Exhibition

As my film would be a low-budget production it would less likely be filmed in larger cinemas such as Vue and Odeon. I believe it would be shown at film festivals such as the Fresh Film Festival, the Molodist and the Motovun Film Festival. The Fresh Film Festival is an international student film festival that is held annually in August, I believe they may exhibit my production due to it being a student feature. The Molodist festival is a competition devoted to students productions and therefore my production would fit in well due to the film festival taking films from all over the world. Another film festival that I believe my production could be exhibited at is the Motovun Festival as it is dedicated to low-budget, independent films.

Although I can see my production in a film festival there are many other ways of having a low-budget film exhibited such as film 4's film festivals and online sharing. Online sharing includes Netflix, Amazon Prime, Love Film, Now TV and many others. I agree my production would fit with online sharing because they all have independent film categories that are low-budget and are not always shown in cinemas. These include international independent films. As I said before I don't think my production would end up in a large cinema, however I could see it being in a much smaller complex such as Cinema City. My opening title sequence was made with virtually no money and therefore would be classed low-budget along with an independent film. Working with Cinema City would be great for my film because they help smaller production companies with a smaller budget, the cinema also attracts film-fanatics that I believe would enjoy my production.

The Target Audience

I believe that the production that I am creating would be a 12 certificate as there will be use of mild weaponry, sexual scenes and smoking/drinking. It is said that film noir is mostly aimed at the male character due to the crime scenes and therefore I believe this too would however, there is a rise of females that enjoy black and white films recently.

The screenshot below is from YouGov to determine what the audience type is for the film noir: Double Indemnity. As you can see it is mostly males aged from 55 that prefer the film. I agree this would be correct as the film is from 1944 and therefore I did not assume that it would interest younger customers due to the release date, although those that take media or photography may be more interested in watching this noir. I agree similarly that males would be interested in my noir production due to it being about crime and completely black and white. The records also show that my assumptions are correct, it also shows that the two biggest professions that people watch this are in is law and media and publishing. 

The next screenshot below is from the same website on YouGov, however this is showing the typical audiences for the film Gone Girl. Now this film is much more recent from 2014 and as you can see from the statistics below does not appeal at all to those that are interested in Double Indemnity. The film below appeals more to females from the ages of 25-39. This film however is not a film noir or a black and white film, this production is a thriller based on a young couple that have many secrets. I have chosen to contrast these films because even though Double Indemnity is a film noir I do not feel the audiences with mine would be the same because it is a lot more recent. Due to the storyline of Gone Girl with the main character seeming like a victim yet turning out to be the villain in the story is why I had chosen this film to contrast audiences with mine. In my production the femme fatale will seem to be the victim at the start when she is miserable and heavily drinking, however when the voice-over comes in then the realisation that actually she has some dark secrets that have been exposed and that she is the villain not the anti-hero. 

I found the below Slide-share very interesting and helpful when it came to looking at who my target audience will be. This made me think about some factors I need to look into as to who will be interested in my production. I felt it made me think more about gender, age, occupation, sexuality and the importance of education. As the above website did YouGov. The very last part of the Slide-share is very important and interesting as it talks about different types of audiences as opposed to mainstream, the succeeders and reformers. 

How media producers define their target audience from mattwako

National Readership Survey (NRS) demographic categories

Social Grade	Social Status	Occupation
A	upper middle class	higher managerial, administrative or professional
B	middle class	intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1	lower middle class	supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2	skilled working class	skilled manual workers
D	working class	semi and unskilled manual workers
E	those at lowest level of subsistence	state pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers

The Demographic classifications in the UK and the ABC1 grades refers to the social grade definitions, which are used to describe, measure and classify people of different social grade and income and earnings levels, for market research, social commentary, lifestyle antics, statistical research and analysis. The national Readership Survey is a non-profit but commercial British survey concerned with monitoring, analysing and providing estimates on the number and nature of people who read Britain's newspapers and consumer magazines. The social grade definitions by the NRS are widely used as a generic reference series classifying and describing social classes, especially for consumer targeting and consumer market research by the advertising UK media and publishing sectors. 

The Pete Buckinghams Audience Types research is extremely useful when thinking about audience types for a production. All this research has made me really think about who i believe would be interested in my film due to the storyline and how recent it is. 

Conclusion

I believe that from looking at all this research I have found out who my target audience would be I feel it would interest females more than males due to the little crime and the thriller between the character of the femme fatale. I also feel the 'impulsive materialists' will enjoy the production due to enjoying more of a mature nature in the sense of film-dinner-drinks. 

Final Props and Costume

 

The social media aspect of looking for props worked! I managed to get all props for no cost at all from a generous lady not far from Norwich. She has allowed me to borrow a headpiece, flapper dress, black T heels, beads, dress gloves and a scarf. This means that the femme fatales costume is finished apart from the make-up I would like to add. I am still searching for a hat for a my male character, the everyman, but if I cannot find a cheap option costume then I will get my actor to wear a suit and boots. Making sure that I use much smoke as effect. I have added photographs of the props below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very happy with the props I have chosen and discovered however, I would like to think about smaller things I will be needing such as whiskey glasses, decanter and such. I have also got a cigarette holder and a shisha stick so I can add smoke into the production as this is a typical convention of the time period and flappers.



Mise-en-Scene Update

I have already purchased some small items that I can use for the filming such as: a sequinned/feather headband, a cigarette holder, a shish-a stick (for the smoke) and a glass jar that looks similar to a decanter. I ordered the majority from Amazon and the glass decanter is from Hobbycraft. I am still yet to find a size 12 flapper dress for my actress considering the ones that I have come across are extremely expensive for a small production. The next step is to ask on social media to see if any one will lend me the dress for the filming of the production, as it will not be worn afterwards. I will add photographs of the props I have so far during the week including the location I am going to use. 

I have created a Pinterest board for my media studies called: '1920's' this includes props and costume of what was around in the Roaring Twenties. This is the biggest inspiration I have along with The Great Gatsby film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. My Pinterest can be seen below:

http://pin.it/K15CFOW

Sound Techniques

 

We have been challenged by our teacher to create some foleying techniques that we would use in our productions. As a class we watched the opening of Priest (in silence) and had written all the sound devices that we think we may have heard. When it came to watching it over again (this time with sound) we realised that there were so many more sound effects in the background that we would not have understood unless we could hear. The video below is showing a way in which foley artists are used in the media industry and one way that they add the sounds.


I found this extremely useful to watch as it gave me ideas in which I could create some foley sounds. The picture below is of the white board that we had written all the 45 sounds we had heard in the beginning of Priest. Our aim is to now create as many of these sounds as we can and attach to our blogs.

Here I have added a Prezi of my own to show different types of sounds and techniques. I have included definitions for all so that the audience can understand the vocabulary, as I found it tricky when I first discovered it.

Research for OTS

For this OTS production to be as effective as possible I will need to research many aspects of the time era such as male and female costume, furniture and props and fashion/makeup. I would like to set it in the 20’s but have the film noir aspect of a femme fatale introduced with heavy makeup and similar dress including head piece and cigarette holder.

Below is my slideshare of the research I have found and produced. This will help me to choose a style of dress and understand what kind of make up they wore.

Research for OTS - 1920's from CharlotteLouiseB

1920s fashion from Hailey Wheeler

OTS Research

We were set a challenge in lesson to find a couple opening title sequences that inspire us. I looked on the website Art of the Title and found a couple that I would like to explore and perhaps use some sections in my own ideas and production. 

I found the OTS to the film Seven 1995, now this is not a film noir however there are sections that are inspirational and imaginative that I like. The OTS can be seen below.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/se7en/#

This film is a 1995 American neo-noir psychological thriller film with a strong A-list cast including Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Morgan Freeman. I enjoy this OTS because it is very dark and gloomy, creating a cold atmosphere. There is much use of close-ups during the OTS such as the fingers, the diaries and pictures throughout. I would like to base my camera on close-ups with the femme fatale being broken, with tears running down her face, whiskey in glasses and the polaroids of her old lover, the everyman she had killed. The diaries are also a brilliant idea which i may include but I feel that past love letters may be a better idea from the everyman, making her tearful. I would also like photo's of her lover from old style polaroids that I will hand make.

Another technique I really like about this OTS is the titles and writing. Most opening title sequences have font titles rather than sketching and scribbles like the killer has written it himself. I would like to either like the femme fatale to write the cast and titles on a piece of paper with beautiful calligraphy or I would like to try to scribble it and add it in later on like the film Seven. The music throughout this OTS is much too eerie for what I am trying to capture but fits perfectly with the idea behind the film.

Another OTS I have found is called I Wake Up Screaming 1941, this is an American film noir. The credits are spelled out in lights superimposed over the New York Skyline. As seen below.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/i-wake-up-screaming/

There is no story behind the short title sequence and as it is so old there is not much to it. However, I very much like the font and think it is very interesting. At the beginning there is the production company, Twenty Century Fox and I believe I should add something similar for the Top Hat Production of mine. I would like it to look similar and nothing much to it. The kind of music used in this OTS is similar to what I would hope to find for mine. I will be looking for a free music archive for something similar along with some dance jazz music as I am thinking of adding some flashbacks.


I will add pictures and screenshots of examples later.

Identifying an Audience for our Fairytale Neo-Noir

Making sure a film has the correct film rating is very important especially to parents that want to protect their children from sexual scenes, violence and disturbing images. Film ratings provide parents with advance information about the content of films to help them to determine what movies are appropriate for their children. In the case of films shown in the cinema, local authorities have the final legal authorisation over who can view a particular film. The majority of the time the local authorities have accepted the Board's recommendation for a certificate of film. However there have been some notable exceptions such as Last Tango in paris and The Exorcist in the 1970's that were classed as an X certificate, but the local authorities chose to ban the films. 

These classifications above are the regular British Board of Film Classification that were changed in 2003 compared to the ones that were in tradition since the 1980's. I believe that our film so far with planned it would come under a PG as there are no sexual scenes, just small talk and flirting. There is not much violence neither just a gun shot. However, some may say it will be a 12A or 12 because the storyline is about kidnapping. 

Job Roles in the Media Industry

I have been researching job roles in the media for some time now and realising just how many there are, thousands of jobs just in the media alone. So many are jobs the usual people do such as accountants and receptionists, even caterers. Therefore, I have put together a small Prezi about three of the most interesting roles I believe there are in media: unit skills photographer, make-up and hair artist and armourer. Please enjoy my Prezi.