Research Videos - What I Learned

I thought that the videos were really helpful for giving information about how to do research properly. There were parts of the video that I already knew about, such as primary and secondary research and that information can be found on the internet and in books but I wasn't aware that there is an incorrect way to search on Google. I learned that there are lots of irrelevant links on the internet as people are able to post anything they want, therefore, not all of the information is reliable. I also learned about Scholarly Journal Articles which are used for more specific information and that valid research can be done by watching the special features on a DVD and by watching TV programs and documentaries. Relevant research can also be found on social networking websites but not all of the information is reliable.

Exam Questions

1. Analyse the two film posters commenting on:-

• Visual Codes
• Layout and Design
• Genre Conventions

The Sex and the City 2 (SATC) poster is good for advertising the film. The first thing that is noticable about this text is that the four women on the poster are close together and they look happy which suggests that they are friends and they are happy together. The characters are looking directly at the camera and smiling. This makes the characters seem approachable and friendly and relatable to the audience. The fact that Sarah Jessica Parker is standing slightly further forward than the others suggests that she is the main character of the film. The camera shot is a low angle shot which gives a hint of glamour as this is the shot that is mainly used in high fashion magazines. This is a good idea because the content of the film is generally fashion. The costumes that have been used are very plain colours. This isnt a problem because it means that the recognisable faces of the characters have more of a focus on them. The material of the costumes are silky and the scarf which is floating accross the characters suggests that they are in the desert and these costumes would be appropriate. However, although they are appropriate desert clothing, they also have a hint of glamour and are extremely feminine because they are wearing stilettos which may be of interest to the audience. The costumes also show the muscular structure of the women's arms, showing that they clearly take care of themselves which makes them aspirational to other women. The background of the poster is quite plain as the reader is only able to see sand and sky. However, this means that the reader knows that the film is not set in Manhattan like the first film and the television series, which may make the audience more interested as the readers know that they are going to see the characters, who are extremely well known, go on a journey. The font that has been used is gold and silver and sparkly. This makes it look expensive and also its quite feminine.

Exam Questions

Exam Questions...

a. Choose 1 of the film posters. Suggest two different audiences for this film. Give brief reasons for your choice.
The film poster that I have chosen to talk about is ‘The A-Team.’ Two audiences for this film would be men aged around 15 to 35. The reason for this is because it appears to be an action film which would make men interested. If the audience was too young, they may find it too violent and an older audience may not enjoy explosions and other aspects of this genre of film. It looks like an action film because of the masculine stance of the characters and the costumes that they are wearing and the fact that their facial expressions are serious. Another audience could be fans of the actors in the film. Even though their names are not on the poster, the actors on the poster are instantly recognisable. This means that people who enjoy other films that the actors have been in will be interested in seeing this film. The men on the poster show that the film is for a mainly male audience, however, some of the actors may be appealing to women which would make them interested in the film. The font that is used is metallic with nails in it which makes it look as though the people are 'hard.' The tagline "There is no plan B" shows that the characters are clearly set out to do something dangerous which may be interesting to men, as they may find danger exciting.

   b.  Using either of the film posters explain how the main audience for the film has been targeted.

On the 'Sex and the City 2' poster, the main audience would be women aged around 18 to 40. This audience has been targeted because it is clear that this film is for women because there are 4 female protagonists. Even though the colour scheme is not particularly feminine, the font is sparkly and gold which indicates that this film is for a female audience. The reason that this film would be for a young to middle aged audience is because the title is "Sex and the City" which indicates that there will be scenes of a sexual nature. This suggests that the film would be inappropriate for young audiences and the film may not appeal to older audiences. Because "Sex and the City" is a famous franchise, people who have seen the first film and the TV series would be interested in seeing the film. If they haven’t seen either, the actresses names at the top of the poster could be enough to make people interested seeing the film. The fact that the background shows the characters on the beach, means that the film is set somewhere other than New York where the first one is set which would be interesting to the audience as they would want to see the characters in a different situation. The girls on the poster look happy and as there are no men on the poster, shows that it is not  a classic rom com that people may find boring but is a chick flick that girls would want to watch with their friends.

c. What different uses are available to a range of audiences from different media texts? Refer to your own detailed examples.

Research

For my film, I am creating a Science Fiction film based on an original story that I wrote called 'Ctrl, Alt, Delete.' I decided that the target audience for my film would be secondary school age and above because I felt that this would be old enough to understand what is going on and young enough to think about whether what happens in the film really could happen in the future. I discovered that there are lots of science fiction fans in the world so I needed to make sure that these people would look at my script, poster and DVD cover and decide that they would go to see my film. I would also make my film aimed at a mostly male audience because, from my research, I discovered that males were generally more interested in science fiction than females. I think the main audience for my film would be people who enjoy and are interested in science e.g. more intelligent people. For the pre production task, I created a script. To research this, I gave my story to a group of people who became my focus group and asked them if they would watch a film based on this idea. I got positive feedback for this so decided to keep the idea and use it for my script. I then looked at some websites to find the correct layout of a script and the best possible way for me to present it. I discovered that scripts are generally written using courier font. The websites that I used for this research were

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/ and others. I found that these websites were helpful because they were very informative when it came to layout and how to set out the stage directions. I then sat down with my focus group and showed them a first draft of my script. Most of them said that they liked it but gave me things to improve on such as more camera angle information and more stage directions. I took this feedback on board and changed some of the ideas for camera angles etc. I also watched the opening scenes of some science fiction movies such as Wall-E and Avatar. When watching these films, I discovered that they used a lot of high tech computers and facilities which I felt would be important in my film. I also used Google images to find some inspiration for setting and even characters. I searched for the Top 10 highest grossing films of the past 10 years and I found out that 'Avatar' was the highest, it made $761 million. It was also the highest grossing film of all time. This was closely followed by 'Star Wars: Episode I' which made $475 million. I realised that people enjoyed films that have lots of special effects. I found this research very helpful because I then knew what kind of film people were interested in and I was able to base some of my ideas on this e.g. the idea of computers and high tech facilities.

Evaluation of The Hobbit Project

I was asked to create a project based on the film 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.' The first thing I did when starting this task was to watch the film in the cinema. I enjoyed it and used some of the ideas in my project.

I looked at the trailer for the film. I thought that it was very effective because it shows the genre of the film clearly and it makes the audience excited about the long awaited film. I compared this with the trailer for Lord of the Rings and I found that they were similar. The reason for this is because they were directed by the same person, Peter Jackson. Both films are also from the same genre. I then compared the posters for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Both posters contain the same type of colour scheme (grey, gold, red and black.) I also looked at Harry Potter posters. I found that all three styles of posters contained the main character or any main character of the film. I found that the more simple posters worked better than the complicated ones. I decided to use Gollum on my poster because he is a well known character and he is also liked by younger people who I find would be the target audience for this film. I also used the same colour scheme that is found on The Hobbit posters (gold writing and dark grey background.) I kept my poster simple by making it a character poster which contained a picture of the character, the name of the film and 'Coming Soon' to create a sense of anticipation.

I asked people that I knew (my dad, my brother, my friends and cousins) whether they wanted to see The Hobbit. I discovered that the people who were more interested in the film were male. However, the females who were interested in the films were also interested in other fantasy films like Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games. I made my DVD cover and poster more aimed at a male audience. I created a mood board containing pictures from the book and the film. This made it easier for me to see the types of colours and the styles used in the film.

I think my poster is a little bit too simple and probably could have been more detailed but I did take into consideration the style of a character poster, the colours and the conventions of the style of film. In the script, I made the important parts of the stage directions capitalised so that the certain departments making the film would know what to include and what they need to make for the scene. I typed it to look like a proper script using courier font.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Evaluation continued...

Highlights of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour:-

• The lesson on the Script to Screen process. I found this really interesting and very beneficial for the course and possibly my future.
• Seeing the sets and costumes from the films. I enjoyed this because it really helps us appreciate the amount of work and effort that goes into making these films.
• The wand room at the end of the tour. It was really interesting to find out how many people work on these films and the amount of credit that these people gain.
• The creatures department. I never realised how many creatures were created for the films and the amount of details used.

Overall, I think that this experience was an amazing one and I have learned a lot about how films are created from a single idea and transformed into a motion picture. I have learned about the importance of creating a storyboard and script before making a film. I think that this will be very helpful throughout the course. 

Warner Bros. Film Studio Tour Evaluation.

11/12/12
We went to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Leavesden, England. We went as part of our media course which is about film and moving image.
We took the bus from school at 10am and arrived at the Studios and 1:30pm. First we went to the gift shop until 3pm when we started the tour. First, we watched a short film from the three main actors Daniel Radliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. We then started to tour the different sets on the film. Before the tour, we had a lesson about 'Script to Screen.' The tour lasted three hours and we all gained lots of knowledge and learned about different things to do with Harry Potter and the film industry.

The 'Script to Screen' lesson was very interesting and very benficial. The person who was giving the talk (Will) told us everything about the process of taking a film from the script to the screen. We learnt about the fact that a film idea can come from anywhere; Imagination, TV Series', real life experiences, historical events and in this case, books. We learnt that when pitching a film idea, the person with the idea must use 25 words or less to get their point across. The pitch for Harry Potter was "a boy who goes to wizard school." Once the pitch has been approved, the treatment is written. The producer of the film can hire a professional to do this as the treatment is only allowed to be half a page long so it has to be interesting straight away. After the treatment has been approved, the script can then be written. The script usually has names printed across the front to stop anyone stealing it. This idea was introduced by Stephen Spielberg. The lines for the actors are indented to show the difference between the stage directions and the lines. In the stage directions, the most important words are capitalised to show each department (lights, camera, makeup, costume etc.) what they need to do in each scene. The storyboard is then created. The storyboard is used to show what is going to happen in the scene and what camera angles are going to be used. The storyboard contains brief stage directions and the lines of the actors at that moment. The storyboard and the scene are not necessarily  the same. There will be some differences. The camera angles may not work so need to be changed and other characters and props may be added.

Next blog contains the top highlights of the Harry Potter Studio Tour...