The Dark Knight Rises

Loving the build up to TDKR and can't wait to see it in just a little over a week, on the UK's biggest screen (BFI IMAX ). Below are some really cool fan-made posters and a re-cut trailer (in the editing style of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) that some hardcore fans have created. This grassroots activity is adding to the hype created through the masses of official online and offline marketing. You can check out more fan-made posters at tumblr. My favourite posters are the graphic design ones but the humour is quite funny in some of them too, such as this one >>>>>>>>>

Warner Bros and other studios have come to appreciate most types of grassroots production, recognising the benefits of happy fans and free marketing. However when fan-generated content spills into areas that clash with a property's core brand, then (like TDK himself) a studio will defend its territory! WB has frequently filed 'cease and desist' orders (threats of legal action) against fans, to prevent them from producing and sharing their own creations based on WB-owned stories or characters. <<<<<<<<< This poster hints at some of the most keenly fought against fan-art and fan-fiction, that which spills into erotica. Some studios believe fan-generated erotic content, which is inspired by their characters could be confused with officially produced materials and dangerously blur the edges of their brands' identities.


This could potentially be a problem for WB, as it battles to keep Batman dark, but not too dark for teenage audiences. Teens make up a key segment of the target audience for the Batman franchise and its related products such as action figures and costumes. Therefore WB definitely doesn't want TDKR to be thought of as too 'adult' by either parents (who might refuse to cough up cash), or national licensors (who might already be minded to give it a 15 certificate instead of a 12A, due to the "intense scenes of violence and action".

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The Future of the Music Industry?

Wow what a fascinating presentation about the future business model of the music industry. That Reznor achieved all this whilst giving his music away for free and WITHOUT a record label is a sign of the times...

Man's best friend

Devil in the detail

Mise en Scene in your Thriller sequence is extremely important. If your character(s), set, locations, lighting and props do not look 100% believable then the audience will not take the story seriously and will not be gripped.


You must aim to create a painstaking, stunningly accurate recreation of your fictional world – this quality (of appearing to be real) is called verisimilitude and is a key component of enabling an audience to ‘suspend disbelief’. This means they can forget that they are sitting in the middle of a hall full of strangers watching some light flicker on a screen and instead be engrossed in the fictional world that you have created. 


If they are not convinced by the reality of your film then the audience will not have any emotional connection to your characters and will not care whether they are in great danger, have only a second to save mankind or [insert any other suspenseful scenario]. Instead they will be constantly aware that the characters, events and world are not genuine and will not give a monkey's who gets shot, savaged or squashed.


You are making the first two minutes of a feature film, not the first two minutes of a ‘student’ film. Make it look convincing through careful research and sourcing of all mise en scene components.

Costumes, Lighting, Actors, Make up, Props, Sets and/or Locations are all separate categories that need major consideration and a minimum of 2 blogs each – one about researching and another about sourcing the materials. 


One little mistake on any of these details will blow any semblance of reality, the audience will lose belief and your thriller will be toast. For example: freaky tattooed psychopath  defacing photos of former girlfriends in homage to the title sequence from Se7en. Beautifully shot and edited, unnerving original soundtrack, scary as hell, what a nutter. 


Except he is scribbling out the faces of the girls with a berol felt tip pen. Budget.

Here's another video that you could look at to practice analysing the representation of age in tv drama.

Some mash ups

These films all demonstrate sound anchoring the meanings within a text. The camera and mise en scene are unchanged but through re-editing and the addition of a new soundtrack, the meanings are altered beyond recognition. It could be argued that within these texts sound is the dominant aspect  of film language, acting as a 'meta-language' against which the audience interprets the other aspects (camera, mise en scene and editing).


 The clips are all funny as well!

Another PPt. on the use of Sound in film

Film Sound

View more presentations from Guy Stanley

Sound movies

This is a great run down of some of the most common uses of sound in the movies, how it is produced and how it contributes to meanings. Unfortunately the sound effects don't seem to work but am sure you can fill in the gaps...

Diegetic Sound Production

View more presentations from Travis

Some useful editing terms and definitions

TV Drama Editing

The Prize

Fascinating article in The Observer this Sunday, which contains powerful evidence of the impact the Internet is having on film distribution In the US. Last year there was an eye-watering 20% fall in DVD sales, largely due to increased competition from streaming and downloads. This is the emerging market that Amazon and Tesco recently grabbed a big piece of in the UK, when they bought out Lovefilm and Blinkbox respectively.


The article also reveals that for the first time in over 20 years the proportion of US homes that own a TV has also fallen. OK, we are talking about a tiny drop, from 99% to 97% but could this mark the beginning of the end for traditional TV?


http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/08/tv-sets-fall-america-naughton