Video Diary #2

Part 2. Filming Complete

LOCATION 1

We have taken new photographs of the locations we have used for our opening scene due to our last ones being old photographs that we had before for other lessons. We decided to film our location scenes on some abandoned train tracks, we changed the location recently due to us realising that it would be much safer as in the past we have noticed that alarms go off at the place we originally wanted to use, also because we wanted to use a fake gun for our film we thought it would be much safer to go somewhere that is not being used. It was also much quicker for us to get to this location and safer. We decided to use a small space of the location as we know that this is just an opening scene so we can not do too much work on this or it could seem like a short film without some sort of mystery ending. The film in film scene will be shot in one of our main character's home. This is to show how close the main characters were for the film in film showing the old memories and to show their social groups. We also think that filming our opening scene around this time of year is better because homes look very cosy and welcoming due to the decorations. We have taken photos of the house outside and some inside photos of where we think we will most likely film. We have decided to film the film in film on another day just because we want to take it on day where we are ready and we want to make sure the social groups are shown well. Also not all of our team need to be there, therefore we have planned on face timing each other to assist one another when filming as the main character and I will be able to film it ourselves and if it goes wrong we can easily do it again.

LOCATION 2

Today's filming for our location scenes went very quickly and smoothly today compared to our last filming, we decided this time to have more people our age or older so that we did not have to worry about being too serious and getting on with the film quickly because last time we had to make sure the people in our film were also enjoying it too. Also our last task was hard due to the day of filming we struggled with props, actors and the actual idea of what we wanted to do, this is because our storyboard plan was too over the top as our imagination went too far so the plan was too unrealistic and difficult to work around. This time we have been more organised, we have followed our storyboard and we followed our call sheet. The weather when we started filming was just right, it was cold and gloomy, then it got sunny and then it started to rain for a couple of minutes towards the end of filming however we were prepared with sensible clothing case it did rain. We only really changed one specific part in our film and that was using an apple instead of berries, however at the location we did find some berries but now I do not remember why we did not actually use them but anyway the apple worked too. We decided to film all of our parts on different angles so that if anyone wanted to use a different one when editing we had different options to choose from. We all had a go at something different in this film which was nice as we all could help each other out and learn new skills.

FILMING SELFIE:)

Part 1. FILMING DAY!!

We have just over an hour before we start filming our location part of our post apocalyptic opening scene. We have previously organised ourselves to meet on this day purely because everyone in our team has work therefore this was the only day we could film the location scenes and we knew we were going to have to work with whatever weather it was going to be... but luckily the weather is good for us! We were not really bothered if it was going to rain as long as it wasn't too heavy and there wasn't any storms. We are all very pleased with the weather because it isn't sunny, it looks very gloomy at the minute which we think will be just right for the filming. Our location scenes need to be perfect today because we won't have time to be able to meet up again due to work and school because by the time we can all meet it will already be too dark to film. We have all packed bags with all of our props, everyone's basically looking after whatever props and equipment they have what we will need and bringing it along with them just because it's a lot easier for us to do this rather than organise who's bringing what when they might not have it, we are all also bringing any other useful props in case our original ideas do not work out nicely on camera. We will be taking photographs of our location when we get there again as we have used old photographs for our mood boards and now we want to show more recent images of the location and explain why we chose it, we will also take character profile photographs of how they look in the film and on another day we will take a photo of the characters for the film in film to show what life was like before the tragedy and compare the clothing and mise-en-scene. We will also make a video diary of how our filming is getting on with our phones and we will edit and post them all very soon.

Forsaken's Script

We created a script for our opening scene to be ready to know exactly what to do on the filming day, it is very important to stick to the script and to our storyboard, this will save us time and help us be more organised. 

Forsake Script from ewelina stefaniak

How we will represent Social Groups

For our opening scene we are making our actors act a little older than what they are, also because we are having young adults as our main characters we cannot properly give a stereotypical look of them to make our social classes very obvious apart from branding and some mise-en-scene props.The way that we will be representing social groups in our opening scene will be through our film in film shot. Throughout our opening scene you will not be able to tell too much that the main characters used to be fairly wealthy, some viewers may be able to tell due to some of the clothing and props may be giving hints, for example sun glasses could give it away if there are brand names on them and perhaps bags if they look quite modern, etc. Our film will be set in the modern day due to the brands on pieces being visible and it will be nice to give the audience an idea of when the tragedy happened in the film. The audience will also see the social groups being presented very well when they watch our film in film. The film in film will show what life was like before the apocalypse. We will be paying a lot of attention to our mise-en-scene throughout this to make sure that what we are filming is very obvious and shows how wealthy and young the main characters were and show the closeness of the family perhaps, as I have mentioned in the character profiles how they are described as wealthy and young people.

Character Profiles, Call Sheet and Risk Assessment

PA Sound

Recently we have been learning about how to make our sound in our post apocalyptic films seem more realistic. We are wanting to create very smooth filming and editing once we are ready to go out and start it. There is a way to create a clear sounded film which is something called creating Foley sound. The name came from Jack Foley, Foley sound is a way to make your film not seem amateur. Foley effects are sound effects added to films after the shooting is complete. This can be sounds such as footsteps, slamming, gun shots, etc. These sounds are better recorded on their own and to place on top of the film to make the sound clear. When shooting the sound the boom operator will only be focusing on dialogue so that they can add in the Foley sounds after. Whilst editing we can edit the sound by fading it and controlling the intensity. Foley is performed by specialised artists that sound on a stage around props. The artists will watch the film and perform trying to be in time of the sounds.

We will be recording our "Foley" sounds on the day of our filming, we will be recording sounds such as a twig snapping with our phones and the sound that our gun prop makes when it makes a loud "shot" kind of noise, if we do not like our sounds recorded on our phones when we edit our work we will be having to use some sounds from non copyright websites or we shall think of alternative ways to exaggerate the sounds.

Planning for PA opening scene including story board

Below I have created a slideshow with my mood board, a plan, mise-en-scene and sounds. I have also added in my storyboard and animatic to show how the whole opening scene will turn out.

Film Opening Title Sequences

We have been looking into film title sequences to help us with our opening scene film which we will be filming very soon. We had to create 4 time lines of our 4 chosen film title sequences, 2 of these had to be post apocalyptic films and the other 2 could be from any film genre. My chosen post apocalyptic films were Divergent and Armageddon, I chose these as I wanted to look into different films I haven't explored properly before in our lessons, the other 2 films were Monsters, Inc. and Sweeney Todd, I chose these to show how different film genres have different opening scenes. Monsters, Inc. is an animated family film and Sweeney Todd is a horror and drama film, so all 4 of my films were very different.

Preliminary Task: How did it get on?

FILMING SELFIE!

We finished filming for our preliminary task around 3 weeks ago, we ended up having to make some changes to our plan as our groups imagination at the time was going a bit overboard and on the day of filming we realised we could not actually do what we intended to do. We also had to have 2 days of filming as we did not like our idea at first due to it looking as if it was a magic trick instead of a serious thriller. After we finished all of the filming and we were finally happy with the clips we started to edit our work on Premiere Pro. We have now completed all of our editing and we are very happy, each person in our group have edited the work individually so that it shows that all of us have made an effort with the work and it allowed us to mess around with the app and get more comfortable with using it for the opening scene video which we will be starting soon. One thing I would like to experiment more with is the effects, I did include 2 effects into my task however I did not want to add too many to make the task look cheesy and childish therefore I stuck with the simplest effects such as wipe and dissolve. Overall this task was very fun to do, not only did me and my friends plan it but also the children we asked to help us with our film also gave us ideas on what to do to try to make it easy for us and for them so it was great getting advice from an audiences point of view, our parents also gave us feedback on our videos to help us improve the work (especially how to improve the magic trick kidnap). We even had to have a stunt double to pick up the child, shout out to Tom Grace, cheers! We also created a short behind the scenes video to show how much we enjoyed creating our first video as a group.

Production and Distribution Companies

DCP

How films are showed in cinemas?
There are some cinemas that use 35mm projectors, these are only used for special events now. Modern cinemas which show any new releases are exclusively distributed in digital format.
Digital projectors have been used since 2005 in the UK, however much earlier in America and China, other countries are now moving in the same direction. Many cinemas use a system called DCP which is a USB pen that gets shipped around inside a case. It improves accountability on behalf of cinema-pirates, each pen has a certain number of licences on it. A DCP is simply a file that requires activation from a licence. The DCP is signed for by the cinema, and then the projectionist is given the licence activation code to allow the content to be played. Satellite technology is being explored in order to reduce the cost of distribution (which has already more than halved in the past 10 years). Under satellite systems, the film is downloaded from a secure server and the film is activated for use via satellite; projectors can even be controlled remotely through the satellite, which centralizes the entire process externally. This is a method that has been spearheaded in the UK by such projects as National Theatre Live and Opera Live. Whilst they do broadcast globally, they remain a minority interest for exhibitors (although a growing one, due to their success). The legacy of these projects will not, however, come from their content but by their method of distribution. Even now, many distributors are promoting their ease of use as leverage to persuade developers to pursue satellite distribution as it reduces the overheads dramatically.

Why are films showed in cinemas?
 Personally I would say that films are shown in cinemas to create a profit, films are showed in cinemas before they are created into DVD's for people to buy, by getting an audience interested in trailers of films it will attract them to go and watch the film at the cinemas, if the film is great more people will buy the film once it is out to buy. Another reason I can think of is the atmosphere, it is completely different watching a film at the cinema compared to in your room. The cinema has bigger screen and the sound is better which makes you feel like you are in the film, especially if the film is in 3D. Also at special events it gives people a chance to see actors that are in the films when they first premiere which can attract more people to see the film, for example the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere in London. You are also less distracted watching a film at the cinemas due to no phones being switched on and less people being able to distract.

Why do films have websites?
Films create websites for many different reasons, we have been looking at upcoming films that have websites to promote the film, we found http://www.starwars.com/films/rogue-one , http://bleedforthisfilm.com/ , https://www.fantasticbeasts.co.uk/ , http://movies.disney.co.uk/moana and many more. These websites are for different audiences, each website shows the trailers of the films and give extra information about the films such as the actors and the making of the film. Another thing that the websites do is sell merchandise to get a profit, for example Fantastic Beasts will already have a big market due to it being a link to the Harry Potter films which explains why they have such a big shop on their website as it has similar merchandise to the Harry Potter merchandise. Some websites even have games on them. The reason for the films to have websites is to try to gain a bigger audience and to attract more people to watch the film either in the cinemas or on DVD once it is out.

Problems that a small UK based film company face in getting its film shown

• The digital revolution has flooded the marketplace

Cheaper digital production methods have helped create more product than buyers. To overcome this problem you would have to make sure that your film is a specific genre, this is because genres are the only ways that film buyers and marketing managers of distribution companies can quickly visualise the films image, trailer and marketing campaign, distributors buy genres, not drama.

• Online distribution is becoming commonplace

Valentine's day 2005, the co-founders of YouTube registered the name at www.whois.com. The company revolutionised film distribution and has changed that way people watch films and TV shows, the impact of illegal online distribution has also had the same impact on the film industry as it has the music industry. A way to overcome this problem is to develop a hybrid distribution strategy that encompasses traditional cinema/DVD/television releases with online distribution.

• You can't fund small companies like before

The Euro economic malaise has translated into public sector budget cuts, dampening the political appetite for using public money to fund films. To overcome this problem film making should be commercially viable without the need for public funding, film budgets need to stand the scrutiny of investors seeking cost-effective production, as well as a reasonable rate of return.

• Producers struggle to get development funding

Development funding is hard to get, yet without proper development movies will continue to suffer from weak storylines, and a way to overcome this is by not creating a film until a script is fully developed.

• Film producers do not necessarily need to be involved with social media

Social media is becoming more and more popular, it is here to stay strong, and it is becoming an essential part of a film's package. For example Paranormal Activity may have cost around $15,000 to make, but what Paramount bought was not the film but the social media strategy that the film maker Orin Pelli developed around the film. A way to overcome this problem is to embrace any film maker, writer, director or producer who has a strong and clearly defined social media strategy.

What are the arguments about who holds the most power in what films get made and seen?

• The BBFC have the authority over what gets shown in film, if scenes in a film are not appropriate for the classification they will have to be cut off, without their permission the film will not be able to be shown to an audience. 
• Another person that holds power is the audience, the film writers will be looking into what the target audience enjoys and what actors they like, so if the audience like a particular actor then they would be forced to use the star which makes that star also very powerful.
• Only 3 companies (StudioCanal, eOne and Entertainment) control half of all box office income made on UK independant incomes.

Extra Investigation into UK cinemas
I have chosen to look at cinemas in Derbyshire to analyse them, I will be looking at the Odeon Cinema in Derby, Showcase Derby Cinema de Lux, Cineworld in Chesterfield, Odeon Cinema in Swadlincote and Cineworld Burton-on-Trent.
Over one weekend there are;

1. 12 screens in Showcase Cinema with 28 films being exhibited and 15 films showed several times.
2. 10 screens in Cineworld Chesterfield with 14 films being exhibited and 9 films showed several times.
3. 5 screens in Odeon Derby with 3 films being exhibited.
4. 5 screens in Odeon Swadlincote with 2 films being exhibited.
5. and 9 screens in Cineworld Burton-on-Trent with 15 films being exhibited and 8 films showed several times.

17 of these films are also shown at the exact same times within these cinemas over just one weekend. Blockbuster films that have had a high budget on them will be shown more times in cinemas compared to films that have had a low budget to create their film, for example Storks is only showed twice over the weekend in Showcase cinema in Derby whilst The Accountant is showed 7 times over a weekend.
In conclusion the UK film distributors alone spend around £300 million a year on bringing new releases to market and building awareness and interest among audiences. It is a fast moving, highly competitive, high-stakes business.

What does distribution entail?
Distribution entails the way in which something is shared out among a group or spread over an area. Distribution is also a way to make a product well known, similar to advertising.

What is above the line and below the line promotion?
To quote Michael John Baker from The Marketing Book , the terms ‘Above The Line’ and ‘Below The Line’ came into existence way back in 1954 with the company Proctor and Gamble paying their advertising agencies a different rate and separately from the agencies who took on the other promotional activities. ATL advertising is where mass media is used to promote brands and reach out to the target consumers. These include conventional media as we know it, television and radio advertising, print as well as internet.  This is communication that is targeted to a wider spread of audience, and is not specific to individual consumers. ATL advertising tries to reach out to the mass as consumer audience. BTL advertising is more one to one, it involves the distribution of pamphlets, handbills, stickers, promotions, brochures placed at point of sale, on the roads through banners and placards. It could also involve product demos and samplings at busy places like shopping centres and markets. For certain markets, like rural markets where the reach of mass media like print or television is limited, BTL marketing with direct consumer outreach programmes do make the most sense.

Definitions;
Production-Making films
Distribution-Promoting films and getting them into cinemas out on DVD, as well as spin offs/related media products
Consumption-People paying at the cinema, renting or buying DVDs and downloading and purchasing related products

Sound

What are soundtracks and sound designs?
Sound tracks can be music or songs to fit in to the chosen film, they help to create an emotional effect onto the audience. Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. These are important to make the audience recognise the sounds anywhere, the music makes films iconic, for example Jaws and Psycho. I will analyse shortly the most iconic soundtracks.
What are diegetic, non diegetic and internal/external diegetic sounds?
Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. Non diegetic sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: narrator's commentary, sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect, for example music. Internal diegetic sound is sound within a characters mind so none of the other characters can hear it. External diegetic sound is sound within the media production that all characters can hear.
Here are some iconic sound motifs in which I will be analysing the music, the role it plays and what effect it makes.

1. Pyscho

Music
Instrumental and violin discords.

Role Played
Reflects a screaming sound as the victim's voice is edited alongside the music. The music amplifies her screaming and rasping sounds.

Effectiveness
Shocking and deliberately upsetting. There is only the sound of a shower running beforehand and the violin shatters the silence. The music is waiting to make the outcome of the scene immanent.
   2.Trainspotting

Music
Upbeat to fit in with the heroin addiction because music is important to the characters, drums and guitar used, sound design including tyres screeching.

Role Played
The upbeat sound shows that the characters aren't just addicted to heroin but also to music, also shows characters music taste. This music is used to show lust for life due to it being upbeat and exciting which reflects the lifestyle of the characters and the action being chased at the start of the clip below.

Effectiveness
Makes the audience happy, the sounds are very cheerful, the film wants us to be as relaxed and as happy as the characters in the film.
   
     3.Apocalypse Now
Music
Trumpet used, potentially a violin at the start with the helicopter noise, maybe even a flute?

Role Played
Used to show tension which leads to a triumphant ending. It is also used to show the madness of the war and is diegetic in that the characters can hear the music. The music is described as a storm coming and as demonic but tender.

Effectiveness
Strange music in my opinion for a shooting scene, the music can be interpretated as alarming at the start then sounding more aggresive with the heavier beats.

     4.Ghost
Music
Vocals, drums, cymbals, guitar?

Role Played
Used to show love between the two characters, brings them closer, very affectionate song, the romantic song brings back memories to the female. The lyrics show that the male doesn't want the female to forget about the strong love they had for each other.

Effectiveness
The slow music is gentle, sounds soft and warm.
     5.Rocky
Music
Drums, trumpet, triangle maybe? Electric guitar

Role Played
The happy music sounds triumphant and very energetic, could even be used for motivational purposes. It shows the hardship of a man trying to achieve his goals.

Effectiveness
Triumphant sound, makes the audience excited. The music makes you root for the character, it also fills you with a sense of pride.

All of the 4 films that we have been looking at in the post apocalyptic genre have slow paced music to highlight the idea of isolation and loneliness.

Sound Design
Sound design is an important part to a film, there is a lot of editing in films to make them perfect, for example editing the natural sounds such as wind noise, microphone rattling, distracting background noise, sound of actors voices changing from quiet to loud or vice versa. By keeping sound design simple it makes the audience focus better on the film. A way to improve sound in films is by taking away certain sounds and adding other sounds in, for example by muting the whole scene and adding on some pre recorded sounds of someone walking and heavy breathing would make the scene more clean and clear.

Reception Theory

Throughout this week I have studied the Stuart Hall Reception Theory. There are three different ways that people interpret things they see, this is because of people's different cultural backgrounds. The first side is the Dominatant, this is the intended reading, so what you see is what you are supposed to understand. The second side is Negotiated, this is where the audience questions what they have seen, they don't see anything as right or wrong but want to understand everything from different points of views. The last side is Oppositional, this is where the audience does not approve of what they have seen and are completely against it. A great example of this theory is a video showing the Sex Pistols swearing on television, some people see this as great entertainment, some question why they did this's and others disagree with their actions and think it's  rude and disrespectful.

Special Effects

"Special effects" is known as to others SFX, SPFX or FX, they are visual illusions used in films, theatre, television and video games to stimulate the imagined events in a virtual world. Over the years special effects have been growing and improving due to the great technology we have today and the investment into special effects and equipment. One of the greatest well known and most expensive films due to special effects is The Matrix Reloaded (2003), this film is the second movie of the trilogy which was written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers. This film was the highest grossing film from the series, earning in excess of $735 million at the worldwide box office, it is also the most successful R-rated movie in movie history. The most expensive scene of the film shows Neo taking on hundreds of Agent Smiths in a dramatic fight including lots of CGI action, the length of the scene and the variety of special effects needed came to a hefty pric. The scene is 17 minutes long and cost a reported $40 million dollars, which is around 40% of the entire movie budget, the scene also took 27 days to shoot.

Preliminary Task: What to do?

In our lessons we have been creating a storyboard for our preliminary task, we have decided to make a thriller themed short film. We were inspired by different films and TV shows such as Pretty Little Liars. We had to create different scenes showing different shots, this is a brief idea of what we are wanting to do, however as we will film we may change some ideas if there are any difficulties such as getting a car scene into the Skegby Trail. We then added our photos of the storyboard onto Adobe Premiere Pro to create an animatic to post onto YouTube which is now linked down below for you to watch, the video has been edited so that the timing shows how long our scenes estimated should last so that the film doesn't go over 3 minutes.


Clothing
The plan for our preliminary task is to make our video seem as natural as possible, however we did plan how we wanted our suspect to look. Suspects usually wear dark clothing and have their face hidden to keep their identity as a mystery, therefore we decided to organise for our filming to get the suspect to wear black jeans and a black coat, we wanted the suspect to also wear a hoodie or a hooded coat to try to hide the suspects face. Whereas for the victims clothing we did not want to organise what we want him to wear purely because it would have looked too organised, if this situation was to happen in real life then they would be wearing anything comfortable, therefore we told the victim to wear something he liked to show off his personality in the film.
Location
For our kidnapping scene we chose Stoneyford Rec as we wanted the film to look natural showing a park and people in the background, Skegby Trail is the location we will mainly be using, the long trail is very bright surrounded by a small forest which then leads into a forest including a stream, we thought this would be perfect for our idea to drop the child there.
Music
We decided we wanted to have a voice over throughout our film to explain what the story is about and why it is happening. We also planned on wanting music in our film, we wanted some slow but not too slow with good beats to match the actions and something that was slightly tense, we ended up hearing a song on an advert on YouTube in one of our lessons which we recognised and ended up Shazaming it to remember what it was, the song was The XX-Intro and we decided to use this for the task.

Costumes and Props

We have been exploring into costumes and props for 2 separate genres, we could choose any genre we wanted to analyse them.

Real Audience Tastes and Trends

Previously I have used YouGov to find out what a stereotypical post apocalyptic audience is like. From this we decided to create our own version of one, but with a real audience of people that we know or know of. Our filming groups are creating surveys or questionnaires whichever we prefer to gather some information to analyse the results. My group decided to create a survey on Survey Monkey including 10 questions. We posted our link onto 2 social media pages, Facebook and Twitter.
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Y7SJ5MJ

It has now been 6 days since we posted our survey. Overall we have had 45 females and 15 males that have completed our survey, this may be because we do have a lot of friends on social media that are girls and that our friendship groups are mainly girls. The age is quite varied, our most popular age group was 13-17 again due to more people from our sixth form being within that age group and because we have a lot of friends from lower school they will have completed the survey too which confirms as to why we had 35% of our total to be 13-17 years old. The next popular age group was 18-22 with 30%, the age groups from 23-48+ were all under 10%. The interests were a wide range of different answers as it was an open question for anyone to type what they are interested in, sports was very popular, eating and arts such as photography, media and art were also popular as was sleeping. Profession was a similar styled question where everyone could say whatever they wanted, our most popular job was a student, the next most popular answer was a carer, the rest were a mix. Our most common answer for how many hours do you watch films per week was 3-5 hours, however 0-2 hours came second by 1 person. The next question was to see if the people doing our survey watched post apocalyptic films, 65% of people answered yes, the question after was linked to see what films the people have watched. The Book of Eli was by far the most liked film, Independence Day was a good popular answer as it was a film that we have not covered in our lessons and another one was Armageddon which again was great as we have not been through it. Trailers and well known actors persuade many of the people that completed our surveys. Our next question is very different, "Because in post apocalyptic films religions have an importance, do you consider yourself to have any religious beliefs?" and for this question we had one person skip it, 10 people answered yes, 37 said no and 12 answered not sure completely. This question is something we wanted to include to try to see exactly what people thought, we knew it was quite a personal question however we really did appreciate everyone that helped us by answering this question to see exactly what our audience were like. Finally the majority of people chose natural disaster as their favourite story line to post apocalyptic films with Zombie Apocalypse as the next interested story line.

Classification Categories

Each film is categorised in a different age group, there are 7 different groups which were created by the BBFC, the group watch films to then assess them for cinemas when the films are ready to be released for viewers. The reason why we have age restrictions is because of violence, controversy, sex and nudity, sexual violence, religion, class, language and shock.

• "U" is suitable for all
• "PG" is parental guidance needed
• "12A" is similar to 12, however a parent must company the child
• "12" means that you must be 12 or above to watch it
• "15" is for 15 or above
• "18" is only for adults
• and "Restricted 18" is a film which includes hard-core sexy time

Examples of the categorised age restrictions

• U- 101 Dalmatians, the film is for children which shows threat to the dogs as Cruella DeVille tries to catch them
• PG- Big Hero 6, this film is still for children however because it does include explosions, frightening images and some rude humour it is rated a PG
• 12A- Me Before You is a 12A example, due to it mentioning suicide and sex refrences and mild bad language such as "piss off"
• 12-Divergent counts as a 12 rated film due to a slight bit of nudity showing chest and back, slight violence scenes, strong language and a serum is used which some viewers may consider as "drugs"
• 15- Ted is a brief nudity, sex references, strong language and drug use
• 18- Friday the 13th is rated an 18 due to its bloody violence and strong sex scenes.
• Restricted 18-  Cannot find a restricted 18 film example, however a typical film in this classification would be explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults. Films may only be shown to adults in specially licensed cinemas, and video works may be supplied to adults only in licensed sex shops. R18 video works may not be supplied by mail order.

MYse en Scene:)

Apologies for the pun. I have taken a photo of my own mise en scene to analyse, I decided to take  a photograph of my photography teacher, I have 2 photos of him and both show a different side to him through his facial expressions.

The background for this image includes some of Webster's photographs of his students which he has received from them as a present to remember the fun times everyone has in photography, there are some images that are by him that he has edited and some images of him edited to look like he is a dinosaur. There are some thank you cards from students (one from me!) to show we appreciate all of his help. There is also a manifesto sheet explaining what photography is all about, there are also timetables on the wall too. All of the pieces on the wall show his organisation in a unique way and dedication to his job as a photography teacher. The computer shows that he is not just a photography teacher but that he is also a tutor for a year 13 class. The purple high chair represents royalty as he considers himself a king. One the right there is a bookcase full of books featuring artists for inspiration. Webster is stood up with great posture, he is wearing a blue-purple toned shirt with a blue tie and formal trousers to look presentable to the school, around his neck is a lanyard to show his identity and get around the school, he is also wearing a camera around his neck to show his true passion for it. In his hands is a portrait photography book in which he is exploring for something to inspire him to create a new piece for a display. The lighting in the image is very light on the left and turns darker from when we see Webster and onwards, this can mean that he is hiding something from us. The second photograph below shows my teachers weird side.

Representation of Women in Films and Male Gaze Theory

Representation of Women
In a recent lesson we learned about the Bechdel Test, this test asks us 3 questions
1. Does this film include 2 women in it?
2. Do they talk to each other?
3. Do they talk to each other besides a man?
We watched a short film explaining about this test to help us understand what we were going to be learning about in the lesson.




We then started to think of films ourselves that we thought passed this test without googling the answers, me and my friends thought of The Shallows, Suicide Squad, Bad Moms and Finding Dory, we did struggle to think of some however we did end up thinking of a decent amount of films that pass. We then started to think of some films that could be potentially counted as post apocalyptic themed which are Divergent and The Hunger Games.
 I have researched more into the gender inequality between men and women in films, on the New York Film Academy Blog I found all the statistics I needed, it really surprised me when I saw the figures. The blog has a chart which shows how women are portrayed on screen in the top 500 films from 2007-2012, only 30.8% of speaking characters are women, as soon as I read this statistic I was blown away, that is a ridiculously low amount! Then 28.8% of women wore sexually revealing clothes and 7% of those 28.8% of women are opposed for men, this is too much now I never realised this until we started to learn about this in lesson, that means that only 2% of women are not dressed sexually on screen, as a student I have noticed that I have grew up seeing this on screen and I really do hope that in the future more films pass the Bechdel test and that women are not used as much to attract men in films. After this I then searched into how many men and women visit the cinema, I was very curious as to what the answer would be, of course after reading into the statistics I assumed that more men went to the cinema, however according to a report on Indie Wire they confirm in 2013 that there are more female movie goers, they only beat men by 2% however I was personally expecting 64% of men to be going to the cinema more than women.

https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/#!prettyPhoto/0/ - website used for research into statistics for the presentation of women

http://www.indiewire.com/2014/03/mpaa-data-shows-that-women-are-still-the-majority-of-moviegoers-207223/ - Personal "how many men and women go to the cinema question" chart


Male Gaze Theory
This theory was developed by Laura Mulvey in 1975, this theory consists of 3 perspectives

•  that of the person behind the camera
• that of the characters within the representation or film itself
• that of the spectator.

 In films the theory occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man, the scene may focus on a shot of a females curves which puts you into the viewer in the eyes of a male. Male Gaze theory is only used if the curves are highlighted with specific conventions such as slow motions of deliberate camera movements such as showing a female from her waist with the camera going up to show her face later on. The theory suggests that women can view films through different perspectives such as a mans perspective with the way that the theory can be used. Characters that are to be looked at are passive, they are under the control of the male gaze and exist for visual pleasure.

Mise en Scene

Mise en Scene is a French term meaning "what is put into a scene or frame", it is made up of 5 elements which are settings and props, costume, facial expressions/body language, lighting and positioning within the frame. I will be analysing a scene from each film that I have been analysing already so far, starting with the Book of Eli, to I am Legend, The Road and finally to 28 Days Later.

This scene is shot in a cell, the walls are old as you can see the old paint on them showing through, this shows that the cell is to make you feel like a prisoner because it is not a luxurious place to stay in, however for Eli it probably makes him feel comfortable because usually he is out and about looking for shelter and food. The sink in the background looks scruffy and broke which makes the cell look uncared for anyone' s use. The door is the only thing that looks new and looked after in the setting which is strange. Eli is wearing clean clothes, at the start of the film we see him completely covered with dirty and dark clothes, however in this scene he looks looked after and groomed well. The female wears a dress and has long luscious hair, as soon as we see her in this scene we can already see that the woman is used as bait just like the first woman in the start of the film, women are not appreciated and are constantly being used. The female stands by the door looking very nervous as she is slightly hunching her back as if she is trying to be polite to see if she can be welcomed to come in, Eli on the other hand looks very powerful as he is standing more straight, he hold his book in his arm that is not facing the door to hide it, in the other hand he is holding a gun to protect himself as he can tell that this is a trap. The characters have a door used a barrier between them, this shows a lost of tension between them already, the light is mainly focused on Eli as the shadow is on the female, the light also suggests that the two characters are fighting between good and evil.

This scene shows an urban city, it looks very busy as the cars are all parked behind one another which looks like the cars where in a traffic jam, this shows us that the city used to be very busy however now it's down just to a small amount of people left. The main character is wearing dark and loose clothing and looks as if he is at war, he has a weapon strapped to him to protect him too which can also be seen as an accessory. He is standing tall and the camera is pointed straight at him which shows exactly that he is powerful and mighty, because he is stood in the middle is exaggerates the fact he is alone. The lighting looks very gloomy as it looks foggy, it is a simple natural lighting.

This scene is mainly focused on the two characters therefore we do not get to see much of the scenery, we can see in the background which isn't focused looks like an old house or maybe a furniture shop, I can see a table turned over on the floor inbetween the characters and the child looks as if he is sat down on a chair, the wires that are dangling down make me think it could be in a shop as they would have bigger wires or pipes around, but because I have not watched this film just yet I can not exactly identify and explain the setting features. The characters are wearing warm, thick clothing as if it is winter which makes sense because there won't be any heating on when this is a post apocalyptic film, the father looks very tired and hopeless and his beard shows how he is aging slowly and can not look after himself but he does prioritise his son hence him giving his phone the last can of pop, this is a very heart felt scene because the connection between the father and son is precious and makes you feel sorry for what they have gone through and we are proud of how far they have come. The father is kneeling on the floor and looks up to his son which also shows he would do anything for his son and to make him feel comfortable, the son also looks like he respects his dad and looks like he is learning a lot from his father about hope and how to appreciate everything in life. The lighting is very dark as they are in a building, we can see in the background that the natural light from the windows are coming through on the table.

Again I have not watched this film just yet therefore I will be assuming on what is happening in this scene just by looking at this image. The two characters look as if they are in a house or shed, the place looks normal as if it isn't even post apocalyptic themed, because in the background we can see curtains and the christmas light decorations. Personally I do not think that these two characters look like they are friends, they look more like acquaintances instead because they aren't close to each other, the female also looks very suspicious because of her facial expression. The are both covered up well and are wearing something to cover their heads so maybe the christmas lights are up because it is winter time at this point in the film. The lighting looks very dark as if only a lamp is used for this scene, in the background we can see through the window that outside it is dark so it's a night or evening scene which would make sense as to why the lighting is so dark, the christmas lights in the background add a happy vibe to the scene which is the only thing that makes this scene seem positive.

Narrative Theories/Codes

Roland Barthes' theory was the first one we looked at, we learned about Enigma and Action codes through his theory. An enigma code is where many questions are asked, maybe not through characters but maybe by us as we are watching a confusing scene in a film, it enables viewers to predict what could happen next. Both codes are linked due to them following one after another, the enigma code will go first which then leads to the action code in which it is supposed to bring excitement as you are supposed to get your answer as it moves the narrative on.

Roland Barthes also described 5 codes which are in any narrative.

• The Hermeneutic code which refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and becomes a mystery for the audience.

• The Proairetic code builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something is going to happen making the audience guess what will happen next.

• The Semantic code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. This suggesting that there is a deeper meaning for every action and word that a character says and does. Maybe it is just to get to know a character better or finding out the antagonists plan. 
•  The Symbolic code is very similar to the semantic code but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into a broader and deeper meaning. This is typically done in the usage of antithesis where new meanings arise out of opposing ideas. 
•  The Cultural code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is used to be a foundation for the truth, suggesting that there is some form of truth that is never questioned in a narrative and is taken as gospel. 

We then looked at Rick Altman's 3 Pleasures, the first one is the emotional pleasure  this pleasure is shown in many genres in which the director tries to generate a strong audience response. The next pleasure is the visceral pleasure this pleasure is to try to get a gut response from the viewer such as feeling sick on a rollercoaster scene or a way to make you nervous by showing a tense scene. The last pleasure is the intellectual pleasure in which the director will either make the whole film or a few scenes show a puzzle or a mystery, maybe even a plot twist at the end such as The Book of Eli (trying not to spoil the film here!).


Nicholas Abercrombie said "The boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable."

Post Apocalyptic film closings

The Book of Eli
After Eli rescues Solara (Mila Kunis) from the rapist-murderers, they travel together until they find a white house. In it are two old people that have survived up to now thanks to a few booby-traps house and weapons. They offer the guests some tea, but as its served the lady obviously has the shakes (this is hinting to us that the woman has the shakes due to eating too much red meat). Eli and Solara panic and try to get out, but Carnegie and his gang pull up in armored cars. There's a huge gun-fight, but a few RPGs takes away most of the walls to the house, kill the old couple and Eli/Solara have no choice but to surrender. Eli won't give up the book which is the last one in existence. Carnegie holds a gun to Solara's head and Eli gives in. Carnegie takes the book, gives Solara to his right-hand man and shoots Eli in the chest. They leave him to die, and he can't belive his mission is over. On the road back to town, Solara flips the car they're in, killing Redridge by accident with Eli's machete, and hurls a grenade under the other van closing in on them. She jumps in the flipped car that landed on its wheels, and drives back to Eli. Eli is not at the house. She drives and finds him on the road, walking. He hitches a ride and they make it to the ocean and the Golden Gate bridge. Looking out towards 'The Rock', Eli knows that is where the book needs to be. They row out and make it peacefully past some armed guards. Inside, Malcolm McDowell shows them a museum collection that he is planning to use to bring civilisation back to the world. Carnegie and the shopkeeper prize open the lock to the book, but find that it is written in Braille. Solara's mother tells him she has forgotten how to read it, but that he will be dead soon anyway as infection has set in to his leg, and without his men the townpeople are breaking up the bar downstairs. Eli removes his glasses to reveal his is, in fact, blind. He tells McDowell to get a pen and a lot of paper, and then starts to recite the Bible that he has read and memorized over the past 30 years, starting with Genesis - 'In the beginning...'. The book is finished, printed on a press they have, and bound. Eli dies and is buried in the grounds. As we hear Eli's final prayer of thanksgiving and protection for his friend, Solara takes his machete and ipod, and although McDowell wants her to remain, she decides to head East, back home.
The Road
In the film, , a father (played by Viggo Mortenson) guides a son (Kodi Smit-Mcphee) in a post-apocalyptic landscape practically devoid of life and humanity. Towards the end of the film a man steals the father's and son's trolley full of goods, the family wakes up notices this and goes after the man due to them seeing him before the previous day lurking around. They end up finding the man and the father takes away his humanity by getting him to return the trolley with all of the clothes he was wearing, this is a very emotional and angry scene to the viewers as it makes us dislike the father at this moment, the son begs his father to stop. The father and son argue after they are finished with the man, the son persuades his father to come back and to help the man and allow him to join their family, as they are searching for him they notice he has gone. In the end, the father dies, having taken the son as far as he could and shaped him the best he could to both survive in that world, but also retain a sense of humanity. Right after that very emotional scene, the boy encounters a family: a man, a woman and a dog, who offers to take him in, where the incredibly bleak film ends on a somewhat more hopeful but wary note. The way it's portrayed, they make it somewhat ambiguous whether he can trust the family or not.
28 Days Later
Jim and the others live in the middle of a green-filled mountain valley, in a large home. Several feet away, we are shown some rather disturbing infected and skinny old zombies which is disturbing. We are now flying over green pastures, probably Scotland or somewhere in an airplanes point of view. We are flying very fast, swaying a little bit, just as if we were a fighter plane. We just passed a bridge with some dark spots on it - too fast to see exactly what they are. Back on the ground now we see the bridge where zombies are lying around, obviously very weakend, they can barely move, but when the sound of a fighter plane goes past them, they manage to turn their heads to see what it is. We see Jimmy going to the kitchen where Selena is sewing. Hannah runs into the house, crying: they are here! They quickly spread the O of Hello, which was what Selena was sewing, on the ground. The letters are made of cloth. The fighter jet flies past them, but seems to have seen them! They all dance in joy.
I Am Legend
There are two different endings to I Am Legend. The first is where Robert (Will Smith) ends up finding a cure and experiments on one of the walking dead and realises that through time the cure will work, however the head zombie notices that Robert took his beloved to experiment on, the zombie starts to smash the glass room that Robert, the zombie, Anna (Alice Braga) and her son in a butterfly shape in which then Robert notices that the zombie he was holding onto was what the head zombie wanted back. Therefore he ended up giving in and taking the cure out of the zombie. He hides Anna and her son into the fire pit and tells them to wait. He opens the door and gives the head his beloved back, this is a very emotional scene for the audience. The film ends peacefully without knowing whether the zombies get worse or if the cure is used again. The second ending is that Anna and her son are in the fire pit, in which then the house explodes and we never see Robert again. We are shown Anna and her son travelling to a small guarded town in which then she gives the head person of the town the cure however the head of the town is not interested at this point.

Codes and Conventions

• Abandoned Locations

This is a very common convention for the post apocalytpic genre, creating a sense of loss of a civilised society, barren wastelands of direlect houses and cars does this theme justice, and again creates a sense of hopelessness that the audience feels for the characters. This is seen in films such as The Book of Eli and The Road where often abandoned cities shape the harsh world.

• Low Key Lighting

This convention for the post apocalyptic genre brings tension and fear to the audience, an example of a great scene for this convention is 28 Days Later in the opening scene when a group want to free the locked up monkeys.

• Physical and Mental Challenges

Physical challenges can be travelling for long distances, for example in The Road and The Book of Eli where the characters walk by foot for miles and miles, a mental challenge happens in all post apocalyptic films due to the characters living in a world without communication and not eating regularly.

• Tight Communities/Dangerous Gangs

The Book of Eli shows this convention, for example the group that are using a woman as bait to either rape or kill someone that walks past to try to help the female that pretends to have broke her trolley and looks very weak to persuade characters such as Eli to help. Another example in the film is the tight community that the remaining of the "town" has as they try to act as if everything is normal.

• Crisis that Occurs

Post apocalyptic films can have different reasons for them to start, for example in I Am Legend the convention is due to a medicine failure, The Book of Eli starts due to a war, 28 Days Later is because of a medicine failure again, The Road is due to a natural disaster.

• Dark Themes

Dark themes are in most post apocalyptic films, these can be death which happens in all of them, rape which happens in The Book of Eli, murder and violence which happens in many PA films too.

• Strong Male Protagonist

This convention is used in PA films as the audience needs a dominant character to give them a narrative, and the story a chance, if the character was weak and vulnerable we would not expect them to survive the apocalypse, which would make the film unrealistic. An example of a strong and powerful character is Will Smith in I Am Legend.

• Death/Violence

Death and violence are key themes in the PA genre, they are to create fear, hatred, loss and depravity. The Road is an excellent example that uses this to its advantage, the film shows images of families that have hung themselves and people that have been brutally killed for the basics of supplies. Violent scenes occur frequently, for example in The Book of Eli there are fights with many gangs that have hijacked Eli and Carnegie's gang.

• Religion

Religion is used in many PA films. The Book of Eli is based on religion, due to Eli protecting the last ever bible that was not ruined in the war, he was the only good person that was trusted in the film to hold on to it not like Carnegie that would use it for the worse. Another example is in I Am Legend, the female that saves the main character believes that everything will get better, however the main character shouts "THERE IS NO GOD!".

• Hope

Hope is a big part of all PA films as it is the only thing that motivates the characters in all of the films to keep going and to not give up. For example Eli uses his bible as his form of hope in God, also the female in I Am Legend Anna hopes that God will help her and her son whereas Robert (Will Smith) tries to make her snap out of the "phase" that he believes she is in.

• Item of Significance

An item of significance can be something that motivates the characters again to keep going like hope, for example Eli and his bible. The Road's item of significance seems to be the main characters son and the hope to find a safe place. In I Am Legend the item is the cure. The item of significance is what shapes the story line and gives meaning to the characters.

The Book of Eli Documentary and a theory

Levi-Strauss Theory
Levi-Strauss introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning with narratives. He argued that all construction of meaning was dependant, to some degree on these oppositions, for example good vs. evil, male vs. female, etc.

In today's lesson we are looking at watching a documentary on the post apocalyptic film and answering some questions along;

1. What questions are posed by post apocalyptic films?
2. What are the "walking dead"? How have they been used in other films?
3. What might be the key to survival in post apocalyptic narratives?
4. How far will Eli go to survive?
5. What would survivors of the apocalypse ask?
6. In The Book of Eli, what has happened to Bibles and why?
7. How is religion used in TBOE? How is religion used in reality?
8. How do societies in reality avoid catastrophes?
9. Who will the future leaders be in post apocalyptic scenarios?
10. What does Eli represent?

Questions that are posed in PA films are "how would we survive?", "how would we strive to maintain our humanity?", "who would guide us?","who would lead us into the future?", "how would we rebuild the word?", etc. The "book" is the centre piece of the film, it can be used for good or evil. The walking dead are numb people that are connected but not connected, their bodies are on shut down, they have no senses available to them, in other films the walking dead can be shown differently for example in I am Legend they are presented as zombies, it keeps the idea of something living but not living, they are used to show no hope, anger and sadness, maybe even lack of energy. The key to survival in most PA films is "hope", most of this genres films end with some kind of hope, for example Eli being able to make the bible available to everyone, I am Legend shows that the female character is given the cure to turn the world back to normal and The Road also shows that the son finds a new family to look after him. However in real life, you would need skills from around 50-100 years ago due to lack of food, clothes, no technology, etc. Eli goes very far to survive, he kills animals to eat to be able to survive, he searches around houses to find new clothes, and even exchanges in shops some of his wipes he uses to clean himself just to charge his iPod, this shows exactly how much little things mean in this film. The survivors would ask "is there a God?", obviously Eli believes there is and doesn't lose hope, in The Road the characters also believe, however in I am Legend the main character explains how there are so and so amount of people but now there is a small amount he then shouts "THERE IS NO GOD" because he loses hope. In TBOE, we are shown that because of the war all of the bibles were destroyed and there was just that 1 bible left and everyone had hope there would be at least 1 they could find, in which Eli ends up keeping on to it and remembers every single word inside it as he reads it every single day. Religion is very important in TBOE as it is expressed in a strong way. "He who controls the past, leads the future", Eli's actor Washington explains that Eli chooses to share even when he is struggling and still decides to help her, a true leader is kind and loyal. Democrat societies have a way of listing themselves. An example of a future leader is Donald Trump, due to the way he presents himself, you can even say that he is like Carnegie in TBOE, another is Barack Obama is more like Eli due to the way he is looked up to. Eli represents hope, altruistic, knowledge, faith that humanity can rebuild, he is shown as a good person, for example in the bible it states "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" which is used in the film for the fighting scene in which Eli ends up chopping off the mans arm.

Alone - Short Film

After that we watched a short film called "Alone". The short six minute film shows a young man that is meant to be the last person alive, a post apocalyptic film. The clip shows a young man around mid 20's doing regular things on a daily basis as if nothing has changed such as brushing his teeth and listening to his voicemails. The male then goes out searching for supplies in nearby houses. As he is on his way back home in the middle of the night he spots a house with light on, leaving the film as a mystery. In our filming groups we were asked to come up with ideas on how we would either improve the clip or how we would have preffered it to end. Personally at the end of the clip I would have liked to have seen a hand on the window covered in blood being dragged down to show that the main character is not alone and is not safe. Some one in my group suggested that perhaps the male character could recieve a new voicemail from his partner asking him where he is, as if she was trapped in a parallel universe. Students in our lesson gave ideas such as finding wet footprints as the man is walking home, or that the man could hear children playing like a ghost effect.

The Road Opening Scene

In today's lesson we watched The Road's opening scene, this post apocalyptic opening scene is very different compared to the Book of Eli's and I am Legend's scenes. This film is rated a 15 due to strong violence and language and gory images. I would say that this film seems more towards a tragedy whilst the other two seem more like thriller/horror films. Personally I wouldn't say that this film seems any similar to the other two, there isn't any tension in the film and the sounds aren't similar, however the camera shots and movements are. I enjoyed seeing a flash back in The Road's opening scene because it was very positive and bright which was different, then as the film went on it got more and more upsetting and tragic. In the flashback/dream we see a graphic match which is the camera showing the flowers then the woman, this shows she is as delicate as a flower, after the happy scene we see the tragedy starting in which we see the woman is pregnant therefore we see how the spring flower scene it links with the woman's pregnancy due to life beginning and growing. The film has 3 main characters, a couple are shown in the first scene which are expecting a baby and as the scene goes on we see that the male partner must have lost his wife due to her not being around however he does have his son which is what makes it seem so upsetting and will make a big impact on viewers. There is one part we question about the flashback and that is "Why is the man filling up the bath tub?" I personally thought it'd be to perhaps save someone as the lights through the windows look orange so I assumed that there was a fire, some of us in lesson thought it could be to try to save the baby hence the child being alive and not the mother in the following scene. There is a sound bridge from the water in the bath tub to the man waking up and we can still hear water and as the camera zooms out we see a small waterfall. Our media teacher thought that the man could have been saving water because the character may have had an idea on what could happen next. In the scene we saw many extreme long shots to show the scene after the tragedy, there were a few panning shots and some tracking shots, however there weren't as many close ups or mid shots but it makes sense because the director must have wanted to show the audience the difference the tragedy made on Earth. As the father and son walk down to the bridge which has something along the lines of death and as they walk through the tunnel the light goes dark which seems to be like foreshadowing however because we have not finished watching this we can not confirm it. There is a voice over of the man talking through the opening scene, his voice sounds very weak and brittle, the camera also shows how damaged the world is which matches perfectly which does not seem as a coincidence as to why the director would have wanted this.

28 Days Later Opening Scene

This film is rated as an 18 due to strong language and very strong violence. In the opening scene we are shown a group of people breaking into a laboratory, their aim is to let the captured monkeys free so they are against whatever the people in the laboratory are doing. A scientist walks in and warns them that the animals are safe being trapped in the boxes and that they are very dangerous. A woman ends up taking charge and sets one free, the monkey then attacks the woman. The lighting is very dark because the group broke in so the laboratory was closed off, then as soon as the woman gets attacked the lights go bright red and flash, which clearly represents danger and fear. The sound at the start is very quiet, as soon as the group is caught the action starts and the monkeys start getting loud and start making you feel tense and uncomfortable. The scene then goes blank and changes to a man in a hospital bed completely naked. The man takes off the tubes attached to him so quickly that the machine ends up dropping on him creating a very loud bang. He walks around the hospital looking very lost and confused, the hospital is left as a mess and looks very deserted, next the man takes a fizzy drink in a can from the floor and drinks it so quickly that it spills down him, he then cleans up the other cans that are left on the floor and acts normally as if nothing has changed. We don't get to see much of what is around the main character because it is constantly focused on him therefore we do not get to see much of the backgrounds so we do not see any clues.

I Am Legend Opening Scene

In todays lesson we watched the I Am Legend opening scene and again jotted notes on the scene. I am Legend is rated a 15 due to it having lots of violent scenes throughout. For the setting I wrote down that the start was an interview room, then once the film moved from the TV scene we saw an urban empty area due to the film being post apocalyptic, we also saw in the area that there were still Christmas decorations out so it gives us a hint when everyone disappeared. The sounds in the film were very loud, before we saw the film we heard a TV report in the background as the titles were showing, once we got to the urban area we heard a lot of wind which emphasized how empty it was, it also gave a hint that it was Autumn/Winter time which was very similar to the way that the Book of Eli started. Once our main character arrived on the scene we heard him driving in a car very fast which built up tension, once the car was breaking the noise got louder and built up even more tension. At the start of the scene we watch a TV news report to give us information on what has happened in the past in which there is a female interviewer and a female "hero" which has apparently cured cancer however acts very fishy, after that scene we see a very masculine character with a pet dog which could also be considered a main character. The Book of Eli has a few similarities to I Am Legend, they both have 2 main male characters and both of their opening scenes show animals, there were also some similar camera angles/shots used such as a close up, a long shot, a crane shot, a panning shot, a tracking shot and they both show a point of view.




https://youtu.be/ksGH1NN8TBA - Opening Scene after interview, unfortunately could not embed.

The Book of Eli Opening Scene

After learning the different angles and shots we watched the opening scene to the Book of Eli. The Book of Eli is rated a 15 due to the violent scenes and strong language. The setting was very dark and gloomy, it looks like it's around Autumn/Winter time due to the leaves falling, there wasn't very much sound apart from the eerie noises and the wind and the arrow shooting the cat which was a very sharp noise. At the start of the lessons we learnt the camera angles which come in handy now for watching the scene, I wrote down in my notes that I saw a crane shot, a tracking shot, a close up, a panning shot, an extreme close up, a mid shot, an extreme long shot, a long shot and it also showed point of view, watching the opening scene helped me memorise the camera angles well. In the opening scene there were 3 characters, 1 dead man, a cat and another character that I would personally say is a male just from the vibes I'm getting. A thing I noticed in the scene was also that before we saw the dead man, we are shown leaves falling which did give me a hint that either someone was going to die or they were already dead. There is a point of view from the cat's perspective which shows that the protagonist is well disguised. A way that the director could improve the opening scene would be to chance the shooting of the cat to be slowed down once it gets close to the cat then speeds up to emphasize the danger. The lighting is very low key which adds suspense to the scene.

Ratings, Audience and Attraction

Attraction for Post Apocalyptic films

All films target at different audiences and find ways to attract them, which is exactly why films have trailers to try to gain a big audience to view the full film to gain a profit. Trailers and films try to gain an audience by showing different technical and audio codes, language, mode of address and construction.

1. Technical and Audio Codes

• A film or trailer for an action-adventure film will have fast editing and a music track that has beats to go with the film/trailer sot that it builds excitement.
• The range of camera angles and shots used in a TV programme or film or trailer all help to make it more interesting to watch and help the audience get into the film to imagine themselves there.

   2. Language

• Hospital dramas use medical language to make the action and dialogue feel more realistic, for example when the main character in "I am Legend" records himself talking about his new experiments to try to bring the people out of the zombies back.                         

   3. Mode of Address

• Newspapers and television news programmes use a formal mode of address, which suits the serious nature of the content and is what their audience would expect. Again another time that this has been used is at the opening scene of "I am Legend" in which we see an interview on a news report with Dr Krippin about her finding a "cure" for cancer.

   4. Construction

• A moving image text can use enigma codes, actors, or narratives to help it appeal to its target audience.
• A print text layout and design will attract its audience to create an eye catching cover image.

Ratings for Post Apocalyptic films

1. The most recent upcoming PA film, "The Girl with all the Gifts" which is distributed by Warner Bros has a weekend gross of £165,837, it has had a -62% change in the last week and it has been released 2 weeks ago in certain cinemas in the UK which is it's origin, it will be shown in 321 cinemas and it's site average already is £517 with a total gross to date of £886,967, which is obviously great seeing as it has only been out for 2 weeks. This already shows that the film is starting off great, it has been rated as 7.5/10 on IMBD and then 4/5 from The Guardian.
2. The Hunger Games is a PA styled film, this films origin is from the USA, it had a weekend gross of £4,534,464. It's distributor is Lionsgate, in the first 2 weeks of release it had a -60% change from the previous week, it was also out in 579 cinemas and had a site average of £7,832 with a total gross to date of £19,323,711. The film has been rated as 6.6/10 by IMBD and 4/5 by Common Sense Media. I personally very enjoyed this film, I cried, it made me angry, it made me sad and happy, I did however hate the ending just because I wanted more films from the Hunger Games because I have loved them from the very start.
3. Divergent is another PA styled film, it was also originated in the USA, it's distributor is eOne Films and had a weekend gross of £1,767,295, after it being released for one week it was out in 423 cinemas and had a site average of £41,78 and a total gross to date of £1,767,295. I have loved these films because of how action packed it is, I think that anyone can watch this film and get into it because it is a great story line, the sequels to it are also fantastic. The film has been rated 6.7/10 by IMBD.

Stereotypical audience for PA films

According to "YouGov Profiles Lite" a stereo typical person that watched post apocalyptic films is a male, aged 25-54 and has a social grade of ABC1, in the UK the most common region is the North West, their views with politics do not show a clear answer due to me comparing the answers between a stereotype for someone that watches I am Legend, The Book of Eli, The Road and 28 Days Later. Their professions are also a mix from media and publishing to farming, all professions are completely different for each film, just the same as their monthly spare, the lowest spare is under £125 which is for I am Legend fans and the highest is £1,000 or more with The Book of Eli fans. There is a split between the stereotypes preferring cats or dogs, all 4 film stereotypical viewers have an interest in sports. There is a split between 28 Days Later and I am Legend fans as they have calm and sleepy personality traits compared to The Book of Eli and The Road fans as their traits show anger. All of the 4 films have an interest in The Walking Dead. I am Legend and The Book of Eli fans both tend to spend 26-30 hours online per week, The Road viewers tends to spend 16-20 hours per week and 28 Days Later viewers spend 41-45 hours per week, all 4 film audiences also have a different amount of time to show how long they watch television for per week. YouGov shows us that there are some links between the stereotypical audience for post apocalyptic films.