Working Title Trip!

On the 5th of April we had the privillege of visiting the Working Titles studios. We have the chance to meet Tim Bevan (co-chair of Working Title Films), Debra Hayward (Executive Producer), Sarah Jane Wright (Production Executive), Harriet Spencer (Assistant to Debra Hayward) and Dan Manson (Writer of films such as Borat and Bruno). Each person presented us with a talk which they believe would enhance our knowledge in the film industry and help us with our A level exam.


Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner the owners of Working Title are said to be "two of the most important figures in the British movie industry". It said by an arcticle produced by the BBC entertainment sections that, "Their films have grossed more than $1.8 billion (£1.12 billion) in the last 12 years, and that is a conservative estimate" posted on the16th February 2004.Tim Bevan explain when speaking to us how Working Title Films are funded by Universal in the producing films and the paying of the staff at Working Title. This is highlighted how they are linked to Hollywood  in the article above it states how they have always had strong links with Hollywood. This quote shows how they are valued and have links with Universal, "I think anyone in Hollywood would want to do business with these guys," said the former Universal Studios boss Edgar Bronfman Jr, now a chief executive with USA Interactive".

Another factor which was asked when talking to Tim Bevan was piracy and how this affects the film industry? He stated how he believes that the cinema will appeal still to the audience due to the collective enjoyment the cinema experience brings. He also said how piracy generally affects dvd sales rather than box office sales. He said how he believed that online downloading was the way forward and that he thought people would be happy to pay some money towards a film due to the costing to produce it. Shooting can cost from $100'000 to 300'000 per day and therefore, as said by Sarah Jane Wright they are always working against time. Looking at Anotment the film we watched before visiting she stated how it was filmed in 62 days in numberous of locations all in the UK. She said how there was usaully 130 people on a film set. The total cost of the film was 17 million this is consider a reasonly cheap to produce in the film industry. She also highlighted how in the last 2-3 years film drama box office sales have dropped this has lead to Unviersal studios not tending to invest into drama films such as Anotoment.

The 'cut' in the Uk film council was another factor questioned and the impact it would have on working titles. Sarah Jane Wright stated how due to the film council funding small independate companies its has little impact on working titles. However the message the goverment are sending due to this is how they are not reconisging the importance of the film industry.

Midsommer Murders

In this piece I am going to state how representation of Englishness has been achieved in the TV series Midsommer Murders. I am going to mainly look into the setting, props and sound.

Throughout the sequences which I watch the setting was one of the main factors were the landscapes showing the traditional English image they were trying to portray. The old thatch cottages which fill the village help to portray a quant and typical English village. The Post Office, Village Hall and Pub also enhanced the English appearance, due to them being very traditional it also helps to give a sense of community to the village. There seem to be a repeat in each series showing several shots of fields and country roads again by doing this it reminds the viewer this typical English image they are trying to achieve.

Props are another key factor which helps to portray this image which the series are trying to create. The picnic baskets, lemonade stalls, flat caps, land drovers, bicycles and horses all show pieces of the ‘English picture’. The old men dressed in checked shirts and driving land drovers present the stereotypical English farmers. By making all the police male this enhanced the old fashion image as it is showing a male dominated society. Also almost all the characters seemed to have a ‘posh’ English accent despite English people knowing how in rural villages people have accents from other films English people are often portray as having ‘posh’ and ‘upper-class’ therefore this is again enhancing this stereotypical idea of England.

Some non deigetic sound commonly used is Classical Music throughout the series this suggests a peaceful setting which a small English village is meant to have. Deigetic sound used are birds and leaf rustling these help to enhance this countryside image which again reflects to typical England.

Overall through looking at the key factors of representation it uses peoples expectation of ‘Englishness’ rather than focusing on making the series realistic to England. Despite this the show still has a sense of Englishness even though it’s a stereotypical old fashion one.

Narrative Theories

There are many different theories to the story which a series or a film consists of. Below i am going to state some of the main theories which i am aware of.

Claude Levi-Straus
He looked at the narrative structure in the terms of binary oppositions, this is where two opposite values reveal the structure of a media text. An example of this would be good and evil, known or unknown and dark and light. Though he mainly looked at his binary oppositions theory he was also interested in the order of events happened within the plot.

Vladimir Propp
His theory consists of the idea that the narrative and characters are of a similar structure. He thought the characters within a narrative consists of

The Hero – a character that seeks something

The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

The Helper – who aids the hero

The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

The Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

Tzvetan Todorov
His theory was the simplest. He believed that at the beginning of the narrative the story begins as it should be this is known as the state of equilibrium. Then the narrative is distributed in someway this is known as disequilibrium. Then a solution is created to end the narrative therefore creating a new equilibrium.

Roland Barthes
His theory states that a narrative can be broken down into 5 sections. This consists of

• Action code
• Enigma code
• Semantic code
• Referential code
• Symbolic code

Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey was a British feminist she is well know for creating the theory called 'Male Gaze'. Her theory was highly influenced by Freud and is key to the feminist film movement. She states that in films women are merely used to provide visual pleasure to men. In casting this would be highlighted as they often selected women who were seen as beautiful or sexy making them seem as an object to be looked at rather than being appreciated for there acting skills.

Evaluation On Missing Thriller

Evaluation On Missing

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What is TV drama?

There are many different types of TV drama. Below i have listed some of them.

• The Bill
• Doctor Who
• Born and Bred
• Neighbours
• Hollyoaks
• Eastenders
• The Interbetweeners
• Misfits
• One Tree Hill
• Doctors
• Hotel Babylon
  

In each of these TV drama there usually consits of other types of genre this are called sub genres. A sub genre is used to define topics within a program, by doing this it allows dramas to be directed at certain audiences. The main sub genres which are used are comedy,romantic, sci fi, crime,soaps, supernatural and horror. Below i have stated some TV dramas with the sub genres included.

• Misfits - this is an example of a comedy and sci fi drama
• Ugly Betty - this is an example of a romance and comedy drama
• CSI and The Bill - are examples of a crime drama
• Hollyoaks - this is an example of a soap drama
• Doctor Who - this is an example of a sci fi drama

By placing each drama into sub genres it allows each program to be individually target at certain audiences rather than just saying there all drama.

Notes for my Evaluation video

1)      In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• The red lights used in the darkroom could suggest the connotation of a warning or danger mainly due to the colour red. By placing the murderer in this scene it gives the audience the idea of him being a danger to them and his next victim. By using a darkroom to film this scene it creates shadows and silhouettes and falls under typical thriller iconography. 
• The murderer is a black silhouette the connotations of black can be seen as an evil which would suit the characteristics of the villain. By hiding his face and his figure dramatic irony is used and by withholding information from the viewer it helps to keep the audience engaged within our thriller opening. 
• Unconventional thriller – normal clothes, typical cast, typical house. By doing this it makes it seem that this could happen to anyone and therefore creates more tension in the thriller.
• The music is eerie and due to the lack of speech engages with the audience more within our opening.

 2)      How does your media product represent particular social groups?

·        Villain – murderer. Is male as they tend to have a more intimidating appearance on set than a female character. We choose to cast and more muscled and bigger male character so the character was not seen as vulnerable and had an intimidating appearance on set.
·        Victim – is female we choose to use a female character as they are seen as more vulnerable. By making her a younger character I think it allows the audience to emphasizes more with the character. Younger character creates more emotion as seen in ‘the lovely bones’ a thriller personally inspired me with my ideas within the group.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

·        I looked at the two films which influenced my ideas most to see what company I believe would best suit my thriller when disturbing it. One hour photo – Fox Searchlight Pictures – was established in 1994 is specialises in British films particularly in horror and comedy dramas. . Lovely bones – Paramount Pictures – are an American film company established in 1912 and has its headquarters in Hollywood.

·        In looking at the background of both I have decided that Fox Searchlight Pictures would be my ideal institution to distribute my media product. The reasons are it specialises in British films and therefore I believe would support our thriller. They also launched and supported one hour photo which is of a similar genre and idea to ours and therefore I believe our thriller would appeal to them.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Through looking through my audience research I believe that young adults our film would most appeal to. Age rage 15 – 25. This is through looking at my questionnaire results I can come to a conclusion of this age range.
• Looking through the comments it seems that most people like mystery in there thrillers this is a factor which I believe is in my film and therefore will allow my thriller to appeal to a wider age group.

5) How did you attract/address your audience?

• We posted our opening of our rough thriller onto your tube and gain feedback from that. This allowed us to take criticism to therefore make it more appeal to the audience of young adults. The main comments consisted of the sound some people did not like the sound and others said it was too quite. To improve on this we re edited the two pieces of sound in garage band to improve the music. We then timed them better with the clips in the film. By making these changes I believe that we have overcome these errors within the clip.
• We also did a screening in college. The audience consisted of young adults between 15- 25 which is who we believe will be our main audience in watching our thriller opening. The feedback we got from this was all positive. The main comments which were said were about the flashback scene. People did not understand the clip so we decided to make the clip simpler; we also choose to make it black and white so it separated from the clip more and highlighted that she was remembering an event. We believe as a group people did not realise it was a flashback and therefore with the changes we made us think that it would make it clearer that it was a flashback.
• Another comment made in the screening was that a scream should be added in to create more suspense. Before showing our rough edit our group had discuss doing this as we believed it would have created a more eerie atmosphere in the opening. For our final piece we choose to put the scream in the ending where the murderer is hanging up the photo. This gives the idea that he is remembering the scream she made when he killed her.
• We also try to make our storyline interesting so would engage with the audience and therefore make an entertaining film. By doing this it would make it more appeal to the audience. We made it an unconventional thriller because as a group we believe this would appeal to our audience. By making it an unconventional thriller it makes it seem that it could happen to anyone and makes it more thrillering and creates more tension for the viewer. The feedback from launching it on you tube and our screening shows people understood our plot and enjoyed the opening so I think our decision was good.
• Overall I believe that by doing these factors we have made our thriller appeal to our audience.

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

• Media studies is completely new to me so i have learnt much in a short period of time. To begin the course we used digital camera's to look at different camera shots. Even though using a digital camera was an area I was familiar in using identifying and producing certain camera shots I was not. We looked at shots such as high angle shots, low angle shots, over the shoulder shots and point of view shots and produced a leaflet showing these. In doing this it has helped me to think about where to place the camera and the effect it has on the audience in choosing that shot. Therefore, when beginning my preliminary task I took angle shots highly into consideration as well as looking at them in analysing films.
• Another major area I was unfamiliar with was editing. In producing my preliminary task I was able to learn some basics of editing. This included features such as translations, slide effect for example making it black and white, how to change the speed of a piece of film and adding sound. By doing these editing skills it has made me realise the importance of editing when producing a film. Even though I have only learnt basic skill I realise you have to be priciest and accurate and you constantly have to think what affect does this have on the audience when producing and editing a successful film.
• When doing my final edit I used a more complex program this constituted of a more accurate piece in the end. To start with I found it really hard to understand how you imported music move clips ect. However everyone has to start somewhere and by the editing program I can say that I believe that I understand the basics of final cut. I believe that I can alter the length of clips, use certain translation change colour of clips and insert titles on the video. These are the main things I believe I can do with ease.

7) Looking back on your preliminary task; what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

• Confidence - when using editing program final cut. For my pre-lim task we used ‘I movie’ which is a basic editing program however for my final thriller I used ‘final cut’ which is more complex. To start with I struggled with the concept of this program but by the end of editing period I feel as if I have grasped the basic of ‘final cut’ therefore in using this program I feel more confident.
• Planning –in the planning for the pre- lim task we did only to a basic standard we did produce a story board however it did not look at camera angles and contained no script so was extremely basic. After we had completed it we began filming straight away. We had no influences and the film we produce was of a basic level. For our thriller we produce case studies and looked at our thrillers to be inspired in ideas for our thriller. We then produced a storyboard which consisted of camera shots which we intended to use so it was more detailed than the premlimary task. We also looked into costumes, location and cast for these we wanted to achieve a unconventional thriller and therefore when choosing and looking into these try to make them as realistic and normal as possible. By being more organised and planning in more detailed I think it allowed us to produce a higher quality film and the success of it I devote to our detailed planning we did.