Task 7: Role Allocation

A writer writes the screenplay of a film, creating the plot of the film and writing the character's dialogue. Screenwriters have a highly competitive job and it is usually a difficult profession to get into. Writers create scripts that are pitched to producers at film studios who decide whether it would be profitable to produce the film.

The composer is responsible for writing the music scores for the production. This could include non-diegetic music and the theme song of the film.

A camera-person operates the camera as instructed by the director. They capture footage of the actors using the camera angles and shots specified by the director. Camera-persons are also often responsible for constructing and deconstructing the cameras at the start and at the end of filming. They have the responsibility of ensuring the camera remains in focus and is capturing the action in the way required.

The role of the head of casting is to select actors to play the characters in the film. They would audition several potential actors for each role, asking them to act out an extract from a script or to do a screen test so they can see their suitability for playing that role.

The producer is an individual (although there are often multiple producers) responsible for the completion and quality of the project. Producers are often in charge of controlling the film's budget and are involved in all aspects of the film's production.

Film directors direct the actors to perform in a certain way and their creative vision shapes the entire film. Directors are usually under the control of the producers, despite their power and important role in the making of the film. Directors decide on the pace of the film, the locations, the camera shots, the lighting used and how the music and sound coincides with the footage.

Task 6: Storyboard

Task 4: The Pitch: Film Synopsis

The film is centered around a female young adult who was inspired by the Greek Goddess Persephone. The female protagonist is shown to be interested in plants as she creates a scrapbook filled with pressed flowers, drawings of plants and carefully copied extracts from biology and gardening books. The opening sequence consists of a flashback following the antagonist as she walks by a church. The voice over is from the present and indicates that the night of the flashback being shown was the setting for a murder. The antagonist is being interviewed in the voice over and denies charges of murder, quoting the bible and constantly mentioning secrecy.  The rest of the film will follow the trial of the antagonist, exploring secrets, searching for the truth and the real events of that night.

The film is entitled "Sub Rosa" which is an adjective for something that is happening or done in secret. This is central to the plot of the film as the antagonist is obsessed with secrecy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_rosa

Task 3: Target Audience: Analysis of BFI Data- Genre and Classification

Thrillers have the greater number of releases at 64 compared to horror's total of 37 releases in 2013. One would assume that the greater number of releases would mean that thrillers are the more profitable genre of the two, but this isn't the case, as horror had a gross box office of 57.5 million which is almost twice the gross profit of thriller in the same year (29.1 million). Therefore, I can determine that horror is the more profitable genre, despite the apparent popularity of thrillers. animation was the most profitable genre of that year which is due to it being aimed at a much wider and diverse audience than horror.

The information in table 4.2 compares the average number of sites at widest point of release, meaning the average number of cinemas showing films of that genre in 2013. The genre with the greatest average number of sites at the widest point of release is sci-fi with 422 sites. However, with genres like sci-fi and westerns they had fewer releases that year which were heavily promoted like "Django Unchained" and "The Lone Ranger". The number of cinemas showing films belonging to the horror genre is greater than thriller by 56 sites, suggesting that horror films are in greater demand than thriller films.

Table 4.3 shows the box office revenues for each genre per site which gives a better indication of the genres performance in the market. the most profitable genre in 2014 per site was adventure with an average box office per site of £28,816. horror films were on average more profitable per site with£10,708 compared to thrillers average box office per site of £5,127. This suggests that horror is the most consistently profitable genre of the two, since despite a greater number of thrillers being released that same year and both genres having similar number of total sites where they were shown, films belonging to the horror genre produced on average double the box office of thrillers.
Table 4.4 shows the number of releases in each genre, comparing the percentage of releases and of total box office that belongs to each genre in the year of 2013. Action was the genre taking the greatest percentage of gross box office with 25%, despite the fairly small number of nine releases. Despite there being ten more releases in the thriller genre than the horror genre, horror produced 5.8% of the total box office that year, compared to thriller's 1.6%. This yet again suggests that despite the greater number of thriller films produced, horror is the most profitable genre of the two.

Figure 4.1 shows that UK films belonging to the horror genre produced a greater proportion of box office than UK films belonging to the thriller genre. However, the proportion of box office for UK independent thriller films was far greater than that of UK independent horror films, suggesting that although horror films generated the greatest proportion of box office of the two genres, films belonging to the thriller genre were overall more successful for All, UK and UK independent films than the horror genre, suggesting that thriller is the more reliable yet less profitable genre of the two.
Figure 4.2 shows that the proportion of releases for the thriller genre were around twice the amount of releases in the horror genre in 2013. When comparing to figure 4.1, this suggests that the proportion of box office gained by horror films is proportional to the number of releases in the horror genre, compared to the contrast in the proportion of releases and the proportion of box office in the thriller genre. Again, this information concludes that horror is the more profitable genre between horror and thriller, because of its relative success in all and UK films, despite the significantly lower number of releases in that year.

Response to Feedback

Completed:

• Video of preliminary task is embedded.
• Preliminary task evaluation has been written.
• A textual analysis of blue velvet has been written.
• The video of the opening sequence blue velvet has been embedded along with screen grabs.
• A textual analysis of SE7EN has been written
• The video of SE7EN's title sequence has been embedded along with screen grabs.
• Genre theory of Film Noir has been typed up.
• Stereotypical representations in thrillers/ horrors has been typed up.
• Analysis/ similarities and differences between hollywood studio logos has been completed.

To Be Completed:

• Images need to be embedded to the stereotypical representations in thrillers/ horrors- Will be completed by 31/12/15.
• Analysis of BFI data on genre and audience with images of the tables and data- Will be completed by 31/12/15.
• Scripting, drafting and storyboard planning evidence- Will be completed by 31/12/15.

Task 2.2: Research Into Existing Products: Order of Opening Titles

According to codes and conventions, the correct order of titles (as demonstrated by the opening credits of Skyfall embedded above) is as follows:

1. Studio Logo
2. Studio/Producer Presents
3. Starring (Main Actor) and (Main Actor)
4. Title of Film
5. Cameraperson
6. Editor
7. Composer/Music by
8. Screenwriter
9. Producer
10. Director

It is important that I follow the conventional order of titles in my film's opening sequence.

Task 2.2: Research Into Existing Products: Studio Logos

When looking at famous film studio logos as inspiration for my own design, it became apparent that many Studio logos use a simple colour scheme of three main colours and either use iconic symbols or landmarks in their logo to make it memorable. 

Animals are a common feature in studio logos like MGM's which features a lion:

Another common theme I discovered was the use of mythology and mythical creatures in film studio logos such as Tristar's use of Pegasus and Hollywood Pictures's use of a Sphinx:

 

My initial design for a studio logo:

The common theme of mythology inspired me to name the studio "Artemis Studios" after the Greek goddess of the hunt, virginity, childbirth and the wilderness/ wild animals. this meant that I could also include the common theme of animals since Artemis's sacred animal was said to be a deer. The stars in the background add to the imagery of divine beings and could later be animated. The simple, dark colour scheme prevents the logo from seeming too complex and ensures it fits the codes and conventions of studio logos. 

My updated design for a studio logo:

In order to have an animated studio logo, I updated my ideas, keeping the name, colour theme and idea for an image of the a stag. The animation element in my studio logo involves the effect of white stars in the background fading. Initially, the logo appears to show a stag stood in front of some bright, white lights- reminiscent of an animal caught in the headlights. This bright light gradually fades to stars in the background. I used stop-motion animation in order to animate my studio logo. This involved making several versions of the logo with the star effect at different levels of intensity.