Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Monday, 26 November 2012
Film Censorship
Please click onto the powerpoint presentation below:
History of British Film Censorship
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Film production and distribution research
DreamWorks was founded 12
October, 1994DreamWorks was founded 12 October, 1994 in Universal City,
California. DreamWorks has three founders; Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenburg
and David Geffen. DreamWorks has six current divisions: DreamWorks
Animation, DreamWorks Live Theatrical Productions, DreamWorks Movie Networks,
DWKids.com, DreamWorks Television and DreamWorks Home Entertainment. DreamWorks
both produce and distribute films, and produced three Oscar winning films:
American Beauty, Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind. DreamWorks highest grossing
film is currently Transformers: Dark Side Of The Moon. DreamWorks are famed for releasing
family/animation films.
20th
Century Fox
Joseph
Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck founded 20th Century Fox May 31st,
1935. It is currently situated in the Century City area of Los Angeles. 20th
Century Fox is a subsidiary of News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch. 20th
Century Fox also produces and distributes films. They have an association with
producing and distributing sci-fi films. They produced Avatar and Star Wars.
Avatar was 20th Century Fox's highest grossing film and also the highest
grossing film of all time.
Working Title
Two
producers founded working Title: Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe. The
headquarters of Working Title are located in London, United Kingdom. Working
title is a subsidiary of Universal that produces films mainly in the UK.
Working Title is mainly focused on production but also distributes, they are
renowned for producing light-hearted comedies. Their highest grossing film is
Bridget Jones’ Diary, making over 280 million pounds.
Universal Studios
Carl
Laemmie, Pat Powers, Mark Dintenfass, William Swanson, David Horsley, Adam
Kessel, Charles Baumann and Jules Brulatour founded
Universal Pictures on the 30th April 1912. The headquarters of Universal
Studios are located in Universal City, California. Universal Studios are a
division of NBCUniversal and a subsidiary of Comcast. Universal is a production
and distribution companies that focuses on producing comedies and establishes
franchises from films.
Lionsgate Films
Lionsgate
was founded in Vancouver, British Columbia on January 12, 1998 and now
headquartered Santa Monica, California, United States. Lionsgate’s
founder is Frank Giustra. Lionsgate is a distributing company. They began a
trend of distributing films that were deemed too controversial for other
American institutes. The studio’s highest grossing film was The Hunger Games.
Lionsgate is also famed for rarely co-producing films with other major studios.
Mean Streets (1973) — Art of the Title
To view the opening title sequence of Mean Streets; please click the link below:
Mean Streets (1973) — Art of the Title
The film begins with the logo and name of the production company, which is in this particular film, was the parent company of Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Music Group; Warner Communications company. As the production company allows films to change the colour of the background and the logo itself to relate to the film. Therefore; the hue bright red connotes blood, love and rage, whereas, this deeper, darker red connotes power and lust.
The opening title sequence begins with a voice over from the director; Martin Scorsese. This technical code helps to illustrate the tone of film and the major themes. Scorsese begins with "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home", this reveals to the audience that religion and life on the "streets" conflict with each other and that the protagonist will experience some form of moral dilemma. The life on the streets itself connotes danger, possible gangster/mafia activity and the character's association with a mafia, or, possibly him trying to escape from the mafia.
Scorsese uses diegetic sound of the protagonist, Charlie, shuffling through his bedroom. The use of diegetic gives the film verismilitude and the sound of police sirens tells the audience Charlie lives in an area where crime is frequent and the police patrol the streets; this relates back to the title Mean Streets. Charlie's blase attitude to the police sirens shows that Charlie is accustomed to the noise of sirens.
Scorsese uses match-on-action of Charlie lying in bed and resting his bed on a pillow. However the cutting between shots is delayed by 0.5 seconds so it gives the sequence a feel of repetition of Charlie resting his head on a pillow, but between every cut on the match-on-action closes in on Charlie's face, moving from a close-up to an XCU.
Scorsese then uses The Ronettes - Be My Baby as a sound bridge to the actual title opening sequence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0upHlWfQ4
This image below names the production company (distributors). It also informs the public and other production companies that the rights to this film (art); Mean Streets are exclusively's Warner Bros. Studios. The cinematographer used a grainy yellow/green filter so it appears this sequence was actually shown from a projector, but also it makes the image of the streets look dirty, again tying the image back to the title. It also helps set the location for the audience, as they can now clearly see the film was hot in New York. The text for the title of Mean Streets is placed over the image in bright red emphasizing the genre of the film.
In regards to crediting the actors, the names are placed around the action taking place. This shows the resourcefulness of the editing team as they understood the limitations of a film projector (the action may not fill the whole screen, so you're left with darkness around the shots) and turned the limitations into advantages.
Mean Streets (1973) — Art of the Title
The film begins with the logo and name of the production company, which is in this particular film, was the parent company of Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Music Group; Warner Communications company. As the production company allows films to change the colour of the background and the logo itself to relate to the film. Therefore; the hue bright red connotes blood, love and rage, whereas, this deeper, darker red connotes power and lust.
The opening title sequence begins with a voice over from the director; Martin Scorsese. This technical code helps to illustrate the tone of film and the major themes. Scorsese begins with "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home", this reveals to the audience that religion and life on the "streets" conflict with each other and that the protagonist will experience some form of moral dilemma. The life on the streets itself connotes danger, possible gangster/mafia activity and the character's association with a mafia, or, possibly him trying to escape from the mafia.
Scorsese uses diegetic sound of the protagonist, Charlie, shuffling through his bedroom. The use of diegetic gives the film verismilitude and the sound of police sirens tells the audience Charlie lives in an area where crime is frequent and the police patrol the streets; this relates back to the title Mean Streets. Charlie's blase attitude to the police sirens shows that Charlie is accustomed to the noise of sirens.
Scorsese uses match-on-action of Charlie lying in bed and resting his bed on a pillow. However the cutting between shots is delayed by 0.5 seconds so it gives the sequence a feel of repetition of Charlie resting his head on a pillow, but between every cut on the match-on-action closes in on Charlie's face, moving from a close-up to an XCU.
Scorsese then uses The Ronettes - Be My Baby as a sound bridge to the actual title opening sequence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0upHlWfQ4
The production teams credits are overlaid in front of a film projector, this is clever as the object (projector) is commonly associated with the roles of the director and producers.
Genre of The Title Sequence
As a group, Fatima, Tanisha, Indiya and I decided the genre of our opening title sequence will be a romantic comedy. I feel this genre is actually more challenging than perhaps, thrillers. This is due to there is more creative freedom in a thriller, but I like a challenge also. We had to investigate the conventions of our chosen film genre so I made a presentation below, stating some of the main features that occur in romantic comedies. Despite the fact we should aim to stick to certain conventions to make our film easily recognisable to the audience, hopefully we can break one or two film conventions.
Here is the presentation:
Here is the presentation:
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Final Synopsis
As a collective, we decided Tanisha's idea for a romantic comedy was the best, so we're are going to film Tanisha's synopsis. The synopsis will be entered below
Synopsis
Bridget, a successful magazine editor who is popular amongst her female colleagues. Bridget's success stops there as she is unable to attract the right kind of men. Fed up with her relationship struggle, Bridget uses her millions to invest in a makeover. Bridget, now beautiful, has now become the centre of men's attention and at first relishes in the attention she receives. After a while, she still feels lonely as she acknowledges there is something lacking with these men she dates. Then at a work function she meets a man, Andy. Bridget and Andy quickly fall in love, and get engaged. Andy takes Bridget to meet his parents, Bridget riddled with guilt confesses that she had a makeover and how she has been presented with the opportunity to look like her former self. To her surprise, Andy has a secret of his own, he too has had a makeover. Both of them choose to go back to how they used to look and get married. The end.
Synopsis
Bridget, a successful magazine editor who is popular amongst her female colleagues. Bridget's success stops there as she is unable to attract the right kind of men. Fed up with her relationship struggle, Bridget uses her millions to invest in a makeover. Bridget, now beautiful, has now become the centre of men's attention and at first relishes in the attention she receives. After a while, she still feels lonely as she acknowledges there is something lacking with these men she dates. Then at a work function she meets a man, Andy. Bridget and Andy quickly fall in love, and get engaged. Andy takes Bridget to meet his parents, Bridget riddled with guilt confesses that she had a makeover and how she has been presented with the opportunity to look like her former self. To her surprise, Andy has a secret of his own, he too has had a makeover. Both of them choose to go back to how they used to look and get married. The end.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Synopsis of Romantic Comedy. Main Task
I guess it's wise to create a film that stick to the genre conventions, as it is easier to identify what film genre we chose as the basis of our film.
Synopsis
Characters
Kate - Blonde hair and blue eyes, sports reading glasses. Meek and has a wry smile. Uses dry or dark humour, cynical but deep-down a hopeless romantic.
Mark - Brown hair, brown eyes. Popular but resents his popularity; he feels it pushes him away from Kate and has been in love with kate since they were children.
Joseph 'J' - Childhood friend of both Kate and Mark, funny, quirky one, dies in teens.
Mike 'Monster' Jones - Arrogant, cocky, jock. Mike's suffering from depression but tries to cover it up through humour
Tony - Boring, but incredibly handsome assistant to Kate. Kate and Tony date briefly, Kate breaks off the relationship; but they remain friends. (Mark suspects Tony of being gay, but is ambiguous if he is in fact a closeted homosexual, or, if Mark is just jealous)
Britney and Bobbi - Lesbian Couple. Britney is the soft-spoken, charming, uglier of the two. Bobbi is angry, sarcastic, pretty and self-deprecating. They both love to give relationship advice, despite their relationship being on shaky grounds.
Stacey - Attractive, ambitious, but dumb assistant to Mark. She has a crush on Mark. They have a one-night stand and she is left heartbroken.
Mike 'Monster' Jones - Arrogant, cocky, jock. Mike's suffering from depression but tries to cover it up through humour
Tony - Boring, but incredibly handsome assistant to Kate. Kate and Tony date briefly, Kate breaks off the relationship; but they remain friends. (Mark suspects Tony of being gay, but is ambiguous if he is in fact a closeted homosexual, or, if Mark is just jealous)
Britney and Bobbi - Lesbian Couple. Britney is the soft-spoken, charming, uglier of the two. Bobbi is angry, sarcastic, pretty and self-deprecating. They both love to give relationship advice, despite their relationship being on shaky grounds.
Stacey - Attractive, ambitious, but dumb assistant to Mark. She has a crush on Mark. They have a one-night stand and she is left heartbroken.
A group of three kids who spend years as friends together, from age 6, in playful abandon to hanging out with each other in their mid-teens. Then... one day Joseph dies in a tragic skiing accident. The death of Joseph destroys the friendship as neither one can bear to see each other, when they look at the other all they see is Joseph. Years later they meet, (coincidentally) at a party for a Manhattan magazine company, as Mark has just been appointed at the magazine where Kate works, and this an introduction party for Mark. They repair their broken friendship. After a couple of months, Mark confides into Mike (his best friend that he met in New York) and confesses his love for Kate. Meanwhile, at Kate's apartment, Kate is receiving advice from her friends, Britney and Bobbi (known as the Black and Blues), suggesting she goes on a date with Tony. Kate is reluctant to the idea of dating Tony at first (she recognises she has feelings for Mark, but doesn't believe the feeling's mutual), she then agrees to go on a date with Tony. They both enjoy themselves and each other in these series of dates. Once Mark hears the news of Kate and Tony; overcome with jealousy, has sex with Stacey. Couple of weeks later, Kate informs Mark that she has broken up with Tony, and he tells her about Stacey. Kate is disgusted by Mark's behaviour, an argument ensues resulting neither party talking to each other for weeks. Mark wanting to apologise to Kate and confess and profess his love for her, approaches her house with flowers. Kate ushers him in. Mark gets straight to the point: he apologises for his actions to both Kate and Stacey; he the opens up to Kate and states the reasoning of his actions. Kate tears up and also proclaims her feelings for Mark. They share a passionate kiss. The film fades into ending credits.
Preliminary Task Film - Evaluation
This is the final product of our preliminary task.
I believe the use of synchronous sound worked perfectly as the music stopped the moment Kenya took out the headphones from her ears, to show the sound was also diegetic and Kenya was listening to the song Kenya was listening to.
The use of match-on-action worked well, it shows how Kenya moves through two scenes, however I think the walk through the corridor to the door was too long, but I wanted to show how Kenya moves from the corridor to the room to meet Tanisha.
The transition from Kenya entering the room to the two shot of Tanisha and Kenya sitting across the table, however the background noise of the fan, distorts the voices, also the voices of Tanisha and Kenya are at a low volume, which in hindsight, we should of tested how the recording would sound on the camera or used a boom mike.
When using the over-the-shoulder shot, I think it failed because of the height difference the eye-lines didn't seem to match, in effect breaking the continuity of the opening.
The close-up at the end of the opening, didn't work as well as we hoped due to Tanisha's acting skills, but I still believe the music helped to communicate there was something dramatic and personal between Kenya and Tanisha.
I believe the use of synchronous sound worked perfectly as the music stopped the moment Kenya took out the headphones from her ears, to show the sound was also diegetic and Kenya was listening to the song Kenya was listening to.
The use of match-on-action worked well, it shows how Kenya moves through two scenes, however I think the walk through the corridor to the door was too long, but I wanted to show how Kenya moves from the corridor to the room to meet Tanisha.
The transition from Kenya entering the room to the two shot of Tanisha and Kenya sitting across the table, however the background noise of the fan, distorts the voices, also the voices of Tanisha and Kenya are at a low volume, which in hindsight, we should of tested how the recording would sound on the camera or used a boom mike.
When using the over-the-shoulder shot, I think it failed because of the height difference the eye-lines didn't seem to match, in effect breaking the continuity of the opening.
The close-up at the end of the opening, didn't work as well as we hoped due to Tanisha's acting skills, but I still believe the music helped to communicate there was something dramatic and personal between Kenya and Tanisha.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Explanation of the 180 degree rule
This rule is usually applied when showing a conversation between two characters.
Once you establish the positions of two characters in a scene, for instance; if two characters are having a conversation at a table and say if the male is on the right and the female is on the left, you have now established the 180 degree rule.
Here we can clearly see the woman is positioned on the right and the man is positioned on the left, so once the director cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot or a shot from the perspective of the character, and returns to the two-shot we expect to see the woman on the right and the man on the left of our screen.
As you can see from this over head shot above, the camera can only shoot from this side of the line, for the scene to adhere to the 180 degree rule.
Now as you can see the director has placed two cameras either side of our imaginary line, violating the 180 degree rule as you will in the next few screenshots the effect of violating the 180 degree rule has on the consistency of storytelling.
Since the 180 degree rule has been broken both actors are facing the same direction breaking the continuity of the film, another downfall of violating the 180 degree rule is that the actors' eye lines won't match, disorientating the audience.
Once you establish the positions of two characters in a scene, for instance; if two characters are having a conversation at a table and say if the male is on the right and the female is on the left, you have now established the 180 degree rule.
Here we can clearly see the woman is positioned on the right and the man is positioned on the left, so once the director cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot or a shot from the perspective of the character, and returns to the two-shot we expect to see the woman on the right and the man on the left of our screen.
Breaking the 180 degree rule
Now as you can see the director has placed two cameras either side of our imaginary line, violating the 180 degree rule as you will in the next few screenshots the effect of violating the 180 degree rule has on the consistency of storytelling.
Since the 180 degree rule has been broken both actors are facing the same direction breaking the continuity of the film, another downfall of violating the 180 degree rule is that the actors' eye lines won't match, disorientating the audience.
Crossing the 180 degree line, not the 180 degree rule
For a director to cross the line and still remain in the perimeters if the 180 degree rule, the director must shoot the moment and use the clip in the edit where the camera crosses the 180 degree line to maintain continuity.
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