CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Q1 pt1.How my productions uses or challenges conventions (annotations on film)

Q1pt 2.How my production represents social groups

 To illustrate the different social groups and topics my production will be focusing on, I created a series of Pinterest boards which each give a little bit of information on each topic.  The topics I have chosen to cover were the most relevant and the most interesting in our film. opening. These boards served a further information on how to understand our target maket which is primarily, young females of the occidental world.

My first social group: people suffering from psychosis

In the images I have gathered I show a variety of issues that affect people who are suffering from different types of mental illnesses. There is currently a great deal of interest in teenagers suffering of mental illnesses many which have been suppressed or hidden, going untreated as people are embarrassed or ashamed. Treatment is often through taking drugs and therapy. Some of the issues like that of my protagonist might include bipolarity, depression and schizophrenia. These patients may present with symptoms of:sudden rage,heightened anxiety, suspicion of those around them, resulting in addiction to drugs such as opioids. 

The issues with mental health is that it can cloud judgement of the teenagers which is what we try to show in our film. The sudden moment of rage can be frequent, which means the more it happens the more isolated the person becomes form the outside world, making the judgement a lot less clear.

My second social group:Teenage party goers

people won't notice if someone is on the edge.

When creating a board for our social group being the teenage party goers, I was able to  accumulate different images showing teenagers being in a party environment. Being in such atmosphere almost, if not certainly, changes your persona. Your spirits and moods are lifted as interactions with other people enrapture you in the illusion that you are having a good time. During such situations, it becomes harder for people to realise that someone is in need attention or help as adrenaline is quite high and social awareness quite low.  In our film we represent this social group at its peak as they are interacting with our main protagonist in a party like mise-en-scene.




My third social social group is: Owners of creepy and inanimate dolls
I wanted to target this audience as we see eve feeling attached to her precious doll and  

My fourth social group: Teenagers and the use of social media
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How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as real media text?

Q2 pt1 My Target Audience & How I Engaged  Them

According to Blumler and Katz, audiences use media to gratify needs (the use and gratifications model of audience behaviour.) Our film opening uses what Barthes call the 'enigma narrative code' in that there is an opening mystery that gradually develops and promises to unfold over the course of the opening and beyond.This mystery involves the audience realising that the protagonist Eve seems to be reliant on opioids and also that she is nursing a deep-seated resentment against her friends. She confides this in her online diary and the audience are intrigued to know what the cause is as well as curious about potential fallout.

Our touches on very topical issues such opioids addictions  which are currently quite a big topic in America. This helps us reach out to our international audience as this is a topic of interest for teenagers in most Transatlantic regions .  There is a lot of interest on the character being this blogger everyday life type of person. The character’s persona gives the audience someone to relate to and to sympathise with throughout the film. This will create an greater bond with the character Eve and further interest in what she is doing.  There is a lot of interest on how someone who seemed to have their life so together can spiral down to being a addict full of rage and hatred.

Audiences tend to use media to reinforce the sense of personal identity, that is their beliefs and values. Therefore seeing how a young and healthy looking character can spiral downwards into a pit of loneliness and emptiness shocks the audience as they would look at her as a seemingly fortunate and sane young woman.  They are initially able to connect the use of the opioids and the girl's state of mind. They deduce that her life has been taken over by this addiction which is a topical concern. When she is seen scrolling through what was the “old her” we see her shut her laptop lid abruptly with a feeling of anger. This is when we start to feel like this is the moment of disequilibrium. 

For Blumler and Katz, audiences also use media text to cement the need of making relationships which can be understood in two ways, the first way was our relationship with on screen characters. As indie film makers we cannot cast big names like Martin Freeman. I learnt at my BFI study day on UK cinema that having Martin Freeman as part of the deal secured the funding for Dyson And Nyman's Ghost Stories (2018 Warp Films) We have unknown's, however they seem like relatable people you feel you could associate with. 

The sense of commitment projected by the character Eve, is shown through her comeback to her blog channel. It seems like she does not want to let her fans down, no matter her state. This increases sympathy as the audience sees her sense of dedication in not others around her down. As this blog is repetitively used to show a comparison, we start to feel sorry for her in a way as we see that she has lost everything she used to have. We use this contrast to create an idea that people around her have perhaps abandoned her. This enigma code keeps us interested and wanting to see whether our theory matches the story. 

Making our social media pages
When creating our social media accounts for our film production, we had a target audience in mind. Younger audiences are very heavy users of social media so we created three platforms; Twitter, Instagram and Facebook in order to help us reach and  entice audiences from the demographics advertised. This made was them to find interest in the different outlines and watch our film. We updated these pages with pictures of our production and team members.

Link to each page right here: TWITTER, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM.

Our film was created to speak and reach out to our audiences as the main focus and reason for this film was to engage the audience through our camera work and spine tingling:

• camera work
• props
• set
• unfolding of narrative 
• use of sound

as seen below:

Engagement of audiences from maradakochi00

Q2 pt2 How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as real media text?

Film distribution 

A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company.  

A film producer is responsible for the marketing the film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film.

A production company or a production house provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio and video.

Distributors acquire films via deals with studios and production companies and/or through film sales agents who represent filmmakers.  

Any distributor may compete for the rights to release a film, whether for cinema or the DVD/Blu-ray/VOD market etc… The distributor deals cover the overall rights to a film for a set period of time, and usually include the release plan, media promotion,  and what edits and charges are allowable. For example what is needed to get a particular classification. Distributors must create an entirely new film release plan for each project that will maximise the unique selling points (USPs) and inform the widest possible audience about the film. Distributors also oversee the accountancy procedures for their films, and provide studios or producers with reports covering marketing plans, expenditure evaluation, forecast, and revenue breakdowns.

International distributors 

If the distributor is handling an imported or foreign film it may also be responsible for securing dubbing or subtitling for the film, and securing censorship or other legal or organizational "approval" for the exhibition of the film in the country/territory in which it does business, prior to approaching the exhibitors for booking. 

Depending on which studio that is distributing the film, the studio will either have offices around the world, by themselves or partnered with another studio, to distribute films in other countries. If a studio decides to partner with a native distributor, upon release both names will appear. The foreign distributor may license the film for a certain amount of time, but the studio will retain the copyright of the film.

Distributors usual decision making focus points:

- WHO will want to see the film?

- WHY will they want to see the film?

- HOW will they be persuaded to see the film?

   and 

-WHEN will they watch the film?

When a film is initially produced, a feature film is often shown to audiences in a movie theater. Typically, one film is the featured presentation . Before the 1970s, there were "double features"; typically, a high quality "A picture" rented by an independent theater for a lump sum, and a "B picture" of lower quality rented for a percentage of the gross receipts. Today, the bulk of the material shown before the feature film consists of previews for upcoming movies and paid advertisements.

The distributor takes the responsibility to identify the audience and consider why and if they could go see the film. To ensure they are keeping on task with helping the production of the movies, they estimate venues develop plans and partnerships (acquiring  sponsors),persuading exhibitions to play the movie to the public-in cinemas etc…  Social media campaign are also in their area of expertise.

Distribution Companies:

The top American film studios are commonly known as the Big Six and distribute the large-budget films, which have universal appeal and will be distributed around the world. (e.g. Jurassic World)

- 20th Century Fox
-Paramount Pictures
-Sony
-Warner Brothers
-Disney

-Universal Studios

Independent film distributors
(e.g. Carol )
- Lionsgate

- Magnolia Pictures

- A24

- The Weinstein Company

Independent British Film Distributors (e.g. '71)

- Warp

- Vertigo

Who are the FDA?

The FDA stands for the film Distributor’s Association. They are a trade body for theatrical film distributors in the UK- the companies that release films for UK cinema audiences.

The business of film

I joined the business of film course to develop my general understanding of the film industry and to expand my knowledge on the process of distribution. I felt like the course would be able to widen my understanding of the role of distribution when creating my own movie.

Alex Hamilton is the Managing Director of Entertainment One UK. His role on the business of film course, is to explain the distribution cycle which he is so familiar with, being one of the most significant figures of independent film distribution.

The cycle commences with a film being bought, still keeping in mind that the distributors have to  buy the film in question and then proceed to advertise it and publicise it within it’s release window.  Film distribution expert, Alex Hamilton lists us all the possible way to adapt the ‘window’ concept, as a pattern occurring throughout the years.

The first window you're going to release it in is the theatrical release window. You're going to release it into cinemas.

Usually about those five months later, the film will appear on DVD and digital platforms, transactional platforms. 

Following on usually around 9 to 12 months after the theatrical release and about four to five months after the home entertainment transactional window, the film will enter one of two other windows. It might enter a paid-TV platform such as SKY.

That would take you up to roughly around two years to two and half years after the theatrical release of the film whereby you can make it available to free television broadcasters, so Channel 4, or the BBC, or ITV. 

Key terms people in the distribution business use to analyse the performance of a film:

• Opening weekend gross- On the opening weekend films usually perform best. This is due to all the publicity. The opening weekend gross is a way of analysing the performance of the movie when first released, and how attractive it is to the public eye. If it does not meet the standards it will not be in cinemas for long. 
• Per screen average - This is the amount of box office divided by the number of screens it is being shown on. 
• Second week/weekend performance- This is the comparison between the opening week/weekend and the second week/weekend. This gives distributors a rough idea of the films 'staying power' and 'word of mouth'. 

Case study:  Distribution of Tortoise in Love

Being a rural originated film, Tortoise in Love, the film was able to reach out to a part of the rural community. The marketing and distribution of the film was separated in such way where the distributors were able to maximise the popularity of the film. The use of the volunteers and the 500 villagers who have contributed to the production of the film, reinforces  a sense of unity within their community and to our eyes, as the audience.

The Small indie film which had the support of the BFI financially and in a way that helped them branch out and distribute the film a successfully as possible. As the campaign for Tortoise in love kept going, 83 sites picked up on the trailer, in addition to the 27 sites also included the official poster. Setting up social media pages and sites, helped increase the marketability of the production and the overall positive feedback was very well received as it kept amplifying the film’s charm and individuality. 

Fund distribution costs such as supplying the venues with a copy of the film in the correct format, printing cinema-style quad poster for all venues, finding a PR company to provide. Support locally as well as nationally, and recruiting a distribution manager to manage and administer the bookings.

Running a Rural cinema pilot scheme recently, most films are still only available to non-mainstream venues 12-16 weeks after their cinematic release. The BFI funded rural distribution strategy-created by Immense Productions for Tortoise in Love- aimed to bring a current movie to the countryside at the height of its media buzz and allow rural venues the opportunity to be part of a national release at the price of a Film bank title.

Case study: ’71

Warp’s film, ’71, is an independently distributed film starring Jack O’Connell, playing a young devoted soldier.  As a result of getting separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast at the height of the Troubles in 1971, his character starts to be radicalised as he is hunted down for being the enemy in the Belfastians’ territory.Here is the plot summary

Warp is a small independent UK company but it has proven success in distributing internationally. A distribution techniques used by '71, was to hold the release of the film until Jack O’Connell starred in a film with bigger cinematic coverage as it starred a major Hollywood star, Angelina Jolie.  The distributors benefitted from holding the release of the film until American audiences had seen Jack O’Connell in his first major Hollywood picture, Angelina Jolie’s, unbroken which earned him a Bafta. 

Warp's mission statement:

• Jack O'Connell had previously attracted critical acclaim for Unbroken (2014) appearing as a prisoner of war in a Japanese war camp. Directed by Angelina Jolie, this film made O'Connell known to an American audience.
• 71 won Best Director at the 2014 British Independent Film Awards,after receiving nine nominations. The National Board of Reviewnamed '71 one of the top 10 independent films of 2015.
• Budget, £8.1 million. Box office, $3.2 million.

The distribution strategy also involved targeting UK and US audiences who were concerned about the radicalisation of young men.

Case study:Jurassic Park 

  More information in link below:

https://app.emaze.com/@AOOOQRFOT/wall-street

 Q3 How did your production skills develop throughout?

I made a Piktochart regarding this question. Link for this presentation is down below...

I wanted to use a different demographic in order to lay out the I information I have accumulated as I was making my production.

Q3: How did your production skills develop?

My Preliminary exercise  

Starting with our preliminary exersise, we felt confident in our abilities to create a successful outcome therefore we used information accumulated in past class analysis as 'research' to start our project. The task consisted of getting comfortable editing and using a high quality camera and tripod adequately, to complete a simple yet enrapturing story plot.Using shot reverse shots, tracking shots, over the shoulder shots, wide shots and a series of other of shot types, were were able to create our short clip.

For the pleminary excessive I teamed up with Chloe and Lydia as they each had an individual set of skills that would be useful to complete our production.  We needed Lydia's camera work, Chloe editing skills and my directing skills to set out the scene as best as we could. Our idea consisted of an accidental briefcase swap which resulted in a pizza box being delivered instead of a case full of money.  This resulted and multiple shots being made therefore the editing task was separated and I was able to help out with this task. 

Adding the element of the suitcase swap, the audience finds more an appeal to the film as they are wondering What the reaction of the rather demanding character will be when he finds out about the unexpected ’surprise’ ahead. To make sure everything was going to go as planned we wrote a script where we were able to memorise catchphrases and expressions need to express the different emotions felt by the characters. This exercise took place on school grounds as this small task did not really require mobility however we needed to be  able to convey the message successfully by using our imagination and ‘pulling strings’(in a way where we could play with our audiences perception of things using the main character’s dialogue.)  We used a Canon 750D camera and a tripod which, we learned how to use-by bubbling it to get freer movements when using the tripod. He also proceeded to complete  a series of hand held shots to give illusion that the character highlighted was being followed.  We took advantage of the weather outside to use the natural lighting which only complemented every shot in terms of clarity.

We found it rather important to complete research when it came to our real production(film opening) as we wanted to make sure our preliminary exercise did not reflect on our final outcome as it definitely gave an impression that it was meant to be a small unprofessional project.  To first pin point which genre of film opening we wanted to invoke in our own production, our group looked through different openings on Art of the Title.  We were on the hunt for a fast paced and sinister thriller and the film NERVE’s opening fulfilled our requirements and served as inspiration for our originally crafted production. However before narrowing down our search we used Art of the Title to explore the different film openings that we perhaps wanted to include and merge into our original idea. Art of the title contains such a broad selections of film openings from genres such as comedy to even documentaries which gave us a wider selection to chose from.


I was also able to analyse the setting in the beginning through the different genres of film openings. Film with the theme of horror opened  up rather sinisterly with, in most cases, as build up created by the opening  whereas comedy movies open up with a softer feel and intro as they reveal themselves in a much lighter way.


Interestingly, Art of the title also contains interviews with the designers of the openings on how they developed ideas, by techniques such as brainstorming which is coming up with as many ideas as possible. This helped us go on to the story board and generate ideas to make our production with. 

Research- Art of the Title

Research- Art of the Title

When researching openings and trailers, for a more specific analysis of film openings. I looked at numerous film openings such as Les Bleus de Ramville, NERVE, and Delicatessen. I wanted to look at a range of openings to make sure my choice of genre suited me most.

Out of the three openings, NERVE and Delicatessen seemed to interest me the most. Both had an element of thrill and a fast pace film opening. 

With delicatessen the slow edgy and mysterious setting of the mise-en-scène was what caught my eye as I was pleased with how they were able to convey the aspect of obscurity and build up a climax. The rustic appeal of the film also sets out it’s theme this was created using a sepia filter which is normally associated with old school and creepy films. What I found interesting about the opening of delicatessen, was that the presentation seemed really well thought out as different edits were used to introduce different members of the film set.  This contrasts with NERVE’s opening as NERVE focussed on using playful ness and relatable things such as using layouts of word-like documents , kindle pages, google searches, frames of coding…  This way, the film opening is giving insight on what the film genre will be about. 
 

By looking at these openings, I had further understanding of what creates a good film opening and how each of them convey the story and genre. By looking at these film opening will contain and what aspects I will develop into my own production.

45%

Research- Pinterest

In addition to using Art of the Title, when researching film openings, I decided to use Pinterest as a anther research tool which matched our psychological thriller about a mentally unstable girl. 
I used my existing Pinterest account to create several new boards relating to my future production. This included images which related to certain topics and themes covered in my film such as:

• creepy/innanimte dolls which are worshiped by young children (from generations before us )

• Teenage parties and outings 

• Teenagers and their current trends and styles(as this film would be targeted for teenagers of and young adults.

• Addictive substances such as pills as we are covering the topic of opioids to sell as our USP

This research was very useful as I was able to explore almost everything there was to offer about my themes. By doing this research I learnt the great importance of researching different topics and film sources as they came in handy when thinking of more ideas to make our production better. It also helped me establish that I wanted to reach a certain level of professionalism  when it came to product quality.

Planning-Call sheets

After creating the story board, we completed the call sheets.
The call sheets consist of the basic information we need when filming our scenes such as:

-The people present
-The date of the shot
-The location-accompanied with a map
-The equipment needed-Any props need
-Wardrobe choices

This was quite useful as when it came to filming we had re organised ourselves and took out the equipment needed for each scene. This was also a time saver as we would easily be able to tell what scenes came next and what they needed which made it the task of filming much quicker.

As a result, we decided to create a call sheet which we felt would benefit us just as much seeing that it is a detailed breakdown of every scene.

Planning-Shot list

The shot list was another useful aspect of the planning our film as it made it easier to note what was happening in. The story of the film opening from scene to scene. We noted whether there would be use of:When creating the shot list, we put the document on site called Google Docs, which permitted all of us to share out the work equally. This allowed Chloe, Lydia and I to edit the call sheet and present it as best as possible and as clear and detailed as possible.

• sound (diegetic or non-diegetic)

• props-such as Elizabeth

• actors present in the scene

• And additional notes

This gave us a clear ideas as to how our production will be going however during the course of making the production, changes were made and some things were not as relevant to us anymore.

Construction

When thinking of our preliminary excersise , we realised that we focused on using as many camera angles such as tracking shots and  shot reverse shots which we felt would benefit our film and make it more professional. However one problem with this was that we had not obtained the skills needed to make it seem like we had enough knowledge to do so. Therefore it was important for us to make sure we fulfilled that level of  professionalism.  

When filming our real production; One by One,  we wanted to make sure we used the different framing techniques appropriately as we wanted to make sure we working to the best of our abilities.  Using tripods and our phones as microphones helped make the background noise and the camera shaking seem less apparent. 

On particular shot where we found worked the best, was the double mirror shot in which we see the character through three different angles, two of them being mirror reflections. I decided to use the mirrors to our advantage, almost crowding the shot and giving a more sinister outlook into Eve’s life.

By the time we had completed our editing, we had used a range of cinematic shots such as mdi shots, close ups and over the shoulder shots.   Conducting research on psychological thrillers, I realised that quite a few of them included close ups and over the shoulder shots as they would either show their emotive state or what they were plotting on doing.  

In our film, I also decided to include a hand held shot from Lydia O. playing Eve as it would show how she is having fun dancing and see feel like she is dance and in the moment.

During this production I learned to use the camera in different ways and to explore the different features I could use to perfect my prodcution. 

Editing 

When we edited the preliminary video, we didn’t invest as much time as could have as we had limited time and knowledge to finish it to perfection.  This quick editing was done on iMovie  as simple software for editing clips and movies. One problem with this software is that it is not accessible  to everyone as it can only be used on Apple Mac computers. Fortunately our school provided us with these handy tools which benefited us when it came to editing. 
In comparison to our real production, our preliminary exercise did not include background sound tracks as the editing was rather slim.  Four our real production, however we used iMovie which we had learned how to familiarise with and understand how certain features could enhance our production’s appeal. Using this software, we were able use special features such as editing sound quality by choosing between different effects and how they sound.  We could also use different ways of making a clip transition and fade which was really helpful in either building tension or creating a soft transition to the next scene. This gave the film a tense and mysterious atmosphere.

The additional diegetic sounds and non-diegetic sounds added were made to sound like we were either building some sort of climax or  just to add a bit more realism to our piece. 

The character eve, films herself for her blog when she is being vulnerable and speaking to her audience directly, expressing her current state. There is ‘REC’ signing the corner along side with a small minute/second counting area on the bottom of the frame indicating that she was recording and making sure the audience was able to distinguish her blog moments from the other shots. 

We also used different filters for different shots as in some cases, we felt it was useful to darken the set or maybe coordinate the lighting from different scenes. 

I took a major role in the editing process as I wanted to make sure we were providing our audiences with something they would ember snd not anther teenage drama thriller.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, I feel like I have learnt a lot about film making ranging from different camera work techniques  obtained to different editing skills that I would have picked up as I was the one who edited most of our film opening.
I feel like throughout this presentation,  I learned dhow to research efficiently and construct presentations in the clearest was possible to display my research and knowledge  as invitingly as possible.

I have now obtained further planning and organisational skills as my work involved working around each and everyone of our schedules to makes sure we were able to make time for our production.

I can now research similar genres of film opening to base my ideas on and to see whether what I am producing makes sense in terms of similar plots. 
By working in a group, I have learned how to communicate, cooperate and understand each and everyone of my team members. We were able to bounce off each other’s idea and establish leadership at different stages of the production. Ut was helpful having other skill sets contribute to this production as we could see this production in a different aspect. I think we have created a very successful film opening however with more time certain as certain things could be improved.

Question 4 How did you integrate technologies?

Here is a link on my media technology prezi: https://prezi.com/view/at08bnqYmldJUHHgueo7/