media institution re-search

the next task I had to do was media institutional re-search. in the task I had to find institutions that would produce and dispatch my media text. I then had to select an institution that would make my media text and say if the style of the texts that already make will fit the style of my media text. once I had done this i then had to select the company that would fund the making of my film.

From this task i have learnt that different institution, that make films, produce their films with different criteria and styles. when making a film you need to select an institution that will fit the style of your film. As well as this you need other companies to fund the making of your film.

film perliminary task

the task we had to do before we could start the filming of our own film was the preliminary task. in this task we had to shoot a sequence in which a person walks along a corridor, through a door, across a room and enter convosation with another person. the new skills we learn were needed in this task, these skills were match on action, the 180 rule and shot reverse shot.


Perliminary Task from David Watkins on Vimeo.

from this task i have learnt that the use of match on action on a great way of making scenes looks more profeshional and that the 180 rule needs to be kept to in order to not confuse your audience.

regulation re-search into the BBFC

The BBFC (British board of film classification) is the is the British organisation that regulate the content of what goes into films. They regulate the content of films and grade them by the amount of violence, sex and bad language in the film. Also at any point if the BBFC decide there it’s too much of a certain content they will stop the film going out to the cinemas.

When classifying a film the BBFC look at a list of main ideas when they classify a film. These main ideas are:

Discrimination: Potentially offensive content to such matters as disability, sexuality, race, gender or religion. The amount of this content in a film can change the classification of a film and if the BBFC say there is too much of this content in the film they will stop the film being sent out to cinemas until the content has been reduced.

Drugs: no production, at all, may show images of the miss use of drugs in the content. However the use of alcohol or smoking can be used but must be in moderate amounts. Any over the top content of drugs will stop the film being put out to cinemas until it has been reduced.

Horror: The use of scary sequences in a film are allowed, film makers have used scary sequences that the audience can enjoy. however to keep the viewing of the film by the audience restricted the BBFC will give a film with a lot of scary sequences a higher rating to slop young children from seeing these sequences.
            

Imitable behaviour: Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language: Many people are offended by the use of bad language. As a result there is a list of acceptable words that can be put into films that can earn them different classifications.

Nudity: nudity with no sexual context is acceptable at all classification levels. However nudity with a sexual content will gain a higher classification.

                            

Sex: The showing of sexual activity can be from kissing to detail of sex scenes. This is reflected in the classification system, as the amount of sexual activity increases the rating of the film increases

Theme: The classification system takes into an account the theme of a film, such as sexual activity or exploration, and the rating of the film will be changed as fits.

Violence: Violence has been in films for years and the classifications take into account the degree of violence and change the classification accordingly.

Film classifications that are given by the BBFC
There are seven possible classifications the BBFC can give to a film. These are U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18.

                  

U stands for universal which means suitable for all. The requirements of a u certificate film are no discrimination, no drugs, mild horror, no imitable behaviour, very mild bad language, no nudity with sexual content, mild sexual activities (kissing) and mild violence

PG stands for Parental Guidance. The requirements of a PG certification film are no discrimination, reference to drugs, no intense scary sequences, no detailed dangerous behaviour, mild bad language, no nudity with sexual content, mild sexual references and moderate violence.

12 stands for a film that can be seen by people of the age of 12 yeas old. However 12A is for use in the cinema only and means children can see the film if they are under 12 if they are with an adult. The requirements for a 12 or 12A film are discrimination aloud but not through the whole film, slight misuse of drugs, moderate horror,

dangerous behaviour must not dwell, moderate language aloud, nudity aloud but short sexual references, brief sexual activity and moderate violence.

 15 stand for suitable for 15 years and over to view. The requirements for a 15 are discrimination must not dwell, drugs may be used but must not dwell, horror sequences aloud, strong language aloud, nudity aloud with sexual content, sex may be portrayed and violence may be shown but must not dwell

18 stands for a film the only people 18 and older can see. The requirements for an 18 film are relaxed and most things are acceptable but must not be over the top. another form of 19 certification is R18 which stands for restricted 18.  And should only be shown in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults of not less than 18 years.

                                             

My films classification
The classification I have picked for my film 12. The reason for this is that the requirements that the BBFC set out match the content that we won’t to put in our film. The requirements are discrimination aloud but not through the whole film, slight misuse of drugs, moderate horror, and dangerous behaviour must not dwell, moderate language aloud, nudity aloud but short sexual references, brief sexual activity and moderate violence. Also this is the rating of many other romantic drama films and so I wanted to stick with the rest of the films in our genre.

The 12 classification will affect our film by not allowing us to use any drugs or bad language but also it will give us the freedom we need to make a film that is successful and fits the genre.

audience re-search into romantic drama's

In this task i had to do an audience survey into romantic drama films. To do this i made a questionnaire that i will ask to my audience to find out what they like/ dislike about the genre. I would then analyse the answers and see how i can adapt my film so my target audience will enjoy it fully.

This is the questionnaire i will ask to my audience:

1)     A) What is your gender?

             Male__         Female__

    B) What is your age?

            Under 10__  

                  11-20__  

                  21-30__

                  31-40__  

                  41-50__  

               Over 50__

2)      What is your occupation?

       Student__

       Full time job__

       Part time job__

       Unemployed__

3)     A) Do you watch Romantic Dramas or Rom-Coms?

                Yes__     No__

B) If you answered yes, what makes Romantic Dramas or Rom-Coms interesting?

_________________________________________________________________

    

C) If you answered no, what do you think could be done to the films to make them interesting to you?

_________________________________________________________________

4)     If you watch romantic dramas or Rom-coms, where do you usually watch them?

         At home__

         At the cinema__

         Other (please specify)____________________

5)     How often do you watch romantic dramas or Rom-coms?

        Once day__

        Once week__

        Once month__

        Once year__

        Never__

6)     What passed storyline do you prefer?

       Fast pace__

       Medium pace__

       Slow pace__

Why?________________________________________________________

7)     What is your favourite Romantic Drama or Rom-Com and why?

Title_______________________________

Why do you like it? ________________________________________________________

the following questionnaire is a completed questionnaire to demonstrate how they were looking when filled in:

As i said i would analyse the answers to the questionnaires and this if what i found out:

1) a) What is your genre?
in total i asked 20 people and got 17 of my questionnaires back. using the only ones i got back i had almost a 50/50 split between males and females. this would give me a clear view over both genders in my target audience.

1) b) what is your age?
for this question i tried to ask people who will be in my target audience when i come to making my final film. as a result of this the replies to this question are more bias towards the 11-20 age group but this will give me a better amount of information on my target group.

2) what is your occupation?
i asked people this question to see what most people social-economic status was and this would allow me to have a good estimate of the disposable income they will have. as with the previous question their is a bias towards the student with part time jobs occupation as this will be around where my target audience will be.

3) a) do you watch romantic dramas or Rom-coms?
i asked this question to find out weather people watched the genre or not and if so what was their reasons for watching or not watching the genre. from this question i was surprised to see that more boys watched the genre than girls which is going against the theory that Rom-coms and dramas are a more girl bias genre.

3) b) if you answered yes, what makes Rom-coms or dramas interesting?
for this question almost everyone answered with the storyline or the actor playing the part, for which most people said the actor was Hugh grant. this shows me that the actor playing makes a huge difference to the popularity of the film and how well it sells. as well as this you need an interesting storyline to keep the audience interested.

3) c) if you answered no, what could be done to make the genre more interesting to you?
the 3 people who answered no in this question said they wanted the story lines to be boring and they wanted more going on in the scenes. to try and improve the my film to their liking i will make the time between cut shorted to allow a faster pace in to hope this will make it more interesting for these people.

4) if you watch romantic dramas or Rom-coms, where do you watch them?
for this question i though most people would watch them as home or in the cinema. so to get a clear idea as to where is more popular i made these the main 2 categories but i also but an other box for other venues but nobody said other.

5) how often do you watch the genre?
i asked this question to find out how films of this type fit into the every day life of people. as well as this it would show me how successful a DVD of this genre would be.

6) what paced storyline do you prefer and why?
i asked this question to find out what pace i should film my film to keep it attractive to the target audience. for this question i found out a medium pace is best to allow the audience to keep up with the action and make it easy to understand.

7) what is your favourite Rom-com or drama?
i asked this question just for an idea into which film are successful around the audience this is so i could then analyse them and find out specific things that make them good and successful.

from this task i have found out that that my target audience want a film at a medium pace to allow them to understand the story line. as well as this they want a interesting storyline that does not dwell on the meeting up of the two characters. also i have found out that having a big name actor, such as Hugh grant, in the film helps with the successfulness of the film. i will not try and apply these facts in the planning of my film.

textual analysis of a film in my genre

For my next task i had to do a textual analysis of a film of the genre that my film will be based around. As my film genre is romantic drama i chose to analyse the film "The Holiday. the reason why we have to analyse a film is to see how the professional film makes behind the film use different techniques (editing, music, narration, dialogue, credits)

Textual analysis of "the holiday"

Blurred establishing shot of a tree with the words “universal pictures and Columbia pictures present” on it

Music starts the play slow passed – piano played

More credits play

Music sets the tone and mood of the film and hints towards the genre

Medium close up of a couple kissing

A romantic setting by a slow flowing river

The soft slow music continues still with the piano

We do not know the exact time frame but we can assume at due to the light levels it is mid day

The clothes suggest it is a dated scene

Mid shot of a computer screen that shows the two actors we have seen so far in the film, next to it is a screen showing the music for the previous scene of which is what we have heard so far in the film

Slow passed music continues – piano played

Show the characters got a relaxed life style as he has a job writing music for films and he is working from home

High angled mid shot where we get to see one of the main characters, we know this as he is the first person shown

Slow passes music continues – piano played

Credits showing the makes of the film start to play

Slow passed edit and the camera starts to pun up the actors face.

This is where we first see the face of one of the main characters of the film.

This is a medium ling shot of the character and his work area.

The character is now facing the camera but not in direst address

The same slow soft music continues – we now see it is the character playing this music

The scenes lighting in natural sun light

The slow passed editing (about one cut every 10-15 seconds) continues as we cut too the character looking over the computer screen

Credits are still on screen

The slow passed music continues – still piano

One of the other main characters start to narrate now telling a story about types of love and relationships

In this shot we see another of the main characters of the film

The speed of editing increases not to every 2 seconds as we see the emotions between there two main characters

The narration and slow soft music continue.

The scene still uses natural lighting

Through the rest of the film we can see the time frame is not modern times shown by the clothes

The screen is not mostly black as the camera moves from left to the right as it does this its changes location from the studio to a busy street

The title of the film now fades into the screen

The music not picks up a bit a pace with a faster rhythm but still the same tune played by the character in the previous scenes

A medium close up that introduces one of the other main characters

Slow soft music continues only now its has a bit of a backing tune along with it

Slow passed edit

Narrator is telling us about the love this characters has to the character we see in the next shot

Natural lighting still used only this time lighting from a street

We now get a medium close up of the other character in the car

Narrator its still telling us about the love this character has to the character has to the one in the previous shot

Music continues – piano played with a soft tune behind it

Still the use of natural lighting

Slow passed edit

High angled mid shot of the back of the car the two characters seen previously are in

Narration has now stopped

Music continues on now it’s louder with a faster pace

Still slow passed edit

Still the use of natural lighting

The camera now pans up from the last shot, as the car drives away, to a long shot of a busy city street

No narration now in this shot

Faster passed music continues

Still the slow passed edit

Actor credits now on screen again

Still the use of natural lighting

Through this task i learn that the professionals yous a whole host of techniques to make the opening of a film eye catching. they use a range of different shot types (MS, CU, LS, MLS, shot reverse shot, match on action). As well as this, the task has shown me that the editing and pace of music are rather slow in a romantic drama film. However the speed of editing increases as the characters enter dialogue. Also this task has shown me that romantic dramas use a great deal of natural lighting. In addition to this, the task has shown me how to use credits in the opening of a romantic drama.

now with what i have learn i have the techniques required to set to work on making an opening sequence to a romantic drama.

target audience of my film

Through the knowledge i already have, i have decised that the main target audience for my film will be females between the ages of 15 to 30. Also i will target people in the socio-ecomonic groups C1 and C2. The reason for this is that females between these ages are the most likely to have the intersets to watch a Romantic Drama, which is the genre of my film.

Even though the film can be watched by both males and females I have chosen females as the main target because females are normaly the gender of people who are more into the love and relationships that are included in the genre of my film. where as men are normally into action films.

the reason for picking the social-economic groups of C1 and C2 in that collectivly 54% of the population fall in this group. Due to this I picked these groups as they will have the biggest audience.

my flim synopsis

My next task was to make the synopsis of our film. Even though I was only doing the opening of a film I needed to write a synopsis for the whole film to give me and idea of how the opening leads into the rest of the film. This will help as it will hopefully make the narrative of my film a whole lot clearer, this will help me when i go out to do my filming.

My film synopsis

James is sat at home getting ready to go on a holiday in Cornwall. We see him looking at a picture of a girl, that he met there last year. We later learn the girls name is Rachel. As he thinks about her, he has a flashback about his time he had with her last year. He is interupted when his friend, Matt, texts him to tell him he is outside ready to go. He then leaves the house to go Cornwall. – Film opening

We then see him in the car driving over the moors on the way to Cornwall.

(pan shot following the car as it drives past). throught the journey they are talking about what they will do in cornwall and james is wondering if Rachel will be there this year. James and Matt arrive at their destination and get out of the car. They both look at the place where they are staying (We see an establishing shot of the holiday home). They both go into the building and get ready for an evening out on the town.

That evening, James and Matt go to a party on the beach in the near by town, they have a BBQ, play games and go to the night club. Later on in the evening James is alone on the beach thinking about Rachel when a girl walks bast him. He realises it is Rachel and runs after her to say hello.

Over the next week James and Rachel spend time together getting closer and closer and beginning to fall in love. On the evening before they leave, Rachel gets a call which is from her boyfriend (Jake) and this is when James hopes are shattered. later that evening, Rachel leave and James is left thinking he will never see her again.

The next day Matt and James leave to head home, James is still feeling heart broken from the events of the previous day. On the journey back Matt tries his best to make James feel better, however he is unsuccessful.

The next day we see James on a bus going to work. When he gets to work he finds out that there is a new girl there that he needs to show around. He sees the girl and realises it is Rachel. There is a silence between them and then James says in a shocked voice, “Rachel?” 

(This is where the film ends to create a cliff hanger and allow a sequel to follow on if needed)

This task made the narrative of my film more clear to me as it was all planned out. this will help me as i now now how everything needs to look and what the opening needs to have in it to link to the rest of the film.