Film Institution Research

20TH CENTURY FOX
20th Century Fox is one of the most well known film istituitions, and is responsible for many of the most popular and well acclaimed films, such as: Avatar, The A Team, Life of Pi and Titanic. The company was founded by Joseph M. Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck in 1935. Fox are also repsonible for a large amount of popular TV series, including: The Simpsons, Family Guy, Glee, Modern Family and Bones.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES



Paramount is another one of the major six film institutions. It was founded in 1912 as Famous Players Film Company, but was then later founded as Paramount Pictures in 1916. Paramount is resposnible for films such as: Transformers, Thor, Paranormal Activity, The Dictator and GI Joe.




UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
Universal Studios was founded in 1912 by: Carl Laemmle, Pat Powers, Mark Dintenfass, William Swanson, David Horsley, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel and Jules Brulatour. Universal is responsible for films such as Mr Bean's Holiday, The Worlds End, Despicable Me, The Bourne Legacy and The Purge.





DISNEY

Walt Disney Pictures was founded in 1950 by Walt Disney and is respnsible for mainly children films, but it also does cover other genres. Some examples are: Toy Story, The Jungle Book, Lion King, Alice in Wonderland and UP.







WB PICTURES

Warner Brothers was founded by the four Warner brothers: Albert, Harry, Sam and Jack in 1923. WB are responsible for films such as: The Hangover, Gravity, Argo and Sherlock Holmes.






COLUMBIA PICTURES

 

Columbia Pictures was founded in 1918 by Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Joe Brandt and is responsible for films such as: Captain Phillips, Skyfall, The Social Network, Salt and Superbad.

Filming Schedule

SUNDAY 24TH NOVEMBER (ALL DAY)

• All main scenes (Couple scenes)
• Party Scene
• Poster

MONDAY 25TH NOVEMBER (AFTERNOON)

• Meeting Scene

Audience Questionnaire Results

Planning Targets

Revisit some of your posts and add some of your own comments and analysis to them - set yourself some targets based on your preliminary task and evaluate your storyboard! You need to show a schedule for filming - done before the end of term - and begin video-blogging as you go. Evidence some music research -based on your genre - and also design the tile font you'll use for your titles. Explain the reasons for all of your choices as you go along! A very neat and tidy documentation of your progress!

Shot List

We are planning to use a variety of different shot types in our opening two minutes. The shot types we will be using are:

• Long Shot
• Close Up
• Extreme Close Up
• Over the Shoulder Shot
• Two Shot
• Mid Shot
• High Angle Shot

Storyboard Animatic

See Storyboard Evaluation post for the evaluation of our storyboard.

Static Storyboard (Inlcuding Shot Information)

 



See Storyboard Evaluation post for the evaluation of our storyboard.

Mood Board

1. The central object our project is the knife. Knives often come to represent violence and the fact it is several shots throughout the course of the piece creates a ominous feeling.
2. Our project juxtaposes shots creating a happy feel and shots creating a sad or angry feel which represents the highs and lows of the relationship.
3.The handheld camera represents the home footage elements of our project.
4. This represents the core relationship at the heart of our film. Our film looks at the collapse of this central relationship and starts at the end.
5. The central female character has similar personality traits to Winona Ryder's character in Girl, Interrupted.
6. This represents the overall tone of the piece, it is quite subdued.
7. We're looking to use fake blood effectively in our piece.
8. The candle represents the way most of the scenes will have fairly low lighting to capture the mood.
9. We're planning on making oru film a 15 so that we can include enough of the raw subject matter needed to tell the story properly.

Audience Questionnaire

 

This questionnaire will be distributed to 10 people at random.

Audience Profile Research

Girl Interrupted, a drama, is similar to our film idea, so out target audience would be very similar to that of Girl Interrupted.

 

The screenshot of the audience analysis conducted on the audience of Girl Interrupted is shown above. The research shows that the majority of viewers for Girl Interrupted were aged 15-24. Also shown is that females made up nearly three quarters of the audience and that almost half of the audience were Upper Middle Class and Middle Class. People in the Lower Middle Class social group also made up quarter of the audience - showing that the drama genre will also be popular with them.

Film Classification

UNIVERSAL
All ages are allowed to purchase and view a film. The content is suitable for all ages.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE
People of all ages can watch films classified as PG. Certain scenes included in the film may be unsuitable for children. The film may contain mild language, sex/drugs references and moderate violence if it is justifiable by the context.

12A
Films rated 12A are unsuitable for young people and may only be watched by somebody under 12 with an adult. Films rated 12A can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity.

12
Films rated 12 have the same guidelines as 12A films, but is only applicable to films purchased on DVD.

15
Films rated 15 may only be viewed/purchased by people aged 15 or over. 15 rated films can include adult themes, hard drugs, frequent strong language and restricted use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail.

18
Only people aged 18 or over can purchase or view an 18 rated film. 18 rated films can include any of the themes previously mentioned in the other classifications, but they can be slightly stronger. Any extremes of each theme however, may not be allowed in this classification.

Source: Wikipedia

Location Research

This road would be an ideal location to stage the poster for our film as it is fairly quiet - but would still complement the film's plot.

This kitchen would be the ideal style of kitchen to shoot the main shots of the scene as it is well framed which allows for neater shots.

 

 

This field would be ideal to film some of the flashbacks in as it is a very large space, easy for all of the actors to get to, and is also fairly quiet - which means there would be little disturbance from the the public, and also no noise pollution.

 

These locations are convenient for everybody involved and in general suit the theme of our film and genre, and are appropriate for out target audience.

Jeepers Creepers - Opening 2 Minutes Analysis

The opening two minutes of Jeepers Creepers are quite conservative - this could be seen as a positive as it does not cram as many clichés as it can into a short space of time!

The titles of the film are the standard style for horror film - white text set on a black background, so this is the first indicator for the horror genre.

Once the titles have finished, a long shot is shown of an empty road leading into the distance. A few seconds later a car is shown speeding along it with the camera panning to track it. The rest of the opening two minutes is silent. Although this is an unusual approach, I feel it is still effective as it makes the viewer question what could happen. The fact that they are also the only car visible on the road suggests they are isolated - one of the common key points for a horror film.

Dawn of The Dead - Opening 2 Minutes Analysis

The first thing we see in the opening two minutes to Dawn of The Dead is an image of a skull from the titles morphing into an x-ray image of a skull. This is the first hint of the horror genre.

In one of the first shots we see a doctor and a nurse having a conversation. The nurse begins to hint to the doctor that she started her shift at 6am that morning, and she is still there. The doctor ignores these hints, this shows that the doctor sees himself as more important than the nurse, this could be a clue to the audience that there may be conflict between them later on in the film.

The last shot in the opening two minutes is the nurse leaving the hospital, she suddenly stops and the shot changes to one of on ambulance with a pair of legs dangling over the edge, creating the impression that there is a dead body inside. This creates an enigma as to what has happened in there. This is a very effective method at drawing the viewer in to the rest of the film.

Jaws - Opening Scene Analysis

The first thing the viewer sees in the opening scene to Jaws is a long shot of a character swimming in the ocean. Using the long shot here emphasizes the size of the ocean and informs the audience that the character is probably a long way away from shore and shows how vulnerable the character is at this point.

Soon after this, a sound motif begins the play in the background. And the camera shot switches to one under the water - looking up at the character. This again shows the vulnerability of the character and also gives the impression that something is watching her.

The underwater shot suddenly begins the get closer, and the shot changes back to over the water. The character the begins to be pulled underwater, and starts to panic and scream - attempting to swim away from whatever is attacking her. This has set an enigma as the viewer will want to find out what is attacking the character, and also why the character has been attacked.

Horror Target Audience Profile

AGE
15 - 25
GENDER
Mostly Male
FILM INTERESTS

'Jumpy' Moments

Supernatural characters

Death

Enigmas

Horror Genre Conventions

Pearl Harbour - Opening 2 Minutes Analysis

At first, the opening scene to Pearl Harbour conforms to the standard genre conventions of a romance film by including a slow moving orchestral non-diegetic soundtrack, a slow pace of editing, and includes a sunset in the background of the shot.

These standard conventions are quickly subverted to however. For example - a shot showing two children in a plane pretending they are flying at, and shouting commands at each other, would be something you might expect from an action film.

The soundtrack then begins to turn into a more epic sounding sound, and the viewer is shown the children entering the plane, this would suggest to the viewer that they were about to undertake some kind of mission - something which would not be expected from a romance film.

One reason for the opening two minutes subverting some of the conventions could be because the film may have multiple genres, and that romance may not be the most prominent genre.

Titanic - Opening Scene Analysis

The opening scene of Titanic has a very slow pace of editing. Also, the cross fade transition between each shot is very long, this helps to set the pace and mood of the film, and indicates that the film is not going to contain a huge amount of action. The slow pace of editing is a connotation of romance films.

Also, playing in the background, is a slow, classical non-diegetic soundtrack. This also contributes to the genre indicator of a romance film.

Shown in the opening scene is shots of people standing on a dock waving off their family and friends on the boat, next shown, is shots of the boat's passengers waving goodbye to the people on land. This shot then cross fades to one of the ocean, maybe symbolising what will later happen to the ship.

The slow pace of the opening scene is very effective at setting the scene for the romance genre, and is used in the majority of films in the romance genre.

The mise en scene which is used in the opening scene instantly sets the scene about where and what period of time the event was set in. The addition of sepia during the editing phase also really helps to identify the time period in which the film is set to the viewer.

The Notebook - Opening 2 Minutes Analysis

The opening two minutes of The Notebook are very calm, this tells the viewer that this is not going t be an action movie. The non-diegetic soundtrack also matches the pace of editing, which strengthens the continuity of the scene. Al of the shots in the opening two minutes are set against a sunset, this is a cliché and stereotype of romance films, and tells the viewer that they are probably about to watch a romance film.

There is a rower in one of the shots who is slowly rowing across the lake, this again matches the pace of editing, and the non-diegetic sound track - increasing the continuity, and telling the viewer that they are going to watch a calm film which is free of action.

Next, shown flying through the air, are a group of doves - a common symbol for love. This is a strong genre indicator indicating that the film is going to include romance, this helps to draw the viewer into the film if these are the kind of films that they like.

Romance Target Audience Profile

AGE
Young Teens to Young Adults
GENDER
Mostly Female
FILM INTERESTS
Simple stories with minimal amount of characters

Films involving character competition

Glamorous female characters
Glamorous male charcaters
May have an interest in these films so they can experience life from somebody else's point of view

Romance Genre Conventions