Saturday 23 October 2010
Friday 22 October 2010
Audience Research
Audience Demographic/ Target Audience
Almost every media production that is made relies on audience research prior to production and during production.
Fatal attraction famously changed its ending following a test run with a pilot.
http://fanedit.org/8486/
Snakes on a plane famously involved their target audience by allowing them to make decisions about music, dialogue, etc.
http://boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/08/13/camptastic/
We need to understand our target audience and plan to create something that appeals to them. Therefore we must conduct audience research so we have
We could do this in the form of video vox-pops, audio vox-pops, we could set up online questionnaires or surveys.
Who is our target audience? we need to create a detailed profile (age, gender, interests, tastes, region, career, etc).
Once we've don't this we need to look at them in more detail. Like there:
* Film viewing habits
* What genres they prefer and why?
* What films they saw most recently/ their favorite films
* Whether they watch short films (if they don't, why don't they?) remind them about virals which can often be short films, DVD extras, youtube films, animations, etc.
* Where they watch them (if they do watch them)
* Show them examples of short films and posters and ask them to say what they like and dislike about them.
* Can they tell you about any posters that stood out to them
* What radio stations do they listen to- or film magazines do they read.
Almost every media production that is made relies on audience research prior to production and during production.
Fatal attraction famously changed its ending following a test run with a pilot.
http://fanedit.org/8486/
Snakes on a plane famously involved their target audience by allowing them to make decisions about music, dialogue, etc.
http://boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/08/13/camptastic/
We need to understand our target audience and plan to create something that appeals to them. Therefore we must conduct audience research so we have
We could do this in the form of video vox-pops, audio vox-pops, we could set up online questionnaires or surveys.
Who is our target audience? we need to create a detailed profile (age, gender, interests, tastes, region, career, etc).
Once we've don't this we need to look at them in more detail. Like there:
* Film viewing habits
* What genres they prefer and why?
* What films they saw most recently/ their favorite films
* Whether they watch short films (if they don't, why don't they?) remind them about virals which can often be short films, DVD extras, youtube films, animations, etc.
* Where they watch them (if they do watch them)
* Show them examples of short films and posters and ask them to say what they like and dislike about them.
* Can they tell you about any posters that stood out to them
* What radio stations do they listen to- or film magazines do they read.
Tuesday 19 October 2010
What Makes a Good Short Film
Have an original idea
It is hard to be original when making short films as there are so many on the market. The best way to come up with a new and exciting idea is to watch as many shorts as possible and try to avoid any cliches. The subject matter of the film could be created from personal experience, people you meet or stories you read in magazines and newspapers.
Have a strong Script...
A good script for a short film can be more difficult to produce as you have to condense the narrative into a smaller space of time. Testing your script out on friends and strangers will give you feedback and let you know how well the script works.
...But do not use too much dialogue
Short films do not have a lot of time for a large amount of dialogue so the visual ideas have to inform the audience of what is going on.
Good Acting
Bad acting can make a film unsuccessful and cheesy. The best way to find decent actors for a short film is to advertise your synopsis and see if any budding actors or actresses are interested. There are many actors out there waiting for their big break, therefore need experience at may films as possible, and a short film is the perfect way to showcase their talents. Ensuring you get a good cast is crucial to the outcome of your short film
Everything you include must have a purpose
Short films are called short films because they have a limited amount of time in which to get across a story. Therefore they do not have time to include meaningless scenes and pointless concepts. Everything must have a meaning within the narrative and get straight to the point for a short film to work.
It is hard to be original when making short films as there are so many on the market. The best way to come up with a new and exciting idea is to watch as many shorts as possible and try to avoid any cliches. The subject matter of the film could be created from personal experience, people you meet or stories you read in magazines and newspapers.
Have a strong Script...
A good script for a short film can be more difficult to produce as you have to condense the narrative into a smaller space of time. Testing your script out on friends and strangers will give you feedback and let you know how well the script works.
...But do not use too much dialogue
Short films do not have a lot of time for a large amount of dialogue so the visual ideas have to inform the audience of what is going on.
Good Acting
Bad acting can make a film unsuccessful and cheesy. The best way to find decent actors for a short film is to advertise your synopsis and see if any budding actors or actresses are interested. There are many actors out there waiting for their big break, therefore need experience at may films as possible, and a short film is the perfect way to showcase their talents. Ensuring you get a good cast is crucial to the outcome of your short film
Everything you include must have a purpose
Short films are called short films because they have a limited amount of time in which to get across a story. Therefore they do not have time to include meaningless scenes and pointless concepts. Everything must have a meaning within the narrative and get straight to the point for a short film to work.
Monday 18 October 2010
Lighting
Back Light- is used to provide seperation from your subject and the background.
Key Light- primary source of light. It provides a base light for your subject.
Fill Light- provides some fill in to the shadow are of your suject to balence out the contrast created by the key light.
High key lighting- light sources from all directions, bright, clear subject
Low key lighting- Fewer light sources, less area lit up, creates shadows
Ambient lighting- Gentle, lights part of the set, calm and warming.
Hard light- Light source directly on subject, strong, bold images also shadows, good for shooting villains.
Filters- Filters fitted to the lens (or edited in editing process) alteration to colour.
Just back light- Silhouette or aura
Key Light- primary source of light. It provides a base light for your subject.
Fill Light- provides some fill in to the shadow are of your suject to balence out the contrast created by the key light.
High key lighting- light sources from all directions, bright, clear subject
Low key lighting- Fewer light sources, less area lit up, creates shadows
Ambient lighting- Gentle, lights part of the set, calm and warming.
Hard light- Light source directly on subject, strong, bold images also shadows, good for shooting villains.
Filters- Filters fitted to the lens (or edited in editing process) alteration to colour.
Just back light- Silhouette or aura
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Lighting Safety
Using the redheads:
- Extreamly fragile- when transporting use the bag and padding. Do not knock them, 2 people should carry them.
- HOT! Take extreame care when handling the lights, they get very hot.
- Do not cover them with anything.
- Do not look directly into the lights.
- Switch off when not in use
- The bulbs are very expensive and break very easily. Extreame care should be taken.
- Tape down the cables.
Friday 8 October 2010
Media audiences
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Media audiences
View more presentations from emma25f.
Thursday 7 October 2010
I'm Here, by Spike Jones
In this 30 minute short film a lot of emotion is shown. The film is moving and reaches out to a wide audience of lovers.
The way Spike Jones uses robots in a human world is clever, it shows contrast in society and could relate to problems we have these days with prejudice and discrimination of people who are different. I instantly felt sympathy for the male robot in the start of the film, the sense of loneliness was shown in his face, even though it was just a box, and the colours reflected his mood.
When he met the female robot, at first I thought it was all going to be happy, but soon realised the female was reckless and selfish. This film shows that people will sacrifice everything for someone they love. I was very moved by this film and it made me realise how when people have nothing they will give everything just to have someone to love.
Character Profiles
Good
Name: Sally Jones
Hometown- Canada
Age- 17
Background detail- She is a student, with a close group of friends. She is a sporty, outgoing girl who is not scared easily. When she was younger she lives in Washington, where she had dreams of a rapist from 1864. This links to the evil character in the horror film.
Bad
Name- Mr D
Age- 200+
Background information- In 1864 he was killed for raping a 17 year old girl, he has followed the great great grandaughter of the girl for years and this is how he ends up trying to hurt Sally.
Special powers- Can cripple people with the glare of his eyes.
Name: Sally Jones
Hometown- Canada
Age- 17
Background detail- She is a student, with a close group of friends. She is a sporty, outgoing girl who is not scared easily. When she was younger she lives in Washington, where she had dreams of a rapist from 1864. This links to the evil character in the horror film.
Bad
Name- Mr D
Age- 200+
Background information- In 1864 he was killed for raping a 17 year old girl, he has followed the great great grandaughter of the girl for years and this is how he ends up trying to hurt Sally.
Special powers- Can cripple people with the glare of his eyes.
These characters are binary opposites as they are good and evil.
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