MEST2: Arthouse film institution research

Production: Independent film studios

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Produced by: Anonymous Content (Steve Golin) and This is That Productions.

Anonymous Content: Babel, Winter's Bone, The Revenant

This is That: Super, Adventureland, 21 Grams, Nothing is Private (Towel Head)

Drive

Produced by: Marc Platt Productions

Marc Platt Productions: Mockingbird

Hero

Produced by: Beijing New Picture Film Co., China Film Co-Production Corporation, Elite Group Enterprises, Sil-Metropole Organisation and Zhang Yimou Studio.

Beijing New Picture Film Co.: House of Flying Daggers

China Film Co-Production Corporation: Fearless, Kung Fu Hustle and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Pan's Labyrinth

Produced by: Estudios Picasso, Tequila Gang and Esperanto Filmoj.

Tequila Gang: Chronicles, Rage, The Devil's Back Bone

Esperanto Filmoj: Gravity

Old Boy

Produced by: Egg Films and Show East

Distribution: Independent film distributors

• Before any film is made or even pitched, an idea has to be produced, this idea can be from anything, but recently it's most commonly based on books or other literature. 
• The target audience must be identified and then that should be developed so the film should be developed in a way that it appeals to your target audience.
• Do the research to find out the potential budget, and work with other institutes such as cinemas who could possibly screen your film and find a distributor who would be in charge of creating the sales of your film and marketing it.
• A lot of pre production work must be done before actually making the film such as a script and title, a list of finances, i.e. the budget and potential profit.
• A contract of the rights to release the film needs to be made and signed by the appropriate people.
• The release needs to be planned, in terms of what format it will be released in and which countries will get the film and when.
• The release date needs to be decided, it  is essential to try and find a time that'll enable a large profit to be made, such as during the summer where most people are on holidays and are much more likely to go watch your film. This would be greatly dependant on your target audience and its demographics.
• The film needs to be advertised through trailers, interviews, conventions if possible or film festivals and social media. Merchandise such as posters could be developed or competitions could be held with the prize being tickets which could help to create more interest in your film
• Things that are associated to your film need to be properly licensed to prevent illegal copies being made.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Distributor: Focus Features

Budget: $20 million

Box office: $72.3 million

Drive

Distributor: Film District

Budget: $15 million

Box office: $76.2 million

Hero

Distributor: Miramax, Quentin Tarantino

Budget: $31 million

Box office: $177.4 million

Pan's Labyrinth

Distributor: Warner Bros Pictures, Picturehouse

Budget: $19 million

Box office: $83 million

Old Boy

Distributor: Show East, Tartan Films

Budget: $3 million

Box office: $15 million

Curzon Artificial Eye

Curzon Artificial Eye is a British film distributor. They mainly specialise in independent, foreign-language and art house films for the cinema and home entertainment. Since 2006, Curzon Artficial Eye has been part of Curzon World, a group of companies in the film entertainment industry which also includes the Curzon chain of 11 cinemas.

45 Years
What was very intriguing and eye catching for me with this trailer was the magnificent and beautiful use of cinematography, the camera work is very unique in the sense that there is a variety of things in focus and out of focus which helps to create a very unique depth. I think this is something that I would love to incorporate into our production.

Kiss of the Spider Woman
This was a very unique trailer as it used the bold and stylistics of a film noir genre. It also had unique colours and the stereotypical femme fatale as one of the iconic imagery of the entire narrative. I think using the noir style would be very useful for our production.

The Choir
The film's trailer uniquely showed a main character that a lot of people can relate to, someone who is faced with obstacles and has to figure out ways to overcome them. He's also a teenager who is faced with the challenges of "finding himself" as he grows up. I think the raw emotion of this narrative would be very useful as it leaves the audience feelings something.

Exhibition: Arthouse cinemas

Electric Cinema, 191 Portobello Rd, London W11 2ED. This weekend, until Sunday, the cinema is showing the following films:

• Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict
• Big Hero 6
• Bridge of Spies
• The Dressmaker
• The Wolfpack
• Sleeping with Other People
• The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay part 2
• Black Mass
• Carol
• Brooklyn
• Sunset

Most if not all of the films are either 15 or 12A, which suggests that they are attracting a younger target audience, possibly families with children. They have a specific event called Electric Scream! for horror movie fans and the Kids club aimed at parents with children. The cinema also offers seating and tickets for pairs which suggests that they want to attract young couples. The prices are a bit more expensive than the average cinema so it might be targeted for a much more middle class group of audience.

A case study in independent film production: Film London and Microwave Film

Film London

Film London is London's film and media agency and is one of nine regional screen agencies throughout the UK. It aims to ensure London has a thriving film sector that enriches the capital’s businesses and its people.

Film London’s objectives are to:

• Grow the film industry in London
• Maximise investment in London through film
• Sustain London’s film culture
• Promote London to the world through film

Microwave

Microwave is a unique funding scheme for UK feature films by Film London. The Microwave scheme funds films and give development and mentoring support to short-listed projects as well as production finance, distribution support to the final films.

London Calling

London Calling is a initiative by Film London that is a competition, for which the winners are offered production funding. Also, the winners are offered and recieve training, expert mentoring and distribution skills. This scheme is mainly targeted to new upcoming independent film makers and helps them to make their films.

Lilting

https://youtu.be/I8HhLd07fYY

This is an art house film because it focuses on a ethnic minority and explores the challenges and perspectives of a traditional cultural issue that is generally not often spoken about. It focuses much more on raw emotion rather than the actual drama or the conflict.

Borrowed Time 

https://youtu.be/sJZD3uGTjtg

This is an art house film because it has a narrative in which two unlikely characters bond due to an unlikely event. It's a very unique narrative that has characters which although are quirky and unusual, the audience can very easily relate with. The humorous tone of the narrative and it's cultural urban theme would be targeted at a young adult audience.

iLL Manors

https://youtu.be/1hfxWjUcbzs

This is an art house film because it explores and portrays the conflict and obstacles of an cultural and regional issues. It focuses greatly on urban environments and how the traditional culture of the area can affect the personalities and influences of different types of people. It portrays the significant themes of sex, drugs, violence and gangs. I think this is a very dramatic film with action themes targeted at a young adult audience with it's compelling narrative that revolves around urban culture.

Tips from Microwave

• Having too many things going on in the script will have strain on the budget. It's a good idea to generally deepen the story and focus on a few things for a long time rather than a lot of things going on for a short amount of time. This generally helps to give the story a lot of depth.
• Have passion and enthusiasm for your script, make something you would eventually be proud of. Also, be able to consistently and concisely explain your story which greatly helps in terms of pitching an idea and drawing your target audience in.
• Clear idea of who you are intending your film for from the beginning, to concept to production to eventual distribution. Not everything has to follow the stereotypical ideals of a certain genre, so always try to focus on what your audience wants, put yourself in your audience's perspective.

MEST2: Existing product research

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

https://youtu.be/3lvNGhBXTU0

This movie was about a man who hires a company to erase the memory of a bad relationship. The film used a range of special effect techniques and camera work to depict the destruction of the man's memories and his transitions from one memory to another. In this scene particularly, what's interesting to note is that the camera is always at the height of Jim Carey's character, this also helps to make the camera work interesting because instead of cutting like we usually expect it to, the camera pans and changes focus as each character speaks. This helps to simulate the idea of eyes watching the conversation, and as the camera is at the height of the main character, it may allude to the idea that Jim Carrey's character is re-watching this memory from an outside perspective. 

What's also interesting is that the lane of bookshelves that they are in, has the books spines turned to the other side so that the audience can't read the titles, this is not true for the other lanes of bookshelves. What's also unique is that as the conversation is played out, the titles of the books slowly start to vanish, and as she finally vanishes he is left in an area with completely blank books. This was very effective in the sense that it helped the audience to feel for the main character and through the unique style of editing helped to create the sense of loneliness and bitter-sweet sorrow which helped to fit the narrative of the story.

The movie itself was rated R for it's expletive language, some drug and sexual content. It was generally a mix of drama, romance and science fiction. Due to this rating and it's genre I think the target audience might have been young adults and adults in general as it's narrative is something that everyone can relate to but also has very different layers of emotion and depth to it that might not be for children.

Drive

https://youtu.be/i5ufgkJ-uVE

This movie is about a unnamed Hollywood stunt performer who by night is a getaway driver for heists. It's considered a neo-noir arthouse crime film based on a novel.

This scene is very unique, especially considering that it has practically no dialogue at all. This scene is especially reflects the overall movie as it is a series of stunning visuals and graphic imagery and is a prime example of how the film conveys so many ideas and emotions through images rather than words. In the scene, the line between romance and violence is very abruptly crossed as the main character and the female character share a tender kiss before he violently stomps the hit-man's head. This ultimately results in the female character seeing as the main character in a completely different light. The director uses this scene to portray the main character as a hopeless romantic knight but also a complete and utter psychopath. The director also cleverly uses the elevator doors as a sort of transition wipes at the beginning and end of the scene.

It is rated R for strong brutal bloody violence, language and some nudity. Due to this I think the audience for this movie was especially adults as it had a many layers of both drama, romance, and action. It was also set in a realistic setting and location and showed raw emotional feelings through the film which helped to suture the audience and made them relate to the narrative.

Hero

https://youtu.be/AeeoEpmyb2Y

This movie is about a warrior with no name called Nameless and is based on the  story of Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin in 227 BC. 

The scene uses a variety of stunning visuals and cinematography but more importantly sound to portray the fight to the audience. While it does use several very exciting visuals to show the depth and intensity of the fight, what's more fantastic is the use of the sound, the diegetic sound played by the old man is contrapuntal yet strangely parallel to the fight. The "yelling" depicted might confuse the audience as they might think it is the two men fighting that are yelling, but really it is singing and part of the song. What's also unique is that in this sort of "mind fight" there is the use of a black and white filter which shows the idea of ying and yang but also helps to depict to the audience that this is a fight scene taking place in their minds. A variety of all these helps to show to the audience that this wasn't just about a fight scene but rather was much more idealistic and had a lot more emotion than just your average action fight scene.

The movie is rated PG-13 for stylized martial arts violence and a scene of sensuality. This rating means the movie is targeted for an teenage and older audience. This could be because of the fact that the movie is heavily influenced and based on martial arts, and this is something that young teenagers love to watch. It also involves a lot of drama and some romance which means that this could also be aimed for an adult audience.

Pan's Labyrinth

https://youtu.be/HhSjnG5pMOY

This movie is a Spanish-Mexican dark fantasy film about how a young girl imagines a fantasy world to block out the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

In this scene, The doctor is a secret sympathiser for the anti-Franco rebels during the Spanish Civil War, chooses to defy Captain Vidal's orders and euthanises a tortured and broken prisoner. The cinematographer chooses to use two very contrasting colour tones in one setting, outside it is dark and gloomy but inside it is bright and golden. This however is also contrasting to the narrative, that although the inside is seen as bright, golden and happy it is the most dangerous place yet outside is safe but is shown with blues and is generally much more sadder. This also follows the general theme that the outside world at the time of the Spanish Civil War is very gloomy and filled with sadness. Finally, something that is also very unique is the poignant death of the doctor, the camera focuses directly on him as he walks away from the scene and the doctor is always in the foreground whilst his killer who shoots him in the back is in the background, this shows to the audience how the doctor was brave and that his killer, a person in great authority, was actually a coward.

This movie is rated R for graphic violence and some expletive language. Due to this, and it's dark genre with heavy use of drama, it is aimed at a older audience for adults. It is generally seen as aimed at an audience who are enthusiasts of the fantasy genre. 

Old Boy

https://youtu.be/APv5Jc0c7Qc

This movie is a South Korean mystery thriller with a neo-noir style. It is about a man who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years for no reason and with no knowledge as to who is captor is. When he is finally released, he begins to start his quest for revenge and find out who his captor was.

This particular scene is one of my favourites as it relies and uses heavily the classic idea of noir, with the main character narrating over the scene and the diegetic jazz sounds in the background. What's also unique is the use of camera work and framing that helps to create tension and also portray the varying characteristics of the main character. The neo noir theme is also enforced through the character's clothing and acting, he is very mysterious and dressed in all black which shows to the audience how he is not your everyday protagonist. Specifically, the shot where the camera is behind him, shows this mystery and is again reinforced as he takes his sunglasses off and blows out a puff of smoke from the cigarette. The iconography of the cigarette shows how he is a violent character and could almost be a borderline False Hero, we also never see his eyes which are normally identified to a man's personality and identity. Finally the director very cleverly uses a pillar in the setting as a wipe transition which makes the audience aware of the surroundings and setting in particular.

The movie is rated R for its strong violence, including scenes of torture, sexuality and pervasive and expletive language. Due to this and its heavy focus on action and fight scenes, I think it was targeted at a older adult audience. This is also evident due to its genre of and narrative having a lot of themes of mystery and drama. It also is able to masterfully incorporate themes of romance into its narrative.

MEST2: Brief

I'd really like to work on a type of Modern noir, in the style of a 60's detective black and white movie. This would be really interesting to work with, as we can play around with the plot line very easily and also manipulate the tone in terms of serious or comedic. If we were to go with a serious tone, we could go down the direction of something loosely based around the style of Sin City which is basically a movie which shows modern noir very well and also helps to emphasise the style of a comic book graphic novel.

If we were able to work with this idea we could actually very easily work with a variety of the topics and utilise the different topics into one, such as urban life/secret/friendship and maybe even romance. I think this will have to depend greatly on our overall idea of the plot line.

In terms of the plot line, we can work on the detective narrative and create something that I believe will leave the audience amazed, this will have to be done by creating a variety of enigma codes and eventually through the big reveal we can have a huge plot twist. I think this would work very well in terms our general idea of secrets which helps to link with the detective narrative, and generally becomes a mystery, thriller or who-dun-it type of movie.

The Equation - Link/Evaluation

The Equation

Evaluation

Our production got an A-

Brief:
Although our brief was a very simple and generic task of a character walking into the room and talking to another character across the table. I believe that we were able to go one step further and create something that was a lot more detailed and expanded than the original brief. Our production consisted of a hostage character being interrogated and tortured by a Mafia style gangster. Our main idea was started from that and we decided to use the famous Reservoir Dog torture scene as inspiration.

Planning:
In terms of planning, I think our group worked exceptionally well as we were able to efficiently finish the shot list, storyboard, script in a couple of days after it was tasked. We had initially decided to finish the planning a couple of days before the deadline and didn't want to be in the position where we would be working on it the day or night before. This was effectively done as we had a lot of communication between us as a group and we had quickly split the work load between us all. This helped to create a smooth and efficient work flow which in the end was very helpful especially when it came to our filming as we had essentially got a very solid idea together and were able to go through with it with confidence.

Strengths:
There were quite a lot of different areas where our production was strong, one of the strengths was the point of view shot that we had of the hostage, where we only saw the interrogating character. This helped to easily suture the audience and create a sense of hostile intimidation as it looked like the character was actually threatening the audience. This was very effective and all thanks to our amazing actor Izaaz who through his performance was really able to bring out the menacing personality of the character that we wanted to portray. We also made the production look very realistic through the use of make-up, iconic prop and stereotypical costume, the simple use of a dark attire and red tie was able to give the sense of the Mafia style boss of the character. There were also a lot of good camera work and framing, such as the pan from the close up of the hands and feet tied to the medium shot of Izaaz taking off his jacket. Also, the non diegetic sounds in the background were also parallel to the plot and theme and we were also able to put in the small idea of contrapuntal through the scene where the bodyguard was listening to contrapuntal music. Something that I personally am very proud of is the editing cut used at 1:40 when Izaaz takes off the scarf and it cuts to another shot from a different angle but the cut is heavily dependent on the scarf across the frame and uses it as a wipe. This technique I'm very proud of as I have always wanted to do this type of technique and learnt it from watching my favourite movies of Edgar Wright who is one of my favourite directors. Finally, we were also able to create a lot of enigma and action codes such as Izaaz cracking his knuckles, taking his jacket off and taking his ring off. The use of close ups and silence in the beginning helped to slow down the pace and create tension which I think was very effective.

Weaknesses:
Although, I personally I am very proud of this production, I still am adamant that it could have been improved and made thoroughly better. One of the main weaknesses was the breaking of the 180 degree rule. This was very disorientating to the audience and I think is something that we need to work on much more and worry about in our future productions as it is a convention that is very heavily used and impacts the audience a lot. Another weakness was that our violence, although was very clear through the use of prop and make up, it wasn't very clear through the actions as the punches thrown seemed weak and fake as there was little to no reaction from the victim. Finally, another factor that could have been improved was the audio levels and the intensity of the lighting. As we filmed on different days, we had trouble with keeping the lighting consistent which is definitely something we can work on, also the audio levels were inconsistent as the microphone would generally pick up a lot of the surrounding static noises which we could work on in post-production and reduce it manually. 

Film Language test learner response

WWW: Some original, fluent writing, using terminology well
EBI: Re-do Q1 doesn't focus enough on mise-en-scene (CLAMPS)



Mise-en-scene
What does the mise-en-scene suggest about the characters and events in the film? [12 marks]

The mise-en-scene shows the first character presented is sitting down slumping and this could suggest how he has given up. Through the use of costume and make up, we clearly see that Keaton is made up to look utterly defeated and beaten up. Furthermore, through the same use of costume, we see that the killer is shown in a long black over coat with a hat which is a classic "ominous" costume used in the noir genre.

Through the use of props such as the gun, the shots of ships and several dead bodies, we are presented with the classic iconography of the stereotypical gangster and crime genre. This helps the audience to easily understand the atmosphere and plot as it uses conventions from the specific genre.

The lighting is also very effective as there is the use of low key lighting which is again typical of the genre and suggests the thrilling nature and atmosphere of the characters and events. This use of lighting is further used as the killer is always in a silhouette which helps to hide his intentions and also his identity.

Finally, another way the mise-en-scene shows suggestions about the characters events is through the use of the actor's movements, as we see very slow and deliberate movements from the killer which shows that he controls the pace of the narrative and has immediate power of Keaton. Also because Keaton doesn't move and is always in either a close up or medium shot, this suggests how he is trapped in both the setting and frame and that his death is inevitable. 

Preliminary - Planning

Group: Mandev, Ladan, Rashida, Sunny

Script

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DgD9M2XEBpGV9ATj8p-fyq0aQ97guIlP8exSSw3UeDE/

Shot list

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mJ6D6bFnGw6_CBpdAdQLKJCoQE_PHJIXPUvujN6VX_k/

Storyboard

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19OcWuU9eRNXq2rmLzD_BICmW2GMUD4EaRvY-e8QcYyU/

Media awards

Labrat

Mise en scene

The mise-en-scene is very important and used effectively in this production. We see a young teenager in front of the camera narrating his story in the past tense in normal teenage clothing in the form of a video diary, as if we are watching his personal "vlogs". This helps us the audience to identify with him very easily and as the narrative develops makes his retelling much more personal and intimate with the audience, effectively suturing us into the narrative with great ease.

The teenager then changes his costume to a stereotypical lab coat which is a great use of iconography and prop to highlight the importance and significance of chemistry in the narrative as we then go on to see a variety of shots of chemistry props.

Through the mise-en-scene, we the audience are immediately able to identify the atmosphere and genre of the production which is a serious drama.

Cinematography

The cinematography is also well used as there are a variety of close ups such as the close ups of the character and the props when he is in the chemistry lab. This helps to easily show the focus of these objects from the character's point of view and also again sutures the audience into presenting their entire focus on the objects. Through the use of close ups on the character we are able to easily see his emotions through the actor's facial expressions and makes the production a lot more emotional and easy to relate to.

There are also a variety of medium shots which are used to establish the setting and as in the frame the medium shots, there is a balance between the focus of the character and setting. This is very effective as also a transition between close ups but more importantly it shows the character's emotions through the actor's actions, such as when he is reading in the library but throws away the book which shows the audience his sense of frustration.

Editing

The beginning of the narrative used a lot of continuity editing to easily display the seamless flow of the narrative to the audience. However, near the end this editing turned into a sort of montage sequence of shots of the chemical props and condensed the events of a long period of time (like an experiment) in a short amount of time. This montage showed the audience an idea of a type of opening sequence to their production and helped to added a sense of grandeur.

The most commonly used cuts and transitions in this production were simple straight cuts. The simplicity was used very effectively and makes the narrative flow seamlessly. There was also the use of fade outs and fades in which helped to signify the idea of a flashback and added a certain uniqueness to the narrative as we saw shots of the past whilst the character narrated from the present.

Sound

There were a variety of diegetic and non diegetic sound used in this production. For example, there was the use of diegetic sounds of the birds overlaying the shots of trees helped to set the setting and calm atmosphere. This was then followed by non-diegetic music which was also soft, calm and peaceful. However, the use of these two created a contrapuntal mood and atmosphere as we see a lot of frustration and emotional anguish in the character which is completely opposite to the music used which although does create a serious mood, it is unusual to see calming music behind this narrative, which is very effective in grabbing the audience's attention.

Trace

Mise en scene

The mise-en-scene is also used effectively in this production. We first see the variety of establishing shots of London to immediately help set the setting and the location of the narrative. We then see a medium shot panning shot of a mysterious body lying down in a cramped space. This helps to set the genre of mystery and drama to the narrative and immediately creates a variety of enigma codes for the audience to try and solve. The process of adding these enigma codes sutures the audience into the narrative. The shot then changes to show a medium shot of two young teenagers sitting and talking. There is the use of iconography and props such as the mobile phones which help the audience to identify with the idea of youth. There is also another variety of props used to signify this youthful cast such as skateboards and hoodies and cigarettes, which could essentially connote to the idea of violence and rebellion.

Through the mise-en-scene, we the audience are immediately able to identify the atmosphere and genre of the production which is a serious and mysterious drama.

Cinematography

The cinematography is also well used as there are a variety of medium shots and tracking shots. The tracking shots help to keep the characters and actors in focus and centre of the frame, it is this focus that helps to keep the audience's attention to the narrative and characters. There are also a variety of medium shots which are used to establish the setting and as in the frame the medium shots, there is a balance between the focus of the character and setting. We see a lot of establishing shots used which is effective especially in the Las Vegas scenes, as we see a lot of different iconic settings and locations to a certain culture and location. This helps the audience to identify much more easier to the settings.

Editing

The beginning of the narrative used a lot of continuity editing to easily display the seamless flow of the establishing shots to the audience. The most commonly used cuts and transitions in this production were simple straight cuts. The simplicity was used very effectively and makes the narrative flow seamlessly. 

What was unique about the editing in this production was that there were also the use of cut to black, this was especially effective when the cut imitated the idea of one of the character covering the body's face, and was shown through the fact that the actor covered the camera. 

The opening sequence used to introduce the characters was also unique as this was in the form of a montage. The montage sequence started off with a blur off and introduced each character with a close up and edit of their shot. There was also the use of multiple quick cuts which was parallel to the music and again helped to create the sense of urgency and haste.

Sound

There were a variety of diegetic and non diegetic sound used in this production. For example, there was the use of diegetic sounds of the dialogue between the two characters, what's unusual is that there is no diegetic sound used to overlay the establishing shots as there is complete silence. However, this could also be effective in the sense that it creates a "deafening silence" and keeps the audience guessing and expecting something. 

This was then followed by non-diegetic music which was very fast and with loud sounds. The use of this created a parallel mood and atmosphere as we see a lot of movement from the two characters which helps to immediately establish the idea of haste and urgency. Finally, the production finishes with diegetic classic swing music in the Las Vegas scene which is again parallel to the setting and "juke box diner" feel.