1) Research the BBFC: what is the institution responsible for? How is it funded? What link does it have to government?
The bbfc stands for 'the British board of film classification' and they are responsible identifying and determining ratings for films shown in the UK. Examples of rating are PG (parental guidance) and 15+ films e.g our short film we have to produce. This is used to restrict certain age groups from being exposed to certain materials shown. 2) Read this BBFC guide to how films are rated. Summarise the process in 50 words The final decision is made collectively by members of the board through a census. Also, Examiners are expected to either 'slow watch' e.g through DVD or to watch the film at an bbfc cinemas (this is mostly like more of the quality of sound). Things that examiners must look out for includes; general context (plot), timing, language and sexual references. 3) Read this BBFC outline of the issues faced when classifying a film. Summarise the debate in 50 words. The main principles that the bbfc look out for when classifying films for example if the content is permissible with the current laws or if the content is potentially harmful to their target target audience. This for example could be through expressing and glorifying extreme radical views whilst suppressing social norms and conduct. The overall tone of the film will affect the final decision as to what rating it is. 4) Read thisBBFC section on controversial decisions. Why did The Dark Knight generate a large amount of media coverage regarding its certificate? Do you agree with the 12A certificate The Dark Knight was awarded? The Batman sequel sparked a lot of controversy from the public and critics as it was not deemed suitable. Despite this, the bbfc stands by their decision to rate the movie with a 12A certificate. Personally, i think that the movie should of had stronger rating due the psychotic antagonist who plays a bigger role in this movie and can easily be impressionable to children. I think a 15 certificate rating would of been much more appropriate. 5) What are the guidelines for a 15 certificate? The main guidelines for a 15 certificate film are to steer away from derogatory language such racist or homophobic words. Also to not glorify or encourage drug use, suicidal behaviour or self harm. Although swearing and sexual references are permitted, the context of the scene will still be taking into consideration when it comes rating a 15+ film. This is also the case for violence shown in the film. 6) The BBFC website offers an explanation of every classification it makes and detailed case studies on selected titles. Choose one 15-rated film from the BBFC case studies sectionand summarise the classification the film was given and why. Deadpool;
This film was given a 15 certificate rating as it contained violence language, profanity and deeply sarcastic language and lastly its references to sex. This may have been due to the film being produced by marvel there may be leniency but there has been change in sub-cultural in marvel films and due to that change, these movies are now aimed at higher age group. Surprisingly, it is not given a 18 certificate for its multiple nudity scenes.
The focus Group was a chance for my group to be able to vocalise our ideas and proposals to the class whilst in return, receiving effective criticism and fault-finding. Our Notes:
We decided for the title to be 'Approval'
Narrative; Murder of young teenager female from West London.
Genre; crime, psychological thriller and drama.
Multiple pov and this will achieved through editing.
All female cast and will be focusing on sisterhood.
Target audience; 15-25 y/o mainstreamers.
First of all, the title 'approval' was chosen after realising that it correlated with the narrative of the two half sister and their overall kinship. The protagonist was named Noora which is a common name within London. In addition, the character Noora is adopted and secretly disliked by unknown half sister (Murder). The name Noora comes from 'Noor' in arabic which means light (referring to the soul).
There will excessive amounts of flashbacks and peculiar usage of editing to achieve our narrative structure. This is due to our success in editing in the preliminary project. Furthermore, This will help allow the audience to visualise different perspectives and identify better with both the protagonist and antagonist. Another unique and noteworthy aspect about our short film is that there is all female cast and this is more commonly found within foreign films e.g Mustang (Turkey) and Girlhood (France).
Films that provided excellent insight into what type of films we are trying to are films such as Memento which has completely different storyline but has a similar narrative structure. Another movie is se7en which again that follows a similar narrative structure we aim for. Lastly, a film recommended by classmate was 'Strawberry films' this movie was said to centre around feminism and female protagonists.
Art-house film institution research 1. Production: Independent film studio;
1. What studio made them? The arthouse movie, Slumdog millionaire was presented by Pathe, Fox Searchlight production, Warner Brothers, Celador and Film4 Production. The arthouse movie, United 93 was presented by Universal studio, Studio canal, Working Title films, Sidney kimmel entertainment. The third arthouse movie Boyz n the hood was presented by Columbia Pictures which is a division from Sony's Entertainment. City of God is was presented by Globo Pictures. 2.What other films do these studios produce? Can you find any any other independent, arthouse or low-budget examples? The film, Slumdog millionaire was produced a company called 'Pathe' which is a company based and located in London, England. Pathe has a major presence within the productions established in the UK such as the movies, 172 hours and Selma. Another Movie production group that helped present Slumdog Millionaire was film4 production which is another company based in the UK which is a division from Channel four television corporation. It is also responsible to help release movies such Attack the Block and 12 Years A Slave. The Movie production group, Universal studio (also known as Universal Pictures) is based in California, USA and is a division of NBCUnviersal. Universal Studios is a member of Motion Picture Association of America and has helped create films such as Jurassic Park, Furious 7 and Transformers (2007). The movie production group called Columbia pictures is also another American film company that is a member of Sony's Pictures Motion Picture group. The company was formerly owned by The Coco Cola Company before Sony. This is Production group has helped produce movies such as The Karate Kid, The Amazing Spiderman and more. Lastly, Globo Pictures is Brazilian Production company that is owned by Grupo Globo which is Largest distributor of films in Latin America. Globo Pictures has helped release movies such Till Luck Do Us Apart and Olga. 3. Do the studios have any notable successes? What is the most successful low-budget or independent film the studio has released? Universal Studio has incredible success which is due to the outstanding movies that they produce and an example of their low budget film would be fifty shades of grey which cost 40 million to produce but the final revenue was 94.4 million. Columbia Pictures is another successful american production company that is a member of america's 'big six'. The movie, It happened one night is independent film owned and created by Columbia Pictures. Film4 Production company is an extremely successful within the UK and has helped released many low budget films such as attack the block and Traispotting. Globo Films has made many independent films such as Till Luck Do Us Apart and S.O.S Mulheres ao Mar (Brazilian International films) .
4) Research film distribution using this guide from the UK Film Distributors' Association. It's called Launching Film and takes you through the whole process of distributing a movie.
Read the whole step-by-step guide (warning: this is LONG and will take you around an hour) 4b) Summarise the 10 steps of film distribution in a list using your own words. 1. Film has to finalised and completed then needs to have film distributor (the job of an distributor is market the movie correctly) 2. The film has to be given to (third party)film agent which will find and contact distributors. 3. Deals with arranged to be able to release the movie. 4. The Release Date will need to be set. 5. The distributors need to identify what the target audience group is and bring hype towards the movie. 6. The distributors will prepare for the movie's marketing and revenue spends etc 7. The movie will be pre-launched to critics get early reviews and criticism. 8. The distributors must formalise with producers, sales agent and studio to specify their rights to the movie (unless the movie is already it has pre-secured rights) 9. The planning of the release 10. how the product will be branded e.g DvD.
5) Now research the distributors for each of the arthouse films you have analysed for your existing product research. Who distributed each film in the UK?
6.How much money did each film make? Did it make a profit against the budget?
Boyz in the hood; Budget was 6 million and profit was 57 million dollars. CITY OF GOD; BUDGET WAS 3.3 MILLION AND PRODUCED A PROFIT OF 30 MILLION. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE'S BUDGET WAS 15 MILLION RUPEES AND PRODUCED A PROFIT 141 MILLION. UNITED 93 BUDGET WAS 15 MILLION HAD PRODUCED 31 MILLION. 7. Research Curzon Artificial Eye. Who are they and what do they do? They are a distributor company from the UK and have affiliate with the company Curzon. They screen many different types of art-house movies through out london. 7) Look at the Curzon Artificial Eye YouTube channel. Watch three trailers for recent or upcoming independent films and identify something you can learn from each film to use in your own film production. Almost Holy; This extracted clip used a lot of montage shots to intensity the tension and to prolong the suspension. The unknown Girl: This extracted clip used a pov shot to be able to follow the character's sudden movements. After love: Usage of non diegetic sounds was used to increase the pace of the trailer. 8. Exhibition: Art-house cinemas
Find some London based art-house cinemas and research the following:
1) What is the name of the cinema? Where is it?
Everyman cinemas based in East London that shows art house movies.
2) What type of films do they show? What films are on this week? How do their programmes differ from the major cinema chains like Vue?
Mainly independent films, foreign and art house films that are deemed as valuable around the world. An example of this is the movie, Snowden which stars Joseph gorden-levitt. This is an this art house thriller film.
3) What type of audience attends this kind of arthouse cinemas? Are there any clues on the website regarding the target audience? How can you tell?
Although these kind of art house cinemas are able to attract younger viewer such as myself. The target audience is clearly a more middle aged, financially secured with a sterling taste of movies. A case study in independent film production: Film London and Microwave Film 1) What is Film London and why does it exist? Film London is non profitable organisation that is an agency for films and media produced within London. It also works with British Film Institute and is well know and loved.
2) What is the purpose of Microwave Film? Microwave film's a supportive organisation that allows funds for films that are unable to provide for essentials needed.
4) Choose three feature films funded by Microwave Film and embed their trailers in your blog. For each film, explain why it fits the profile for an art house or independent film and what target audience the film might attract.
Similar to the movie 'Boyz n the hood' its gives an urban and realistic view of people's living conditions and environment. This is centres around the themes of love, gangs and struggles of young adults.
The second movie, Shifty centres around two young males and effects of the society they live in. This movie balances out stereotypical traits to working class raised boys. It deals with drug and rebelliousness.
This movie is about great friendship gained between two man who are polar opposites of each other. The two man are from two different groups but are able to engage in British humour and the common mishaps of life.
Thursday, 8 December 2016
Existing product research
Slumdog Millionaire;
This extracted clip from the movie, slumdog millionaire starts off with a disequilibrium as the protagonist is being interrogated by the police. The usage of a panning shot helps the scene smoothly dissolve into the flashback scene. An establishing shot is used to help the audience integrate to the new settings and atmosphere through the use of extreme wide shot. As the dialogue comes into play, the extreme wide shot turns into a close up shot from a low angle. This is used to help the audience stimulate identification and understand the characters actions and thought process. Afterwards, the dialogue is replaced with non-diegetic sound as the pace of scene increases. The usage of continuity editing helps the audience go with the pace of the scene. The vibrancy of the music helps the audience recognise the free-spirited and amiability of the boys. Ultimately, the boys are caught up more dilemmas as they are kicked off the train and caught stealing food. Preparatory to one of the dilemmas, the pace of scene is slowed down to create heavy tension and to send enigma codes to the audience. Within scene, we introduced to a opulent family that are binary oppositions to our boys from the slums. Straights cut are used between the two groups of characters as the audience waits to see if the boys get caught. Inevitably. they get caught and fall off the train. The shot of the boys rolling down the sandy hill is the most memorable shot a range of different shots are used to create one complex shot. This is achieved through the usage of close up, medium close up and long shot being interchangeably used.
United 93;
This extracted clip from the movie united 93 starts off with medium shot of the hijacker and close up shot of the passengers. This is arranged deliberately to help the audience to sympathise with passengers as they recite their prayers or call a loved one. An unsteady camera is used intentionally to mimic the ambiguity and the hostility of the scene. Action codes are used as the passenger signal each other through their eye movement before charging up and attacking the hijacker and dismembering his fake bomb. A sense of relief washes over the passengers before heading over to the next hijacker. The pace of the scene increasing and Enigma codes are send to the audience as the hijackers gain back power. The camera movements are extreme unsteady to reflect the hostility and plane being driven. The pace of the scene escalates as the passengers and the hijacker fight. Different angles such low angle and high angle are shown to shown to increase the tension and to empathises anticipation of the passengers getting closer to the hijacking pilots. The shots of the passengers being flipped by plane empathises on the seriousness of the event. There are not blood shed on the screen to leave it to the audience's imaginary. Boyz n the hood;
The extracted clip from this movie Boyz n the hood starts off with the antagonist walks with non-diegetic sound playing in a medium shot. Tension settles in as the two character bumps into each other. Medium close up shot used so the audience can examine the facial expressions of the conflicted character. A wide shot is used as the other characters start to intervene. The conflict is left unresolved and to be continued as the protagonist display a gun but the other characters soon return with their own armed weapons. The scene ends a high angle tracking shot following the protagonist evacuating the disturbed scene. The two most promising character's Tre and Rickey emerge themselves into a dialogue about leaving South central and the inevitable effects of it but soon the characters are facing with another dilemma as they face police brutality from two officers. This is shown to show the constant struggles of living in an toxic environment filled with the temptations and ungodly desires. The two cops show up to vigorously search the boys but the black cop utter and vocalise his own internalised racism towards the boys. There is a close up shot of the boys to allow the audience to sympathise with the protagonists. This is a turning point for the boys. City of God;
This extracted clip from the movie City of God starts off with a crane shot as the group of boys roam the streets of Rio. There is also straight cut to another group of clearly young males chatting away. This is clearly shown to the audience to imply that conflict may arise. Close up shots of the group of young boys are used to help the audience empathise with them and for identification. Quick panning shots are used to allow the audience to follow the dialogue between the boys but as the gangster get closer, long shots are used to show the distance between them. The pace of the scene increases as the two groups start fighting and attacking each aggressively. Low angles are shown from the main protagonist as he picks up the young boys to make him seem powerful and strong. Long shots are introduced as most of the boys ran away from the scene whilst one of the smallest member of the group is caught in a corner. The audience watches him struggle to escape and this intensified by the unsteady camera used. Afterwards, The camera simply focuses on the gun and blurs out the rest of shot to magnify the danger that the gangsters posses. The camera zooms into the boy and cries from the pain caused by the gun. Lastly, the usage of over the shoulder shot is used to allow the audience to focus on the facial expression of the two boys from different gangs. The diegetic sound is amplified whilst the camera moves into a close up shot. this is used to humanises the characters and they are unable to make a decision Clockwork Orange;
First of all, there is usage of diegetic sound is to prevail the atmosphere of the scene. The camera moved backwards to into a long shot to allow the the silhouettes of the men to pierce through. This is transitioned into an extreme long shot to show the distance men and the diegetic sound continues. The silhouettes are signal fear and danger. Clearly, The audience is meant to sympathise with the beggar as we are given close up whilst we are given medium shots for the protagonists. Similarly, the audience is forced to sympathise with the beggar again as dialogue begins. The wicked laughter expressed by the protagonists disheartens the audience as they chuckle at the beggar's fulmination. This foreshadows that there will be more barbaric acts to come. All the men apparent dressed in the same white clothing which is ironic as the colour 'white' connotes purity and clarity. This is a juxtaposition and a binary opposite to their actions. Perhaps the director is trying to symbolise the great inequality within our society. The men could be embodiment of destructive ideologies such as capitalism whilst the beggar could represent socialism and the need for change.
Thursday, 1 December 2016
Media Awards Review
Top Three Productions; 1. Enslaved by Ammar Ibrahim 2. Insanity by Kamaljit Bal 3. Exposure by Tranjit, Rehan and Aarun . I thoroughly enjoyed viewing enslaved and it was definitely was the most memorable one as it had a really experimented with the different ways of editing and filming. In addition, the narrative was peculiar, idiosyncratic and constantly left me with enigma codes. The focus on nature and its creation at the beginning of the video evoke a sense of biblical reference to the 'first seven days of life'. The white hands stretched out could symbolised Adam. The sudden change of editing style and intense music heighten the sense of destruction that had manifested. The nude and dull colours worn by the protagonist was used to allow the character to focus on him but not by distracted by his presence. Lastly, the sudden deep and low pitched voices at the end was used to represent the voices in his head. I believe this film was used to bring awareness of mental illnesses and the creator of this production aimed for us (the viewers) to be able to empathise and further understand the effects of living with a mental illness. In addition, i believe that creator of this production intertwined the images of nature with the presence of a mental illness person to purify the the stigmas used against those living with mental illnesses.
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Preliminary Production Learning Response:
1) The planning process;
The planning process firstly revolved around pitching ideas and creating the narrative of the film. The we moved on to create the storyboard which helped us convert our ideas from a potential proposal into a fixed visual representation of what the video is going to be based on. We also created a shot list to help us make a checklist of the types of shots we want include in the video and generally to have more sophistic, organised and thoroughly examined video. Lastly, we created the script which is the most important part as the dialogue can truly strengthen or weaken the video.
2) Strengths of the Preliminary Production; Firstly of all, i think our biggest success when it came to the production making of the preliminary production was how we effectively used different types of shots and angles. Also, how subtly and smoothly we were able to make those transitions. In addition, non diegetic sounds was used such as the music at the beginning and clock sound. The flashback presented multiple times within the video helped the audience identify and create enigma codes such as 'what caused the change within the character's persona'. The editing used for flashback had more hazy and nostalgic feel to represent that past was deeply important for the cause for change in the protagonist. Again, this leaves permanent enigma codes within the audience as they do not find out. Lastly, i think the overall acting was continuous and pleasantly entertaining. 3) Weakens of the Preliminary Production; Firstly, the fuzzy background sound that the camera produced was prominent espically when there wasn't dialogue being used. Also, additionally sound could be heard through the transitions of shots/angles. Secondly, The script was fine but after watching the video, i felt as if less dialogue would of created more tension between the two characters which was what we were aiming and less dialogue would of definitely heightened the intensity.
Firstly, this movie helped John Singleton have a phenomenal directorial debut as it was deemed as one of greatest of its times and received many nominations including the oscars. The movie is based upon the livelihood of three young black males living in South Central, Los Angeles. The movie really brought awareness towards the challenging upbringing from deprived areas such as South Central and its almost inevitable effects. For example, Dough boy who lacks parental guidance and destituted from good influential figure in life ends up unable to disassociate himself from temptations and struggles he faces. Another character that we sympathise deeply for was Ricky as he working towards successful and fulfilled life, he is the polar opposite of his half brother. Ricky's death symbolises the cruel and unfair hardship of living in such environments. Lastly, the main protagonist, Tre is able to successfully further himself even though he is traumatised several times within the movie as he exposed to police brutality, murder of his best friend but is able to overcome his circumstance due to his incredible father who has done the same.
Www: Some thoughtful points made . Some media terminology.
Ebi: use the margin and write in paragraphs. Analysis more
LEARNER RESPONSE
The use of editing in the opening scene helped create drama and tension.
One way that helped was the straight cut shots of the rope and the exterior parts of the boat as we are only given sounds to help us create an image of whats going on inside.
Another way tension was created was through snappy shots that linked together, for example the line of fire and the gas dripping. This helped the audience put together what happened. The snappy shots and quick editing created a montage.The editing mirrored the atmosphere towards the edit as there was a lot of suspense and tension. The editing used straight cuts to show us parts of the boat until we see and watch the antagonist escape.
The clip starts off with straight cuts using a mixture of close up shot and pov shot of the protagonist. This sends enigma codes to the audience as they try to figure out the character's purpose and thought process. In addition, the slow pace intensifies the build of tense and suspense. There is a crane shot to show the atmosphere of the bank with the highly occupied workers. The objective is exposed when the man starts attacking the guard. The use of Steadicam helps mimic the movements of the robber as shaky and fast. Furthermore, diegetic sound of screams and groaning are emphasised as the pace speeds up in the process. Medium shots are used to create a montage for the audience to focus on their facial expressions and body language of the hostages so they can furthermore sympathise with hostages. This is reinforced when one of the robbers unnecessarily attack a hostage.
The straight cuts between the robbers as one packages the money whilst the other robber guards is used to emphases on the fact that they are running out of time. A pan shot is used to follow one robber to another before a jump cut is used to transitioning to another scene. A tracking shot is used to follow the protagonist of the scene as he enters and converses with other characters. A long shot is used as the pace of scene escalates and ends. Another jump cut is used to we are returned to the previous scene of the heist men. A long pov shot that uses Steadicam is used to follow the heist man into the car as he plans to escape.
A tracking shot is used to track the detectives as they frantically look for the heist men. Again, a Steadicam is used to exaggerate the sudden movements of the character. There is many straight cuts between the heist men and the detectives to emphases on the fact that they are binary opposition. This is also used to create enigma code as the audience doesn't know whether the detectives will be able to caught the criminals successful or not. The pace is slowed down to the audience knows the climax is near. After the firearms and the death of a police officer, the speed of the pace is accelerated. There is consist switch between long shot and medium during the car chase to focus both the character's facial expressions and the tone of the car chase.
Again, we see the use of straight cut to emphasise on the fact that there is still constant conflict between the heist men and the detectives. The victims (the public) are shown in long shot to show the severity of the use of firearms and close up to be able relate to them
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Film Studies: Cinematography + Clips from 60's and 70's
(HOMEWORK + CLASSWORK)
(LONG SHOT):
A long shot, also known as full shot is used to show a object/person from head to toe and in addition can be used to show their entire surroundings. This is used a lot in action and war films. Also common to find long shot angle as also the establishing shot.
This specific shot is called an extreme long shot that is used to help the audience taken in the atmosphere.
(MEDIUM SHOT):
Medium shots shown such as above are the most common and used type of shot throughout most movies/scenes. This is generally from the torso and upwards. This helps the audience distinguish and recognise both the character's facial expressions and body language. Medium shots are most commonly used by news presenters.
(CLOSE UP/EXTREME CLOSE UP):
Close up shots is a type of shot that closely captures parts of a object or character. close ups are used within movies to help the audience to be able to relate, recognise facial expressions and even with identification or enigma codes. Extreme close up shotsare used to emphasis on details such as the movement of a eye or flexing of a muscle. This allows the audience to relate/connect with the character on a more intimate level. (Psycho-1960):
In this clip, we are shown a reverse shot which is when one character looking at another whilst the other character does the same (for example in a conversation). This is used not only focus the character's words but also their facial expressions. Furthermore, this is intensified through the music (which indicated that this is a physically thriller movie) and the lack of colour in the movie. (ROCKY-1976)
Firstly, this clip starts of with a close up shot of adrian's shoes to emphasis on the fact that she's the only one wearing skating shoes. This clip going back and forward between long shot and medium shots. The use of medium shot is focus on their discussion and their overall facial expressions whilst the long shot is used to track their movement/pace and highlight the fact that they are alone in a big rink. (CITIZEN KANE-1940):
In the clip, the first shot shown is called an over the shoulder shot which is used in many pov shots such as the one above. This helps the audience with identification and with the characters. Then the over the shoulder shot is switched to a reverse shot so the audience can relate and focus on more than one character's point of view. These were all medium shots to encourage the audience to recognise both the character's facial expressions and body language. Lastly, we have a long shot at the end to help the protagonist look striking.
(Touch of Evil-1958)
The first shot is close up shot of a gadget (most likely an explosive) then the camera is panned around to show us a character running away using a track shot to follow and we are see the character's silhouette. Afterwards, we see a crane shot view used to watch the character's get into the car and drive off. Lastly, a long shot is used to capture the rest of atmosphere.
