180 degree rule

film

7 evaluation questions.

1.      In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

while making my product I have used multiple different forms and conventions, they are:
Camera shots done
The title done
How my character was introduced done
Lighting done
Settings and locations done
How the genre is suggested done
How suspense was created done
Costume and How I created it.
Makeup

Camera Shots
My favourite camera shot is the Point Of View shot that I have used to show the unseen characters point of view when they are running through the woods. It comes immediately after the audience have seen the subject run through the woods looking over her shoulder fearfully as she runs.

The title
One of the ways I will compare my title and credits to other horror films is through the colour and style used. For my title and credits I have used a style called Parchment, it makes the writing look like gothic calligraphy. Typically  horror credits are red, white or black depending on the colour of their background. Originally I was going to use white for the credits and title but despite the font looking like gothic calligraphy it didn't look creepy so because they were going to be on black backgrounds I made them red so that they would look creepy and stand out.

As you can see both titles use gothic writing, the sleepy hollow one is more scriptive while the one I made looks more like calligraphy. Both are red which makes them stand out against their backgrounds and grab the readers/audiences attention. Also they both obviously suggest the genre and tone of the films.

How My Character Is Introduced
I introduce my character at the start of the film and at the beginning she has her back to the camera. in the second scene/frame she walks on camera and the audience see the look of confusion and worry that is spread across her face.

in both shots when the main character is introduced they have their back to the camera, even if its just partially and the audience cannot see their faces however you can tell by their body language and actions how they are feeling. in the top photo from The Girl In Thee Woods you can tell by the subjects body language that she is relaxed and oblivious to the world and everything that is going on around her, this tells the audience that she is naive.

in the second photo from The Company of Wolves the audience can see the girl hugging her dad and burying her face into his chest, this clearly that she is upset/scared. Her actions combined with her height tell the viewer how young she is, also the ways she is holding on to her dad and turning to him shows not only how vulnerable but also that she sees him as her protector and feels safe near him.


Lighting And Location
I only used natural lighting at my location for this video. the location I used for this shoot was the woods at fowlmead country park. I decided to use this location because I wanted to keep my project linked with the original story, which happens in the woods. I also used this location because it is close and easy to get to. It is also very big so even if it was busy it wasn't that likely that I would be disrupted.

How Is The Genre Suggested
The genre of my film is suggested by the title, credits and music in the beginning, it is also suggested at the end when the audience see the subject lying dead on the ground, covered in blood and with a bruised and bloody face. This is done in pans labyrinth.

How Suspense Is Created
Suspense is created in the product in the sequence that cuts between the subjects face and the unseen characters feet. This sequence builds suspense because you can see the subject get more and more nervous and the unseen character get faster and faster.

while darkest hour isn't a horror film it is a good example of how suspense is built in films. At the start when the credits are still rolling before the plan comes on the music starts to build the tension which reaches its first climax when the storm hits the plane and the lights go out. it amplifies the tension later on but no spoilers.

Costume and how I created it and make up


In the project the costume looks different in some shots, this is because the footage was filmed over a period of time and the top for the original costume was ruined and it was faster and easier to have the actress wear her school uniform than destroy another top. The original top was created by taking an old school top and tearing it with scissors to make it look like he person wearing it had been stabbed. when we arrived at the filming location the actress put the top on and once her positioning had been sorted fake blood was applied. the fake blood was quite thick so I made it thinner by mixing it with water so that it was easier to apply and spread. I also applied fake blood to the actresses face, it was applied to the top of her forehead and brushed down a bit, it was also applied underneath her nose so that it looked like she had a nose bleed. I also gave her a black eye and a bruise on her nose by using and bruising wheel. I created the black/blue colour by mixing the red brown and black until I got the colour.

Camera shots - could use the P.O.V shot (where the camera is travelling through the woods).

Title compared to other titles - The Girl in The Woods could compare to The Company Of Wolves, Snow White an The Huntsman, Red Riding Hood, Into the Woods, Sleepy Hollow (the film) and The Candidate.

Look at how the character(s) are introduced - main character is first on camera and seen from the back. The other characters face is never shown, only their feet are shown.

Lighting - only used natural light, didn't use any artificial light.

Settings and locations used could compare to other films - fowlmeads = woods, only location used

How is the genre suggested - suggested by the title and the sound of the dark music box. also suggested by frame where the camera cuts between the feet and the victim/main characters face , this build suspense

How was suspense created - shot reverse shot of/cuts between main characters face and the other characters feet

Find a frame from my film then find a frame from a similar film that I have researched.Put the frames from my one in first.

2.      How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The only social group represented in this product are young preteen girls. the reason for this is that the girl is young naive, has led a sheltered life and is vulnerable. the "Wolf" in this film is not a traditional wolf rather it is similar to the "wolf" that the grandmother talks about in company of wolves. it is the most dangerous predator of all, a human. during the shot reverse shot sequence there is a point in which the girl smiles. this makes the audience relax and think "she's okay it's someone she knows" but this just makes the person more dangerous because it means the girl lets her guard down and makes her self even more vulnerable than she already was. in short this film is basically how dangerous the world is and how the girl is so unaware of that danger because of her sheltered life style. however unlike the story no one saves the girl.

3.      What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
My film would be distributed by image entertainment because they are currently dominating the distribution market.

4.      Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for my product would be people aged 12 and up. this is because while my product is a horror it isn't a gory horror its more of a thriller/suspence, because it isn't gory it is suitable for younger viewers which means it has a wider audience, because of this if it was released it could make more money. also younger people enjoy them more.

http://hammerfilms.com/features/8/why-do-we-like-to-be-scared

5.      How did you attract/address your audience?

I have attracted/ addressed my audience by using social media, specifically YouTube and Facebook. I used Facebook to raise awareness about the film and get some people to comment their opinions on it, either on Facebook or YouTube

6.      What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

whilst making this product i have learnt about editing programs e.g premier and how some film technologies were launched by certain films e.g 3D was launched by Avatar, a film that was designed to be made using that technology.

7.         Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


I feel that over the progression of my product I have learnt a lot about what goes on behind the camera and now understand how much effort goes into making a short film. I also know no and understand how much research and planning and cinematography is done before you can even start making the product and then there's the long process of editing, adding music/title/credits.

The Company Of Wolves

The Company of Wolves was made in 1984 and was directed by Neil Jordan. It was based on the book by Angela Carter, the screenplay was written by Angela Carter and Neil Jordan. It had a budget of $2million and a total Gross of $4,389,334. It starred :

• Angela Lansbury (the Granny) - She was also in Murder she Wrote (1984), Beauty and the Best (1991, she voiced Mrs Potts), Bedknobs and Broom sticks (1971) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

• David Warner (Father) - He was also in The Titanic (1997), The Omen (1976), Planet of the Apes (2001) and Tron (1982)

• Tusse Silberg (Mother) - She was also in The Saint (1997), Love and Death on Long Island (1997) and Gorky Park (1983)

• Micha Bergese (Huntsman) - He was also in Interview with a Vampire: The Vampire chronicles (1994) and Best (2000)

• Sarah Patterson (Rosaleen) - She was also in Tick Tock Lullaby (2007), Do I Love you (2002) and Snow White (1987)

The film won 10 awards and was nominated for 15.


Although I knew I wanted to do a fairy tale with a twist, I wasn't 100% sure if I wanted to make it a horror or not, however after watching this film I was sure I wanted to make it a horror.

A dark Fairytale

Most dark fairy tales are usually inspired by the brothers Grimm and their original/rewritten versions of classic fairy tales like little red riding hood and Cinderella. Over time a lot of their works have been made into films and mostly by Disney. examples of their work being made into film that still have the darker themes are:
Little Red Riding Hood


And Snow white and the huntsman



both were successful and have total gross's of  $396,593,829 (Snow white and the huntsman) and $89,162,162 (Little Red Riding Hood).
Snow white and the huntsman was more financially successful than Little red riding hood. Snow white and the huntsman was directed by Rupert Saunders, starred Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Stuart and Charlize Theron, had a budget of $170 million and received 32 nominations for awards and won 13.
Little Red Riding Hood had a budget of $42 million, was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, Starred Amanda Seyfried, was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and Catherine Hardwicke, and received 5 nominations and won none.

Lionsgate case study/franchise film

Lionsgate is primarily a distribution company, however they also do some production and have produced The Hunger Games and Twilight.




They brought the right to The Hunger Games Trilogy off of the author Suzanne Collins for $200,000.the first film was directed by Gary Ross and stars:

• Jennifer Lawrence. She has been in:
• Silver Linings Playbook (2012), X-Men: First Class(2011), The Burning Plains(2008), The Bill Engvall Show(2007-2009), Winter's Bone(2010) and American Hustle(2013) she has won an Academy Awards for best actress, two Golden Globe awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA award.

• Josh Hutcherson. Some of the Films he's been in are:
•  Miracle Dogs (2003), The Polar Express (2004), Howl's Moving Castle (2005), Little Manhattan (2005), Zathura (2005) RV (2006), Bridge to Terabithia (2007) Journey to the Centre of the Earth (2008), The Kids Are All Right (2010) Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012). he also stared in and was executive producer of Detention (2011), The Forger (2012) Escobar: Paradise Lost (2015), he's also won 4 Young Artist Awards (2005-2008) for The Polar Express, Zathura and two for Bridge to Terabithia, as well as an Alliance of Women Film Journalists (2011) for The Kids are Alright, a NextNowNext award and a CinemaCon award (2012) for The Hunger Games and 3 MTV awards for The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2012 + 2014), 3 Teen Choice Awards for The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2012 + 2014) and a People's Choice Award (2013) for The Hunger Games.

• Liam Hemsworth. He has been in:
• He made guest appearances in Home and Away and McLeod's Daughters (2007), has been in Neighbours (July 2007),Satisfaction, Triangle, had a brief appearance in Knowing, was originally going to star in Expendable but his character was written out however he stared in Expendables 2, The Last Song (2010), stared in the videos When I Look At You (2009(?)) and Colder Weather, Arabian Nights, Love and Honour (2011) and appeared in Empire State (2013). It was announced in March 2015 that he would be staring in the Independence Day Sequel, he has also been in The Elephant Princess. He was also asked by Kenneth Branagh to audition for the film Thor and did a series of screen tests before losing the part to his brother Chris in May. He hosted the Australia Kids Choice Awards (2010) and has won a Young Hollywood Breakthrough of the Year Award, a Australia Kids Choice Award and a Teen Choice Award (2010) for The Last Song, a People's Choice Award (2012) for The Hunger Games and another Teen Choice Award for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2015).

 The Hunger Games had a budget of $78 million and a total box office gross of $691,247,768.


 The second Hunger Games Film - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was directed by Francis Lawrence and due to the success of the previous film had a budget of $130 million and had a total box office gross of $864,912,963 this has been the most successful film so far and has also had the biggest budget so far. They have split the last book The Hunger Games: Mockingjay into two parts, the second part is set to be released this year. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 had a budget of $125 million and had a total box office gross of $752,100,229 this was also directed by Francis Lawrence.

• Francis Lawrence has directed:
• Constantine (2005),  I Am Legend (2007), Water For Elephants (2011), Gotham (2012 - for Fox Television Film), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1(2014) and is set to film The Hunger Games Part 2, he was also assistant director on Marching Out Of Time (1993).
• He has produced every episode of the TV show Kings (2009) and Directed Episodes 1 (Pilot: Goliath Part 1), 3 (Prosperity) and 4 (First Night), as well as produced all episodes of Touch (2012-2013) and directed the pilot episode.
• He has also directed music videos like:
• Operations Of Nature by Akon, Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake, Bad Romance by Lady GaGa - which he won a Grammy for, he won it for The Best Music Video Short Form, Aerosmith I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, Girls Best Friend by Jay-Z, Green Day Warning and Just Like A Pill by Pink.

Lionsgate inherited the Twilight Franchise when they bought Summit Entertainment. The franchise had a total box office gross of $3,342,792,667 and the Franchise has won a total of 18 awards they are:
6 Teen choice Awards

4 MTV Movie Awards
3 People's Choice Awards
2 Women Film Critics Circle Awards
1 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award
1 NAMIC Vision Award
1 Scream Award

Twilight - 5 awards (2 Teen choice awards Choice Movie Drama + Choice Movie Romance (2009), 1 MTV Movie Award (2009) for Best Movie, 1 NAMIC Vision Award for Film Of Vision and 1 People's Choice Award for Best Movie (2010))


Twilight: New Moon -3 awards (1 MTV Movie Awards Best Movie (2010), 1 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Fantasy (2010) and 1 Women Film Critics Circle Award : Hall Of Shame (2009) - Bella (lead Human Female) is completely pathetic, the whole giving up ones soul thing. How sad it is when a gal from a small town picks two boys she likes, one is a vampire and one is a werewolf").


Twilight: Eclipse - 6 awards (1MTV Movie Award for Best Movie, 2 People's Choice Awards for Favourite Movie and Favourite Drama Movie, 1 Scream Award For Best Fantasy Movie, 1 Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Movie and 1 Women Film Critics Circle Award: Hall OF Shame - "This Film tells young girls its okay to sell your soul for a guy.)


Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - 3 awards (1 Alliance of Women Film Journalists award (2011) for Most Egregious Age Difference Between the Leading Man and the Love Interest, 1 MTV Movie Award for Best Movie (2012) and 1 Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Romance(2012)).


Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - 1 award ( Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Romance (2013)).










However despite these two Block buster franchise's Lionsgate may struggle to compete against media conglomerates like Disney because unlike Disney they do not benefit from synergy and therefore don't make as much profit as they do.







 Synergy means that a company own more than one media platform/division. For example Disney own five different divisions, they are:

• Disney studios
• parks and resorts
• consumer products e.g. Disney stores
• media networks e.g. ABS News
• Disney Interactive.

Disney also now own Marvel Studios this means they also own the rights to the Marvel Franchise.



A media franchise (e.g. a film franchise ) is a franchise that is a collection of media. This can include  film, TV, literature (books or comics) and video games. Both The Hunger Games and Twilight franchises were originally books and most marvel films were comics .

working title case study

Working Title

 

Working title are important to the British film industry because they have a global market because they are owned by universal – who are one of the big five media conglomerates. Despite this they have creative autonomy (control), they have this because they were successful before universal brought them, and they continue to be successful. For example The Theory of Everything had a budget of $15 million and has gone on to make $82.10 million.Their key distributor is Focus Features who are also owned by universal. This is important because it means a percentage of the money these two company makes gets put back into them by universal.

·         They are also important because they are a British film industry, this means they:

·         Have British talent, this includes actors, writers and directors etc.

·         Use British locations for filming

·         Use British narration

·         And post production is done in the UK

 

While the films they do represent Britain in a stereotypical light the films they do are “British” because they have some if not all of the things that make a film British. These things are:

·         Settings (often London)

·         Idyllic/countryside – a key promotion of British heritage

·         Race/disability representation

·         Belief in true love

·         Stars/actors are British

·         Class development

·         Humour

·         Heritage

·         Fantasy/escapism

·         Happy ending

·         Sentimentality

·         Romantic comedies

·         History

·         Literary adaptations, e.g. pride and prejudice and the theory of everything

·         Buildings that are typically British e.g. cottages

·         Sense of grandeur

·         Sense of power

·         Sense of elite

 

Two of the films by working titles that show these things are The Theory of Everything and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

 

The Theory of Everything:

This is based on the memoire by Stephen Hawkins wife Jane
(Travelling to infinity: my life with Stephen) and focuses firmly on their relationship and his disease. The location is an iconic British location which is exclusive as only the best go there so it gives the viewer a sense of power and a sense of the elite, it also gives the viewer a sense of wealth and the stereotypical idea that only the upper class or well off middle class go there. This idea is reinforced by the opening of the trailer where we see the Hawkins at a party where all the ladies are wearing dresses and the men are wearing expensive looking suits. The countryside and clothes used in the trailer also give a sense of heritage. For example later on in the trailer Hawkins wears cricket sport, cricket is a traditional British sport. This also gives a sense of heritage through customs. It has a sentimentality and belief in true love because all the way through you see that Hawkins’s wife never gives up on him despite the odds. It also gives a sense of privilege and while there is only one race shown (White British) there is a representation of race, however there is a much stronger representation of disability. There is also iconic British star vehicles Eddie Redmayne (les miserable, my week with Marilyn) and Felicity Jones (the invisible woman and breathe in) star as Joan Wilde and Stephen Hawkins, other cast members include Emma Watson, Simon McBurney, Harry Lloyd, Charlie Cox and David Thewlis. It was directed by British director James Marsh (previously directed Man on a wire 2008), produced by British producers Tim Beaven and Eric Fellner (previously produced 4 weddings and a funeral).

 


 

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

This film is about Queen Elizabeth the first and her life, the conspiracies to over throw her and replace her with Mary Stuart and Elizabeth’s attraction to Sir Walter Raleigh, it focuses mostly on heritage, history, Elizabeth’s Power and the Power of England and sentimentality, it also has a sense of duty. It was directed by Shekhar Kapur, researched by Justin Pollard, written by Michael Hirst and William Nicholson and was produced by Tim Beaven and Eric Fellner. It stars Cate Blanchett and Queen Elizabeth the First, Geoffrey Rush as her advisor Sir Francis Walsingham and Clive Owen as her love interest Sir Walter Raleigh. This is a British film because it projects a sense of history, heritage and international appeal and has British talent. It also makes the viewer feel a sense of pride and shows how/why England was an empire for 200 years. It does this by showing the power Elizabeth has and how she unites everyone.