Research:Film Classification - Planned Certifcate of my film

The certificate of my film I decided will be a 15 certificate. The reasons for me deciding to choose this certificate are because of the audience of my type of film and other films similar to genre. I found that with films similar to mine that I’ve studied (Skyfall etc.) to have a reasonably high audience of teenagers and in particular people aged 15+ in these sorts of films, so it would therefore make it suitable and appropriate to make my film a 15. In terms of appropriateness, I feel that my film would fit in with the 15 certificate because it would contain violence/language of a reasonable level but not too extreme of what would expected of an 18, this is why my film would be a 15 certificate.

Planning:Practise Titles

As research for our film, we looked at a number of different style fonts, in the hope to give us inspiration for our own. After looking through hundreds of different types of typography, we came to the conclusion we wanted to narrow our searches to a more simplistic, classy but not unnoticeable type of font. We decided with our film having elements of the crime, action, thriller genre, it would be best to gage both information and inspiration from titles of these genres. Here are just a few examples of titles we have looked at.

This title looked good, but we are going to use a dark background, so black font colour won’t be seen well with it:

 

 



Alternatively, we can use a white font colour in order to make our title stand out more(Our Favourite):

 

 

The following title, I thought is more of the type of audience that this font intends is people who are interested in drawing by hand. I think this because the letters itself look like someone has drawn them. The font is easy to read and again it is bold and clear. This font would suit a website/leaflet/poster etc aimed at children. Although it was generally a good title, we unfortunatley dismissed it:

 

 

This title made the movie seem like it was a horror film. Our film genre is an action thriller and we dismissed this title:

Planning:Online Tutorials and comments

Photoshop
Click here to see the website I learned how to use photoshop.



I found this website very useful as I am a beginner and it explained everything very well and in detail to me. It showed me the complete production and workflow practices in producing internet delivered video graphics. It showed me how to get out the most out of Adobe Photoshop which saved me time as I had to learn those skills.

Photoshop is a computer program that lets me retouch, reshape, and completey change, distort, or combine pictures that I have used in the opening two minutes. Sort of like Microsoft Paint on steroids.

Planning:Consideration of Representation in film(Stereotyping)

Representation is the process by which the media presents the ‘real world’ to an audience.
 
Stereotypes are a form of representation in which groups of people are characterized by attributing to them qualities that some individuals possess, and which later become associated with the whole group.

For example, Punks are forever associated with safety pins in their clothes and bodies, and Mohican haircuts. This is the stereotype of a punk although there will be many punks who do not look like this.

In our film, we have guards with dark skin colour(Zubin Parekh and Muhammed Rahman). One of the more common stereotype examples is stereotypes surrounding those who are Black. Saying that all Blacks are good at sports is a stereotype, because it’s grouping the race together to indicate that everyone of that race is a good athlete.

Black People
After doing my research, I have found out that the following list is how black people are stereo typed:
Lazy
Thieves
Illiterate
Smoke

Fried chicken lovers
Drug users
Hate white people
Untrustworthy
Ghetto
Loud
Rude
Slang
Athletic
Always expecting something for nothing
Welfare Recipients
Deprived
Dangerous
Deviant
Disturbed
 

Disabled people

1. Inspirations - Indomitable disabled person, aka "Super Cripple" overcomes every challenge, "doesn't think of self as disabled" never asks for help, declines accommodation of any kind, climbs Mt. Everest in a wheelchair with cheery smile.

2. Deviant, Sinister and Evil - naturally crooked, operate outside normal rules of nature and society must be contained controlled or destroyed.

3. Victims - vulnerable, weak, tragic object of violence and abuse.

4. Exotic Freaks - generate feelings of horror, aversion, fear of difference, embarrassment.

5. Clowns - comic relief, laughable appearance, funny voices, the butt of jokes, dumb and dumber, court jesters, fool.

6. Pitiful and Sweet - pathetic, innocent, grateful for crumbs, sometimes speak gentle words of extraordinary wisdom (especially if intellectually impaired) need to be looked after, in film and fiction often finds miracle cur.

7. Twisted and Bitter- chip on shoulder, whining, acrimonious, angry and difficult, taking out inner hurt and rage on the world, okay to ignore their concerns, pointless trying communicate with them.

8. Burden and Outcast - costly, non-contributing burdens on society, can’t and don’t "fit in" anywhere except amongst others of same kind - should be segregated, institutionalized, provided with the bare minimum or euthanized (better off dead anyway), preferably prevented from reproducing.

9. Non sexual - can never be in a relationship.

10. Incapable of full participation in everyday life - nothing to do with how society is built or organized, just can’t learn, earn, play, socialize, shop, travel, go to a nightclub or use the phone.

Stereotyping is not only hurtful, it is also wrong. Even if the stereotype is correct in some cases, constantly putting someone down based on your preconceived perceptions will not encourage them to succeed.

Stereotyping can lead to bullying form a young age. Jocks and Preps pick on the Nerds and the Geeks; Skaters pick on the Goths, so on and so forth. Stereotyping is encouraging bullying behaviour that children carry into adulthood.

Stereotyping can also lead people to live lives driven by hate, and can cause the victims of those stereotypes to be driven by fear. For example, many gays and lesbians are afraid to admit their sexuality in fear of being judged. It is a lose-lose situation, both for those who are doing the stereotype and those who are victims.

Planning:Cast

The main cast of 'Swan Song' was officially announced at a press conference held at the Savoy Hotel in London on 9 December 2013. Daniel Malamud was announced as the main actor in the film, Ross Grove, saying he felt lucky to have a chance to act in such a big Hollywood film. As the film's principal villain Aran Alisiroglu was cast, playing a cyber-terrorist who is seeking revenge against those he holds responsible for betraying him. Alisiroglu described Baker as "more than a villain", while Malamud stated that Grove has a "very important relationship" to Baker.
Starring:

• Daniel Malamud as Ross Grove. I have been chosen to act as one of the main actors in this film, although I don't have much experience in acting, I have taken the risk in directing and acting in this film. Giving me a massive amount of work to do. I believe this will be a good challenge for me. As I am willing to put a lot of hard work into this project.

• Aran Alisiroglu as James Baker- Aran has acted in 'The Pursuer' previously to our 'Swan Song'. He is also currently involved with the new coming film 'Rise to the Top(RTTT)'. Aran has accepted a vital role in this film acting as the main antagonist, knowing this film will be a major hit and also suit this role as an actor, keeping his reputation up as an actor.

• Zubin Parekh as Tré, Guard 1 - Zubin knows his art form, and he knows his drama. We are so lucky to have Zubin acting in our film, however small his role might be. He will be working as a guard. We chose Zubin for this part as he is better at the physical side of drama then the vocal part. He was the most physically able of all the actors who came to play the part, and seeming as the guard needs to be that. 

• Richard Young as Voice of Narrator/Guard 2 - previously starred in the Sins of the Martyr, Richard has accepted a small role in this film. Acting as on of the guards. Richard has recently starred in the Osiris Unbound, and has a very busy acting career ahead of him due to the reputation he has build in the films he has acted in.

o   Muhammed Rahman as Humza Alfieri, Guard number 3 - directing ‘Empty Barrel’ and ‘Rise to the top’. Although having minor roles in both films, Muhammed, will have a minor role in 'Swan Song'.

Planning:Documenting Influences on Production

I picked up a video camera and really fell in love with making videos let alone films, which was the first real step into the film business. Prior to that I was absolutely in love with movies from a young age, I never thought about it as a career but when I picked up a camera I thought "is it possible" and I just started experimenting from there. Here are some things that have influenced me to make the film I have made:

Director - Steven Spielberg
Undoubtedly one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. Spielberg has countless big-grossing, critically acclaimed credits to his name, as producer, director and writer.
He sets himself to be a good role model, as we aim to make our film as good as his.

Location – Therfield School

Using this location was convenient for us to use as my associate and me came up with the script, we would struggle to film it anywhere else. The school is a big location, we can get many types of shots in, and we used it to say that one of our main actors is back to education so it’s the college he attends.

Films

Skyfall, involves a lot of action, me, as the director of ‘Swan Song' believed that the newest James Bond film (Skyfall) is marvellous and we should follow the steps of it, if not, surpass it. There are a few other films such as The Bourne Ultimatum, and Casino Royale (another James Bond film) which include tremendous fight scenes, chases and more, these films inspired us and influenced us to direct an action film, the almighty ‘Swan Song'.

We have a broad range of films we're working on. We like to do a film, if you take for example ‘Swan Song' that is a film with a very specific demographic. We really wanted to make a film that pleased that younger adult mass and I am sure I will score incredibly high with that audience.

Research:Audience and Profiling

Below is a description of the typical person who represents the marketability of the film. His hobbies, interests and pursuits are all linked in some way to the genre I have chosen: thriller, crime and action.

·        BBFC rating of 15.

·        15 to 50 year olds.

·        Mainly males, maybe some females.

·        Old teens and young adults.

·        Action lovers and action film enthusiasts.

TARGET AUDIENCE PROFILE

This is Smith. He is 18 and is currently studying A levels in Psychology, Law, Media and Maths. On the completion of his A levels, Smith hopes to go on to University and study Law and one day hopes to be a barrister. He has an interest in Law and crime. This is also due to the fact that his Dad is a security guard at a prison who deals with criminal and thieves daily.

Smith is very active and enjoys sport. His hobbies include going to the gym, swimming and playing football with peers who are the same age as him. Smith also enjoys going to parties as he likes to spend time with his peers and likes to socialise. He also enjoys spending time with his family and friends by watching movies together at the cinema. He frequently watches films at the cinema with his peers and has a particular interest in the action and thriller genre. This is due to influences such as his family's occupation and his particular interest and studies.

Smith enjoys spending time with his family and is interested in the stories that his father relates about work as a prison officer. As Smith and his father are both interested in crime, they regularly watch crime shows together. They also have an interest in TV drama and the crime genre and therefore like to work out who the criminal is without many clues before it is revealed to them.

Smith is intellectual and is getting high grades in his current subjects that he is studying. He also likes to know what current world events are happening, economically, politically and socially.

As a student who doesn't have a lot of money and doesn't currently have an occupational job, Smith would fit into the DE social class category. Above is a table from the BFI statistical yearbook 2012 and shows the films with an above average DE audience share. From this, there are not many clues as to what sort of film would appeal to the DE social class.

From the table above, however, it is clear that there is a market for the crime, thriller genre and it would appeal to the age group of 15-24 so this would also appeal to the typical person in the marketability of my film. As the Inbetweeners movie is at the top of the table with 67% of the audience being in the age of 15-24 shows that the marketability for this film is interested in the idea of partying. Also, it could suggest that this age group would also be interested in films such as the Inbetweeners movie because they might be able to relate to the characters more so than in other films, therefore increasing the interest in the film.

From this information, I can incorporate certain and ideas and themes that are popular in the films listed above into my own film. For example, I think the idea of a house party at the start of my movie in the opening sequence will really appeal to my target audience (15-24) as this age group is interested in films such as the inbetweeners movie which has this theme of partying and having a good time throughout. Also, I can use the idea of the main characters being in the region of 15-24 years old as this would help the target audience to relate to the characters and the film more and are therefore more likely to watch the film.

In the target audience profile of Smith, the typical person who is likely to watch the film also enjoys socialising and going to parties themselves so are also more likely to be interested in watching a film that incorporates these themes.

Why is the audience important to us?

It’s important to get an idea of what my potential audience would like to see and what they do with their time, so I can advertise in the right places and not somewhere that they wouldn't see - like the newspaper. 16-24 year olds are the most common users of social networking sites, so it’s obvious that I would try to advertise my films on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Another clever marketing strategy I would be likely to use would be advertising on buses and billboards because it will emphasise on my film being an urban theme. Also a lot of college students and university students are likely to catch buses and be walking around cities and towns - with my film on display for all to see.

The best marketing strategy, arguably would be word of mouth as its quick but effective - as you tend to trust your friends and family as they have actually seen the films to judge whether it was good or not.