Audience Research: Interview

I interviewed my sister, who is in the age range of our target audience

J-Me            L-Sister

J: What kind of film do you like the most?
L: I like films that are based in school because they are easier to understand as I can link it to myself and compare with other school. I also like films that have a sense of humor because these films just makes people enjoy and relax.  But most of all, I like watching Disney films as they all have happy endings which makes everyone happy after watching the film.

J: Who is your favourite celebrity? 
L: I don't really have a favourite celebrity, but I like comedians like Jim Parsons and Roma Atkinson.

J: What kind of music do you like?
L: I like to listen to pop music, basically most of the songs on the radio.

J: What book do you like?
L: I like a lot of books, I love books by Jacqueline Wilson and Roald Dahl.  I also love Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

J: What is your favourite chick flick film?
L: I quite like them all, but I think She's the Man is my favourite as I have watched it a lot of times, and I like films that are based on a original story, in this case, Twelve Night.

J: Lastly, What do you expect from a chick flick?
L: I would expect the film being set in school where there is group of popular girl and group of popular boys. A one day, a new girl will come and change everything in the school and end up going out with one of the popular boy.

Risk Assessment of Our Film Opening

Hazards For Chick Flick Opening from Priya Sagoo

Audience Research: Chick Flick Survey

Here is a link to our Chick Flick survey so we could find out more about our target audiences:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VVJQ6CW

Music Idea

For our film opening, we are finding music that is fast beat and have a sense of pop rock.
Here is a great example: http://www.freeplaymusic.com/volumedetail.aspx?volume=22155

Conventions of Film Opening (Prezi)

Task 11 - Certificate Ratings

Universal 
Everyone can watch it, there is nothing unsuitable for children.  At U there will not normally be reference to illegal drugs or drug misuse unless there is a really clear anti-drug or educational message which will be understood by a younger audience.  Characters may be seen kissing or cuddling and there my be reference of 'making love'.  For example, Tangled.

Parental Guidance
Everyone can watch it, but certain sciences may be unsuitable for young children.  It may contain mild language and sex.drug references.  It may also contain moderate violence.  Drug reference may be permissible if there is a clear anti-drugs or educational message which will be understood by children over eight.  For example, Wreck-it-Ralph.

12A/12
The 2 certificate is just for videos, DVDs and Blu-rays.  12A is for films at the cinema only.  Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for try young children. Children under 12 years old are only allowed to watch it if accompanied by an adult who is at least over 18.  It may contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drug, strong language, violence, sex and nudity.  For example, Iron Man.


15
Only those who are over 15 years old are allowed.  Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated VHS, DVD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. At 15 sexual activity can be portrayed, as long as there is no strong or graphic detail. Some sex scenes can be quite long at this category and may involve some nudity and movement. Though nudity may be allowed in a sexual context there should be no strong detail.  There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.  For example, The heat.

18
Only adult are allowed.  Nobody younger than 18 can rent or buy a 18-rated VHS, DVD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. There may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language at 18, and the work could explore themes relating to this. There is no limit on the number of uses of strong (eg 'f***') or even very strong language (eg ‘c***’) which can be passed at 18. Uses could be aggressive, directed, frequent or accompanied by strong violence.  There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex at 18, including full nudity. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.  For example, Evil Dead.

R18
Can only be shown at licensed adult cinemas or sold at licensed sex shop, and only to adults, those aged 18 or over.  Films under this category will contain hard-core pornography.



http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Board_of_Film_Classification

Task 10 - Conventions of Film Openings

Film opening are really useful as it establish a atmosphere so that the audience fall into the same mood as the film they are watching.  Film openings does not have to be big, it just has to catch audience's attention.

Successful film openings bring a well developed idea of what the film is going to be about which will make the audience settle into their seat desperately wanting to know more about the story and the characters. Some film openings also foreshadow or give hints about what will happen later on the film.

Conventions:

• Most film openings are around 2 minutes long.
• It introduces the key characters, Protagonst, Antagonist, sidekick etc.
• It introduces pre plot or beginning of the narrative.
• Establishes platform.
• It shows key credits such as production company, star system and director.
• Most sounds are non diegetic sound.

The film opening of 'The Cinderella Story' is a really successful opening as it really caught my attention when I watched it.  The film begin by showing us a classic fairytale-like castle which makes me immediately link back to the fairy tale 'Cinderella'.  Sam's character was presented really well as I know that Sam close to her dad since it show a lot of different scene of Sam doing different activities with her dad.  The shot showing us the evil look of her sisters looking at Sam suggests something bad will happen to Sam later on in the film due to her sisters.

Task 9 - Title Sequence Timeline

Task 8 - Iconic Sounds

Chick flicks use a lot of music with a fast beat and good feel as it creates a positive feeling, it usually uses really lively song as their opening music as it creates a happy mood for the audience to look forward to. Here is an example from 'She's the Man'.

Most Chick flicks have those sweet moment when the boy and girl are together.  Here is a example from 'A Cinderella Story' when the girl and the boy are dancing, this creates are warm feeling and make the audiences feel joyful.

Apart from all those music, there are also sound used in Chick flicks.  In many Chick flicks, there are a lot of girls fighting with each other or back stabbing their 'friend'.  Here is a example of 'scream' sound used in 'Mean Girls'. Apart from screaming, there are also a lot of crying sound which make the audience feel pity and sympathy to the character.

Apart from all of those pop/easy feel music, rock musics are also used in Chick flicks.  Here is an example from 'St Trinians', this music has really heavy beat.  Rock music are not really expected in Chick flicks as the target audience are mostly young girls.

Task 7 - Typical Synopsis

Tearjerkers
Tearjerkers are films about emotional crises.  They always evoke sadness, tears and sympathy on the characters mostly due to disease, family problem, relationship....Most tearjerkers have strong female fighting for what they want.  A really good example is 'The Notebook'.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tearjerker




Romantic Comedies

Rom-coms are films based around the romantic relationship of the characters.  They are light-hearted, humorous and always have humorous plot-lines.  The main idea of a rom-com is that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. An example of a rom-com is 'Friends with Benefits'.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/romcoms








Guy Comedies
Guy-com are films aimed mostly at man where feelings and emotions are discussed from the guy's point of view.  They may contain things most guys enjoy, like sport and strong language.  Most guy-com are about guys dealing with their marriage, their future or life.  An example of a guy-com is 'The Hangover'.

Task 6 - Audience Expectations

We went around our school asking girls aged 16-18 what they would expect from a chick flick. Here's what we found out; 

Gigi King, 16, says "I'd expect  a chick flick to include lots of girl stuff, gossiping and should have a romantic story line" 

Becky Thorne, 17, says "Chick flicks should definitely include two people falling in love and having to overcome an obstacle. They should be funny and the best chick flicks would be starring High Grant and Sandra Bullock"  

Shona Reilly, 16, says "There should be lots of girly conflicts; cat fights and back stabbing. There has to be a romantic interest who is desired by more than one individual. Girl Power should be a big focus, it should feature strong and independent young women!" 

Alexa Rusakoff, 16, says "From a chick flick I would expect there to be a lot of girly banter; there should be plenty of ongoing gossip and a lot of flirtatious encounters. Slumber parties and house parties resulting in break ups and make ups. In the end the girls will stick together and help each other out, there's always a happy ending" 

Many other girls within our target audience agreed with these statements and all felt strongly that the film should be comedic and include a love interest. 

Task 5 - Nine Shot Analysis

The first shot is a production company credits, which is the Warner Bros. Pictures.

The second shot is another way of showing the production company, but this time, it is in a fairytale-like font which suggests to the audience that this film is a reproduction of a classic fairytale.

The third shot is a camera flying over the cliff and eventually arrive in front of a classic fairytale-like castle. The name of the production companies and the name of the actress, Hilary Duff, fades out while the camera was onto of the cliff.
At this point, there is voice over of a girl telling the beginning of the story.

After showing the title of the film, the camera zoom out from the castle inside the globe and showing a man holding the globe shaking it.
At this point, the audience can guess that the little girl is the main character as she appears on the first shot, and the man will be someone important to the girl, the dad.

Then the camera pan really fast to show the view of the town, what the girl and her dad was looking at.
There are also sound effect of cars, which is a non-diegetic sound.
At the end of this shot, 'This Will Be' by Natalie Cole started playing as a non-diegetic sound.

The next shot is a shot showing the dad driving the car with the girl.
At this point, music starts playing and names of actress and actor appear on the screen.
'This Will Be' by Natalie Cole is still playing from the previous shot.

The next shot is showing the girl hitting the baseball.
This is shot from quite a low angle which suggest the girl is quite strong and superior.
'This Will Be' is still playing, and there is also a voice over of a girl telling us about her background over the song.

The next shot is showing the the dad looking at the ball flying over the camera and the girl dropping the baseball bat and run as the dad catches her.
This shot suggests to the audience that the relationship between the girl and the dad are quite close.
There are still names of the actor and actress appear on the screen.

The next shot showing the diner of her dad.  The camera is panning diagonally upward to the dinner name board which catches the audiences' attention.









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpJEwOzwdMg

Task 5 - Nine Shot Analysis

The first shot is the production credit which is a company logo. 

This gives me ideas of how i can do my own company logo and reinforce the convention of putting production company credits right at the beginning of the film.

The second shot is zooming in showing a work place which suggests to the audience where the main character  come from and her background.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1dbtQpdyqU

The third shot is showing the name of the producer.

The blue background fades in to the previous shot.

The forth shot is showing a builder handing a card for another builder to sign. 

Again, the camera is zooming into the builder showing us the builder signing the card.

The fifth shot is showing the the name of the studio, Morgan Creek.

Again, the blue background fades in.

Again, this is another shot of another builder handing the card to another builder.  At this point, the audience still don't know what the card is for, but as it is shown twice, it may be something important for Syd.
This time, the camera is panning upwards so showing the the builder signing the card.

The seventh shot is a screen showing the name of the director.
And again, the blue background fades it.

The eighth shot is again, another shot showing another builder handing the card to another builder to sign.
This time, the camera is panning diagonally upward to showing another builder signing the card. 

The ninth shot is showing the name of the the actress playing the main character, Amanda Bynes.
And again, the blue background fades it.

Task 4 - History

The first ever film which was considered as a 'Chick Flick' is 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' which is released in 1961, it is also commonly know as one of the classic films from the golden age of cinemas. Molly Haskell suggests that Chick Flicks are really different from the 1940-50 women's films because she feels that they are more defiant and upbeat, post-modern and post-feminist.

Several Chick Flicks are based on classic fairy tales or the story of Cinderella (eg The Cinderella Story, Pretty Woman) or Shakespeare (eg She's the Man, 10 Things I Hate About You).
For a few years prior to that 'chick flicks' were the sexually exploitative films, like those made by directors like Russ Meyers, which were designed to appeal to male sexual fantasy.

The transition in the commonly understood meaning of the term came with a spate of films that had particular appeal to women. Foremost amongst these was the 1991 film 'Thelma & Louise', starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. This had the promotional tagline 'Somebody said get a life... so they did'. The film, which had a women writer, was extremely successful and led to film studios becoming aware of a potential new audience.

Most Chick Flicks are based on stories that are already around so I would love to base my film opening on story that is already around because I think it wound be fun to make a twist on something that is famously known.

Task 3 - Conventions

• Chick flicks are normally upbeat and perky and includes lots of romance and comedy elements.
• There is never much violence in chick flicks because the target audience are normally young girls or young women.
• The main character must be female and must be considered  "strong" and "independent" when it comes to facing adversity and overcoming obstacles in the film.
• The "problems" in chick flicks are normally bad parents; bullies; ex-boyfriends; crush; best-friends and more....besides, there must be a love interest in a chick flick.
• Chick flicks must have certain moments where the main female character is really emotional due to them being upset by their problems.
• Most chick flicks are based in a high school (e.g. Mean Girls, Wild Child).
• The plot is mostly based common interest/issues of teenagers (parties, crushes, popularity, friendship, high school, first love, rebellion, cyber bulling....).
• The story line is always as simple as 'boy meets girls, boy are girl fall in love, boy finds her again just in time for the credit to role.'. (http://www.examiner.com/article/history-of-chick-flicks)

A typical example is Wild Child, where Poppy Moore has to move to a English School due to her parent then got into trouble with her friends and boy-friend.

Task 2 - Directors

Mark Waters - The director of Mean Girls

Born: June 30, 1964 in Wyandotte, Michigan, USA

Films Directed: 

• The House of Yes
• Head Over Heels
• Freaky Friday
• Just Like Heaven
• Mr. Popper's Penguin

He is the brother of screenwriter Daniel Waters and has been married to actress Dina Spybey since 2000.  He is a graduate of the American Film Institute.  He often directs light-heated, family friendly films.

Waters was one of the 120 invitees to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2006.

He had won the Franklin J.Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute, USA and has been nominated for a lot of other awards, including the Independent Spirit Award, The Grand Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival.

"Daydreaming allows you to play out scenarios where you miraculously save the day.  You play out scenarios in your head that are kind of crazy, and the you personally, heroically resolve them."

Robert Luketic - The director of Legally Blonde 

Born: November 1, 1973 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Films Directed:

• Monster-in-law
• The Ugly Truth
• 21
• Killers
• Paranoia

He is the elder of two children of an Italian mother and Croatian father.

Luketic cultivated his film career early when he won his first award for "Best Film" at the ATOM Film Festival at the age of 15.  He then went on to study Victorian College of Age - School of Film and Television, one of Australia's most prestigious film schools.

The film Legally Blonde grossed close to $100 million domestically and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, which marked Luketic's feature film directing debut.

Task 1 - Collage

Possible Ideas

I have watched lots of films in this half term which gave me lots of ideas for my film opening, here are my favourites:

• The Notebook - I like the simplicity of this opening, and the music also give people a calm and relax feel.

• Koizora - I like how there is mini clip between the main actress/actors name which makes them stand out from the other character's name.  I also like the voice over which leads us onto the rest of the film.

Children of Men

Children of Men is a Sci-fi drama film directed by Alfonso Cuaron and released in 2006.  The film itself is set in 2027, London where women somehow become infertile and a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

The first few minutes of the film is filmed in Regent Street, London.  Regent Street is presented as dirty, dull and heavily polluted with dark and grim, low key lighting; there are rubbished on the street, cars with black smoke coming out, people look depression and the explosion of the coffee shop. The colours on the screen are mostly grey and blue, which creates a sense of negativity and depression. We also feel that the people are trying to protect their past as we can see a woman’s desk is full of little figures of animals and cartoon character; Theo’s boss room is full of old cricket bat and balls.  The future is this movie is presented as badly polluted, dull and looks like people have given up on life and does not care anymore, however we can see some improvements in technology as there is floating TV screen, moving signs of buses and on side of buildings.

When Theo (Clive Owen) walks into the coffee shop, we instantly know that he is the protagonist because he is centre of the shot, he is also the first person who speaks in the film and the camera followed him when he walk out the coffee shop. We think that he is the un-likely hero because he looks too old, carelessly dressed and not particularly good looking, but this is what happens in films because he looks too ordinary and will get thrown into the hero-hood.  At this point of the film, we still do not know who the main female character is but all the women in the film are looking sad as they are crying as they are deeply affected by the event that happened. 

The camera work of the beginning of the film seems like it is hand-held as it is shaky which suggests that it is from a POV of a human who is following Theo.  This gives us, the audience a personal view and it looks like a documentary style film, making everything look more realistic as if you are in the film itself.  There are around 14 shots in the first 3:45 minutes of the film, I can see some shot reverse shot, continuing editing which makes it more real life and makes the audience feel uneasy.  The pace of the film also changes, it goes faster and faster which makes the audience feel nervous and knowing something big will happen.  There are also CGI which makes the explosion at around 2:22 minutes, the moving signs on the buses and on the buildings and the floating TV.

The sound of the film comes before the actual film itself; there is voice over at the beginning of the film when credits are played.  The voice over is the sound of the news which makes people focus on what is going on and notify the audience before the film start so they will have a sense of what is going on.  There is also sad music playing when the TV is playing the flashback of baby Diego which gives it an atmosphere, making the audience emotional and more realistic. After the explosion, there is a ringing sound which makes the film more realistic as it is what we get after we hear a really loud noise.  The ringing sound is also used as a sound bridge which connects into the next scene.

The story is begun in an unusually way but having voice over before the film starts, however we then see people starting of their normal day, going into a coffee shop which is quite normal for how film starts.  We then get introduced into the main character, Theo, when he walks into the coffee shop, but as a audience, he does not look like a typical hero as he looks too normal which in a way, this is what happens in a film. The explosion also surprised the audience because we did not expect it to happened as it was looking like a normal working day. There are a lot of unanswered questions in just the beginning of the film as we do not know why the explosion happened, why women are infertile….some of the questions are answer on the moving signs on the buses or the side of the buildings.   

From what I have seen, the film has the message of telling people to take care of the world and to reduce pollution. 

I think the target audience of this film is for people between 15-25, because it is at a fast pace combined with action and the fact that it is set in the future suggests that young adults is being targeted.  However, Cuaron’s emphasis on contemporary issues such as immigrants can also suggest an older target audience is being targeted as it is fast becoming a stereotype that today’s younger generation do not follow politics. If the film was made by Universal Picture, I think the range of audience from different countries will be wider as Universal Pictures is a global company with lots of studios around the world. 

What I learned Today About Editing.....

Editing is films are something that you would not really notice when you are watching a film, that's why we called it the 'invisible art'. When it is well-practiced, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work. 

Features of editings includes: 

• Establishing shot: usually used in the beginning of a film to give information to the audiences about where and when the action takes place. 
• Shot reverse shot: usually used during conversations. 
• 180 degree rule: usually used to show the audience where things are within the flimic space. 

I think I would use establishing shot in my film opening to inform the audience where and when the action takes place. Establishing shot is really usful because you are give out a lot of information within a 10 second shot. Shot reverse shot is also really crucial because it shows the actors facial expression during a conversation.

Tangled: Sound

The films starts of by  narration by Flynn Rider which is non-diegetic as it is used to inform the audience about the story and some important points.

Then a few minutes later, the film title apear and Rapunzal starts singing but then Rapunzal stops singing and the music turns into a background music with Rapunzal doing to action said in the lyrics.  By the end of the song, Rapunzal started to sing along with the song again.  This makes the music change from diegetic (Rapunzal singing) to non-diegetic (Rapunzal not singing) back to diegetic. 

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sounds

Diegetic Sound

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film:

• voices of characters 
• sounds made by objects in the story 
• music represented as coming from instruments in the story space

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. 

Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.

Non-diegetic Sound

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen or has been implied to be present in the action: 

• narrator's commentary
• sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
• mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. 

The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening. We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are represented as coming from outside the space of the story events. A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy).

Here is a clip of the Warm Bodies.  In here, the sound of the characters speaking is diegetic sound. The mood music and the narration of R is the non-diegetic sound.

Mise en Scene

We watched a short clip of 'The Last King of Scotland' today in our lesson learning about filming is different locations and the use of colours.

• Filming is different locations can show the contrasts between the rich and the poor by showing us how different it is between the countryside and the city; from full of bush, surrounded by trees and red mud to concrete roads and tall buildings. The garden of the president's house also show the massive contrast by having a nicely maintained and green lawn whereas there is not much grass shown in the countryside.

• The use of colour is very important too. Red is often associated with love and passion but could also suggest danger.  Yellow suggested happy and energetic. The use of colour in the clip with avoiding blue until the climax when the blue medical room is introduced suggested conformity that something major is going to happen to the president or to Nicholas.

Analysis for My Prelim Task

Things I should consider when filming my film opening.....

• Locations - Hopefully around my area as we have a limited time to film for our film opening, so we do not need to waste time travelling.

• Actors - Have my actors ready, also have back-ups in case someone is ill. Also consider about extras to help make the film look more realistic.

• Costumes -  Would be good if it is already accessible, if not, it is reasonably priced as we have limited resource/money. 

• Props - Again, good if it is already accessible, if not, reasonably priced as we have limited resource/money.

    Costumes and props should match the time period and genre of my film so     the film will look more realistic and everything we look into place.

My Prelim Task

The Principles of Continuity

Match on action:

• Is a continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. 
• It creates the impression if continuity.
• The action carrying through creates a "visual bridge" which draws the audience's attention away from slight cutting.
• It portrays a continuous sense of the same action rather than matching two separate things. 

Shot reverse shot:

• Is a continuity editing technique used in conversations of characters looking at each other or objects.
• A shot showing what the character is supposedly looking at (either a POV or over the shoulder shot) is followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at it, or of the other character looking back at them.
• Shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180º rule to retain continuity.

The 180º rule

• It is a guildline that participants in a scene should have the same left-right relationship to each other, with filming only taking place within the 180º angle.
• This allows the audience to have a greater sense of the location in the scene in terms of what may be off-screen in some shots.

Cinematography Lesson

In our media lesson, we watched three videos:

Chicken Run (6:50 - 9:56)

After watching part of Chicken Run, I think the film makers are really clever by using the sky light to 'hint' us about the mood changing and what is going to happen. When Fowler the Rooster is standing on top of the house, the sky light is surrounding him which suggests that he is powerful and has a high position if the camp. When Mrs. Tweedy enters the camp, the sky changes into dark and stormy which suggests that Mrs. Tweedy is a evil character and also suggests that something bad is going to happen. At the end of the clip, there is a close-up of Ginger which suggests that she is going to make a change and she is the one in power. I think these cinematography are really clever because they all make us realise what is going on without using any words or dialogue. In my film production, I am sure I would use 'hints' to warn the audience what would happen just like they did in Chicken Run.

Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were Rabbit - The bit when Wallace uses his luna-light powered brainwash machine to brainwash the rabbits which did not end up as well as he though it would.

This clip gave people a gothic feel as there is a long shot from the beginning showing everything is shinned by moonlight giving them shadow which make everything scarier, so when the machine is turned on, it suggests that the experiment will not go well. The switch of the brainwash machine is labeled clearly which also suggests that something will go wrong due to the switch of the machine. Again I would love to use 'hints' to warn the audience what would happen later on in the film just like what they did in this film.

John Lewis Home Insurance Advert 2013 - Things Matter

This advert makes everything came into live; it made everything as if there were animal e.g rug move like a snake, spoon look like meerkats...I think this is really clever because giving a live to an object makes them more important which matches the objective of the advert - Things Matter. I would love to use this kind of animation is my film production but I think it would be too time consuming as we have to move the object step by step.