Post 21 - short film distribution

Basically due to the size of the film and the budget of our film, we are classed as an independent film as we have no links to larger companies. We have looked into what it takes to distribute a short film so that we can work out how to distribute our film to a wide audience.

To start off with, we would require a person who would act as a distributor. This would be a person or an organisation who would be willing to represent our short film in various circumstances. Such as attend festivals dedicated to short films. This distributor would then be required to try and sell the short film to any television company or other organisation that show short films.

A filmmaker’s general reason for creating films would be because they have something to say or a vision to share with the world, thus having as wide an audience as possible would be ideal. The filmmaker’s goal for what they would like their film to achieve plays a key part in a potential distributor’s decision on investing in their project. The larger a film’s budget, the more effort should be put in to ensure the widest audience possible can reach it

In terms of features, a distributor is generally an organisation who handles the theatrical release of a film in a particular country as well as the marketing and circulation of films for home viewing (DVD, Video-On-Demand, Download, Television etc). Often feature films have different distributors representing them in different territories and different distributors handling the home-viewing circulation. Independent film distribution in the UK is generally managed by indie distributors such as Metrodome, Optimum Releasing and Momentum.

Websites such as Facebook and Twitter are both fantastic ways of getting films out to a large scale audience. They both incorporate what is called 'the word of mouth', meaning what others say can influence your views and opinions, and this not only applies to online but it can also apply in general speaking. It is more influential online however as words and opinions of people can be expressed and in the sense of Twitter and Facebook, 'tweeted' or 'posted', in a matter of seconds as whatever is spoken can go viral to a worldwide span of people. So we man take the initiative to post our film onto Facebook and Twitter as we look to spread the word of our film as quickly as possible. This of course as well giving us the chance for future audience feedback and also for others who watch it to comment and give opinions on the film.

Post 20 - Sound (In relation to media lanaguage)

Sound is a key aspect of film. Without sound films would not be the same.
There are two main types of sound, they are diegetic and non-diegetic.
Click here for more information on both diegetic and non-diegetic sound

Diegetic - sound that has an onscreen source and can be heard by both the people on screen and the watching people off screen.
Examples of diegetic sound can be dialogue and sound effects.

Non-diegetic - sound that does not have an onscreen source and can only be heard by the watching people off screen. The characters in the film cannot hear this type of sound.
Examples of non-diegetic sound can be soundtracks and voice-overs.

Post 19 - Editing (In relation to media language)

Depending on the way in which a film is edited, editing can prove extreemley effective. Generally in film making the director is given the larger chunk of the credit, however nowadays the chief editor is also getting more of the credit once the film does well. The director decides what is shot and how, however the editor determines how each scene is shown to the audience, the editor also determines how

Post 18 - Mise-en-scene (In relation to media language)

Mise-en-scene

Setting and location – Relates to the location and place of events, the setting can either be built from scratch or it can be real. Setting can play a key part in a film due to the fact that from a glance we can tell the whereabouts of the films filming.

In relation to our film – We are filming in a large open park, ideal for a lot of zombies running towards a group of helpless teenagers.

Props – Props can be any objects present in the scene and anything in which the character interacts with. These can be anything from a phone to a cat.

In relation to our film - The kind of props that we will use in filming may include weapons to fight. 

Costume and make-up – We can tell by the way in which people are dressed in a scene whether the film is shot within a certain location or time period. Costume can also reflect the occupation of the individual, for example a man pictured in a suit could be a working class male.
In relation to our film - As no zombies will be present throughout filming we must use the effectiveness of make-up elsewhere, so at the end of the film Natasha should be pictured with zombie make-up on. In regards to costume we are all wearing scruffy clothes due to the tight budget.

Lighting – Lighting can be used to focus on a certain person in the shot, they can highlight the individual of the scene. Or lighting can be used to dim the scene and make it appear dark and mysterious, for example shading sections of the individuals body or face.
In relation to our film - we will be shooting in broad daylight so there is no need for concern in regards to the amount time for good daylight.

Casting and character movement – A top actor or actress hired to play a certain character can benefit a film due to the fact that with a large name at the centre of the action will attract a wide audience due to the main actors large fan base.
In relation to our film - It seems a bit obvious that we do not have the budget to get hold of a huge acting name.

Post 17 - Camera (In relation to media language)

There are various shots in film that are ever present, the next shots below are shot sizes.
1) Extreme Long Shot (ELS) - This shot size contains a large amount of landscape, often used to show the beggining of a scene or to establish the setting of the film, this shot has plenty of foot room and head room.
2) Long Shot (LS) - This shot size has slightly more room than an extreme long shot.
3) Medium Long Shot (MLS) - This shot contrains the characters body from the knees up, there is no longer any room at the bottom of the frame, however there is still a little bit of headroom left too.
4) Medium Shot (MS) - Contains half of the characters body in shot, so from the waist upwards, there is also still a little bit of headroom.
5) Medium Close Up (MCU) - This shot contains even less of the characters body, mainly from the shoulders upwards.
6) Close Up (CU) - This shot shows the entire face of the character, often used to capture emotion and expressions.
7) Extreme Close Up (ECU) - Contains the eyes to mouth in shot, smaller than a close up, this shot can create an intense mood as well as breaking the wall between the audience and the character. This shot can also capture emotion.

Post 16 - Representation of women

I am researching into how women are represented in horror films. Often women are represented as vulnerable, naïve and powerless (with a few exceptions) or as hypersexual damsels in distress.

Often gender is crucial in horror films, not long ago the only role women had in horror films was tottering around our screens half naked before screaming and being brutally murdered by the killer, showing that a lot of Hollywood films differentially use women to serve men.  By the 1970’s women were becoming slightly more powerful in horror films.

In the earlier days of the production of zombie films, the female character would stereotypically be the person who would need saving from trouble. Also, they would be seen as being considerably weaker than the male characters and they wouldn't tend to act in a heroic manor. An example of a film where this typical female role is played is in the film Night of the living dead.

However, in many recent zombie films and especially the most recent television zombie series, The walking dead, the role of a female has changed considerably as they have stepped up and taken up roles of being the hero in some situations.

 

Within this clip we see a female character saving another characters life. This is a subversive act as a typical female character would be seen to run away from the source of trouble instead of standing up to it.

Post 15 - Representation of men

Until I figure out how to embed a pintrest, I have taken screen grabs of my pins.

Post 15 - Script feedback from Professional scriptwriter

Luckily in the course of writing our script for 'Run', through the links of our teacher we were able to not only send off our scripts to a professional script writer in Dudi Appleton, but we also had the chance to Skype him in person and receive feedback upon our script writing work. There is a link in Dudi's name to his kind of work.

None the less, it was great to receive constructive criticism and ideas on how to improve our script, below are notes in which Dudi himself added to the bottom of our script.

'Run' script with scriptwriter feedback

And upon receiving this feedback I took the privilege of talking to Dudi in person on Skype, I was the one out of my group who volunteered to make the call as my fellow 3 members were busy at the time of asking. Anyway I spoke to Dudi on Skype and recorded the conversation with 'Voice memos' on my iPhone.

Post 14 - Audience positioning

Post 13 - The BBFC/film rating

The BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification) are a non-profit organisation who relies solely on the money from film makers to do their jobs properly, they attempt to cut out any inappropriate content and classify films in categories respectively. The BBFC are independent film regulators who seek to protect the public, mainly children from high risks, as well as enabling the public to make correct decisions about viewing choices. The BBFC look to make ‘the right’ decisions so that there is no uproar from the public, if the BBFC make strange decisions about a film then the views and opinions of society can backfire and the two can come into conflict.


Horror

The use of frightening elements which might scare or unsettle an audience is part of a long tradition of storytelling and film making.

Many children enjoy the excitement of scary sequences, but, where films are targeted at a younger audience, classification decisions will take into account such factors as the frequency, length and detail of scary scenes as well as horror effects, including music and sound, and whether there is a swift and reassuring outcome.

Older audiences often pay to see horror films because they like being frightened or shocked and such works are classified at an appropriate category to ensure that the young and vulnerable are protected from too intense an experience.

Imitable behaviour

Classification decisions will take into account any detailed portrayal of criminal and violent techniques, and any glamorisation of easily accessible weapons, such as knives (Teenage mutant ninja turtles) Works which portray anti-social behaviour (for example, bullying) uncritically are likely to receive a more restrictive classification. Works which, taken as a whole, actively promote illegal behaviour will be cut or rejected. Portrayals of potentially dangerous behaviour (especially relating to hanging, suicide and self-harm) which children and young people are likely to copy, will be cut if a more restrictive classification is not appropriate.

Nudity

Natural nudity with no sexual context is acceptable at all classification levels, but will not occur more than occasionally in the lowest category.

Nudity with a sexual context will receive a more restrictive classification and strong detail in such a context will only be passed in the adult categories.

Sex

The portrayal of sexual activity can range from kissing and verbal references to ‘making love’, to detail of real sex. This is reflected in the classification system, in which progressively stronger portrayals are allowed as the categories rise.

Sex works (works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation) are likely to be passed only in the adult categories. Sex works containing only materials which may be simulated are generally passed ‘18’.

Sex works containing clear images of real sex, strong fetish material, sexually explicit animated images, or other very strong sexual images will be confined to the ‘R18’ category. ‘R18’ video works may be supplied only in licensed sex shops which no one under 18 may enter.

‘R18’films may be shown only in specially licensed cinemas.

These Guidelines will be applied to the same standard regardless of sexual orientation.

Post 12 - Audience

Audience can be defined as a collective group of people who read or consume any form of media. All texts have an audience in mind, an important question to consider is always what is the audience?
Without audiences there would be no media, the audience can often too determine the success of a media product. Media organisations produce media texts to make profit, quite simply this means that no audience means no profit. Mass media is all about the profit!

Katz and Blumer proposed

Katz and Blumler – link!

They proposed audience research into their behaviour that audiences use media texts for a variety of reasons.

INFO

PERSONAL IDENTITY

INTEGREATION AND SOCISL INTERACTION

 

New technology and audience

Old media forms such as TV, Print and Radio, used to have high audience numbers and now they must work harder to maintain audience numbers.

Digital technology has also led to an increasing uncertainty over how we define an audience.

Fragmented audience

The division of audiences into smaller groups due to the variety of media outlets.

EG. Newspapers and magazines you can now find online copies

How do institutions continue to make money?

Nothing in life is free

Free apps

Websites and adverts

Newspapers print fewer copies, to switch to online/tablet copies, mean less money for producing copies.

Mass and niche audiences and examples of both

How do we categorise audiences?

Audiences can be divided into categories based on social class.

Audience research – major part of any media companies work – survey monkey

They use questionnaires, focus groups, pre film screenings and spend a great deal of time and money finding out who would be interested in their product.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Media producers and interested in

Age

Gender

Race

Location of their potential target market. This is called the demographic.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS

Every advertiser wants to target a particular type of audience. Therefore media companies produce texts that target a particular ‘type’ of audience.  Audiences interests and tastes and hobbies.

Link – thinkbox.tv/server/show/nav/914

Group A – what types of media texts would they consume?

Lawyers

Doctors

Scientists

Well paid professionals

Group B

Teachers

Middle management

Fairly well paid professionals

Group C1

Junior management

Bank clerks

Nurses

White collar professionals

Group C2

Electricians

Plumbers

Carpenters

Blue collar professionals

Group D

Manual workers

Drivers

Post sorters

Group E

Students

Unemployed

Pensioners

PUT SCRIPTS UP there

Stuart Hall – Hall views audiences as both the producers and consumers of texts: decoding the meaning encoded by the originator of the text. His approach to textual analysis is that the consumer actively negotiates the meaning.

How do we measure audiences?

Sales, subscriptions, ratings, figures

Who measures them?

NRS

ABC

BARB

Bookseller

New ways in which we measure audience

Social networking

YouTube + google+1 views

Twitter trends

Research

Quantitative

Qualitative

Niche –  Some fishing programme

Mass – Sky sports

Audience engagement

Audiences’ expectations

Audiences’ foreknowledge

Audience Identification

Audience placement

Audience research