Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Film review page: Empire.

Empire has lots of film reviews within its skins. I looked at a review of 'Up In the Air' which was in the 'IN CINEMAS' section. The review was edited by Ian Freer and written Ian Nathan. It includes the release date, the certificate, the director, the cast, the screenwriters, running time and plot all within a quick information box right at the beginning of the review, which appears underneath the title. There is also a boarder of a double black line, which makes it look all included and together, which makes it look neat, this would attract me in the way I would like my review to look like. It also has a large image which takes up a whole page, which is usually a screen shot, that takes up a single page. The colour scheme of the review pages is orange, black, maroon and white, this is a simple colour scheme which is sweeet and effective. They also have a 'LOOKCLOSER' box that gives detailed information about the people in the film.
Empire also has a range of page spreads, for example 3 page spread consists of on the first page, a title, info and text, then second page is the large image, with the details on the film box, then the third page has another image at the top then 4 columns of writing below it, with quotes to stand out to a reader.
They also have a star system... ***** Classic, **** Excellent, *** Good, ** Fair, * Tragic. Which is quite fun and interesting...



With inspiration from Empire I will concentrate on Banner, By-line, caption, column rule, x-head, drop cap, font, footer, headline, house style, masthead, proofs, pulled quotes,runaround, spread, strapline and teaser.

Monday, 6 December 2010

More production shots.

These productions shots show the setting for the tube scenes. The use of the maps and seating connote a true London underground system, which relates to our film of typical London setting.

Here, we used the station of 'Hampstead' as our first setting on the tube, as it was not too busy so we could film easily without disrupting other commutors (falling in love haha)
Here the actors are playing around with positioning and getting to know the area.

My Film Review Page.

My Film Review Page.
I looked at many different film orientated magazines where I reviewed them and concentrated on the balance of authenticity (related to my short) with production values.


Empire Magazine: this magazine is priced at £3.99 and is released monthly to the general public. Constructed by Denise Parkinson who is the head of film at the magazine, and edited by Colin Kennedy, this racy and vibrant magazine is aimed at almost anyone; I would suggest usually over 15s depending on the certificates of the usual films reviewed and not specifically directed at neither men nor women. The magazine unlike any other magazine, concentrates almost fully on films and reviews of films, with interviews with cast members or directors and film posters or advertisement. Glancing at an actual review page it has large screen shots, which attract a reader, lots of interesting images, eye-catching layouts, then when it is coming out, starring and director to appear to an audience of the USP. It also has a change in format from one review to another which makes the magazine as a whole more effective.

http://www.megansafox.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/megan-fox-empire.jpg


Sight and Sound: This is a £3.95 monthly magazine that is actually funded by the BFI where Geoff Andrew is the head of film positioned at the BFI building on the South bank. Unlike Empire, this magazine is more applicable to older more sophisticated readers, maybe more like adults 20+, due to the lots of text and lack of many photos to look at. Within the magazine there is a selection of gripping film reviews that attracts a more mature reader and also many mentions of film festivals as well, which gives a feel of knowledge to read this magazine. In the specific film reviews there are large pictures, with lots of small, blocked columned text, as the whole page merges with dark tones which appear somewhat boring, that is why it would not immediately relate to a young audience. http://www.whosdatedwho.com/what/publicity_view.asp?RD=000128801m



Little White Lies: this is a funky, stylish magazine that is also £3.95, but bi-monthly. It is created by a publishing company called ‘The Church of London’. It too appears to a more adult audience, as there is lots of knowledgeable information about the films which could not attract a young audience. Within the magazine there is lots of ads, lots of other information, and only a few selected film reviews, which makes it a limited selection which would also restrict the reader. The reviews themselves are within small fonts, laid out in columns with a few photos, that could lack interest to a fresh audience, but they do have a few interesting screen shots and/or movie stills, which appear above the text and not necessarily included in the actually text of the review.

http://itsalltrue.biz/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/LWL1.jpg

Short List: is a free magazine that is released every weekly Thursday that is funded by advertising and edited by Terri White. Its range of information, from fashion to sports, it could attract everyone and most importantly collective daily commuters. With all this stuff added, it seems to loose the film reviews finding them is hard. They consist of a small tight layout, maybe just a column or two of text with a promo connected.




http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00016/shortlist_16452t.jpg

Time Out: is £2.99 weekly, coming out on Tuesdays. Time Out Magazine Ltd. Is edited by Mark Frith and head of film at the magazine is Dave Calhoun. This magazine is attracted to mostly everyone, there is a huge amount of different information, that is not just significant to films. It has ranges between sport, other entertainment, ads, interviews, fashion, music, theatre, TV and then film. The actual film reviews are a more interesting layout, with lots of colour and blocking to make it clear and stand out. The text is still in columns, with a selection of photos, but they do have more than one review on a page, it can make it look a little cramped but gets a lot of films out there at once, but hard for a reader to remember the ones to watch. The magazine also include the ratings which means that they are actually telling their audience how good the film is, and that they might listen makes a huge difference on the actual film release.









http://www.blogmagazine.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/16/sex_cover.jpg

Sixth Sense: is an annual school magazine at Camden School for Girls (and Boys), that has been free in the past but is now £1. It attracts to only the sixth form and maybe teachers and parents. There is a few film reviews in the magazine, (2/3) that are quite small, only having a page each of quite big text. There is a confused layout, that seems quite simple to imply a non-professional editor, but I did enjoy the selection of photos and film posters, with their own chosen film rating, with lots of information and true facts.


Total Film: is a £3.99 monthly mag, it is created by a mainstream publisher which is a huge business, while put together by editor Aubrey Day and reviews are done by Matthew Heyland. There is a general film interest throughout the magazine where it shows interest to true enthusiasts and populist films, where they have a huge selection of different films from different genres. The reviews themselves are also in columns of lots of writing, with a strict colour scheme of red, black and white surrounds the large photos and screen shots, with poignant quotes and good attractive layouts. http://www.whosdatedwho.com/what/publicity_view.asp?RD=000284401m


To conclude: I feel that empire is the best magazine for reviewing my short film, not only is it very much out there and advertised to a huge audience, its layout, images and colour schemes grab my attention and inspires me in the way I would display my film review.

What is the language of editing? : Media Language editing.

  • Cut – straight cut : creates a full stop.
  • Fade : creates change of time or fade into the ending credits.
  • Wipe
  • Dissolve
  • Sound – music – sound effects – diegetic sound
  • Jump cut
  • Cut away
  • Slow motion

Editing

There is an old adage that films are edited, not made. Much important work is done in the edit suite. While a good editor may not always be able to salvage a bad film, a bad editor can certainly ruin what might otherwise

  • continuity - continuous action shown in sequence
  • montage - a series of seemingly unrelated shots that the audience must work to connect.

Hollywood movies tend to go for continuity editing, a style also known as transparency (ie you don't notice it). Actions flow smoothly from one frame to another, and the audience simply follow the dialogue. Oppositional to this, and the style employed by many art-house films is framed editing, where the audience are continually reminded that they are viewing an artificially created text. Jump cuts, sudden stoppages of sound,

When shots are placed next to each other in a sequence the link between them is known as a transition. The simplest of these is a cut, ie a straight splice from one section of film to another. There are many others - fades, dissolves, wipes, plus those offered by sophisticated digital software.

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

Poster Development

This is the setting for our film poster. We used Golders Green as the setting as it was just the right framing we had imagined and had been looking for. The use of the bench and sign behind it can create good indication of our film to do with commuting and 'day by day' routine of the "lovers". In this specific capture we also had the tube in the background which gave a great effect of being on a London tube platform. We also chose this setting as the platform was outside, so the light was good and there was plenty of space to get any angle we wanted for the poster.
This was the first shot to find positioning before we placed the actors into the frame.








Monday, 15 November 2010

Production Shots

1. 2. 3.
4. 5. 6.


1. This is the setting for our 'WORK PLACE', we placed our protagonists in the lift to connote a working environment. The lift is in our school, but we managed to ensure that nothing related to school was shown. We used shots within the lift too, such as over the shoulder shots and within the mirror shots.

2. This is coffee place shot, where the WOMAN and the MAN go to pick up their coffee in the morning. The rural setting is effective to connote the London setting of our short film.

3. This is another view of the coffee place.

4. This is me (Louise) putting up the tri-pod ready for shooting, I help with frame positioning, and some shots when I am not acting in the film, I have also taken all these production shots...

5. This is Deema holding the camera taking shots of the coffee place scene.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

Research and Planning: Mock Poster




Within my group; Deema and I put our poster prototype ideas together and came up with our mock poster, the images are still taken from the internet, but this is the basis of what our poster will look like when we have the real production images of the characters.






<--- this is the first poster that was deconstructed, the use of the tube station and platform is affective to connect to the use of the tube in our short film. Once showing it to our class and teacher at school we got lots of feedback. The use of the title being in the tube sign lets it stand out. The only problem that was brought up was the tag line 'life never waits' is seen almost like the title which could be confusing to an audience as to what the title may be.



The billing block was also found on the internet, the use of the layout and postioning portrays a real film poster along with the certificate of the film.














---> this is the second mock poster, this is the same image but we put the actual picture in black and white, with a sepia style sky, but kept the tube sign and title in colour to make it stand out on the page to ensure that it is the actual title and should not be mistaken with the tag line.








When showing it to Michael Leedham a 2D designer he commented that spacing was good and the image was exciting and attractive. He gave constructive critisim such as we needed a certification and our tagline should stand out more. Apart from we didn't want it to stand out too much as it could easily be confused with the title.
He said we should add a quote from a critic or magazine to fit more into the conventions of a real media model.











Monday, 8 November 2010

Research and Planning: Shooting Schedule and Call list


Shots

Date

/time

Day/

night

Location

EXT/

INT

Crew

Cast

Costume/props

11,12

29

28/10/10

10:30

Day

Louise's

House/ bedroom

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Bed, alarm clock, pyjamas

3,12

28/10/

10

Day

Louise's house/bathroom

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Towel, pyjamas

4,5,6, 21

28/10/10

Day

Louise's house/ hallway

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Work clothes/ warm coat, work bag

7,13,

14

28/10/10

Day

Louise's road

EXT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Work clothes/ warm coat, work bag

30,31

28/10/10

Day

Louise's house/ bedroom

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Summer dress, make up, mirror, work bag

32,2

28/10/10

Day

Louise's road

EXT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Summer dress, work bag

22,23

28/10/10

14:30

Day

Deema's house/ bedroom

INT

L.A

D.K

M.O

Work clothes, scarf, warm coat, umbrella, briefcase

15

28/10/10

Day

Deema's road

EXT

L.A

D.K

M.O

Summer clothes, briefcase

26

05/11/

10

Day

School

EXT

D.K

L.A

L.A

4 e

xtras

Work clothes,

27,28

05/11/

10

Day

School/ lift

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

M.O

Work clothes,

37,38

05/11/

10

Day

School/ lift

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

M.O

Summer clothes, white paper.

39,40

06/11/

10

Day

Cafe

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Purse, food, piece paper

25

06/11/10

Day

Coffee stall

EXT

D.K

L.A

M.O

D.K

Winter clothes, coffee cups

34,35

06/11/10

Day

Coffee stall

EXT

D.K

LA.

L.A

D.K

Coffee cups

41,42, 43

06/11/10

Day

Southbank

EXT

D.K

L.A

L.A

M.O

Wrist watch, summer clothes, piece of paper

1,24

12/11/10

Day

Tube platform

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A


8,9

12/11/10

Day

Tube carriage

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

Work clothes

16,17,

18,19

12/11/10

Day

Tube carriage

INT

D.K

L.A

L.A

M.O

Make up, book, briefcase, newspaper, work clothes

33

12/11/10

Day

Tube carriage

INT

D.K

L.A

M.O

L.A

Work clothes



D.K - Deema Khafaji - 07983498745

L.A – Louise Adams - 07866425375

M.O – Milo O'halloran - 07970420576

INT – internal

EXT – external

(these numbers are fake by the way, due to the access of the whole world via the internet)

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Permission continued.




To see all the info on the pictures, click view all images, then full screen photos, and you can read the info, an examples I have given.

Research and Planning: Permission




For our short film we are using shots of the tube, to do this we had to contact TFL and find permission. Once on TFL website, we went to the LU film office where Leon Goswell from Commercial Operations got back to us. We applied for a student/low-budget filming permit which is £35 and emailed Leon our schools public liability insurance that we recieved from our school Bursar; Nigel.


Research and Planning: Location shots

Click on link to see full shot list:
Short Film Shot List

Monday, 1 November 2010

Research and Planning: Shooting

Shooting, equipment, health & safety, script and story board.
The Equipment we are using to shoot our short film is a small HD camera with a tripod. We will only be using light that is in the locations and natural light, to make an effective real-life atmosphere, we also do not need to worry about microphones as there is no dialogue and the whole film is taken up by an over the top soundtrack, so no sound from the actual shooting is heard at all.
While out and about filming, we have to think about the organisation of the equipment, we have camera bags to protect the expensive camera from rain, or any other weather conditions that might damage it, but this is also to prevent the risk of theft as it will be on the person who is filming at all times.
A key aspect of filming is to ensure that our camera has battery and we are filming on the right format for future editing. The camera will be charged at regular intervals to ensure that we get continuity and dont miss out on anything if the camera were to run out of battery. This will be hardest when filming on the tube, do to lack of time and place to recharge, so we will have to ensure to do it quickly and afficiently.
Other equipment that is important is that of costume and props, this is also important to look after and not loose. In our short film we will be using lots of different costumes throughout to represent different times of the year and day, which will be on the actors all the time. Props consist of work bags, umbrellas, coats, scarfs, newspapers, books and coffee cups, which are normal things that will be used with care and safety and not affect the public around us.
For us, especially, we have a huge strain on us for pemission to film on the tube, we contacted the TFL and enquired about this. The rest of our short film is done in our own homes or on the street of london, where will we ensure all of the above health & safety regulations.
The script and story-board was layed out and constructed before to give us a clear idea of what we were shooting and to put together our story. The shooting schedule, shot list and call sheet are equally important to ensure that we keep to our time managment and get the film done quickly and on-point. We have constructed all these. (see below)

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Friday, 8 October 2010

Research and planning : online survey




This is our survey to find our assumed target audience, it asks questions about the people and about the films they watch. This will help us find a way to attract as many people as we can to our short film, through advertising in the right places.

Monday, 4 October 2010

Research and Planning: Full deconstruction of one film poster






















Research and Planning: Script (part 1 - opening sequence)




1. INT. Tube Station
woman on one side of station, holding her work bag and wearing work clothes looking straight ahead. There is then diegetic sound of a tube coming into the station, there is then a tube passing, and a wipe into the next frame.
2. EXT. Woman's house
starting at the door there is a zoom up to reveal this quite nice house to connote her hard working life and concentrates on one window as it zooms.
3. INT. Woman's house
over the shoulder shot of woman in the mirror (recording the mirror) the woman is putting on minimal make-up with no effort.
cut then to the woman standing up pulling a dress over her head.
cut to close-up shot of woman grabbing her work bag.
cut to long shot of woman leaving her front door and shutting it behind her.
4. EXT. Woman's house
walking down the street.

5. INT. tube
cut to close up of womans face on the tube, catatonic and looking unhappy.
zoom in on her eyes.

6. The credits, the title 'Day by Day' in big bold white writing on a black background, by Louise Adams and Deema Khafaji

- It is a work in progress but this is initially our opening sequence. this is a complete draft as we have not learnt the ways of writing a script, but just a first basis of our idea and genre.




Friday, 24 September 2010

What is a short film?







- A short film is defined as a motion picture that is not more than 40 minutes in running time (including all credits).

- My short film is only going to be 5 minutes.

- There have been many short films, by famous directors such as... Paul Thomas Anderson, David Cronenberg, Sam Raimi and Spike Lee.

- Short films are seen most commonly at Short film festivals such as Festival du Cinema de Paris 23rd Mar del Plata International Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival.

- Some examples of short films are Wasp by Andrea Arnold, Day and Night by Pixar and Snow on Saturday by Serena Gordon.