Film Pitch

Time Gone By | film pitch from hentonmedia

Feedback

1. The Title was seen widely as relevant to the story/genre and intriguing to how it applies to the story line. A good film title.
2. The character could appeal to anyone, the choice of having Robert De Nero worked well because he is an older actor that OAP's would maybe of seen in other films.
3. Interest was created for the audience use of enigma codes such as the question of what will the character change? What would I change? How does this affect the characters future?
4. The narrative is suitable for our audience and will apparently attract much interest with its originality of story, revolving around an older characters life.
5. Narrative fits the genre loosely so would be better to advertise as a sci-fi hybrid with dram or something. The only real sci-fi part to the story is travelling through time and how it affects the future.
6. People said it is like about time but the only similarity between our film and that one is time travel, by this logic it is like all films and shows that involve time travel, but the majority said it was different sort of film and i think this stems from following an older character for a change.
7. The marketing and advertising of the film in places where OAP's would see was taken well, for example bus stop billboards, on day time t.v and just generally in newspapers and magazines.

Overall the pitch was taken well we provided all the information that was needs except for amood board and overall we didn't include much visual aspects to the presentation like with images, it was very text based which doesn't keep attention of watchers.

Institution

Institutions from hentonmedia

Independent VS Mainstream Film

The only numbers collected for going to see a film are 16-24 year olds and the cinema only really makes money from Popcorn and drinks.

Distributors get your film in the cinema. Its really hard to get an independent film in a cinema because the cinema knows less people will go in to see it which means less money spent on popcorn, so sometimes the distributors have to pay the cinema to get it shown. It works the other way with Mainstream films, and the cinema will be making most of there money from popcorn once again.

The Big Six




Independent Films 

• More about art and cultural expression.
• They are supposed to make you think and ask questions
• Heard about mostly by word of mouth, small time.
• Niche.

Mainstream

• Mass audiences.
• Looking to make money.
• Appeal to everybody. Makes you laugh, makes you cry & makes you happy.

Films work though months and when its best to release films :::

September - Bad film month for Blockbusters because everyone is back to work, summer is over but a good time for indi films because there isn't much competition for their films to be seen.

October - February - Award for Films, Christmas films.

March - August - Popcorns selling! Blockbuster film releases for mass watching. 

Audience

Uses and Gratification
The uses of media to get pleasure

Audience  theory, why we watch media...

Personal Identification - Feel like the media relates to you in someway
Information - Facts and learning from it
Entertainment - Just entertains and makes you feel good
Social Interaction - Gives you something to talk about

Normally when I watch a film it is for personal identification and information for example i watch a lot of documentaries and biographical films, the problems and the thoughts provoked from what you see are what provide personal identification and information for me.
Of course there are times when you just want pure entertainment with a film so I turn to blockbuster films or now more than ever Wes Anderson Films because I find it is like being told a story which is just nice.
Then there are some films that are just to talk about for example the bond films that come out, or Interstellar. These films that are massive that your friendship group talks about, you see it with them and then you talk to everyone about it again.

Films & You

Film Production Logo

A logo needs to be eye catching, simple and interesting, the triangles catch the eye and get the viewer interested and the simple font get the point across.

Film Language

Today in lesson we learnt about everything that would go into making a film :

• Camera
• Mise en Scene
• Editing
• Sound

Camera

Frame - 

Angle - 

Movement -  Pan Left/Right (on tripod)

                       Tilt Up/Down (on tripod)

                       Tracking Shot - Follows something

                       Steady Cam - Makes the camera look like it is gliding or floating , smooth shot.

                       Handheld - Shaky Cam for fights, makes it gritty more real, movement with object.

Mise En Scene - All the things that are in the scene that make it.

Costume - Victorian Suits = Victorian Period

Lighting - Time of day, dream scenes etc

Actors - Appearance, voice, body language, class, gender

Makeup - Fantasy Characters, dead characters

Props - Used in background, given to character to give more information

Setting - What type of film will it be i.e Warzone = war movie, Upper Class House = Drama about this family etc

Editing

Transitions - can add to pace of movie or add to the cinematic artsy part of the movie

Order of Narrative - Mixing a story up to get interest, so using a bit from the future at the beginning as the first seen part of the film this would gauge interest with the watcher asking questions etc

Pace - How fast or slow you want a scene to be i.e a love scene slow and intimate pace, fighting scene fast pace to add to confusion and intensity of scene etc

SFX - Sound Effects added in after filming to add more to a scene like creaking floor boards for a horror film

Sound

Dialogue - What is being said and how does it affect the scene

Music - Diegetic (what is recorded in scene) or Non-Diegetic (whats put on top of a scene) Parallel (music goes with scene) or Counter Parallel (When music doesn't go with the scene)

Boys in the Hood - Analysis of first 6 minutes

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=boyz+n+the+hood+dutch+subtitles&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=BCA98CE309ED50662AF4BCA98CE309ED50662AF4

Camera

A long shot, tracking shot is the first piece of film we actually see, it track some kids walking to school from the other side of the street like we are walking to school with them, from this point of view we can see all the rubbish, bad pavements and stray dogs showing how much of a run down bad area these kids are in.

Match on Action shot of the kids going under the crime scene police tape and entering the crime scene, this keeps the movement and flow of the scene going. Also this scene signifies that these characters think it is okay to just walk into a crime scene of a gang attack.

The camera fades from the blood and the talk of the blood plasma to a class room, using steady cam to pan around the class and move to the teacher.

The static shot down the pavement to the main child walking home from school and a drug deal or something starts fighting in front of him he just walks around it - this shows how normal it is for the kid to see this kind of violence.

Sound

The recorded sound of the gang attack without imagery of it gives more intensity and impact to it.

All the child characters speech is slang and with swear words and none of them are very articulate - showing they are not very well educated or taught how to speak by their parents, bad parents bad education.

The teacher speaks with a bored patronizing tone to the class, this has connotations that she thinks she is better than the class, better to be teaching there, a bored teacher means a bad teacher, a bad school, bad area, bad kids it all comes together to make the whole place of the movie is a bad area.

The mother speaks with attitude towards the patronizing teacher, this could show that this is a person, a character that does not go along with the stereotypes of the people that live in the area.

Editing

The Order of Narrative - The scenes are in order of what happens, the gang attack the day before and then the kids walking to school and seeing it the next day.

The pace of the scenes following the gang attack are all quite normal paced not fast or dragging slowly, this could be used to symbolize these scenes that we see as the audience are meant to be part of the normal every day for the lives of the characters.

Mise En Scene

The children are dressed smartly for school but still in what looks like quite cheap clothing, the poorness shown shows what the area is like.

Black People in america have stereotypical connotations of traditionally being less educated and connected to crime and gangs. A poorer Class.

Crime scene shows the danger of the setting with the blood, bullet holes and crash, the whole first 6 minutes show how bad the area is.

              

Representations

Today in lesson we learnt about representation. How stereotypes are something that represent a whole culture, nationality, sex. Also we learnt about archetypes and how they are the ultimate stereotype. Also countertypes a representation that challenges traditional stereotypes.

In terms of media representation is how the media break down something that is already there and present it to us in a way they want. The people who create representations are producers and the people who choose to present us with this are Gatekeepers. 

Gatekeepers choose what the audience read, hear or see.

The Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey) - Woman in the media are there just to get male attention either as objects or as unreachable Madonnas.
The Bechdel Test - It has at least two named women in it, who have a conversation with each other, about something besides a man.
The Dyer Theory (Richard Dyer) - What you are seen as you are treated as and you treat others the same way.





What/who is being represented and how?
I man by himself, alone even when surrounded by people, driving to his apartment, showing his isolation by big birds eye view shots following the driver in his car among many other cars surrounding him, showing more to his isolation that his car stands out to the watcher more than anyone else's, this could also represent that he is not connected to anyone else adding more to the idea of loneliness of this character.
Once the man is walking to the elevator in a building a girl (maybe fetishistic - an unreachable Madonna from Laura Mulveys The Male Gaze) comes out of the elevator and the man says nothing to her and the camera cuts to a shot that looks like what the man would see from the elevator of the girl walking away this could represent that this girl will have something to do with this man within his story. Comes out of the elevator as a silhouette , representing he is a shadow of the person he could be for reasons that the audience do not know making him mysterious and intriguing  and alone again, once at his apartment man goes straight out of his apartment to drive again seen by picking up keys again also only having one duffle bag the man packs light showing he is even more of a loner, maybe all he cares about his his car as he drives there gets there and then just goes out to drive again.

Dyer Theory- What we are seen as we are treated as and we treat others
The driver is seen as a loner or a stand off is type so he is treated as a loner like the girl doesn't say hello to him when she walks past him she doesn't say hello to him and he doesn't say hello either so he treats other people like they are like him to. This all works with the Dyers Theory.

Foreground & Background

The foreground of the shot shows the man very neutral faced, emotionless and with a pick in his mouth this could represent him filling his time with a habit like chewing on a toothpick. The mid ground or what could be said to be the background because further than his hand everything is so blurred it is not worth talking about apart from showing that he is driving on the street. So in the background there is his hand which has a glove on it, a driving glove representing that he takes driving seriously like it is a major part his life this could be interpreted that driving and him are a connection and a major part to the story.

There is an absence of anything that defines the character in this shot and all the shots, it just the character and his car and his back. In this shot the overwhelming thing that defines his character is how alone he is, by the foreground there is just the one bag that the man brought with him and then in the background there is the man both foreground and background define the loneliness of the man.

I think the absence of things filling the grounds of the shot makes the structure of the film clear that there is just what there is, here is his bag he the character doesn't have much, he drives the story will be to do with driving, there is a girl shown in the first 3 minutes of the film so she will be to do with the man character and the films story.

Making sense of the representation (Mulvey and Barthes)

The woman seen could be a reference to Mulveys thoughts of all women either being whores or objects for the men to play with or an unreachable Madonna, this would work with he story that the girl is either of the two to make a goal for the male character.

The man in terms of Barthes Mytholigical way of representation the man could be the broken hero the Byronic Hero, the protagonist with a broken and hidden past just like a fairytale and he is only represented by what defines him, nothing more, like a fairytale character.

The Semiotics and their connotations

The tooth pic - a habit to fill time, maybe use to be a smoker, a comfort habit like sucking a thumb.

The Driving Gloves - Likes to drive, maybe does it professionally or for a living.

The scorpion jacket - The golden scorpion on the back of the mans jacket could mean he could be quite reserved under an armor but if aggravated he is wild and packs a punch. 

The duffle bag - The man travels light, doesn't have anything to hold onto.

From semiotics what is the overall direction of the film?

The man in his comfortable lonely state could be brought out of his comfortable state to do with his driving or with the woman that was seen. The film will follow the male protagonist along with his story entwining with driving and the girl.

How have I received the meaning of the film

I believe I have received the meaning of the film, just from the opening scene, through preferred reading I have seen it and interpreted how I think the creator wants the audience to. The opening scene is quite straight forward in it portrayal of its characters and how they are meant to be interpreted, by the man being seen alone for practically all of the opening scene I get the sense that his character is one of alone-ness and not many emotional characters, a shut off person comfortable with himself, i think the creator wanted this to be how his main protagonist to be portrayed.

Practice Edit - James Bond

This is my second attempt at editing I now know that I have to render the video from the sequence tab and then when I export i must tick "use maximum render quality" and now the video is less pixel-lated and better quality. I took away the audio of the music so the music would be heard along with the shots instead.

Premiere Practice Edit

This is a video from a practice edit from first time on Adobe Premiere Pro, through this video I worked out the basic tools of editing and their shortcuts like cutting tool, select etc, I also learnt to use a few effects, with transitions and colouring unfortunately the video came out only as 144p so it isn't good quality.

Narrative

Narrative Theorists

Barthes
Enigma Codes - Action   - What is happening
             Symbolic - The symbolism found in what we see
             Enigma - The mystery the questions being asked

Levi Strauss
Binary Opposition - Good vs Evil
                                  Man vs female
                                 Rich vs Poor

Todorov
Structure  - Equilibrium
                   Disruption of equilibrium
                   Restoration of Equilibrium
                   New Equilibrium
Obstacles and coming over obstacles throughout the story.

Propp 
Characters - The Hero
                     The Villain
                     The Donner
                     The Dispatcher                             
                     The False Hero
                      The Helper
                      The Princess
                       Her Father



Tordorov Narrative Theories applied to a short video.

Equilibrium - Just normal baby sitting of a baby.
Equilibrium disrupted - Baby is running around the house and the baby sitter cant control it, the baby sitters obstacle is to control the baby.
New Equilibrium - Has control of the baby again, the audience waits for what will go wrong next, the card showing to the baby seems normal.
New Disruption - The baby see's the fire card and set alight into a fire baby, this is the new obstacle which disrupts how the baby sitter is going about it "new normal".
Equilibrium changed - The sitter hands off the baby to someone else and now she is changed because she knows about this crazy freak of a baby.





Barthes Narritive Theories shown through out the opening scene from a film called The Prestige.

Enigma Code - Why are all the hats in the forest?
                          "Are you watching closely?" Why must I look closely?
                          Who is this old narrator magician? Whats his connection to the big theatre magic                                  trick?
                          What is the relationship with he man doing the trick on stage and the man rushing                                  back stage?
 Action Code -   Bird cage flattened.
                           Running trick on stage as well as trick with the bird.
                           Water tank locked with magician inside .
                            Mans hand against the glass.
Symbolic Code - Hats - magicians, why so many in a forest? could mean its a magicians graveyard,                               how many magicians die to perform a could trick, what will be pulled out of the                                   hat?
                            The clothing is of the Victorian time.
                            The bird in the trick represents the trick that is going on on stage, the bird in the                                   cage is the victim.
My Choice...

List of the shots in order, how long they last and what you see.

Key Action Points
1st shot - sets up the enigma
5th, 6th, 7th - introduce characters
17th - Bridge sign gives setting of Chicago
27th - Jumping the bridge gap, shows how crazy these characters are and how nonchalant they can be about what they do.
33rd Final Shot - Pulling up outside an orphanage, more enigmas.

Enigma Points
Why was John in prison?
Why do the Blues Brothers dress in that way?
Who even are the blues brothers?
Do they always do things like jumping over the bridge and is that why they reacted in such a nonchalant manor or are they insane?
Are they connected to the orphanage?

Symbol Points
The characters are serious shown through there use of suits, sunglasses (eyes are the gateway to the soul), little speech to each other except for small talk about car.
The blues soul music starts during the title sequence, so the title of blues brothers is backed up by blues music so it isn't interpreted that the brothers are just sad but instead blues musicians.
They care about the way they look to people hence there character looks, black tie suit, black sunglasses and john adjusts his collar in shot 9.
The police car is used for irony of John being in prison which we still don't know what for.

Genre Task

Genre Tasks - Using DISTINCT to analyse three different film openings from class and ten one ilm opening of my own choice.


Harry Brown
Describe - Position Of View camera on a phone makes you feel as if you are there and the graininess of the shot gives it that low light phone filmed feel that you would expect from amateur filming. Having the camera being close to the action you get a feel as if you are there and its real.
Setting - Suburban residential area of London.
Theme - Hoodie Horror, Thriller Drama
Icon - The Drugs being used set that they are a bad part to society, the gun being used like a toy by the boys sets attention on them and have the judgments on them that the filmmaker would want, they want us to hate the "chavs" and have that they are the bad side. The pram that the mother has sets the emotional connection of motherhood with her making the watcher immediately feel more connected to them because everyone has a mother and because of this when she eventually gets killed it makes the watcher feel even worse and angry at the "chavs". Another icon was the motorbike that the "chavs" were riding, this reckless and dangerous vehicle mirrored the reckless and dangerous nature of the "chavs" and the sound of the motorbike added the sense of speed to the video.
Narrative - From the opening scene the watcher gets the idea tat the story will be following the "chavs" in some way.
Characters - The characters that have been see so far in the opening scene are only "chavs", it is assumed that they are the local gang.
Text Analysis - The darkness in the shot at the beginning sets the dark grimy mood of a London based film and gives the impression that what is happening shouldn't be done in the light of day and is bad. There are quick jump cuts in the part of the motorbike scene to add to the high intensity and fast pace of the scene, also the shaky cam with it being filmed on a phone makes you feel the intensity of what is happening in the scene also some shots of just the ground and sky add to the disorganization that is in the scene with them accidentally killing the mom. The gun shot during the shooting at the mum scene, the gun sot is very loud and then there  is silence on te scene where as before the shots there was the sound of laughing, the motorbike and the wind etc so the shot making silence could be that it is deafening so there is no noise or that this is a pinnacle part to the scene and it draws all the attention to the gun and where it is aiming and counting the time in between each shot. The head shot on the mum is seen in the corner of the video as the camera is moving so this means it is only in sot for a second so the viewer can't see how fake it looks and still has the same impact as seeing it.


Guardians of the Galaxy
Setting - Dark, cavern with ruined buildings in the background, not anything immediately recognized from earth thus suspected to be on a different planet and this is reinforced by the title Guardians of the Galaxy - must be in space somewhere, also there are weird animals or creatures seen in the opening scene.
Theme - Theme is overly Sci-Fi based with it being in space, technology and alien creatures but there are links back to earths past with the Sony Walkman and old soul songs being played and then there is the comical part to intro with the dancing along with the music in what is quite a creepy setting and then the kicking of the creatures in quite a childish and playful way and catching one and singing to it like a microphone .
Icons - the Walkman stands out completely from all the other surroundings because it is so in contrast to everything that is sci-fi, a Walkman is something from the 1980's it not something you would link to the a futuristic film like this and that gives this film its quirkiness.
Narrative - Follows this one character on his way to what must be some alien technology.
Characters - The spaceman, childish in his actions and approach to what should be a scary hostile place to be in.
Text Analysis - The comedic aspects of the character makes him immediately likable without even hearing him speaking or saying anything. The action of fighting small creatures and then jumping over a crevice with rocket boots add the awe and excitement that you want from a sci-fi film and the upbeatness and happy song behind gets your attention to the screen to see what happens along with the song.



What Lies Beneath
Setting - Starts in what seems like a normal house then moves into the steamy bathroom, restricting vision equals eeriness : "What can't you see?" Setting is in what seems like a normal house making it relate-able to the watcher making it feel more real like it could happen in their home.
Theme - Horror, classic horror scary noises, reflections in the mirror and writing in the mirror all signs of it.
Icons - The bath being filled up to the rim with no one being in the bathroom and then the writing in the mirrors steam these icons are used specifically to add to the horror scare type of this film.
Narrative - We follow this woman who lives in this "haunted house" and how she is interacting with this ghost that is in her life or how the ghost interacts with her.
Characters - Woman who seems to already know about the haunting ghost because she screams "What do you want" like the ghost has been around before and the creepy female ghost.
Text Analysis - The eery sound of high pitched violin slowly getting louder so it raises the tension as the womans gazes falls upon the steam coming out the bathroom and as she go to the door and opens it. The use of the reflection in a steamed mirror takes away the features of the ghost making it even scarier. The quick breathing from the actress adds to the high tension of the opening. The fact that this is the intro grabs the watchers attention because they know no context to anything that is happening making them want to keep watching to understand.

My choice..




Lord of War

Setting - Looks like the middle east, a warzone maybe as the floor is filled with bullet shells andf there are blown up cars.
Theme - Drama, Action, Biographical
Icons -  Bullet shells tell you it is to do with war, shooting and violence. The suit and briefcase on the man tells you he is a businessman not one necessarily fighting in the war.
Narrative - This man and his involvement with war and arms dealing shown through the following of a bullet on its journey from creation to being shot and killing someone, showing that this story will maybe show what the man thought was just business will ruin other peoples lives and maybe his own and shows this film is heavily about arms dealing and its impacts.
Character - Businessman/arms dealer selling weapons to anyone without knowing and or caring the impacts across the world.
Text Analysis - Sound of wind in beginning gives the impression that the place is desolate and empty and all the bullet shells and the bullet fire in background hints that maybe it is empty because of war. The character turns and talks directly to camera/to you, breaking the forth walk, maybe this is like he is talking to himself and this is his mind and he is talking to himself like a businessman telling themselves there goals with stats and analytics because the character talks of selling more guns. The following of he bullet truly shows how the arms dealer could be thinking how its is just selling an object, the bullet being in the factory just an object, but then once in a gun and fired it is not an object but a god like instrument taking away life, everything has a magnitude to it and the arms dealer isn't seeing this.

Semiotics (Do a film opening)

Semiotics Lesson

In today's lesson we learnt about Semiotics, the connotations and denotations you draw from them and Stuart Halls Theory, and how there are preferred reading and opposition reading with everything.

In class we analysed a poster advertising Glee the TV program about a choir and tried to draw connotations from the poster about the characters, their involvement with the story, why they are dressed a certain way how colours effect the interpretation of them etc.

Now I am going to analyse a different poster from a film...

Denotations

A poster promoting the film Whiplash.
A teacher stares/concentrates on student playing drums.
Student is playing drums quickly as seen by blurred drumstick.
Teacher is dressed all in black.
Student wears blue jeans with black t shirt.
Student is sweating.
Brown drum kit in the center.

Connotations

Teacher is crouched down and is tense like a crouched predator/animal ready to pounce, like the teacher is looking for anything to go wrong in the other character and can jump on them with anger and ferocity. This can be seen by the concentration on the teachers face staring at the student its not a happy stare it is a stare down waiting for something to go wrong almost like the teacher is angry at the student before he has even done anything wrong.
The student is playing the drums quickly as seen by the blur so he wants to impress the teacher and is trying his hardest to do so. This concentration can also be seen on the students face and how he is sweating so he really want to play these drums well.
The teacher is dressed all in black and is only illuminated by the light that is on the student therefore the teacher is actually in the dark like a shadow of the student and devil on his shoulder willing him on. Being dressed all in black could also have connotations of evil, the teacher could be seen as evil in the way he teaches his student.
The student is dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt so on top maybe he is hard and like his teacher but underneath (in legs with the jeans on) he is actually blue i.e emotional and has a soft side that he doesn't show his teacher in case he would take advantage of this softness, so the student is split.
The drum kit is in the center so the film centers around the drum kit, drums and playing the drums, the drum kit is also where both characters gazes are crossing and how they are either side of it looking shows they both will have a relationship with drums in the film.

Genre Photo Task

Genre Stills Task - Taking picture trying to embody a Genre of a film in a picture. Our genres were : Seasonal, Drama, Teen, Comedy and Family.

Seasonal - I tried to show the seasonal film genre by using the props of a Christmas tree to represent that it is Christmas season and then the teddy bear being held by the "child" to imply that is it is a Christmas present that would be given in the Christmas Season.

Comedy - These are a collection of photos to show comedy in the most classic form. Somebody falling over from slipping on a banana because in some really bad comedies people fall over and it is funny.

Family - This picture evokes the genre of Family though a big, laughing loving, family trying to all get under an umbrella. This shows the classic family film type of love and laughs.

Drama - From this still you get the sense of drama because it is very bare and leaves the viewers to have there own interpretation to what is going on i.e. An outsider in his community, standing alone, looking out iin to the distance metaphorically looking to a better a future that we will follow him on as a viewer or literally looking at those that he is different to.

Teen - This genre is shown through what is a gibbon in teen life and most teen films, a love triangle of two guys and one girl, the men fighting over the girl and who deserves the relationship or how both guys wanting the girl and how it is going to break the relationship she has with the guys by pulling her to one side.

Video Uploading

I learnt how to upload a video to my blog, by using the HTML tab in a new post and pasting the embed code from the video on there.