Tuesday 19 June 2012

Focus Group

Feedback

A focus group is a type of market research. The group normally consists of 4 - 15 people, brought together to focus on a specific topic. We received back information on what they thought to it, beliefs and attitude.

They did give us mainly positive feedback: they commented on how it was different to other films with a quirky feel. They also said the animation was a suitable length, whilst watching they still wanted to know what was coming next and what would happen, but any longer it would have started to become a bit boring and if it was any shorter it may have look unfinished or rushed.

We decided to place Not Even Afraid productions at the end of the animation, but we were insisted by the focus group that it would have been better to place it at the beginning with Not Even Afraid productions presents... They said it would flow better and start off the animation with who created it. We took this into consideration and decided that what they had discussed with us was actually a good idea, so it has now been moved to the beginning. 

Furthermore, whilst Jack and Blair were in the process of editing, they purposely left a gap between the songs. The focus group didn't think this worked and it seemed like something had gone wrong. They suggested that we put the two songs together one after another, or fade them in and out. We highly agreed with what they said, and put the two songs back to back. Before we had actually put sound effects and foley in, we showed them the animation and asked whether they thought it was necessary to add it. They did say it would most likely work better with subtle recognised noises as well. So from this feedback we went ahead with adding sound effects. 

Friday 15 June 2012

Website Feedback

Task 8
The URL for the website is: www.samanthalong4.wix.com/carpediem

This was originally Blair’s job to create the website. As time went on it still wasn’t completed as she was catching up with other work which needed to be done, so me and Sam decided to take the mater into our own hands. The pictures above show the finalised website which Sam had done, but I helped at the beginning decide the layout and what content should be included. After it was put together we got a focus group together to look at our website, from this we gained feedback on how we could improve the website.

At first we had the background white because all the images and links would be in bright colours. But the focus group advised us to have a brighter coloured background as it’s more appealing to look at. We decided to change the background to a green colour making it brighter. Furthermore we chose a layout that consisted mainly of images with a caption of writing under the main image. The focus group suggested we either change the layout or get rid of a lot of the photos to include more information on each of the pages, after some research into other film websites, it was decided to change the layout and include some relevant information. Another bit of feedback we gained was to add to the ‘Locations’ page, seeing as the animation is focused on the different places Bill travels to, the page had to include a lot of information. The content included was what we wanted the audience to think about at each location and why the characters decided to travel.

We still agree with not having a characters page. The two characters that appear in our animation are silhouettes and do not speak at all. There would simply not be enough information to fill a page on our characters making it irrelevant. Although I did under-go character development in our pre-production to ‘bring them alive’, the animation is supposed to focus on the travelling and each location.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Regulations


Task 4
Regulations
Every film, television programme, or video game is given a certificate, provided by the British Board of Film Classification. They are decided by an examiner, examiners can view the video or DVD by their self – known as solo viewing. Most of the solo viewings are for TV series and works aimed at young children. Films for cinema release, video games and pornography submissions are classified by two people. Examiners watch films that are soon to be released in the Board’s cinema, this gives a feel of what the effect will be given to a cinema audience. The same feeling is given for DVDs, they are watched in the Board’s viewing rooms on plasma screens to settle the feel of a ‘home viewing’ experience.  Examiners then give details of the following: general context – plot, characters, individual scenes, camera angles, type of shots, bad language, sex & drug references and so on. Most decisions on what certificate to give a certain film are straightforward and are based on the Boards published guidelines. If it does become a difficult decision, the senior examiner or an examiner with more knowledge in that subject will help decide. If a film contains material which is unacceptable under the guidelines, a list of cut ups will be sent to the distributor, or it could just be refused completely. If a distributor decides they want to lower the audience, or gain a wider audience, the Board will help specify what scenes need to be cut. For example Pineapple Express cut a scene where schoolboys are sold drugs by the protagonists to gain a ‘15’ rating instead of an ‘18’. 

The different Certificates
U –
This certificate should be suitable for an audience of four years and aged over. They are set within a positive framework and shouldn’t include any threat, violence or horror. No discriminating language is used, no reference to drugs, no dangerous behaviour and no sexual context.  Horror sequences should be mild and the outcome should be reassuring. ‘U’ classed films include Top Cat the Movie, African Cats and The Muppets.
PG – This stands for parental guidance. Unaccompanied children of any age can watch this certificate. It should not disturb a child aged eight or older. Discriminating language will unlikely be accepted,  horror scenes cannot be intense, no dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy, mild language only, only natural nudity, sexual activity may be implied but should be discreet and only moderate violence without detail may be allowed. Films that fall into this category are How to Train Your Dragon and Tooth Fairy.
12A & 12 – The 12A rating is used for films shown in cinemas; they are suited for those aged 12 or older. But if younger people did want to view the film, they will be allowed so long as they are accompanied by an adult. The 12 rating is found on Videos and DVDS. Horror is only allowed if its moderate, disturbing sequences are not allowed, dangerous behaviour (such as suicide or self-harming) should not be shown in detail which could be copied, or appear as pain/harm free. Moderate language is allowed, nudity is allowed but if it’s in a sexual content it must be brief and moderate violence is allowed but not to be dwelled on in detail. Recent 12A films include, Dark Shadows, Marvel Avengers Assemble and Snow White and the Huntsman.
15 – No one under the age of 15 may see this certificate at the cinema, same with renting or buying a film. Drug taking can be shown, but not in a promoting way. Horror may be shown in a strong way unless sadistic or sexualised. There can be frequent strong language, but repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be accepted. Nudity and sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. Violence is also allowed, but again shouldn’t dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Latest 15 rated films are Prometheus and American Pie: Reunion.
18 – No one under the age of 18 is allowed to watch this certificate at the cinema, nor buy or rent. In line with the consistent findings of the BBFCs public consultations and the Human Rights Act 1998, the BBFCs guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. 18 certificate films can include strong language, sexual activity, strong & sexual violence, strong horror and discriminating language. A latest 18 rated film out in cinemas is called Ill Manors.

After looking into the different certificates and how they are categorised it’s clear to say that our group animation does not fit into the following: U, PG, 15 or 18. The 12A/12 guidelines seem to fit with our animation comfortably, no strong language is content and no nudity is shown. But we do imply sexual activity; this is very minimal and only includes a duvet moving. No violence is shown, no horror is shown and no drugs are shown. We had aimed our target audience at 15 and older because the events the character goes through relate to people this age. But considering the film fits a certificate aged 12, the audience it may gain could potentially not find the connection to the characters like an older audience would.

According to Ofcom, the watershed television is between 21:00 to 05:30. Before 9pm the general audience are suitable to view the programmes shown, from 9pm the TV watershed helps parents protect children from viewing unsuitable material, it progressively becomes only suitable for adults. Advertisements also have to comply with the same set of rules; some can be restricted when out of the water shed such as bingo, alcohol, condoms, etc. Our animation would be allowed before the 9pm watershed, this is because it doesn’t contain unsuitable material like violence or distressing imagery. I would place our animation on Channel 4 around the time as the Simpsons. The Simpsons is certificate 12 shown at 6 o’clock in the evening. Our animation and the Simpsons show similar content so fit together in that time slot.

SMART Targets

Task 6
Smart targets are about developing several different goals that will enable our project to be successful. Smart targets provide a clear outline of what needs to be done and how the outcome will be. The acronym has different meanings and variations to allow a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:


S – Specific: Meaning it’s well defined or clear to anyone that has a basic knowledge of the project
M – Measurable: Know if the goal is obtainable and how far away completion is.
A – Agreed upon: Agreement with all the stakeholders what the goals should be.
R – Realistic:  Within the availability of resources, knowledge and time.
T – Time Based: Enough time to achieve the goal.


Our Smart Targets
S:  Out of our animation we want to achieve a ‘feel good’ type of story. As the storyline is a boy and girl falling in love, the girl goes to travel and then the boy decides to do the same thing and they meet again around the world.  We want to inspire the people viewing the animation to live life to the fullest. The quote we were inspired by was ‘The world is a book, and those who do not travel only read a page.’

M: To track progress we created a shooting schedule, this is to help stick to times and to hopefully get each scene done on time. We have given ourselves 2 full days to get the recording completed. We believe the goal is obtainable and once this goes ahead completion shouldn’t be too far ahead.

A:  As a group we have decided on working to the same goals, all knowing the same will make the team work together easier and become more motivated to complete everything thats needed to be done.

R: Our resources are easily available; this is because Sam and myself have created all the backgrounds, characters and objects seen in the animation. If any more are needed we can easily create some more. We will use acrylic paint and paper.

T: By keeping to our time schedule we should have enough time to complete the animation. For example, if we overrun our time on the monday due to more objects needing to be created, we will try work towards a new set time that the whole group is aware of by trying to get it back on track.


The smarter goals include two extra letters, E and R.
E - Ethical: Goals that sit comfortably within your moral compass. Set goals that meet a high ethical standard.
R - Resourced: Committing enough resource to achieve the goal. This includes time, money, information sources or support from friends/colleagues. 


E: We have to work to deadlines and work as a team to complete everything that needs to be done. Time managment is important within this.

R: No money to make our animation will be used, me and Sam will simply be using our own resources and time to create the sets. We have a set time to make the backgrounds, if we are struggling hopefully we will gain help from other group members.

Thursday 31 May 2012

Understanding the Creative Media Sector (Task 3)

Legal and Ethical Considerations

Whilst making our animation we have to think about different legal and ethical considerations of our sector (film - animation). They range from:
  • Social Issues
  • Representation of gender
  • Representation of religious beliefs
  • Linguistic usages
  • Accessibility
  • Professional body codes of practice
  • Worldwide Web Consortium
  • Broadcasting Act 1990
  • Official Secrets Act 1989
  • Obscene Publications Act 1959
  • Films Act 1985
  • Video Recordings Act 1984
  • Race Relations Act 1976
  • Human Rights Act 1998
  • Licensing Act 2003
  • Privacy Law
  • Copyright
  • Libel Law
Social Issues is how issues relate to peoples personal lives and interactions, such as; crime, education, law, suicide, bullying, gun rights, alcohol laws and so on. Representation of gender is about essential elements of our identity, and the identities we assume other people to have, like stereotypes. A typical male is stereotyped as tough, hard and sweaty. A typical female is stereotyped as fragile, soft and fragrant. Mainstream media is our only source of news regarding anything to do with religion, representation of religion. Linguistic uses are the study of languages, focusing on the system of human communication. Some of the questions ask are what is language? Where is language stored in the brain? How is it learnt? Accessibility is a term to describe a product/device/service which is available to as many people as possible. Professional body codes of practice known as professional ethics is the personal and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals. The World Wide Web Consortium is an international community where member organizations, the public and the staff work together to develop web standards. The Broadcasting Act 1990 is an act to make new provision with respect of regulation of independent television and sound programme services. Official Secrets Act 1989 is an act to replace section 2 of the official secrets act 1911; it protects more limited classes of official information. Obscene Publications Act 1959 is an act to amend the law relation to the publication of obscene matter; to provide for the protection of literature as well as strengthening the law concerning pornography. Films Act 1985 is an act to repeal the films act 1960 to 1980, making further provision with respect to the financing of films. Video Recordings Act 1984 is to make provision for regulating the distribution of video recordings for connected purposes. Race Relations Act 1976 is to make provision with respect to discrimination on racial grounds and relations between people of different racial groups. Human Rights Act 1998 gives legal effect in the UK to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. The rights impact matters such as life & death and rights in your everyday life. Licensing Act 2003 is an act to make provision about the regulation of the sale and supply of alcohol. Privacy Law refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments. Copyright is a legal concept; it gives the creator of an original work exclusive the rights to it. The definition of Libel law is defamation, also known as slander.

The main ones I have highlighted that relate to our group animation are Social Issues, Representation of Gender, Accessibility and Copyright. Our animation shows several Social Issues throughout the growing up of both characters: sex, alcoholic drinks, travelling, marriage and then pregnancy. Representation of gender is used because of how we stereotypical show our characters. The male silhouette is a typical figure, and the female has a typical feminine hair cut which is recognisable by the viewers. As well as this, on the world map we show two dots for where each character is in the world, the female dot being pink and the male dot being blue, a typical colour stereotype to represent each gender. The accessibility of our video will be in the social networking sector, YouTube and either Twitter/Facebook if we wanted to promote it even more. This is because this would be the most successful way for our target audience (aged 16-30) to view it. 

Many different film makers have broken rules resulting in them being banned. A recent ban being The Human Centipede 2, the movie was heavily criticised for showing no attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be degraded, brutalised and mutilated for amusement of the main character. The BBFC decided to ban this and describe it as 'unacceptable material' and will not be sold anywhere in the UK legally.


This Bugs Bunny episode was banned because of racist content on Cartoon Network, ABC and WB! Bugs Bunny impersonates a black slave to get past the character Yosemite Sam. Bugs cover is blown when he starts to play ‘Yankee Doodle’ on his guitar, followed by him begging Sam not to beat him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8D93Awa434

 
This Betty Boop advert was banned as well because of drug usage. Although laughing gas is legal, way back it was considered a bad drug as it resulted in unnatural actions. Betty Boop tries to remove the other characters tooth but it doesn’t budge, so she resorts to laughing gas and it is left on so starts spreading out the window and into the street where it affects the public.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9Tb4TMibk0



Wednesday 30 May 2012

Task 2


Case Study
The sector I will be exploring is Film. For our final major project we have planned to create an Animation, both genres work alongside each other. An animation film is made up of a series of individual images, more commonly known as frames. When the images are displayed more rapidly, the viewer has the illusion that the motion is occurring. I will specifically be looking into the structure, public and private ownership, production and distribution, and lastly the impact on marketing.

The major studios main role is distribution, not necessarily production. The main studios are primarily positioned in the United States; they also have international distribution markets. They are known in the mass entertainment business, looking for the widest possible audience to their product. To successfully do this the film has to be distributed widely enough for the cinema going audience so that the greatest number of people sees it. The film Jaws (1975) opened with just 200 prints, but now 30 years forward, a major picture would open with around 3000 screens. The marketing spend on print and advertising averages as $50 million, 80% spent in the three weeks leading up to the opening date, as well as the first week of the release. The six big Hollywood studios are, Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. The development starts from a script to package, taking up to three years. The type of movies that the big studio tend to produce target their audience at 12-24 year olds, starring major stars or use an A-list director. The storyline will then usually be an adaptation of a best seller, re-work of an old film, sequel, copy-cat films and foreign re-makes. This is because they want to minimize the financial risk of losing loads of money. They then move onto pre-production, this involves storyboards, production boards, schedules, getting permits, budgets, finding a costume designer, renting sound stages, rehearsals, and so on. This is followed by the shooting phase, then the post-production. This is when they try to fix holes in the script, edit, sound, foley, special effects, music, colour, title, make trailers, etc. Getting the budget right is extremely important, this involves salaries, vehicles, stunt men & women, transportation for the stars, insurance, special effects, explosives, make up, hair, costumes, crowd control, parking permits, shooting permits and so on.

Independent films are movies that have been made without any help from the major Hollywood studios to distribute it. A successful independent film maker is Harvey Weinstein, him and his brother wanted to push the vision away from Hollywood and not involve Paramount and all the other big companies. The film ‘Half Nelson has proved to be a very successful independent film; Ryan Gosling became a well-known actor after this. It started off as a short film, and then developed at the Sundance to a feature film. Ryan Gosling also received an Academy Award nomination. Independent films are made all over the word, the easiest place where your cast and crew can meet together as cheaply as possible. For an independent film maker, nothing can be wasted. Time, money and resources are carefully used. Compared to Hollywood movies, Independent also have to make sacrifices such as using extras from the neighbourhood to play certain parts, even if they aren’t trained actors. Some producers will work with Warp films, Film 4 or the BBC to secure extra funding and to help with distribution. Orin Peli, who made Paranormal Activity for $ 15,000, needed Paramount to help distribute his film, in the end he made over $190 million. Our animation for the final major project is an independent film, we have chosen a room at college to shoot, this is for easy access to all meet and it’s a lot cheaper than travelling around. We will be borrowing equipment and we have made all of our own sets and characters for the animation, at an extremely low budget.
The five major distributors that dominate Media Ownership in the United Kingdom are United International pictures, Warner Bros, Buena Vista, 20th Century Fox and Sony. The main exhibitors will still prioritise the Hollywood films over the UK, due to the higher budgets. Hollywood films are distributed through a method called ‘blanket release’, this means that it is more likely for an independent film to be able to make it to the larger exhibitors but would have to compete with the major box office films. A major downfall which is having an effect on the film industry is piracy; it’s available to anyone with internet access and can be downloading almost instantly after a released film. Websites such as ‘Love Film’ are trying to stop piracy by offering a subscription service to download films. These types of websites target the main audience who are more likely to be downloading illegally. 

Who Owns What?
Disney
·         Film companies such as Touchstone, Walt Disney, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films
·         Financial Partner with Sid R
·         They own ABC.com, Oscar.com, ESPN.com, NBA.com, etc.
·         Interactive games and music – Hollywood Records, Mammoth Records, Walt Disney Records.
·         Theme Parks
Time Warner Inc.
·         Owns Warner bros, WB television network, Warner Home video, Warner Bros Theatres, Cartoon Network, New Line Cinema, etc.
·         Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, etc.
·         Atlantic Records, Elektra, & 49 other music production companies
·         Amazon, Quack.com
Viacom
·         Owns Paramount Pictures
·         Blockbuster
·         UPN 18 Television stations
News Corp
·         20TH Century Fox studios, Fox Searchlight pictures, Fox television studios
·         One paper in the USA, 5 Newspapers in the UK, 20 in Australia.

There are two types of companies who deal in movies, traditional distribution companies and film marketing services. Film marketing services shop the film around to film distributors for a price. Marketing companies may have contacts within distribution companies which will make it easier to get the film into distribution. Unlike a film marketing company, a distribution company does all the work to bring your movie to the market, either to the movie theatre or straight to DVD. For an independent film, the distributor will expect at least 30%-70% of everything the movie makes. The UK Film council has aimed to get wider distribution in UK cinemas. The development fund is the biggest of its kind in Europe with £15 million available over the next three years, currently there are 100 films in development. A number of initiatives have now developed for non-mainstream film in the distribution and exhibition sector; a capital fund for the creation of a ‘digital screen network’ using higher-specification digital equipment, specialised prints and advertising to support winder release, a fund for digital equipment, etc.

This chart is taken from boxofficemojo.com. It shows the number 1 movie from each year, in the past 10 years. The Avengers was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Harry Potter is Warner Bros, Toy Story 3 is Walt Disney Pictures, Avatar is 20th Century Fox, The Dark Knight is Warner Bros, Spider-Man 3 is Columbia Pictures, Dead Man’s Chest is Walt Disney Pictures, Revenge of the Sith is 20th Century Fox, Shrek 2 is DreamWorks Pictures, Return of the King is New Line Cinema, and lastly Spider-Man is Columbia Pictures. This shows that the number one movie for each year tends to be one of the big six. Another factor I have noticed is as the average price of a ticket goes up; the number of tickets sold slowly goes down. The reasoning for Cinema tickets being sky high is making a film and distributing is a lot more expensive than it used to be, the cost to run a theatre also adds to this.

The social media way of marketing indie films involves social networking, blogging and video sharing. Social networking is a great way to market a film for absolutely free. A fan page helps keeps discussions in one place; it should include the trailer, description of the film, related events, link to a website and a release date. One the basics are there, the film needs to be publicised by posting teasers, interviews, contests, etc. Twitter is also good to spread the word around quickly; using hash tags has the same effect as a fan page by keeping it all in one place. Blogs are effective if posts are updated regularly, production logs and shooting updates will give an insight to what’s going on. Video sharing has the same effect as social networking sites; this will get the film viewed and an audience. Slumdog Millionaire is a British made film, gaining the most money and awards a British film has ever gained. Film4 gave the film a funding of £10,000,000. They also took the film to Celador Films who gave them £8,000,000 for the production of the film. Celador also have many rights to the television programme, ‘who wants to be a millionaire?’, and Slumdog Millionaire includes that TV show in the film. The owner of Celador then sold the rights to two distributors, Warner International, which allowed distribution in America, resulting in a large American audience. As well as Pathé, allowing distribution to the European. Pathé focused on digital marketing to build awareness of the film with the public, they appointed digital media agency Tug to work with them, and they also targeted niche audiences such as Indian movie goers. Tug launched targeted banners across the Google content network; they also worked with Google to play trailer ads. The overall result from the marketing resulted in them smashing UK box office records, and winning 7 Bafta awards and 8 Oscars. 

Hollywood films are marketed on a lot larger scale. This includes word of mouth, posters, national magazines, trailers, viral, premieres and of course social networking. An example is Avatar, the released a simple teaser poster months before the film’s release day to excite the audience. As the release date was moving closer, more detailed posters were being shown, including more information about the film. Avatar also released exclusive photos in a magazine two months before the release date, again to excite the audience. There was also a teaser trailer, 2 minutes long, released in cinemas and online; it only included one line of dialogue. Closer towards the release date, a longer trailer was shown internationally giving more of the story away. The premiere was extremely exclusively, to keep with the brand marketing; a blue carpet was used instead of a red carpet. The public had the chance to enter competitions to win tickets for the premier, with all expenses paid for and a night in a London hotel.  In addition to this, Coca Cola partnered with 20th Century Fox in another competition for the premiere. Extreme increase and popularity of social networking sites allowed a successful Twitter campaign by McDonalds with daily word scrambles and a prize of a private screening to Avatar. Avatar had a Twitter page, Facebook page, YouTube Channel and a MySpace profile. From this, Hollywood movies have a lot higher chance of promoting their film as they can use other globally famous companies that are well known. They can also spend a lot more money on trailers, posters, and other effective ways to make the audience want to view the film.
From this case study, it’s clear that distributors and marketing play a massive role in making the film as successful as possible. Independent films are becoming more up and upcoming, especially in the UK. It’s given me a better understanding on the process, and what we have to be considering whilst making our animation, and the promoting after.

Bibliography
http://www.ekunji.com/film_and_animation/films_and_animations.htm
Used to find out how animation and film are similar.
http://www.writing-world.com/screen/film1.shtml
How the big Hollywood films are made.