Research into editing techniques

Montage: A montage sequence consists of a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence to condense narrative. It is usually used to advance the story as a whole (often to suggest the passage of time), rather than to create symbolic meaning.

Example Montage Hot Fuzz Opening Sequence:


Graphic Match: A graphic match is a cut in film editing between either two different objects or two different spaces, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots symbolically.

Example Graphic Match A Space Odyssey:

Elliptical Editing: Elliptical editing is a type of editing that cuts unnecessary actions from a sequence. This means the sequence is shorter than real time and so doesn't last as long. This can be a positive because if a scene last (for example) a few hours it would cut it down to only a few minutes.

Example Elliptical Editing Batman Begins

Title Sequence Storyboards

Music research

Music

Music is essential to any film and our film requires music for our montage and timelapse scenes. We can't use any music that has a copyright or we could get a copyright strike and potentially sued and our film taken down.

After research I found an organisation called no copyright sounds on Soundcloud and YouTube, link here. 
They say they are record label dedicated to providing copyright free sounds to creators to aid in their work.

Another YouTube account that focuses on bringing creators free content is Free Songs To Use, they request full credit of the creator if we use their music which isn't a massive problem for us. Link here.

One website that charges a small fee for the music is AudioNetwork, Link, the fees are less than £1 for just a single song for our purposes and they offer a wide range of catergories of music which is really helpful.

Treatment

Treatment

Title:
Notes

Duration:
5 minutes

Audience:
We have classified our film as a 12 due to some explicit gestures but the audience our film aims towards is people slightly older, aged between  18 and 30. However it may appeal to some people from the younger age range. 

Certificate:
The certificate of our short film is a 12. We originally classified the film as a PG but we added a rude gesture to the script so have reviewed the classification and decided a 12 would be better suited.

Distributor:
One distribution method we have looked into is the Cofilmic film festival. It would be great to have our short film shown here as it would reach the desired audience. This method of exhibition would also get our film viewed by some desired distributors who may decide to distribute our film.
A possible distributor for us to use is FutureShorts. This would be an ideal method of distribution as FutureShorts is a global distribution website. The site allows producers to set up screenings of there film in the local community.

Synopsis:
See a house, a man and woman live inside, they are not speaking to each other, there only communication is through sticky notes. (Flash back to the argument to find out why they are only communicating this way) The man is seen on the phone, calling his friend. We see both sides of the conversation, the friend is on his x-box. The conversation moves to how things are at home and he explains about the argument and there current form of communication. The friend suggests a lads weekend away and he agrees. When he goes through to the kitchen there are notes left for him to clean up. When they go to bed the man leaves a note for the woman asking her to wake him up at 7 so he can meet his mate for the weekend away. The woman agrees to wake him up. The man wakes alone in the morning to look at the clock and see it is 10am. As he rushes to get ready a note falls to the floor, WAKE UP ITS 7 O'CLOCK.

Suggested Elements:
One unique selling point of our film is the communication method of post-it notes. This could be a good marketing point for our film as people may be intrigued as to what has happened to create tension between the two characters and why they are communicating in this unique way. People may be interested in how we are going to use the post-it notes so that the film doesn't get repetitive or boring.
Another element of our film that could help it sell is the genre. Domestic comedies are quite popular so hopefully the film can gather a large audience due to the comedy factor.

Film poster analysis

Potential title sequence

For our title sequence we thought that utilising post- notes to spell things out would be good and fitting for a film. So we decided upon a stop motion like sequence of notes being placed on a wall to spell out our films name. Our other idea we decided to use is post it notes getting blown away and only a few remaining that would contain infomation about our actors and actresses and our distribution company.


Equipment:

• Fan or hair dryer.
• Post it notes.
• Large wall & desk to place notes on. 
• Camera + Tripod. 
• Pen.

Shot list

Shot list here.

Props and Costumes

Props and Costumes

Props

We will be filming our short film in someones house. We have decided to use this location as the film is set completly in this environment. Using someones house is the best option to create a realistic look as if we just use one of the rooms that's available to us it will be difficult to create the look we want.

Most of the props we will require can be found in your everyday family home. As our short film is set in this environment we will need to use some particualr objects to make the film seem as though the two characters live there and as realistic as we can.

We will need:

• Sofa/Chair
• Table 
• Mobile phones
• Bed 
• Post-it notes 
• Pen 
• Cup/Glass 
• Pots and Pans
• Bag 
• Clothes 
• Pizza/Pizza box 
• TV/ Remote 

We will need a sofa/chair as the majority of our short film takes place in the living room. This is furniture you normally find in a living room as people use it as a family room to watch TV. We will also need a table as we will place cups the pizza box and other objects, such as the T.V remote, that you find in the home on the table to create a more genuine look. Mobile phones will be needed as throughout our short film we have two phone conversations.
The bed will be needed as the character Matt is seen waking up and rushing around the bedroom, without a bed this scene will not look realistic. In this scene we also see Matt packing clothes into a bag. If we didn't use these props the scene wouldn't look right and spoil the film. We will have to use male clothing too otherwise it will not look as though the two characters are living together.
Post-it notes are a vital part of our film as most of the conversations take place using them. This is why we will also need a pen as we will have to write on the post-it notes.

Costumes

Laura- Casual clothing, jeans and T-shirt

Matt- Casual clothing, jeans and T-shirt

Brandan- Casual clothing, jeans and T-shirt

Paige- Casual clothing, jeans and T-shirt

Potential Audience

Potential Audience

The potential audience for our film is 12-25 year old. I believe that this age range is best suited to our short film and they will understand the film as they can relate to the film as many will have been in relationships and will have had arguments with their partner. This age range is also most likely to know about our short film as it will probably rely on social media to market the film. People of this age range are more likely to use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and therefore see the advertisements for our short film.

Our film does not target a specific audience, we have created our short film to interest both males and females. In our film you can relate to both sides of the film and relate to both the males and females in the film.

Moreover, our film does not target one religion. Our film is neutral in the aspect of religion, none of our characters in teh film are religious so our film does not target one religion. These type of arguments can happen in any religion in any language.

Risk assesment

Inspiration

Inspiration 

We originally got our inspiration for the short film we are going to create from a short film we found on YouTube from Future Shorts, a short film website. The short film, Post-it love, consisted of a man and a woman working in an office, they like each other and decided to communicate their love through post-it notes, creating pictures from a smiley face to a full size picture of their faces together surrounded by love hearts.
We took this idea and decided to do the complete opposite. We didn't want the characters in my film to be communicating their love for each other but more their hate or annoyance. We finally came up with the idea of the two characters communicating in this way due to some kind of domestic argument.



We also got some inspiration from the Adventure Time episode 'Shh'. This is episode 20 of season 5. During this episode the characters Finn and Jake only communicate through notes. As this episode was similar to the short film we aspire to create we thought our idea would work as this method of communication was used in a popular T.V show watched by many older children, teenagers and some young adults and so would also appeal to our target audience.

Research into Film Posters

The conjuring released in 2013 is a horror film. The first thing that you are drawn to on the poster is the image of the little girl in the rocking chair holding a doll. The girl is turned away and has her back turned, this adds a sinister feel to it as it is withholding important information. The next thing you notice is the washed out colour of the poster, the poster is dark and eerie which connotes that the film is a horror film. The font and colour of the text conveys the innocence of the young girl and backs up the sinister feel of the girl. At the top of the poster it tells you the the director of the film is the director of two big and iconic horror films Saw and Insidious. This is a unique selling point as these films were very successful and have a large fan base.

U.F.OH YEAH is a poster of a short film which was released early 2015. The first thing that you are drawn to on the poster is the spaceship. This tells the audience that the genre of the film is a Sci-Fi. The tracker beam is trying to suck up an obese man. The beam is struggling which adds an element of comedy. The next thing you are drawn to the the title, it is neon blue and space age font which adds to the Sci-Fi genre. Even though U.F.OH YEAH is a short film the poster is to a high quality. The creators have used up to date software that gives the poster a professional look and conveys that the film is professional too.

Gravity released in 2013 is a  Sci-Fi Thriller. The first thing that you are drawn to is the white light that is in the middle of the poster, it draws you to the fact that they are in outer space. With the Earth on the right and black emptiness on the left. This helps the audience see that the genre of the film is Sci-Fi. The next thing you notice is the astronaut floating around in space, there is wreckage floating around the astronaut. This connotes that the has been a catastrophic accident. This tells the audience that no only the film is a Sci-Fi but that it is also an action packed thriller. The colour of the title connotes the emptiness, which links in to the Sci-Fi genre as space see as an empty place.

Analysis of a title sequence

I decided to look at the title sequence for "Skyfall", with this being an already huge and successful film I thought this would be a good place to start and possibly inspire me and my group.

Skyfall

The sequence opens with what appears to be James Bond falling into a surreal looking sea, shortly after the initial impact with the water music begins playing and a tracking shot follows Bond as he falls through the water. 

 A large hand then grabs Bond and pulls him further down into the water reinforcing the surrealist nature of the title sequence. The sequence relies heavily on CGI throughout using many seemingly abstract and random sequences. "Skyfall" by Adele begins to play which was released in conjunction with the film.

After Bond's descent into the hole targets appear on the screen with blood coming out of them which is one of the main pieces of iconography within Bond films. The viewer will start to be able to tell what genre of film this could be and any potential further events of the film. The use of blood also reinforces any assumptions about the film.

More iconography of Bond films is used to further reinforce the genre and content of the film.










Here we are introduced to a new character and as traditional with Bond film women are often heavily tied to Bond and this foreshadows this fact.












Shortly after a traditional Chinese dragon appears which can foreshadow later events of the film where a part takes place in Shangai, the dragons also appears at various parts within the film so foreshadowing them this early is a set up. Other parts of the trailer also foreshadow later events of the film such as the house in Scotland where the finale takes place.

Research into Radio Trailers

Research into Radio Trailers 

The purpose of the radio trailer is to persuade various audiences to watch the film, just like an ordinary film trailer. They do this through using some of these main conventions.

•  A voice over with small hints of sound or speech from the film
•  Information at the end of the trailer of viwing and film certificate
• Production company 
• Director and producer 
• Main actors
• A slogan from the film
• Sound effects when appropriate  
• Music can be used to set the scene 
• A radio trailer is usually about 30 to 40 nseconds long, this is enough time to engage the audience but not too long so gives too much away or so the audience loses interest.

One radio trailer I looked at was The Conjuring from 2013. I decided to look at this films radio trailer as it is a horror film and I was interested in how the horror appeal was put across through a radio trailer. I thought the horror theme came through really well as you could tell pretty much straight away that the genre was a horror. The radio trailer was easy to acess throught Google as it is difficult to find radio trailers to analyse on the internet.

The radio trailer begins with a voice over. All radio trailers contain a voice over as the main factor of the trailer. This is because as it is a radio trailer the audience needs someone to explain the different aspects of the film. The voice over tells us that The Conjuring was directed by the same person who directed the Saw movies and Insidious. These are both well known horror films and so could intrigue the audieence straight away as they may have liked the way the Saw films or Insidious were produced so decide to see The Conjuring as they have the same director.


Throughout the trailer the voice over is split up with clips of dialogue from the film. These short clips of dialogue give the audience a small insight into what might occur throughout the film and the main themes. For example in this radio trailer the dialogue 'What we have here is something inhuman' is used. This gives the audience an example that there will be horrific images that are unnatural, used in the film and that it may not be suitable for young children.

The radio trailer ends with 'The Conjuring in cinemas now, rated 15'  This gives the audience the information they need if they were planning on watching the film. It telles them that it is out now so that is available for them to see but also that the age rating is a 15 so children under this age cannot view the film. Some radio trailers include some of the top actors in the radio trailer but this one does not. This could be because there is no top billed cast in the film or just because they believe the film will gain a big enough audience through other marketing techniques.

Research into Radio Trailers

Radio trailer research

The conventions of a radio trailer are…
-Voice over, with hints of sound/speech from the film.
-Information at the end of the trailer, of viewing and certificate.
-The slogan to the film. -Sound effects when appropriate.
-The purpose is to persuade various audiences to watch the programme.

A radio trailer will be played through various radio stations depending on the subject of the trailer. An example of this is a animated film such as various Disney films, would not be displayed on a radio station such as Classic FM. All advertisements on the radio are played through a particular station all due to it's audience. However as short films are displayed at small film festivals such as Brief Encounters and not at a cinema, they are less likely to be advertised on the radio.

Film Radio Spots 2013 - Gravity & The Conjuring 

Gravity
The first trailer i looked at was Gravity, a Sci-Fi Thriller featuring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The trailer starts off and sets the scene of the film, in a walkie talkie radio sound some speaks to Houston the Nasa base. The trailer features a voice over detailing what critics were saying about the film. There is tense music in the background, connoting that the film is action packed and high tension. The advert mentions the leading actors in the film and the production company. There are snippets of the film in the trailer to draw in the audience.

The Conjuring
The second trailer i looked at was The Conjuring, a Horror featuring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. The trailer starts off with a voice over stating similar films that the director had directed. The trailer features a voice over detailing what critics were saying about the film. The voice over mentions that the film is out in cinema and that it is rated 15. There is eerie music in the background which adds to the suspense that the trailer has created and connotes the genre of the film. The use of sound from the film gives the listener an insight into the film and it could draw them in and get their attention. The name of the film is repeated throughout which will stick in the listeners mind.

Following the conventions of radio trailers and the examples from Gravity and The Conjuring, within our short film radio trailer we will follow the conventions and construct them to suit our film “Post It”. Using a voice over will enable our audience to here information about the film including the storyline and screening locations. We will have hints of dialogue taken from the short film to encourage the audience to watch the film, giving them an insight on what to expect. We will also have the voice over explaining where to view the short film. We will construct a script for our radio trailer for our voice over characters to read from. We will also have music from our short film playing in the background of the trailer, which is another convention that we found.

Character Profile

Character Profile

Name: Brandan
Age: 18
Nationality: English
HomeTown: Barnsley
Occupation: Student at Uni
Income: Part time Bartending Job
Talents/Skills: Football
Salary: N/A
Spouse: Selena Gomez, Girlfriend
Relationship Skills: level Headed, Firm but fair

Height: 6ft 1"
weight: 16 stone
Eye colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Black
Skin colour: White
How does he dress: Casual
Mannerisms: loud, Cheeky.
Health: Ok, Plays Football on a weekend
Hobbies: Gaming and Football
Greatest Flaw: Not Caring
Best Quality: Humour

Research into editing techniques

Elliptical: Elliptical editing is shortening the time that that sequence takes up within the film, this would be particularly useful within our short film as we have limited time to play with. Cuts, fades and dissolves are most commonly used during these montage like sequences as they connote the passage of time.



Montage: A montage is a series of shots that don't make total sense until near the end of them. They are often short shots and feature jump cuts in-between. We play to use a montage in our film as it would be a nice addition and add to the variety of shots used. Montages and elliptical editing are quite similar in nature with both showing a passing of time or a sequence of task being undertook and completed.

Parallel: Parallel editing is editing two shots next to each other showing the two sides of the action. This could be a villain plotting to take over New York while Spiderman has his dinner. These shots help to create suspense within the film and are often used. We also plan to have on in our film as we have a couple who both talk to their friends at the same time about their relationship issues.



Continuity: Continuity is the flow of the film. A break in continuity could ruin the immersion for the viewers and also show bad planning. An error in continuity could be characters clothes changing between shots, a watch changing or even little things such as the time on the clock or the level of daylight outside.

Continuity errors in various films