Tuesday, 14 November 2017

Short and Indie Film Posters


This film poster is of an independent film company and is one that stands out with the bright blue and white. The fact that the boy is submerged under the blue links in with the film title Submarine which is creative and further makes it stand out. There is also a reliance on quotes at the top of the page to make it seem successful to the audience.

This short film poster has only three colours being used which all compliment each other making the man in the suit stand out and highlight his significance in the film. Also the title is bold and clear to see making it stand out further. It then has reviews at the top to make it more attractive to the audience.


Curves poster is effective as even though it is very limited with images and detail it has the location used in the film as well as a title that stands out due to it being white on a blackout background.




High Grossing Thriller Film Posters



This film poster only uses two colours –red and black which are dark colours and extremely powerful and effective as they are associated with something severe and dark. Therefore this colour scheme can be seen as genre specific. The use of the lighthouse in the centre of the poster highlights it’s a significant location in the film.



This film poster for Split has the title in a bold grey colour and is centred making it an attractive poster. The used of the shadows coming from the actor on the right is evidence of the plot of the film where the character has multiple personalities hence the multiple emerging shadows. The use of dark colours on a white background emphasises the evil of that character and makes the poster stand out even more.


This Silence of the Lambs poster incorporates a number of images of important characters in the film as well as important locations and scenes. The use of photo shop allows  all of these images to fit into the poster and not overlap each other. The dark colours used for the entire poster links in with the darkness of the plot and the genre itself.



Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Short Film Research


This short film on the Hillsborough disaster is one we watched in class and we can take some techniques of short films used in this one for our own. For example there is a big focus on sound in this short film which has a big secondary effect on the audience as the sound is dramatic and tense.

Curve is another example of a short film that we watched in class which once again has a big focus on diagetic sound in driving the narrative. The character and the story line don't really progress however the gruesome sound of the ladies bloody finger keep the audience enticed.

Tearaway is a multi-award winning short film and it is easy to see why with pretty amazing use of editing which we may look to get a grasp of in our own short film to enhance its success and edginess.

Finally is The Return which has a a dull/dark colour palette throughout the entire film which is powerful to set the genre and the tone which of course is sad and negative. This might be an idea we would look to hatch onto for our own product.

Confirmation of Availability with Actors


Friday, 13 October 2017

Age Certification


U   All ages admitted. There is almost nothing unsuitable for children aged 4 years and over.
PG     All ages admitted, but some certain scenes can be unsuitable for young children. They should not disturb children aged 8 or older. May contain mild language  or sex/drug references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context. A parent may wish to check the content before they let their children watch or play it.
12A    This category applies to cinema only releases since 2002. Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for young children. Cinemas in the United Kingdom are only permitted to supply tickets to see a 12A film to children under the age of 12 if they are accompanied by an adult aged 18 or over. However, it is unlikely to be suitable for children under the age of 12. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, moderate language, moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Use of strong language may be permitted based on frequency and how they are used, as well as contextual justification. Sexual violence may be implied or briefly indicated.
12   This category applies to cinema releases from August 1989 to 2002, and home media since 1994. Suitable for people aged 12 and older. It is illegal to supply a video work with a 12 certificate to anyone under that age. 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the VHS/DVD version unless extra material has been added that requires a higher rating. The content guidelines are identical to those used for the 12A certificate.
15   Suitable only for people aged 15 and older. No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. It is illegal to supply a video work with a 15 certificate to anyone under that age. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may be shown if discreet and justified by context. Use of very strong language may be permitted based on frequency and how they are used, as well as contextual justification.

18    Suitable only for people aged 18 or older, which means adults only. No one younger than 18 may see an 18 film in a cinema. It is illegal to supply a video work with an 18 certificate to anyone under that age. Films under this category do not have limitation on the foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. Very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence is usually permitted. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is eroticized or excessively graphic, in which a work will require compulsory cuts where possible.

         The majority of short films are not released in cinemas like mainstream films are, they are instead released at film festivals, on websites and on YouTube. Despite this difference they still need to be certified by the BBFC even if they are just being shown on YouTube. For our short film we are looking to tie it into an age rating of 15 due to the mental illness side of the story which arguably is rather shocking for audiences and has to be viewed by those who are mature enough to understand what is going on.






Monday, 2 October 2017

Releasing Short Films

http://tubularinsights.com/filmmakers-share-secrets-releasing-short-film-online-case-study/

I read through this case study and it gave a number of great tips on how to reach out to a large target audience when releasing a short film online.

  • For example the common mistake is to just send it out on YouTube at any given time yet these experts believed that the best site to use in order to gain the widest audience is Vimeo as it is full of short film enthusiasts. 
  • 12am is a suggested time to release the film as it gives the film an entire 24 hours to total up a wide range of views and comments. 
  • By posting on as many social media sites as possible using each of the crew members accounts the total number of views is increased to the maximum potential as it becomes available on all possible sites.
  • Targeting key sites and influencers who have thousands of followers by emailing the site can even give your film the opportunity to be spread across their site and boost its audience width.
  • Finally by constantly badgering away at this process there is high chance of gaining thousands of views

Monday, 25 September 2017

Social Media Research


To help get more responses for our schizophrenia questionnaire I posted it to my Facebook and Twitter pages.






Thursday, 21 September 2017

Screenplay Draft 1

Screenplay: ‘Of Unsound Minds’

Characters:
Main protagonist (Rob)
Doctor
Personality one (Drug Abuser- Army veteran) (Daniel)
Personality Two (Young girl) (Lily)

Words in red overlap between characters.
Set in a small dark hospital psychiatric room.There are 4 chairs set in a circle with the main protagonist facing the doctor in the room- lit lightly by the spotlight. The other personalities are sitting either side of the main protagonist.
Doctor is wearing a smart shirt, jumper and smart trousers and is sitting upright in his chair with his legs crossed. The protagonist is sitting with bad posture and scrunching himself up in his chair, is also wearing a suit in order to show the role he has in society.
The 1st personality- Daniel is wearing a military outfit and is sitting with both feet on the floor with his back straight and hands on his knees. Lily is wearing typical young female clothes and has a band in her hair- she is sitting with her legs crossed at the bottom and twirling her hair.

Dip to Black and cut slowly to the establishing shot of the room.
Sound fades in slowly- starts off quiet and becomes gradually louder.
(joins the treatment in media-res)
Doctor:
What do you mean?

Rob:
I’ve been struggling, I’m worried. I've been talking with Daniel a lot too- he’s been telling me that nothing will be the same again.

Daniel:
It won’t- it was never the same for me. The world don’t accept me anymore, it never accepted me!

Doctor:
Daniel, you have nothing to worry about. We are all here to help you, we are here to make you feel welcome. I believe that the issues are with the other people, not you- they have the problem.


Lily:
Daniel, has been speaking bad about the world. He says that everyone is out to get us. He say no one want us here. He scare me, he make the world scare me.

Rob:
Scare me.He says that we aren’t normal, that people are scared of us. Daniel thinks that we don’t fit in. I don't think we fit in, anymore. Did we ever really fit in? Was we ever really normal? I was always different, but no one ever wanted to accept me. The neglect I felt hurt, do you know how that feels?

Doctor:
Lily, Rob, you are not neglected I am always here for you to talk to, Daniel faces a problem different to the rest of you- he’s still suffering. It will take him more time to recover than you two.

(Daniel sits rocking his chair in fear)
Daniel: There’s nothing wrong with me- it’s the world around me, that’s the problem. It just doesn’t accept me no more. It doesn’t accept anything that challenges the status quo.
(Daniel jumps out of his seat and crouches into a ball on the floor- he has heard a loud bang like a gunshot)  
RETREAT! RETREAT! UNDER FIRE, REPEAT WE ARE UNDER FIRE!

Doctor:
Daniel, listen to me, listen. It’s okay you don’t need to worry you are not back there- you are here with me and we are here to help you. Talk to me Daniel. What are you seeing?

Lily:
Daniel stand up, stop being silly Dan.

Rob:
Dan. Daniel you are scaring me- get up Daniel. What are you hiding from?

Daniel:
The shooting, they are shooting. It’s her (points at the doctor) she is trying to destroy us.

Rob:
Us. Why would she do that? She wouldn’t do that would she?


Lily:
No! She wouldn’t. She’s a friend, she help us. Daniel, stop being silly it’s not her fault. IT’S NOT!

Doctor:
Lily do not worry. Just stay calm- Daniel is just having a moment, he will see that the people here are here to help. He knows this is just a blip.

Daniel:
That’s your problem. You don’t understand me- you don’t understand what I went through- you don’t understand anything about my life, but you feel like you can help me. What do you really know? How do i know I can trust you? I‘ve got no reason to trust you.
(Pause)
I’ve got no reason to trust anyone. I was abandoned at 16 by my parents- the disappointment of the family. None of you have seen what I’ve seen- you don’t know the truth about the world like me.

Rob:
Me. The truth of the world is that they don’t really understand any of us! We are labelled as ‘ill’ because we aren’t normal to our society. Daniel has seen the dark truth, but I know the real truth.

Lily:
Dan, Rob (pause) stop being silly, you do not know the truth- how would you ever know the truth, I never told no one the truth.

Doctor:
What truth Lily, what’s your truth?

Lily:
What? What are you talking about. I never said nothing silly.

Rob.
Silly. (Pause) Lily you better not have told anyone the truth.

Lily:
I just told you I never told no one. Why do you never believe me? YOU NEVER BELIEVE ME!

Daniel:
Shut up Lily! Do you ever stop moaning?


Rob:
Moaning? Guys be quiet. Just be quiet for one minute please. I can’t even gather my thoughts properly.

Doctor:
Do you have anything you want to discuss guys? It seems like you all have something on your mind and I really don’t want you to suffer on your own.

Rob:
No, we have nothing to tell you. Even if there was, what evidence is there to tell me that you can do anything for us? It is best we just leave everything be.

Lily:
Be. What use is it doing keeping secrets anymore? Everything is found out somehow. Like when them people at school found out about my illness- they had no way of finding out, but they did.


Daniel:
Well you should know that nothing stays secret, it’s better to just get it over and done with. I know the best that there's always a way of discovering everything.

Rob:
Everything. No we don’t need to say anything, why do we have to say anything. If they can’t accept us then they have to deal with the consequences.

Doctor:
Nobody has to deal with anything. Theres plenty of help for everyone. The worst way that you can suffer is in silence.


Lily:
The truth is, there is no truth so really no one is suffering at all (Lily giggles nervously)

Daniel:
The truth is that doc will find out anyway- we just need tell her so you get in less trouble.



Rob:
The truth is that no one needs to know anything, what is there to know anyway? It's not like they would believe anything WE would say is there

(Camera pans round back of main protagonist- Rob and fades to black. As the camera begins to pan out into a wider angle shot the room now only has two chairs remaining- one empty chair and the main protagonist)

(Rob is the only remaining character in the scene. He gets up and walks off through a set of doors. He enters a small room- which appears almost like a closet. As he enters the room you can see a young male tied up in the corner- he appears ill and weak. He shows no signs of trying to battle against Rob)

Rob (speaking as Rob):
No one will ever need to know- this is how it has to be done.

Rob(speaking as Daniel):
They were always going to find out (pause) it’s better this way.

Rob (speaking as Lily):
I’m sorry, i’m so sorry, but telling the truth now would just be silly.

END.