Audience feedback - Rough cut 2

This some audience feedback from my dad who is in our secondary target audience. My dad is 53 years of age, he is a male and comes from a mixed ethnic background. He reiterated the point that this rough cut needed audio to enhance the opening.

Rough cut No.2

This is our second rough cut which features most of the footage which we want. However this rough cut does not include any music and the audio needs sorting out within the film massively. There is still a lot of work to do but we are making progress. I believe at this point we have all of the needed clips to make a final version. In terms of being an editor I believe that this series of short clips is what is needed and is what I have chosen. This rough cut lacks audio which would enhance any of the emotions given off to the viewers. This will then therefore enhance the entertainment of the viewer. This copy needs also to be made perfect in terms of removing all little mistakes regarding timing etc.

Production update 2

After having a discussion with with Sir, we have, as a group, concluded that more content in terms of footage is required. We need to obtain footage which will be useful for cut away shots to help the transitions between scenes. We have also decided to film more of my face to allow the viewer to get to know the character and understand his emotions better with the use of close up shots on the face. Also a shot of the two protagonists is required at the end to add to the emotions trying to be perceived. So far in terms of what we already have and what we have learned, we have a good amount of footage which is the starting point in regards to making the short film opening look professional and to a high standard. We are all aware that the opening will require more footage but we believe we have made a prompt start and are now able to focus on areas of improvement. We have all had a good taste of using the technical equipment such as cameras and microphones. This equipment can now be used by us more efficiently in the future to create media which will be aesthetically pleasing. Overall I am pleased with the amount of progress made by me and my other group members and if we keep at this work ethic I believe we will succeed in making a very professional film opening.

Exam Question

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products in the media area you have studied.

In this essay I am going to be writing about how companies such as Working Title market and promote their films through digital technologies. Digital technologies can be defined as: 'electronic tools, systems, devices and resources that generate, store or process data.' Examples of these with specific regards to Film include social media, Websites and even advertisements on T.V. These examples are very effective in todays society based on the fact that Digital technologies are not only used globally but are used on average in every home in the developed world. This is therefore the most effective as it enables the companies to promote these films to a wider audience increasing knowledge of its release and therefore possibly improve popularity of the film which in turn is beneficial in a variety of ways such as potential increasing the revenue provided and the reputation of the film companies involved such as distributors and production companies.

I have closely followed a study of a typical successful film: Star Wars: The force awakens.
This film uses digital technologies to its advantage to help publicise the film and make the general public of the uk aware of its presence within the film industry. Star wars have had clips go viral starring a new and controversial star: John Boyega. John is a black male from Peckham, London who some have seen as not being suitable of a film of this nature. Because of this Star Wars have been able to channel this acknowledgement into making everyone aware of the film through social media sites such as Facebook and Youtube. The debate over social media to whether the star is suitable or not has been an advantage to them in the sense that it has increased awareness of the film and due to many people siding with Star Wars on the star selection has also increased popularity. Star Wars has used many digital medias such as advertisements on t.v and radio, also the their overall presence on social media sites has given them an advantage from a marketing perspective. Because star wars: the force awakens is the 7th movie in the star wars trilogy, digital marketing did not have to be heavily funded due too the existing awareness of star wars being one of the most renowned trilogies to date. Therefore other people have blatantly unconsciously aided their marketing campaign to achieve their own financial gain, which in turn is a win win situation for the films awareness.

Budget

$200,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend

$247,966,675 (USA) (20 December 2015) (4,134 Screens)
€2,420,122 (Netherlands) (20 December 2015) (190 Screens)
€936,080 (Portugal) (20 December 2015) (161 Screens)


Another film which I have closely analysed is a very contrasting sinister comedy by Warp Films called 'Four Lions'. As this film is produced by Warp it is immediately clear hat the budget in comparison is very different to that of Star Wars. Four Lions did therefore blatantly not invest as much money into its promotion and marketing due to the small scale of the  film. Four lions however was more successful than intended at the box office due to its taboo nature and the boundaries in which is ventured over. This film like many over indies, promoted it's film via means such as: Trailers – Four Lions has one trailer that has been carefully thought out showing the best, funniest and most exciting bits of the film. Media Advertising – Trailers, Internet social media such as Facebook and Twitter. 

Opening Weekend

$41,512 (USA) (7 November 2010) (8 Screens)
£608,608 (UK) (9 May 2010) (115 Screens)

In terms of customer consumption both films are viewed in similar ways, they are/will both be available on DVD, they have also both been in cinemas despite Star Wars having a showing in pretty much every cinema in the world. This clearly demonstrates the contrast between the two companies.

In conclusion to this essay I have found that digital technology is used a lot for the advantage of increasing awareness and promoting the film itself

Blog improvements

I have received detailed feedback from my teacher Mr Van Zomerplaag on how to improve my blog in order to make it better.

I received the following feedback: Milo, overall I’m really happy with many aspects of the blogging work you’ve done so far, nearly everything has been included and there are no serious omissions, well done. I’d like to see some more analysis of similar films to the one you are making so that there is evidence of using these to inform your own work. Make sure you add all of the planning documents, even the ones you have’t been directly responsible for (I’m thinking storyboards) and make sure that from here, you keep a regular production log including rough cuts, and notes on your experiences whilst filming. Make sure that you also keep the basics like audience expectations in mind whilst writing about your own production. Your idea is good and I’m looking forward to seeing the final production.

After receiving this particular feedback I have consequently made a number of changes to my blog in regards to the feedback. An example of this is the added analysis of harry brown which is a fellow social realistic film which has the added similarities of an age range between main characters. I will in future do further analysis on social realist film openings to help me overcome problems I might face in regards to the production in it. I have made also included all of the planning documents which are being used for 'Abridged' and I have also been updating my blog in regards to progress being made. 

Audience feedback - Rough cut 1

This is our audience feedback from our secondary target audience as Tom's mum Jude, is a woman in her 50's. She reiterated that the films narrative was easily explored and understood as the themes were blatantly represented.

Rough cut No.1

This is our first film opening rough cut, We have some good initial footage which I believe has some potential in regards to making a good opening of a film. The footage however has limitations in many aspects and to be honest I think more footage is required if the opening is going to be great. Therefore I believe we have had a good start but a lot more work is to be done if we are going to attain a good grade in this part of the coursework. This footage from the eyes of the editor is not sufficient in regards to making a complete version. This means I will require more shots of a larger variation of angles, such as cut away shots to enhance the transitional aspects of the movie. This will therefore enable the movie to be more fluent. I also will require more audio to help enhance the movie further.

Storyboard

This story board was created by Tom (AtkoStudios)

Production update 1

In regards to production over the christmas holidays, there has unfortunatley not been any advancement in filming and actually geting the production finished. This is due too a mishap which involved absences which was unavoidable. Nevertheless this setback will not inhibit our production any further and we, as a group will continue to put in effort to assure the completion of this project.
In order to complete this we will set out specific dates in which we will film, edit etc. The dates have not yet been decided but this is the first thing on our metaphorical 'to do list'. These dates will be decided promptly. Once the dates are decided we will get straight on with the filming and hopefully have the project completed asap.