2012 Post 14 Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards Part 1

 

Hollywood film posters have more money so the posters main pictures are very dramatic with lots of effects and this is conventional in film posters of this genre as it is a action film but the posters are usually better with dramatic pictures as that is their unique selling point. Its also conventional to have a slogan to do with the film, the directors name is normally above the title and the biggest earning character is the biggest picture in the middle, and all film posters have the logos, production details and general film information at the bottom is tiny writing. As the genre of this film poster is action they poster has to have an element of action on it as the audience will be expecting to see explosions ect as that is what they would relate to the genre. The poster would also use a bolder font as action films would include strong characters and the font would need to display this. The colours they choose would also be different for instance a Rom-Com would use pinks and pastel colours but an action film would be expected to use reds and dark colours.

This is a British film poster but has the funding the same as Hollywood films. As you can see the graphics are very good and the pictures have been super imposed. Even though this is a British film it also has the main character at the front and the characters behind go in order of popularilty and how often they are shown in the film. As this films genre is action and fantansy is should have elements of action and fantasy conventions. As I previously said this films poster is similar to the one above in the graphical editing this is because it is conventional of an action film poster to be action packed. The colours used in this film poster is dark bluse and blacks this is conventional of a fantasy genre as the colours related to that genre are colours such as green, blue and purple. These conventions is what makes the films sell to the right audience as they relate these conventions to the genre and expect these conventions to be displayed on the film poster.

From British independent films its conventional for them to put the star rating and quotes on the top of the poster that people have rated and reviewed.  Like the Hollywood films they also have a big picture taking up most the poster which is of the main character/ characters, but the pictures are usually close up or just poses of the characters there not superimposed. These film posters also have a slogan, the slogan is used as a unique selling point as they usually relate to the film ensuring the audience feel connected with the film before they have seen it. The independent british film posters also have on them the details of the production comapny, details, logos and funding. I have also found that these films have the age rating of the film in the corner of the main picture

Short films find it hard to target their audiences through the method that big named Hollywood films do as their target audience are not the majority of the general public. Short films are more likely to target their audience through the internet, but this method is not enough to create a buzz about their film, so postcards are the prefered method of marketing.

Film posters receive their audience’s attention through eye catching features for instance they commonly use recognisable actors or actresses on the poster. This is why short films may find it hard to sell through posters as they usually do not use recognisable big named actresses or actors as they cannot afford them.

Short Film also find it hard to use the poster method as it is very expensive to design a bright eye catching poster, so a postcard is used instead as they are small and cheaper to print.

Benefits of a postcards are that they would target the audience that short films aim as they can be handed out in a area or venue where you can find the specific target market allowing the short film to be directly marketed to the right audience . This is the best method for short films as it creates word of mouth and postcards can be easily kept and can be referenced when talking to friends who may be the target audience.

From looking at a collection of short film postcards they also include a main picture either of the surroundings or a location in the film or a character, but the main picture of the character is not the same as the Hollywood posters, the Hollywood posters pictures are very posed and make the actor/actress look handsome/pretty and admirable. The main pictures in short films are more artistic they may look quit posed but the character is commonly positioned in a situation that is in the film. The main title is usually quite plan and has a simple colour and the font is also quite plan and nothing too high tec. From analysing film postcards I have noticed many of them have a slogan this is not  normally seen in Hollywood films, this could be down to the target audience using the internet more and they could quote the postcards slogan.

These postcards have come from a producer/production manager callled Becky Knapp, she came into our lesson to talk to us about how to develop short films. She knows alot about what works well in a short film and would of had some say within the style of these postcards. These are a good source to look at the conventions and style of short film postcards as they have come from a professional source.

The back of the postcard is also fairly plan, it looks like a generic postcard except it includes some details about the film. It normally includes the director, producers and other important peoples names of the back and general details about the film. The also all include a stamp space and sometimes the title again and sometimes the slogan.

Here are my designs for my postcard

Bellow are the annotations to more postcard design and how they are conventional and how they break away from the conventions of a postcard

2012 POST 13 Pre-production Documentation

In this post I am going to show all the pre-production work we have done and explain how they will help us when it comes to filming our short  film. We have split the work evenly and underneath each piece of pre-production I will right who created what. The pieces I will include are the treatment, script,shot list, storyboard, technical Reece, risk assessment, props and costume list, equipment list and the shooting schedule





This was created by me it is the Treatment, this will help us when it comes to shooting as we will be able to look at what visual and auditory is need for each shot.

 



The top 2 pieces are the shot list this is vital when  shooting as it tells the shot sizes the location and the description of the shot



 Here are our props and costume details which was created by Lauren Phillips, this will be helpful when it comes to filming as we will be able to look at what the character should be wearing and what props will be needed.

 We have put Billy in School uniform as it shows venerability and we want the audience to read this from Billy, he will look quite scruffy in his uniform as he has to get ready himself in the morning and he wont have his mum to give advice

We have made the Mum smart as we want the audience to read her as a professional business women and the way she deals with Billy is shown like this as well. By her looking professional and smart it shows she cares more about her job then Billy.

We have made the teacher look smart as we want the audience to know what her position is compared to Billy, she is the inferior but she is also there as a teacher for support so she appears professional and the way she deals with Billy should be the same.






This is our equipment list, this will help us when it comes to filming as we will be able to know what equipment we need and what it needs to look like, or if we need to buy some equipment we can.




This was made by Becky Trimmer

 
Below are the location Reece's these were created by Lauren Phillips, these will helps us when filming as we will be able to plan where we will need extra lights as the location Reece's outline the light resources. The location Reece's also tell us when we can access the area so they are helpful we pre shooting preparation

This location is used in scene 1, 8 and 16.



This location is used for scene 3 and 4.

This location is in scene 6

This location scene 7,12 and 13.

This location is Scene 17

This location is scene 9 and 12



 We have used the school as our film is based in School, we have used certain areas that look a bit worn and tired as it will make the audience feel sympathy towards Billy as he is not in a nice place. Many of the exterior walls look grey and dark which adds to the effect of gloominess and sadness.

Below is the script documentation, this is extremely helpful when shooting as you can plan shot and speech. It is also helpful to give it to the actors/ actresses before the scheduled shoot so they can learn there lines.
 

Below Contains all of our technical Reece these were shared out between the group evenly to ensure we shared the work fairly. Me, Becky, Lauren and Charley all created the technical Reece. These will help us when it comes to filming as they show where the camera needs to be for each shot within the scene. As they are an Aeriel view it allows us to see what is around us.

Below this is our storyboard, this was also shared out fairly between the group, this is use full when filming as it tells you what sizes the shots should be and whether the sound is non-diegetic or diegetic.

2012 Post 12: Draft scripts & feedback

A producer called Becky Knapp came into our class and read through our drafts of script, she said our script was too short it should be a page per minute, as she looks at scripts and decides whether they are good enough her feedback was very helpful.  She also commented on the fact that the short film has to be around 6 minutes and we did not have 6 pages so our script would not have the chance to develope a beginning middle and end. The script that she saw had no real narrative structure to it she suggested that we really need to think about our audience as if they watched the film with the script she saw they would leave feeling confused and with little interest to the events in the film or sympathy towards Billy which is our aim.

From this draft Becky has told us to focus on sorting out why does Billy act the way he does and how does he put across his behaviour in the film. She said we also need to make more of a story out of the situation he is in because at the moment the audience will not be affect in the right way. Becky also said that we need to develop the story idea to the non-existent mother storyline at the moment we plan not to have a mother figure in our short film, she said this will not work in the right way as they audience will not be able to understand the full extent of what their non-existant relationship does to Billy if the mother is never shown being un-caring.

Below I am going to put in our draft for the script that Becky had seen and highlight what we are going to see/ change.

This is not in the right format as had to cut and past to make it a jpeg format

From Becky's comments and suggestions we went into a room as a group and didnt leave untill we'd decided on a detailed idea and storyline. We started by brainstorming whilst using our script that Becky had looked at. We decided on some final ideas that we need to develop into scences and final ideas.

2012 Post 11: Script Influences

From the short films that we have watched they have influenced me towards making a film that doesn't necceasarily end happily as I believe this will have more of an impact on the audience. Short films such as 'Tender' where the boy goes and meets a girl, but in his hand is the weapon his mum's boyfriend just beat her up with, he is walking towards the girl and the film ends we don't know if he'll follow in his mums boyfriends footsteps or if he hasn't been influenced. I like this style of ending as it allows the audience to reflect on the film and how they considered the events and what has happended. There is a preferred reading but whether they read it isnt important its the impact the film has on their emotions and whether it makes them think about themself and their life.


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=tender+Deborah+Haywood&view=detail&id=4D95E96E118686CF393B3F68149ACE65C375532F&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR



From the short films we have watched the lighting looks very dim and gloomy like the picture above which is a British Short Film. This gave a good effect as it made the tone of the film seem sad and dramatic and all the short films we have watched were hard hitting and dramatic. In the film I am making we want to tone down the colours to give it a grey, dark, depressing effect to make the audience feel more empathy towards our main character and would preferably film on a cloudy dark day to go with the mode of the film. We also have found from watching short films that they appear to use natural lighting, a lot of filming is also outside so it makes it look natural and the artificial bright lighting will not work with the mood of our film.


Here is natural lighting it has much better effect  as the lightening effects the mood of the film

  The above two pictures are pictures of films that we watched that are short films made by British Directors. These have influced my decisions to be creative with the sound in my film, this is due to both these films dropping the sound or having an atmosphere style of noise. Espically in the first picture which is the film 'Tender' by Deborah Haywood, I really liked the use of atmosphere noise as it allowed you to space out from the events of the film and consider the character as their is no noise distractions for instance it makes you think about whether that is what the character is hearing inside their head. I would like to include this into my short film as the affect it had on me and my peers as an audience was what I want my audience to experience.

This clip is from a short film and they've used natural lighting outside



 

Here is a clip of artificial lighting which is very bright

The picture above is from a tv drama but as a comparison to colour this tv drama does have sad moments in the programme for instance in this picture she has found out some bad news, due to the lightening being so light and artifical I believe this would have the same effect on the audience.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=notting+hill+film+pictures&view=detail&id=02AFF92059A33EABF8A71B09C013D0EE065B3C4F&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR

This is an image from Notting Hill which is a British film this is an example of a film, my point is that all short films dont have the lightening that British films and television dramas do. I believe this is because many short films have a genre of social realist and the natural and grainy lighting compliments the tone social realist genres need.

The 400 Blow 1959 film by Francois Truffaut is a black and white French film, as a group we liked the style of this film and it was also about a young boy in a institution that isn't coping well. We liked the idea that the boy is running away and he finally reaches the sea but he's reached the limit there's nowhere else to run.

I particularly liked the end of this film as I felt it was very effective, we want a connection between Billy our main character and the audience. 400 Blows ends with a freeze frame where the boy stares at the audience, this will give our film the lasting bit of connection that is needed as it will make the audience feel like they have an relationship and connection with the main character. Because this is a section of a film we have to adapt our ideas to work with the short film. Due to the running scene being as long as our short film limit we will have plan our running scene to be as effective within a shorter time frame.