Friday 29 April 2016

WELCOME MODERATOR

Alex Davies 1313
Claremont Fan Court School 64680

Welcome to my blog for Media!

For my AS Media production, I worked with Beatrice Chavdarova 1309, Chloe McDowell 1377 and James Eager 1372.

I hope you enjoy my blog, which contains work on the G321, the titles and openings of my psychological thriller film called 'FOCUS' about a sociopathic photographer.

My evaluation questions are above.

Tuesday 22 March 2016

CONSTRUCTION: RE-SHOT OF SHOPPING SCENE AFTER FEEDBACK

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.

I constructed and edited the entire video with  Final Cut Pro.

HERE is a link to the video





Wednesday 16 March 2016

PLANNING: CALL SHEET #9

9) RELATIONSHIP MOMENT

Shoot Date: 21st March 2016

Location: Behind the Mansion, Claremont Fan Court School



Crew:
Bea Chavdarova: 7896 ******
Chloe McDowell: 7472 ******
James Eager: 7531 ******

Equipment:
Canon 750D Camera
Tripod

Props:
Prop Camera for James

Wardrobe:
Sociopath's Attire:
Blue Shirt
Navy Blue Blazer
Navy Blue Trousers
Black Shoes

Jasmine's Attire:
Plain Top
Pencil Skirt
Black Shoes
Black Jacket

Thursday 25 February 2016

PLANNING: WHY I CHOSE WARP?

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.

My film focuses on a young sociopathic photographer named SAM has exacting standards and is critical when it comes to his photography. He is engaged to a girl named JASMINE. However, when she begins to get creeped out by him, so therefore he stalks her by taking photos of her when she's out with her friends and investigates her life in order to control it and for her to be only his.

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.

Warp distributes films which are usually critically acclaimed and get nominated for awards, like our film would hopefully do. For example, '71 got nominated for 8 British Independent Film Awards and won for Best Director. This example fits perfectly with our film. Whereas, Vertigo produces films which are for wider audiences, such as Monsters and StreetDance 3D. Therefore, I would pick Warp to distribute our film. 

Monday 22 February 2016

RESEARCH: BFI STUDY DAY

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.

Sunday 31 January 2016

CONSTRUCTION: LAURA MULVEY - VISUAL PLEASURE AND NARRATIVE CINEMA

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.

In the past 5 years, both male and female bodies are usually objectified is some ways on either film or television. Nowadays, films which depict male bodies in a sexual way are considered fine by mainstream media. This isn't the same case, when it comes to women, since if women are depicted in sexual ways, there is usually a controversey on how the women are perceived in a revealing way.

For example, films like Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL, depict men in a sexual way by them stripping down and posing for women, which makes the male body seem quite like an object for the women's fantasy. In 2011, the NBC network was under criticism for their new show, The Playboy Club, which revolves around the lives of Playboy bunnies in the 1960s, which can easily be mirrored to the Magic Mike franchise on how both of the forms of media are about a group of a gender strips in sexually ways for the other. However, The Playboy Club was a subject of vast controversy and feminists such as Gloria Steinem boycotted the show saying that it "normalized the concepts of male dominance and prostitution", which clearly wasn't the case for Magic Mike. This shows how nowadays there's a hypocrisy when it comes to the sexual depiction of gender.