Audience Research (Pearl&Dean)

Non-diagetic Sound Research

Production logo research

In order to create our own logo first, me and my peer had to research and investigate different existing logos to see how they are like, what charasteristics they have and also their motion or layout because so many of them are 3D and almost all of them have some sort of motion going on where the logo moves around.

Examples of existing production logos:
The 20th Century Fox was first found May 31st 1935. It is one of the 6 major american film studios. The logo is in fact original and quite complex. This is because it has a 3D, 'building' like design to it which says the name of the distribution company. I noticed that production logos are always played at the beginning of any film and always inlcude some sort of motion. In addition, we can see movements of the lights around the 'statue' which might symbolise the limelights of Hollywood. There is always music at the background and the offical song for this company is called "the Doors".This company seems to specialise in all film genres from romance to comedy to thriller.  It distributed high budget films such as 'Titanic' or 'The Fault in ouir Stars'.

Dreamworks is a production company that is knows for distributing animate movies such as 'Shrek'. It was first found October 12th 1994. The fact that thelogo has a little boy is relatable to the target audience for the types of films it makes, which is children. The boy in the logo seems to be fishing, sitting the moon, sorrounded by clouds. In addition, like any other production logo, it has music at the background which is really soft. Fabiha liked the theme of this logo because she thought it was quite catchy and the moon was a romantic elemtn to include i  our logo. I akso think it is a quite good elemnts howecver there could be better alternatives and we will see that on the next  production logo.

Lionsgate enterteinment is another distributor found July 3rd 1997. It distributes a range of film genres, including romance. This logo is the one i think is the most suitable for our genre because of the  films it distributed, such as ''The hunger Games' and 'The divergent'. Both these films contain romance in them which is the reason we got inspired by this production company. The clouds around the main logo symbolise peace and the theme is quite romantic as in the motion of the logo we see the sunlight peeking through the clouds which can be linked to a sunset and a sunsets are always romantic. I think i might use some of the elements from this logo such as the clouds for our own logo because I think that clouds are suitable for a production company that produces romantic films. Fabiha also agreed with me but we will decide later on during the making of our own logo what elements in particular and what we will use.

Personally I thought our logo has to contain elements such as hearts or roses due to how our chosen genre is romance. However, after this research i understood that we do not have to include such elements because the logo does not have to directly prtray the genre of our film. It could but only to a certain extent, for example in the Lionsgate logo, we see the light peeking through the clouds, that is seen as quite romantic, although it does not contain hearts.



 

Romance research

Genre research : romance

Genre Research: Romance

My group and I finally decided that the official genre of our film would be romance. We came to this conclusion due to how we came up with an excellent plot which we think will get us a high grade. Also, the romantic genre is one of the most popular in the film industry and there is a range of people that watch it that varies from adults to teenagers, even though it could be argued that romance is mainly targeted at a female audience.This might be because females are seen to be the more "emotional" gender in a relationship and therefore can connect with the story easily. The reason we chose it is because romance is something the audience can relate to. In addition,this genre isn’t often chosen; people always tend to choose horror/thriller as it is easier and more convenient and general.

I have done research and looked at the typical conventions in a romantic film. First of all, there is always a female and a male character: the "boy meets girl" scene is always found somewhere in the film. These would be the main characters who eventually meet and fall in love sooner or later due to how they get attracted to each other for some reason. This genre would include sexuality status, gender and relationships. Sometimes, they are the complete opposite in terms of personality or looks which makes the plot really interesting because the audience would not expect them to fall in love, therefore it exceeds their expectation. In addition, there is always something in between that might break the two lovers apart, usually it is a third person, an accident, one of the characters have to move away or even a tragedy, like one of them dying. The following cases are the ones that would usually tend to break them apart. In fact, we sometimes see that the characters go their separate ways due to an argument or disagreement but they reunite afterwards. However, viewers would prefer a happy ending as it less emotional and it is more likely to appeal to them. We can find that the director uses voice overs (e.g. Twilight film opening where Bella talks about her life) to  introduce one of the characters and how their life is like. This actually inspired me and my group because we want to do a voice over of the girl in our film opening. We think it is a good idea due to how it could introduce the girl and her life which reveals parts of the rest of the film. By doing this, we are allowing the viewers to guess how the rest of the movie will be. This enforces the theme of love and romance. The story line normally involves a variety of emotions such as sadness, depression, happiness, love and pain. This is directly engaging the audience due to how it is involving them to feel the same emotions  from the narrative of the film. The director also always uses shots like close ups that frame the characters well, which is essential due to how it portrays how they are emotionally connected with each other. This allows the audience to understand their relationship further more.

There are also environments where the characters might meet or make memories. The film is usually set in a well known city or a realist setting. Typical settings are cinemas, schools, parks, parties, restaurants, even streets or other public places. All these places are typically found in romantic films if noticed carefully. Places such as cinemas, parks or restaurants are usually where the characters meet for a date due to how romantic these settings are. We often find that if there are young teenage characters in a romantic movie, the boy tends to take the girl at the cinema and slowly approaches her by putting his arm around her shoulder and then goes for a kiss. We also see other typical romantic scenes such as the characters kissing during the sunset. This is particularly romantic due to the lighting and the calm environment: the sun has orange/red lighting and red is the colour that symbolizes love. There are certain props that are commonly seen in romantic films such as flowers, hearts, love letters or even wedding bells. All these symbolize the theme of love which is why they are effective.

Some of the most popular films within this genre are Titanic, The Notebook, The Vow, The Fault in Our Stars, Twilight etc.… If we take a look at one of these, for example Titanic we can see the plot of the movie and how the director chose to portray their love story.Titanic is really well known and it is an iconic romantic film. The plot is particularly interesting as it is starts off the a woman (Rose) talking about how she lost the love of her life and the whole story is shown afterwards. It is set in a rather unusual place, which is the Titanic ship. We can find the "boy meets girl" scene where the characters, Rose and Jack meet each other. It is quite an unusual way of meeting as Rose was trying to kill herself by jumping off the ship and Jack stopped her. Later on we can witness how they both have a connection and something between them sparkles, regardless of the difference in their classes. Rose comes from a rich, high class family and Jack on the other hand comes from a poor family with no class. This however does not stop them from falling in love, which is what the audience would normally expect. In addition, there are scene that include sexuality which deepens the meaning of their love, as they are shown to be more physically intimate, other than emotionally. The film ends with a tragedy, with Jack's death after the sinking of the ship. This is an excellent film that inspired me and my group for our film opening. The fact that Jack and Rose are from different classes and still fall in love is a powerful message as it shows that anyone could fall in love with any person, regardless the circumstances. The boy and the girl in our film will be really different personality wise.

Some of the limitations that might stop us from doing certain things are the fact that the characters will not be able to be as intimate as the real actors of a film. They might find it uncomfortable. Also, we might not have enough props to emphasize the theme of love. Props are essential to complete the mise en scene and further emphasize the genre. We will still try our best to get as much props as possible. Another issue that might get in the way is the time. We might not have enough time, however we will try to get everything done before the deadline and give our best.

Distribution Research

Distribution is the way in which something is shared out among a group or spread over an area and it is important in the music, filming, gaming or any other industry because it determines how the media product will be sold later on. 
Film distribution/production companies pay for everything that is needed including costumes and props and casting due to how famous actors/actresses get paid a lot.

Examples of existing distribution companies:

The 20th Century Fox is one of the 6 major american film studios. It has a really high budget due to how it a really big company and it distributed some of the most famous Hollywood films that vary in genre from romance to fantasy to comedy such as 'Titanic', 'The Fault In our Stars', 'Avatar', 'Home Alone' etc..

Walt Disney is also a known distribution company, it is known for the animated films it distributes and every child would recognize it. It distributed films/cartoons such as 'Lady and the Tramp', 'Cinderella, 'Sleeping Beauty' and all the classic Disney cartoons.

Lionsgate Enterteinment is another known distribution film company that distributed different films of different genres such as 'The Hunger Games', 'Jessabelle', 'Kick-Ass', 'Saw' etc.. I found that it distributed a lot of horror films.

Universal Studios distributed classic films such as 'Jurassic Park', 'Transformers',  'Fast and Furious' etc... Their budget is also high just like the other companies because they pay for all the costumes and props needed and the casting. 

Pixar is another company that is found to mainly focus on animation. It distributed films such as 'Cars', 'Inside Out', 'Finding Nemo', 'Brave' etc... It created more 3D cartoons. 

Production calendar

Me and my my group have decided that it would be really helpful if we created a production calendar where we map out the lessons and our meetings and how long it will take in terms of research and planning., including additional meetings.

ms georgiou

Ms Georgiou

PRELIMINARY TASK

My preliminary test is a 24 seconds clip which introduces a horror/thriller story even though the genre is not what I focused on. Thetask was to make a short clip that inclde the 180° rule, a shot reverse shot and action match. It is set in the main hall of the school, which i thought would be a suitable setting due to its dull lighting and quiet environment. The camera work went well, including different types of shots. However i did encounter some limitations such as props and actors. I think if we had one more actor and a few more props, the clip would have been slightly better.

Film opening research: The Fault in our Stars

The Fault in our Stars Film Opening: analysing.

 

The following film is a romantic film thats was quite successful. This is how the opening of the film starts. Every film is always introduced with the dustributor. The distributor for The Fault in our Stars is the 20th Century Fox flm corporation which is one of the 6 major american film studios.



After the production logo we usually see the titles of the film. In this film they chose a specific font which is diary like to rapresent the fact that the characters are teenagers and the target audience is most likely to be teenagers too. The background has been chose carefully because tha title of the movie is The Fault In our Stars and we can see the stars at the back which could be linked.


An extyreme close up shot is used to rapresent the character. The mise en scene has been chosen carefully because the fact that her eyes are bare, without make up on show that she might have some sort of illness or something might be wrong because usually, happy girls seem to be wearing make up, especially on their eyes. the sahot is backed up by the sound, which in this case is a voice over of the female character. This is effective not only because not only it gives a better idea to the audience of the caharcter but also emphasises that the film is probably going to be about her life. the following scenes all have a lot of cuts in them which is effective because it shows the sequence of the film better and it is more clear for the audicne to understand.

Around almost a minute throughout the opening of the film there is a close up shot of the main character's face, still with her voice over at the back. She still looks like she has no make up even though in reality they did it on purpose, used natural make up on her. Mise en scene is used to emphasises her eyebags and they could be linked to the fact that she is ill. In addition, the short hair further emphasises that there is something unnormal about her because healthy females always seem to have a long haircut, not short. Her face expressions looks rather worried or thoughtful especially due to how she is laying on the grass starring at the sky ast night.

 

 This scene lasts only for a few seconds but it is effective due to how it shows simnething that will happen later on in the movie. This gives the audience a tsters of the narrative of the film. The second main character is also introduced and they both look really happy. This is where the audience can guess the genre of the film because there is a male and female dancing together which is really romantic. A mid shot is used to show only their faces and bodies. It is effective because it lets people focus on their face expressions and how happy they are and their body movements, in this case, dancing.

This is where the opening of the film ends and thge rest od the film starts necause usually the actual fim starts right after the main title, The font and style is still the same as the little titles at the beginning and we will try replicate the same sturcture as this film opening just without the scene of both our characters together because we think that will wll be too revealing for our film.










 

Film opening research: Titanic

The video above is the actual film opening that lasts for 1.22 minutes.

The following film is opened with a scene of people at the port when the Titanic is about to sail. It is an effective long shot due to how we can see the whole environment, the people, the water of the ocean, the port and most importantly the ship. It is interesting how the ship is framed due to how we can only see half of it, instead of the entire ship. This gives a mysterious feel and the audience is intrigued by it; the fact that not the entire ship is revealed could mean that the director did not want the viewers to know about it  and is hiding the rest of the story, which is shown later on.  There has been affects added to it, which is an old fashioned yellow toned lighting. This is a really good way to tell the audience that the story happened ages ago, as the yellow lighting is typically found in old tapes and videos. There is non-diagetic sound used in the background which is the famous Titanic sound track. The track is really effective as it already tells the audience that the rest of the film is going to be about a love story. This is due to how the music is slow, calm and soothing, typically found in romantic movies.



This is another screenshot from the first two minutes of the opening. The yellow effect is still used because it is the same scene. An over the shoulder camera shot has been used to emphasize peoples feelings. In this picture we can clearly see that the person is waving at someone that just got on the Titanic. The fact that this person is waving with both hands shows the excitement of the sailing of the ship and how one of their friends or family members are leaving. The props used are effective because the way actors are dressed is old, like how they used to dress back in the 1940's. This could be linked to the time period the film was set, which is in fact in the 1940's because it is inspired by the real sinking of the real Titanic. We can still hear the soundtrack at the background which makes the audience get into the film even more and engage them to feel like the characters are feeling.



In the same scene, titles and subtitles are introduced with the name of the people involved in the making, featuring labels or companies etc... Because the background is rather dark and yellow toned, the film editors chose a white colour for the writing and a capital, basic font. There are different sizes used to highlight the main bits that the audience should know. The titles appear and then slowly vanish one after another, as they change position around the screen. Other than titles, if we focus on the background we can see how many people are on the ship which highlights the fact that it was a big deal at that time. A long distance shot has been used to show how crammed people are and almost pushing each other.


The director chose another scene to end the opening. He decided to frame the ocean and the waves moving at night. This is a beautiful way to end the opening of the film as the water actually foreshadows something that is going to happen later on in film: the sinking of the ship. We can see that it is night time therefore the lighting will be dark and the waves are a blue colour. This shot is quite simple as the camera is held steadily without moving around to show the exact calm movement of the waves. We should notice that the soundtrack is still playing in the background and will finish once the opening of the film is ended.



This is how the opening is ended. The title of the movie is finally shown in clear, big, capital, bold writing. The title slowly appears, as soft as the waves, which gives a calm feel for the audience. This fits with the soundtrack due to how soft it is. The writing is with bold and white, which is a good choice of colour due to how there is a contrast with the dark blue background. This is en excellent and useful example that will help me chose the font, style and size of my titles for my film opening. I now know that the titles will have to contrast with background, therefore if the background is light, the writing will have to be dark and vice versa.

Conventions of a film opening

What is a film opening?