Film pre-production

Skype Call

Skype Call



This post is separate from my previous post on the script feedback, but this is my Skype call with myself and Dudi.

Branding

By a brand we mean a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature which is unique and different and distinct from another. A brand usually carries its own specific logo and slogan to go hand in hand together so that people can instantly recognize the resemblance of the brand. For example 'McDonalds' being a hugely successful fast food company, customers and people alike can instantaneously put together the large yellow 'M' for the logo and the slogan 'I'm lovin' it'

Post 28 - Good and bad horror posters

As our chosen genre is horror I have taken into account what is needed to create a successful horror film poster and thereby have annotated 4 posters from the horror genre, 2 good ones and 2 not so good. Our poster needs to possess the characteristics needed from the good poster whilst at the same time avoiding the elements taken from the bad posters.

Good poster number 1 - 'Paranormal activity'

After annotating this poster for the horror film 'Paranormal activity' I can tell why this was such a success. The poster is dark and mysterious and poses plenty of questions to whoever may be looking at it, such as 'should I see it alone?' 'What could that be at the door?' 'What exactly does happen when I sleep?'. The film is supposed to be a nightmare giver, and with a poster such as this it is easy to see as to why. It is really effective in the way in which the review is used at the top of the poster, the comments send chills down my spine as I want to know whether this film really is 'one of the scariest films of all time'. This poster is really effective as it immediately leaves me wanting more and if I hadn't already seen it, then I would want to now.


Good poster number 2 - 'The Blair Witch Project'

The second 'good' poster that I have decided to analyse is the 'blair witch project', this film poster is very effective in the sense that it doesn't give much away about the film at all. This poster much like the 'paranormal activity' one poses many questions which need to be uncovered.

Poster conventions

Every poster made must be appealing, eye-catching, and different in order to grasp the attentions of the viewing public. Film posters tend to stick to similar layouts to each other too, and below are several of the conventions that can appear on film posters.

-        Tagline - This can set the tone for the poster, as an engaging or mysterious tagline can leave the viewing public wanting to know more. A Tagline should leave the person who has just read it wanting to look on further into the poster.

-        Title for the film - This is clearly a big importance to the poster, as it defines the name of the film. The style for this tends to vary although the concepts of the title for the film will always have the same aim, to grasp the attention of the public. A large font and special text will do this.

-        Actor names - This is also a frequent feature among film posters, although the names of the credited actors tend to be more discrete and placed at the bottom of the poster for example. The main actors names will appear at some point on the poster and also the actors themselves in their roles may appear also.

-        Film related images - It will always help if film related images appear at some point on the poster, this can be to unveil more to the viewing public. Although depending on the film genre this can vary, as a genre such as horror may have not many images relating back to the film, this could be to create a sense of mystery amongst the viewers and also to leave them guessing.

-        Release date - This is a key feature also, as once the poster has been examined and the ideas of the film have been discovered, the viewer will want to know when the film is to be released.

-        Website for film - A link to the film is always useful to the viewing public, especially if they are interested in gaining more of an insight into the film, or perhaps they want to explore the concepts of the film further such as explore the soundtrack to the film, look more into the characters or even engage in a Twitter or Facebook conversation.

Post 22 - Short film marketing

Taken from the BBC website they have provided a key guide on how to market a short film. According to the guide there can be several key stages to go through in order to successfully market a short film such as our 'Run' film.

Step 1: Cast & Crew/Industry Screenings

Step 2: Prepare a Press & Publicity Kit

Step 3: Press and Industry Promotion

Step 4: Festivals & Awards

Step 5: Get a Distributor, Agent or Self-distribute

Step 6: Cinema, TV, Screenings, DVD & Online

One key question we need to consider prior to marketing our short film is who exactly is our audience? We too need to consider what kind of success we want to achieve from the short film.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/distribution/marketing-your-short#cast

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.