Potential Audience

Potential Audience 

The potential audience for our film is teenagers and young adults. I think this age range is best suited to our short film as they will understand the humor within the film. This age range is also most suitable as they will understand the relationship of the two characters and may be able to relate the film back to a petty argument they may have encountered. This age range is also most likely to know about our short film as it will probably relay on social media to market the film. People of this age range are more likely to use the different social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and therefor see the advertisements for our short film.

The short film we aspire to produce will not appeal to a particular gender. This is because our short film includes both men and women and both are involved in the argument. I think our short film will interest both a male and female audience as you can see both sides of the argument and                                                             relate it back to home life.


Our film will not focus on a certain regional identity, it will be open to all nationalities. This is because these types of domestic arguments can happen anywhere between anyone, man and woman,
man and man or woman and woman. It does not apply to just one category, it could also include parent and child
relationships.

Research into film posters

Research into film posters 

One of the film posters I have looked into is The Hunger Games. I decided to look into this film as it was produced by Lions Gate, one of the major film production companies. This means that the film had a large production budget so was able to create a professional film poster. Not only did they create a poster but they created a range of them including a number of different characters in the film.

This is effective as it sets up the film as the audience are able to see the different characters in the film that play a main role in the story. These character posters give you the name of the film and the cinema release date. It also gives the name of the production company Lions Gate. The purpose of a film poster is to grab the audiences attention in order for them to watch the film. This is done through portraying the film in a positive way and can often include positive audience and analytical reviews.

The Hunger Games has a number of different film posters. After the different character posters there is also four full film posters. These mainly include the main character of the film, Katniss Everdeen. The two shown here at the sides are very similar, showing Katniss as a fighter as she is seen with her bow and arrows. On all four the quote ''the world will be watching'' is printed along the top. As The Hunger Games is a trilogy all the film posters contain a quote related to the film.

Using a mixture of film posters will help to gain the audiences attention as it gives people a range of different images to associate with the film. They all contain either the main character or a symbol you can associate with the film, in this case it is the Mockingjay pin. The symbol is a theme that runs throughout all of the films and holds a lot of meaning and importance.




Another film poster I have looked at is Step Brothers. I decided to look at this film as well as The Hunger Games as Step Brothers is a domestic comedy. Researching this film poster will give me some ideas for our film poster as they are the same genre. Although our film is only a short film and Step Brothers is a full length film I can look at some aspects of the poster such as the layout and use some of the features.





Step Brothers also has more than one film poster. This is quite regular for large budget films as they have the money to create more than one poster, from an audiences prospective this is beneficial as it shows more than one side of the film. For example the poster on the left shows the two brothers positioned as if for a family photograph, it also shows them getting on which is then contrasted when you look at the poster on the right as they look like they are fighting.
Looking at these two posters for Step Brothers I can see the main two actors names are positioned at the top of the poster this is to let the audience know who is in the film and in this case it could be because they are well known actors and could persuade someone to watch the film because they have enjoyed that actors performance in another film. We could do this on our film poster as it could get unknown actors credit for the work they have done.

Research into Title sequence

Step Brothers Title Sequence

The film starts off with a quote from George W.Bush, which talks about family. This is important to the rest of the film as it set the scene of family, moreover through the words "actual quote" it connotes comedy.

 The font of the letters used are like written handwriting and are messy like a childs. This shows that the film will not be a serious one and will be a comedy film. The same font is carried on throughout the titile sequence, to convey the childlike action that is in the film.

The opening scenes introduce us to the main characters in the film. We are first introdcued to Will Ferrell's character Brennan who is childlike, peering through the microwave waiting for his food to be ready.

The next character we are introduced to is John Reilly's character Dale. He is introduced with a close up shot of Dale smelling his clothes to see if any are clean to wear, as children would do.

The next character that is introduced is Mary Steenburgen's character Nancy. Brennan and Nancy are shot in a long shot, Brennan is in his pajamas eating breakfast while watching tv. Nancy is formally dressed ready for work, connoting the Nancy is the mother with a job and Brennan is a child at a weekend.

The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of Dale's Father Dr. Robert played by Richard Jenkins. Dale is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt playing a video game. Whereas Robert is dressed in a suit. This conveys that Robert is off to an important meeting and that Dale is staying home doing nothing.

The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of a convention, eventhough there is a shallow focus you can make out the the man is Dr. Robert. The audience is full of men in black and grey suit and the Nancy in her colourful shirt. Nancy stands out to the rest to draw the audiences eyes to her.



The last shot of the title sequence is of Nancy and Dr. Robert after the convention in a room alone making out. This sets up the rest of the film as Nancy and Dr. Robert later get married, creating the genre of domestic comedy.

Audience Questionnaire- storyline

I have decided to conduct a questionnaire in which I can find out an audience's perspective on our film and the storyline we have presented so far. I decided to make the questionnaire on Google Drive in the Forms section as this was quick and easy to create as well as being simple to use for the audience. The questionnaire had limited options on some questions so that it was easy for me to analyse the answers and make changes easily. The forms section also creates graphs based on the answers given which was a good visual aid to clearly see how people felt about the storyline. I asked questions about the audience as well as the film so I can get as much of an insight as possible. 

 

The first question I asked was "How old are you?".

By asking this question I could find out the relevance of their opinion due to relation of my target audience. Most of the people who answered my questionnaire were teenagers or people in their 20's. This means that this questionnaire would be good to analyse as a large part of our target audience would be teenagers. From this it means the answers and feedback I have obtained would be more relevant for when analysing the results. However, I also got feedback from other age groups. This is because it's still important to ask other ages so then the questionnaire wouldn't be biased as then it's not aimed at one type of person. 

The next question I asked was "What is your occupation?"

The answers given are shown on the left. Clearly, there are a diverse amount of jobs/careers in place which shows that there will be people with different interests as well as personalities when filling out the questionnaire which I have created. By having people with different views and opinions I will be able to get a more diverse set of answers making it more useful when it comes to changing the storyline or script if needed. This again makes the questionnaire less biased as I haven't asked people from one place.







I then needed to know if people understood the storyline. So before the questions came up on the questionnaire I decided to copy an extract of the written storyline so they could read it to see if it was easily understood or not.

The questionnaire shows that most people understood the storyline but there was a quarter of the people who didn't understand the storyline. In order to prevent people from getting confused I think that revisiting the storyline and simplifying it would make it easier for people to understand. This way when more people understand the storyline there could be a bigger potential audience.

As we already had a target audience in mind and we had created the storyline around that specific audience it was important to see if the audience thought the same audience as we had created for.

From the responses given most people thought that film was aimed towards a younger audience and teenagers. However, couples and families were also alternative options which had been put forward. By other people thinking that the film is aimed at more than one audience it means I can aim it towards a diverse age group. This would work out well as then it can reach more people which would result in the film having more success.





Once I had found out that people were identify the age group for the film I also wanted to know what they thought the genre of the film was. This would then be able to tell me if I was creating the film in accordance with the correct genre.

Every user apart from one identified the film as being a comedy which shows that there was understanding of the film in place. However, one person chose "other" as an option and thought the film was a romantic comedy. This is acceptable when figuring out the genre of my film as it is a comedy and there is a love relationship involved which could be interpreted as being a romantic comedy.

I wanted to then see where people thought our film would be viewed.

From the graph on the left it shows that half of the recipients thought the film would be shown in the cinema. However, there were alternative methods to where people thought the film would be displayed. One option which was chosen and not listed was a film festival. By having this response with different locations my film could be displayed it shows that it able to be shown on different media platforms as it suits a range of different audiences.

Next, I thought it would be a good idea to find out where people would normally watch films. This is so that then I could see what the most popular viewing method is so then I could prioritise this to suit a specific device or audience.

People from the questionnaire generally said that they prefer to watch films at home and this included options such as online, TV or DVD. This means that I would be better off creating my film in a format which would suit all these viewing methods. This is so then it appeals to the majority audience as it would suit the preference of the viewers. This would then make the film more popular as then they could watch the film whatever way they wanted to.

The film I was creating was something that could happen in day to day life maybe just not in as extreme cases. By creating something realistic it allows the audience and viewers to relate to the film which could then gain their interest as it would be something which they already know of. In order to see if this was happening I wanted to know if the recipients could relate to any of the characters mentioned in the storyline.

This question had mixed feedback as to whether they could relate to the characters in my film or not. Some thought they could due to the arguing aspect of the film. However, some couldn't see any similarities. This hasn't really affected me to change any characters as everyone is different and won't react in the same way as others. 






The last question I asked was if the recipients would watch the film. This is so I could see if it would be popular or not.

Overall 3/4 of the people would watch the film which shows that it has an interesting storyline which could potentially interest other people. Although 1/4 of the audience didn't want to watch the film this wouldn't affect my production of the film as some people may not be interested in comedy films.

Overall, by completing this questionnaire I have gained an idea of what people like and dislike about my film. This has allowed me to evaluate what work I have done and see if I can change some aspects of the film to improve it or even gain a larger audience.

Elliptical editing research

As our film is only a short film we decided to film a short journey and see how much depth we could get into in a short space of time. After filming the "journey" we wanted to elliptically edit the film to see if we could make the film shorter and still have sense of the plot within the movie. This then allowed us to have more knowledge and understanding shown of the characters as we weren't having to make extensive clips of less important scenes. By doing this it makes the audience have more knowledge and understanding of the film.

What makes video film?

Video into film

Several areas are different between video and what we would consider film;

Depth of field:

 Depth of field (DoF) affects what's in or out of focus during a shot or sequence of shots.  The DoF can draw the viewer's eyes to certain objects or people in a frame or even convey things about the characters. When a specific DoF is added this also shows that thought and consideration has gone into the shot which sets it apart from it's video counterpart.




 Frame rate:

 Frame rate affects the immersiveness of the film as a high frame rate can make the shot look clinical and plain looking, films that use a lower frame rate (usually 24fps) look the best as motion blur occurs which makes the shot look fluid and cinematic. Higher frame rates don't really suit films as they distract from it and many people complain. Higher frame rates are viable for 3D footage and slow motion as there's more frames to be shown during the slow motion clip.

A website that compares fps

Camera movement: 

Camera movement is key to giving a film a dynamic look as many smaller films suffer from a lack of varied camera angles making the film look sterile and repetitive. Although some films do utilise some extremely good shots these themselves will not make an amazing film. Camera movement is often overlooked despite is being crucial to create a dynamic cinematic experience.

A video that's useful to see different movement and what it creates.

Lighting and colour correction: 

Good lighting can make a good shot an amazing one, whether it's shooting villians in dark low key lights to the heroes in bright almost heavenly light. As well as influencing the viewer on the character lighting can draw focus to things within the shot, combined with DoF lighting can be a very useful tool to alter and manipulate a set scene.

A webiste that goes in depth about colour correction with before and after images

 

 

How to make video look more like film

How to make video look more like film. 

Shallow Depth Of Field

There are a number of key variables that need to be right in order to make video footage look more like film. These are the most important elemants you need to get correct in order to acomplish this effect. 

1: Depth of field
Many new film makers believe that having a shallow depth of field is the single most important element to achieving a film look. Though it can be an important feature it is not the mort important. Whether you have a shallow depth of field or not can all depend on the shot and the overall look you are hoping to achieve.  Longer lenses will give you a shallower depth of field than wide lenses will. And fast lenses are also good to achieve this look. 

2: Frame rate
Make sure your frame rate is at 24 frames per second. This is because the earliest films were shot and projected at this rate so viewers have become acustomed to it. Your camera should always  be set to this rate unless you are filming in slow motion, then you will film at a higher frame rate. Using a normal frame rate will create a natural motion blur which makes the film more realistic. 

3: Shutter Speed 
Your shutter speed should be set to exactly double that of your frame rate. So if you are shooting at 24 frames per second make sure your shutter speed is a 1/48. Having the wrong shutter speed can be damaging to your footage. If its too slow your footage will look like it is strobing as the images trail off throughout the screen. And if the shutter speed is too high your image will look like its been speeded up, almost as if its in fast forward. Sometimes you do want to have the shutter speed at an unusually high or low setting as it is a technique sometimes used to get a specific effect.

4: Camera movement
Camera movement is one of the most important aspects to getting a film look. There isnt a specific movement that will make your film look more cinematic, but if you place more importance on the movement shots the more cinematic the film will feel. Make sure you use the right type of camera movement for each scene, if the scene dosent require a handheld shot then dont use one.

5: Highlights
A big giveaway of video footage is blownout highlights. As digital cameras have much less dynamic range than film, they are prone to blowing out the bright areas of the frame. When this occurs on film it if fairly pleasant to look at and many directors will intentionally blow out some shots to get a stylized effect. On video blown out highlights look really bad as the light doesn't bloom or roll off the same way as it does on film so the image looks harsh and synthetic. To deal with this make sure you dont overexpose anything in your frame, unless it needs to be blown out as it is so bright e.g. the sun. You can bring your exposure down so that the bright areas in the frame still hold detail, creating a better image.


6: Framing
Framing is an important aspect to get a cinematic look. Without proper framing all the other features are pointless. Good framing will not only make the video feel more filmic but it will also create a better look for the film as a whole.


7: Lighting
Lighting can make a massive diference to your shot nop matter what camera you use. Some low budget films are shot without giving much thought to lighting, this is a huge giveaway of amateur production. You dont need to spend loads of money on lighting especially if you have a low budget, but you need to make it look as professional as possible. No amount of colour grading will be able to svae a poorly lit shot. Make sure your shots are exposed properly but also lit in a way to set the tone and mood you are looking for.

8: Colour correction
During post production you can do a lot to make your video look more filmic. This includes using colour correction. Ideally you want to decide on a look and then colour grade your image. A mistake that occurs fairly often is when filmmakers over-do the colour on their film. They will apply heavily stylized looks to every shot and make a look that is more like a music video than a film. It is good to make your footage look as natural as possible at first, when you reach your white balance and exposure your most of the way there. Most films are not that stylized as they usually have accurate colours and so are not covered in a wash that makes the film feel unnatural. You can add warmth or colour down your footage as needed to suit the mood of your film, just dont m
ake it over the top. Films can be noticeably lower contrast than video and you can use post production to achieve this look. You could reduce your contrast setting and then lift your black levels just a little.

Video Into Film

Making Video look like Film

One way of making Video footage look like film is having a shallow Depth Of Field (DOF), many new film filmmakers believe this is a vital element in achieving a film look. A good camera to do this with is the DSLR’s and other similar interchangeable lens cameras. The larger your sensor, the shallower your DOF will be, another variable to consider is the choice of lens. Traditionally, feature films made use of a shallow depth of field to bring attention to a person or object.

Another way to make video into film is to shoot at 24 frames per second. Since the earliest days of film, movies were shot and projected at 24 frames per second, and viewers have grown accustomed to this frame rate. If the frame was filmed at a higher rate the footage would blur and it would not look professional and it would not be sutible for cinema.




Camera movement is definitely one of the most important aspects of getting a film look. This can include a wide range of things from sticking your camera on a tripod and deciding to have no movement at all, to going handheld and getting a crane shot.





 In caveat to this, lighting is another way you can make video into film. Good lighting in a shot can make a scene, lighting can portray many thing and done well can give the audience extra information about a scene.