Our Market Research Results

These are the findings from our video on our market research.

We found that the majority of our target market thought that a ''Thriller'' would be the best genre for a short film, as it would be interesting to see how the film can start and finish within the 5 minute filming period.

We found for magazine review our target market look at the star ratings (usually on a scale of 1-5). Also we found that a large part of our target audience look at action shots from the film, as that usually gives them a feel of what the film would be like.

For our poster our target market answered that they found the use of bold colours catch their eye, and if the colours reflect the mood of the film the film that was better at attracting an audience. Others answered that an action shot from the film was a good step towards attracting the audience.

Market Research Results!!

Today myself and jamie made a video showing our market research results.


Review of Market Research from JamieReeves on Vimeo.


Go to Jamie's blog for the full post.

Market Research!!

Market Feedback from JamieReeves on Vimeo.


http://a2mediajamiereeves.blogspot.com/ - Link to Jamie's blog

http://a2mediajamiereeves.blogspot.com/2010/12/target-market-research.html - Link to full post

Plan of Action.....Again!

What we hope to do for the 2nd of December is to storyboard our film plot and inital ideas for filming, as well as gathering audience views/feedback on film and short films. Also we hope as a group we can have a working title, and have an idea for a film poster.

Examples Of Short Films and Exhibition

Virgin Media Shorts is a short film competition website, made for short film makers to enter their work with the chance to win funds for a bigger project in the future. It give film makers to have their work exhibited, even if they win or not there is a chance that there work would be spotted and gain a fan base.





http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/entry/345289/sign-language

Above is the link to the 2010 competition winner, ''Sign Language''
''Meet Ben - he holds a sign for a living, and he loves his job more than almost anything. But today is his last day.'' (synopsis to film.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TN3VtWwks4
(link to the directors cut on YouTube)




http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/entry/334701/bus-baby

This was winner of the people's choice for the 2010 Virgin Media Short competition. Titled ''Bus Baby''
''Synopsis: Britain has the largest teen pregnancy rate in Europe. Bus baby tackles the issues facing teenage mothers head on and asks some difficult questions. It is hard hitting yet humorous film.''





Short films can cover a variety of subjects, like in the examples above we see a comedy about a 'sign guy' also a drama on the topic of teen pregnacy.

Getting Work Done....

After uploading our pitch we started to organise our group and begin to move on in our project. We realised we were falling behind compared to other groups and needed to make a move if we wanted to continue on the course.

Our Pitch!!

Pitch by Ben, Conor, Jamie from Ben Goulder on Vimeo.


Here is our completed pitch, saying what we are planning to do for our media product.

Plan, Review and Do

For thursday the 18th of november we as a group plan to do,

+Our pitch again to upload onto our blogs.
+Conclude on a final story idea for our final product (storyboard)
+Gather more research on the pros and cons of 'found footage' style of filming

Mark Evaluation

Level 2 24–35 marks




- There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills:



- Holding a shot steady, where appropriate;



- Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;



- Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;



- Shooting material appropriate to the task set;



- Selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;



- Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;



- Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;



- Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;



- Using titles appropriately.

60



Level 3 36–47 marks



There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:



- Holding a shot steady, where appropriate;



- Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;



- Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;



- Shooting material appropriate to the task set;



- Selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;



- Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;



- Using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;



- Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;



- Using titles appropriately.

Our Main Task

Our main task is a short film, we picked this task as we feel that it is something we are all interested in and that it is our strongest field of work. Our task is to make a film lasting approximately 5 minutes. Within the short film category we have to look at various genres, one genre that appealed to us all was the ‘Found film’ genre. The main found film genre revolves around a person or group of people finding some lost footage. This is good for a short film as there is little need for character development and you can go straight into the plot. Our secondary products are the film poster and magazine review. We decided on these because we have experience using programs such as Photoshop, and we feel that we can get the most out of this.

Comparing the conventions of British and American film.

For this I looked at two different films, one a full length British film and the other an American short.

My British film of choice was A Clockwork Orange; directed by Stanley Kubrick. The audience for this film has a niche market, mainly due to the films narrative. The film features the character Alex de Large living in a surreal and modern England. The beginning of the story focuses around Alex and his group for who he calls his ‘brothers’ and their ultraviolent ways, which include mugging, rape and eventually murder. Alex is sent to prison after breaking into an old woman’s house and accidently killing her, followed by the betrayal of Alex’s friends begins his downfall. Alex has spent two years in prison and is put forward for a ‘revolutionary’ new treatment which cures the ‘evil’ part of the man. Alex is tied to a chair with his eyes clamped open and forced to watch ultraviolent films until he feels sick at the thought of sex and violence. After the treatment Alex meets everyone he has done wrong in his life who take their anger out on him. This is one of the few times where you wish to see the ultraviolent side of the character. After a suicide attempt Alex is helped out of his hypnotised state and he creates a dream world for him to slip in and out of. When compared to most American blockbusters this is not a typical film due to the fact that the hero cannot be classed as an out and out hero, he is more of an anti-hero, meaning that even though he has committed violent crimes that is the side of the character that the audience falls in love with. The language that is used in this film is not the most conventional; a lot of fictional language is used. By doing this the audience has to really engage with the film rather than being a film for the masses.

My American film of choice is a short titled George Lucas in Love directed by Joe Nussbaum. The short is a parody playing with the idea of how George Lucas gained his ideas for his hugely successful Star Wars series. The film starts off by George Lucas sitting in his dorm at university struggling to write a sci-fi script, his main idea is about a space farmer. However when he continually struggles to write the script he moves around campus where various Star Wars references are around, this includes Darth Vader, Yoda and Jabba the Hutt. Lucas then meets a woman who resembles another Star Wars character, who he falls in love with and begins to write his script with great ease. Lucas then finds out that the woman he fell in love with is also his sister, another reference to the movie franchise. This film has gone out to be funny and is enjoyable to watch, but when compared to A Clockwork Orange the humour is far darker and meant for a British audience.   

Animatics

Animatics are animated video storyboards. Think of them as taking the art of storytelling a step beyond storyboards; breathing life into drawings through motion and sound. They're commonly used for a host of production and marketing-related applications, such as commercials, sales pitches, special effects previews, bumpers, market testing, promos, show opens.



Here is my attempt at an animatic for the music video of my choice.

Music Videos

 

My favourite music video is Sabotage by the Beastie Boys, the reason i like this video is the whole parody of 1970's cop shows. The video fitted every stereotype of what we would expect to see in a 70's cop show, with the moustaches and high speed pursuits. Also there is a comedic aspect to the video, with the gathering of the cops eating donuts and the names of some of the police.