RESEARCH: AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

We make individual audience questionnaires tailored to our own film production work.
We use Google Forms, upload to the platform of our choice then present the data both in graphical form and in words, as you have asked questions that yield both quantitative and qualitative data.

Make your blog post outlining what you have done:

• use the title RESEARCH: AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE
• state that you used Google Forms and why it is so useful
• explain what was the aim of the questionnaire and where you intend to publish it
• comment on the kinds of questions that you asked, drawing attention to the fact that you wanted to research the target audience for the kind of film that you yourself and your production team were planning to make, in particular, the target age group
• how can you add an image of your form?

For Monday, please make a Scoop.it! account ready for the lesson.

Also, please complete outstanding tasks on the spreadsheet!

TV DRAMA: HOMELAND

We watch the opening of Series 1 Episode 2 and analyse film language.

Terminology to remember: match cut, parallel editing, low angle shot, motivated edit., verisimilitude, authenticity

Exam method: deal with each technical area in turn (so, all of mise-en-scene first, then camerawork, then editing then sound)

FILM INDUSTRY: SUNSET SONG

FILM INDUSTRY: SUNSET SONG

From the Producers of Sunset Song

Case study of independent, low-budget UK film: Sunset Song (director Terence Davies, 2016)

For the second half of the exam, we look at Sunset Song directed by Terence Davies and examine what made it a critical (artistic) success, its casting, the ways in which it shows a different funding model to Hollywood movies and the ways in which its themes are different from the 4S megafranchise model.

It was produced by Iris Productions, SellOut Pictures and Hurricane Films and backed by BFI, Creative Scotland, BBC Scotland and Luxembourg Film Fund.^[3]

Film review by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
BFI film review
Sunset Song was a UK/Luxembourg co-production part-financed by Creative Scotland, who awarded £450,000 towards the development of the film. 

To capture the beauty of the landscape, and showcase the Scottish locations as characters in their own right, the film-makers chose to shoot on 65mm film, a creative decision aimed at creating depth, clarity and emotional impact on the screen, on an Arri Alexa [a film-style digital camera].
The film received its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) - widely recognised as the most important film festival after Cannes - and screened in competition at the London Film Festival and the San Sebastian Film Festival.  It went on general release across the UK in early December 2015, to a string of 4 and 5 star reviews – Mark Kermode called it ‘a lyrical triumph’ – and Agyness Deyn was nominated for Most Promising Newcomer in the British Independent Film Awards 2015.

5 things about Sunset Song:

• Terence Davies as Britain's greatest living auteur: themes are often hardship and poverty of working class lives
• 'Filmic' quality: beauty and brutality: shot on 65mm using an Ari Alexa (film-style digital camera)
• Lyrical rural beauty of countryside (exteriors) contrasted with claustrophobic domestic conflict (indoors). First time Davies has focussed on outdoors: this meant expensive shoots in Scotland and New Zealand
• Literary adaptation from Lewis Grassic Gibbon's trilogy: on the eve of the Great War, a beautiful farmer's daughter endures the hardships of rural Scottish life as she comes of age
• Box office figures: it was a critical / artistic success, loved by 'prestige' audiences. Grossed approx. $160 thousand worldwide (Box Office Mojo)

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

We will use Google Forms to create an audience questionnaire.
First, decide what questions you want answered, such as these below.
Use the BFI Exit polls on the film '71 as a base.

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE: FILM

1.    What age are you?

Under 35

Over 35

2.    What gender are you?

Male

Female

3.    Do you watch the trailer before the film?

Yes

No

4.    Which of the following influence your choice? Tick any box that applies

News articles

Talk shows

Interviews

Reviews

and so on......

Have you asked some questions that relate specifically to the type of film that you yourself are planning to make?

You may have yes / no answers

A different follow-up question depending on yes / no answers

Tick all box answers

PRELIMINARY EXERCISES: LIGHTING

Experiment with creative lighting both in still shots and video. You can create amazing effects using task lighting (like an Anglepoise), torches, candles, direct sunlight, shadows.

By deliberately experimenting with lighting at this stage, you will realise how dramatic and artistic your final piece could be.

Photography by Sarah M

Contre jour (back lit)

Smoke machine and stage lighting

Music Video lighting

RESEARCH: FILMING & EDITING IN FINAL CUT

Make a post explaining this project: the brief, the filming, the editing (any challenges involved) plus photo. Take a screen shot or two of particularly challenging / interesting moments in your edit. Express yourself in an analytical rather than descriptive way. use screenshots and photos to illustrate. Comment on challenges that you faced, For instance:

Our brief was to film and edit a short opening sequence in order to practise working on title sequences for films. 

We had to work with an existing musical track Banana Pancakes and we chose a variety of props. Before embarking on the filming, we watched two opening sequences that used tracking shots with some rostrum shots: Delicatessen and Immortal Beloved.

Together as a team we filmed it using the Canon 650 camera. We used an elongated tracking shot to hover over the different objects that we had laid out. For our piece we used objects that help symbolise the seaside; we laid them out across a map which was used to hint at the travelling theme. Towards the end we added some live action to hold suspense for the viewer. 

We used Final Cut Pro to edit our preliminary exercise in which we edited a film opening with sound and titles to the soundtrack of Banana Pancakes. It was a new experience for all of us which helped us to develop our editing skills and increase our knowledge of the software. We used a variety of different fonts before finalising the one that we chose to use. We clicked the 'Title and Generators' button in the top-left corner of Final Cut Pro to generate our title. We found it challenging to find the perfect font to match our happy-go-lucky theme. 

PLANNING: TREATMENT

Write a treatment for your film opening.
Title of blog post: PLANNING: TREATMENT
Once I green light the treatment, you start the storyboard, shot list and call sheets. 

HOW TO WRITE A TREATMENT

A Treatment will normally contain a:

• Title:              A dynamic one. It seems obvious but a good title is often a sign of a solid central idea.
• Logline:         A powerful one or two-sentence statement of the idea being proposed (about 25 words).
• Synopsis:       A three paragraph synopsis outlining the idea in more detail (about 300 – 500 words).
• Characters:   Short descriptive outlines for each of the main characters