costs more money to be secured for the film, meaning the film budget has to go up. 

Q.Think about the films you have seen recently at the cinema.  Which ones were recommended by word of mouth? Why did you go and see other films?
A. A film that has been talked about a lot recently is Spectre, another Bond film.  Also, Jurassic world has been widely talked about, as the remake of the popular film Jurassic Park.  If i haven't heard films from word of mouth, I see other films if it is a sequel to a film i enjoyed before (Pitch perfect 2) or if i saw advertisements for a film, or if i enjoyed the trailer to a film and wanted to watch it.

Q. Find out the budget and box office of the following three films; three films; The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and Avatar.  Which of them has made the biggest profit? 
A.    The Blair Witch Project - The budget was $60,00 and the box office gross was $140,539,099
        Paranormal Activity - The budget was $15,000 and the box office gross was $107,918,810
       Avatar - The budget was not available and the box office gross was $749,766,139
So Avatar made the largest profit by roughly 600 millions dollars compared to the other films.

Q. Find out the producers of the following 'British' films Mr Turner, Pride, '71, Under the Skin (all 2014).  
A. Mr Turner - Georgina Lowe
    Pride - David Livingstone
    '71 - Angus LAmont and Robin Gutch
    Under the skin - Nick Wechsler and James wilson

Q. Can you think of any more recent film soundtracks that have proved popular with audiences? Why?
A. 'Happy' which features in Despicable ME was very popular with the audience as it was by Phrallell Williams who is a very famous singer, and also because the song was released before the film, so had time to get its attention.  In the Bond film Skyfall, Adele sang the song called 'Skyfall' and as Bond songs are always famous, this got a lot of attention, swell as it proving popular to the audience as it is by Adele who has a large fan base.


  

DNA films

DNA films do a mixture of films.  Films like Never let me go and Sunshine on Leith are quite realistic and in a modern setting, with believable stories.  Then films like Far fro the madding crowd are set in victorian times but is still realistic in its setting and character.  Then Dredd is a comic style plot which is fictional so that quite different to the other films.  Dredd was said to have flopped at the box office, whereas never let me go did reasonably well placing nineth in the box office with the famous actors used, but still none of these films stormed the box office or dominated it.  Never let me go was filmed in scotland, with no large films sets or locations, so the production was of a budget of 15 millions dollars.  However, a week after being in the box office it had a 45% decrease in revenue.  The film was based of the book, and the main woman actress said that was her main reference for how to act.

The Film Industry Part 3

Q. What films have recently addressed these two growing film markets?
A. Red 2 and Fast & Furious 6

Q. What might explain the long term decline of cinema admissions since the end of the Second World War? And why has it picked up since the 80s?

A. The decline of cinema admissions may be explained by there being less films made at the time, and also cinemas not affording to put on films so the number of people going to th cinema declined.  I think it picked up as people noticed there was a gap in the cinema companies where money could be made, so more films were produced and going to the cinema became a more regular thing.

Q.Animation is now our favourite genre. Why might that be?

A. Animation is popular obviously to children but some are also popular to adults, showing that even though the whole film is all in animation, it is still popular.  This may be because of the unrealistic plots making them seem more entertaining, but also through animation you are able to make the scenery more interesting.

Q.Why has the total box office for 3D films flat-lined in the last 2 years?

A.

Q. If DVD/Blu-ray continues to decline and VOD grew but not for films, how can you explain the increase in the VOD market? What might be holding back the VOD market?

A. The increase in the VOD market can be explained because now if you have missed a show on tv, fro example, you can watch it on your laptop and this also means you are able to watch more shows on most of your devices, so you can now also watch VOD on the move.  But VOD means you need a particular device like an iPhone or  watch VOD so only is accessible to certain people.

Q. Show me the money. What do these figures suggest about the health of the British Film Industry?

A.  They show that the BFI is weakening and as from the figures it shows most of our films released in the Uk were from USA or produced by an american studio

Q. What does this suggest about the audience for films in the UK?

A.  It suggests that more films from outside the UK and USA are becoming popular in cinemas in the UK, suggesting these are becoming preferred by the Uk audience.

Q. Where do you think these films end up being shown?

A. On pirate websites which show films online illegal, or on DVD as they weren't shown in cinema, meaning they get as much notice.

Q. Why do you think there are more people going to the cinema mid-week? Who are more likely to attend the cinema outside of opening weekends?

A. People may go to the cinema mid week to see new films that are just released as it is less busy than on weekends, so more likely they will get a ticket.

Again the people who are more likely to attend the cinema outside of opening weekends are people who want to go when it isn't so buys, or also people who aren't huge fans of the film, so dont keep up with the release dates

Q.Why do you think there has been a decline in DVD/Blu-ray sales in the last few years?

A.Films and tv shows are so easily accessible on VOD sites such as netflix, swell as them being on pirate websites that there leaves no reason to go out and buy a dvd as also you need a dvd player, when all you need to do is open your laptop, or turn on your tv.

Q. How does film production in the UK seem to be very different from the Hollywood model of large, powerful studios?

A. Film production in the Uk seems to use much less special effects and focusses more on the simple filming, with the scenery just being places untouched in London. 

Q. What is the benefit to a film producer of their film being branded as British? What is it about ‘Britishness’ that is attractive to investors from outside the UK? What is it about ‘Britishness’ that makes it easy for Hollywood studios to dominate our film market?

A. If a film is branded a British, the audience gets an idea of what the film entails, and also could be more appealing to people who are a fan of a certain type of film.  As 'British' films have a certain feel to them and you know what its going to entail, this could be attractive to investors as these films attract a popular audience, and as for them to be classed as 'British' they have to include certain things, meaning they are all quite similar so easy to recreate.  But as they all have to include certain things, this restricts how the film can be produced, for example, the film being set in Britain awards points for the film, so this means they cant be set abroad and restricts the plot.

Q. How many of these could be considered British films? How many of them are co-productions where the majority of the money leaves the country? What does this say about the scale of the UK film industry?

A. None of these films could be considered as British but a quarter of them are co-productions with USA.  This shows that the scale of the Uk film industry is so small and hardly has an impact on the industry.

Q. Which one of these two films recently released in the UK do you think is a BBC co-production and why?

A. I think Suite Francaise as the cover is very clean and smart and the actors look like the type of actors used in a British Film.  Although it is french i can imagine its a co production with a french company.