In order for me to make an effective production that will appeal to people, I first need to think about what elements are included in attracting different target markets and also what techniques I could use to attract/ address my own targeted audience.
For every film genre there will be a different target audience. Although sometimes the target market overlaps to different genres, an individual will mostly stay with a few different film genres that they find captures their own interest and keeps them engaged. Whether that interest and engagement is through humor, action, romance or the social groups that are represented in the film that the audience will relate to, the writer/creator or producer will first have to think and decide about which audience they wish to attract/address and how they will represent that through the type of genre as well as elements within film language that will assist the audience with interpreting and therefore enjoying the film.
I will need to do some research into what techniques and elements I can use within my production to attract my audience. However I first need to establish who my target market are and therefore increasing my ability to create an effective production that my target market will enjoy.
I could do this research by making a questionnaire and asking questions such as:
what genres of films do you enjoy?
what is it about those films that makes them enjoyable for you?
what type of film language do you find is most effective/ important in the process of representing this genre?
what are your hobbies/interests?
what age group are you?
what gender are you?
Asking these types of questions will not only help me identify the ways in which are most effective when addressing my audience but also it will help to specify the types of people that the different genres engage and therefore enables me to understand who my target audience will be.
To represent the middle to upper class quality the two main characters share, it is important to use the correct uniform for both Horse- eventing and Ballet. by wearing the right costume it will emphasize the seriousness and competitive quality of the two characters. The connotation of a ballet outfit includes having strength but at the same time being delicate and light. the uniform required for horse eventing can vary. the simple colours are used for events such as dressage and show jumping, which can be seen as more precise, careful, controlled movements as apposed to horse racing or cross country where the rider wheres brightly coloured uniform which could be seen as less serious. By having the right costume the audience will be able to judge and subconsciously make connections between the two characters and their qualities/personalities.
for my music research I have looked into different styles of music and their copyright rules.
I have focused on using classical music as i think it will fit my production best as it highlights the upper-class elements of the characters. Because of this i have looked at the copyright rules of classical music and this is what i found:
The law states that music composed by an artist that has bean dead for 75 years becomes public domain and individuals or companies are aloud to use it and make profit from it the piece.
In every piece of music there are two copyrights, the one of composition and one of recording. classical music rights are based on the recording and the arrangement (someones interpretation of the composition). if you were to play a piece of classical music by performing it yourself rather than using the original interpretation/ recording, then it would be your interpretation therefore having no copyrights attached; because it is the composer's original arrangement/recording/interpretation that has been copy written and not the actual composition.
from doing this research i have come to the conclusion that i would be aloud to use a piece of classical composition.
Part of my research includes looking into different actors so that I can consider what sort of actors will best capture and represent my characters and the social group I am trying to portray.
To help me find my own actors, I first looked at popular actors who would fit the genre and style of my production, to focus in on their qualities and characteristics that help make their roles so believable, therefore helping me look for those specific characteristics in my own actors.
Emma Watson
Harry Potter series
Noah
Perks of Being A Wallflower
Emma Watson is a strong actress who is capable of playing a serious role, while having the capability to portray a variety of different characters, convincingly in different films. I feel that Emma Watson would be a great leading actress along side of Keira Knightly in my style of production. This is because it is an English production involving two strong, independent, competitive, middle to upper class females; she has the very real qualities of an upper class, independent young woman and will therefore represent that social group easily and effectively.
Christian Bale
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight/ The Dark Knight Rises.
Exodus
American Pshyco
Christian Bale is an English actor and like Emma Watson has the ability to play very strong, convincing characters using a wide range of different characteristics. In my production I would cast him as someone with high authority. He has proven to show this characteristic as very natural in the series of 'Batman' films he has done, I have confidence that he is able to lead a very serious and mysterious role convincingly.
Ewan McGregor
Angles and Demons
The Impossible
Trainspotting
Jack The Giant Slayer
Ewan McGregor has been in many films highlighting his potential to make a huge variety of social groups presented by his characters very real and believable. He is an English actor which all of the actors/actress' i chose have in common as I think it is a key factor in my production, it helps shape the audience's opinions and views on the characters using their regional identity. Regional identity is a key form of film language and is important for the audience to use as a guidance of the character's qualities, morals and personality. In my Production Ewan McGregor would be a more laid back character, however having an off part of his personality which raises suspicions that he might be capable of being a 'bad guy'. As well as using his acting skills to show this unsettling quality i would also use different forms of film language during his scenes such as music and camera shots.
Keira Knightly
The Imitation Game
Pirates of The Caribbean
Pride and Prejudice
Keira Knighly would be the other leading lady in my production, sharing the same qualities as Emma Watson; Strong, convincing, independent, competitive young woman with an upper class up-bringing. In her past roles, Keira Knightly has proven to represent a strong individual better than some of her other roles. This gives me confidence that she is capable of effectively representing the right social group as well as being in competition with Emma Watson's character as to who the 'stronger' one is and who is the weaker more vulnerable character out of the two. this means that audience isn't led to the outcome away but are lead to the outcome throughout the story line, leaving it a mystery therefore being more interesting and gripping for the audience.
Other Actors:
Nicholas Hoult
Jack The Giant Slayer
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
Clash Of The Titans
Emma Thompson
Henry V
Saving Mr Bank
Harry Potter and The Order of The Pheonix
From this research into different actors and the roles they have previously played, i understand a lot more about what qualities i need to look for in my own actors and how those qualities will effect the standard of my production as well as how important the characteristics are to my audience. Next I will be analysing the qualities and characteristics of my own actors and justify why i have chosen them.
Monday, 2 March 2015
Cutting Rates
In class we have looked into cutting rates of scenes and how it can affect the audience.
cutting rate is a term for the amount of camera shots used in an amount of time or a scene.
This clip from Christopher Nolan's,' Batman The Dark Knight' we see The Joker chasing after Police cars and the black van that Harvey Dent is being protected in, after a few minutes into the scene we see that Batman joins this chase to stop The Joker. At approximately 3:13 minutes Batman arrives, and from this point the cutting rate of that scene speeds up significantly. This is when The Joker blows up the Bat mobile, so there are more camera shots added in a small amount of time so that the audience is aware of exactly what has happened, as well as the effect the event has had. A fast cutting rate contributes to building tension and the engagement of the audience.
However, a slow cutting rate can also increase tension for example in the context of a horror or jump scare film. It can create great anticipation for the audience making the viewers expect the worse of the situation and fear what is to come next. which is of course what you want from a jump scare horror film.
I can apply this knowledge of cutting rate effectively to my main task as a way of gripping and setting a scene for my audience.
Shot/reverse shot is where character A is shown looking at character B (from character A's point of view), the reverse shot is when character B is looking back at character A (from character B's point of view) this works not just in conversations but when we see a character looking at something and then the camera cuts to what the character was looking at (from the point of view of the character./ over their shoulder)
The 180 degree rule is where characters opposite each other have an invisible axis going through them. The camera will only focus on one half of the 'circle' otherwise it looks like the characters are next to each other as opposed to opposite .
In Preparation for my main task I have been looking at opening scenes of films. in class we have explored the different elements that make an opening of a film, such as the content (how it doesn't tell the whole story) also the titles and sounds; how the delivery of the titles eg. fonts, colours, size , can set the initial idea of the type of film it will be. The music and sounds are also very key to making sure you are inviting the audience into the right sort of film, the music can tell what genre the film is and it is important that what the music is telling you in the opening scene is continued throughout the film so that the audience is not miss lead into the story.
The way that the first few minutes are edited is also a very important type of film language that subconsciously speaks to the audience about what is to be expected through the duration of the film.
Sound
In this opening scene from 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' there is a soft background track that is played. The song 'Moon River' is recreated as just an instrumental with very little voice harmonies toward the end. although an instrumental of a soothing song seems simple, the intricacy of the instruments played and the layers of sound created suggest complications. The use of this music is possibly suggesting the complexity of the main character's life but in a very simple way, as the film goes on we begin to see the character's innocence and simplicity of life only to realise that her life is in fact quite complicated, this may be what the music is reflecting at the start. The song 'Moon River ' is also played again during the film as 'Holly' is playing it on her guitar.
Editing
The cutting rate of this scene is very slow for example the first cut of the film is only around 27 seconds in, further on in the clip when we see her looking in the window the clip lasts for 35 seconds before it cuts to the next. This technique mirrors the peaceful, placid character and the life that this character is living seems very slow and delayed/not rushed. The way we watch her in her daily life, getting out the taxi, eating her breakfast, walking down the street all suggests that the film is about following this character and watching her develop as a person. The slow cutting rate of the first scene is subconsciously implying that this is not an action/adventure genre or the type of film that you have to think about to keep up with.
Titles
In this opening scene, the titles start roughly a minute in. The first person it mentions is Audrey Hepburn (the main character) followed by George Peppard , the titles end with the director of the film and always almost do. The names of the two main characters and then the editor are in a larger font- showing importance. Title of the film 'Breakfast At Tiffany's ' is the third title to appear and is again in a larger font. The font used is of a rich yellow/gold colour suggesting high class, it is also an almost rounded serif font making it look more formal and giving it more value.
costume
we see the main character wearing a long, very smart black dress with a 3 layered pearl necklace with long black gloves, this is also screaming to the audience that this film is not about action or adventure or thrilling, it is an innocent story of a very innocent woman who likes to be classy.
Lets be honest, the opening of this film says it all, Audrey Hepburn is eating breakfast outside of Tiffany's the jewellery shop. These elements alone make the audience aware of the type of film they are about to watch. however that is not to say that the parts that I have mentioned; sound, titles, editing and costume aren't crucially vital when opening a film... or making a film all together.
In recent lessons we have been exploring the use of sound. This includes Diagetic and Non-diagetic sounds.
diagetic: sound whose source can be seen on the screen and is implied to be present by the action of the film. examples include: voices of charaters and object/prop sound/movement eg, doors closing.
Non-Diagetic: sound whose source is neither visible on the screen or implied to be present in the action. examples include:background music and commentators
This scene from 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' includes:
continuous background soundtrack (Non-diagetic)
sound of the trumpet being blown (diagetic)
the sound of the rolling pin being put down (diagetic)
scrunching of the lamp shade cover (diagetic )
occasional footsteps when walking around the shop (diagetic)
placing of the goldfish bowl on the metal racks (diagetic)
movement/putting on of the plastic masks (diagetic)
noise of commuters and traffic when they step outside the shop (diagetic)
In todays lesson we looked at how having the right sound in a film can create a scene as well as possibly being able to tell the viewer where the scene/film is set and what genre the film is. different elements such as, tempo, instruments used, pitch etc. Is what makes this possible. Music and sounds are a huge part of the films communication. chosen correctly and used in the right context, music can effect our emotions, make us happy-laugh, sad-cry, even empathetic. Music is how the writers,producers and directors communicate their ideas to help the audience understand exactly what their thoughts were and what exactly the situation given, is.
This clip was written by Hans Zimmer for Batman:The Dark Knight. as you listen to the clip you will hear that the composer has used a high tempo to reflect the action and drama of the film. Zimmer has also used constant, deep sounding drums in the background with string instruments over the top. However the string instruments aren't playing continuously and their sound doesn't flow. It is a very aggressive jerking/pulling of the strings and is played in short bursts - highlighting the intense nature of the opening scene which continues throughout the film. The use of lower notes and the absence of high pitch sounds amplifies the darkness of Batman.
When all these different elements of the piece are put together, it truly reflects the original qualities of the Batman films that the producers and writers where hoping to achieve and present to the audience.
In today's lesson we had to order camera angles to make what we interpreted to be the correct ordering of this scene from E.T.
like everyone else, i started with a long distance shot and a birdseye view. i chose these angles because i thought it would introduce the scene well and give the audience a bit more context of the situation. However the shots i placed at the beginning were actually used further into the scene about 4 or 5 shots in. this was to give the viewers some idea of the situation first and then give them a birdseye view to make the scale of it more understandable. As the last shot we all chose the sunset, this is because it is a typical way to finish a scene and is seen as a cliche.
