The BBFC was made to classify films into specific age ratings so that it can be aimed at certain age groups in cinemas based on how violent and what references it has in the film. They get their funding from the distributors that pay them to review the film.
Normally DVD's are submitted and are viewed by one single person in a room set up to be like a home to understand the home viewing feel. If it is a foreign language film a translator will be called in to help but films are usually viewed alone. If issues are raised then it is debated at weekly meetings. Issues could include-general context - plot, characters, outline of individual scenes. Timings of key moments, including camera angles, type of shots, on- and off-screen moment. Bad language, sex and drug references and so on.
The Dark Knight had a controversial age rating because of it having vast amounts of violence which smaller children may not be accustomed to. Also some of the scenes were brought up by members of the public for being to violent, like the pencil scene which some people thought was quite bad. The Jokers character also came under scrutiny as his affliction with knifes was quite worrying for people in the UK has it has a problem with knife crime.
The guideline for a 15 certificate are that there is strong language allowed and sexual references in context to the narrative, however repeated and frequent use of unnecessary language isn't allowed, violence is allowed.
Topic from brief (e.g. Modern-noir, Urban Life etc.):
Modern-Noir
Genre (and sub-genre if applicable):
Thriller, psychological thriller
Logline – one sentence that sums up the film and hooks people in (25 words or fewer):
A psychological thriller that explores the division between reality and the false distortions through the eyes of dysfunctional teenagers
Other successful films that are similar to yours:
Gone Girl, in terms of the mentally disturbed protagonist.
Narrative structure for full 30-minute film – what happens and in what order (max 100 words):
The film will start with a bored group of teenagers going to their hangout place, where they invent a new version of spin the bottle, the objective of the game is to change your life within an hour if you have been chosen. They begin to play the game and the protagonist, who is mentally unstable gets chosen. With the hour he has been given he decides to invite a vulnerable and naive friend to join him, which she immediately does. The naive friend is unaware about what he is planning to do but continues to eagerly join him on their walk to the woods. This is where he brutally murders hers and disposes her body of. When the protagonist arrives back after an hour his friends ask where the naive and vulnerable friend is, he dismisses the questions and says she went home. Over the next 2 days people begin to grow suspicious, with Friend 2 starting to accuse him over her sudden disappearance. Despite this the group of friends decide to continue playing the game and when Friend 1 gets chosen, she is put under pressure by Friend 2 and decides to kill him before killing herself by self drowning in a river. The scene ends with a suicide note stating “Gone for an hour”.
Main protagonist, their desires, the conflicts they encounter etc.:
The main protagonist, who is the killer, has a manipulative characteristic which he hides through his charisma and charm, it could almost be argued that he’s mentally unstable. He desires power and attention, something which he lacked before he brutally murdered a vulnerable friend. His killing gave him a sense of superiority, but it also adds onto his paranoia. He faces several conflicts such as one member of their friendship group getting suspicious about his sudden change in personality, as his lies increase and increase.
Other characters and their role/audience appeal:
1) Vulnerable friend (female): She’s quite naive and easy to manipulate. The quieter character of the group, her characteristics and tragic death will create some pity for her from the audience
2) Friend 1 (Male): Humorous character, he is quite lively and is the driving force of all their friendships
3) Friend 2 (Female): She is quite reserved and laid back but pays attention to surroundings in quite a lot of detail. She is the character who gets suspicious, and her intelligence appeals to the audience.
4) Friend 3 (Female): Close friend of the vulnerable friend, she is who kills the protagonist. It is quite surprising for the audience as her friendly characteristics contrast the crime she commits and her sudden decision of committing suicide.
Target audience for your film (age, gender, social class, interests etc.):
The main target audience would be for young adults 15-24, hence the 15 certification of the film
I believe male and females would watch it, it has an appeal to all genders i.e. the friendship, the conflicts and the violence.
Working class/middle class
Those who are interested in thrillers with a psychological element to it, or who want an insight into the lives of teenagers with an interesting twist.
The three-minute extract you will make and where it would appear in the film:
The three-minute extract would appear about 5 minutes into the film. It will consist of the group of teenagers spinning the bottle and starting to play the game and the protagonist, who is mentally unstable (his friends aren’t aware of this) being chosen. He is given “one hour to change his life”, and this scene will consist of a shots of him trying to kill the vulnerable friend after leading her on. The scene will end with the protagonist walking away, which will create a cliff hanger and enigma codes on what happens next.
1) Look back at the five films you have analysed for your existing product research. Find which studios made them – e.g. Film Four, Studio Canal, BFI, BBC Films etc.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-This is that productions
Girlhood-Arte France Cinéma ,Canal+ ,CNC,Ciné+,Hold Up Films,Lilies Films.
Donnie Darko-Flower Films
The Falling-Continental Motion Pictures Corporation
Boyhood-IFC Films(US),Universal Pictures(International)
2) What other films do these studios produce? Can you find any any other independent, art house or low-budget examples?
This is that productions:(21 grams,The door in the floor,Thumbsucker)
Arte France Cinéma ,Canal+ ,CNC,Ciné+,Hold Up Films,Lilies Films: (Baby balloon, Tomboy)
3) Do the studios have any notable successes? What is the most successful low-budget or independent film the studio has released?
This is that productions : #1 film at the US box office (The American) and the first film to sell that year at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Distribution: Independent film distributors
Firstly a group of directors share their ideas and plan a rough idea of how their movie is going got be.
Secondly a target audience must be created in order for the movie to fit into the target audience.
Thirdly a lot of pre-production work has to be done for example creating scripts,storyboards etc.
Next you must think of who will make sure the movie planning and everything is going in place when the distributors are not working on it.
Planning for the release must be done for example what countries it will be released in.
After that a release date needs to be created. This is where you must think carefully about your target audience too. For example if it is a 12A film it means you will have a younger target audience. This means the film should be released at a time where the younger audience will be able to go and watch it e.g. weekends, half terms , summer holidays.
Advertisement for the film must be done. An example of this would be trailers on YouTube , TV adverts, billboard posters.
Lastly the you need to have your film properly licensed so that people cannot not make illegal copies e.g. get a copyright.
6) Research Curzon Artificial Eye. Who are they and what do they do?
Curzon Artificial Eye is a British film distributor, specialising in independent, foreign-language and art house films for cinema and home entertainment.
6) Look at the Curzon Artficial Eye YouTube channel. Watch three trailers for recent or upcoming independent films and identify something you can learn from each film to use in your own film production.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Distributor: Focus Features
Budget: $20 million
Box office: $72.3 million
Donnie Darko
Metrodome Distribution (2002) (UK) (theatrical)
Metrodome Distribution (2004) (UK) (DVD)
Budget :$4,500,000 (estimated)
$728K(USA)
It follows
Icon Film Distribution (2014) (UK) (theatrical)
around 21 cinemas released in around the world
Budget: $2,000,000 (estimated)
$10,100,000 (Worldwide) (4 April 2015)
Kiss of the spider women
We can have an odd narrative and storyline and give it a strong historic and film noir feel, especially through the music used and the typography in the text on screen.
The choir
This film highlights we can use an emotive version of lessons that we are told in everyday life and can also give the movie a very good 'home' and 20's feel in order to add to the emotional connection depending on out target audience.
Ice and the sky
This film highlights the documentary aspect we can involve by using voice overs and more realistic clips as a sense of nostalgia and making it seem more personal and historic.
Exhibition: Art-house cinemas
Find some London-based arthouse cinemas and research the following:
1) What is the name of the cinema? Where is it?
EVERYMAN BAKER STREET (96-98 Baker street, London ,W1U)
ELECTRIC CINEMA (191 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, London W11)
2) What type of films do they show? What films are on this week? How do their programmes differ from the major cinema chains like Vue?
EVERYMAN BAKER STREET : Bridge of spies,Carol,The hunger games: Mockingjay part 2.
ELECTRIC CINEMA : Carol,Bridge of spies,Black mass. 3) What type of audience attends this kind of arthouse cinemas? Are there any clues on the website regarding the target audience? How can you tell?
For both of these cinema I would say that the audience that the audience that attends are around 18+. I can tell this as on the website for the 'every man baker street' cinema it says that there is a bar which mean indicate that this cinema is aimed at adults. In terms of the electric cinema i can see offers on seating (sofas) which include champagne , which may indicate that this cinema may also be for an older audience. I would 18+ as alcoholic beverages can only be served to those 18 or over.
A case study in independent film production: Film London and Microwave Film
1) What is Film London and why does it exist? Film London is London's film and media agency - sustaining, promoting and developing London as a major international film-making and film cultural capital.
2) What is the purpose of Microwave Film? Microwave is a unique funding scheme for UK feature films by Film London. The Microwave scheme funds films and give development and mentoring support to short-listed projects as well as production finance, distribution support to the final films.
3) What is the London Calling project for Film London and how does it encourage independent film-making? Microwave does more than fund films; they give development and mentoring support to all of the short-listed projects, as well as production finance and distribution support to the final commissioned films.
4) Choose three feature films funded by Microwave Film and embed their trailers in your blog. For each film, explain why it fits the profile for an arthouse or independent film and what target audience the film might attract.
This is an art house film as it investigates and depicts the contention and impediments of a social and provincial issues. It concentrates extraordinarily on urban situations and how the conventional society of the range can influence the identities and impacts of distinctive sorts of individuals. It depicts the huge subjects of sex, medications, viciousness and posses. I think this is an extremely sensational film with activity topics focused at a youthful grown-up gathering of people with it's convincing story that rotates around urban society.
This is an art house film on the grounds that it has an account in which two improbable characters bond because of a far-fetched occasion. It's an extremely interesting account that has characters which despite the fact that are particular and uncommon, the gathering of people can without much of a stretch relate with. The clever tone of the account and it's social urban subject would be focused at a youthful grown-up gathering of people.
This is an art house film because of the fact that it concentrates on an ethnic minority and investigates the difficulties and points of view of a conventional social issue that is for the most part not regularly talked about. It concentrates a great deal more on crude feeling as opposed to the real show or the contention.
3 tips
Don't over do your narrative keep it simple so the audience do not get confused with with is happening .
You need to be able to consistently explain your story which greatly helps in terms of pitching an idea and drawing your target audience in.
Do not over do your concept in order to help it fit in with your genre. E.g art house films. Doing this may make your narrative confusing or not make sense. Adding just a few elements from your genre is okay as long as it is enough to make your audience understand the concept.
In this short film extract we can see that camera work is quite natural, there is a few shaky camera movements which tells us that a hand held camera is being used instead of using a tripod. By filming with a free hand camera it makes the scene / image look more natural.There is a number of different camera shots and movements in this extract. For example when there is a straight cut from a medium shot of the two characters walking towards the camera to a long shot of them. The use of the straight cuts begin to speed up the pace of film. The editing of this scene is quite straightforward and I think the director did this to help us keep up with what's actually happening between both characters and not to be distracted with the editing. In terms on mise-en-scene we can see that the male character is not dressed very well, his hair is not combed and his clothing looks quite scruffy. This is probably a way of how the director is trying to portray how he is lost without the female character, he life seems like a mess without her in it.
This is a short extract of the film 'Girlhood'. This film is about the lives of a group of teenage girl who live in the tough,ghetto parts of Paris. In this extract the teens are dancing and singing on the train which reinforces the typical stereotypes of teens being loud and disruptive. The use of close ups and extreme close ups used on these characters allow us to see the expressions on the characters faces ,this is effective because the close ups reveals to the audience who the main actors of this movie is. From this short extract we could see the dominant representation of black people, causing problems, shouting loud in a public service transport. In terms of mise-en-scene we could see that the characters are quite loud , disruptive and showing anti-social behaviour on public transport ,which may tell the audience that they may not care about other people or their thoughts on them. The use of the panning/tracking shot is evident in this scene when the camera focuses on Marieme and then there's a slow pan shot and the camera moves slowly to her friend. This allows us to see the instant reactions of the other female characters when Marieme is dancing/performing for them.
This short extract begins with an establishing shot ,then the camera movement is panning down to a birds-eye-view shot of the car. In the beginning of this scene there is non-diegetic music. As he's in the car there's a POV shot of him looking out into the road. There are also a number of straight cuts from a shot of him in the car, to a shot of the car driving, which may of been taken using a crane. The pace of the cuts aren't very quick, which sets a slow pace for the rest of the scene, Also, the non-diegetic music is quite slow and peaceful. Furthermore, as he's driving there's a crane following the car and there's continuous long shots of the car. In addition, there is another POV shot as he takes pictures. There's another establishing shot as he arrives at the school which turns into panning shot as he pulls up. The male actor looks quite scruffy as his clothes looks quite dirty also his hair looks quite messy too, which may suggest he's been on the road for quite sometime. I think this film would be targeted at teenagers, mainly 15 and above.
The genre of this film is drama and sci-fi. There are a number of camera shots in the film which always have the main protagonist in there.The different transitions that are used are cuts and this also has a lack of editing in certain parts of the film to focus on the main protagonist (Donnie Darko).In terms of mise-en-scenem we could see that the scene was in a school and included a conversation between a teacher and student. As this is occurring the camera shots cut between Donnie, his pupils and the teacher in the classroom. This is done so the audience can focus on him while he is speaking and also for the audience to identify him as the main character so we can grow attached to him throughout the film. The scene then cuts from the schools classroom to the head teacher’s office where the main protagonist is in trouble for having a heated argument with the teacher. There is a use of the 180 degree rule between the parents and the head teacher as they are talking. Even when the teacher is talking to the parents Donnie is still in the background to highlight his presence which makes the audience aware of him being the main character.
This film is about a young woman who is followed by an unknown supernatural force after getting involved in a sexual encounter. In this short extract it starts off with diegetic sounds e.g sounds of the birds and the cars.After a while some non-diegetic music begins to fade in changing the atmosphere of the scene which may begin to make the audience feel at unease. There are a number of different shots in this extract. To begin with there is an establishing shot of the neighborhood and then the camera follows a young lady as she runs away from her home. In addition there is a panning shot of the female character as she runs which forces/makes the audience feel as though they are running with her. The use of the close ups on her face allow the audience to see how traumatized and frightened she is which then creates enigma codes. For example the audience may begin to ask questions like 'why is she running?' and 'what is she frightened of ?' which then creates tension and draws them in to watch more.
