Short Film pitch

Mood board

We have created mood boards for the two girls, the scenes and the drawing in the notebook. I feel this will help put together a great idea as we can see what looks good before we decide on a final idea.

Here is one for the main character Jo.
We have decided to give her a more boyish look that the girl Lilly.
We have also worked on the idea that her name is unisex, so still hides the fact from the audience that it is two girls falling in love.
We have created Lilly as a girly girl and wears floral outfits.
......



"Lilly's mood board."



Here is a mood board for the scenes we could use and where the two girls could walk past each other.

In the short film, Jo makes notes and drawings. The drawings turn into the moving scenes.
Here is a mood board of how the drawings may look....

New improved idea.

We have now decided to not use an Ipod and instead she uses a book and writes notes in t to make the story. Its as if she is literally drawing the girl into her life. The rewind time she will flip back trough the pages in her note book and rub notes out.


Ideas for short film

I have generated some ideas with my group I am working in for my short film.
We want to create a romantic short film including time.
To do this we will use an Ipod to rewind time. The song is rewound to rewind time.
A girl passes another girl in the street but keep doing things wrong so changes time to do it again.
You don't find out its two girls until the end.
Types of this she does wrong includes; not been able to get her attention, embarrassing herself and tripping.


Camera angles will include; through their eye view so you see them blinking.

Audience Research.

I asked a few people their opinions about film. Here is one of the responses in an xtranormal video.

I need to know what the audience like so my film can be successful.



Here are two more:

I took some photos to experiment with lighting to see what lighting would work best on posters and in my short film. The first three I have edited on Photoshop. I think this makes them look really effective but I can only do this with images and not films.

For the top right photo I have made the figures darker and put a brighter light in the background. I also used a pink filter to make it look romantic as pink signifies romance.

For the top right photo I used two photos to get a different shadow to the actual person so it looks as if the shadow is going to grab her.

The photo on the left looks elegant and I have took away the background and made it fade into the image so I looks as if she is an angel with a bright light around her from heaven. I think this works really well.

The following photos are the original photos I took with the digital camera. I used filters to set different moods and postioned the light in different places to create different shadows.


The image below I think looks very effective because the red light gives it a scary bloody effect. Whilst the black surrounding them makes them look like their in darkness.


Original photos below.

Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scene is everything in the scene including: lighting, propps, costume, characters, and dialogue.
Everythign in the scene is created or there for a reason to make it work.
Lighting is especialy important as this can set the mood in the scene including making it sceme romantic or scary ormaking someone seem upset or happy. This is done by changing the brightness of the key light, fill light and backlight to create different shadows and effects. you can get harsh or soft lighting and ambient lighting.

Filters can also be used to create mroe of a moof for example a red filter could be used to make the scene look more dangerous or bloody or it can be used with high lighting for a romantic effect.

In across the halls short film the filter red and green are used. I think the red is to suggest danger as he is goign to kill someone.

In the decent I think the green filter is used to create a sci-fi look as the monsters look like aliens and we associate green with aliens. A red filter is used to create a dangerous bloody look.

Strategies Of Viral Marketing

In viral marketing it's mainly the audience itself that spreads the word about the film.
This can be done just by talking to friends and family and then them telling the friends and their friends telling their friends and so on. his gets information about to a wide variety of people.

Viral marketing can be done through groups and fan pages on the internet which people join and comment about. This is done because if one person likes something that much they may post information to the web about it and then others will see it and feel they need to see if it's really that good. Fan pages and groups can be made on social networking sites such as 'Facebook' and 'Twitter'. Lots of people use these sites so if one person says something about it on here then there's a good chance thousands of people will see it especially if people keep joining these groups and fan pages.


One example of this is when the programme 'Inbetweeners' was on, at the end of each series I noticed that people were posting comments about the last series on to their status and making groups to do with the programme. In one series a car ends up in a lake and someone created a group on Facebook called 'R.I.P Simon's car' within minutes of the programme ending.





Things like this can happen when a film or programme is enjoyed by the viewers. It then gets the word about, about this film/programme and makes more people watch it.


.

Compare 'Across the Hall' 2009 with 'Across the hall' short film trailer 2005

Comapring the two trailers there isn't a massive difference but there is some comparisons as well as similarities betweent the two.
The short has less people involved in the trailer and olny shows the main people. In the longer hollywood version there is a variety of differen characters seen in the trailer. In the longer version you know a murder is happened but this is not so clear in the short film trailer. There is also a lot more action is the longer version. I understand the long version better as it shows you more of the film and you understand what is going on. This makes me want to see the film more as it makes me want to know how or why the murder happens where as in the short film trailer, you dont even know a murder has happened so it doesn't make me want to watch it.
The typography also differs in both trailers. Overall I think the longer trailer is more succesfull and it makes me think more about what I should include in my trailer.

Radio Trailer

I create a radio trailer for the short film "I'm here". This gave me the opportunity to use garage band and find out how it worked so when it came to making our film we had a fair idea of how to use it.

Link for radio Trailer:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/887234831291bdba/

Posters of my film case studies.

I am going to look at some posters so I can see what film posters look liek to see if they have anything in common so i can create sopmething similar.

'I'm Here'

I like this poster advertising the film as it's simple. It also get acrross the genre of the film as there is a boy and girl robot sat close together so you know there is love invloved. I like the way the title of the film is faded so you can clearly see the iconography underneath. It also has a slogan underneath to give you a quick clue to what the film is about. The text about the film that isnt important is really small as this can be read last. I like how the bottom of the photo is faded so that the text is clearer and you also look at the top of the photo first. The film advertisement has quite a carm approach to it with no harsh or bright colours in it.









'George Lucas In Love'
This advertisment is alot different to the 'I'm Here' poster as instead on one large image used, there are differnet drawing of different people from the film in different sizes.
I like how the main character is draw the biggest so you know straight away that he is the main character. The less importnat people get smaller so you see them last.

I also like how the colours of this advertisment are black and brown, it gives it an old look whcih suggests the film is an old film or set in an old period of time. Again the title of the film is the largets typography on the pager and is white to stand otu fromt he dark background. There is also really small print at the bottom of the page to read last about the film. The slogan here is nto under the title but at the top of the page.





'Across the Halls'

This poster is similar to 'george lucas in love' as it has different pictures of peopel on one page, although this time they are photographed and probably took form scenes of the film which I think is more successfull. Again the title stands out more than the rest of the poster and is bright to stand out frotm he dark background. There is not small text at the bottom of the page here but I have seen this is many film advertisements and i think it works well. the colours make it seem like an old film as sepia looks old and warn.








Overall I think film posters look good with actual pictueres on and not drawn with a title that stand out well contrasting from the background. i think the small print of the film poster works well as i associate this with film posters and know straight away it's advertising a film when I see this.

Trailers of my film case studies

'George lucas in love' does not have a film trailer.
I think film trailers are important as it gives the audience something to look forward to and get excited for. It shows the audience what teh film is goign to be abotu so they can then decide whether they want to go see it.

'I'm Here' short film trailer

I'm Here Trailerfrom We Love You SoonVimeo.

'Across the Hall' short film trailer

Across the Hall (Short Film) Trialer from Gary Gimelfarbon.

I really like these trailers as they look profesional and make me want to see the film. They inspire me to do lots of different camera angles and types of filming withdifferent lighting effects to make the film interesting. It has made me relaise that in a trailer I need to show good parts of the film to sell it but I shouldnt give away too much as then the film will get borign as the audience will have already seenthe ebst parts.

The importance of narrative in films

Tha narrative of the film is really important as it creates the film.
The narrative of the film creates a genre, which then selects a specific audience that like that film.
This can determine how successfull a film is. Its important to choose a good narrative when creating my own short film as I want it to be successfull and my target audience to think the film is interesting and not boring.

Sticky note drawings.

I made a short story board of a short film that we thought of as practise and developmental work.

The story me and my group thought of was to do a homeless person getting money of someone and buying a lottery ticket. He then finds out the lottery ticket is a winning ticket and he becomes rich. He buys a house and a car and has a family. He then walks past another homeless person and gives him money so the story starts and ends in a similar way. We also have the story going backwards so the time is mixed about. When taking the photos we put a background of money as this is the subject of our film, it also looks as if the pictures are placed on top of each other with every photo to show you the story. I really like this affect but it would be better if the camera was kept still on a tripod so the background didn't move.

Directors.

I'm Here -

I'm Here is a short FIlm with the genre as sci-fi romance. It was written and directed by Spike Jonze.
The film is a love story about two robots living in a Los Angeles where humans and robots coexist
He is an American director and producer. His work includes: music, videos, commercials, film and television.

He is currently the director of VBS.tv He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards.

Accross the Hall -

A thriller about a standoff between a young man, his fiancée and his best friend who comes to his aide.

Directed by Alex Merkin.

George Lucas in Love -

A boy struggles to write a story, cant seam to get inspiration although there is inspiration everywhere he goes until he meets a young woman.

An independent, live action, periodical short film.

Directed by Joe Nussbaum, A University of Southern California graduate. He is an American film director. He now works with 'Dreamworks'.

I'm Here Poster

I decided to do a poster for 'I'm here' as part of my planning for my work.

I kept the poster very simple as i think it looks effective this way and is eye catching. The white text works well against the dark background. The main text is the title of the film so everyone knows what the poster is advertising and then small text to say what "I'm Here" is. i have also added a hand drawn love heart to show their is love in the film.

3 Short Film Festivals

TheLondon Short Film Festival-

The 8th London Short Film Festival will take place from the 7th to the 16th of January 2011.

The London Short Film Festival, the city’s most expansive and radically explosive film festival, returned to the city for its 7th edition over ten days and t

en major London venues in January 2010.

Encounters-

16th international film festival, Tuesday 16th - sunday 21st november 2010.

Encounters International Film Festival is the umbrella title for two of the UK's leading film festivals Brief Encounters and Animated Encounters, with a host of cross-over attractions, at venues in and around the Harbourside area of Bristol, UK.

LA Shorts Fest -

14th festival July 22nd-30th, 2010

Best of Fest; Best Foreign Film; Best Drama; Best Comedy; Best Animation; Best Experimental.

Lagest film festival in the world. The festival annually attracts more than 15000 moviegoers, filmmakers and entertainment executives

First use of garage band. A 20 second trailer for the short film; Im here.

This helped me to understand the basic steps of using the programme Garage Band.

Short films are made as people that are very interested in films like to make them as they dont take too long and can be made in a small group so are easy to do. People liek to show theire films at film festivals and try win awards. Some people also feel that logn films can get boring or drag on too long so a short film will catch peopel attention as you wont get bored.

Target audiences:

Bitter Silence - film aimed at teenagers

The black hole - anyone above the age of 15, including teenagers and adults

Inside - adults and young adults.

A2 Media

This is my blog for my A2 media coursework on film.

As part of my coursework I am going to create a short film lasting about 5 minutes produced as part of a group, I am then going to do a double page spread magazine article and a poster for the short film as the two individual tasks of my choice.

Genre
Genre is the term used for the classification of media texts into groups with similar characterisitics.
(From the book: AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction)

One example of a film genre:
Gangster
Codes and conventions: Car chases, guns, Heroes, Villains, violence, urban setting, mafia, italians, beautiful woman.
(From the book: AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction)
Horror
Codes and conventions: Music - scary, major chords, creepy, sound - footsteps, creeks, deep breathing. Lighting - dull, dark, red, shadows. Abandoned places, cobwebs, guns, blood.

Favourite Film: The Sweetest Thing

Codes and conventions: funny, happy music, minor chords, pretty girls, cute boys, romance, restaurants, bedrrom, street, high lighting, bright happy places.

10 Favourite Films

1.War of the worlds
In this i like the way that it is packed of action and you really get into it, wantign to knwo who survives and what has ahppened to the people. Wierd storyline and icnography makes the film unusual and memorable.
2. Titanic
An all time classic, I like the way that the film is based on a true story. It is well action packed. As its a true story you are more interested to see what actualy happend in the film and you feel sympathy for the characters. Most peopel have seen the film and have enjoyed it so you can talk about it with friends and family.
3. Sex and the city
4. Not another teen movie
5. The sweetest thing
6. Parent trap
7. Step brothers
I like these three as they are really funny and are great film to watch with your friends and have a laugh. You can also relate chick flicks liek these to your own lives.
8. I am legend
9. The Day after Tomorrow
These two films are also action packed and are very unusual films that allways stay in my mind. I like how the films have a sense of realism but are not realistic for example in "I am legend" there is a disease which came about when tryign to create a cure for cancer, these days peopel are tryign to find a cure for cancer and anythign could happen like this but is very unlikely. In "The Day After Tomorrow" there is an ice age which people in real life do actualy fear of happening.
10. Dr dolittle
This film is very funny and un realistic but always stays in my memory. A Dr can talk to animals which can not happen in real life but in a way peopel would like this to happen and people do feel close to their pets.

Favourite Genre

Even though I like a wide variety of genres, my favourite genre is chick flicks because I liek to have a laugh while watchign the film and relate it to my life.

Is there a style of filmmaking you prefer?

I prefer realistic in films as you can relate them to your own life but I still like films that are not relaistic.

Do you like films to have a certain structure?

No. I liek all kinds of structures in films. A variation in different filsm just interests me.

Why is genre important to audiences?

Audiences sometimes watch films dependign on its genre and it gives audiences expectations of films.

Why is genre important to producers?

it helps them choose all the right codes and conventions to use, to fit in with the film genre. They can also then advertise the film as a percific genre and get audiences interested as they find out what they want to see. They could also see which film genre is most successful and create them types of films so there film becomes more successful.

Why is genre an important factor of film making?

Genre is a very important factor of filmmaking as it helps the producers make a better film. Once they have selected a genre for the film they can then use better codes and conventions for the genre so that the film works well. They could even research to see which is the best genre and then use that genre as it would be the most successful. Audiences sometimes choose whether they watch a film or not depending on the genre, they do this because if they have seen films with a perticular genre and enjoyed them they will most probably enjoy other films with the same genre. After watchign films with similar or the same genres, the audience also have expectations of the film as they have become familiar with the codes and conventions, for example in a horror film there is alot of dark lighting and creepy music and now when the audience see these codes and conventiosn they know something bad is going to happen. Familiarity through repatition is therfor one of the key elements in the way audiences understand and relate to media texts. One of the main functions of the mainstream media is to make a profit, so media producers have to create texts that audiences will want to consume. This is made much easier when a genre is put into place.

8 Films with Hybrid Genres

Club Dread - comedy/thriller

Scary movie - comedy/thriller

I am legend - action/thriller

White chicks - Action/Comedy

Spiderman - Action/Romance

Shawn of the dead - Action/comedy

White Chicks - Comedy/crime

Why do audiences like hybrid films.

Audiences have expectations of different films depending on there genres. When there are mixed genres there are even more expectations and mystery to whether the codes and conventions of one genre or the other will appear. This gives the audience something to get excited about and something to look forward too. Mixed genres could also have larger taget audiences for exapmple, females tend to like romance films and males tend to like action films. If the film was a hybrid and was action/romance then both males and females might want to watch it. This is important because the film producers weill make more money.

Hybrid - A mixture of genres in a film

Notes

Kill Bill

Main character wear bright yellow so you klnow they are main character.

Sound of swords

cars

black and white film

close ups

slow motion and fast motion when fighting

panning

zooming

hardly any dialougue, soem at very end

bright yellow text to go with outfit of character

cuts flow with music

1 song played throughout trailer

2nd trailer

more dialogue

more scenes added

see alot more of the characters

doesnt always cover full screen, somtimes only half of screen.

woman in yellow

Revenge assosiated with western

Goign to kill peole

Dusk till Dawn

action film

explosioms

guns

music

lots of dialogue

a narrator tellign you parts of the film

cross cuts

jump cuts

in a club

dark setting

desert at start

car

humorous saings - "Welcome to slavery" , "No thanks, i already have a wife"

Red Screen

Vampires

Dark City

opra music added with loud bangs and other creepy sounds

dark setting

not realistic

clouds behind text moving fats, time laps

Characters look pale with dark clothes (look like vampires)

The happiness of the katakuries

peopel die at start and family try to cover it up

its humours

family skipping and singing

chinease film

bright lights a dn dark lights.