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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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.

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

Lies, damn lies, and statistics

I had a conversation on Friday with a media expert, who's firmly in the "internet's impact on the media is exaggerated" camp. After putting forward various arguments and counter arguments we ended up taking pot shots at one of the most basic determining factors, the proportion of UK households with internet access.


I weighed in at 90% and he thought it might be closer to 60%. According to last year's figures from the Office for National Statistics it was only around 73%, marginally closer to his estimate (though that figure must have increased to at least 75.01% by now).


I was fairly staggered - 1 in 4 UK homes are still not hooked up to the web. It puts arguments about changing patterns of media distribution and consumption into context and also demands that any talk of a digital media revolution is at least tempered with consideration that a very large minority of audiences are not currently party.


Another set of figures in the report lend weight to Prensky's emphasis on the generational divide in his natives/immigrants/dinosaurs theory:

The chart shows that a far lower percentage of older sections of the population are using the internet and also that a sizeable proportion amongst that group have tried and decided, cheers no thanks.


Finally the report also gives some raw data on usage of online tv and radio. The trend here clearly shows that participation is widening, but also that the rate of growth appears to be slowing. This perhaps hints at as yet unreached sections of TV and radio audiences who are either economically disenfranchised from the digital revolution or simply satisfied with traditional forms of distribution.

You can view the full report here and fish out a couple of stats to add weight to your own arguments about the impact of the internet on the media industries.

Every Little Helps

Tesco has just gobbled up 80% of Blinkbox and has positioned itself as the main rival to Amazon (new owners of LoveFilm) for control of the UK video on demand market. Here's an article in today's Guardian that discusses how the move might effect the future of TV and film distribution.


Tesco is the original one stop shop in the UK - the place that people go to buy newspapers, bread, fresh fruit, barbecues, wine, clothes, toasters, meat, fish, insurance, and DVDs. Tesco's business model is based on getting consumers to buy everything from one place - theirs. It has been incredibly successful, today in Britain £1 out of every £7 spent in a shop, is spent in a Tesco. Only about 20 or 30 years ago you would probably have bought those 11 products in 11 different shops, from 11 different companies. That is a definition of convergence for you right there.


Over the last decade Tesco and other supermarkets have been rapidly expanding into selling Books, DVDs and CDs. Alongside the huge sales growth of online retail giants (biggest of which Amazon) this has created a pincer movement, that has crushed specialist High Street retailers who have been unable to compete with the scale and low costs of these gargantuan operators. Our Price, Virgin Megastores/Zavvi and Tower Records have gone to the wall since 2004 and HMV and Waterstones are in rapid decline and look like they are probably on their last legs too.


One of the most interesting aspects of Tesco's move into the VoD market is that it clearly demonstrates the new players entering the TV and film industries that are emerging as likely big-hitters of the future. How the changing ownership and methods of TV and film distribution will effect production and patterns of exchange, only time will tell...

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Brave New World?

Here is a link to an article from yesterday's Guardian, Warner Bros to rent movies on Facebook It's not happening in the UK yet, but surely that will follow if this trial is successful? This could not be more relevant for the Media in the Online Age unit and is another angle on your Facebook case study. 

It is also something you might refer to, when thinking about what the future might hold - one single interface that people go to for everything? Will it be run by one company (Googlezon?) as Casaleggio Associati predict, in the video you watched at the start of this course? Here's the follow up to that film, Prometeus - The Media Revolution Part 2

So gutted.

Aarrgghhh! (shock/horror).  Grrr! (frustration).  Oh nooo! (disappointment).

 

Usually in that order.


That is what it feels like to turn up to a shoot (which you have spent ages planning and is vital to the success of your film) and then realise that you have forgotten to pack the microphone, wide angle lens adaptor, XLR cables, headphones, gaffer tape, lens wipes, lens (!), or any other bit of kit that you cannot work without.


And it happens. It happens every day. When I used to work for a news organisation, I once drove 50 miles, before realising I had forgotten the whole camera. Really.


It is so easy to do. You have a million and one things on your mind, you're in a mad rush to get to the shoot on time, and have just had a row with your boyfriend/girlfriend/boss/landlord/pet chimpanzee.


Camera? 
Check
Tripod? 
Check
Radio mics? 
Check
Spare batteries? 
Check
Sorted. 


An hour later you arrive, on time (phew), excited (this is going to look so good) and aching (omg the kit weighs a ton). You meet up with the rest of the crew, spend half an hour setting up the first shot and making sure costumes, props, hair and make up are all perfect.


Director: "Places everybody. Camera turnover. Ready and ac..."


Cameraman: "Sorry Dave the camera's not having it, hold on a sec... no it's totally not having it, I don't know what's up it won't record."


Director: "Let me have a squiz... err I think that flashing picture of a cassette means you need to put a tape in Dave!"


Cameraman: "oh right, fair play chuck one over then Deb"


Deb: *rummages around in camera bag, frowns* "They're not in here, they must be in the sound bag?".


Except they're not. And then your perfect shoot and all of the work you have put into planning and arranging it is about to come to nothing. If you're very lucky and thinking on your feet, there is a Dixons/Jessops/Boots around the corner (which is still open) and you can chip in a quid each and still save the shoot. If you are creating a homage to the opening sequence from The Shining, and have just trekked up Snowdon  (the perfect location, at the perfect time of year, in the perfect light and looking AMAZING through the viewfinder), you cannot still save the shoot.

Click on image above to go to "Art of the Title" and view this and other title sequences in high quality.

Please do not let this happen to you, like it did this week, to a brilliant group of students from one of my classes (apart from the Snowdon bit). What can you do, to stop it happening? Follow these incredibly quick and easy steps before every shoot.


1. Make a list of all of the equipment and props that you need. [Best bet is to keep a template spreadsheet or word doc with everything you can possibly imagine on it, then when planning each shoot delete the things you don't need and add any extra ones needed for the particular filming day/week]. Don't forget to put a print out of your storyboard on the list and an umbrella if you're filming outside.


2. Get someone else from the crew to double check it to see if there is anything you have forgotten.


3. Allocate who is responsible for bringing which items and make sure that each person has the full list with names next to who is bringing what and is aware and comfortable with their responsibilities.


4. When you collect the kit, check the camera and any other equipment is all working by recording 10 seconds of footage (and sound if required) and watching it back.


5. Before you leave for the shoot, (carefully) pile up everything you are taking with you just inside your front door.


6. Visibly check each item on the list you are responsible for and cross it off the list, so you know it's all there.


7. Make sure you don't leave anything by the door.


8. Ask for help if you do forget anything, a lot of problems can be solved in the field. Don't write off a shoot until you have exhausted all options to save it.


Finally, don't get too depressed if this does happen to you and your shoot is ruined. Making every media product is all about adapting to unforeseen situations, reacting to them and making things work.


Becoming great at doing any job in the media is all about learning from every project you work on - the good stuff you do on purpose, the great things that happen by accident, and also the mistakes that inevitably happen along the way.

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The original 'match cut'

Have a look at this magnificent continuity edit from David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), it is one of the most celebrated cuts of all time and deservedly so.

When you're creating your own storyboards you will need to focus closely, not just on the individual shots, but also on how the shots will fit together and the meanings their juxtapositions* will create (have a look at the post below to get some ideas).


It is impossible to mention Lawrence of Arabia without also referring to the soaring music, which begins at the end of this sequence. It beautifully describes the majesty of the desert and the epic scale of the protagonist's plight. Maurice Jarre's triumphant composition runs even The Third Man close, in the greatest-film-score-of-all-time stakes. 

* Here's the most useful definition I could find for juxtaposition:  An image-development strategy used to place, side by side, two or more images or elements in a way that changes the meaning or effect of each.
www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/fak7/apf3.htm

"Ice creams, ice creams!"

The Hollywood classical narrative structure relies on continuity editing to create a seamless and believable world within a film. It tells the audience where things are (spatial relations) and how shots relate to each other time-wise (temporal relations). For example, generally when we see a hard cut between shots we understand that the action happens back to back, but if we see a slow 'dip to black' that tells us that some time has passed (traditionally symbolising a night has gone by I guess, hence the black?).
 
This week we shot and edited the preliminary filming exercise, which incorporated the godfather of all continuity edits – shot/reverse shot. The basic idea is to shoot one character left of frame, looking right and another right of frame, looking left. Then, when these are edited together the audience assumes that the characters are facing each other (in the same location) and therefore having a conversation.

This may sound pretty obvious, but imagine how different the film would look if one of the shots were flopped, like the second shot below (reversed around a vertical axis, so that it looks like a mirror image). 

If these shots were cut together now, the characters would look like they were in unrelated locations, talking to themselves or to other, unseen characters. By the way, these stills are taken from Carol Reed's masterpiece The Third Man (1949), one of the greatest mystery thrillers ever made.

Here's the short sequence I grabbed the stills from [If you want to take a screen grab from a youtube video or webpage, hit command-shift-4 if you're on a mac, or the button that says "print screen" if you're using a pc]. Notice how the juxtaposition of these two shots, and a long shot of a woman, looking down from a window, map out the location perfectly. You never see any of the characters together in any of these shots, but still have a complete understanding of where each character is in relation to the others. There is a beautiful edit, when the lady turns on a light and it slants down to illuminate Harry's face. Harry gives a little glance up, (which helps to make sure the audience is aware of their relative positions) and then looks back, to where his old friend Holly is, standing across the road, staring back at a man he believed was dead.

As for the close up shot of Harry when the light is switched off, well what can I say, it is breathtaking. By creating this change in diegetic lighting, the director not only makes the mysterious Harry vanish into the night, but he also makes the world of the film very concrete and believable, due to the realistic, physical property of the lighting effect.


The Third Man is one of my favourite films of all time and it also features the greatest soundtrack ever written (composed and performed by Anton Karas), though it was only rated 26th by a panel of so-called experts in The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/mar/18/features.musicmonthly14


Once heard never forgotten. Even if you do manage to forget, you'll get a reminder, next time a Mr Whippy van heads in your direction...

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Bacon and Eggs

A psychopathic serial killer is bound to have a slightly different view of the world ain't he? Dexter's opening sequence is all shot in ECUs, just like the deranged murderer in Se7en's opening credits (below). Dexter is a creature of habit, and the precision of his morning routine (dental floss one of my favourite shots) reveals his obsessive and singular perspective as well as eluding to his penchant for a spot of squashing, blood-letting, slicing, smashing, grinding, sawing, crushing, restraining, throttling and asphyxiating, in that order. Did I miss any out?!

 

The serial killers definitely have different tastes in music though, as the discomfiting, scratchy, screechy soundtrack in Se7en has been replaced by a catchy theme tune that bobs along merrily. The undramatic music helps to establish that executing a couple of carefully selected victims is a perfectly ordinary, everyday hobby for Dexter. The rest of the soundtrack echoes the visual ECUs, in my opinion the extreme close up sound effects are actually much more unsettling than the visual ECUs (the chewing noises especially). This again connotes a person with a 'warped' view of the world, that sees and hears things differently to the rest of us normal folk.

Which do you think is scarier, a serial killer who has 'lost it' and is slicing off his fingertips like that chap off of Se7en or one that goes about his daily business like my mate Dexter?

There are only three shots in Dexter's opening sequence that would be difficult to create, with the equipment you are using for your thriller sequences. They are the super-slow motion shots of the egg shell breaking, coffee beans grinding and the orange being sawn in half. This is because digital film cameras generally only film 24 frames per second (i.e. every second of film is made up of 24 individual photos). If you slowed the footage down as much as the editor has done in these shots, (maybe about tens times slower than real life) then the film would appear very jerky because you would only be showing 2.4 pictures every second. Cameras that are used for filming super super slow motion, such as on Sky Sports, record 2,000 frames every second!

Check out this ad for Pedigree from Canada, the director found a novel use for super slow mo that very effectively taps into dog owners' parental affection towards their pooches. It was shot at a rate of 1,000 frames per second.

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Helvetica rules OK

The golden oldie of sans serif fonts is making a come back, on the silver screen. Why are film producers clamouring for the font that was designed to say nothing at all?

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/1260

If you want to know the film font...

Find out here:

http://www.linotype.com/2255-21522/movies20032006.html

They've got a large range of movie posters from the last decade and a handful of classics too. The details of all fonts are listed, the one used below is Aachen Bold.  It's one of my favourites posters from the site, I love the highly stylised layout which is really complemented by the choice of font. In combination with the hard-man expressions of the actors, the bulked-up, masculine font promises a film for tough guys such as myself

Great site

The Font Feed is "a daily dispatch of recommended fonts, typography techniques, and inspirational examples of digital type at work in the real world. Eat up."

Amongst many other fascinating articles about the world of letters, it also regularly analyses movie posters - focusing on, you guessed it, the fonts used and how they tie in with the genre and themes of the films. It features posters from a mix of blockbusters and lesser known films, chosen on the basis of how interesting the design and use of font is. Check out the poster for The Girlfriend Experience which features in one of their posts, it is gorgeous. Fact.

http://fontfeed.com/archives/tag/movie-posters/

If JC was a Comic Sans fan

Graphic designers weigh up the magnitude of James Cameron's crime against typography and consider if it could have been even worse than papyrus...

http://www.overthinkingit.com/2009/12/28/hate-the-avatar-font-it-could-be-worse/

$237 million Avatar movie’s font is… Papyrus?

Here's a step by step analysis of how they tinkered with the papyrus font to get that 'extraterrestrial meets indigenous tribe' look.


http://aaronweyenberg.com/402/avatar-movie-font-is-papyrus