Piers Harrop: 1030 Centre:64680

Dear Examiner, this is my media project for G322. Below is my film and the planning and processes that were involved in creating my final product. I created my film with George Thornton and Karen Tsang.  I hope you enjoy my finished product.

MY FILM

Below is my finished G322 film opening:

PRELIMINARY

Our preliminary task was to create a short sequence which includes a short reverse shot combination. In order to gather ideas my group brainstormed these in a powerpoint and this is our final decision.

To film our short sequence we used an Iphone 4 to show that we can use many different media devices to film footage including phones. Many phones these days have similar or even possibly better picture quality than standard film cameras. 

Below is our video:

Below are screen shots of us editing the footage, cutting and ordering the footage into our desired sequence.

The screenshot below shows how we managed to increase the picture frame size of our footage in order to enlarge the footage and make it larger.

Research on film titles

Before my group and I create or film tile, we had a look at different films to see how they made use of font, texture, background and space. Here are some examples.

Through researching other title sequences we noticed that other film sequence fonts were often kept simple, bold, in contrast with the background and often shaped into the landscape.

Research on fonts

                                       

We went on Dafont to look for the suitable font for our title. They all belong to different categories, for example like handwriting, modern, destroy, horror and gothic.

However my group and I chose to focus on the handwriting genre as we thought it suits our film the best.

ART OF THE TITLE

We visited www.artofthetitle.com to see how other films in our genre organised their title sequence.

Below are some of the examples we looked at:


PANIC ROOM-

THE NEGOTIATOR-

SHERLOCK HOLMES-

SWEENEY TODD-

Through researching other title sequences we noticed that other film sequence fonts were often kept simple, bold, in contrast with the background and often shaped into the landscape. As a result we have kept our font simple, and shaped it into our scenery for example a wall. The titles also appear to be posed in different positions and often animated. Although we have placed our titles in different positions on the screen, we have decided not to animate our titles as we want to create a feel of realism to help make our film opening as realistic as possible without being a drama. This will help create suspense and familiarity and emotion within our audiences.

Our title sequence

   The titles in our film are often introduced at significant points of the film. The titles themselves are simple, bold and are a contrasting colour compared to the background. We have chosen to use font, not dissimilar to handwriting to give the illusion that the words are the writings of the suicidal boy before he jumps. This makes the titles clear and the names stand out amongst the picture. The titles will be placed in different angles and heights creating tension.

My film title

My group and I have chosen to keep our main titler rather simplistic although imposing.

      The title itself is simple, bold and are a contrasting colour compared to the background. We have chosen to use font, not dissimilar to handwriting to give the illusion that the words are the writings of the suicidal boy before he jumps.....or does he?. This makes the titles clear and the names stand out amongst the picture. The titles will be placed in different angles and heights creating tension.

PRODUCTION IDENT

Here is our finished production ident :

We have created our production ident to have a bold and universal appearance. This is so that it can be used worldwide and share a universal approach to production idents. The font itself is bold so that it attracts the audiences' attention as well as having a very versatile nature as this ident can be used in a wide range of film genres.The ident itself is rather mysterious, relevent for a film in the thriller genre. The title at first appears to be shattered pieces of metal(shrapnal) which then combine to form the name of our production company 'THT productions'.

Faded (half finished version)

This is the half finished version of my media project :L there still needs to be some titles added and the audio could do with an update... But otherwise you get an idea of our film opening.

Further evidence to why we chose to film swans

A poem by famous poet William Yeats-

The Wild Swans At Coole
THE trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?


This poem showing that Swans are loved and are seen by many as beutiful creatures and a symbol of love and romance. We used swans to create a symbolism of the characters' strong love especially to emphasise the loving close relationship during the date flashback.

WHY WE USED SWANS IN OUR FILMING IN KINGSTON

We purposely filmed Swans in our flashback scene when the main characters of our film are on a date. They are walkign along the side of a river having fun and laughing. We purposely waited for a group of swans to swim by. We lured them in using bread. Swans traditionally been used to convey romance for example swan pedal boat rides.

FEEDBACK FROM A SCHOOL OPEN DAY VIEWING

We had a very sucessful viewing and gained extremly positive feedback from a group viewing of about 35 people. These people espcially enjoyed and were stunned with the climax of the boy leaning and jumping over the edge of the tall building. We heard audible intake of breaths and comments such as 'I hope the boy isn’t dead'. This is very reasuring and provides evidence of the feeling and emotions I wanted to create when audiences view my movie. They also felt that the location was extremly realistic and made the situation of the boy even more shocking.


The viewing audience of our film included the targeted age group of 18-40+  with a mixture of genders. Both genders as appealed as the other. We also had younger age groups which were very intrigued and grabbed by our film opening. This suggests that our film may appeal to an even wider audience than previously thought and so the chances of our film becoming a sucess is extremly postive.

Production Ident for 'THT Productions'

Before we start to create the ident of our movie Faded, me and my group went on to video copilot and looked at the Aftereffects tutorials.

This is the effect we want to create for our ident- smoky and textural.

The first step was to create the texture of the text 'FADED'.

We picked a rusty iron background, and applied it on the text, so this is how it looks like:

We will add in the animation and the smoky effect next lesson

THRILLER AS GENRE

I have made a prezi in order to present information on the 'Thriller' genre:

MY PREZI ON THE THRILLER GENRE

Another day of filming

Yesterday, my group and I filmed another major section of our film opening. This was one of our flashback scenes which required us to film in our chosen location Kingston at sunset and in a river location as this would help make our scene more romantic and happy (The mood and emotions we want to create in this sequence).

OUR DISTRIBUTION

We have started started working on our website as a means of distribution. We are planning to put our trailer, photographs, and interactive games on it. We picked a scene from our footage and made it as the background of our website which we will simarily use in our poster and the profile picture of our Facebook page. We have also started to design a poster.

This poster will share a similar image, showing date of release, distributor, title, directors, editors, screenplay etc. We have also added quotes from major Newspapers and magazines including mass newspapers such as the Guardian and media magazines such as Empire. Through these mass magazines our product should become world know. These extremely positive quotes for example nominations and extremly favourable comments will be used to entice viewers and act as pull lines.

Rich Mix- In London for a TV drama study day!!

On 6th of March we travelled to London's Brick Lane to listen to a lecture from our chief examiner Pete Fraser. Here we recieved helpful suggestions and what we were expected to do in our exam. We also listened and watched some work from a real programme editor, Charlie Phillips which has edited major television programmes such as the current Sherlock Holmes series, Pschoville and Munro.

He explained how editing was a very important element in telling a story. This event took a close look at how the key elements of camerawork, editing, mise-en-scène and soundtrack construct representations of different social groups.

FDA (film distributors association) research

http://www.launchingfilms.tv/acquisition.php?video=1&autostart=1

In order to understand what distributors do and why they are so important to make a film a sucess I visited the Film distributors association website. Here i was able to read information and research on what is the job of a distributor and the ways in which they try to distribute and promote films sucessfully, either through print, television or social media.


I watched several video which were very helpful and provided me with alot of useful information.



On how a distributor (Sara Frain) approaches a marketing plan:

Play clip >

http://www.launchingfilms.tv/marketing.php?video=2&autostart=1

Word of mouth
Social recommendation is key - a personal recommendation from a friend, colleague or relative can be the most powerful trigger for a cinema visit. Pre-requisite for favourable 'word of mouth' are high levels of awareness and strong interest. Negative word of mouth is extremely difficult to overcome. Post-release, hopefully, a combination of good word of mouth and further advertising will combine to give the film 'legs'.

Poster

The main image distilling the appeal of the film - its stars, theme/genre, credits and often a tagline to whet audiences' appetites. With sometimes a dozen or more different posters on display in a cinema foyer at any one time, distributors and their designers must work hard to make each one stand out.

Online and Mobile

Fizzing with networks of film fans, the internet plays a pivotal role in shaping many cinemagoers' perceptions of new releases. Most films have an official website (examples below) or perhaps a UK site hosted by a partner company, offering trailers, production information, galleries of stills and behind-thescenes footage, and more.

The internet helps distributors to start building awareness of a new film at a very early stage. Even before principal photography begins, they may release news snippets or teaser images online, seeding interest among fans. During shooting, they may gradually accelerate the dripfeed with video diaries and blogs posted from the set, aiming to engage the core audience more fully.

Media advertising

The cost of advertising placed on broadcast channels, outdoor sites and in the press is usually the largest expenditure item in a P&A budget.

Media costs rise and fall according to market conditions during the year. Terrestrial television is traditionally the most effective visual means of reaching a mass audience. But the cost of TV advertising, running into many hundreds of thousands of pounds or more for a package of spots in all regions, is prohibitive for most film releases given their potential returns. Event films/blockbusters with top stars need heavyweight advertising to support their wide releases.

UK film distributors invest around £170m a year in media advertising alone to launch and sustain their releases. Television and outdoor, taken together, typically account for 70% of expenditure. Entertainment companies as a whole spend more than half a billion pounds on advertising each year.

Shifty (2008)

Our group looked at Shifty. A smaller budget film distributed by UK based Metrodome plc distribution.


SHIFTY 2008

Director: Eran Creevy Writer: Eran CreevyStars:Riz Ahmed, Daniel Mays and Jason Flemyng


imbd.com:


Shifty, a young crack cocaine dealer in London, sees his life quickly spiral out of control when his best friend returns home. Stalked by a customer desperate to score at all costs, and with his family about to turn their back on him for good, Shifty must out-run and out-smart a rival drug dealer, intent on setting him up for a big fall. As his long time friend Chris, confronts the dark past he left behind him, Shifty is forced to face up to the violent future he's hurtling towards.


www.cinemablend.com shows how sucessful the dirstribution company was in promoting this extremely low budget film and making a national sucess story:


Four years ago, British writer/director Eran Creevy made a name for himself with his debut film Shifty. The independently made, gritty crime drama marked the arrival of an important new presence on the U.K. film scene. The feature even ended up being nominated, despite its insanely low budget, for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the BAFTAs. Unfortunately, the young talent went up against Duncan Jones' Moon, so Creevy ended up empty handed