Unit 3: Risk Assessment - Live For The Weekend

Patrick Campbell (Director) completed the Risk Assessment for "Live For The Weekend":

Unit 3: Shot List - Live For The Weekend

All three of the group contributed to the shot list for "Live For The Weekend", my work is pages 4-6:

Unit 1: Case Study - Live For The Weekend

The film we are produces mainly follows the expected ideas of representation theory. 

Our film represents: 

• a set of young group/gang of teenagers in a stereotypical way. They are 'up to no good'. We see Chloe (the protagonist) discarding homework she need to do, going out drinking and taking drugs.
• Chloe is let by Joe (male character) whilst Nikki (her best friend) tries to stop her from doing the things he is offering. This shows a male character 'controlling' a female character, sadly this is a very stereotypical way of representing these gender in the film industry. 
• All the characters are white British middle class teenagers who come from privileged families. The fact that they are appearing a bit rough does go against the stereotype slightly as you would expect this kind of youths to be more civilised however, the way they are represented in Live For The Weekend could be a way of showing off money. 
• In the short film, the backstory of Chloe is that she lost her mum when she was younger. We expect this to cause her problems as such a big loss can be very difficult to anyone. This could be linked to the drug use etc. This therefor is not a huge surprise to the viewer that she is represented in this way.

• One of the scenes in the film is a house party in one of the teenagers house. It appears to be very well furnished inside with expensive ornaments etc. This matches up with the characters lives so is as expected. 
• The group of characters also spend time drinking and doing drugs in the local park and on the moor (away from the attention of other people). This could be seen not stereotypical as normally teenagers are seen in town centres causing trouble for other members of the public (most likely where the stereotype comes from). 

Ultimately I think "Live For The Weekend" is probably a Hegemonic film as it does largely follow stereotypes of the middle class characters (considering the situation they are in) and location. 

Unit 1: Representation Theory

Mediation - when your watching a film you are not seeing reality - you are watching someones creation of real life. Even the news is not real, real life because it is being presented to you in a way the company wants to see it. The filter between what is being on screen and real life.

Films such as Attack The Block are set in council estate in London - but that has been made to look a specific way. Does it fairly represent what is actually there/happening?

For representation to be meaningful to audiences there needs to be a shared recognition of people, situation, ideas etc.

All representations therefor have an ideology behind them. Different people see films in a different way. E.g: In the west we are capitalist, we see success as money (ultimately), not everybody has the same perspective. Filmmakers make films around ideologies, there own ideologies.

We live in a capitalist system, so films are mainly capitalist - the objective is always getting to the top.

Media's role is seen as reinforcing the dominant ideologies.



Questions we should propose when analysing media (watching tv, reading magazine):

1) What sense of the world is it making?
2) What does it imply? Is it typical of the world or deviant?
3) Who is it speaking to? For whom? To whom?
4) What does it represent to us and why? How do we respond to this representation?



These are the concepts in which can look at representation through:

• Marxism - left wing ideology, state has bigger influence in society, 'working people held back by the rich', believe that the system should be lead from the bottom.
• Feminism - the belief that women are treated unfairly in society (don't get same opportunities as men). Attempt to re-balance equality. Current issue - gender pay gap in media industry, very few protagonist are males in films, sexual harassment scandal etc. 
• Stereotypes - easy/lazy way of showing who a character is as audience has a set of characteristics of specific person. Enhances realism. 

Laura Mulvey - argues that the camera is a male, all films shot through a males perspective (male audiences in mind). 

John Berger - argues that "films are about men, women were just there as secondary" (around men).

Unit 3: Preproduction Planning Meeting #2

The following is my notes from our second production planning meeting:

We are now ready for filming:

• Filming dates: we have planned to film for the 7th, 8th, 14th, 21st, 22nd and 28th April.
• 7th and 8th - filming the scenes in the Bedrooms, Living Room and Kitchen plus scenes with the Dad. 
• 14th - the party scene.
• 21st - scenes in the park. 
• 22nd - scenes in the car plus on the moor with "Chloe's Dad". 
• 28th April - this will be used to film anything that was unable to be completed on previous days. 

• Production Team:
• Patrick Campbell: Director, Casting Manager & Musical Composer
• Alex Hargraves: Post Production Manager, Camera Operator & Musical Composer
• James Bowes: Audio & Visual Director

• Actors: actors have now been finalised:
•  Chloe is being played by Ellena Quarnby.
•  Nickki is being played by Freya Gledhill.
•  Joe is being played by Matt Paul.
• Austin is being played by Patrick Campbell.
•  Chloe's Dad is being played by Ian Campbell. 
• Additional actors (background) for party scene.

• Costumes: because the film is set in the life of teenagers, we have told our actors just to dress in there own normal clothes when they come on the day. 

• Props:
• Fake tablets (to represent drugs). 
• Fake alcoholic drinks (empty bottles etc), for party scenes etc.
• Smartphone for Chloe. 

• Locations: locations have also been confirmed:
• Scene 1 is filmed at the school gates of Ilkley Grammar School on Cowpasture Road.
• Scene 1/2 then continues and is being filmed on Ben Rhydding Road.
• Scene 2 is then filmed in 'Chloe's House', our location for this is Freya Gledhill's House.
• The party scene is set at a different location in the film but will actually be filmed in Freya Gledhill's house.
• The scene where Chloe talks to her Dad in the kitchen is filmed in Patrick Campbells house. 
• The park scene is then filmed at Ilkley Park. 

• Equipment: Most of the filming equipment we are using is our own, other equipment that needs borrowing has now been ordered. We are using:
• Main Camera: Panasonic G7
• SD Card: SanDisk 64gb
• Tripod: Velbon DF-51
• Drone: DJI Phantom 4
• Steadycam
• BD Master USB Condensor Microphone
• ZCTL Light Panel
• Adobe Audition CC (for recording Audio)
• Adobe Premiere Pro CC (for post production)

Unit 3: Storyboard - Live For The Weekend

All three of the group contributed to the storyboard for "Live For The Weekend", my work is pages 5-7:

Unit 1: Case Study - Attack The Block

Attack The Block - Trailer

Mise En Scene - Specifically shot at night to fit in with the 'gangs' being out 'up to no good' and to exaggerate the explosions.

In urban environment, south London sky line at night with big towering flats around, possibly to show poorer area these gangs come from (set on council estate).

Gang members are on BMX bikes and wearing tracksuit clothing with capped hats and hoods up - typical gang look.

Also carrying weapons such as knives and water pistols.

All trying to achieve the look of hooligan gang members who come from the poorer parts of the country.

Sound - A lot of use of non-diagetic sound, showing the monsters in the distance.

Sci-Fi style/gang style music to set the scene.

Sudden jump scares. Horrific sounding screams of monsters to represent that they are evil/bad.

Gang talking in slang language, Brewis in posh accent, Samantha in speaks in proper english + other local accents for local characters.

Camera - always looks up on more powerful character in the scene, level on characters the viewer can relate to? Down on less powerful characters.

Quite smooth movements (stabilised).

Extreme close ups to focus on gang members faces.

Editing - Sci-Fi text used in trailers and titles etc.

Colour grading used to make 'the block' look dark and unfriendly. Brighter colours used in female apartments.

SFX used for alien creatures.

Marketing

Traditional Marketing on Attack The Block: 

- DVD Releases (people see in DVD stores etc.). 

- Advertisement Posters (would be displayed at train stations etc.). 

- Articles in Magazines 

- New York Comic Con Q&A event 

- Merchandise T Shirts 

- Newspaper Reviews (The Guardian, Time Out). 

Digital Marketing on Attack The Block: 

- Official Website (exclusive extras about film. About story, extra details about cast and crew - backstories etc.). 

- Additional Videos and Clips (Interview with the director, videos with each of the characters). 

- Tumblr blog, allows the distributor to share constant information about the film (keeping in front of user all time - so they don't just see one ad then forget about). Also allows fans to comment and network with each other. Talk about film. 

- Attack the Block soundtrack released on iTunes for people to listen to separate. 

- A game was produced for fans to play, make them feel like they are involved in film? 

- Official Podcast about Attack The Block. 

- Podcasts from other outlets such as BBC 5 Live can easily be found. 

- Trailers and clips on YouTube - good like/dislike ratio, immediately people see positive feedback for film. Also comments section lets people see opinions of other viewers.

Attack The Block Website: 

- Attack The Blog originally used as a central hub for everything linked to the film. Allows fans to get extra content related to film (Soundtrack, game, merchandise etc). 

- Also to try and persuade potential viewers to go and watch the film by displaying trailers and providing a synopsis etc. 

Social Media: 

- Sites such as Tumblr and YouTube were used to provide fans with information and exclusives up to the launch of the film and after. This helps to keep fans interested in the film whilst they are waiting and keep it in front of people's attention even after the release.

Box Office:

- Budget: £8 million

- Money made at the Box Office: £4.1 million

Unit 1: Genre, Codes & Conventions

Genre

A genre is a way of categorising films. It is where a media product has a common set of distinguishing features - features that are associated with a specific genre (such as jump scares in horror films).

Films are often marketing using a specific genre as this helps find a group of people that will like the film (different people like different genres).


Codes

Codes - A thing that creates meaning, can be divided into 2 categories - technical or symbolic.

Technical codes are where equipment is used in a way to help tell the story. Such as anamorphic lenses in Sci-Fi films (gives the film a look that looks slightly different to reality), handheld camera in horror (makes you feel like you are there) and slow-mo in action films.

Symbolic codes are things that we see in the film that are typical of a genre. Such as alliens/strange creatures in Sc-Fi, big strong 'invincible' character in action etc.


Conventions

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing things in a film - the ways things are typically done in different genre of films.


For example: the technical code of lighting is used in all films, but the conventional use of blue/green tinted light is used in Sc-Fi to achieve a certain look.

Unit 1: Case Study - Black Panther

Disney has used its status as a cross-media conglomerate to help promote its new film 'Black Panther'.

Black Panther is in cinemas now. The production budget was 200 million USD and it has made 909.8 million USD at the box office. It was distributed Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in both the UK and USA.

The film was released in "Black History Month" and gained a lot of traction on social media, especially Twitter as a lot of people were talking about it. The film is also the return of a franchise from 1998 so many fans of the previous film were intrigued to see the revival.

Disney-Marvel also spent a lot of money promoting the film on hit American TV shows such as Jimmy Kimmel but also but some money into promoting it around the Winter Olympics (as they new these would have huge audiences) - this means they actually spent a lot of money on external advertising, 37 million USD was paid to NBC and NBC Sports.

Disney did also use its synergy to promote the film. A whole new merchandise range was released in the Disney Store (global eccomerce websites and retail stores that would of caught the attention of people looking for other products as well). They also released the sound track to the film as an album with artists Kendrick Lamar and The Weekend.

The film was also advertised on the main Disney.com website, DisneyLife and Disney channels.

Unit 1: Technological Convergence

Technological Convergence refers to many different media related tasks that used to be done on multiple devices that can now be done on one device. For example: making a phone call, watching videos, playing games and listening to music all used to have to be done on different devices. However, now all these tasks can be done on one device such as an iPhone.

Media companies have slowly begun to utilise this, offering multiple of there products on the same device. This makes it easier for the consumer to consume there content making them more likely to do this.

Technological convergence also benefits distribution of media products. Conglomerates can use there different platforms to advertise other products they have produced. For example: a YouTube network could advertise videos they produce on social media outlets, to watch the videos all the consumer is 'tap' or 'click' onto them, instead of having to switch to a completely different device.

Unit 1: Cross Media Companies & Synergies

Cross Media are companies that work across multiple industries such as the BBC (Film, TV, Radio & Online Content). They have the ability to plan, produce, market and gain audiences for media products.

Vertically Integrated media company - separate companies (usually all owned by a conglomerate) that work one after the other to produce a media product. Such as production (BBC Films) -> distribution (Candella UK) -> consumption (Netflix).

Horizontally Integrated media company - separate companies within different media industries (usually all owned by a conglomerate) such as TV, Print and Online to expose a product to its maximum. An example would be BBC Top Gear (the programme on tv, the official magazine and the website).

Synergy - the interaction or cooperation of two or more organisations (usually within a conglomerate) to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.