Learning How to Edit

Before this task I have had very little prior knowledge to how to edit, I therefore experimented around with little bits of video I had taken of my friends. Looking at all of the different effects I could add to video as well as how to crop, transform and add slow motion to all of the video. As well as how to add music into the video. 

Planning and Brainstorming

Planning and brainstorming

I am going to work with Chelsea. I have chosen to work with her as during GCSE we worked together effectively and both exceeded our target grades due to us supporting one another. This pairing may cause problems as she does both art and photography and I do photography which are both heavily coursework based subjects, this may mean we both have points where doing media work is difficult to fit into both of our schedules. We should be able to overcome these if we make sure we always put time aside for media. Other than this I feel like Chelsea and I will work efficiently together, she is a superb camera man and I am good at the editing side of post-production. We also live near to one another so meeting up to film or edit won’t be too difficult.

We are trying to stay away from the main genres chosen for AS media tasks. This means we would prefer not to do horror or rom-com films as these are what most people do for their project and we want our work to stand out. So far we have considered fantasy, action adventure and apocalyptic films. These will be difficult to create given our lack of budget or equipment but we like to challenge ourselves constantly and find ways to overcome these problems.

Conventions wise we can be limited, especially as the genre’s we are considering sometimes lie heavily on some kind of computer generated image. However, we will try to overcome these by picking a genre which doesn’t reply on this convention as heavily. Other conventions will not be an issue, if we have any issues we will step back and look at the genre and see how these can be avoided.

We are each going to create a logo and name for two production companies. INSTERT WORK ON THAT HERE

After some thought we decided to do a gothic fantasy adaptation of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. Therefore the name would have to give away this, here’s what I came up with:

INSTERT BRAIN STORM and SURVEY HERE

As it is a gothic version of a fantasy and therefore will contain some images of horror we have decided to settle for a 12 BBFC rating, this means we have to follow these rules when creating the opening sequence, taken from the BBFC website:

•         Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as disturbing sequences are not too frequent or sustained.
•         Moderate violence is allowed but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if they can be justified by their context (for example brief sight of bloody injury in a medical drama).
•        Action sequences and weapons may be present at 12 or 12A, and there may be long fight scenes or similar. Weapons which might be easily accessible to 12 year olds should not be glamorised in 12A and 12 works.

·         The overall tone of a film or DVD, and the way it makes the audience feel may affect the classification. For example, a work which has a very dark or unsettling tone which could disturb the audience would be less likely to be passed 12A even if the individual issues in the film were considered acceptable under the BBFC guidelines. Similarly, if a work is particularly positive or reassuring this may stop it being pushed up a category from 12A to 15.

Our trailer will only show the main character, Little Red Riding Hood, this will make sure we do not need a lot of people to film our sequence which means there will be more points where we are available to film. It also means that the audience of the opening sequence does not reveal too much about the actual film so the enigma is still there. Also as it is based on a real storyline we do not need to introduce all of the characters as everyone already knows who is in the film. We have got permission from our actress to film and are currently just waiting on a filming date.

Specific Target Audience Member

The Specific Target Audience Member

We have created an ideal audience member based on the characteristics of my friend Emma, we believe she is best suited for our target audience member based on Demographic segmentation and Psychographic segmentation, which I have explored on another post.

NAME: Emma
GENDER: female

AGE: 16

SOCIAL: Middle class
RACE: White
EDUCATION: Smart, mostly average to high sets in class

                My ideal audience member would go to see the movie with most probably a group of female friends around the same age. She has grown up with the fairy tales such as little red riding hood and thus will be familiar with the story line but be old enough to enjoy the horror/ thriller element of the movie. The movie would most probably be released during a school holiday such as Christmas or summer so that she would have lots of free time to go and view the film with her friends as something to do during the break.  She also likes fantasy films for example Lord of the Rings which are full of interesting settings and characters as well as computer generated image. Her favorite TV shows include Game of Thrones which again is a more epic fantasy based television show. Her hobbies include going out with friends, playing computer games and watching YouTube videos.

Market Overview SECONDARY RESEARCH

  This chart shows the ways in which audiences of different ages interact or watch the exhibition of films. It is split into age groups between 16 and over 55.  It shows the difference in the way different age groups interact with media, there is a definite change in some of the different forms of consumption as the chart progresses with age.

  Teenagers are represented with about 25% of them consuming with films using online software such as downloading, streaming or piracy. This slowly decreases along with age until it only represents a few % of the 55+ age group. This shows that teenagers have more accessibility to download film, there may be many contributing factors to this. Teenagers have a lack of money and therefore would be less likely to spend this money on purchasing films, they also have less time (due to fulltime education) to go out and watch or record films. Teenagers also have a wider access and knowledge of the internet and so can easily access streamed movies.

  This said however a large chunk of the teenagers (around 20%) in fact go to the cinema, this may be for socialisation purposes, to hang out with friends as it is a fairly cheep (around £8 a ticket) form of entertainment. The amount of people who go to the cinema does not change drastically over the progression of age. This may be because it is still accepted as an easy form of entertainment for all different ages of people.

  Something else which stays fairly even throughout the different ages of people is the number of people who receive DVD’s. This may be down to it being an easy gift to give to people for their birthdays or Christmas presents for all age groups. Renting and buying DVD also stays fairly similar which shows that these are fairly regular ways of viewing film throughout different age groups.

  Around 50% of 55+ year olds  view films through recorded TV, subscription TV or live TV. This may be to do with the fact that people retire soon after this age and so the majority of their day they have not a lot to do and so end up watching the films that are on day time TV. It is also assumed that they are not as familiar with the internet which is why a very low percentage of these people watch films via online sources.

This is important as our target audience interact with media through the internet, this means that our product will have to be accessible on these mediums, as it is very easy to just switch to another film while online compared to watching a movie in a cinema the opening sequence is specifically important in the success of the film and this is the point where an audience will either turn off the film or continue to watch.

  This chart shows why people tend to watch films. 76% of people said they watch films for pleasure and similarly 76% said they watched it for relaxation. This shows that films serve as a purpose to entertain but also make an audience relaxed. This means that overly complicated plots are not widely popular as they cannot make the audience relax whereas a simple movie will allow them to do so. This is something directors will have to take into account when creating their movie as the more effective a film is at doing these things increases its overall effectiveness.

  Focusing these groups down on gender and age showed that more females watch films for relaxation and men for pleasure. This may show that women have more stressful life styles as stereotypically they have to care for children as well as possibly work whereas men watch movies for pleasure to entertain them when they might otherwise be bored.

  Throughout age groups the most popular overall was watching films for pleasure however the age group 55+ watched films for relaxation slightly more than for pleasure. This may also be down to lifestyle as older people get tired out more easily and therefore need time to unwind, whereas other age groups of people who are mostly all in education or work watch movies as a source of entertainment and pleasure.

  The next most popular reason why people watched films was escapism, escaping from everyday life with around 62% of people agreeing with this. This is also a very good factor of movies to allow the audience to escape from their reality and enter a world where they no longer need to worry about their own problems. This is another technique used by many directors to create an effective film.  It is also proven effective as over half of the people questioned in this survey said they agreed with this.

  The lowest % of people was people watching films because they were passionate for them with only 40% of people agreeing with this. In comparison only 18% of people over 55 agreed with this statement, this may be because they have less connection with modern films, for example, some people may be passionate for comic book films as they have grown up reading the comics, people over a certain age loose interest in these things.

  53% of people between 16 and 24 watch movies because they are passionate for them, this may be down to again the idea that they have grown up with such stories and therefore want to watch the movies. This is something we will have to take into consideration with our young audience. 

This means that for our opening sequence we will have to be creating a product that mostly evokes pleasure in the audience. Something they find interesting and entertaining as it will also be used for them to relax and unwind from school or stress from school. We will also be throwing in elements of escapism to really help the audience to escape from school and from the stresses of everyday life. This is especially important for our audience who will be going through exams and therefore need this element of escapism and relaxation. 

This chart shows the % of people who enjoy watching certain genres of films. As you can see the most popular film genre given by the  people who were interviewed was comedy with 64% of people saying they enjoyed this genre. Although this I the highest, 64% is still not that high and so shows the massive variation people have in their favourite genre of films and what they enjoy watching. This is why film producers narrow down their audience to make it something which appeals for the people who mostly enjoy this genre. Although a teenage male may like a comedy, an older lady may not which is why the survey was then concentrated into different social groups.

  This chart shows the concentrated genres of people who consider different film genres their favourites. The survey was broken down into males younger than 35, males older than 25, females younger than 25, females older than 25. Whether they were parents or not as their social class. Comedy still appears to be the favourite genre of all different groups of people which means if you were to pick comedy as your genre of film you would have a difficult time picking a specific audience group to focus on.

  For our genre of fantasy it was preferred by women who were not parents of a middle class background, this mean this is the group we will have to focus down on during our own research. Although this survey states that it is women over 35 who prefer this genre other surveys we have look at told us that it was younger women who preferred this genre and therefore we are going to have to look into this a lot more through focus groups and researching individual people.

  As our movie will be dark fantasy and therefore contain elements associated with horror films we are going to be looking at horror film audience as well. According to this survey they are most popular with younger women, this is equally spread out depending on if they have children or not and they are again mostly middle class. This means we will be definitely focusing down on this audience as a focus point. 

HOW WE WILL USE THIS RESEARCH
This research supports our planning as we now understand fully what our audience would want to see within an opening sequence. It gives us a real incite into what we are dealing with when it comes to audience, how to attract them and interest them enough to make them want to continue watching the movie. 

Animated Title Sequences

Animated Title Sequences

With today's available technology we now have the ability to created animated title sequences. Although it costs a lot to create an animated opening sequence first impressions are everything and using a creative animated opening sequence helps to capture an audiences attention. To create a full length feature movie which is animated can cost millions of dollars, with the average budget of an animated movie being at around $180 million. 

Animation has recently become a very useful technique for movie directors as it gives them freedom to do what ever they like. An effective example of this would be the opening from Lord of War, "life of a bullet". This shows the production to use of a bullet, the director may have chosen to use animation to create this as it is substantially easier to film compared to the complex filming of the actual manufacturing of a bullet. This also helps to allow the audience to feel as if they have entered a whole new world which is very different to the real world.

However, if animation is not done properly, it can look messy and unrealistic. This is why so much money, time and labor is spent on animation. Animated films can take even longer to be produced than an ordinary film, for example Toy Story 3 took 11 years to come out, within this time they spent around half of that time creating the animation. It cost over $200 million to create. 

If given the option I would love to make an animated title sequence as it gives me the freedom to creatively do whatever I wish, however, given the fact we have an extremely minimal budget and no available equipment we cannot do this.

The conventions of Gothic/ Dark Fantasy movies

The conventions of Gothic/ Dark Fantasy movies

Gothic/ dark fantasy is basically the same as conventions of a fantasy movie but combined with elements of horror and thriller movies. The conventions therefore are just a mixture of both genres combined together. Fantasy movies tend to have simplistic storylines, this is done as introducing mythical beasts and supernatural elements can make a movie very complicated when added to a complex storyline. Horror movies also have simplistic storylines, this is done to make the audience think they know what is going to happen and therefore allows the writer to add in more jump scares and other thinks which make the audience afraid. Horror movies also normally take place in the real world where nothing is really too complicated. Therefore, the genre of dark fantasy normally contains a simple storyline like a fairy tale or other type of simplistic script. Our own movie will be following the fairy tale story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ this is a commonly known story and therefore a simplistic storyline, this will allow us to spend more time on complicated characters so they audience doesn’t get confused.

Another convention of gothic/ dark fantasy is it is normally set in a make believe world, fantasy is the same however horror is normally set in normal places like a city or wood. This means when choosing a setting for dark fantasy it should be make believe and “magical” but have some kind of realism involved. Woods are common settings for dark fantasy as they are simplistic but can be made to appear magical. Woods also supply a timeless feel as woods have existed throughout history and therefore set no specific time period on the movie, this again is done because in this mythical world the time period normally is not as important. A good example of a gothic fantasy setting is Wonderland from Tim Burton’s remake of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ this is an imaginary world which is a timeless looking forest area, the setting adds to the characters as it reflects how odd they are. For our own opening sequence we will be basing it in a wood, we may add things to the setting to make it look more magical and mystical such as snow or various other magical looking things.

Mythical beasts are also another convention of gothic/ dark fantasy. Normally the main character is a human, they may have some kind of magical power but they are normally an ordinary person in a magical world, again referring back to ‘Alice in Wonderland’, Alice herself is a normal girl who finds herself in a very odd world. The other characters are normally some kind of mythical beasts, for example talking animals, or monsters, some of which are taken from Greek mythology. Common examples of mythical beasts used are dragons, centaurs or elves. As we are basing our film on the story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ we shall be making Little Red Riding Hood herself a normal person, the wolf (although you will not see him in the title sequence) will be our mythical beast, a talking animal, larger looking that normal wolves, like a large mutant wolf.

A very common convention of a fantasy movie is the idea of ‘Good VS Evil’ there is always a defined good guy and bad guy. In gothic fantasy films this idea still exists but sometimes it isn’t as much of a present theme, we have our hero but as it is dark sometimes there are no defined good and bad side to add to the air of mystery within the movie. In our opening sequence we are shown our main character; however it does not give away if she is a good or bad character. This makes the audience want to carry on watching so that they can find out if she is good or evil.

BBFC Ratings Analysis

BBFC Ratings Analysis

 The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an organisation funded by the film industry which is responsible for the censorship and classification of films. It was formed in 1912 by a group of members of the film industry who wanted to manage their own censorship instead of a government organisation to do it for them. It began to take action on the 1st of January 1913. It was based on the Cinematography Act 1909. This act required cinemas to have licences to show films from local authorities.

During the Second World War the BBFC was given power to completely censor films. This was because cinema had become a powerful mass-medium and it was feared by the government that it would be used for propaganda purposes as this has happened in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany at the time. This meant that scripts would have to be submitted to the BBFC before the shooting process could start. However, Hollywood films were not treated in the same way as the British Films as the BBFC believed that American cinema represented foreign culture did not have an affect on audiences.

After WW2 the BBFC was involved in the increasing controversies involving the depictions of sex and violence rather than political expression. Movies at this time were also used as an argument for the legalization of homosexuality.

In the 80's the BBFC was also given the power and responsibility to classify videos for hire or purchase for home viewing. Home video and cinema are normally given the same certificate, although occasionally they can be given a stricter home rating because of an additional content. In December 1986, the first computer game was given a BBFC rating. However the BBFC was given no power over print media.

Here are the current certificates:

 UNIVERSAL: All ages are admitted as there is nothing unsuitable for children. There is only allowed the infrequence use of mildly bad language such as "damn" or "hell". Characters are allowed to be kissing or cuddling but there is no overt focus on sexual behaviors or innuendos. Violence will generally be very mild, and will contain a reassuring element. U films will normally contain positive messages of loyalty, honesty and friendship.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE: All ages are admitted but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children but should not disturb children 8 years or older. PG movies can explore challenging issues such as bullying. There may be mild bad language such as "sh*t" or "b*tch" but the delivery of the line cannot be aggressive or too frequent. Sex references are unlikely unless they are unlikely to be understood by a child such as innuendos. Violence again is mild, there may be some blood but an audience cannot see the injury. Violence is more acceptable in a historical, comedic or fantasy setting. 

12A (CINEMA ONLY): The 12A applies only to cinema films with the A standing for 'ACCOMPANIED' meaning that any child under 12 years old must be accompanied by an adult (anyone over 18 years old). The tone of the film cannot be too dark or upsetting which could disturb an audience is unlikely to pass as a 12A and would be moving towards the 15 category. Strong language, such as "f***", may be passed at this level dependent on the context in which it is used and if it can be justified. Aggressive usage of such language may result in the film being placed in the 15 category. Any discriminatory behavior or language (eg- homophobic or racist terms) is very unlikely to be passed at a 12A unless it is clearly condemned. Sex may be briefly portrayed, verbal references should not pass what is suitable for young teenagers. Sexual references can be used more frequently for comedic effect and innuendo can be used frequently. There may be some kind of nudity in a sexual context but should be brief or discreet. Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail, as in, no emphasis on injuries or blood, unless it can be justified. Weapons may also be present during a 12A and can be used in extensive fight scenes. However, instruments which are accessible to teens (for example knives) should not be focused on or glamoured. Sexual violence (such as rape or assault) can be briefly introduced however, should not be  focused on and must be justified. The usage of drug misuse can be infrequently used but should not be glamorized or contain instructional detail.

12 (HOME ONLY): The 12 is the same as a 12A requirements only applies to outside of cinema exhibition of the film and can only be sold to people over the age of 12.

15: Only 15 year old's or older can view a 15 and can purchase 15's legally. There is not limit on the number of strong language uses, for example "f***" can be used as many times as the film makers want. There may also be some examples of the strongest terms, for example "c***". This depends on the context in which they are used and require justification. However, aggressive use of these very strong terms in unlikely to pass as a 15. There many be discriminatory language but at a 15 level it must not endorse this language or behavior. Sex scenes can be quite long, but without the use of strong detail. Nudity is allowed in a sexual context without strong detail. 15's are also allowed to portray strong violence although should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury as sadistic violence is unlikely to be acceptable. There can also be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of this must be discreet and justified by context. Any drug use should not promote the idea of drugs, the misuse of very dangerous substances is very unlikely to pass at this level. Elements such as suicide or self-harming can be included but not dwell on detail which could be copied. 

18: There is no limit to language at an 18 level, even very strong language such as "c***". This language can also be used aggressively or accompanied by strong violence. There can be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language and the themes can be explored into depth. Although it should not be promoted as good. There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex, including full nudity. At an 18 film or video can contain depictions of real sex, as long as the film or video is not a sex work. There can also be strong violence with strong detail, even the infliction of pain or injury. Sadistic and sexual violence are also permitted. Drugs can also be used but the work as a whole should not promote their use. Very dangerous or criminal behavior however can be cut from a film.

R18: The classification for explicit works of sex.

Analysis of Survey on Audience

We created a survey, using Survey Monkey, to find out different factors of audience and what they would want out of a movie. Here is a hyperlink leading to our results and exploration of the results:

Analysis of survey monkey results from rebecky69

What Makes an Effective Title Sequence - Video Discussion

In this video we discuss what makes an effective title sequence, using our internet research and examples we have watched. Using this we were able to narrow down what we would like to do with our own opening sequence.

Film Ideas

Here we came up with three ideas which we would be happy to create for our opening sequence.
The first idea is a fantasy remake of 'Little Red Ridding Hood', the second is a romantic films and the third is an action sequence.

We are currently thinking of doing the first idea, this is because it is a genre which we can explore in great depth as it is very open with its connotations. It has also got a target audience which falls into the age group which we are in, this helps us to gain a great deal of incite into what is effective for capturing the attention of the given target audience. It is also a fairly simple idea and therefore will be low budget for us to create whereas some of the other ideas will either need lots of props or a complicated setting, for example we would have to go down to beach for the second idea. We will discuss what we want to happen and then story board any ideas before going out to attempt to film it.

Ideas for Opening Sequence

Before making an crucial decisions we outlined all the most effective types of opening sequence we could create. We watched over 50 film openings and picked which were the favorites and which ones we found most effective in drawing us, as an audience, in. This is also helpful because we are our own target audience and thus we know which type of movie will draw said audience in.

We surrounded each idea with some examples, building up lots of ideas. We finally ruled out 'animated' as we would not have the available technology to do this. We also cut out a 'chase scene' as many of these were done in cars or other modes of transport and therefore we would not be able to complete these. We also explored the idea of a 'Journey' opening which shows the journey of an object or character who is crucial to the plot. We may use this as our opening.