How did you attract/address your audience?
For my film opening, I attracted the audience mainly in person, by telling them about the film. Although this is small scale, it still made my film opening have some attention. I did not really attract the typical audience enough, for the opening, as I was mainly focused on making the product, due to me working on my own. I would have made more use of social media to promote the opening and to get audience feedback for the film. I would have also made more polls, and would have added teaser content to the main Facebook page. Also things like film posters and trailers would have attracted the audience, due to them being excited to see the full release of the film.
To address my audience, I used lots of different media theories and techniques so the viewer could relate to the protagonist and the characters. The characters have certain representations which the viewer can relate to as they identify with the character (Uses and Gratifications Theory) Also The viewer can then use this as a social interaction with friends to talk about meaning this will attract more people within that audience. As people spread the word about the film.
When filming and editing, I tried to hint to the viewer that something about to go wrong, before the characters know about it. I have done this by showing the cabin before the characters see it, made the footage more blue, to apply to those horror colour conventions, added non-dietetic music to make the viewer get into the horror mood and to connote that something bad is going to happen. This gives the viewer a privileged point of view, meaning the see things before the characters do. The narrative and the technical aspects of the film encourage you to empathise with the protagonist and the characters because they are in such a state.
The film opening addresses the audience due to it relating to typical horror genre conventions. This then keeps the viewer interested in the film making them spread the word around about the film. The film also contains typical narrative enigma codes. These questions could be: Why is the cabin haunted? Who smashed up the cabin? What are they going to do, due to them being far away from civilisation. All these questions that the viewer can think about when watching the opening can make them want to carry on watching the rest of the film, therefore successfully attracting the audience. The film also contains specific horror ambient music and sound effects, therefore applying to these typical genre conventions, these sounds then help lead the viewer to believe that something is going to go wrong, which is what actually happens in the opening. Also I have made sure there are plenty horror genre signifiers in the film to also attract the right audience, meaning that the film would get watched. Successful films in the film industry have typical conventions, signifiers, which attracts the correct audience meaning, they would enjoy the film, and tell their friends, creating more potential revenue. This is part of the Uses and Gratifications theory, which tells us why people watch films, due to social interaction.
Overall this could be an aspect that I could improve if I had more time or did another film. To have an active audience is key, especially in the mainstream film industry, so the film can get in to cinema. This means attracting the attention of a distributor. The power of social media can help to promote a film, due to digitisation and most people having access to it.
19/04/2017
Evaluation - Audience
Who would be the audience for your product?
When I was researching my audience for the product, the primary audience for the genre of my film was young female viewers, and the secondary audience of young male viewers due to the difference being very small. Both the primary and secondary audiences were typically left wing and both ABC1 & C2DE social grades.
When I researched other similar films age categories from the BBFC official guidelines, I graded my films to be a 15 age certificate. This fits with the primary and secondary audience ages, due to them being 15-24. My film opening probably would not get this certificate rating, but for the full 90 minute feature film it could potentially get this rating. I have excluded certain things in the opening to make sure that the film does not get an 18 certificate. This would be things like extremely violent scenes & gore, explicit images of sexual scenes, and illegal drug use.
'For example, the detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use' - BBFC website (18 age certificate guild lines)
'Explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted.' - BBFC website (18 age certificate guild lines)
The audience would be dependant on the characters in the film. Typically the personality and representation of the central protagonist. The uses and gratifications theory tells us why we consume the media and watch films. People identify with the characters, therefore they can understand and relate to them and their life in the film. They also use it as escapism from our boring everyday lives. We also watch films for entertainment for this same reason. Therefore the cast have a big impact on the audience of the film.
After one of the first cuts of the film, I got the typical audience of this genre of film to give feedback, so I could tweak, remove or change certain things in the film. This helped to make the opening much better as I have never made anything like this before. Others feedback made the opening much better.
There is a typical audience for this genre of film due to their being other successful box office films. For example: The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010), Magic Magic (Sebastián Silva, 2013), The Devil's Business (Sean Hogan, 2011). The Last Exorcism was the most successful in the box office compared to the other films, it is a similar genre and still a small indie film.
Due to most films stick to certain representations of film, the minority don't have a great deal of choice when it comes to choosing mainstream media. This is because this would not appeal to the majority, meaning it would be to big of a risk to take, this could mean that the film could struggle to find a distribution company. Therefore in my opening, the characters were stereotypical and were like the majority.
When I was researching my audience for the product, the primary audience for the genre of my film was young female viewers, and the secondary audience of young male viewers due to the difference being very small. Both the primary and secondary audiences were typically left wing and both ABC1 & C2DE social grades.
When I researched other similar films age categories from the BBFC official guidelines, I graded my films to be a 15 age certificate. This fits with the primary and secondary audience ages, due to them being 15-24. My film opening probably would not get this certificate rating, but for the full 90 minute feature film it could potentially get this rating. I have excluded certain things in the opening to make sure that the film does not get an 18 certificate. This would be things like extremely violent scenes & gore, explicit images of sexual scenes, and illegal drug use.
'For example, the detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use' - BBFC website (18 age certificate guild lines)
'Explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted.' - BBFC website (18 age certificate guild lines)
The audience would be dependant on the characters in the film. Typically the personality and representation of the central protagonist. The uses and gratifications theory tells us why we consume the media and watch films. People identify with the characters, therefore they can understand and relate to them and their life in the film. They also use it as escapism from our boring everyday lives. We also watch films for entertainment for this same reason. Therefore the cast have a big impact on the audience of the film.
After one of the first cuts of the film, I got the typical audience of this genre of film to give feedback, so I could tweak, remove or change certain things in the film. This helped to make the opening much better as I have never made anything like this before. Others feedback made the opening much better.
There is a typical audience for this genre of film due to their being other successful box office films. For example: The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010), Magic Magic (Sebastián Silva, 2013), The Devil's Business (Sean Hogan, 2011). The Last Exorcism was the most successful in the box office compared to the other films, it is a similar genre and still a small indie film.
Due to most films stick to certain representations of film, the minority don't have a great deal of choice when it comes to choosing mainstream media. This is because this would not appeal to the majority, meaning it would be to big of a risk to take, this could mean that the film could struggle to find a distribution company. Therefore in my opening, the characters were stereotypical and were like the majority.
18/04/2017
Evaluation - Distribution
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
A distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. They are usually a different company to the production company of that film, although some big companies like Disney, own a distribution company, therefore keeping profits within the company. Within the film industry the distributor publishes and markets the film therefore getting it into cinema and getting it out on DVD.
Digitisation is changing the cost of distribution due to lots of people having readily access to a computer, meaning people can easily create promotion posters, ad campaigns, promotion on social media, etc. This means that people can create awareness for the film much more easily than before. Due to social media being free, and being very popular, means that lots of film distribution companies make a profile/page for the film.
My film production is a typical horror film. Its a micro-budget film Indie film without any established star. It has a similar setting and idea/plot to Cabin in the woods and Cabin fever. For the 90 min feature film, I would estimate the budget to be around $10 million, based on other similar Indie horror films.
The most successful distributors of 2016 are: Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, etc. These distributors, market lots of different genres of film, which is probably one of the reasons why they are the most successful. These distributors both make and lose money on lots of films. Not many films are 'successful'. This means making their money back in the opening weekend in the US. Lots of films will not make their money back in opening weekend in the US, but make more money than the budget in other countries and in DVD sales. But this is still recognised as a failure, in the film industry. Overall distributors do make money, The main most successful ones are typically US based companies. Some successful existing UK indie horror films are: The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010), Magic Magic (Sebastián Silva, 2013), The Devil's Business (Sean Hogan, 2011). All these UK films were successful in the box office with them making their money back in the opening weekend.
Both Liongate and StudioCanalUK have managed good distribution, therefore making them a good choice for distribution. I think that StudioCanalUK would be the best choice as they are a UK based company. Studio productions are more likely to market big feature films, with big budgets and major star actors, due to them more likely to make the money back, this then bankrupts indie producers. Lots of films don't make it past the distribution stage, therefore release their films on YouTube and Vimeo, these companies then pay the channel owner dependant on how many views and likes that the video gets. This can be an emergency way of promoting the film, by displaying ads on the video.
A distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. They are usually a different company to the production company of that film, although some big companies like Disney, own a distribution company, therefore keeping profits within the company. Within the film industry the distributor publishes and markets the film therefore getting it into cinema and getting it out on DVD.
Digitisation is changing the cost of distribution due to lots of people having readily access to a computer, meaning people can easily create promotion posters, ad campaigns, promotion on social media, etc. This means that people can create awareness for the film much more easily than before. Due to social media being free, and being very popular, means that lots of film distribution companies make a profile/page for the film.
My film production is a typical horror film. Its a micro-budget film Indie film without any established star. It has a similar setting and idea/plot to Cabin in the woods and Cabin fever. For the 90 min feature film, I would estimate the budget to be around $10 million, based on other similar Indie horror films.
The most successful distributors of 2016 are: Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Paramount, etc. These distributors, market lots of different genres of film, which is probably one of the reasons why they are the most successful. These distributors both make and lose money on lots of films. Not many films are 'successful'. This means making their money back in the opening weekend in the US. Lots of films will not make their money back in opening weekend in the US, but make more money than the budget in other countries and in DVD sales. But this is still recognised as a failure, in the film industry. Overall distributors do make money, The main most successful ones are typically US based companies. Some successful existing UK indie horror films are: The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm, 2010), Magic Magic (Sebastián Silva, 2013), The Devil's Business (Sean Hogan, 2011). All these UK films were successful in the box office with them making their money back in the opening weekend.
Both Liongate and StudioCanalUK have managed good distribution, therefore making them a good choice for distribution. I think that StudioCanalUK would be the best choice as they are a UK based company. Studio productions are more likely to market big feature films, with big budgets and major star actors, due to them more likely to make the money back, this then bankrupts indie producers. Lots of films don't make it past the distribution stage, therefore release their films on YouTube and Vimeo, these companies then pay the channel owner dependant on how many views and likes that the video gets. This can be an emergency way of promoting the film, by displaying ads on the video.
07/04/2017
Evaluation - Prelim to the Product
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
For the Prelim task, I did not really plan or research, for the task. This meant that the filming was not thought out and the editing was done quickly.
For my product, I pitched the film, so other could give me feedback on the idea for the narrative, telling me what would work, and what may not work. I also researched other horror openings, therefore I could steal ideas and typical horror opening conventions. I also planned the product using storyboards, screenplays, location scouting and shot scheduling. By scouting a location for the film helped me to visualise, my idea, which made the first shoot much easier. When scouting, I could then take pictures of the shots and the compositions that could be in the final cut. I then could create a storyboard for the film, and also a screenplay, which included the dialogue and the different scenes, both of these helped me in the first shoot.
After all the planning and research tasks were complete, I then went onto the first shoot. Using the storyboard and the screenplay, I could then setup the camera and composition, by looking at the storyboard. Using the screenplay, I could get the characters to speak to the dialogue on the screenplay. In the prelim task, there was very minimal planning, and most of the dialogue was all made up on the spot of the characters. The composition was all done when we got to the location, and nothing was planned before the shoot.
The prelim task was all edited very quickly, meaning that not much effort was put into the edit. In my product, most of the time was dedicated to the audio and editing of the project. Because you could not hear some of the audio on the footage, I had to re-record the audio and dialogue of the characters and place it in the edit. This took quite a long time to get the levels right, and to remove the background noise. Before making this product, I had never worked with sound, and editing sound before. Therefore I was experimenting with the sound, trying to make the audio sound as realistic as possible. I think that the audio of the final project turned out really well. Because the sound on the footage, from the prelim was good. I did not work with any sound, until the project. So I have learnt a lot by using Adobe Audition to change the levels of the sound.
Before the project I had done a bit of editing, but I never really used Adobe Premiere properly before. Using the software and experimenting with it, meant that I could cut the film together, using the software.
When creating the production company ident for the film opening. I had to use Adobe After effects and Cinema 4D. Because the prelim task did not require an ident, meant that this was all new. I had experience in both Cinema 4D and After effects before, meaning I could make a really good looking ident for my project. Because I am quite experienced in using AE, I could create some 3D text within C4D, and import the project file into AE to add the effects to it. I had never used the motion tracking in AE before, so I had to research how to do this. When I motion tracked the footage, I had to export the camera into C4D. I have had some experience in C4D but nothing this complicated before, so it was mainly trial and error for the 3D text and cameras. I then added extra effects to the footage and imported text, to make the ident look much better and look really dark and creepy, to apply to those horror conventions.
After all the footage had been cut together, I made some titles within AE to put into the film opening. I have had some experience within AE, therefore I could make some good looking titles that glitch, and dissolve out, for the film. This made the title sequence look much better for the film, which helped to improve it. There were no titles on the prelim task, therefore I had to use previous knowledge of the software to make to good looking titles. I had learnt how to motion track when creating the ident so I just applied that knowledge when creating the titles.
In the prelim, the only audience feedback we got was whether the cut was shot and edited correctly or not. For the main project audience feedback consisted of the narrative, sound, mise-en-scene, camerawork and editing. Therefore the audience feedback was crucial to help me improve the film opening.
As I was working on my own for the main project I did everything from the editing to the filming and the narrative. For the prelim task we did it in groups therefore the roles and jobs were shared out. As I was working on my own, organisation was crucial so I could make sure everything was shot correctly and the sound was good and the editing of the shots were perfect.
In conclusion, I have learnt quite a lot from the progression from the prelim to the main product. I had used cameras before but not to film. So this was all new to me. Also sound recording was also new as I had never made a film before. For the sound recording, I used the camera microphone and an external microphone for recording the dialogue afterwards. This was one of the weaknesses in the opening and took quite a lot of time to get it to what is sounds like in the final cut. If i were to re-do the opening, I would make sure that I recorded sound separately at the same time of the shoot, as some of the sound on the footage was unusable.
For the Prelim task, I did not really plan or research, for the task. This meant that the filming was not thought out and the editing was done quickly.
For my product, I pitched the film, so other could give me feedback on the idea for the narrative, telling me what would work, and what may not work. I also researched other horror openings, therefore I could steal ideas and typical horror opening conventions. I also planned the product using storyboards, screenplays, location scouting and shot scheduling. By scouting a location for the film helped me to visualise, my idea, which made the first shoot much easier. When scouting, I could then take pictures of the shots and the compositions that could be in the final cut. I then could create a storyboard for the film, and also a screenplay, which included the dialogue and the different scenes, both of these helped me in the first shoot.
After all the planning and research tasks were complete, I then went onto the first shoot. Using the storyboard and the screenplay, I could then setup the camera and composition, by looking at the storyboard. Using the screenplay, I could get the characters to speak to the dialogue on the screenplay. In the prelim task, there was very minimal planning, and most of the dialogue was all made up on the spot of the characters. The composition was all done when we got to the location, and nothing was planned before the shoot.
The prelim task was all edited very quickly, meaning that not much effort was put into the edit. In my product, most of the time was dedicated to the audio and editing of the project. Because you could not hear some of the audio on the footage, I had to re-record the audio and dialogue of the characters and place it in the edit. This took quite a long time to get the levels right, and to remove the background noise. Before making this product, I had never worked with sound, and editing sound before. Therefore I was experimenting with the sound, trying to make the audio sound as realistic as possible. I think that the audio of the final project turned out really well. Because the sound on the footage, from the prelim was good. I did not work with any sound, until the project. So I have learnt a lot by using Adobe Audition to change the levels of the sound.
Before the project I had done a bit of editing, but I never really used Adobe Premiere properly before. Using the software and experimenting with it, meant that I could cut the film together, using the software.
When creating the production company ident for the film opening. I had to use Adobe After effects and Cinema 4D. Because the prelim task did not require an ident, meant that this was all new. I had experience in both Cinema 4D and After effects before, meaning I could make a really good looking ident for my project. Because I am quite experienced in using AE, I could create some 3D text within C4D, and import the project file into AE to add the effects to it. I had never used the motion tracking in AE before, so I had to research how to do this. When I motion tracked the footage, I had to export the camera into C4D. I have had some experience in C4D but nothing this complicated before, so it was mainly trial and error for the 3D text and cameras. I then added extra effects to the footage and imported text, to make the ident look much better and look really dark and creepy, to apply to those horror conventions.
After all the footage had been cut together, I made some titles within AE to put into the film opening. I have had some experience within AE, therefore I could make some good looking titles that glitch, and dissolve out, for the film. This made the title sequence look much better for the film, which helped to improve it. There were no titles on the prelim task, therefore I had to use previous knowledge of the software to make to good looking titles. I had learnt how to motion track when creating the ident so I just applied that knowledge when creating the titles.
In the prelim, the only audience feedback we got was whether the cut was shot and edited correctly or not. For the main project audience feedback consisted of the narrative, sound, mise-en-scene, camerawork and editing. Therefore the audience feedback was crucial to help me improve the film opening.
As I was working on my own for the main project I did everything from the editing to the filming and the narrative. For the prelim task we did it in groups therefore the roles and jobs were shared out. As I was working on my own, organisation was crucial so I could make sure everything was shot correctly and the sound was good and the editing of the shots were perfect.
In conclusion, I have learnt quite a lot from the progression from the prelim to the main product. I had used cameras before but not to film. So this was all new to me. Also sound recording was also new as I had never made a film before. For the sound recording, I used the camera microphone and an external microphone for recording the dialogue afterwards. This was one of the weaknesses in the opening and took quite a lot of time to get it to what is sounds like in the final cut. If i were to re-do the opening, I would make sure that I recorded sound separately at the same time of the shoot, as some of the sound on the footage was unusable.
03/04/2017
Evaluation - Technologies
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Summary of video
To create my product, required lots of different software and hardware. When filming the opening, it required a DSLR camera and a mm lens to film the opening. Using a tripod, I could film the steady shots, for the film. As I did not have access to a dynamic head for the tripod, I had to hold the camera and move it for the pans in the opening, which was not ideal, as the footage was quite shaky, but it did the job. I also had to consider, ISO, aperture, white balance and composition, whilst setting up the camera so the footage looked realistic, and the composition was good, for the action in the frame. To improve the camerawork, I think I would look making the depth of field lower for the attack scenes, in the film. As it would make the background much more blurry, connoting that something is about to go wrong. It also makes the viewer concentrate on the expressions and feeling of the character as they are in this situation.
Summary of video
To create my product, required lots of different software and hardware. When filming the opening, it required a DSLR camera and a mm lens to film the opening. Using a tripod, I could film the steady shots, for the film. As I did not have access to a dynamic head for the tripod, I had to hold the camera and move it for the pans in the opening, which was not ideal, as the footage was quite shaky, but it did the job. I also had to consider, ISO, aperture, white balance and composition, whilst setting up the camera so the footage looked realistic, and the composition was good, for the action in the frame. To improve the camerawork, I think I would look making the depth of field lower for the attack scenes, in the film. As it would make the background much more blurry, connoting that something is about to go wrong. It also makes the viewer concentrate on the expressions and feeling of the character as they are in this situation.
When editing the footage, I used a variety of different software, mainly the adobe suite. To edit the clips together, I used Premiere Pro so I could cut the footage and stitch the clips and audio together. I also changed the volume using key-frames and the colouring of the footage. I used After Effects to add effects to the footage, and add a glitchy title sequence . I used Audition to edit the music, soundtrack and the re-recordings of the dialogue.
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