Saturday, 28 January 2012
Friday, 27 January 2012
Characters Before
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On the left are the characters before props, costume and makeup. On the right is their character inspiration for the film.
Group Working
Today as a group we created a mind map, writing up notes of what genre we will be able to do. The aspects that we had to consider where: genre, ideas, techniques and resources. This helped us decided what genre we wanted to focus on as well as making sure we would be able to do it with what equipment/ resources we have.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Analysing Clips
After spending more time with my group and having looked at what kind of genre we think we can produce; we have come up with chick flick. We have decided to go with this because it will suit our group and resources. We feel that by doing a chick flick we can be successful at it because our group consists of 4 girls and we will be mainly based when filming at a secondary school. We have looked at St.Trinians as our inspiration on a film about 4 girls with completely different looks and personality that are rebellious and a little bit violent. We hope to show this in the first 2 minutes of the film by using Mise en scene, sound, editing and camera angles/shot types.
Watching after 00:40 seconds, the composition of filming showing contrasting characters is something we would like to use in the first 2 minutes of our filming.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Textual Analysis
In starting to plan what my short piece of film will be about, I have decided to do a textual analysis on the first five minutes of four films, looking at the genre and how the director has made the obvious to the audience. These films will help inspire some ides of what I would defiantly consider basing my opening to the film on.
The first clip I looked at was 'Skeleton Key' the sequence begins with Universal's clip of the globe and slow western sounding music. This suggests to the audience the film may be a western, set in the most likely area of South America. This music as well as later scene between a black man and white women could suggests traditional stereotypes of racism could be one of the issues that arise in the film. It then cuts to what looks like to be a flashback from the faded lighting and calming surroundings of weeping willow trees in the rain; whilst hearing the diegtic sound of a women telling a story. The connotations of this scene suggest a sad or depressing past. It then cuts to a scene with a young white female, whom we think to be a nurse by her costume and that there is a black male beside her in a bed. From the other nurses/doctors in this scene we think this may be a hospice. The female nurse that we see in this scene from the lighting and shot types we know that she may be a main character. We know Jennifer Hudson usually plays rolls in chick flicks or romantic films however from her plain clothes and make-up we can guess that she wont be seen in the same light as her previous films. At this stage we don't have many clues as to what genre this film is. However because of the sudden death towards the beginning of the film, this could suggests horror (more psychological rather than slasher).
The next film I looked at was 'Carlington Road', this film is more obvious in the way that they show what genre of the film from the start compared to the skeleton key. Straight away the scene begins close-ups and extreme close-ups of a young boys face. This is quite an uncomfortable shot for the viewer to watch; the sound of whispering is dark and suggests psychological thriller/horror theme. The non-diegtic music of drums increases the more the scene continues, hinting at tension and the currant genre of thriller. From the suburban surroundings we know the film is set in America, the open and bare setting makes everything seem ire. Because we see blood/gore early on in the film this could suggest slasher horror however we don't usually expect to see horror films using bright day light. We are also introduced to the actor Jeff Bridges who we know to usually play the protagonist in films. Overall the first five minutes of the film shows us the genre is most likely to be psychological horror/thriller, this is done by the mise en scene and certain other elements like shot types to make this obvious to the viewer.
'Something about Mary' is the next clip I looked at, in the first five minutes of the film we begin to think this may be a romance from the bright lighting and joyful music. The more the scene goes on we notice small clues at to what the genre of the film might actually be. For instance the opening credits are written in comically sized and colour fonts with names like Lee Evens appearing on the screen; this suggests a comedy style film. Other then this clue we don't see much indication to what genre the film might be, however we do see a later mid-shot of Ben Stiller. Ben comes with many connotations of being funny from his previous films, from this point we know the film will be a comedy.
The last film I looked at was 'The Departed' the scene begins with clips of prisoners in jail and policeman, the shots of broken windows and money all points towards the genre of action/crime. The synchronous sound of cars wheels spinning before we are introduced to the actor Jack Nicholson point towards a clear genre in this film. Jack isn't usually known for playing the protagonist part in films and with his dialogue using explicit words of swearing and racism it suggest he is very much an antagonist. We only see his silhouette in in shots of him, he is an older white male and he is referred to as Mr C. The genre of the film is clearly shown in the first five minute of the clip, the genre has been successful represented from the start.
Over all these films have chosen selective ways of showing the genre of the film from the start and I will try and use this in my piece of filming too.
In starting to plan what my short piece of film will be about, I have decided to do a textual analysis on the first five minutes of four films, looking at the genre and how the director has made the obvious to the audience. These films will help inspire some ides of what I would defiantly consider basing my opening to the film on.
The first clip I looked at was 'Skeleton Key' the sequence begins with Universal's clip of the globe and slow western sounding music. This suggests to the audience the film may be a western, set in the most likely area of South America. This music as well as later scene between a black man and white women could suggests traditional stereotypes of racism could be one of the issues that arise in the film. It then cuts to what looks like to be a flashback from the faded lighting and calming surroundings of weeping willow trees in the rain; whilst hearing the diegtic sound of a women telling a story. The connotations of this scene suggest a sad or depressing past. It then cuts to a scene with a young white female, whom we think to be a nurse by her costume and that there is a black male beside her in a bed. From the other nurses/doctors in this scene we think this may be a hospice. The female nurse that we see in this scene from the lighting and shot types we know that she may be a main character. We know Jennifer Hudson usually plays rolls in chick flicks or romantic films however from her plain clothes and make-up we can guess that she wont be seen in the same light as her previous films. At this stage we don't have many clues as to what genre this film is. However because of the sudden death towards the beginning of the film, this could suggests horror (more psychological rather than slasher).
The next film I looked at was 'Carlington Road', this film is more obvious in the way that they show what genre of the film from the start compared to the skeleton key. Straight away the scene begins close-ups and extreme close-ups of a young boys face. This is quite an uncomfortable shot for the viewer to watch; the sound of whispering is dark and suggests psychological thriller/horror theme. The non-diegtic music of drums increases the more the scene continues, hinting at tension and the currant genre of thriller. From the suburban surroundings we know the film is set in America, the open and bare setting makes everything seem ire. Because we see blood/gore early on in the film this could suggest slasher horror however we don't usually expect to see horror films using bright day light. We are also introduced to the actor Jeff Bridges who we know to usually play the protagonist in films. Overall the first five minutes of the film shows us the genre is most likely to be psychological horror/thriller, this is done by the mise en scene and certain other elements like shot types to make this obvious to the viewer.
'Something about Mary' is the next clip I looked at, in the first five minutes of the film we begin to think this may be a romance from the bright lighting and joyful music. The more the scene goes on we notice small clues at to what the genre of the film might actually be. For instance the opening credits are written in comically sized and colour fonts with names like Lee Evens appearing on the screen; this suggests a comedy style film. Other then this clue we don't see much indication to what genre the film might be, however we do see a later mid-shot of Ben Stiller. Ben comes with many connotations of being funny from his previous films, from this point we know the film will be a comedy.
The last film I looked at was 'The Departed' the scene begins with clips of prisoners in jail and policeman, the shots of broken windows and money all points towards the genre of action/crime. The synchronous sound of cars wheels spinning before we are introduced to the actor Jack Nicholson point towards a clear genre in this film. Jack isn't usually known for playing the protagonist part in films and with his dialogue using explicit words of swearing and racism it suggest he is very much an antagonist. We only see his silhouette in in shots of him, he is an older white male and he is referred to as Mr C. The genre of the film is clearly shown in the first five minute of the clip, the genre has been successful represented from the start.
Over all these films have chosen selective ways of showing the genre of the film from the start and I will try and use this in my piece of filming too.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Brief
My brief is to produce a short piece of film in a small group, this will be the first two minutes of an opening for a film. I will be focusing on what genre I would want the film to be about is my first objective. This process will be split into three stages of assessment: planning/ research, construction and evaluation.
The three main genres I would like to look into (and potentially produce) will be: horror/thriller, social realist and romance. Out of these three themes I think they would be easiest to produce on a low budget and would be simple to portray the theme as well as storyline. Our target audience would be people who prefer non-mainstream films, this is because they enjoy quirky British films made by independent companies; overall potentially liking our short film.
My next step will be looking into these genres further and making a final decision on what our film will ultimately consist of.
The three main genres I would like to look into (and potentially produce) will be: horror/thriller, social realist and romance. Out of these three themes I think they would be easiest to produce on a low budget and would be simple to portray the theme as well as storyline. Our target audience would be people who prefer non-mainstream films, this is because they enjoy quirky British films made by independent companies; overall potentially liking our short film.
My next step will be looking into these genres further and making a final decision on what our film will ultimately consist of.
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
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