BLK feedback

Please get those links done as a matter of urgency Daniel, thank you.

BLK feedback

great clips and analysis - you're getting more technical by the day Daniel!

Ask me about the clips and we'll sort them out.

Research: Types of Camera shot in film clips

This is a scene from the first Pirates of the Carribean film. Not the first film that springs to mind, I know, but there's some good camera work in it:

• 0:00- big close up so that the audience cannot see the entire scene and does not know what is going on- only a reaction to what is happening.
• 0:10- long shot to show the main focus of the scene.
• 0:14- Mid- close up to show his reaction to this action.
• 0:16- Forward track following his movements across the scene to capture his struggle to cross the sand.
• 0:20- Moving subject into space: he travels forward so that camera has both characters and the fire in the background, while the continuity that he has been running towards her is upheld.
• 0:28- Over the shoulder shot to more effectively capture her anger directed at him.
• 0:59- Tilt, which has the camera show a sand dune before travelling upwards to show the main scene, with the island stretching away into the background. This would appear to be to show that the location has changed to a different part of the island, and we are shown how far away it is when the full panorama is revealed.

This is a scene from one of the Star Trek films, where Mr. Spock is dying. At least I can be sure that no-one else will have chosen the same films as me...

• 0:56- pan to show the journey of the Captain, his speed and urgency shown by his running along the corridor.
• 2:33- 2 shot showing the closeness of the tow characters, emphasising the emotion of the scene as Spock dies.
• 4:21- brief high angle shot looking down on the two characters, with the Captain collapsed in despair, and the movement in the scene very still, emphasising how low down they both are.
• 4:27- Crane showing the coffin descending, while showing the crowd gathered at the funeral, setting the scene.
• 5:47- Reverse track as the coffin moves backwards, taking in the gathering at the funeral, showing how many are present.

BLK feedback

Excellent analysis and reflections on your horror shot - super work Daniel!

Please add a link to the foundation portfolio blog. Also you needs some external film website links

THR Feedback

Late. However good notes!

Film Distribution Video Notes

Release of a Film:

• The distributors have to see who the movie is best going to appeal to, and then create an advertising campaign aimed at that group.
• The budget of the advertising has to be decided on.
• The distributors then consider partnerships with various media, who can then promote the film.
• The stars of the movie can actively promote their film, by creating publicity for it. A premier of the film is an option, often with the stars of the film turning up in public to watch it.
• The film can be promoted through outside posters, or on the television/ radio, depending on what will reach the chosen audience best.

Positioning and Audiences:

• The film's genre and target age-group have to be defined.
• If the director is a big name, this should be advertised to people who are likely to have heard of them.
• 15-24 year olds are the most avid movie-goers- many films are targeted at them.

Target Audience:

• Data as to who went to past films helps to define a target audience's gender, age, lifestyle and type of media consumption, but it is never certain if the predicted target audience is correct.
• Different groups of people are reached through diffferent media. Some age groups need to be promoted to repeatedly before making a descision.
• The film must be promoted to as wide an audience as possible, but still with main focus on the target audience.

Competition:

• The film must be more appealing than other films on offer.
• School holidays are the busiest times of year, and the weather at that time of year is also a factor.
• Posters and billboards are more useful than television promotion in hot weather.

Budget:

• The budget includes the cost of buying the original prints of the film and their shipping cost and costs of advertising.
• The advertising budget can go to TV or radio commercials, poster design, online banners.
• The budget has to be divied wisely between different things.
• TV advertising costs much more than other forms of promotion, and sometimes doesn't reach that big an audience.

Word of Mouth:

• If the distributors have the movie in time, and think it will have an impression great enough to cause word of mouth, they can show free advance screenings.
• People can win the chance to watch these screenings through media such as magazines or television shows, and will then tell people about the film and encourage them to see it.
• The prospective audience increases in this way.
• People are more likely to believe their friend's opinions on a movie as opposed to the wider media's opinion.
• The film's duration in cinemas depends on the word of mouth. If the general opinion is a bad one, the movie will cease to be shown.

Marketing Plan:

• The film can be advertised on the TV and radio and through posters. This is more expensive.
• The film can also be promoted through stories about the production and interviews with the cast and crew appearing in newspapers.
• Interviews with the stars can appear on television programmes.
• Younger audiences can be reached through advertising on websites, bus shelters, and on the radio.

Film Trailers:

• Trailers in the cinema are useful because you are in the environment in which you will eventually see the film.
• The audience gets a closer sense of the experience than through any other advertising.
• The sound and special effects, as well as the concept of the film must be clearly portrayed through the trailer.

Digital Marketing:

• Viral marketing is when something related to the film is sent to people. This thing, e.g. a humourous or exciting clip, a quiz, etc must be so good that the people who recieve it then send it on to othr people.
• Word of mouth is a form of viral marketing, as knowledge of the film spreads across the prospective audience. Digital marketing can inspire word of mouth.

Test Screenings:

• Poster ideas, film ideas and trailers are test screened before release to make sure that they live up to people's expectations.
• It is important to make sure that the central ideas are coming across.
• An audience, often from the target audience is shown the film, and focus groups are interviewed as to the strengths and weaknesses of what they have seen. This can lead to parts of a movie being changed.

Persuading Cinemas:

• The cinemas must be convinced to show the films.
• Some independent films are more difficult to offer to cinema chains.
• The release is a joint venture between the distributor and the exhibitor.
• Blockbusters can be booked into several cinema chains at once.
• The maximum advance booking for a cinema is two weeks, after which it can be taken off the screen.

The Opening Weekend:

• The audience figures over the opening Friday, Saturday and Sunday decide what happens to a film. On the monday morning, the descision is made whether or not to keep the film on.
• If the film has recieved the lowest ratings in that cinema, it is not shown again.
• The distributor and exhibitor share the profit, and distributors usually recieve only 30-40% of the gross receipt.

Profit:

• Pirated DVDs account for around 20% of UK sales.
• Pirate DVDs often seem like a bargain, but possess inferior quality.
• The money made may end up funding more serious criminal activities.

This is the horrifying still taken by my group. This image was actually not planned, but improvised while we were in a dark, suitably spooky, corridor.
This shot depicts a long shot of a male in almost complete darkness. The only light is a bright shaft of light illuminating one side of his face and torso. It could be seen as horror due to most of the body being in utter darkness, with what can be seen being ghostly, shadowed and ghoulishly distorted in the extremely low- key lighting. His head is on one side, suggesting that he is staring at the camera from the darkness. His clothes look as if they are draped in a cobwebby substance, suggesting something long- dormant. The face is shadowed and sunken, and has a red glow, suggesting danger of some kind. The prevalent theme is of something unknown, looking as if it is about to come towards the audience, provoking a reaction of fear.
To achieve the effect, our performer stood in an underground corridor, a short distance away from the camera, so that a long shot was achieved, and held a light at waist height, pointing up at his face, illuminating himself only partially.
Our shot is successful because the figure looks mysterious and threatening towards the audience. The low- key unnatural lighting caused his face to look blank and mask-like, and more scary. The poor lighting causes the body to look overall malformed and inhuman, and something to be wary of, making our still very horrifying.
With hindsight, and maybe even with some actual planning, we could have disguised the light better. Looking at it, it appears to be what it is: a professional light held in someones hand, pointing upwards. With only minor disguising, it can look like a mysterious unexplained light emanating from the figure's hand. It does actually look as if the figure is covered in cobwebs. If this were actually the case, the image could possibly work even better. But overall, our still is almost perfect in its horrifying imagery.

THR Feedback

Great start Daniel - detailed, intelligent and accurate - GREAT!

BLK feedback

and long may your blogging career last - happy days daniel, a great start :-)

Research: Sequence Three Analysis

Shot 1: This is a mid-shot of a man lying on a jetty. His hand is raised, so the audience has a close up of his gun, pointing slightly past the camera, emphasising that he is about to fire. The man is well dressed, wearing a tie and an expensive jacket. It's a high angle shot, looking down on the man as he lies. The boards of the jetty seem canted to the audience, as the man is at an angle to them, and the view is of the man laying "upright" in the centre of the frame. This is more naturalistic, as it may seem contrived if the man was lying parallel to the direction of the wooden boards. The scene is quite brightly lit, but there are shadows around the man's eyes and mouth, giving his face a sunken and corpse-like look. He is clutching at the side of his head, which, along with the fact that he has fallen to the floor, strongly suggest that he is wounded.
Shot 2: This shot is a high-angle shot, looking down on the jetty as a second man holds the wounded man lying on the jetty at gunpoint. The jetty is again well lit, presumably from the buildings behind the jetty. It is a long shot to include both gunmen and much of the jetty. It is low-key lighting, as there is much shadow from buildings and wooden posts. The wounded man's knees are raised, showing that he has fallen awkwardly. The camera is looking slightly over the standing man's shoulder at the spreadeagled wounded character. One of his hands, the hand that was holding the gun in the previous shot, has been badly damaged/ completely severed. In the monochrome image, blood is a white fluid, so that the eye is drawn to it, as it splatters the jetty and the characters' clothes. The wounded man is shown very obviously to be helpless, his remaining hand outstretched. The standing man wears a long coat, stereotypical detective clothing, and is pointing his gun at the man he has just shot, his posture suggesting that he is ready to fire again.
Shot 3: The lighting in this shot is quite bright, and the audience is shown that the light source is from the large buildings behind the jetty and the cityscape in the background. As the light is naturalistic, there is a lack of filler lights, and the lighting is thus low-key. It is a long shot of the three characters on the jetty, all the characters at different levels: one man standing upright, as an observer to the proceedings, another character leaning over to talk to the third character, the wounded man lying on the ground. The middle character has lighter clothing than the others, possibly reflecting that he is not as sinister and mysterious as the other characters. We see that they are near the end of the jetty, so there is a possible danger of falling into the water.
Shot 4: This is a tighter shot of the previous image, but it is still a long shot. The light from the city in the background is more obvious in this image. The light is reflecting off the jetty, showing that the wood is damp from the water. It is a low angle shot, at the height of the jetty, so that the characters are above us. It is a side-on shot, as we view the wounded man having a gun aimed at him by the person that has already shot him. The wounded man has raised his damaged arm, possibly as instinctive protection. The wounded man is in the lower third of the frame, while the standing man fills almost the entire image. Much of the background is a featureless night sky, fitting the dark situation going on in the scene. The standing character's coat is blowing out behind him- a dramatic pose which emphasises his heroic characteristics. There appears to be a covered object in the foreground, adding an element of mystery.
Shot 5: This is an extreme close-up of a young girl. This uses low-key lighting, and the girl's face is partially in shadow. The focus is on the girl- the background is out of focus. The light is reflected in the girl's eyes and on her cheek, which shows that she has been crying. The girl is leaning forwards slightly, and it is obvious that she is being restrained by something, holding her back from what is upsetting her.
Shot 6: Shot 6 returns to the jetty, this time shooting in the direction that reveals the buildings (a dockyard?) behind the jetty that casts light onto the scene. It is a long shot, with the character in the lighter coat leaning over, indicative of fatigue, while another character stands watching him in the background. This character appears quite sinister due to his dark clothing and also to the light framing him from behind. The third character is lying, dead, on the jetty. This long shot gives the opportunity to see along the entire length of the jetty. The lighting is one of extreme contrast: The top of the jetty is very brightly lit from behind, while the bottom of the jetty is in darkness. The dead character's clothing is splattered with white blood.

The beginning of an era(?)

So, here I am, beginning my first ever Blog. I don't really know why I'm doing this rather than launching straight into my homework, except that it would seems rather impolite and awkward. Anyway, there we go.