Feminist theory in Film

Our first task was to all name a film. We were then asked 2 questions about our film. 3 words to describe a significant male character and 3 to describe a significant female character. I had chosen Shutter island and used; confident, deductive and handsome to describe Teddy Daniels. For the female character I chose the memory of Teddy Daniel' wife, Dolores, because she was the most recurring female character. The 3 words I used were Sinister, innocent-faced and untrusting. We put all of our words together to see the different between male and female characters. We had a similar amount of negative and positive words which was odd considering the amount of different film choices.

We then looked at 2 clips. 1 was a scene of Jessica Rabbit performing in Who framed Roger Rabbit. We were then asked 2 questions - Who is Jessica performing for? and Would this scene work with gender-reversal? (Camerawork, lighting etc) We split into groups of 3 a discussed answers. In our group we came up with a few ideas about the first question. She is likely performing for the men in the club, but we also thought that she could have been performing for herself. We thought that putting this scene in gender-reversal may be a strange thing to see in a film because it is so uncommon.
The second clip was Cameron Diaz' entrance in the Mask. The 2 questions were - Who is looking at Cameron Diaz? and Would this scene work in gender-reversal (slow-mo, sweeping hair)? In our groups we decided that it's the way that the characters are dressed that really draw an audience to a female's body - such as a little black dress or, like Jessica and Diaz, a long red dress. The people looking at Cameron Diaz were both males and they were both gawping. We wondered if these would be seen as normal in gender-reverasal. For this scene we said yes because there are some films with this kind of scene of males.

We then discussed the theory that films use the male gaze. Which is where the camerawork/scenes are seen through a straight male's gaze. What would he focus on? This means that when this is not used in a film, we notice it more. For example, many female characters are filmed in slow motion and flicking their hair. You see a male do it in a film it seems to be seen as comedy. We said that most films, excluding some rom-coms and most chick-flicks, are seen through a straight male's gaze. Even if it's something you haven't noticed before. We may not have noticed it before because we are so used to films being structured this way.

I looked at 3 feminist theories from papers and books.
First was Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema". This 10 page essay explains how social conventions and ideals are portrayed in cinema. She talks about how different genders are interpreted and how a woman is symbolised in film. She also talks about how the images are being controlled to alter the way in which scenes are viewed using sexual, erotic techniques.

The second I researched was Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth. This book goes into great depth into how beauty is perceived and how she believes that the socially expected vision of beauty is used to control women. It is seen that if a beautiful woman, who is known for being beautiful and following the social expectations, talks about beauty she is rejected because she is already beautiful, she doesn't get a say. If someone who doesn't follow the social conventions of beauty they are also rejected when they talk about beauty because audience would simply ask "what do you know?". They would say that they would not know anything on the subject if they were not to the social 'standard' that seems to have developed. Wolf basically explains that there are traps set and that it is difficult to 'win' in many situations because whatever you say or do can be analysed.

Lastly, I looked into Ann Oakley's Gender Socialisation, which is about the upbringing of different genders and how they are split using different materialistic and emotional paths. She lists 4 primary ways that children could be pushed towards acting how their gender supposedly should. The first is manipulation where parent encourage or discourage certain behaviours dependant on whether this behaviour is seen as normal for their gender or not. The next is Canalization which is basically parents directing a child's interest of materialistic objects, such as toys. This is seen when young boys want a doll and parents are reluctant to give him one because they think it's a female toy. Next, she talks about Verbal appellations. This means using particular language to label their children. She uses the example of pet names. Children can be given different pet names depending on their gender. The last is the different activities that may encourage their children to do or not do. For example, girls being expected to do domestic activities and play with toy kitchens. Whereas boys are encouraged to participate in outdoor activities such as sports.

These theories can relate back to that first Jessica Rabbit clip. This clip really does give a clear example of how Mulvey explained female's portrayal in cinema. Jessica Rabbit is an unrealistic portrayal of beauty which I think would make the female audience feel unsatisfying with how they look; even though if a real human has Jessica Rabbit's body there is no way they could live. I think this illustrates some of Naomi Wolf's points well because of how unrealistic the beauty and body shape is, also, why is this animated character seen as beautiful? I also think that Oakley's Gender Socialisation can be linked back to Jessica Rabbit. I think that this character is very much like a Barbie (or other brand) doll. She has a similar shape to these dolls but she is exaggerated a lot more. I think using the pink sparkly dress also tries to pull in a young female audience because it's the colour that is associated with pretty girls.

Case study - Elements of Motion Graphics

2D elements

2D elements are displayed on both the X and Y axis and are usually 3 or 4 sided shapes. There are different types of 2D elements. The first is Shell. This is a linear element in one-dimensional that's values on the X and Y axis remain constant. Next is Solid. This one is a two-dimensional element which is a quadrilateral or triangular. The last is Plate. This is also a two-dimensional element but represents a solid on X and Y axis. 2D plates are also used in drawing and design as templates.

This is part of my viral advert project. I made this using 2D elements, only using the X and Y axis. The background is built up of 2D elements that have been layered in Photoshop to create a final 2D image. Then I added the 2D bear and animated him.

3D elements

3D elements are not literally three-dimensional, they create the illusion that an image has depth. This object is displayed on the X, Y & Z axis'.

Mattes

A Matte is the process of blanking part of an image so that it may be replaces with another. This is done using a mask to cover the area. It is used to combine more than one image to create one final image. They can be used to put an image of an object onto a second image of a background/landscape; creating one final image. It is used in special effects to mask particular areas that need to be masked. There are countless mattes in modern special effects, all layered.

Alpha Channels

This is a Channel mask; it can change the transparency of an edit. Alpha channels define an area as 8-bit grey images. The images are defined black, white and greys. A mask is created by duplicating a colour channel and editing it with a variety of tools, painting and filters. When modifying an Alpha Channel we need to go through the palette options and select Channel options. We give a name to the Alpha channel and alter the colour and opacity. You can then alter the specifications of the overlay to change what will be covered; Spot colour, unselected area or selected area.

Key frames

Key frames are represented by small diamonds in the timeline, when selected they are yellow. They are created to mark points of transformation. It is commonly used in animation. For example: The first point is placed at the beginning of the timeline and the object that will be put into motion is on the left side of the composition. Then 5 seconds into the timeline, another key frame is added and the object is dragged onto the right side of the composition. When this is played back the object appears to move from the left to the right giving it the appearance of motion.
This is a short piece of animation I made for my Viral Advert and it will also be used in a music video because they are both based on my final major project. The teddy bear in this video was animated using key frames. I had a puppet pin on each leg, arm and also one on his head and torso. Then using key frames I moved each limb in small movements to create the illusion of walking motion.

Layers

Compositions are made up of layers. Imported items will become separate layers, these can be video, still image and audio. There is a variety of file type; from Quicktime to PSD (photoshop document). Flat images can not be separated but PSDs retain their editable layers. You can also create more layers in after effects such as cameras, adjustment layers, lights, null objects, text and shapes.

My bear animation also uses many layers. The background image is made up of layered images using Photoshop. Then it was imported into After effects as a flat image. Then the bear layer was added on top.

Composite Modes

This is the different types of combining composites into one composition. The variations are determined on the colours and how they interact. 

First there's Normal. This is the default setting and just places a composition on another and the transparency of the top layer can be adjusted so that the lower layer can be seen.

Add - This focuses on the whites in both images and lightens all other overlapping colours. All white lines are preserved but the blacks become transparent. The order of image does not affect the result. 

Subtract - This is like an opposite to the Add mode. It darkens to overlapping colours, whites in the foreground turn black and those in the background invert. Blacks in the foreground are transparent and those in the background are preserved. The order of images is important because different effects are created depending on order. 

Difference - This is similar to subtract but instead of darker tones everything is coloured differently. The order of image does not affect the mode. 

Multiply - This focuses on the dark areas of both images, but midrange colour values are mixed evenly. Lighter areas of images become transparent to allow the darker image to show through. Blacks are very much preserved in both images. The order of image does not affect the mode. 

Screen - This focuses on the lighter areas of both images and mid-ranged colour values are mixed evenly. Blacks become transparent revealing the lighter areas of image through. The order of image does not affect the mode. 

Overlay- Both whites and blacks int eh foreground become transparent and interact with colour values of background image making an intense contrast. The order of the images is important and for the final effect. 

Hard light - Whites and blacks in the foreground block overlapping areas in the background image. Whites and blacks in the background image interact with the midrange colour values that overlap with the foreground image. The overlapping midrange values are dependant on the brightness of the background. The order of image is important for this effect. 

Soft light - This is similar to overlay. Whites and blacks in the foreground become transparent but they interact with the colour values of the background image. Whites and blacks in the background image replace overlapping areas in the foreground image. All overlapping values are mixed creating an even tinting effect. The order of the image is important for this effect. 

Darken - This focuses on the darkest areas of the overlapping image. Whites allow the other image to show through completely. The order of image does not affect the mode. 

Lighten - This focuses on the lighter areas of the overlapping image. The lightest pixels are preserved and whites from both images show through. The order of image does not affect the mode. 

After effects - Wiggle and Stabilise

Wiggler.

For this clip we used the wiggler option. I added 2 key frames in position to lock the duration of the swing and selected both key frames. I selected Jagged to make the sudden movement to make the baseball swing look powerful. I put the frequency as 15 per second and the magnitude to 25. I then added motion tile from the effects, put the Output width and height to 125 because of the 25 magnitude. I then ticked the mirrored edges and it was done.

Stabilise.

For our next task we were given a slightly shaky piece of footage and we used motion tracking. On the track menu we selected warp stabiliser. While it was analysing I changed the result to No Motion. And then we rendered the finished clip.

My Neighbour Totoro theory

My Neighbour Totoro is simply a film about 2 young girls who meet magical beings such as the friendly forest troll, Totoro.

There was a big fan theory circling about the origin of the Totoro story and who Totoro was. Totoro was supposedly a forest spirit troll. In this theory Totoro is actually a God of Death - like the Grim Reaper. It states that Totoro is only seen by people who are dead or going to die soon. When a character goes missing and first meets Totoro she leaves a sandal behind. She leaves it next to a pond, suggesting that she drowned and now can see Totoro. The sister goes looking for her and in her desperate search opens the door to the realm of death. With Totoro helping her she finds her dead sister they both visit their mother in hospital. Nobody in the hospital notices them apart from the mother - who can see them because she's going to die soon. In the final scene the sisters do not have shadows, this suggests that they are ghosts/dead.

Studio Ghibli released a statement after hearing of the theory and denied everything. The children just go missing normally and enter the magical areas of the forest and meet a forest spirit. They said that in the final scene, the reason that they did not have shadows is because the artists didn't think it was necessary to add shadows in this particular location and scene. They also denied another theory that stated from the first theory about the story being based on a murder case. The case was called the Sayama incident and the film is based on Sayama Hill. The case is about 2 girls who turned up dead and it is said that one saw a cat apparition before committing suicide. This story is only an Urban Legend. This incident did happen in May and both the sisters names relate to that. 'Mei' is the Japanese pronunciation of May and 'Satsuki' is the Japanese for the month of May.

Even though these theories have been denied as being true, they do put an interesting twist and perspective on the film and gives in a totally new meaning which can be both good and bad. I personally love the film, but it has not been ruined by this theory, it's just another way of perceiving the story and characters, it's like watching a new film for the first time.

Source:
http://kotaku.com/5926248/totoro-isnt-all-cute-for-some-hes-the-god-of-death

Treatment

The film starts with a young girl being given a teddy bear. - Music playing, parent not seen. Close ups of teddy bear's face.
Photo frames on the wall, pan down to frame with image of the girl on stage. Pan across to bed, girl is sleeping with her arm hanging over the edge of the bed. Flashback dream of the girl on the stage dancing in a spot light.
Back to the girl asleep. She drops the teddy - slow motion. Music stops.
Girl wakes up and looks over the edge of the bed. The bear is gone. She sleepily looks around the room and sees a shadow move across the wall. She throws the covers over herself scared, she whimpers. She peaks through the cover and sees the bear sitting on her bedside table. She pulls him in and hugs him, calms down and goes back to sleep. Fade out.
Next day. The girl is playing with the teddy and hears a parent say " Do you want any Ice Cream? You had a bit of a sleepless night" The girl jumps up with the teddy runs from the living room through the hall to the kitchen and drops the teddy in the hallway. Ice cream gets placed on the counter. She pulls up a stool and tucks in. Pan out of the room to see the teddy sitting in the hallway. The girl finishes her ice cream and jumps down off her stool and into the hall where the teddy was.
She looks around for the teddy searching in different rooms and finds him sitting next to a wall. She picks him up revealing a small doodle on the wall, that she doesn't notice. Shot of doodle in foreground, girl walking away in background. The doodle is a simple drawing of a girl - looking a little like the bear's owner.
The girl is in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. She looks out of the door at a door across the hall that is dark. She looks blankly at the dark room, finishes her teeth and leaves the room keeping her eyes on the dark room as she walks away. - Long shots
The girl is back in bed again, asleep. She drops her teddy bear onto the floor, just like before. She wakes up and sees a small furry creature by the door as she's looking around for her teddy bear. It turns so that it's face comes into the light to reveal it's scary face. She watches it, frozen. It runs out of the room making a big shadow in her bedroom. The girl slowly gets out of bed and follows the furry thing. The shadow moves along to hallways until she comes to a large usually-blank part of wall. It has a rough drawing on the wall. The creature is watching her from around a corner. The drawing is of what seems to be her. She stares at the drawing unable to speak to move. A shadow comes up behind her and she slowly turns. High shot, looking down at her. She panics and says quickly "I didn't do it!" This person standing over her is her parent and says sternly "go back to sleep, now." - they obviously don't believe that she didn't do it. The girl walks back to her room and her teddy bear is on the floor where she dropped it. She picks it up and crawls back into bed keeping an eye out for anything strange until she finally falls asleep.
It's now the next day and the girl is sitting sensibly on the sofa with her teddy alongside her. She looks down, feeling very guilty. She turns and looks down at her teddy bear and he's sat facing her almost looking up at her. She stares at it for a while. View from teddy's eyes. Her mum's voice comes from the other room "right, time to talk, miss!" The girl reluctantly stands up and leaves the room. Leaving the bear sitting on the sofa.
The girl is leaving a room and she goes upstairs. She walks along the hallway and comes face to face with a large drawing on the wall. The drawing is of the photo that the girl keeps beside her bed; her favourite photo. The girl backs away, turns and runs downstairs. She dashes into the living room grabbing the teddy bear off the sofa and running out of the front door. She runs to the local village hall - a short run.
She goes inside and as the door shuts behind her the bear drops to the floor. She looks around the hall, looking at the stage that was drawn on the wall. She swallows hard and approaches the stage, the bear is already gone. She leans over to the stage and searches around. She decides to have a look back stage. She finds the typical things found in a backstage area. Even a bowl of water with a make-up covered towel.
Finding nothing of importance, she goes back to the front of the stage and finds a small scale version of the stage. The small stage is illuminated and small shadow puppets rise and start to tell a story. They tell the story of the girl and the bear. The stage goes dark and the girl backs away.
She turns to see a shadow on the wall and focus' on the shape of the ears. She runs towards the shadow but there is no bear around. She franticly searches the building looking for the bear until she finally catches up with the bear. He's sitting on the floor - still. She picks him up and holds him tight and looks around for some way of disposing the bear. She finally realises the bowl of water she had noticed earlier. She looks down into the teddy bear's face, now cute. She thinks back to the face she saw in her room, shakes her head and lunges at the bowl of water pushing the bear to the bottom of the glass bowl. Bubbles are rising as the keeps the bear pressed to the bottom. Finally she calms down and lets go of the bear. He rises to the top of the water, floating face down. The girl breathes heavily and backs away.
The girl is home sitting in her dark room. She is surrounded by her toys, some are in pieces; she is pulling apart the rest. She's never going to trust a toy again. We haven't seen all of her face yet. We see her from behind and it is revealed that she appears to have teddy bear ears. She looks up towards the ears. One of the ears twitches. Black.

Baz Luhrmann - Auteur Theory

Auteur theory is when the Director is seen as the author of a film. Auteurs can be recognised by familiarities in their work, such as common cast, particular techniques, visual styles etc.

Distinct visual styles and techniques

I would say the Baz Luhrmann's style is to be big. The colours, sets and stories are usually of a big scale. Big parties and events, (Great Gatsby, Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge), a moderate amount of action (sometimes portrayed in slow motion; Gatsby, Romeo + Juliet). Baz Luhrmann likes to create visual versions of classic stories with his own modern stylisation without changing the story, characters or mood too much. I would say that the colours in Luhrmann's films are quite metallic colours. He uses a lot of areas with small bits of light bouncing off in foreground, background etc. In a lot of Luhrmann's films he uses glowing effects to make scenes softer. He focuses a lot on the sets. He makes them highly detailed, large and full of grand colours. He uses a lot of large outdoor areas as well, where characters look out to sea or the river with the sky portraying the mood. He uses washed out colouring for depressing scenes, bright colours against dark backgrounds for intense moments - this is shown in Great Gatsby (Myrtle's death scene) and Romeo + Juliet (Tybalt's Death Scene)

Recurring themes

Baz Luhrmann uses modern music in a lot of his films. In Romeo and Juliet the music is from the present day, as the film is set, but the film has a classic theme because of the original script and story. In Moulin Rouge he uses 70s and 80s music to depict this classic tale and make the soundtrack memorable. He uses the memory of music from his younger days, ancient myths and references from classic plays to make a contrast of time periods. He continued his Classic love stories theme with Great Gatsby which is an interesting take on a love story. For this film, he set it in the past and used a lot of the dialogue from the original book but he used modern music. This was disliked by some but liked by others. This continued his modernising style and gave the events in the film a more interesting and exciting feel for modern audiences - who may have found the original story slow and boring. Using almost club music for 20s parties really makes it bigger and more extravagant. On a lot of his film posters it has a stage show theme. The titles are lit and framed in a very theatre-way.


Recurring cast and crew

In his career on stage and film he has worked with Catherine Martin; Costume designer, production designer and his wife. Luhrmann has worked with Leonardo DiCaprio in both Romeo + Juliet and Great Gatsby. Nicole Kidman is the lead role in 2 of his films, and he's also worked with John Leguizamo for 2 films. For 2 of his big films Luhrmann used Craig Armstrong and another 2 used David Hirschfelder. I think theses are his favourites for scores. For his first 3 big films he used Jill Bilcock as his film editor. He used the same Cinematographer - Donald McAlpine for 2 of his major films.

Significant body of work

He has only made 5 major films and 8 shorts. The films he has made are quite well known and have his distinct style. 4/ the 5 films are quite well known and are usually seen as his films by those who know them. Usually makes modernised versions of classic love stories. Romeo and Juliet uses the original Shakespeare script depicted using modern mise en scene. Moulin rouge uses poetry to portray the love story using a similar classic feel like Shakespeare. Great Gatsby uses a lot of dialogue and narration taken from the original novel.


This clip explains the making of one scene from the Great Gatsby - narrated by Baz Luhrmann. The particular scene is very close the original book and is only adapted by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Set Extension

We used 'track motion' to track the first part of the MOV. selecting 2 bright points on the ground. And then added a null object and then selected edit target, Null 1. I then tracked the second half of the clip and put 2 points on bright houses in the background. I then added another Null object and did the edit target process again, but this time using Null 2. I then took a still at frame 178 and put it into Photoshop.   I then added the 1st castle and scaled it down and removed the sky. I also used the clone tool to add more grass, and then feathered the edges using the eraser tool. I then duplicated the layer so that there were now 3 castles and scaled 2 down so that there was perspective. I then put it back into After effects. I then opened it as a new comp and deleted the background layer. I then had just the castles on my original tracked layer. I then made them a 3D layer and adjusted the colouring to match the images up.

Evaluation

When looking back at the final video I am pleased with what was completed. My client wanted a simple video that put across his story and showed some examples of his work. We did consider adding prices to these paintings but decided that it would look a bit too much like an advert. All the paintings shown in the video are available for purchase; we ensured this. The music used was created by the client for his exhibition footage so he decided that it could now become his regular theme. Whilst the editing took some time due to technical difficulties, my client waited patiently because he did not have a fixed deadline. The technical difficulties included a failed transfer of footage that meant editing was at a standstill with some footage that could not be reconnected in Final Cut. This was the only problem that occured during this project. We did spend a little bit more planned time on filming due to the client being unwell at the begining of production. This did mean we had less editing time and then less time to solve the editing problem. If I was to make another video for this client I would ensure that I used all of the same colour schemes, fonts, logos and music to make the business' theme reccur. I liked working with this client because they had a flexible deadline and they were also flexible on the stucture of the video. But I do understand that other clients will have a strict deadline and will want a very specific video. I was lucky enough to find a laid back client that meant I could use a bit of creativity when making their video.

Production

Meetings (Production diary)

I communication with my client in person because it is the most productive and easiest way of discussing the video and reminding each other on certain tasks.
I got my brief back from my client on 23/01/14 and we decided to have a meeting 2 days later. My client agreed not to give a deadline because he has not got a specific date he needs it by. The deadline for this video is the college project deadline.
I had a meeting with the client on the 25/01/14 and discussed what would be said in the video and which paintings would be advertised. We also decided that we would use one of his songs in the video and that he would give me a selection of songs and I would decide on what suits the video.
We met in Tuesday for filming. In this filming session I shot all of his current and available paintings. We were planning on filming an interview with him but he was recovering from being ill the week before and wanted some time to write his script for the interview. We will be rearranging a new filming day soon. For now, I have all of the clips of his paintings that I need and a few filler shots of Simon painting.
On 02/02/14 the client gave me his script for the narration in the video. He wrote the script so that he was happy with what he was saying.
03/02/14 I filmed some more filler shots of the client working and setting up his paint sets.
04/02/14 was the day we finally filmed the client talking about his experience and business. We did it all in one shot and it will be cut in paragraphs because he pauses and talks between sections of the script. He gave me a print out of the order and plan for the editing of the video. I did pre-production when he was unsure of how he wanted the video to play out and now for the editing process I now know the order of my shots and narration sections.

Pre-production

Schedule

This is the schedule I made to hand to the client. I used the colours to make the text separate to make it as clear to read as possible.

Script/Questions/Synopsis

I was given this print out from my client to show how he wanted the video to be ordered.

The video starts with Simon then giving a brief description of what happened to him and how he came to be an artist. Will be shown as an interview and have painting filler shots. During the second paragraph there will be examples of his earlier work. Then for the next 2 or 3 paragraphs there will be clips of recent and current paintings. At the end the logo will appear with the tagline, Facebook, Twitter and website.

The client also gave me a few small bits of paperwork including this inventory/price list. We were considering added prices to the paintings in the video, but we are still unsure as to whether it will suit the theme of the video or not. 

Shot list/Storyboards

Because this isn't a long video there are very few shots that need to be planned. When I'm filming filler shots I will be filming Simon doing his daily work so I just have to film close ups based on what he is doing.
When it comes to storyboarding I have planned the 2 most important shots to make sure they are correct.

- Simon talking to the camera, medium shot. Simon on the left, paintings in the background.
- Mid shot of each painting with white background.
-Various close ups of Simon painting.

Location report

The video will be shot in the home of the client, as this is their workplace. There are 4 available power sockets for possible lights to be plugged into. In some parts of the room there is a small amount of room to move around due to the amount of furniture, but we should be able to film without any space troubles.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of this video will consist of music and narration. The narration will be done by the client as they explain their business; how it came about, what he does now and his commissions process. The music will be from one of the home-made albums that the client have created. I will choose the songs that fit the video appropriately with input from the client. The narration will most likely be recorded on the camera so that we have the visuals to use at some points in the video.

Client brief

Here is a photo of my client brief. Underneath I have written it up so that the information is easier to read.

Client name: Simon's Artwork.

Distribution and file type: Video for YouTube and social networks

Video type: promotional and information

Video purpose: basic information as background to business. Awareness of G.B.S.

Specific requirements: logo, impact font, colours-blues, variety of images and recent paintings shown

Visuals - any supplied?: early paintings and logo

Music - any supplied?: music supplied

Target audience: customers etc. who don't know the background story.

Running time: 2-3 minutes

Budget: zero!

Contact information: smoothfield@yahoo.co.uk

Deadline date: flexible

Codes, conventions and practices

There are many companies who offer their services when it comes to professional corporate videos. 2 examples of companies that create these videos are Toast TV and Traccfilms. Toast TV advertise videos for: brand awareness, perception, training and motivating employees. They ask to be contacted using phone, e-mail and in person. Most of these companies advertise their own work using a show reel; here is a link to theirs - http://www.toasttv.co.uk/?portfolio=toast-showreel

There are different ways of being presented a brief: verbal, written or an open brief. We looked into all 3 of these. For verbal, we were given a brief from the original Stig who set us a task in person to one groups and filmed for the others. I experienced a written brief with this particular project. My client gave me a written brief that I followed and then adapted it during meeting with them. The last is an open brief. We looked into this in the form of film festivals. I looked at the entry requirements for a film festival to find out what films would be accepted.

When people prepare to make a corporate video there are many things they need to consider.
They need to think about who will be watching this video and how to relate well to them. Are they promoting? Training? Raising awareness? There are many different purposes for a corporate video that need to be portrayed. Another thing that needs to be considered is brand awareness. The company need to make it obvious that this video is about them. This can be done using colour schemes, logos, particular fonts and other visual elements that may relate back to them. For example: when Sony release videos they use a lot of black and white for text and use small bright lights as transitions and around text because they have made that a signature visual.

Corporate videos can be recognised usually by their purpose. They are used to pass messages to customers and business partners of a company. These videos include interviews, filler shots, digital images etc.

About the company/client - Simon's Artwork

Simon's artwork is an independent business run by Artist, Simon Smith.

In 2010 Simon was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome aged 42. From being completely fine to being hospitalised and having his body shut down. Guillian-Barré Syndrome is a rare and serious condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves. The cause of this condition is still unknown. Simon's experience of Guillain-Barré (GBS) was quite severe and spent a large amount of his time in the intensive care unit. He experiences a lot of visions/delusions whilst in hospital which made the condition more and more odd and frightening for him. When Simon left the hospital he was on a slow recovery and had to use a wheelchair when walking outside of the house. The first part of his body to make a proper recovery was his hands, so he wrote 2 novels and started teaching himself different painting styles and techniques; already being good at drawing and painting. He also wrote a book on his experience 3 years later and sells it on Amazon. Now Simon has made more of a recovery but unlike the 80% of people who fully recover, he still struggles in day-to-day life. He can walk small distances with a walking stick but can not walk long distances. He also experiences extreme tiredness. Due to these recovery complications Simon is unable to go out and work so he needed to find a way to work from home. He worked with a job company to help him set up his own business so that he could paint for a living. He now paints a wide range of stock and takes commissions for anything to be painted or drawn. He usually paints on large foam board or artist paper. He sells through phone, e-mail, in person, Facebook, Twitter and exhibitions. He has had 1 exhibition so far and displayed 46 paintings.

Policy and legal research

When thinking about possibility of legal problems with this video we were quite relaxed. My client gave me some of his own music that he composed for an exhibition video. We would have no trouble with copyright and he decided that that music could be his 'theme'. When it came to the images in this video we were quite confident with them being safe. The problem being that most of the paintings are of famous people; would there be a problem there? My client has always worried that one day he would be told not to paint certain people, places etc but he is usually careful about what he paints unless it is a commission and he has been asked to paint it. He decided that since he is a local painter who is expanding he doesn't need to worry too much since he isn't exactly well known.

Market and Audience

This video is being used in Simon's Artwork's marketing. He will be uploading it to his YouTube page which is linked with his Facebook, Twitter and website. His website does not yet have an option to add a piece of video but he may upload it when he improves his website. We discussed who his audience were and came to the conclusion that he needed a video for the people who do not know him personally. A lot of Simon's clients are friends, friends of friends etc. He is getting more and more customers that he does not know. This video is to explain to them who he is, how he became an artist and advertise some of his available paintings. At the end of the video he asked for his Facebook page, Twitter page and website to be listed. He is going to use simple language when explaining his hospital experience that led him to painting, to make sure a variety of people can understand the complex topic.

Sample brief and response

This is a list of examples for a brief.

Client

Musician
Individual
Local businesses
Bank/finance
Events (weddings)
Large businesses who use the web a lot
Charities
Media companies
Government

Contact

Name and way of contact - e-mail, phone etc.

Type

Animation

Event coverage

Training videos

Awareness

Health and safety 

Bidding

Podcast

Purpose

Motivation

Instructional

Serious

Inspirational

Advertising

Requirements

Logo

Slogans

Certain actors

Particular font

Colour scheme

Audience

Staff

Clients

Public

Superiors

Distribution

Youtube

TV

Web

Cinema

Running time

                                                                                                                        

This is an example of a client brief.

Client - Media company (Tech)

Contact - Mainly e-mail, phone available too

Name of project - (Name of product)

Type - Event coverage of product release and promotion of product being released

Purpose - Advertising

Requirements - Company logo, company font and colour scheme.

Audience - Public and clients

Distribution - Web, Youtube and possible TV.

Running time - 6 minutes.

                                                                                                                         

Response to client brief:

If this video is 6 minutes long I assume you would like a full description of this new product, is that correct? About the event coverage; will you be needing me to set up a full camera set up? and is the event the unveiling of the product?-if so, who to? Would you be able to send me a full resolution PSD file of your logo for me to use? Also, what is your colour scheme and font? I may need some filming time with your product for the features description if you would like that.

                                                                                                                          

Summary of college brief

Work with a client to create a corporate video that they can use. They decide a deadline based around the college deadline.

We have 4 tasks to work on until the deadline; 10/02/14.
We have research, pre-production, production and evaluation.

For the research task we'll have to research the company we plan to work with, policies and legal rules, existing corporate promos and market and audience.

Pre-production will include: Proposal, treatment, storyboard, script, production diary, meeting notes, pitch, location reports, equipment list, release forms, sound planning and possible after effects and editing planning.

Then, the final production, this will be uploaded onto Youtube/client's website and put onto the blog.

The last task is the evaluation.

Proposal

I got my idea after hearing a song called "where is my mind?" performed by Yoav featuring Emily Browning. The song was the sort that I would like to make a music video for. I then thought that if I made a film, I could make a music video for the song using some clips from the film. - Like an advertisement for the film that doesn't give away too much of the story. It's going to be half film clips and half characters miming. After I started developing the final idea from listening to the song for inspiration and think about as many strange ideas I could. I thought about having it about toys they would have a dark, creepy theme. I decided that I wanted it to be about a teddy bear that messes with a girl's mind.
The final film is aimed to be between 5 and 10 minutes. The breakdown for the story is this: A young girl is given an old fashioned teddy bear and she loves it. When her back is turned it comes alive and leaves drawings around her house for her to discover. It also projects a shadows on her walls to scare her in the night and appears with an unfamiliar face. The girl has a photo of her favourite memory (in a village hall). The bear draws a version of that memory on the wall and the girl realises she has to go to the village hall to find out whats going on - taking the teddy bear with her. Completely oblivious that the teddy bear is the cause of strange goings on she searches the hall looking for any clues of any kind. After circling the building she finds a mini stage on the large stage. It presents a shadow puppet stage that portrays the story of the bear and the girl. Whens he realises she goes looking for her bear. When she finds it she takes it to a bowl she finds in the backstage area and drowns the bear. She returns home and destroys all her toys that she can now never trust again. It is revealed that she now has teddy ears implying that she will now become a teddy bear.
To film this I will be using a Canon 650D because I wanted a camera that is of a good quality that I create depth of field with - as my last camera did not have that ability. I decided to use my own camera so that I wouldn't have to rely on booking from the college in case there were any complications or the camera I want isn't available when I need it. I will be filming mostly using a tripod and some shots will be done using a hand stabiliser to create smooth free hand. Most shots will be lit in a way to look like lamp light and some shots will have bright spotlights to create effect. In post production the film will be given a dark, vintage colouring to make it look a lot better and suit the tone of the film.
My target audience is both children and mature audiences. I came to this audience when I thought about the feeling of the film. I think children (not too young) want to watch horror films but are too young, so I think they would enjoy dark stories that aren't of a high rating. The main character is also a child and there is a possibility of the audience relating to her.  I think that young teens would also fit into this bracket. I think mature audiences would enjoy it for the concept and cinematography; I'm hoping it will look very appealing.
When it comes to filming dates and timescale, I intend to get a lot of filming done in a short amount of time. All the scenes in the village hall will be filmed on one day that I can book the location. The house scenes will likely be filmed over 2 days so that the filming isn't too rushed on one day. The village hall scenes will be filmed in the middle of the 2 house days. To do some scenes I need a photo taken in the hall. And for many scenes I need the teddy bear, but there bear may be ruined on the hall day. I need to work out what scenes can be done on each day so that everything is done in the correct order and in time.
Alongside this production I will be creating a music video using clips from the film and lip-syncers for my Music video project. Considering a song gave me inspiration for my film I decided that I should use that song.

Festival research

London short film festival

This film festival is usually held in January. This year's festival was between the 10th and 19th. It is hosted in 19 different central London venues.

The deadline for entries is usually in September. The entry requirements are:

• All submission filmmakers must be living or working in the UK.
• The films running length must be under 60 minutes.
• The following genres are accepted - drama, comedy, documentary, experimental, animation, lo/no budget, music video or a combination of genres.
• Entries must have been completed in the last couple of years (2/3years)
• All entries must be submitted on DVD or online through 'Withoutabox'.

There are many opportunities when entering this festival. Last year over 300 films were shown; which is a lot of exposure. There are many different awards that all give different prizes. Here are the usual awards. There are 9 awards:

• Best new short wins £1000.
• Best short Documentary wins free passes and submissions to 2 festivals.
• Best lo-budget short wins a Lomography camera package.
• Best Thriller short wins an opportunity to show their short on ShortsTV's European broadcast channel.
• Best experimental short wins a 'reel 100' membership, 12 cinema tickets and the film will be put on the ICA website and feature in the 'trailer wheel' for a week.
• Best student short wins a specialised course at London Film Academy
• Best female character win a one-to-one mentor session with a female director in the industry.
• Best music short wins a full package picture grade which includes one day Baselight grade, DigiBeta, DCP version and data files.
• Best comedy short wins a free place on the LOCO industry training course called 'Kickstart your comedy career'.

I looked into previous winners over the last few years it ran and I couldn't find any recognisable names or any people that really got far from this festival. Most websites just put a list of the winning directors and the names of the films.