Film Pitch Feedback Analysis

Film Pitch Feedback Peer Evaluation

Overall our presentation was rather successful with the majority of our peers providing us with a score of above fifty out of seventy. With our highest score coming in at a astounding sixty three out of seventy and our lowest coming in at a scarce thirty nine out of seventy.

Overall all of our scores averaged to a impressive fifty two.

The feedback sheet then had eight different questions where each one of our peers had to give qualitative feedback.
One asked "Is the Film Title relevant/intriguing or catchy?"
Picked at random some peers said that our film title was "relative to film" - "catchy good title" -  "sticks to memory" and "sounds grand and a costume drama?"
Another question was "Interesting Characters and appropriate cast?"
Some answers were "good cast, well thought out" - "Definitely appropriate" - "Characters appropriate for the scenes involved" and "Not mainstream actors which fits in well with the genre"
Also "Is the film different?"
Peers thought "Cant really make an original horror anymore, but seems vaguely new." - "Cliche" - "Very interesting storyline." - "Very different to many popular horrors"
Finally they were asked "Would you buy the film rights?"
We received ten peers saying "Yes" and only one saying "No"

Our Film Pitch

Greystone manor film presentation from joekiff45

Here is our Film Pitch of the Horror genre for the target audience of Cultured Intellectuals. Unfortunately our font was effected by uploading our PowerPoint to slide share and therefore is not as we first created it to look like. We were given two lessons to create this PowerPoint to meet all the requirements shown and then we will grade each others PowerPoint's.

Institution

Institution

Mainstream Films Vs Independent
Today we learned about the largest film institutes and ways indie films trying to break their way through into the cinema world.
We learnt today that cinemas do not make most of their money from ticket sales, that usually goes to the film and distributors themselves. They make most of their money from popcorn and food sales.
To get a film into the cinemas you have to first of all make the film and then use a distributor to get it into the cinemas as they ring up each cinema and find out if they can get a certain film to show at the cinema and then decide where they shall show the movie.

Big Six:

• Sony
• Warner Bros
• 20th Century Fox
• Paramount
• Disney
•  Universal

Smaller companies have to try and squeeze their films into the roster of cinemas and try and make some money. They usually go into cinemas when large blockbusters are not being released and therefore have much less competition.
The yearly film calendar:

March - August: Big blockbusters for summer.

September: Bad month for any big film

October - February: Awarded films, big blockbusters

Todays Lesson: Audience

Audience:

The people viewing the media. Most large media companies predomanently aim for the 16-24 year old age groups. 

Uses and Gratifications of Media:-

P - ersonal Infromation

I - Information

E - Entertainment

S - Social Interaction

How do I use films?

Some films personal identification 

A couple of films i took information from was 

Another few films I watched for my entertainment were Ted, 

Social interaction films I personally 

What do we mean when we use the word 'Film' ?

What do we mean when we use the word 'Movie' ?

What do we mean when we use the word 'Cinema' ?

A place to pay to visit to watch a film.

Top 10 Films (No particular order)

I Am Legend
Now You See Me
Fast and Furious 7
Ted 2
Wolf of Wall Street
Sinister

Purge 2 : Anarchy
The Firm
Superbad
The Longest Yard

Special mentions: Ride Along, Team America World Police

How do you find out about a film?
Usually through advertising or looking at the local cinema's website.

What makes you want to see a film?
If i have seen similar films and enjoyed them or if the film includes an actor I enjoy watching.

How do you know what to expect from a film?
I know what to expect through watching the trailer,, the name of the film and the genre.

What are you paying for when you buy a cinema ticket or buy/rent a film?
You are paying everyone from the cleaners at the film set to the actors themselves with the money you spend on a ticket.

Where do you watch films? At home? At the cinema?
I like to watch films at the cinema but it is quite expensive and therefore most commonly watch them at home.

Do you think that there are differences between watching a film in a cinema and watching it at home on a DVD? If you think there are, then what are they?
I believe there are differences with watching a film at home or watching one at the cinema. Firstly it is more accessible for people to watch a film in 3D at the cinema and also the surround sound and complete HD screen at the cinema makes the experience feel a lot more enjoyable and thrilling.

Are there some films that you HAVE to see at cinema or doesn't it matter?
There are few films that I must go and see but there are definitely a few films. For example if a new Fast and Furious film came out i would have to see it as I have loved the franchise so far and would want to carry on watching it. Also if there is a film that stands out as it has my favourite actors or producers and therefore would very much attract me to see that film.

What do you understand from the word Industry?
I think of it as businesses and they're products/services.

Representation

Representation

Today we learned about representation, the way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience. They are most commonly created by the producer.

"The Male Gaze" theory by Laura Molvey which is that women are put in the media for men's pleasure.

Stereotypes

Media Institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. Think of stereotypes as a "visual shortcut". They're repeated so often that we assume they are normal and true.

Archetypes

This is the 'ultimate' stereotype. For example the white stiletto wearing, big busted, brainless blonde bimbo.

Countertypes

A representation that challenges tradition stereotypical associations of groups, people and place.

I shall analyse the opening scene of Mad Max : Fury Road

At the beginning of the scene the character is in an area which is almost nothing like you can see in real life. Also the character is shown to have long, messy hair as if it has not been washed. This stereo typically is linked with homeless people which can also lead to the thought of people who are struggling to stay alive. As the seen progresses the men chasing him are all bald, pale white and have black painted around their lips. This is not really stereo typical for anything in the real world but can be used to show mad/wild men and this portrays their actions well in the opening scene of Mad Max.

Todays Lesson - The 4 Narrative Theorists

The 4 Narrative Theorists

Barthes: 

-Codes: action, what significant actions people do?

symbolic: what hidden meanings do some objects or actions have?

enigma: what questions do you ask yourself?

Levi-Strauss:

-Binary opposition: Female or Male

Hero or Evil

Urban or Rural

Wealthy and Poor

Todorov:

-Structure: the obstacles you need to overcome

Equilibrium - The state of normality

During films they disrupt the equilibrium and then restore it.

E.G in pixar short clips

Propp:

-Characters: Hero, Villain, The Donor, Dispatcher, False Hero, Helper, Princess, The Father.

We then watched three short clips , two being short films from Pixar and one from the film The Prestige.

Then we had to choose and opening scene from another film of our choice and analyse this. I chose the film I Am Legend.

We then used Barthes theory to analyse this film.

Actions:-
The male allows the dog to put his head out the window, strokes him and talks to him. This shows how much he cares about the dog. Also him being lonely may lead him to talk to him.
The attempt to shoot the deer shows his intention to kill the deer. This most likely is for food but could be for something else.

Symbolic:-
Abandoned buildings
Carrying gun
Dog
Large group of birds and deer
Abandoned tanks

Enigma:-
Why is this city abandoned?
Why is the man in the car and his dog still alive?
Where did the deer come form?
Why does he chase them?
Where is he going?

Semiotics - Analysis of Film Poster

Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of signs. We read images in an attempt to decode them and have them make sense to us. Two key words are

• Denotation: what we see when we look at an image.
• Connotation: what is understood from the image.

For example different colours express different feelings and symbols. Red can be seen as anger or love. Blue can be seen as calming or coldness. Green can be seen as envy or nature. Finally yellow can be seen as cowardly or sunshine. There are many more things that these colours could symbolise but the list is never ending.

Semiotics of a film poster

This is the film poster of the film Sinister. Firstly the thing that stands out is the face on the wall almost painted in the blood. Immediately you can see this face is anomalous and chilling which reflects to the viewers that there is going to be some sort of demon or ghost involved in the film. Secondly I noticed the girl walking past and has her hand pressed up against the wall near where the picture of the face is. This could be the girl has been possessed by this demon and is portraying this by drawing the face onto the wall. The fact the face is dark reflects that he will be a dark and intimidating character in the film. Finally you see the less obvious things like cracks in the wall which could show how the demon has spotted weaknesses in the young girl and thats why he chose to possess her.

Another way you could look at it is that the image on the wall is made of blood and this reflects the pain that he has caused this young girl.

Analysis of Opening Scenes and their Genres

Here is an opening scene of a different genre that I found myself. At the start the music reflects the saddened mood and depressing feel to the scene. There is no narrative which creates tension and suspense. You trust their body language and facial expressions to tell you the story as you see the elderly man break down and cry. It is during daylight to reflect the positive attitude towards the armed soldiers who died in the war.

Another opening scene that I reviewed was A Million Ways To Die In The West. The genre of this film is comedy.  This scene involves a olden west american town setting with no modern technology or buildings. Also the characters dress like they are from the west as well but the main character talks like he is from the modern day which creates a comedic feel to the film. A theme for this opening scene is crude humour and comedy.

Todays Lesson - Analysing Film Openings and their Genres

Today we analysed the opening scenes of films with different genres.

First of all we watched the opening scene of Harry Brown.
This film has a dark, gloomy setting to start with. It also had a first person view like we were there with the modern day 'gangsters' in the opening scene. Themes in this scene were guns, drugs, hooded jumpers and murder. Little narrative but if there was it would be aggressive leaving a large amount of tension. The characters were doing drugs and wearing all dark clothing, they then portrayed this by making the sound and first person view feel like you were on the drugs as well.

Secondly we watched the opening scene of Guardians of the galaxy. The themes include old school music and objects such as a cassette player. The setting was unrealistic and most likely on a different planet. Also they were inside a dark cave with abnormal animals. The character was child like as he kicked away the creatures and danced through the cave. There was no narrative and could hear what he was listening to through his cassette player, which was very loud.

Finally we analysed the opening scene of What Lies Beneath. The setting was a realistic household but there were dark rooms with flickering lights to represent the horror. Heavy breathing and other spooky noises also reflect the genre of the film as it horrifies the viewers. Although specters are present in the trailer which makes some people believe it is unrealistic but others believe in this and will be spooked by the film. There was little narrative which created suspense in the scene. The character was becoming more frightened as her facial expressions showed and started crying as

Finding our feet with the Camera

We were given a random genre and a camera. We were then asked to take a photo's to reflect these certain genres and use distinct while taking them.

Above is our first photo featuring Max and I. We are completing the genre of Adventure, as you can see I am up the tree to symbolise that we have left common grounds to explore and adventure new places. We are around greenery to create the feel that we are in the wilderness and on an adventure.

 The genre above is Rom-Com featuring Lollie and Max as the couple and Luke as the jealous lover trying to win Max over. Lollie and Max are expressing their happiness together in the photo, however Luke is straight faced and staring into Max's eyes which portrays his feelings for him.

Above is a photo reflecting the genre Superhero. Lollie is portraying the superhero, She is on the bench to show that she is more superior to me, the villain, in the background. Also she is smiling to portray her good intentions where as I have a face with little emotion reflecting my character in the film.

Here is a picture reflecting the genre of Bio-Pic. This is where a famous person is portrayed but as a different character. Originally this photo was of Luke, but I have cropped Arnold Schwarzenegger's face onto that photo to make it look like him.

Here is the Ted 2 official trailer video from YouTube.