Film Pitch and Evaluation

Here is my film pitch.

The disastrous powerpoint from Charlotte Revell

Student marketing 

A lot of feedback we received was the movie title was catchy and easy to remember.  However the title would be even better if it was slightly shorter. A lot of students also believed that the cast seemed appropriate but could include more teenagers.However on the problems with the film is that it sounds like it would only appeal to younger children and will will unlikely attract teenagers or adults. Another postive aspect is that the plot is interesting but could be too complicated for younger children to follow, however it is different. Also the marketing is good for example not using social media is a good idea as our young audience will not see it.

Teacher marking

The good parts of the film pitch are the title good and clear. However the cast is not well known and do no need all of them and could need more description on some of them. Enigma code was intriguing but still not sure about it however it is well throughout however needed to be more original idea.The narrative fits genre but would like to hear more and marketing interesting but no well enough developed.

My evaluation of the film pitch

I believe that overall the film pitch went well.However I believe  that it could have been more organised about who was saying what about the film. We could have improved the order of the powerpoint and add how we would avtise  the film as we only spoke about it. We should have also written the first scene in more detail and not just the overall plot. However I think we made a good mood board about the film and used a lot of different films for ideas. 

Institution - Logo, Big/Small Budget

In the lesson today we made our film production logos.




 I used premiere to create my logo and used transtions on the title and on the music in the background. I then uploaded it to You Tube and got the embed code and put it in to my blog.

We were then asked some questions on the film industry
 What is the main film going audience?
They are mainstream films that are normally made by one of the big 6 like Sony and DreamWorks.
How do cinemas make most of their money?
A cinema makes most of their money by selling food and drink to people.
How do you get a film into the cinema?
A film gets into a cinema normally by the cinema paying for a digital copy of the film. However independent movies is where the people that make a film ask independent cinemas to show their film normally they have to pay.
What does a distributor do?

 A distributor makes sure that films go equally to cinemas everywhere.

Here is my PowerPoint about the Inbetweeners Movie and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Big budget vs low budget movie from Charlotte Revell

Evaluation of looking at different films.
I have discovered that even if the budget is small the film can still win awards. I have also learnt that a lot of smaller budget films seem to go to stragnt to DVD or Tv and sometimes a small amount of time in the cinema.
This helps me for my own filming as it shows me that even with a smaller budget can still become a great film that is quite well known.It also shows me that you can create a great film with a smaller budget and inpartiller the editing can still be as good on whatever budget the film is.

Practice video editing

We the lesson we had a go on premiere editing software.
 We used music and footage from our shared area and then used transitions and cut them to how we wanted them. I then uploaded it to You Tube and used the embedded code to upload it to my blog.

This is my James Bond editing using Premire.

Reflection on my editing
I believe my editing went well as it was my first time using premire and using a mac. I could have improve the clips of footage by improved the effect on the clips and not just the transitions however I believe that I will get better as I do more editing. I have also learned how to add the music over talking for my James Bond editing.

Audience

I believe that the media is equally controlled by the adience and the producer as without ever of them the media would not be what we not of today. I don't believe that the media can funtion properly with out the adience as they would not have a foused adience which means they would not get the money they need to work properly. However they could always work just not in the way we know it.I believe that the media does control the audience as without media a lot of people would not know what to do and feel panic about the loss of media.
For audience we use the Uses and Gratification theory
This was created by Blumer and Katz. It focuses on NOT what the media does to people but what people do with the media. They are five main reasons people use media they are:

• Information
• Education
• Entertainment
• Social Interaction
• Escapism

In class today we learnt about the role of the audience on the film industry. We were asked asked the following questions.
What do we mean when we use the word "film"?
The film is the plastic tape that the movies use to be saved on.
Do you think it means the same as the word "movie"?
No, these words are different as the word movie means the product the audience sees.
And what about the word "cinema"?
I believe that this is just the building were the audience watches the movies.

My top 10 Films

1. Pitch Perfect
2. Mean Girls
3. 10 things I hate about you
4. The Last Song
5. Harry Potter
6. St Trinians
7. Wild Child
8. Grease
9. Freaky Friday
10. LOL

My view on my favourite films
I believe that most of my films are light hearted and feel good films. All the films I love have females as main characters. All my films are about teenagers and young adults. Most of the films are also set in schools. I believe I like these films as I am in school so can recognise ideas in all the films that are similar to my life. I also watch films to relax so none of my favourite films have very serious themes as I use films for escapism.

Film Language

In the lesson today we learnt about different ideas that make up films.
The first is about camera to remember this we use FAM.
This stands for:
Frame (size of shots)
Angle (high, low, Birdseye)
Movement

Then we learnt about Mise en scence to remember what this included we used CLAMPS.
This stands for:
Costume
Lighting
Actors
Make up
Props
Setting (place, weather, time)

Then we learnt about what went into sound we used  MCDOVED to remember this.
This stands for:
Music
Contrapuntal ( opposites e.g. a happy song with a tense scene)
Diegetic/ non diegetic
Off screen (enhancing a high heel noise)
Voiceover
Emotion
Dialogue ( the way they speak)

Finally the hardest feature to amylase which is editing. To remember what goes into this we use STOPS.
This stands for:
Screen time
Transitions
Order of narrative
Pace
Special effects (SFX)
 To show this is in every film we watch the first 6 minutes of Boyz in the hood.


It starts off with a voice over where it was it seem to quite a violent which the lanague is quite rude. The voice over also seems to tell us that they is a fight going on. The first shot is a stop- sign this is where all the sounds fade away which could show that the scene happening with the voice over ended abruptly. This could represent that this fight ended suddenly with what is later believed to a shooting.  We then actually see what is going on we are in a run down street with rubbish bags and stray dogs. Also as the main characters start to walk to school there is grafftic all over the walls. the main characters all seem to be early teens so around 12 or 13. This shows that everyone of any age is involed in voliets or know about someone in it.However they then come to the where the voice over scene could have taken place as it seemed to be where a murder had taken place. The lighting in this scene then got darker which could show that the scene is a more though proving scene as these are young children that are growing up around all this violents. then they are looking at the crime scene the camera shot gets closer as they discover it is a murder scene however they don't seemed shock by the fact that someone died. When they get to school the pictures on the wall all seem to contain the police. This can show how much the police are part of these children's everyday life. Also all the children use slag which is used to show the childhood is lower class and rougher as those are the sort of people that use slag.  the film was set just before the 1920s just before the los angelas riots.  Also all the children are wearing what look to be 2nd hand clothes this shows that they are poor.

In the Matrix we were ask to look at colour, binary oppositions, male/female - good vs evil.

The colours in this film are all dark this represents that the film is dark and dangerous and shows that something bad is about to happen.  the males are also outnumbering the one female which shows that she is very dangerous. The good people also don't seem to the one bad person which gives them an unfair advange.

 In UP we were asked to look for how they show the passage of time, sound, mise en scene and camera.

 They show time by showing they key points in their life this is showing them aging as they points are them growing as a couple. The sound is also quite calm and peaceful as it shows they are in love and happy. Their costume also change as their get older due to fashion and what the are doing in life it also shows their personality her outfits are also more happy and out going than his. The camera also uses a lot of wide shots which could show that this is there whole life and they don't hide any secrets. It also could show that their life is in this little bubble until she dies when the shots change to mush closer shots.

In Cape fear we were asked to look at camera and mise en scene.


In this film they is all two camera shots. the first shot also starts as a close shot and moves out. It is also a straight cut shot. His costume also changes from his prison uniform to his own clothes following his realise. The lighting also becomes natural and lighter as he is realised compared to the harss white light of the prison. The actors expression does not change from inside the prison to the outside when he is being realised.

Narrative

In the lesson today we learnt about different theories about narrative.

The first theory is Barthes' code.
He came up with the idea with the ideas of signs and tell us that can mean a lot of different things. He also says that text is like a ball of thread and needs to be broken down and looked at in more detail. It also says that everything has multiple meanings.

The second theory we learnt was Props theory.
He says that every film has the same characters.
There are hero, villain, donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father.
He believes that every film will have these characters in some form or another.
In the lesson today we learnt about different theories about narrative.

Today we learnt about the theories of narrative.
The first theory is Barthes' code.
He came up with the idea with the ideas of signs and tell us that can mean a lot of different things. He also says that text is like a ball of thread and needs to be broken down and looked at in more detail. It also says that everything has multiple meanings.

Another theory is Aristotle theory.
This a very simple theory that very production has to have a beginning, middle and a end.

Another theory is Todorov theory.
This is every production has 5 stages. It starts with a equilibrium (a state of normality). This is then disrupted. Then the main character is helped out in somewhere. The main character then tries to restore the equilibrium from the beginning. The final stage is that a equilibrium is restored however it is different to the equilibrium at the start.

The final theory is Levi-Strauss theory.
This is the theory of opposites for example day and night. He believes that films use binary opposites.


To show these theories we used the opening of The Prestige.


Using Barthes theory we could used the birds as they started off in a cage. Then are then let out of the cage. This could represent that a person that was once trapped by something has been freed. Also the lighting starts as a very normal and calm however when the magician disappears the lighting become like strobe lighting which creates panic and chaos. However this only creates this atmosphere because of Barthes theory of signs. The lighting as it is like strobe lighting which can create a very panicked and disorganised scene. This using Barthes theory will show that the scene is chaotic which makes the audience worried and waiting for the problem to be solved.    Using Enigma we could show the opposites of on stage and off stage. On stage it is all very composed and everything seems normal. However behind the stage everything is chaotic and messy. These are complete opposites and could represent the emotion of the magician who on the outside is very calm and collected but on the inside is very busy and worried about everything happening to him. Todorov theory could be beginning to show as the narrative of the old man is very calm until everything starts to go wrong on behind the stage. Propps theory was harder to find in this opening however the magician seemed to be the hero of the scene and the guy that trapped him in the water was the villan. Levi-Strauss theory are the opposite one of the most obvious was the old man telling the young girl how to do magic. This is an opposite in itself as he s old and she is young. However it also shows wisdom and innocence. This is because the old man is presumably wise and the girl because of her age shows innocence.

Representation

In media we use different ways of describing people .here are three terms  use so we can portray different people easily.

One way is: Stereotypes
this is where media institutions use stereotypes because the audience will understand them. for example a French person walking around with a baguette in a striped tee shirt. In reality this does not really happen however it is how he media betray them so this because a stereotype of French people.

To extend on this the are: Archetypes.
This is the ultimate stereotype so this is extending on the French person example they would be surrounded by people doing the same thing so it s not just most people acting this way its everyone.

Then they is: Countertypes.
This is where the associationated stereotype of an group or area are challenged.

These are all types of: Representation.
This is the way in which people, event and ideas are presented to the audience. So simply, the media takes something that is already there and represents it to us in the way they choose.

There is a way of remembering what things are stereotyped it is DR CAGES.
This means this:

Disability
Regional identity

Class
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Sexuality


A film what shows a stereotype of age is St Trinians.

This is showing young girls as out of control. It then shows a bedroom which had a lot of stereotypes like geeks, chavs and first years. This is showing a lot of different types of stereotypes as not all people that believe they find that title will have all the characteristics also in seems to show that all the people with those characteristics are bad people as St Trinians as a bad school. It also shows young women as bad people as all these women are rebels. I believe that these women because they are seen as rebels this makes them bad people in a lot of people's eyes due to the stereotype of a rebel is that they are bad people.

Semiotics

This task is to look at a film poster and to talk about denotation and connotation.

Denotations- What we see when we look at an image(what it is)

Faded background

The women look drawn.

The writing is in capitals and bold.

The women look determined and powerful.

It looks like it is set in the past.
The three women are different ages.
They look working class.

Connotations- What we understand from this image (what other meanings it is)
The poster has the faded affect because of the age in which the film was set.
The women looked drawn this could be to add to the fact that the film was set just after world war one and photographs where not in colour.
The writing is in bold and capitals because it draws people in as it is easy to see it also makes the writing powerful as it is short and incompresses all women as everyone women is a daughter and a lot of older women are mothers too.
The women look determined and powerful because it is a great cause that there are fighting for that will change the future of al women.
The women are different ages could show that no matter the persons age their are fighting for the cause.
The fact that there are working class will show that this are common omen that are nothing out of the ordinary however will fight for this cause.
Semiotics 
The study of signs- This is means anything which stands for something else.

For posters and advising they will be different ways of reading it.

Preferred reading        - This is how the creator will want you to view the piece of media text .
Oppositional reading  - This is where the preferred reading is the total opposed to how you          view the media text.
Negotiated reading    - this is where you see the good and bad in the piece of media text.

Film Analysis Openings genre

In this task we had to pick 3 film openings and analysis them.

Tho do this we use the acronym DISTINCT.
This stands for:
Describe
In detail
Setting
Themes
Icons
Narrative
Character
Textual analysis


Clueless film opening




The opening to clueless is very bold and colourful with its choice in font and background as they are both very bight colours that there fashionable in the 90s when this film was set. It also makes you think that the film will be happy and upbeat. The setting is a upper class American suburb in the morning as the father is rushing to get to work and the daughter is making breakfast. The house has high tech equipment in it which shows the wealth of the family. The main character is being a narrator about how normal her life is which is ironic as it far from that. The main character Cher is white and her best friend Dion is black however they are both upper class. The music at the beginning is upbeat an popular for the time it was set and would appal to teenage audiences. The genre of this film is a teenage girl comedy you can tell this because of the light hearted music. Another way of showing this genre is the by the way the lighting is very light and showing everything in the shot which tells the audience that they is nothing else to this film but what you can see.

Harry Brown opening scene


The opening scene to Harry Brown is very dark and shows gangs, drugs and killing. it is set in a run down council estate where gangs seem to run everyday life. The men shown all seem to be lower class. They also are teenagers and young adults that are part of  The sound used is all very dark and mysterious and makes your heart race. The opening makes the whole plot seem very dark and upsetting. The opening setting was a group of men pressuring one person into taking some kind of drug so he join the gang. It then goes to a very normal scene where a young mother is waking her baby in a pram in the park where she is then shot at by these gang members. You cna tell this film is a dark volient film.You can tell this by the conversations going on and the fact that because the lighting is so dark you can not see everything that is going on in the shot which creates mystery and curious.


Guardians of the Galaxy opening scene

 The opening of the Guardians of the Galaxy is a dark and dirty then the is a person playing a cassette which is an upbeat and cheerful song as he dance and mouths the words to this song which makes him seem completely comfortable in his setting as he while danced he was able to stop any rat like creature and even used one as a microphone. He is the only character we are introduced to. Also he did not speak and their was no narration in this scene which means we still do not know anything about the plot.  The use of  his cassette playing makes it seem like this is something from his childhood as there are not use in the modern world. This film genre is sifi you can tell this but the setting that is shown to us is like nothing on this earth as we know it. Also the way the character is flash backing to his childhood on earth shows that something has happened to earth which means it is no longer how we know it.

Genre picture task

This task was to try and show how pictures and genre are link and how picture can show the genre.

This picture is to represent the war genre. This is set in battle as she is just getting ready to shot someone while staring hidden. This is set outside as that is were the war is happening. It is a war happening at school which could show that war has taken over and is affecting everyday life. The fighter is female which shows the war is modern as females did not fight in the past. The picture is also taken from quite a distance which could mean that the camera is the person being shot at. This means that the picture is taken in first person.

This picture is to show drama. The picture does not show much however could imply that something dramatic about to happen. The fact that the setting is quite plan also does not show us much. However both the peoples body language tells us quite a lot. The person with the white tee shirt has quite a loud body language which shows that she is quite angry or annoyed about something. However the girl in the black shirt looks quite reserved and nervous. Also the fact that they are both teenage girls could imply that drama is never far away. The camera is taken away from what is happening to give the viewer a look at the how story is being layout in front of them. 

This picture represents fantasy because the fact they both have wands implies magic which is a fantasy idea. Both girls have wands in their hands which shows they could be in a dwell. However both their body languages show that it is not that serious. So this could show that they are in a practice situation. The girl in the black shirt looks like she is about to say some kind of  spell.The camera is away from the scene which could mean that the camera is someone looking on the scene happening in front of them. 

My evaluation of the genre photos.
I believe that these photos just about showed the genres however they lack any sort of facial expression which I believe could add to the photos. I also believe that we needed to think more about the background of the photo as that might have help show that genre was being portrayed.  I also believe that are body lanague could help also show what is going on. However it has helped me learn that they is more to a photo than what is in the picture it is also about the angle and lighting.

Embedding a you tube video

This film opening is very upbeat and lively. The target audience is teenagers and mostly girls as the music and stage layout and colours are very light and feminine. The opening is also hinting that the film is a comedy as it is a big mess with everything going wrong and how the commentators reacted to what is happening makes it funny.