Coursework PITCHES

As part of the ongoing effort to simplify and streamline, I've put the key points into a Word doc, but there's a lot more in this post and others linked below.

AS pitch preparation from DB3igs

Every post on genre (so therefore also the whole DBHorror blog too!) is useful for this; definitely read this post for one.

You will be filmed pitching. The footage is mainly for your benefit; one of the many multimedia features your blog will be able to boast. You can find footage from past pitches + the Q+A that followed on some past student blogs.

Following Qs from 2010 pitches, I wrote this post answering Qs about 'working titles' and use of copyright music. You can also find commercial filmmakers using YouTube to pitch.

If your pitch isn't of satisfactory quality you will be barred from working with anyone else, a serious disadvantage. You will be asked to re-pitch.
You won't be allowed more than one mouse click - any supporting visual/audio aids need to be put into one video or Ppt file (animated, self-timed if Ppt). You can if you wish pre-record your pitch and play this vid as your pitch!

TIME: 90secs
Its easy to caught out with this, and fail to deliver your full pitch with your timing you should practice your timings!!!
Think carefully about what to include, and what to exclude; you don't want to rush through everything and lose impact. Equally, it will look rather bad if you finish 45secs in.

FORMAT: verbal pitch

OPENING EG: Billy Elliot TBC

I'll set this out as you might if doing a detailed single-film analysis. In future I'd start just by copy/pasting the formatted text/links from this post, so I don't need to waste time re-doing formatting that I've already done (just change the link/text).

Billy Elliot

Stephen Daldry, 2000 (BBFC 15)

# OF IDENTS + OPENING DURATION: 2  4:41

• PRODUCTION: BBC Films, Tiger Aspect Pictures, Working Title Films
• DISTRIBUTION: Universal Pictures, Focus Features

CRITICS: RottenTomatoes.com 85%; IMDB 7.7; Roger Ebert 3*.

BUDGET: £3m;   BOX OFFICE: UK £73m    US $22m    World: $109m

LINKS: Wiki; YT trailer; IMDB; boxofficemojo. Universal site. WT page. WT musical page. Guardian.

1: IDENTS
1st: Universal. 20secs

The classic ident. Notably longer as the parent company of WT/StudioCanal. Orchestral music, especially brass. Quite sophisticated CGI for revolving globe. Prominent URL. Fades in/out.

2nd: StudioCanal 15secs

Missing the usual audio. Relatively simple text FX only. Fades out.

Notable that the actual main production company (WT/WT2) gets no ident

2: AUDIO, MUSIC

DDD

3: TITLES

See below (1st SHOT) for the opening intertitle, a small, plain sans-serif font, all upper case and white on a black background, clearly connoting serious drama rather than comedy, and perhaps an odd choice if a young audience is really the core target audience. That young audience are unlikely to grasp the significance of the 'Durham Coalfield, North East England, 1984' - placing the film in the midst of the bitter miners' strike which saw a right-wing government (Thatcher) seek to brutally smash the trade unions.

Titles appear in this order. Timing is irregular: there is a lengthy gap between titles 2 and 3.

WORKING TITLE FILMS

AND BBC FILMS

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND PRESENT [over 3 lines]

A TIGER ASPECTS PICTURES PRODUCTION

4: 1^ST SHOT

We 1st get an inter-title anchoring the time + place, for 6secs

Immediate social realist conventions. Older UK viewers would recognise the time and place as linked to the miners' strike

When the hands come into focus the short nails are evident

We fade in from 0:42 to an incredibly long take of a CU of a record player and a pair of hands picking up an LP and sliding the (T. Rex, 70s glam rock, so likely the boy's parents' record - and the sleeve is well worn to denote it as an older record) record out, putting it on, and bringing the needle over - initially to the wrong place. Diegetic sound only until this take finally ends, though while we can see the legs jumping there is no clear diegetic sound of any trampoline/bed or simply jumping and landing, so we effectively end up without diegetic sound once the record has started playing.

The framing use of focus creates ambiguiety over gender identity: we can't see shorts or skirt, or footwear, clearly enough

The only initial signifier of gender is the very short nails, though the shallow field of focus means the character's legs and clothing/footwear are difficult to distinguish when the unidentified character dances. The use of the T Rex album cover reinforces the impression that androgyny is being connoted, glam rocker Marc Bolan being quite an effeminate figure. 

The record sleeve is worn; its a 70s record (so the boy's parents'); Bolan was androgynous...

the androgynous 70s glam rocker Marc Bolan

shot 2: very tight, shallow focus

Shot 2 gives us a slo-mo CU of his face with a very tight, shallow focus on his face, the slo-mo helping to create an immediate link between dancing and pleasure for this character and perhaps signifying he is a bit of a dreamer. The song lyric, I was dancing when I was 12, again suggests dancing is a key theme - and the focus will be on the young boy as the central protagonist, a smart means of providing this exposition.

The tight physical space of the room also denotes a working class home, as does his simple short, back and sides haircut. 

The take continues to 1:23, an unusual 41sec opening take.

5: MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION

6: NARRATIVE/PROTAGONIST

7: AUDIENCE + REPRESENTATION

8: GENRE SIGNIFICATION

9: TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM

10: EXCEPTIONS/UNCONVENTIONAL EXAMPLES

Film Openings: What to blog on

I have covered this in much greater detail, including many examples, here. This is an abbreviated version where I've picked out a dozen key factors. There are of course others you could think about, and these categories considerably overlap ... but I hope this will help to really narrow down what to look for.

DENOTED DOZEN: KEY FEATURES OF FILM OPENINGS TO ANALYSE

1: IDENTS - how many; how long are these; what company type/s are featured: distributor, production?

2: 1ST SHOT - Discussing the semiotics, including Detailed denotation: what exposition is provided/withheld? Is it faded in? How long is the 1st take? Static or moving camera?

• Don't twist your analysis to fit the genre, it doesn't always match the genre so neatly!
• Consider exposition, narrative enigma, (non-)diegetic sound, anchorage/polysemy - sound is relevant as well as mise-en-scene.
• Is the camera static or moving (does the shot/framing change?).
• What does this shot lead into?
• Looking ahead, you could apply Todorov's narrative model (equilibrium).

Film Opening EG Atonement (Joe Wright, 2007)

opening 2mins/titles of...
ATONEMENT
(Joe Wright, 2007)
Produced by Working Title (+2); distribution: Universal
Budget:$30m
Box Office: $130m (world); $51m (USA), £11.5m

SUMMARY: A somewhat quirky (postmodern parody?) opening in which at least one central protagonist is firmly anchored, and signifiers abound of wealth, privilege and orderliness. Typical WT in some regards, although could be taken for another British production company and brand: Merchant Ivory.

PREVIOUS POSTS THAT REFERENCE ATONEMENT:
WT's relationship with NBC-Universal; WT box office history to 2010; Convergence + Digitisation; Paul/Avatar essay guide; Some thoughts on the digitisation effect; Social realism.

THE OPENING (YOUTUBE):


SHOT BY SHOT BREAKDOWN:

Blogging on sound in film openings

KEY TERMINOLOGY: NON-/DIEGETIC; AUDIO BRIDGE; ANCHORAGE; EXPOSITION; AMBIENT

Before planning and producing your own film opening, you should seek to research - and evidence this investigation - every aspect of film openings: narrative structure, idents, titles (credits and exposition), representations, audience targeting, genre signifying, mise-en-scene and verisimilitude, cinematography, editing, influence of budget, sound etc
Many of these elements could be investigated/discussed at the same time
The key to this is viewing a range of examples, taking notes and screenshots, and then presenting your findings in the form of well-illustrated blog posts and/or brief vodcasts. Screenshots (and occasionally short video sequences recorded using tools such as VLC - too long and it'll get banned from YT) are absolutely key, and should be saved too in named folders for re-use with your Evaluation and later posts explaining where your ideas come from.

This video assembles the titles of the Scream movies, which show that music isn't always the best means of signifying genre or setting a mood; a montage of sounds can work at least as well if mixed skilfully.

Titles + Idents in Films vodcast task

This 2012 production took inspiration from Scream for its titles...

For this task each of you will examine two films. You then need to compare your findings with at least 1 other classmate, tho you can do so with as many as you like so long as all your examples end up in the vodcast. I want each of you to look at different examples: 1st come 1st served - I'll list the films selected at the bottom of this post.

I'd like each of you to create a simple vodcast on Titles + Idents in Film Openings.

Very simply, detail the idents that appear in each of the films (when listing the films, provide director, year, budget + box office summary) and then the titles that appear at the start of film as part of the film opening (which may mean at the conclusion of the opening - titles often appear once the sequence is concluded and, common with slashers, we start to pick up a second character travelling to the scene of the killing we've just seen).

IDENTS Creating yours!

KEY FEATURES OF AN IDENT:

1. COMPANY NAME
2. JINGLE/SOUND
3. GRAPHIC/VIDEO
4. ANIMATION

Following these 2 vodcasts you will find a further breakdown of what an ident is, its appearance (or media language) and examples from the industry and past students. You should also look at the post for the titles/idents vodcast task.
CREATING AN IDENT USING LIVETYPE: JC VODCAST

FILM OPENINGS VODCAST1: IDENTS (DB)


One of the features the exam board (and general viewers via YT + events such as the Creative Arts Evening) most highly praise about AS work is the company idents featured at the start of them.

One of last year's wackier idents!

Each of you will be creating a company ident, so you'll need to blog (evidence Research + Planning) on the following (the individual post titles are in red):

Standalone Company blogs

You should set up a company blog to represent your group production company; a fresh ident + logo for this would obviously be a useful addition (and can help with audience feedback).
In the listing of past blogs at http://asmediablogs.blogspot.co.uk/ I've included spearate links to company blogs (not all of which have that impressive!). Jonny/Joel's Vertigo Cinema, producer of A Bat in the Belfry (as featured in the 2011 Co-Op Film Festival), is a good example.

COMPANY BLOGS: WHAT TO INCLUDE...

STYLE/AUDIENCE:

Divshare + embedding podcasts/MP3s

Don't use YouTube for podcasts.
For the last several years we've used divshare without problems for uploading and then accessing embed codes for MP3 files. I tried it again today (5th Feb) just to check its still working - and, for my account at least (such sites sometimes take away free options for newer members), it is, as these screenshots demonstrate.
Sign up is simple, ditto uploading - remember, its for audio files NOT movie files.

Logged in to my divshare account, I upload, find the file, and (as with YouTube) simply click the SHARE button

This generates the embed code

You can also click on ADDITIONAL SETTINGS below the code. If the player is too wide, reduce the width="335"

And here it is...




There are other options if you don't see the SHARE button on divshare. Soundcloud works along similar principles, though it also has a handy record button so you can record podcasts directly to the site. For this example, I played a YouTube clip then hit the record button...


Here I tweaked the code I pasted in, changing the frame width to 70% and the height to 83. As you can see, it still works, you just don't see part of the soundwave graphic, and the icons are changed. You can play around with the size settings to make it fit according to your needs.
 

I haven't tried it, but freewebspace.net is another that came up from a simple free upload embed mp3 google.

Blogging class notes on film openings

The final girl/scream queen binary: Laurie has the school books, the scream queen has makeup!

You can find a detailed guide on what/how to blog here.
We're going to look today at the final girl archetype, Laurie Strode: read more about the theory behind this idea here.

Again, the scream queen smokes signifying her 'deviancy'

Screenshots are always key to back up points made; I've provided a couple for you in this post you can save and upload into your own posts.


Here's how I'd set out a post looking at a film opening.

POST TITLE: Needs to be kept brief, and a numbering system helps, either OpeningEG1: This is England or SlasherEG1: Halloween (orig).

Screenshots and screen recording

We can't quite afford the most popular choice for this - Camtasia - but there is software built into the Macs to capture screenshots (there are also keyboard shortcuts for this, blogged on earlier) and record the screen: "Grab"
You need to go into FINDER; APPLICATIONS; UTLILITIES; GRAB   (or, in Finder just type Grab into the search box!)
This is the most effective means of showing how you've utilised software

You can also try QuickTime has has recording tools most people are unaware of (it also enables you to do basic edits).

Slasher Genre Overview Vodcast

The idea behind this is simple: you individually summarise the knowledge you've gained from research into the slasher (aka slice'n'dice, aka stalk'n'slash etc) sub-genre of horror, then get together as a production group and compare notes, expressing your shared learning as an in-depth vodcast. It can be both useful and convenient to use one specific film to focus your analysis on (so long as you make a variety of links/examples to other films as you go). Strive to draw links between what you've found out and your current idea. Ideas will change, but as you continue with research take every opportunity to apply it: don't just dump down observations or quotes but clearly show you've reflected on how you might use (or even refuse!) such conventions as you discover. Endeavour to use semiotic terminology and precise media language generally (when discussing a sample scene/shot/edit or sound, provide clear denotation), and reflect on what you've learnt about film budgets and production contexts (Indie v studio) - basically, try to show off what you've learned to date! TRY HARD TO CITE/APPLY SPECIFIC THEORIES/THEORISTS AND BOOKS/ARTICLES - (BRIEF) DIRECT QUOTES WOULD BE GOOD!

Research needs to be ongoing: keep watching + making/posting notes on film openings (or specific aspects of slashers, such as stalking scenes, that you plan to use) and any reading you're doing. You should already have undertaken a wide range of research, as reflected in your...

• Blogging on sample openings (everyone should have at least 10 slasher examples blogged on before we get to the 1st rough cut on 5th Feb)

Pitches + genre: some pointers on slasher movies

Creature feature or unkillable killer: John Carpenter’s slasher 1978 archetype Halloween (the ending of the original where Myers has been shot but still disappears creates the template for the unkillable killer), and Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 gorefest Friday the 13^th (Jason Voorhees swiftly becomes an inhuman creature) are the foremost examples. A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984) adds a neat twist of a creature killing through teens’ dreams, the late paedophile Freddy Krueger having been burned to death by vengeful townsfolk wreaking his bloody revenge. There are many others, often rather daft, such as the Child’s Play and Leprechaun franchises. Like Jason Isaac’s 2001 Friday the 13^th X (better known as Jason X – great tagline: “Evil gets an upgrade”), some slasher sequels have been set in space, such as Leprechaun 4: In Space (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1997 – not sure how it even managed to get a 3.1 rating on IMDB!). The fifth and sixth Leprechaun movies are set in ‘the hood’ (sorry, tha hood).

Right there we have one of the keys to the slasher’s enduring success: its capacity for hybridity,

Narrative/Representations in 3 slasher openings Task

This task links to one of your Evaluation questions as well as generally boosting your prospects of a good mark for the R+P (and giving you a good grounding in the genre you're working in).

A useful book, available in classroom/Lib/to buy!

The best work here will include some further reading from some of the many books purchased and in the Lib/classroom on horror, tho you should all also be using the horror blog too, and all should be referencing the concepts of final girls and scream queens, plus the male gaze theory, associated with feminist critics Carole Clover and Laura Mulvey.
Here's a couple of useful links:
http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/final_girl.html
http://www.contamination.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/books/books_theory.htm

THE TASK:
ANALYSE THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE (CITING/APPLYING RELEVANT THEORIES) + REPRESENTATIONS (OF AGE, GENDER, SEXUALITY etc) IN 3 SLASHER OPENINGS
These can be slashers you've previously analysed.
Aim to accurately employ useful terminology from semiotics plus editing + other media language terms.
Aim to engage with the feminist writings of Laura Mulvey and Carole Clover, and provide your own take on their arguments through your discussion of the examples you're looking at.