Fantasy Film Making Pt.2

Synergy

Product Placement:

1. Kellogg's 'Coco Pops' - Young audiences will be appealed to this breakfast cereal.
2. Coco-Cola - Fizzy drinks attract the target audience.
3. Vauxhall 'Zafira' - A Family car for a Family Film.
4. Hamley's - Huge toy store will attracts children

Music Synergy:

1. Justin Timberlake - Tennman Records - Attracts a family audience.

Commercial Synergy:

1. Vauxhall Zafira - Family car advert using the characters from the film.

Money from Synergy: £3 Million

Budget Review

Gained from Synergy: £3,000,000

Production Budget: £10,000,000

Money remaining from stage 1: £9,098,000

Current Budget: £22,098,000

Crew

Director: Shawn Levy - £2.5 Million.

He has created films in the same family genre, e.g. Night At the Museum.

He's not a world class director, only beginning his career in making successful movies so he isn't very experiences either.

Production Team: Professional British - £500,000.

Professionals and are british like the movie.

Not as much experience in production as hollywood production teams like ones that work on Disney movies.

Editor: Pro Hollywood - £2 Million.

Well established hollywood editing.

Film production will not be totally british.

Special Effects: Pro Hollywood - £2 Million.

Increases verisimilitude and kids will enjoy it more.

Too much special effects may ruin the film.

Total Cost for Crew - £7 Million.

Technology

HDR - FX1:

Quantity - 5

£10,000

HD, Good maneuverability

Sony DV Tapes (63 Mins):

Quantity - 200

£1400

A lot of tape in HD.

Computers:

8-Core

Quantity - 2

Cost - £5000

HD Monitors

Quantity - 2

Cost - £2300

Macbook Pro

Quantity - 2

Cost - £2300

Editing Software:

Final Cut Pro

Quantity - 4

Cost: £3200

Special Effects:

VisionLab Studio

Quantity - 4

Cost: £900

Budget Review

Budget: £22,098,000

Total Cost Crew: £7,000,000

Total Cost Equipment: £25,100

Remaining Budget: £15,072,900

Analysis of Gender in 'Cold Feet'

This is an analysis of Gender in 'Cold Feet'. It is based on a four minute clip from the TV drama. From this clip i can familiarise myself with some of the stereotypes of gender.
At the beginning of the clip there are two characters, a male in a suit that seems to be reading something, maybe a newspaper, and a woman who is by the kitchen and in casual clothing. The actors/actresses are part of the mise-en-scene of the TV drama. The male and female characters are represented to be married due to the house that they seem to live together in and the relationship with each other that they have. The male character is represented to have just come back from work and sitting at the table waiting for dinner, this is done by the suit that he is wearing and the fact that he's sitting by the table. This would connote that the male character is the provider of the family, due to the business like attire. Whilst the female characters positioning in the set (at the kitchen) would represent her to be the housewife. This common stereotype of married couples is negative, as in this day and age it is not likely for the male of the relationship to be working and the female to be in the kitchen cooking dinner. This is not a very accurate view of couples and gender in the time that we live in, but it can be accurate in the past.
The low key lighting during this scene may represent the time of day, or maybe even the fact that the relationship between the two characters is argumentative.
The next scene is based in a supermarket, where a female character is shopping whilst the male character is being silly and questioning everything she buys. This is representative of how a female is stereotypically viewed, as a woman who shops for the family, being the middle and back-bone of it, the one that takes care of the children and knows what to buy because she's the one cooking. This is partially an accurate view of a female depending on the point of view taken, mothers are usually the ones to go shopping as they are the main person that cooks for the family, just like my mother, so i would call this a polysemic stereotype. Again in this scene the male character is wearing a suit which conveys the possibility of him coming back from work, which leads to the stereotype of the male characters being the providers of the family. The two characters are having a discussion about what baby product to buy, as one is 30 pounds more expensive than the other. The male character is more concerned with the price, whereas the female character is thinking what is better for the baby. This represents how the male and female characters would think in terms of money, and how the female would take the more responsible approach and buy the more expensive item as it is better quality. This also enforces the common stereotype that mothers want what's best for their child, which can be seen as a positive representation of a female character.
The last scene of the clip is done in low-key lighting with the use of neon lighting as part of the set, with red gels. The red gels can be connected with the two female characters as red is commonly representative as the colour of love, which is then intertwined with the female characters, which could possibly connote that females are usually more emotional than males, therefore the use of red. This stereotype of females being more emotional can be seen as sexist and therefore is negative and inaccurate of females.

Both genders are represented in this clip of 'Cold Feet', through the use of Mise-en-scene. Most of the representations in this clip have been inaccurate and old fashioned, for example a common housewife figure.

Compare and Contrast '24 Hour Party People's production to that of a hollywood film

'24 Hour party people' is a british film made by Film Four, which is an independent film production company. This means that in contrast to a hollywood film, my hypothesis would expect this to contain less use of synergy and cross media convergence than a hollywood film would. I believe that this film and a hollywood film would both use as much New media technology as possible.

'24 Hour party people' have used one main type of synergy during film production. This type of synergy would be the use of music, which relates to real music groups from the real world. This is considered as synergy as it promotes and advertises the music soundtracks to the target audience of the movie which is usually also the kind of audience which the record company target with their artists. An example of this synergy in '24 Hour party people' would be the track from the 'Happy Mondays' in the opening credits of the film. In contrast to a hollywood production companies film which would use a lot of different types of synergy, e.g. In 'Transformers' the 'Apple' logo is seen on a macbook, during the film, which is noticed to be right in the center of the frame to emphasis the product, yet subtly advertise the product to the target audience. A Hollywood film would be more eligible for synergy as it is targeting a more mainstream audience in contrast to an independent movies niche audience, therefore it will gain more views making it more likely to be successful. Most of the time a company want request to have their product placed in a film, it is more likely to go into a film which is for a wider audience whilst keeping it on the products target consumers, therefore it is a lot more likely to see any type of synergy more often in a Hollywood movie than in an independent.

Film Four production company can make good use of Cross media convergence. This is because they are all part of the Channel4 Parent company, this means that during the release of this movie, it could be advertised via many different ways, for example, it could be advertised on Channel 4, Film4, e4 and More4. This can become advantageous toward the company as it can save money for the production company so that they can use the budget towards something else. This also means after the release of this movie it can be broadcasted on these channels without it costing the company for it. Hollywood Companies also do this with their media texts, but instead of doing it like this, they do it on a larger scale as hollywood companies are seen as more successful in terms of profitability. An example of this would be Vivendi Universal, which is the parent company of Universal Studios. It also owns many other companies, including record labels like BMG and Universal Music Group. As Universal Studios are part of a huge 'Media Conglomerate' they have easy access to many different formats of media to advertise and market their films with the advantage that it will not cost them and it will increase awareness and appeal to the film by a massive amount. This enables Hollywood productions companies more than Independent production companies to advertise and also create a bigger appeal of their film by creating usually biased reviews of a movie because the review company (newspapers, review sites etc) is owned by the media conglomerate.

Hollywood films tend to have a lot more of a variety of editing, cinematography and special effects mainly due to the difference in budget between the companies therefore hollywood films are seen to be more impressive in terms of production quality. An example of this would be a movie like 2012, which had a budget of $260 Million, therefore they are allowed to perfect production quality in the factors of special effects, cinematography and editing. This also allows a hollywood company to increase verisimilitude throughout their movies meaning they can make any type of movie which would contain content that is not possible in the real world, but seems so believable in the fantasy world of the movie. This has all came from New media technology, which has allowed creating a film to be a lot more easier, cheaper and impressive. In '24 hour party people' new media technology has allowed editing software to be made which will make it a lot easier for an editor of a movie such as this to add content like soundtracks onto a scene without having to use a moviola etc. Digital Video was used to record the movie which shows how New media technology has affected independent film companies as it costs a lot less money to film therefore money isn't lost using film reels etc. Special effects are also used in '24 hour party people' when a spaceship was in the movie, which was made by CGI technology to increase the look of it being real. Hollywood companies will vert frequently spend more money on their use of new media technology as it is easier, cheaper and works better.

New media technology has obviously effected production companies, an independent film production company is more likely to use this new media technology as it can save them costs hugely which means they can spend more money on their film. Hollywood production companies have also been effected by this, they now use the best of the best software and hardware to create their films to ensure that their audience can view to allow them to want to continue watching their movies because they produce the best viewing quality films.
The new technology has also effected audience, it has made them excited about the increasing use of CGI technology in films and i believe that in the near future film audience will constantly expect too much new technology and they will ruin the conventional way in which movies can be made, which is why some directors like Steven Spielberg do not make films the new way but the old way to conserve the original values of film making.

In conclusion i believe that '24 Hour Party People' is different to a hollywood company due to the financial restraints experience by a independent company. This is in many factors of the film production stages of industry but some are similar like the use of new media technology because it will save both companies costs whilst making filming and production a lot easier. Therefore the main aspect that production companies can be contrasted by is finance between the two different companies.

An Analysis of Age in 'Skins'

By watching the clip of Skins, which is approximately the first 4 minutes of Season 1 Episode 1, and the analysis of sound, we can gain an insight towards these characters and the narrative of the TV drama. One of the main representations of this clip is Age. At the beginning of the clip Tony (the main character) is lying in bed awake whilst a the sound of a Church bell is in the background. From this sound we can tell it is distant sound perspective and that it is obviously diagetic as it is keeping him wide awake. We can also tell that the Church bell is probably foley sound. This sound could have possibly been used to show that Tony is wide awake which can create an morning atmosphere. It is then followed by a diagetic alarm clock sound, which leads to Tony getting out of his bed. This alarm clock can represent that Tony is a teenager because many teenagers including myself wake up in the morning to the alarm clock, which is also a fair and accurate representation of them. As Tony gets out of bed and begins to stretch, a music clip is played throughout the time that he is working out and in his room. This sound is synchronous as it follows the quick pace of editing to create a lively effect. I think that this sound is non-diagetic because the sound clip continues as the pace of the editing slows down and focuses more on other parts of the scene than just his workout, and as he turns on loud music just after this sound clip fades out. This sound clip is heard to be quite fast paced and with a type of hip-hop beat which is representative of a teenage age group. As this sound clip is played during the introduction of Tony and also his sister Effie, it may represent them both to be teenagers due to the appeal of the music towards the 13-19 audiences.

Now as we move onto the introduction of the Dad as a character, he begins with dialogue. One of his first lines being "every f*cking morning", which can be interpreted as colloquial language which is informal and a londoners accent which isn't very recognisable. This line is used to represent the father as a short-tempered, partially uneducated and rude character. Stereotypically from this piece of dialogue we could come to the conclusion straight away that this character is working class and slightly less educated than other people as he swears throughout most of his dialogue during the clip. The dialogue between Tony and his father are swapped so that the father is in terms of stereotyping, to have the more formal and a wider variety of language than Tony to have the more colloquial, informal and uneducated language. This would mix up the representations of Age because from sound alone we would believe that Tony is the older character and the Father is the younger, but along with the clip we can tell that Tony is represented as young in other ways, and that the father is represented more from the visual aspects like his beer-belly etc. Also another interesting piece of dialogue that the father uses is "you take me for a complete James Blunt don't you". This is a use of 'Cockney slang' which is representative of his level of education as he is talking in a colloquial and informal way. This cockney slang can is mainly recognised by an older audience around 18-25, which portrays who the father character is appealing towards.

Through the use of sound in the clip we can conclude that age is represented in many different ways. Evidence of this is that Tony and Effie are both represented using stereotypical views of music which is seen to appeal to a teenagers. I believe that this stereotype is nor positive or negative and cannot be said to be untrue as it is common for a teenager to listen to hip-hop music more than any other age group. Stereotypes have also been gone against as the use of colloquial language and constant swearing from the father when a stereotypical view of them would be to be a loving and calm parent figure that would use a friendly tone instead of a more hostile tone that was used towards Tony in the clip. Therefore in this clip stereotypes of age have been met but some are seen to go with them whereas the others have gone completely against it, conveying that this clip is partially accurate in terms of representation of Age.

Research on Special Effects & Graphics

Special effects and Graphics focuses on computer-generated imagery (CGI). This is the use of 3D computer graphics to special effects in the Film Industry. This is based on Computer generated Characters or Locations using 'Virtual Wireframe' and is then manipulated by the animator. CGI is used due to its ease of doing whatever you want to with it, as they are more controllable than real-life physical people/objects.

Along with this CGI has many other advantages. One is that computer generated characters can be created to look like what ever the animator wants, there are no restrictions when it comes to imagination and creativity. For example, throughout the Star Wars Saga, we are introduced to hundreds of different species of characters all created by CGI animation.

Another advantage is that CGI reduces costs for actors/actresses appearances in movies and the cost of set design and props, as they are not needed because they can be generated by Computer animators. An example of this is 'Toy Story', where Disney's 'Pixar' the costs of sets and actor/actress appearances (Voices were still used) were not an issue as the whole movie was computer generated.

One more benefit of CGI technology is its increase in verisimilitude, as todays technology allows computer-generated elements to seem as real as possible in relation to the world of the films narrative.

30 Years ago, before special effects & graphics were a lot more difficult to create. The props department were then main method in creating non-real characters and sets without the use of CGI. It used to be that a character/set was created without computer-generation because that technology did not exist back then. This meant that a lot of restrictions effected a production company in terms of what they could produce. As everything was made into physical objects it meant that it would have to be manually operated but also that it could not defy gravity unlike computer-generated imagery. An example of this would be 'King Kong' made in 1933, which used no CGI technology as it did not exist back then. Now if we watched this movie we would believe it to be a very unrealistic, due to our expectations of the movies from the present time period.

In contrast to 30 Years ago, now special effects and graphics have been revolutionised. Computer-generated imagery is the in which movies have made their movies seem more realistic and attractive to its audiences. In 2005, a remake of 'King Kong' was made by Universal Pictures. This is an example of how a massive change in this aspect of digital technology has occured, in the 2005 remake King Kong is recreated using CGI technology which makes the movie seem a lot more realistic in and believable, along with its factor to attract the audience. Also, along with the fact that King Kong, T-Rex and other creature in this movie are made using CGI technology, so is the setting in some areas of the movie.

There are many types of special effects and graphics available in this era. Computerised effects including:

- Blue Screen/Matte

- Computer Animation

- Compositing

- Rain/Snow/Wind/Fire

- Explosions

- Computer Generated Imagery

Human Effects:

- Pyrotechnic Machinery to create explosions etc

- Blood Bags

- Latex

The first movie to be fully made out of CGI animation was 'Toy Story' made by Pixar. This movie was seen as a commercial success and triggered other companies of the Big 6 production companies to move from traditional animation to CGI technology.

In 2000, CGI became a dominant figure for special effects and is now one of the most used methods of special effects for Hollywood production companies.

One of my favourite titles of all time is Final Fantasy, from the long list of game releases to its films. Final Fantasy: Spirits Within made by Square Pictures is a created to be a CGI film throughout and was seen to be a movie which attempted to create 'Photo-realistic human actors'. This movie along with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children are examples of entire CGI films. When these movies came out it was seen to be impressive to look so realistic and cinematic, along with being attractive to audiences which enjoy innovative ideas in film-making.

Audiences have definitely been effected by the innovation in special effects and graphics. This digital technology should impact an audiences viewing experience, i believe that it would attract and appeal to an audience more because from this technology they can now watch more creative and diverse films as CGI can allow anything to be made which means the same restricted narratives would not be repeated, but instead more compelling and intriguing storylines can be produced.

Due to the reductions in digital technology equipment e.g. PC's and Mac's with software for CGI animation and other special effect technology, it means that more money for a film can be focused into a marketing campaign to attract an audience which film viewers would appreciate and attract them more meaning revenue can increase from this and costs can stay low in terms of digital technology.

Now that anything is possible in movies due to CGI animation, being a film writer is broadened and will allow more creative people to access this kind of profession and gain success for films which are made that were not possible 30 years ago.

Negative comments are bound to occur due to digital technology, an example would be a group of people believing that CGI technology removes the real and everyday life aspects away from a movie which means that classic movies which did not use this kind of technology are over shadowed by these over-expensive movies about things that are not even possible.

Some upcoming movies which will include CGI technology in 2009 are:

-2012

-Avatar

This shows that many movies created by hollywood production companies or their subsidiaries have at some point in the movie, a use of special effects or graphics, it could be as little as the weather in the background or a group of characters and the set made by CGI.

Here is the link to Amandip Singh's research on Editing:

http://amandipasmedia.blogspot.com