What makes a film British

A film is British if:

• the movie is financed in Britain
• they have shots which show that the film is set in Britain
• most of the main cast are from Britain
• director and crew are British
• British story and plot
• realistic plot and characters

Review on Media Related Sites

Britfilms

Britfilms is targeted at people new to the filming industry. It site gives valuable information to film makers interested in making a film in the UK, including where they can get funding. They also give out careers advice and outline training courses.

The site features an online data-base of British films (features and shorts) from 1998 onwards. They also have a data-base on British feature film directors, which also include filmographies, biographies and links.

They also give information on over 300 British films currently under production.

The company has a scheme which allows short film makers to show their work in festivals. these films must be under 45 minutes long and be less than a year old.

Two interesting things:

• it supplies a rich source of information I can refer to if i should go into film making

• The site highlights the possibility of getting recognised at an amateur film maker

 [BFI]

BFI (the British Film Institute) promotes the understanding and appreciation of British Film. They run a range of activities and services. They also hold a large collection of film and television, over 1 million titles.  BFI screens over 1,000 films per year and holds the largest screen in England. They hold the annual film festival as well as the lesbian and gay film festival.

The BFI also publish a monthly magazine called sight and sound which reviews a variety of new release, books on film and television and release films and television on DVD/ Blue ray.

They run a series of programs which educate people of a range of ages on film education. They also hold resources online and in print to support film education. Another film information facility they have is the BFI national library, which holds 46,000 books, 5,000 periodical titles and over 2 million newspaper cuttings on film and television. They have an online encyclopedia of British film and television. 

 Two interesting things:

• the educational events offered
• the events to hold which allow people to show their work

[Netribution]

Retribution is similar to a blogging site that allows users to critique British movies and television.  They host various competitions where users can enter in order to meet people who have successful careers in the filming industry.

Two interesting things:

• The site allows normal people to publish their opinion online for others to view

• The interviews they provide on people in the filming industry

[ukfilmcouncil]

The UK film council is a government backed company which ensures that economic, cultural and education aspects of film are represented at home and abroad. They fund a number of third parties across the UK. Their support develops new filmmakers, funds new British films and gets s a wider choice of films to audiences thought the UK. They also invest in the training of people who wish to work in the industry in order to promote Britain as an international filming location.

Two interesting things:

•  The extent at which their funding helps the filming industry
• the opportunities they give to non-mainstream films

Breakdown Sheet

This breakdown sheet gives information on all the details on filming our horror movie opening.

Film Distributors : )

What does a film distributor do?
a film distributor is a company or individual who release films to the public in theaters or through home viewing.

3 Film distributors

Pixar animation films:

• Toy Story
• A Bugs Life
• Monsters, Inc
• Finding Nemo
• The Incredibles
• Cars
• Ratatouille
• WALL-E
• Up

Colombia:

• Spider Man
• Stuart Little
• Men In Black
• Peter Pan
• Terminator
• Hell Boy
• The Grudge
• Hitch
• The Legend of Zorro
• The Karate Kid

20th century fox films:

• Star Wars
• Alien
• Dr. Doolittle
• Night At The Museum
• Ice Age
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• X-Men
• Avatar

20th century fox would consider distributing our film for a number of reasons. Firstly, they have distributed films similar in style to ours, our film also requires good graphics and the plot idea is unique from the usual films they release, this could broaden their viewing audience.

Jelly Beans

credit: The La Retraite Media Company

in the shot a young woman is looking into a mirror doing her hair.

credit: A Tania Valaythen and Ella Cronin production

The villains shoe steps towards the camera.

credit: BALHAM'S BUTCHER

A look of wonder flashes across the young womans face

credit: Starring Ella Cronin

The young woman walks towards the mysterious creeking sound

What i learnt from the openings for se7ven and Vertigo

Making a timeline for the movies Se7ven and vertigo allowed me to understand the level of importance of the people in the movie. There were some who were put in the very beginning by themselves and then others whom were grouped together towards the end. There was also a significant difference between the time each person got depending on how important they were.

As a total, analysing the opening has given us a sense of what order we should put the credits in.

what i have learnt from the preliminary task

Whilst working on the preliminary task, it allowed us to develop a lot of the basic skills necessary in movie making through out the story boarding, filming and editing.
whilst drawing the story you board we came across a few problems. one of these was that the characters features constantly changed. This problem meant people outside our group were unable to understand what was happening in each scene. We overcame the problem by redrawing the characters to make their features more clear.
Through filming the task we also began to face problems with our time management. We were unable to finish filming the task. When we wanted to finish filming it we noticed that our clothing and setting  had changed . This meant that we had to re-film from he beginning. This taught us that we needed to make sure the costumes were the same throughout so we don't have continuity problems and cause the audience confusion.

When editing the task we were able to experiment with the tools to create different effects. We also learnt how to cut them, put them into different orders, add sound effects and adding credits.

As a whole the task gave us mind set we needed in order to avoid problems in the future, increasing the preparation for our movie opening.

the opening sequence

[BATMAN 1989]
The opening of Batman starts with the camera shot pointing from the sky downwards towards the creepy remains of a mansion or castle. The lighting is eerie and dark which gives off creepy vibes. The music playing throughout the opening is dramatic classical music which makes the audience feel as though something amazing will happen during the movie. It also fits the location of the beginning, as classical music has been played for many years. The music becomes more dramatic and fast paced as the words "BATMAN" appear on the screen. The camera weaves through dark stony passageways as if it is the audience walking with the camera, this gives them the feeling that they don't know what is coming around the corner.

[EDWARD SCISSORHANDS]
The intros lighting is dark and dimly lit. The objects that are seen all give off a spooky blue glow, resembling moon light. The only sound is the choir and classical music playing in the background, which changes pace from time to time. The music seems creepy and gives off a fairytale quality because of the images.
The camera shot moves from stone stairs to an old wooden door which opens as the camera moves onwards. This gives off the feeling that the audience is being welcomed into a different world than what they are used to. A series of strange objects and machinery are shown as the credits play. The writing also contrast greatly on the dark background.

[SAMURAI CHAMPLOO]
This opening mixes traditional Japanese art and anime with modernday hip hop music. The music is calm and dreamy, which goes with the colours they use in the opening. Sudden movements will only come into view when the beat comes in. This creates a flowing feeling to the intro.

feedback on our presentation

[presentation on our media opening]

negative feedback:

• we were told that the plot of our movie opening covered to much, resembling a short movie.
• we couldn't use the song we wanted as it was copyrighted
• we had to make the gender of our killer more obvious

positive feedback:

• we have the recipe for the blood and our props sorted out
• we has thought carefully about our location
• the opening is well thought out

our horror movie plot opening

Our Plot:
the opening starts with girl getting dressed to attend a Halloween party. as she is putting on her makeup she hears the floorboards creaking. she assumes this is her mother and approaches the noise (this noise happens to be the killer approaching her). the killer retreats at this point as she goes to look for her mother downstairs,calling for her. she gives up looking for her as she smells burning. she immedetly goes to the kitchen. the killer comes up behind her and hits her behind the head. the shot blacks out. she wakes up in and unknown area surrounded by trees and halloween decorations. her visions blurs out and studenly the killer is standing over her and says "Wellcome to the party... :)"

The Conventions of Horror Films!!

Conventions are things that the audience expects to find in a movie. Conventions of a horror movie are:

• villains (killer) [Freddy VS Jason VS Michael VS Chucky VS Leatherface VS Hannibal]
• the feeling of being hunted down like prey
• a spooky setting, such as a haunted or abandoned house
• blood/ gore/ intestines [gore compilation]
• using the light to convey feelings
• evil/ demons/ dark magic/ aliens
• creepy music that jumps from a slow pace to a faster one
• turning something innocent into something evil
• the characters being family based
• epidemics
• anticipation
• driving good people into insanity/ giving them difficult moral decisions
• threat of going to hell
• good special effects
• something evil being passed down or tied to you
• the main characters losing all the good they had in their lives
• exorcisms [exorcism]
• torture equipment
• the past coming back to haunt characters
• screaming [SCREAMING]
• dumb blond chick
• stupid split second decisions that make the audience anticipate something bad

[Transworld clowns]


[Dancing Clown]


[prop 1] 

[prop 2]

analysis of sound in the opening sequence of "Scream"

• why are sounds and music effective?
• why have they been used?
• personal opinion on sequence
• ambient sound

The opening of the movie starts with disturbing screams with a heartbeat overlapping a phone ring and slashing noises. The heartbeat gives off the feeling of being in shock when your life has been put in danger whereas the slashing noises warns the viewers that there will be an immense amount of scenes of a disturbing nature.

The movie begins in an environment with a calm atmosphere, but this is soon interrupted when the phone begins to ring loudly. This may suggest that the person ringing may be of great relevance in the movie. As the phone repeatedly rings the music gradually begins to get louder and louder as the situation worsens for the victim. This gives the audience the impression that the problem will not go away. The music also gives off the impression that the villain will begin to do worst things than taunt her over the phone, as it gradually begins to become harsher then from what it was when she began to become suspicious of the villain.

As the sociopath begins to show his true colours, the music gives thunderous outburst as she is running, then transcends into more eerie sounds when there is no communication being passed between the two characters. This builds up the tension making the audience feel shocked when the music suddenly becomes loader.