Filming Exercise: Feed The Fish

1. Establihsing Shot of a municiple building
2. Camera tracking into building and a flight of stairs
3. Close Up of a sign on a door- content to be decided by filmmaker
4. Over The Sholder shot of Person A, opening a door and walking through.
5. Reverse angle shot of person A coming though door
6. Mid-Shot of Person B sitting at a desk. "I was wondering when you might get here. Please sit down."
7. Camera tracks to Person A. Person A sits down.
8. Subtle low angle MCU of B: "So, what kept you?"
9. Subtle high angle MCU shot of A: "Yes, sorry I'm late... Traffic." (Shot, reverse shot; 180 degree rule)
10. Reverse angle of B: "Have you fed the fish?" A: "Yes, don't worry, I've taken care of it." B: "Good."
11. Close Up of A: "What do you want me to do next?"
12. Mid-Shot of B who stands and walks around the desk: "I was just coming to that..."

Ways We View Films Today

Back in the day, films were only released in cinemas. Once you missed your chance to watch the biggest film in town, you missed it. But now, there are so many ways to wtahc films besides going to the cinema, you;ll never miss you chance to watch any movie! So, how many ways do we actually watch films?
- Cinema
- Sky Plus
- TV
- YouTube
- LoveFilms
- Game Consols
- DVD
- Netflix
- Illegal Download/Streaming
- Phone (iTunes)
- CPV

Skyfall

-CGI effects used in Skyfall
- MGM and EOD financed the film.
- Sony picked up the film; Sony and Colombia Pictures then had distributing rights. (Sony owns Columbia Pictures) Sony then distributes it in the UK.
- Skyfall: Between $150-200 to make
- Box Office: Over $1.1 billion worldwide, making it the 7th highest grossing film ever.
- It made £100 million in UK Box Offices alone!
- The song 'Skyfall' by Adele (use of Synergy) was released by Melfed Stone Ltd
- Melfed Stone are owned by XL Recordings. XL Recordings are owned by Colombia Pictures, which are owned by Sony. This is a ggreat example of synergy, but aslo a super example of cross media convergence:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Picture Entertainment
Music Enetetainment
Mobile Entertainment

Skyfall was also released via:
- DVD
- Blu-Ray
- PPV
- Rentals: LoveFilm, Netflix
- Airplanes
- TV
- Digital Release
- Illegal Download Release

Piracy: Facts and Figures

For And Against Piracy: NOTES
- Piracy affects production, distribution and exhibition
- 77.75 million fake DVDs were sold in 2013
- Piracy owners earned a total of £228 million
- £700 million loss in film industries due to piracy
- Blockbusters can lose up to £4 million due to piracy
- The internet has made it easier to pirate videos. People can now download movies, burn them onto a disk and sell it.
- People can use the computer to copy movies
- Fast speed broadband means that people can put pirated movies online, for others to consume easily.
- D.I.Y
- Big institutions don't get as affected as lower budget film companies- Watching pirated movies takes money away from the industry, so smaller industries, such as British film industries will lose the money that they need in order to make a profit.
- Audiences will eventually suffer because of this; film institutes will shut down because they weren't making enough money, so there will be no more movies to watch!
- For example, Motion Picture Associations 2005: Studios lost £6.1 billion
- Cinema, Cable and TV lost £8.2 billion; £7.1 billion of it was lost due to internet piracy
-Peer-To-Peer software -> Bit-Torrent -> Delayed released dates
- Piracy is more common in the US than the UK due to release dates!

However:
- It is harder to pirate 3-D movies
- Film industries try battling piracy by releasing movies on many platforms, aside with releasing it on the big screen. Movies are now released via: Bly-Ray, iTunes, Download, Sky Plus, showing films on TV channels such as Sky Movies and ITV, YouTube download, DVD, Rentals online such as LoveFilm and Netflix and showing films on Airplanes.

Technological Convergence AS Essay: Autumn Term 2014

How important is technological convergence for institutions and audiences within a media area which you have studied? 

 

A technological convergent is two pieces of media formed together as one in a device. Over the past few years, technological convergence has developed immensely- For instance, the invention of the iPhone has given normal people the power to not only be used for calls and texts, but they can now be consumers and producers of products! They are able of start make their own products for others to enjoy. For example, people can now make a living off of making YouTube videos- something that would have been impossible 10 years ago! They are able to create content by using their mobile phones. Mobile phones are a great example of technological convergence. They have the power to not only communicate through calls and text messages (like we’ve mentioned earlier), but it also: acts as an MP3 player when listening to music; acts as a computer when surfing the internet; acts as a digital camera when you take photos and videos and users even use the power of Web 3.0 when interacting with others online when using social media and playing games online! Those are just a few examples of how technological convergence affects everyday people. But how does this affect the media industry?

 

In US film studios, technological convergence can create cross media links. One form of cross media link promotion is Synergy. Synergy is where a media product is made for another media product. This way, both individual products get promoted together, but are still promoting the product they are aimed towards. One example of synergy is the movie ‘Skyfall’. Skyfall had many different ways of distributing itself using many different types of technological convergences. Firstly, the film used synergy- Adele partnered with SKYFALL to produce a theme song for the newest James Bond Film, SKYFALL. The soundtrack "Skyfall" was released on 5 October 2012 at BST, as part of "Global James Bond Day", celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the first James Bond film. Adele mentioned recording a "special project" in September 2011 in an interview on The Jonathan Ross Show, leading to assumption in the media that she would be recording the theme for the film. This promoted the movie because this would have created speculation with Adele fans because they would be curious to see what her “special project” was. Another example of synergy is how interactive the Skyfall website is. Due to the development of Web 3.0 (where not only people can research things online, but they can also be a part of the internet itself) the Skyfall website was able to offer a range of interactive activities, such as downloading wallpapers and watching videos. Not only was the website appealing to those who visited it, but it promoted the movie and its partners. 

 

UK low budget films use technological convergence to create awareness for themselves too. For instance, Ill Manors is a low budget UK film. They used ancillary marketing by releasing the movie on DVD, Blu-Ray, download and On Demand on Monday 8^th October 2012. Plan B’s album had the same name as the movie which, again, is another use of synergy. The album went straight to number 1 in the Official UK Album Charts in July 2012. This was interesting for the public because it was unusual for a rapper to use an album to promote a movie, so the fact that Plan B did that meant that it gained massive awareness. Plan B’s CD used multiple marketing techniques- Not only did the CD itself used synergy, but Plan B used Twitter as a technological convergence by getting them to hashtag #IllManorsAlbum. Plan B also used the official music video of the song ‘Ill Manors’ to gain awareness.

However, technological convergence can be seen as a bad thing. For example, piracy. Piracy affects production, distribution and exhibition. In 2013, 77.75 fake DVDs were sold. £700 million was lost due to piracy. Blockbusters lose up to £4 million a year due to piracy. Also, due to the progress of Web 3.0, people can how post pirated movies on the internet, and therefore these can easily be burnt onto a disk and can be sold. Studios try to combat piracy problems by, not only releasing the movie in cinemas, but also using technological convergence to release it. So release it on: Blu-Ray, iTunes, On Demand and download. Not only has technological convergence had an impact on the film industry, but it’s also had an effect on its audiences. Audiences do not have to just go to the cinema in order to watch films. For instance, with Skyfall- audiences are able to watch it in so many ways! Ways include: Blu-Ray, iTunes, On Demand, download, YouTube and on TV channels! They can watch films at the cinema, at home or even on the go (thanks to the invention if the iPhone and its technological convergence skills)

Technological convergence can only increase from this point onwards. Working Title Films are one example of the impact of technological convergence in the present day. For instance, one film that they have produced is ‘Johnny English Reborn’ (2011). Normal blockbuster films have a budget of $138 million. But ‘Johnny English Reborn’ had a budget of £45 million. This means that due to special effect editing software, film budgets may decrease because of developing advanced green screen and Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) technology.

 

What is Production, Distribution and Exhibition?

Production

The Production phase of creating a film is putting all the elements of Pre-Production together. This includes the casting, the crew, finding a director, placing a budget and finding a film institution, as well as coming up with an initial film idea. The script is normally drafted about 12-15 times (not including storyboarding).

The producer is the “centre entrepreneur” of the movie, as they have to start looking at the bigger picture since day 1. In a film crew, they’re what are called “best boys”. There are two types of Best Boys- Best Boy Electric and Best Boy Grip. They are in charge of the lighting and grip department.
There are three stages when it comes to production: Pre-Production, Production and Post-Production.

Distribution

A film distributor is a company/individual who is responsible for marketing the movie. The distributor organises aspects such as the theatrical release date as well as circulation for home viewing. Independent film distribution in the UK is managed generally by Indie distributors. Examples of this include Metrodome and Optimum Releasing. Before release, distributors will present their film at film festivals and markets around the world. Some of these include Sundance, Cannes and Rotterdam.

Exhibition

An exhibitor will go about ways to selling the experience of film in different ways. The exhibition of film mainly involves the ownership, management and operations of cinema. Exhibition deals with shifting market conditions, strong competition, and cost investments in new technology.

Some Swedes that I like!

I enjoyed this swede because I like the fact that the shots and camera movements varied- it didn't just contain Medium Long Shots (aka, taking the easy option!) My favourite feature was the soundtrack- it was a human voice making all of the sound effects, which gave it a humorous feel.

This is probably the best swede I have ever seen! ... No, wait, this is one of the best VIDEOS I have ever seen! They have completely re-innervated an iconic teenage film and made it into their own interpretation of "Black Mean Girls"! Best. Video. Ever. If this was an actual movie, I'd watch it all day. ALL. DAY. Just sayin'.

This may or may not be a swede... But it's defiantly a bunch of parodies with a twist! Smosh are just one of my many favourite Youtubers. I like that they gave this a humorous feel!