On the
9th of February 2016, I attended a study day at the
British Film Institute (BFI) located on the Southbank. I did this as a part of my research into distribution and how distributors attract their audiences. The presenter at the institute was
Matthew Hall.
At first, we looked at 3
definitions of types of films debuting in a cinema, which were 'Multiplex', 'Arthouse' and 'Crossover/Prestige'. All the examples we looked at on the study were
British films, since we were specifically looking at how British films
attract a national audience, within the UK and a
international audience, such as the USA.
A
'Multiplex' audience are films which would target a
large audience. These films most likely have a big budget and A-list stars in the film. An American example of a 'Multiplex' film would be
The Avengers or
Jurassic World, which have budgets over $100 million and contain actors like Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth. The example we looked at the BFI was
Kingsman: The Secret Service, which had a budget of $81 million, which is relatively large for a British film and have famous British actors, like Colin Firth.
An
'Arthouse' audience are films which are
independent and have a
low budget. These films usually have
small audiences like
Short Term 12, which either get debuted on
online distributing services like Netflix, Vimeo etc. or at
film festivals, which
Short Term 12 did at the SXSW festival. However, some independent films which have low budgets do get released into cinemas, such as the films we looked at on the study day, which were
The Woman in Black and
A Royal Night Out. These films had low budgets and an equally low box office, however,
The Woman In Black had a high box office, since it contained an
A-list star, which was Daniel Radcliffe, which would have attracted a lot of audiences. This usually happens in 'Arthouse' films
to attract a bigger audience to see the film, such as
The Imitation Game, which contains the famous British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch.
A
'Crossover/Prestige' audience are films which get
recognised by award organizations, such as Academy Awards, BAFTAs and the Golden Globes. These films may either be
independent and low-budget, like
Room and
Brooklyn or these films can contain a
large audience appeal, A-list actors and a big budget like
The Revenant and
The Martian. The film we looked at on the study day was
The Selfish Giant, which had debuted at a film festival and had received critical acclaim.
From looking at these 3 types of films, I have learned how films are categorised in the industry and how various films are targeted towards specific audiences. This gives me a further understanding of what I will categorise my film (Focus) in.
On the study day, we also looked at
how films are advertised and distributed. The
release date is an important aspect of how the film will do in commercial grossing, since they may have some competition. Such as
Jurassic World debuted in Summer 2015, and had
competition with
Ant Man and
Terminator Genisys, which have a similar action genre. As well, some films are targeted to specific times of the year, such as
horror films being released close to
Halloween and prestige films which are
expected to get nominated and win awards are usually released
between September and December, so that they can get recognition from the Academy Awards, BAFTAs and Golden Globes.
Cross-media synergy is a
multiplatform technique and is
institutional collaboration. This is when a form of media works together with a company to promote both their products. This benefits both of the products since they are both being advertised. Matthew Hall further explained into how the marketing campaign will effect the success of the film, like it's
P&A and
social media advertising.
We were shown an
independent film funded by the BFI named
'71. The film is about English soldier Gary Hook, a new recruit to the British Army, takes leave of his much younger brother Darren. Hook's platoon of British soldiers is sent to Belfast in 1971 in the early years of the Troubles. After the film, one of the
producers came and had an
interview among the people at the study day about
how the film was produced and the various steps taken for it to be fully developed and advertised.
The film
'71 was
nominated for 8 British Independent Film Awards and won for Best Director, which is a grand achievement. This is the sort of film,
Focus would become if it were to be developed into a full-length feature film.
I decided that I should document what sort of mistakes we made during the walking scene in Wimbledon and how we improved them in the walking scene in Esher. I decided to compile my information into a video, since I feel this was an effective way of presenting the solution.
When looking at which company would distribute our film, we looked at two distributors which administer independent films. The companies were Warp and Vertigo. We researched what sort of films each of the film companies produced, so we could grasp what type my film would be if it was distributed into a full-length feature film.
From this synopsis, my film would be deemed a psychological thriller. As well, I thought that if our film would be fully produced, it would be considered a prestige film, which means that it would be recognised by Awards organisations and get nominated for organizations which recognise independent films, such as the British Independent Film Awards.
On the 9th of February 2016, I attended a study day at the British Film Institute (BFI) located on the Southbank. I did this as a part of my research into distribution and how distributors attract their audiences. The presenter at the institute was Matthew Hall.
A 'Multiplex' audience are films which would target a large audience. These films most likely have a big budget and A-list stars in the film. An American example of a 'Multiplex' film would be The Avengers or Jurassic World, which have budgets over $100 million and contain actors like Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth. The example we looked at the BFI was Kingsman: The Secret Service, which had a budget of $81 million, which is relatively large for a British film and have famous British actors, like Colin Firth.
On the study day, we also looked at how films are advertised and distributed. The release date is an important aspect of how the film will do in commercial grossing, since they may have some competition. Such as Jurassic World debuted in Summer 2015, and had competition with Ant Man and Terminator Genisys, which have a similar action genre. As well, some films are targeted to specific times of the year, such as horror films being released close to Halloween and prestige films which are expected to get nominated and win awards are usually released between September and December, so that they can get recognition from the Academy Awards, BAFTAs and Golden Globes.
We were shown an independent film funded by the BFI named '71. The film is about English soldier Gary Hook, a new recruit to the British Army, takes leave of his much younger brother Darren. Hook's platoon of British soldiers is sent to Belfast in 1971 in the early years of the Troubles. After the film, one of the producers came and had an interview among the people at the study day about how the film was produced and the various steps taken for it to be fully developed and advertised.
For looking into further research of how the sociopath displays his women and what he makes them do, to further my knowledge of the objectification of women in film, I read an article by Daniel Chandler, where he discusses about Laura Mulvey's theory 'The Male Gaze' which derives from her article titled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In the article she declares that 'Men look and Women are looked at', which refrence that women are seen as objects for male pleasure and attention. She further states how ‘pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’.
In the article, she mainly argues about how in various feature films, women are posed sexually and made to act provocatively. For example, in films like Die Another Day and Bad Teacher, both Halle Berry and Cameron Diaz are shown wearing revealing clothing that portrays women as passive objects of desire for men in both the story and in the audience. This example can be related to a quote by Schroeder, where he says that 'Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view'
However, in recent years both Steve Neale and Richard Dyer have argued this point and said that there has been a growing display of male bodies in mainstream film, which could be considered as being sexually objectified, such as going shirtless. For example, the film Magic Mike depicts the life of a male stripper.
After various rough sketches we finished with two final sketches which we thought were respectablely complex, yet not too crowded. My sketch is the one to the left, which solely consists of Sam with the title, tagline and billing block. Bea's sketch is the one to the right, which consists of an extreme close up of Sam's face, including square-shaped images, which would have been photos of Jasmine and Ana. The title and tagline were in the top left-hand corner. We decided to choose my sketch idea over hers. Despite, previously saying that we would consider putting as well the victim's face along with the sociopath's face. Beatrice and I decided that we wanted the poster to be focused on Sam only.
After we made the final decision on the sketch we would base the poster on, we had to do a quick photoshoot of James Eager, who portrays the role of Sam in the film. We did this in the art studio with a white backdrop. The reason, we did this so was that when it came to editing the poster and manipulating the image it would be easy to remove the white background. I asked James if he could wear a black jumper so it blends in with the background which on the final poster will be black. Chloe was the person who took the pictures of James with the Canon 750D. When it came to the photoshoot, James and Chloe were efficient with their time by taking various shots and various angles, so that we could see what would look best on the poster.
Bea and I were the editors of the poster and we did all of our work of the poster using photoshop, since we felt that this was a convenient and practical tool, since we could do a variety of effects on Photoshop, such as blurring James' spots from his face, changing the background from white to black and adding texts onto the image.
Chloe and Bea were the editors for the title shot and constructed through photoshop. Since we wanted incorporate our story into the title shot we decided for it not to be blank, like the title shot of Black Swan, where the only thing visible is the title among a black background.
Bea thought of the idea that in the middle of the 'o' in Focus, there could be a camera lens, which refers to how the sociopath in the film is a photographer. Another aspect, which Bea thought up of which would link the title shot to the story was that around the camera, there could be a REC sign, which indicates a recording camera, which again refers to the photographer aspect of the film.
