Zach’s Blog
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Evaluation Q4. How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?
Stage 1: Research
Whilst researching, I was heavily reliant on looking at existing media texts as well as the various manga's that I enjoy ever so much. Whenever I thought up an idea that I thought might work, I noted it down in a small notepad that I carried with me in my backpack. These ideas were the ones that would either come around suddenly, or the ones that I was putting together over the course of a couple of days. I then moved onto the internet where I had the world at my fingertips to help me look for ideas. I started by looking into characters as I heavily believe great characters is what makes a story more interesting to an audience, so if there was anything I wanted to try and get right above all, then it was a fascinating character to portray the themes of my film. I started to look into the artwork of Rene Magritte, more specifically his piece called 'The Son of Man', and from there I started to put things together. In order to keep a track on my progress I noted it all down on Blogger bit by bit to remind me of all the ideas I had come up with at that point.
Stage 2: Planning
Stage 3: Construction
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Evaluation Q3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Codes and Conventions - understanding of thriller conventions, credit structure and what to expect from a film opening.
At the start of the year, the genre of thrillers seemed especially complexed to me, I could never figure out what exactly made a thriller. However, between that point back in September and now here in April I have had a strong exposure to the heart of the thriller genre, The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en are pure examples of thriller films. Se7en and True Blood, another thriller media text studied, display a very strong credit structure and sequence which introduces the audiences to the themes and overall genre that the film follows, and for that I now have a deeper and more refined knowledge of the expected codes and conventions revolving around thriller films.
Planning and Organization - ability to organize actors, locations, props for and efficient and effective film shoot. Ability to hit deadlines.
Throughout the process of planning, I had made sure that everything I might need for the shoot was there. I had told all of my actors and the crew that were helping out the times to arrive and the location to be. A good example of my organization skills that I display is by deciding on the location that I would be filming before the mid-term break in December, that way I could plan and ready everything (Equipment, Schedules, etc...) in the new year when I would be ready to film. I also believe that I had made all of the preparations necessary that lead to a smooth and successful shoot. The script and storyboard were used multiple times between myself and the actors and crew
Camera Work - confidence in building composition and using different shot types.
Since the first task of the year, Jurassic Jelly, I have greatly improved the complexity and composition of my shots, as well as confidence in my camera work. I was given more chances throughout the project to enhance my skills and become for comfortable with the camera, this included working and getting to grips with a gimble. I think the greatest evidence of my improvement with a camera, is the fact that I am capable of achieving shots with a complexed composition, just like one of my final shots from my film. The shot required lots of testing and practices before I could consider it good enough for the final film.
Visual effects - realizing ideas using digital software, using credits in an interesting way.
I touched on framing in a previous blog post, in which I discussed my inspiration(s) for the style of framing I went for throughout my film, which leaves a considerable amount of empty space in the frame to create a sense of unease and isolation. I brought up framing because I intended on using that empty space to fit (some of) my credits into as to draw the attention of the audience into those blank areas of the frame. This can be seen with the title card shot as the character, Mr Fantasy, leaves the room. The empty room leaves nothing but a space filled with the title reading 'Catch The Rainbow', however the rest of the space remains empty and lifeless, creating a sense of distortion. I believe that I have picked up a fairly good base-level of comfort surrounding visual effects, or at least I am comfortable in a sense that I am confident with what I am doing and I am always able to create the effects that I envision. This parallels my skills from the start of the project, where I would be scared to go anywhere near After Effects, and when I did I would have the most basic understanding of what to do.
Editing - making meaning through editing. Making the narrative sense for the audience.
Creative confidence - thinking of interesting ideas and making them happen.
I am almost 100% certain that a large reason as to why I have both been able to step out of my comfort zone and create such bizarre ideas is because of the media that I am regularly exposing myself to. I have taken inspiration and brought it up many times throughout the project, but manga has been a massive part of making my film as I have been able to rely on it when I come to a point where I can't figure out what to do next. Which is why I feel like it is worth mentioning, I think anyone who reads manga can tell you that it is ultimately very inspiring and motivating as most of the time there is a goal to reach which encourages you to reach your own goals. And as far as film coursework goes, I really feel like I have done that, which makes me eager for the next topic as I will be setting new and tougher goals to overcome, and that excites me.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Evaluation Q2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
Audience Profiling
Distribution Strategy
Marketing
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Evaluation Q1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
Working with and Challenging conventions
Monday, March 14, 2022
Catch The Rainbow: Poster
Creating a movie Poster
Demographics: Target Audience
Target Audience
The Batman is a 2022 film that released into cinema's early March. The main premise revolves around Bruce Wayne trying to uncover frequent killings from the hidden killer known as The Riddler. The film is very heavily inspired by Se7en (1995) and fits within the genre of a Thriller.
Mostly men watch Batman (69%), and the reason why this is comes down to the way that Batman, or men, within the film seem to be portrayed. This links back to representation as Batman/Bruce Wayne is portrayed as a strong and capable man, who also has the body type that is seen as attractive among societal expectations and standards.
The majority of the age demographic for Batman is made up on people between 25-34 years old. This age group might be more likely to go to see Batman as there are themes and images too dark and mature for younger audiences. This age group are more likely to be entertained by Batman as it is more appealing and "epic" to them than it might be to an older age group.
There is a more dominant (59%) middle-upper class audience watching Batman. The main reason for this most likely comes down to the characters and relevance of money within the movie. This is primarily seen with Bruce Wayne who is a billionaire, therefore the cinema would be majorly populated with the middle and upper classes.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
Demographics and Types of Audiences
A big part of marketing is to identify a target audience, only then can marketers develop strategies to target and reach that audience. One way of identifying target audience's is by breaking them down into smaller demographic groups. An established way of identifying these groups was developed by the UK Nation Readership Survey - called NRS Social Grades.
Social grade is a classification system based on occupation. Income is not part of the social grade classification. However, there is a strong correlation between income and social grade as shown in the chart above. The grades are often grouped into 'ABC1' and 'C2DE'. These are taken to make up the middle class and working class. Only around 2% of the UK population is identified as upper class, and this group is not separated by the classification scheme.
How does this help me understand my target audience for my film?
Types of Audience's
Mainstream Audience
Mainstream Plus
Aficionados
Thursday, February 24, 2022
Color Grading
Monday, February 21, 2022
Filming #2
After I received the feedback from the first progress check, I chose to re-shoot the final shot of the movie. Although I ran into some difficulties, I managed to get it done and I started to do a little bit of extra footage to see if I wanted to add it to my film at the beginning. It was a very sudden decision as the I had the equipment and the time, so I decided to do it just in case it turned out to be good.
The main objective of the second shoot was to fix up the final shot at the end, however the main actor for Mr Fantasy was unable to make any of the dates and times that would work due to other commitments. However, my Dad was able to fill in as his face would never be shown anyways, and he has the same sort of stature as the original actor. However, he did not want to appear in any pictures so that is why there aren't any of the re-shoot. But I was successful in getting it done, but I did mention earlier that there were some difficulties with the shoot - My gimble wasn't working. The gimble was a really essential part of the shot as the stillness of the shot created this eerie feeling within the silent room. Since I couldn't use the gimble I had to switch and go hand held, which wasn't too bad, other than the fact that I haven't got the steadiest hands.
After taking two or three shots, I re-watched all of the footage that I took, and I decided that the shakiness of the camera was too distracting and that it would look much better if it was smoother and fluid. As for the other footage that I shot that day, I tried getting some establishing shots of the bushes blowing in the breeze which I could place before the shots of the shower started.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Credit Font Research
I found that choosing the font for my credits was quite difficult. It has to fit with a Thriller, but it also needs to be subtle. The reason why subtlety is important for the credits is that I dont want anything to powerful and distracting, the film is the focus and I dont want the credits to take that away.
When I watched The Suicide Squad last year, I thought that it had really nice comic looking credits. I decided to re-visit the credits again and look at the font. Whilst the font was not appropriate for my film, I took note of the placement of the credits. I liked the way that the credits were placed in the centre and the sides - But not all the way into the corners.
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I found that choosing the font for my credits was quite difficult. It has to fit with a Thriller, but it also needs to be subtle. The reason...