- Research camera and tripod
- Expand on plot outline
- Set up the secondary audience and go into more detail about gender and psycho graphics of my target audience
- Update the film pitch
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Verbal Feedback
Monday, 28 September 2015
Monday, 21 September 2015
Monday, 14 September 2015
The Big Lebowski - Researching Genre
Genre
The film's genre is neo-noir, crime, comedy and stoner. Neo-noir films are similar to film noir, which are traditional Hollywood crime dramas, but neo-noir has similar themes with updated themes and content. The Big Lebowski has the Dude as a detective, which was a very popular character in film noir, it also has the millionaire Jeffrey Lebowski as the corrupt antagonist, which is another common character in those kinds of films. Crime films usually focus on the lives of criminals, and glorifies the drama and violence seen in them. But the Dude gets involved with these criminals just for the money as kind of sees all the violence as an outsider, and tries not to get included in it.
Narrative
The protagonist 'The Dude' is an unemployed slacker who is a keen bowler. He gets mistaken for being Jeff Lebowski when thugs break into his house, Lebowski is a millionaire who shares the same name as the Dude. When the millionaire's wife gets kidnapped he gets the Dude to deliver the ransom for her release. But the Dude's friend Walter plans to keep the full ransom for themselves, the plan goes wrong and they lose the money. The millionaire's daughter, Maude, meets with the Dude and thinks the wife kidnapped herself for the money. The Dude then gets into trouble with the wife's 'kidnappers', gets drugged, and when he wakes in his own home with Mauve, she reveals it was all set up by the millionaire to get more money and the wife just went on a trip. So the Dude and his friends go back to their lives and continue working on their bowling tournament.
The film follows a linear narrative, and slowly reveals information about what's happening as the Dude realises what's going on. So the audience only knows as much as he does, when he does.
Representation
Key Characters -
Jeff "the Dude" Lebowski - the main protagonist, played by Jeff Bridges, and is a white male in his 40s, living in Los Angleas. He is unemployed, and enjoys drinking, bowling, Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Walter Sobchak - the Dude's friend and bowling teammate, played by John Goodman, he represents the group of people as the Dude. He has a violent temper due to his time as a soldier in Vietnam.
Donny - the Dude's friend and bowling teammate, played by Steve Buscemi, he represents the group of people as the Dude and Walter. He is naive and good-natured but doesn't get involved in most of the drama in the film.
Jeffrey Lebowski - the film's antagonist millionaire, played by David Huddlestone, he is white, rich and wheelchair bound. He likes to think of himself as successful but in reality has no money and depends on his daughter.
Maude Lebowski - daughter of Jeffrey Lebowski, played by Julienne Moore. She is a feminist artist who handles all the Lebowski's money. She is one of the only key characters that is female, and both her and her father are of a high class and status.
Bunny Lebowski - trophy wife of Jeff Lebowski, played by Tara Reid. She is seen as a stereotypical 'blonde bimbo' by most of the characters, who thinks she is just scamming her husband's money.
Audience
The audience for the Big Lebowski is predominantly males, aged 18-35.
Rick Altman Theory
Semantic elements - The main characters are are all seen with drugs and guns at some point with a fair amount of violence, which is typically seen in the crime genre. Also there are large amounts of money involved which is often seen in crime and normally the driving point of the plot, as the main characters often fight for who will end up with the money, or someone owes someone money. Then the drugs and psychedelic scenes are often seen in stoner films, and the main character is smoking or drinking something in nearly every scene he is in. The film is set in a city, going from quite run down and poorer areas to very rich areas, with mansions, both crime and neo noir films are often based in cites and largely populated areas. Also the soundtrack has Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Elvis Costello and Nina Simone, which is mainly American rock, blues or folk music.
Syntactic elements - The plot is centered around the Dude trying to get money from what he thinks is a kidnapping, which shows the crime elements of the film,
Saturday, 12 September 2015
The Usual Suspects - Researching Genre
Genre
The film is a neo noir crime thriller mystery, neo noir is a sub genre of film noir, where it is has the same themes of a typical film noir movie but set in a modern time and updated settings. The usual conventions is the protagonist being some kind of detective in a crime drama or mystery, often with the same stylistic dark lighting and visual elements. The characters tend to be anti heroes, mysterious women (or femme fatales) and the cynical detective. They are also generally independent films. The Usual Suspects is clearly displays the neo noir genre because the narrative based on criminals and the police interrogating them to find out what happened. It's also neo noir because it has all the conventions of a film noir but as an updated version.
Narrative
The film shows Roger "Verbal" Kint getting interrogated, who is a con man and one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. He gives a long and complicated story about the events that led him and his partners to the crime at the boat. Which he links back to the mysterious mob boss known as Keyser Söze, and using flashbacks and narration the story gets more and more complex. The end of the film is left open to interpretation about if Keyser Söze really exists and is Verbal, or he made him up to lead them off the case.
Representation
Key Characters-
Todd Hockney - played by Kevin Pollack and is a hijacker, who is laid back, casual, and doesn't seem to bothered about the situation they are in.
Micheal McManus - played by Stephen Baldwin, he wears a black leather jacket, black clothes, which look intimidating and threatening, he seems quite rebellious and reckless.
Fred Fenster- played by Benicio Del Toro, speaks in broken english, he is quite careless and casual.
Dean Keaton - played by Gabriel Bryne, he seems to be the leader of the group and is suspected to be Keyser Soze.
Roger "Verbal" Kint- played by Kevin Spacey, he is the actual Keyser Soze (or is he?), he pretends to have cerebral palsy so people assume he is just a "cripple" and not an infamous mob boss.
All the main characters are straight, white males so there isn't a very good representation of other groups of people.
Audience
The film is mainly aimed at men, aged 25-50, as they are stereotypical the most interested in the crime and thriller genre of film.
Rick Altman Theory Semantic elements - the majority of the film is set in a police station looking back at flashbacks, there are also lots of guns, violence and large amounts of money and drugs, which are all associated with crime. The soundtrack is also quite mysterious and mainly classical music, which is often heard in original film noir.
Syntactic elements - the plot is all about a massacre linked to drugs and money which is commonly seen in crime films. The film is also full of suspense and mystery, making you question who is Keyser Soze? and what actually happened between them? So all the suspense fits with the thriller element of the film because all the action and tension puts you on the edge of your seat. Also the non linear narrative goes with the mystery theme because it hides some information and only shows the audience certain things, leaving them wondering what's going on, which makes the film feel mysterious.
All the main characters are straight, white males so there isn't a very good representation of other groups of people.
Audience
The film is mainly aimed at men, aged 25-50, as they are stereotypical the most interested in the crime and thriller genre of film.
Rick Altman Theory Semantic elements - the majority of the film is set in a police station looking back at flashbacks, there are also lots of guns, violence and large amounts of money and drugs, which are all associated with crime. The soundtrack is also quite mysterious and mainly classical music, which is often heard in original film noir.
Syntactic elements - the plot is all about a massacre linked to drugs and money which is commonly seen in crime films. The film is also full of suspense and mystery, making you question who is Keyser Soze? and what actually happened between them? So all the suspense fits with the thriller element of the film because all the action and tension puts you on the edge of your seat. Also the non linear narrative goes with the mystery theme because it hides some information and only shows the audience certain things, leaving them wondering what's going on, which makes the film feel mysterious.
Thursday, 10 September 2015
Friday, 4 September 2015
Target Audience
Potential Target Audience
Teenagers and young adults (16-25) who are generally in the D-E category on the JICNAR scale. The audience will be aimed at women a bit more then men, maybe as a 60:40 split because generally not to many films are created for women as the intended audience that aren't romantic comedies or 'chick flicks'. But of any sexuality and ethnicity, so it's still bit a big demographic that will appeal to most people.
People from this group are generally students or in fairly low paying jobs, but some may be higher on the JICNAR scale and have more well paying jobs. That age group are probably the most likely to go to cinemas, watch movies and be up to date with popular culture and new releases. But they are also more to pirate the film or just watch it online, because the majority of young people don't play to see movies anymore. This could be because they typically use the internet a lot, and are often social media sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, or go on Youtube which a lot of films and film trailers are uploaded. They might also go on websites where films are often talked about in detail or for comedic effect like Cracked.com, Reddit or Buzzfeed.
The secondary audience will be people aged between 30-50 who are slightly older than the primary audience but still have a real interest in films, but may be less aware about some aspects of popular culture. They are more likely to be higher up on the JICNAR scale because the generally have higher paying jobs.
To see what genre of film people are interested in from this group, I sent out a questionnaire:
I also asked them the kinds of things they would expect to see in a trailer to see what I should consider when making it:
Teenagers and young adults (16-25) who are generally in the D-E category on the JICNAR scale. The audience will be aimed at women a bit more then men, maybe as a 60:40 split because generally not to many films are created for women as the intended audience that aren't romantic comedies or 'chick flicks'. But of any sexuality and ethnicity, so it's still bit a big demographic that will appeal to most people.
People from this group are generally students or in fairly low paying jobs, but some may be higher on the JICNAR scale and have more well paying jobs. That age group are probably the most likely to go to cinemas, watch movies and be up to date with popular culture and new releases. But they are also more to pirate the film or just watch it online, because the majority of young people don't play to see movies anymore. This could be because they typically use the internet a lot, and are often social media sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, or go on Youtube which a lot of films and film trailers are uploaded. They might also go on websites where films are often talked about in detail or for comedic effect like Cracked.com, Reddit or Buzzfeed.
The secondary audience will be people aged between 30-50 who are slightly older than the primary audience but still have a real interest in films, but may be less aware about some aspects of popular culture. They are more likely to be higher up on the JICNAR scale because the generally have higher paying jobs.
To see what genre of film people are interested in from this group, I sent out a questionnaire:
Which shows that Horror, Social Realism and Action/Adventure are the most popular, and Western, Fantasy and Romance are the least.
I also asked them the kinds of things they would expect to see in a trailer to see what I should consider when making it:
Potential Genre and Narrative of Film
I made a brainstorm of ideas about which genre of film would be most appropriate for my film trailer:
When considering what genre my film trailer could be, I thought about whether it would be suitable for my target audience by looking at the questionnaire, and which was the most popular. Also what was achievable in terms of budget and special effects in the trailer.
The questionnaire showed that the most popular genre of films with my target audience is social realism, horror and action/adventure.
Plot Idea 1
Social realism and indie film, similar to Submarine or . Because of the fairly young target audience the main character should about their age and going through similar experiences to them to make it relatable, maybe a coming of age story.Nearly all indie films all have tropes, and reoccurring themes in them, so using these would help make a successful film. Most 'coming of age' stories have a fairly unpopular protagonist (e.g. Juno, Submarine and The Breakfast Club). But to make it unique it could be based on a girl obsessed with video games, particularly MMO games like World of Warcraft. This could also appeal to a predominately female audience because there is a massive assumption that most gamers are boys, so showing a girl playing video games could be very popular. Also 'nerd' culture is one of the most popular cultures around today, so there could be a massive audience interested in the film purely because it features video games.
A teenage girl is obsessed with online video games, and it's slowly taking over her whole life. At college, she has a crush on a girl, but finds that she can barely talk to anyone outside of the video game she plays. So she enlists the help of her Guild (group of friends she plays with online) to help her talk to the girl she likes. However they are not helpful and try and convince her to keep on playing. But she ignores them and gets the courage to actually talk to her. When talking to her, she realizes that the girl is interested in games too. The two start playing together, but the protagonist's guild is under attack from their rival, and the two girls and the rest of the Guild battle against them. After a tense battle, the girl's Guild win.
Visually it could be similar to Scott Pilgrim vs the World, which uses elements of video games and comics. Like Scott grabs 'a life' from the sky:
Plot Idea 2
As mystery was very popular on the questionnaire I could maybe add that genre to a normal indie film to make it more intriguing.
There was a huge storm in a small town, and a girl (by herself in a remote part of town) got caught up in it. She collapses maybe and wakes up when the storm has passed, she discovers she has the ability to rewind time. She confines with her friend who was skeptical at first about her new found power but supports her. But it's revealed that she wasn't the only one affected by the storm and other mysteries have occurred, and people have gone missing. So she uses her ability to investigate what really happened, and what the storm was.
Her ability to change time could have a similar effects as the 'The Butterfly Effect', so every time she alters a timeline it has consequences later on, and she comes to realise that somethings are a fixed point in time (like the storm which she finds out she can't go back and prevent from happening).
Plot Idea 3
A detective mystery inspired by films like The Big Lebowski and The Usual Suspects, as a sort of Neo-Noir film.
A girl is waiting to meet up with a friend and witnesses someone getting kidnapped but as she goes for help she is knocked unconscious. When she wakes, she is back at her house with the friend who found her knocked out on the street, she tells her friend about what she saw and they both go to the police. The police say that it isn't the first disappearance and multiple people have gone missing in a small space of time. But the police don't seem to be doing much about it so the girl is determined to find out what is happening herself.
The memory loss and mystery is a recurring theme in a few neo noir films, such as Mulholland Drive and Memento, so I have chosen to make the story similar to that.
Thursday, 3 September 2015
Film Research - Submarine
Submarine
Film Poster
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/695619431803387906
Film Trailer
The trailer starts with the film classifications, saying who the film is appropriate for. The titles for the film appear as if they were written on a typewriter, over a beach in the background, which acts as an establishing shot to show the kind of place the film is set. Then more inter-titles appear showing the film is made by The Weinstein Company, Film 4 and the National Lottery. Then the main character Oliver Tate is introduced by him narrating over different shots of him, he is seen using a typewriter making it seem as if he is typing out the inter-titles, which read out the what's happening in the trailer, e.g. 'Introduce Protagonist' appeared when Oliver did, he says that he "wishes there was a film crew following his every move" and with him typing out the intertitles it gives the impression that he is just acting out his life, and kind of breaks the fourth wall. Oliver then explains a bit about himself to the audience so they get a feel of his character, he is a teenager who is trying to work out who he is, and hasn't quite found his place in the world yet. This is a common theme is coming of age films, and because the audience is mostly likely to be teenagers going through similar things to Oliver, making him relatable. The trailer then 'establishes relationships' as the inter title points out, and it's shown that Oliver spies on his parents or 'monitors' them, which turns into an important plot point of the film. Then his love interest Jordana is introduced, she is wearing a red coat which connotates love or passion. She is also described as being 'moderately unpopuar' and an outsider which the teenage audience might also relate to if they feel that way. After the characters are introduced small details about the plot are given, like Oliver's and Jordana's first date and then something potentially bad happening between the two as she is seen with another boy and Oliver wants to be excused from class because "his tiny heart is broken", which shows that although it is a teen drama there is also a comedic side to the film.
DVD Cover
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/714937056601571329
Film Poster
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/695619431803387906
Film Trailer
The trailer starts with the film classifications, saying who the film is appropriate for. The titles for the film appear as if they were written on a typewriter, over a beach in the background, which acts as an establishing shot to show the kind of place the film is set. Then more inter-titles appear showing the film is made by The Weinstein Company, Film 4 and the National Lottery. Then the main character Oliver Tate is introduced by him narrating over different shots of him, he is seen using a typewriter making it seem as if he is typing out the inter-titles, which read out the what's happening in the trailer, e.g. 'Introduce Protagonist' appeared when Oliver did, he says that he "wishes there was a film crew following his every move" and with him typing out the intertitles it gives the impression that he is just acting out his life, and kind of breaks the fourth wall. Oliver then explains a bit about himself to the audience so they get a feel of his character, he is a teenager who is trying to work out who he is, and hasn't quite found his place in the world yet. This is a common theme is coming of age films, and because the audience is mostly likely to be teenagers going through similar things to Oliver, making him relatable. The trailer then 'establishes relationships' as the inter title points out, and it's shown that Oliver spies on his parents or 'monitors' them, which turns into an important plot point of the film. Then his love interest Jordana is introduced, she is wearing a red coat which connotates love or passion. She is also described as being 'moderately unpopuar' and an outsider which the teenage audience might also relate to if they feel that way. After the characters are introduced small details about the plot are given, like Oliver's and Jordana's first date and then something potentially bad happening between the two as she is seen with another boy and Oliver wants to be excused from class because "his tiny heart is broken", which shows that although it is a teen drama there is also a comedic side to the film.
DVD Cover
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/714937056601571329
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Film Research - V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta
Film Poster
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/665869308500377602
Film Trailer
In the trailer it shows that the film genre through the dark lighting, dramatic soundtrack, also in the mis-en-scene shows the basic outline of the plot so you get a feel of what the film is about and the message it is trying to portray. The genre of film is a 'political thriller' so the trailer is quite action filled, with fight scenes, explosions.
The trailer starts by introducing the main characters (Evie Hammond and V), and shows them going against the Government. About 30 seconds in the titles show the film is made by Warner Bros. Pictures (who are a subsidiary of Time Warner), also that it's based of a comic book (from DC Comics). It then shows brief snapshots of the film, giving away small details about the plot. It's also mentioned that it's from the 'Creators of the Matrix Trilogy' so fans of the Matrix Trilogy might be interested, also The Matrix is a very popular film so it may raise awareness of this film. The trailer also lists the actors involved, which like the Matrix, will get their fans more interested. There is a voice over, taken from dialogue in the film which helps explain the film and add drama to the trailer. At the end more information is given showing more about who is working on the film like the the producers, writers and directors, it also gives the website for the film.
Film Magazine Cover
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/665869308500377602
DVD Cover
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/714943076971315201
Film Poster
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/665869308500377602
Film Trailer
In the trailer it shows that the film genre through the dark lighting, dramatic soundtrack, also in the mis-en-scene shows the basic outline of the plot so you get a feel of what the film is about and the message it is trying to portray. The genre of film is a 'political thriller' so the trailer is quite action filled, with fight scenes, explosions.
The trailer starts by introducing the main characters (Evie Hammond and V), and shows them going against the Government. About 30 seconds in the titles show the film is made by Warner Bros. Pictures (who are a subsidiary of Time Warner), also that it's based of a comic book (from DC Comics). It then shows brief snapshots of the film, giving away small details about the plot. It's also mentioned that it's from the 'Creators of the Matrix Trilogy' so fans of the Matrix Trilogy might be interested, also The Matrix is a very popular film so it may raise awareness of this film. The trailer also lists the actors involved, which like the Matrix, will get their fans more interested. There is a voice over, taken from dialogue in the film which helps explain the film and add drama to the trailer. At the end more information is given showing more about who is working on the film like the the producers, writers and directors, it also gives the website for the film.
Film Magazine Cover
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/665869308500377602
DVD Cover
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/714943076971315201
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)