Our feedback that we were given

 

When our film opening was presented to the class, we were presented with both positive and negative feedback, I will now discuss the feedback we received. I will start with the positive comments. Over all our footage was told to be of a high standard, and people particularly had a preference for the use of the GO PRO footage which showed Point of View(POV)shots of both characters. The music for our opening was also liked and we were told it fit our opening well.

However as much as there was good points there were also bad points, or places we could improve our piece to make it that just a bit better. The title screen fonts were apparently not fitting for an action film and do need to be changed, and to also be matching too.
The fade into white at the end of the final POV shot was suggested to be black, which we agree with as it was our original idea to be black instead of white. Also the notion of our film having a '2 days earlier' kind of title at the end of our film has been taken on board an applied to our film to further the feeling of enigma.

We found the in class feedback to be very useful and insightful for further developing our film, and we hope our end product is of a high quality.

Our Sound Track

Students Previous Film Opening

Risk Assessment

 

Filming Update Video

Our Key Cast and Job Roles

Before we started filming we decided to divide each other into different job roles through what they can do best and preferences.

Film Director- A director is a person that oversees what everyone does on the film set. A director is usually very creative and help hugely to create a unique and original film. A movie director is good with working with others as they would work with the whole cast to get the film to his standard of filming. For our 2 minute film opening we have decided that our Director is going to be Ben Mcstay. We decided to chose him for the others because he is forward going and can talk to people if they have any problems. Another reason is that he can be very commanding towards other and that is what we need to help our film meet the standards of others.

Camera- A camera man is the person that holds the camera and operates the camera to record the footage. We also decided to have Ben Mcstay to operate the camera because he is good at creating different shots,movements and angles, this will allow the recording to be better as he can command what happens as being the director as well which will make the footage more accurate and become a better final product.

Film Producers- A movie producer starts his job from the birth of the films initial plot and idea, and overseas the whole project through till the distribution stage. The producer also does most of the preparation of the making of a film. The producers are interlinked with the director as their work that they have to do is similar. We all decided on a whole that we would all chip in, so we had 3 producers which gave a wider range of things that we could add to make the film (names: Ben Mcstay, Harry Weatheral and George Lewis).

Actors- Actors are the characters in the film that act. They normally get told what to do in the film and they also normally suit to a typical Genre. An actor portrays an character and/or situations to an audience through speech, body language and movement. We decided to have Harry Weatheral as he specialized in action films and watches them lots so he has great knowledge about Action; he also allows people to give him things like verbal feedback and instructions which is better than the others in the group. We also decided to bring someone from outside the group to act in our film opening (Josh Shardlow). We decided upon this because it shows that we have picked a person that specialized in the particular Genre and he also got great grades in his drama GCSEs which would help further.

Editor-An editor is a person that puts together all the recorded material into the final piece of filming which we are creating. This is another key role because he can determine how good the piece will be. We decided to choose George Lewis to take up the place as the editor because he is good with computers and he likes to do thinks like this in his spare time. We also decided to choose him as he has a set of skills specifically for editing.

Shooting Schedule

 

My Storyboard

Shot List

The script for my film opening

BBFC

 

The Pitch

In our pitch we discussed two of our film ideas of an action film genre. The first film idea we had is named Pursuit and the second is Abducted. Our primary target demographic is males under 35 and our second is males over 35.

When we finished reading our ideas we asked students that were observing our ideas if they have any questions and they gave us all good feedback about what they prefer and don't prefer. The majority of the students agreed that our second idea was better that the first, but they would also like to see moments in idea 1 in idea 2 because they said that it would strengthen the film. We were also given feedback on what could be added to our idea to sustain even further the genre. They told us that we should add a bird eye view shot to help improve the film, we will hopefully try to fit this in, in the film however, in some ways it may become quite expensive. Our teacher also told us that he didn't like that idea of a solider and much preferred a normal day to day man because audience start to wonder what has happened before creating enigma and then makes them want to watch on. Lastly we were told that Makeup and fake blood wouldn't suit the Action film because it may become gory and then move to the boundaries of a Horror film and they aren't as popular as Action.

In conclusion we have decided to take in account all the ideas that the students and the teacher has thrown at us. And we are thinking about using the birds eye view shot. Also not to have the gun shot wound and also not to have the soldier. We are lastly going to combine both ideas that my group and I thought of to help make the most of our ideas.

The Target Audience Member Profile

 

For my demographic member, I have decided to choose my distant family member Bob Johnson. He is a sales assistant at Top Man in Nottinghamshire. He is in the C1 class category, he is of the appropriate age of 28 which is in our Target Audience request, he is also married and has a baby boy of 4 months. At the weekend I went over to his house to do some shooting I took the opportunity to interview him. The sort of questions I asked him where: What music do you like, brands and what does he do in his spare time. I also asked him what does he like to be in an action film and what he doesn't like to be in one. I shall be using this information to gather a big picture of what the perfect demographic person likes and want's.


Films and Genre
When I question Bob what type of Genre he likes, he said that he likes a combination of Horror and Action. I then asked him following from this what films he likes or prefers and he said that he like Scream, Paranormal Activities and Red Dragon.

Action Films

What he likes in Action films
When I asked him what he liked in Action film, he said that he thinks that lots of props (guns/knifes) are key to make up an Action film, also special effects like explosions and etc. He thinks that lighting must be natural to make the film realistic and lastly the start must be interesting and have a background to help me get a feel for the film/ its purpose. In some ways he likes some humour to help the film flow as well.

What he doesn't like in Action films
He said to me that he doesn't like to see much or not any romance in Action films because he said that it defeats the purpose of a good Action film, also not to much blood because it makes it looked really gory and finally he hates things that don't make sense in anyway at all.  

Favourite Action films
His perfect/ favourite example of his Action film is Shooter, Saving Private Ryan and various Die Hard films.

The music that he prefers
When I spoke to him he said that he enjoys listening to upbeat music. He likes this type of music because it adds the effect on the way he sees things in life. Also because it gives a dramatic punch in his emotions.

Things that he likes to do in his spare time
he likes to do more active things like sports which in his opinion makes him feel like a more forward going person. he also likes watching a variety of different movies at the cinema because he says that it can make him more relaxed in some cases.

Where I would market my film
I would market my film by advertising it through the media like my local radio station or newspaper. this would help to give people an idea about and may help to attract more readers to watch it. I would then present my film by showing it through the local cinema.

Film Opening ideas

1^st Film Opening Idea

Soldier running through the woods persuade by two armed men. One of the villains falls behind and other continues pursuit, whilst trying to shoot the soldier and shoots his hip. When he releases he is out of bullets he drops his weapon to the ground. The soldier is wounded therefore he isn’t able to run as fast, the villain catches up with him tackles him down to the ground and punches him one with his right in the face and second time camera falls to the ground like of a point of view shot still hearing the punches in the background and blood trickling on the forest floor.

The first camera shot we shall take will be of the soldier running past the camera and then pan to the left tracking the soldier. Then keeping that position we will have the two villains run past after him. We will then go into a tracking shot if possible of the villains and the soldier. Then a shot just on the villains when one of the gives up the chase then one of the soldier still running. Then going back to the villain with a point of view shot showing the back of the villain and the solider, the villain who is still continuing the pursuit and tries to shoot the soldier and hits his leg so a long shot of the soldier being shot and wounded at the hip. Then back to the villain who goes to grab another cartridge but realises he has none left. So a mid shot of him dropping the gun. With a match on action of soldier limping and the villain catching up on him. Then a long shot wear the soldier gets talked by the villain. We then have a point of view shot from the soldiers perspective showing the villain punching him. Then the camera falls on its side show the blood from the soldier.

2^nd Film Opening Idea

The setting is in a wood in the middle of day, the weather is dry and over cast/fairly dull. A panning shot moves across the woods and switches to a long shot of another part of the wood, giving the impression of emptiness and isolation. Then the sound of footsteps becomes present and a man runs past a the camera, a jump cut moves to a shot from behind the man as he is running away from the camera. A gunshot is heard in the distance whilst a shot of the man running towards the camera is used. A collection of shots show him running until he stops to catch his breath and take in his surroundings. A close shot of his face shows his distressed emotions and sense of panic as he looks behind and sees his pursuer, briefly the man stares as the guy runs after him. The pursuit is then back on when the first runner is tackled to the ground and there is a fit as the last scene reveals the chaser.

My Groups Primary and Secondary Audiences for Action films

The first person we interviewed was in our chosen target audience demographic, males under 35. Our chosen interviewee was Mr Higgins, a teacher at our school, we also had a student (Andrew) who also represented this audience. As expected both people chosen to represent our chosen target audience shared similar view on action films, and what they both like in their favourite action film. A few of the things that our primary audience favoured were themes such as, a typical 'Good Guy' and 'Bad Guy' and Bruce Willis as their favourite action actor.

In our first interview with Mr Higgins he told us that he liked action films for the fast paced action, explosions and that his favourite action film was Die Hard, this being a film that meets most typical conventions of an action film. After listening to Mr Higgins' comments we have decided to include actions, and some violence in our film opening. By doing this we hope to further appeal towards our target audience demographic. We learnt from both Andrew and Mr Higgins that too much romance & bad story writing in the film lead to disaster and a poor film, and so we hope to avoid both of these things. 

After we interviewed the people in our Primary target audience, we looked at our secondary demographic which was males over the age of 35. The two people we interviewed for this were again teachers, Mr Cutts and Mr Johnson. Firstly we interviewed Mr Cutts who also was a fan of action films but preferred different things to those in our Primary demographic. Mr Cutts told us how he usually expects the Villain in an action film to be either English or Eastern European such as 'Hans' from Die Hard who was East German. 

 

 

 

In contrast to our primary audience though he preferred a small amount of violence used in an action film and felt it un-needed. In response to this comment we will not feature too much 'over the top' violence, but perhaps enough to still keep our primary audience interested during the film openning. Another contrast between our two demographic groups centered around romance. Our primary audience felt it to be a downfall of some action films and un-needed. Where as when we interviewed Mr Johnson who was another teacher over the age of 35, he felt romance to be a good aspect of an action film, an example he gave us was the James Bond film 'Her Majersty's secret Service'. 

 

In our film openning we will not feature any romance or romantic themes as we feel this would spoil any action sequences, and put off our primary audience. Our secondary demographic would not find this a problem as romance is not seen as their favourite theme in an action film

 

 

 

Box Office-Action films

This here is the top grossing Genres from 1995-2012. As you can see the Genre that i'm doing in my group which is Action is 4th in the top grossing Genre out of 14. Action has a Market Share of 16.81% and according to the table the top 4 are all close together with a difference of around 7%. If the table was based on the Average Gross then action films would be 2nd.

The table below shows the top Grossing Movies between 1995-2013. As you can see, the Top Grossing Movie is Avatar with a Total Gross of $760,507,625. All of these films are Action films and the Lowest total gross in this table is $190,418,803, so this tells me that lots of people watch Action films.

This graph below shows the Ticket Sold and the Market Share between 1995-2013. By reading from this diagram i can see that Tickets Sold have always been higher than the Market Shares. Action movies have had a high percentage on average, however there have been some highs and lows according to the graph. There were highs in 1997, 2003 and 2008/9. But the lows are in the years of 1999, 2004, 2006 and slightly dipped in 2010. This graph tells me that it will be good to do an Action film because the Tickets Sold and the Market Share are high and still rising and also because they are both equally the same unlike the other years.

Below is an Action film (The Dark Knight Rises) that I have looked at which gave me an idea of what I should do as a Genre. It also has told me if it is a popular film or not. Im going to compare it with a Horror movie of my choice which is Scream 2. Scream was produced in 1997 and The Dark Knight Rises was produced in 2012. By looking at these two films straight away I can see that there is a large difference between the two film Genres. For example the Total Gross for Scream 2 was $103,046,663 and the Total Gross for The Dark Knight Rises was $448,139,099. This gives me a reason to do Action over other genres like Horror because it has a higher Total Gross which makes me think that it is more popular. In The Dark Knight Rises they use Props to their advantage. For example the mask for bain and the mask of the batman creates the many feelings that are produced in the story of the film.

The film below is an Action film that I have looked at to research my Genre. As I can see it has a large rating on the film (7.7/10) which tells me that it must be a good film. So this gives me a feeling that people like watching films like this which are Action films. In the image shows lots of characters which suggests to me that I need lots of characters in my groups film opening. I have been given the impression that I should use low key lighting due to the image being low key and suggesting how good a film it is. There are lots of people in this image which suggests that there is lots going on which makes me think that I should do the same in mine to get the same effect that this film has given.

 I have also looked at this film to give me a feel of what to expect when I do my group film opening. This also has a high rating (8.2/10) which also tells me that Action is enjoyed by viewers. This image also shows a lot of characters and lots going on within the image which tells me that it is going to be exciting. To ensure that I get the same excitement this film gets of an action film I must do the same by making lots of effects and having lots of characters which are best suited to the genre that I will do in my group. I will have to make sure that I use the right Lighting, Mise-en-Scene, Actors, Props, Costumes and Sounds to sustain this.

 

Analysis of Action Genre

UK Film Council Audience Research

My group and I have decided to do our film in the Genre Action. To help define our target audience we researched data on what Genres are enjoyed most from the members of the public. We also did this to establish our target demographic.

In this table below I can see that Action has a high amount of people that watch Action films with a percentage of 50%. In my film it may involve some adventure which has a high percentage of viewers as well with 60%.










In general according to the data below males (under 35= 57%/ over 35= 62%) enjoy watching Action films than women (under 35= 52%/ over 35=35%). Males under 35 don't enjoy watching them as much as males over 35 with a percentage difference of 5%. However women under 35 enjoy watching Action films than women over 35 with a percentage difference of 17%.

 

The Genre that im going to do is Action and by this data below it shows that it is quite a popular film category. According to this data 20% of people rate this film as their favourite and the highest percentage overall is 31% which is only 11% higher. It is also 4th highest out of 27 different types of Genre.

From this data below, shows that Action films are quite popular. Mostly men prefer Action as there favourite over women. Males under 35 (37%) consider Action films as there favourite and over 35 (25%). This tells me that under 35 males consider that Action films are their favourite films. However women under 35 (20%) consider Action films as their favourite and over 35 (10%). This tells me that my group should try and aim it at people in general under 35.

Having looked at all the data above my group and I should look at aiming my film opening at males mainly under 35 and in some ways women under 35.

The group that im working with and Genre.

For my film opening im going to work in a group with Harry Weatheral and Ben Mcstay. The Genre that we are hoping to do as a group is Action. As a group we chose this Genre because we are all interested in the Action movies and would like to explore it further. In my opinion I think this is my favourite Genre because I prefer more forward going scenes plus guns and violence.

Film Analysis of an Action Film and its Conventions

Film Opening Conventions

Brief

The titles and openings of a new action film to last a maximum of two minutes