Kamini's 18/20 research and planning blog

This is an example of a blog that got 18/20.
http://thrillerblog2011.blogspot.co.uk/

Film opening analysis

Opening credits analysis

Editing analysis

Look into sub genres

                                                                     

Target Demographic

The demographic for the films Taken and Taken 2 are both male between 15 and 34. Seeing as I am basing my film around these ideas my film will probably appeal to these demographics most. I can use this data to help decide who to target if I decide to interview people or ask people to fill in surveys. I would target males and females between 15 and 34 as they are the majority of my potential audience. Bearing in mind I am aiming this film at this demographic, they will be able to help me improve and add things that will make the film appeal to them so the film will be more popular.




My film fits in with the action genre, after researching I can see that most action films (including those I am comparing mine to) are aimed at males aged 15-34. This is evident in the two tables shown above. In both there is a slightly higher percentage of males than females and the majority of people are in the age categories of 15-24 and 25-34.

This is a picture of my typical audience member. His name is James, he is 20 years old and enjoys meeting up with his friends to go out. He enjoys drumming and has been playing for years. He wants to go and see my film at the cinema because the visual effects and fight scenes appeal to him as he likes the adrenaline fuelled fights and stand-offs between hero and villain. He wants to go and see the film with a group of friends as he thinks he will like the film.

Moodboard

This is the mood-board for my film. I have taken snapshots from Die Hard, Taken and Pulp Fiction as I am taking ideas from each of these films. I have used lots of pictures of guns as guns will play a large role in my film as a danger to the main character. I have also used a picture with "DANGER" next to a small picture of fire to show that the main character will constantly be in danger, linking to the guns. The characters I have used are Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, Samuel L Jackson and Vincent Vega. I have chosen these characters as they are representative of action films involving the police and I may base the outfit of my main character off one of these characters.

I have chosen photos that fit with the action movie conventions such as the photo of Liam Neeson fighting in the middle. This shows one very well known action convention which is violence. Action movies are known for well co-ordinated fight scenes where the hero must defend against an attack from the villain's minions. Lots of these pictures show the main character, the protagonist, in the very centre of the shot which shows how the film followers one character, idolising him and presenting him as the hero in order to aid the character development and make the spectator want him to succeed, taking his side.

Institution Research

For my institution I have chosen Lionsgate. I chose Lionsgate because, after watching the opening titles pictured above, I felt as if it fit with my film and so I decided to research into the films Lionsgate have produced. Some of the films currently available to purchase include Divergent, The Expendables 3, You're Next and Escape. These all fit within the same genre and feel of my film and so I felt that Lionsgate were a suitable choice for my film opening. 
Lionsgate have been responsible for a range of classic action films including some which I have taken inspiration from for my film opening and films I have used to look at the conventions of the action genre when creating films. These include; Transporter 3, Abduction, Blitz, Rambo, The Bank Job and The Condemned. Not to mention the Hunger Games films which were an incredible success.

While looking at other possible production companies I noticed that many of the logos were very bright and often had quite long clips at the beginning of a film, both things I didn't want in the opening credits. In the first 30 seconds of a film the viewer will make assumptions about the feel of the film based on the colours and sounds used. In the Lionsgate titles there is a lot of dark colours used with the majority of the opening being the darkness of space. The complete titles take up roughly 21 seconds but I plan on bringing this down to about 15 seconds when editing allowing me more time for the actual film opening which I have produced.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule states that the camera must stay one side of an imaginary line, this is most used in over the shoulder shot/reverse shots during a scene where two people are conversing. If the camera crosses over the imaginary line then it appears as if the person in shot has moved because it is filming from a different angle with a slightly different background. The line is drawn perpendicular to the cameras establishing shot of the scene, this rule helps keep continuity in the film. Breaking this rule can confuse the audience and make them lose focus, distracting them from the media and possibly causing them to miss essential details or lines of dialogue in the film.

Match on action

Match on action is an editing technique used for continuity where one shot cuts to another shot where a similar action is taking place, e.g. a shot of a paper plane gliding to a shot of a real plane flying, making a scene match. This creates a feel of continuity, the action carrying through creates a "visual bridge" which distracts the viewers from the cutting between shots. This is different to a graphic match or match cut as it portrays a continuous sense of the same action rather than matching two separate items of a similar shape. 

Film Ideas - Prezi

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot, also known as shot/counter shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking off screen at another character and then it cuts to the other character looking back at the first character. Since the shots are in opposite directions it gives the impression that the two characters are looking at each other.