WELCOME MODERATOR

Welcome, moderator! I am Josie Dean 1470 and I worked with Megan Sedgwick 1472  and Ally Macleod 1473.

I hope you enjoy my blog, which contains my work on my G321 Foundation  Portfolio. We chose the video brief, the titles and openings of a fictional thriller film which we named Unforgotten. My Preliminary exercise is immediately below.

I took specific responsibility for filming the scene with Emily putting the flowers on the grave, the two sisters doing make up, the both of them on the swing and the scene with the mother and the daughter and the scene of the number being typed and when Emily answers the phone. I did some editing mostly with the sound back ground music and we all directed.

My evaluation questions are above.

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE

PLANNING: FILM OPENING CREDITS

Studio that is distributing the film: Metrodome
We chose this distributor because it based in London and well known for distributing films made by independent and new film producers. They wanted to reach a young, urban audience known as Urban Genre.

Production company: JAM
We thought this fitted well as a production company as it is an acronym of our names.

Film title: Unforgotten

Featuring: Jane Sedgwick, Megan Sedgwick, Ally Macleod

Casting by: Josie Dean

Editor: Megan Sedgwick

Based on the play (novel, graphic novel) by: N/A

Screenplay: Ally Macleod

Director: Josie Dean

PLANNING: PADLET

Today my group created a Padlet which is a type of presentation format. My whole group is in the Padlet where we can all contribute to the page.

PADLET LINK

PLANNING: WRITING THE VOICE OVER

We decided to write a voice over to give some information to the viewer about what was happening when watching our film opening.

Our script: 6 months, the worst 6 months of my life, I miss her so much, my sister, my best friend. 

This would give context to each scene showing who the sisters are talking about. 

RESEARCH: BIFA

CLICK HERE FOR BIFA

I have recently been looking at the BIFA, I especially wanted to see how well the film American Honey was doing as it had been nominated. When I went to the BFI study day, The film was mentioned and talked about as a British independent film. Rob Miller, who presented An Introduction To The Film Industry on the 2nd of November 2016, cited American Honey as an example of UK independent films. At 2.7m budget which is relatively cheap, it had posting unpopular characters apart from 1 slightly more famous character. It also has mainly just young people, according to it's website the film shows how young people these days are defined.


At the BFI study day I learnt that American Honey counted as a British film be a use of its British director and the cast and key organisations involved.
Andrea Arnold the producer of American Honey is also well known for producing Fish Tank at the cost off 1.3m (this is cheap compared to Star Wars).

American Honey's key themes involve youth and their life style which are themes and issues not usually covered by main stream cinemas. Likewise there were no expensive sets as it was shot outside on location rather than in a studio. A part of the way it created the sense of social realism is by the style of filming such as the hand held cinema technique depicting free youth.

In my film I also have a low production value, shooting on location and using unknowns. Also I have similar themes such as youth, realism and love.

PLANNING: SHOTLIST

In our group we made a shot list to plan out what we were filming and how we were going to edit the clips. 

PLANNING: INTERVIEW WIITH EMILY

Following on from what we learnt from the article 'Getting to know our characters' I did the interview with Emily, who is the youngest daughter, we decided to do it via whatsapp messages. The messages show her having a conversation with one of her close friends. The friend is trying to help her and get through to her, however Emily is quite resistant and in denial.

PLANNING: INTERVIEWING CHARACTERS

OPEN SOURCE HERE

I read through this article by Charlie Sierra, he talks about how we can get to know our characters. We are going to do some character interviews to get to know our characters a bit better, learning about their point of view and their personality. He writes about how we should think of it like a questionnaire which the characters need to fill out. For our film we are going to interview the mother and the two siblings which are all our characters so we will be able to see three different view point as they all have different ideas about what is actually going on.


Our Interview- younger sibling
exchange in whats apps messages between Emily and a friend.
'are you alright'
'yeah'
'how's your mum?'
'She is fine, why wouldn't she be'
'well you sister's gone emily, she's not coming back. You need to accept death sooner or later. always here to talk'
'I don't need to talk, I'm with my sister'
'What?'
'I'm sitting next to my sister'
'you have to let it go someday'

Mother (Mrs Hodgson)
Home on the sofa with a journalist interviewing her.
'nice to meet you Mrs Hodgson, we would just like to ask you a few questions concerning your eldest daughter, Cara.' The journalist
Mother agrees by nodding her head calmly
'thank you, I understanding this may be hard but I want to get a deeper understanding on what happened to Cara'
The mother continues to have a blank face.
'Is it true you had an argument with Cara the night she went out'
'I don't see why this concerns you, it's none of your business'
'I understand Mrs Hodgson'
'would you describe your self as a liberal mother?'
'I would say I was fair and I was always very generous towards Cara'
'I heard some rumours that Cara witnessed a crime that night'
'yes she did witness a crime but its got nothing to do with it' 'I believe that Cara is gone and she's not coming back'

PLANNING: TOP LINE AND BIG QUESTION

Frank Ash is a creative consultant for BBC films, he teaches creative techniques with filming film crews across and beyond the BBC.  I found out that the main factor of identification is through the 'top line' and 'big question'.

TOP LINE DEFINITION:  A young girl can't cope with the death of her older sister. The audience don't realize the older child is dead until near the end of the film opening as it is through the eyes of the younger sister. Once the audience find out that the older sister is actually dead, the younger child also comes to terms with it. However, as she leaves the room that she was imagining being in with her sister her phone rings and the audience gets a big shock.

BIG QUESTION: Will the younger sibling ever find out the truth about their sibling? Is the eldest sibling dead or alive?

TREATMENT

Treatment 

There is a tragic death in a family where involving one of two siblings who are very close with each other which the younger sibling cannot come to terms with. Throughout the film opening we see the younger sibling still acting as if the older sibling where still there, playing and talking to her etc. There will be flash backs to when they used to spend time together and the memories they had. As the younger sibling is still coming to terms with the death and not really understanding it she continues to call her older sister on her phone but it continuously going to voice mail. After the filming of all the scenes with the siblings together, we re-visit these scenes but instead the younger sister is by herself.

siblings together

audience thinks everything is okay

(continuously calls her sister on phone but it always goes voice mail) 

mum comes into room

audience sees older sibling is actually dead/not there all along

flash backs to all the scenes the audience saw but without the older sibling in it

younger sister leaves room

phone rings 

TWITTER

I have made a Twitter account so I can follow media relevant people and Twitter pages which can widen my understanding of film and media. So far I have followed many different pages such as the big 6, media bloggers and other interesting people who can post helpful posts that will influence me in different ways.
I read an article from the Guardian newspaper by Alan Rusbridger: Why Twitter matters for media organisations.

Alan Rusbridger says:It's a highly effective way of spreading ideas, information and content. Don't be distracted by the 140-character limit. A lot of the best tweets are links. It's instantaneous. Its reach can be immensely far and wide.

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE-DEADPOOL

    http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deadpool/

Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero comedy film directed by Tim Miller and written by Rhett Reese. The film is based on the Marvel comics, where the names of the characters are the same.

The opening credits are presented going though a frozen frame of violence in a car, there are items being thrown, coffee being spilt and battered bodies about. As the camera goes through the freeze frame the production company are named first which is 'The Twentieth Fox', it then moves and shows that it is associated with Marvel entertainment. Within the credits some mockery is added in, instead of showing the principle characters it shows 'starring God's Perfect Idiot' and 'hot chick'. It also doesn't name any important people such as the producer but instead its says "produced by asshats"

The opening is presented using many different props and has been made very active which gives the audience an idea of the type of film it is. By the main character being show last gives us the bigger picture helping the audience understand more of what's going on as it starts to zoom out from the car so we can see more.

The opening works well as it will draw in the audience by the shock and surprise of whats happening, its not the typical superhero film. By the time the opening is over and the camera has zoomed out it brings up many questions for the audience which will encourage them to continue watching to see what happens. The music and editing also helps as it brings irony to the opening. The song is very calming singing about angles and wouldn't usually be played with what is actually going on in the opening but the song makes a contrast between the visuals and music. This also adds to the mockery that the film is all about.

THE BUSINESS OF FILM RESEARCH

I have recently started a media course on the website Future learn, its all about the business of film. It will help me have a stronger understanding of how films are produced and the business behind film making. It will also help me learn more key concept about the business of film. So far I have learnt about how films help audiences understand more about other cultures and it makes them think more about their own. I have also learnt that British films that have been made by the UK have turned out extremely popular and have appeared at the BAFTAs and other award ceremonies, they all got started braces there are organisations which are set up such as the BFI which helps with production of the film and funding for it to be made. The course is a 6 week course so I will keep going week by week and complete it.

1.3

In the UK the BFI and UK film council write many reports about the cultural and economic value of film. Recently the reports have shown that films bring £3.67 to the UK economy. Studies have shown that films have personal messages and political messages which help people understand about different cultures and can make us change the way we understand our own cultures, as well as an activity to do in your spare time.

1.6

Above is a graph showing the amount of money spent on the production for Uk films in the in the past 20 years. You can see that it has been constant over the years, UK has made many British independent films that have been very popular. Because these films are so popular and appear at award shows it shows pride for the UK which is why most Hollywood stars are British. 

Film tourism is also important with production, people are visiting places that are featured in films and programmes are becoming more and more popular. 

Film is the highest of the creative activities, it is the highest profile and uses the highest amount of creative skill. Because film is so important they are supported by film incentives which help films get started.

1.8

Other than the BFI there are two other important public service organisations which help the making of British independent films. They are BBC Films, the film arm of the BBC and Film4, the film arm of Channel 4. These organisations give money to pay for the film to be made and production of the film. 

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE- BREAKFAST CLUB

WORK from Josie Dean

PIKTOCHART: AUDIENCES

RESEACH: ART OF THE TITLE-ELF

WORK from Josie Dean

RESEARCH:ART OF THE TITLE- JUNO

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/juno/

RESEARCH:THE ART OF THE TITLE: SNOW WHITE

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/snow-white-and-the-huntsman/

The Art of The Title- Snow White and the Huntsman

I used the website The Art of the Title to explore the many different ways in which title sequences signal genre and hook audience interest.

Snow White and the Huntsman is  a twisted remake of  the fairy tale ‘Snow White’. It is a dark fantasy film where Snow White grows up being imprisoned by her evil step mother after her mother and father die. 

The opening needs to hint at the future plot without giving it away: how Snow White finally escapes into the forest thinking she got away when a huntsman that the queen hired to get her back, making a deal with him saying she can bring back his dead wife with her powers.

In the credits the producer, editor and director are named as well as other people such as the who did the screen play. The credits then move on to the principal characters who are staring in it. The credits are presented using the names of the actors appearing on the screen with a background of an image relating to the film. It changes from each character but them all connecting to fighting and war including blades smashing objects and men in armour with their weapons. Dramatic music is also used in the back ground of the credits to complete the atmosphere of the film as violent and pain.

Instead of just having small shots to do with the film, there are also names that appears in flashes at the bottom of the screen which gives us the information on who has created the film and who stars in it.

The colours of the opening titles are all very dark as they have to link to the film, as the film being a twisted fairy tale with violent scenes the darkness connects to the film but not giving too much away. There are some colours of red in some flashes which could represent the blood shed thought the film. The props that they use are mostly weapons which fits into  the war and violence idea.

The editing includes a very strong rhythmic beat of orchestral music makes by string percussion and vocals which accompanies extreme close up of the raven's wings and armoured men clenching swords smashing their surrounding. The lyric are talking about light which represents snow white and her purity but then we see all the dark images which represents the evil queen which contrast with each other.

PLANNING:TRELLO

I have created  a Trello which is an online organisation tool that will help me keep track of my work. I intend to update it as I work to see what I have done and what else I have to do.

Below is a screenshot of my September checklist.