Rebecca Bell- A2 Media Film Project.

Pitch

2010-04-22T04:35:00.000-07:00

Evaluation

2010-04-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

My Teaser Trailer

2010-04-15T09:03:00.001-07:00

Mr and Mrs Smith Teaser Trailer

2010-01-27T09:27:00.000-08:00

Research into my Genre

2010-01-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

Romantic Thrillers

I chose this genre as i feel the best teaser trailers are the ones that incorporate emotion into them. If you have an emotional effect on your audience, it heightens the likelihood they'll want to see the film, as they are all ready involved.

http://www.rebeccayork.com/suspense.htm

When researching into this genre, i came across many film writers and directors. Rebecca York was one that interested me. She writes story plot lines for books, usually in the romantic thriller genre. Her stories are full of passion with a racy twist. I took a lot of inspiration from her work and incorporated her love for story telling.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art19086.asp

I came across this website where they analyze up and coming films, focusing on different genres.
Here i found a review for Mr & Mrs Smith, i would describe this film as the definition of a romantic thriller. The couple are assassins, who are married ( with complications!) . This film Mixes the key elements to attract both a male and female audience.

Audience Theories

2010-01-27T05:09:00.000-08:00

When studying the media we delved into all aspects of how the media, as a whole informs us our world. When you really think about it media is life. We tune into the news and radio, maybe even read newspapers and magazines. They all inform, entertain and educate us. But its the way they do it that creates opinions and this is why we all have different views on things. Its not what they tell us, its how they tell us.

This next video features a short film and interview with Marilyn Manson, who was accused of influencing the Columbine Massacre. The supposed 'influencing' was made through his lyrics and music videos.

The Hypodermic Syringe Theory
This idea suggests that the media inject ideas into peoples heads in many ways. Blaming events and tragedies on the easiest targets, for example Marilyn Manson. When i watched this film I felt quite sympathetic towards Manson. To me he seems like quite a decent and 'normal' guy, no different to those questioning him.

The Cultivation Theory
The way that the media hardens our emotions towards child abuse, violence and poverty. For example adverts for NSPCC can really touch you and make you feel emotion when first seen, but after a while they become second nature, which is sad but you learnt to accept that its just a part of life.

The Two Step Flow
This is the idea that people spread the media and inform others by word of mouth. In a social situation people tend to talk about the issues that are highly mediated, as a result of this peoples' views become contagious and influence others.

Vlog Episode 2

2010-01-27T05:08:00.001-08:00

Magazine front cover, Featuring my film.

2010-01-26T03:40:00.000-08:00

A THOUSAND WORDS

2010-01-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

Another student in my Media group found this short film on www.youtube.com. We watched it as a class and i was amazed at the reaction from us all! I was really touched by the film and it had a very emotional effect on the class. We watched this back in September but but now I've chosen my genre, I feel I was highly influenced by this film.

The film has a beautiful shot from inside the fridge, this is imaginative and allows us as an audience to get closer to the actors, its a personal shot. This shot was used here to add humor to the clip.
There was also a lot of close ups during the film, which showed intense emotion.
I noticed some panning when they're in the park together. Which was nice. It showed how they were intrested in each other and the attraction between them.
A 180* shot was used when they were sat at the table. This allowed us as an audience to see them from another angle, it was also quite an intimate shot as it was focused on their lips. Suggesting a sexual theme.
I enjoyed the editing within the film too, there were a few cross fades and fades to white, something that i am going to include into my film. I admired the lighting towards the end, with the candles and the shading on both faces, very beautiful shots.

Planning.

2010-01-24T06:01:00.000-08:00

CHARACTERS

I've got my characters sorted now, which is good because it took a long time finding the right people for the part! I've uploaded some images of them, so you can have a little look. :) I

(I'VE TOUCHED ON MY CHARACTERS IN MY SECOND EPISODE OF MY VLOG. WHERE I HAVE TALKED ABOUT THEM IN MUCH MORE DETAIL)

This is Megan Pigeon. playing 'Megan' She is my main Character, her role is the hardest. She plays a girl in love with two men, and is faced with the biggest decision of her life. She has to decide what she wants and choose her own fate. She makes a mistake by getting involved with another man and can't seem to get out of his hold. When she realizes what she is doing, it seems too late to fix things. Megan has a very emotional role and she's perfect for the part!

This is Nick Selby, playing 'Nick'. Nick's part plays the Fiance to Megan. They had been together for years and Nick plays innocent, not knowing whats going on behind his back. Although he gets the feeling that something isn't right.

This is Micheal Lowe. He is going to be playing 'Micheal' this is the character that Megan is cheating with. Micheal has some nasty characteristics. He keeps persuading Megan to finish things with Nick and live with him, but this isn't what Megan wants. She tries to tell him she doesn't want it anymore, but he refuses to listen. He is set on getting his own way.

LOCATIONS

For the parts indoors we are using Micheal's house. As it's large and the most suitable location to film. In Micheal's living room, he's chosen a red theme, which is also suiting to my trailer as i wanted to promote this colour, in films red usually stands for love. passion, lust and blood. Which suits my trailer perfectly, showing from an arly stage that something bad is going to happen.

For the parts filmed outside, using the car. We will use a car park, situated near Micheal's house.
In this scene Micheal is hit by the car, so we chose to use a car park, as this was the safest place.

VLOG EPISODE 1

2010-01-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

Vlog, a blog in the form of a video.
Filmed using my Samsung digital camera and uploaded via my PC.

A breif introduction to my media project, pointing out what i have planned to do and summarising a few introductory lessons we have had.

FILM POSTER FOR THE NOTE AND THE NECKLACE

2009-12-03T02:59:00.000-08:00

This was my first initial idea for a film poster. I chose the color scheme of red, black and white to promote the idea of passion and love, along with blood to hint the horror twist in my film. I also chose the black colour to hint and promote this idea to my audience.
Unlike the Trainspotting poster i have used a tag line for my film. The tag line is placed underneath the Actors and Actress's names and just above the characters heads. This tag line reads 'What happens when you risk everything?' I chose this tag to attract an audience that enjoys films with a thriller plot that is fast paced and jumpy. The font i used for the tag line also adds a dramatic feel to the poster. The tag is written in capitals, with an expand effect which allows the text to bulge out in the middle, creating almost a 3D effect.

Conventions of a film Poster.

2009-12-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

1) All 5 main characters have an equal visual layout above and below the film title.
2) Ewan McGreggor is the biggest A list star in this movie, and is therefore made quite obvious within the poster, to attract fans of his to see the film.
3)The film is directed by Danny Boyle, who is included within the poster, but not made too obvious as he is not a selling point of the film.
4)'Trainspotting' is the largest text on the poster, its placed in the centre of the poster, to draw the most attention. It is displayed in a bold font to be made even more obvious.
5)The harsh black and orange colour palette that has been used here is also a eye catching element to the film. Its very bold which promotes the fact that the film is very bold and touches on serious subjects.
6)The use of the black and white newspaper theme for imagery promotes a dated feel to the film, suggesting its set later than the present.
7)The way that the characters are dressed also adds a very dated theme for the poster. The males are looking very typical of the 80's as is the female.
8)The text at the bottom of the poster clearly states that it is a channel 4 production. This is a unique selling point for the film as many people are fans of channel 4 productions and will want to see the film purely for the fact they enjoy their other films.
9)The way that the characters are posed suggests that they are out causing trouble, or they've got themselves into a bit of mess. The way that one of the men has his fingers in the shape of a gun, promotes a very violent mood.
10)The poster and the film its self does not have a 'tag line' to sell itself, this tells me that the film speaks for itself and in a way makes me want to see the film even more, it holds an intriguing element that appeals to most people.
11) The small print at the bottom of the poster is clear but not large, although the names of directors and editors are high lighted in bold and made more apparent.

Funding for British films.

2009-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

While revising some media notes, i was reading up on fundng for the film industry. Before studing media, i never really took the time to think about where money for things like this comes from. Especially where someone like me could find funding for a film.
In my area there are a rew methods for finding funding. These are:

-EMM (East Midlands Media).
-Film Four, who funded Slumdog Millionaire.
-BB4.
-Working Title films. http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/trailers/index.htm
-Lottery funding (Last king of Scotland, This is England)
-First Light fund.
-Premier Fund.

My Trailer-Soundtrack.

2009-11-29T07:42:00.000-08:00

Whilst drafting my trailer, i decided that i would like to incorporate a soundtrack into my trailer-to reflect the mood and atmosphere portrayed on-screen. Ideally i wanted a fast pace drum and bass track to work alongside my trailer-this style of music has the elements that'd compliment the trailer.
So i had a look on Myspce.com to find an unsigned artist, (more likely they'll allow me to use their music) and i came across one artist called 'Dj Pdex' he mainly produces drum and bass and has played live at many venues in and around the UK. He has one track on his Myspace that really intrested me. it has a slow repetative melody and a fast drum beat underneath. I listen to the track and just pictured my trailer with this soundtrack, it felt right so i thought about asking him for media usage.
I mentioned to a co-worker in my media group that i had found an artist suitable for my project and it just so happens that my friend knows him and that it shouldn't be a problem using his work. I was very pleased with this result and here was his feedback:
-------------------------
Hi there Becci,
Thanks for checking my Myspace page and i'm very pleased you like my work.
Feel free to download and use the music & i'd love to see the end product.
Sam.
-------------------------
http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.popupplayer&sindex=-1.1&shuffle=false&amix=false&pmix=false&plid=37467&artid=5745939&profid=172729187&friendid=172729187&sseed=0&ptype=3&stime=0&ap=1&rpeat=false

So now i have my soundtrack sorted, i'm very happy and a lot more confident with my work. I'm also starting to feel quite excited about my project and can't wait to add my soundtrack to my trailer!

The British Film Industry.

2009-11-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

In the last few lessons we have studied the British Film Industry, this was widely inspiration and intresting. It was hugely exciting to explore the history behind the Film Industry in this country, we looked at funding for short films and how the British film scene competes with Hollywood and the large blockbusters within America, that they create.

British Cinema started in the early 1920's. When Robert W. Paul and Brit Acres made the first British Film called 'Incident at Clovelly Cottage'. By the late 1930's British Films started losing demand because of the competition from Hollywood, which was a real shame.
Even today its funny how we still fight for cinema showings of our own British films. Which brings me to the Cinematograph Films Act, that was put in place in 1927. This law ment that every single British Cinema had to show a number of British films per week, in order to boost box office admissions and help with funding. This law lasted 10 years, and unfortunately was pretty much unsuccessfull.
I found this topic very intresting, because it just made me think how much life has changed from the those days, but also how cinema has stayed the same, Britain still comes out with good, gripping films that push the bounderies. These are the sorts of films that people want to see. But we will still be at the side of the spotlight, next to our big brother, Hollywood.
Studing this wide topic has inspired me to make my teaser trailer. I can't wait to get my hands on the camera and really get some good effects with my work. I want to keep the dominant ideologies of my genre and be able to compare and contrast my work, to others'.

Media Therory. IDEOLOGY & NARRATIVES.

2009-11-05T02:14:00.000-08:00

In the past few weeks, in our Media lessons we have studied a variety of media concepts that i will need to include into my trailer. For example, we studied ideology over two or three lessons i found this extremely intresting and helpful, as i never really deconstructed films while i watched them and thought about what it is that makes the film a specific genre.
IDEOLOGY: is an organised system of beliefs and values that inform the basis on which a particular society operates.
Within a society there might be different ideologies at play representing different sets of social interests, for example religious and non-religious people. This can cause problems, but in a away this adds to our culture that has many views on everything.

We also touched on Narritives. The root of the word Narrative comes from latin. Which translates into 'to make known'. Thre plot of a film is the narrative as its read, seen or heard. from the first to the last word or image. Its what the reader percieves.
The story is the narrative in chronological order, the abstract order of events as they follow each other. This is what the reader and the audience concieves or understands.
Science fiction Narratives was an area i found intresting. This is what you would expext to see, in a film of this genre. There are 6 suggested Sci-Fi Narratives. The Monster Scare/The threat by Aliens/ Physical violence/cultural domination...etc. This is how the audience will read the genre and enjoy the film.

Introduction.

2009-09-10T02:59:00.000-07:00

For my Media project i have decided to make a teaser trailer, working on my own. In today's lesson we analyzed different film genres. Touching on the wide area of film areas highly inspired me and i now have my chosen theme of a romantic thriller.

PSYCHO TRAILER (1960)

When watching this trailer, I find it amazing how it immediately grips and holds the audience. This is something that i would like to incorporate into my own teaser trailer. The power of gripping your audience is a key element in thriller films, it can also be incredibly scary for the viewer, if you can hold the audience by a thread, ready to drop. You have them in the perfect mind set for a very successful, memorable movie.

Short Films We Discussed

The Sandman.

German Puppet Animation.
This short film plays on childhood fears and has the ability to scare the audience and hook the viewers. It plays on ideology with the moon as a significant image.

The Fan and the Flower

the Fan and the Flower from Cavvie Bartjanello on Vimeo.

Such a lovely film, with simple animation. Creating a story out of something so simple and creating such a beautiful picture is something quite special.