Film Magazine Review: Reader Profile

What breakfast cereal do they eat? Coco Pops

What mode of transport do they use? Economy cars or public transport, e.g. busses and trains

What accommodation do they live in? At home with parents, university halls, small student flats

What do they drink? Soft: Coca Cola. Alcoholic: Spirits

What TV shows do they like? Sitcoms e.g. Friends, The Big Bang Theory. Soaps e.g. Eastenders, Hollyoaks. 

What is their favourite meal? Pizza

What are their main types of interests? Socialising, whether that be at parties or a trip to the cinema to see the latest films.

Where do they go on holiday? They go on holiday to places with a young population and a party atmosphere e.g. Malia, Zante, Malaga, Cos. 

Do they vote? Yes, for The Green Party or Liberal

Film Poster

Target Audience

Although our overall films target audience is teenagers/students, we have decided to focus more on the female sector of our audience for the purpose of our film posters. We have chosen this specific target audience out of the wider bracket as the main character is a teenage girl for most of the short film and therefore our largest audience will probably be teenage girls, so it makes sense to focus more on them as they will be the ones more interested.

Genre

We have decided to make our film poster using the same conventions as a thriller film would. Even though thriller isn't our main genre, our film does have some dark aspects to it. We have also agreed that the type of person who would enjoy a thriller film, may also find our film interesting and it may be beneficial to their life. The purpose of our short film is educational, but we do not want this to put teens off watching our film, so portraying it as a type of thriller will hopefully interest more people.

Planning-taglines

As shown in previous research tag lines use written codes to link in with the movie, give away more information about the film and make it is usually quite memorable and short with the use of literary devices. Below are a few ideas for my group's film: Happily Ever After?

Idea One:

An ending fairy tales don't usually have

The theme of fairy tales is mentioned in this tag line which goes with the title of the film. It shows a twist to the story and foreshadows that the ending is not going to be what audiences would usually expect with fairy tales allowing them to get prepared and it creates suspense.

Idea Two:

The End begins from birth

"The End" links with the theme of fairy tales in the film however also links in with the death of our main character making it a play on words. Also the fact that the end begins is another play on words as the words contrast each other. By mentioning birth it foreshadows to the audience that there is some form of ageing within in the film.

Idea Three:

Will you get out of life alive?

This tag line mainly focuses not on literary devices but rather the message that it puts across. This one foreshadows the ending of the film however not completely as audiences are left to question whether the main character will survive or not. Also, the depressing gloominess in the tagline contrasts with the cheerful title of the film.

Idea Four:

we are our own poisoned apples

This is a play on words and links in with the film quite nicely. The poisoned apples mentioned has to do with the fairytale 'snow white' but also has to do with death which foreshadows the plot to the audience. By mentioning that we are our own poisoned apples it foreshadows the suicide in the film but also shows that people make their own choices and their death is the result of their own decisions and paths they have taken.

Idea Five:

Can the end always be happy?

The use of the rhetorical question mimics the title slightly since that is a rhetorical question also which speaks to the audience in a way and allows audiences to make plots and have ideas of their own and then see whether they are surprised by the plot or not. The words "happy" and "end" are also in the title  which helps link the two together.

Idea Six:

How will your fairy tale end?

Again the use of the rhetorical question links nicely with the title as well as speaks to the audience. The question is open meaning that it builds suspense and tension and raises questions for the readers.

Shooting Schedule

Session 1

Date: 29/10/12

Time: 1pm-4pm

Location: Lammas Park

Shots: 4-8; 9-11; 12

Actors: Greta, Johnny, 3 extras

Crew: Eva (camera and directing), Migle (camera and directing), Calum (props)

Costumes and Props: change of costume for Greta to show ageing, young childish costume for all actors, hats and scarfs

Equipment: SD camera, SD card, tripod

Potential Issues: 

-Lighting: sunlight will start to dim the more it gets into the afternoon showing inconsistency

-Weather: if it is bad weather such as rain it could damage equipment and distort the image

-Public: due to many of the shots filmed in this session being in a public park there could be legal issues to not get the public in the footage as they may complain that legally they should not be filmed

Risk Assessment: 

-Low: the playground in which the majority of the shots are filmed in have been specifically built with safety precautions since children play in them therefore the risk of something occurring is low. 

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Session 2

Date: 29/10/12

Time: 7pm-9pm

Location: Eva's house 

Shots: 22-26; 27-29; 30-32

Actors: Migle, Liam, girl extra

Crew: Eva (camera and directing), Migle (directing), Calum (props and camera)

Costumes and Props: cigarettes, alcohol bottle with contents that looks like alcohol, fake smoke

Equipment: SD camera, SD card, tripod, lighting

Potential Issues: 

-Lighting: due to these scenes being night time scenes the lighting may be too bad to get clear footage therefore street lights and makeshift lighting may have to be used

-Weather: if it is bad weather such as rain it could damage equipment and distort the image. Due to these scenes being in the night time there may be a chance of fog or mist which could distort image

Risk Assessment: 

-Medium: night time scenes always have a safety risk as more dangers arise such as youths in the public  not liking filming to be happening or seeing expensive equipment used, also cars may not be able to see us properly therefore there is a chance of injury through that. We will have to make sure to use lighting to be seen and not harass the public. 

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Session 3

Date: 1/11/12

Time: 1pm-3pm

Location: Eva's house

Shots: 13-17; 18-21

Actors: Migle, Eva

Crew: Calum(camera), Migle (directing), Eva (directing and camera)

Costumes and Props: alarm clock, robe, change in costume for Migle

Equipment: SD camera, SD card, tripod

Potential Issues: 

-Lighting: one scene is meant to be in the daytime whilst one is meant to be in the night time therefore for the night time scene lighting must be changed somehow to make it look like it is night time rather than daytime which is when it is actually filmed

Risk Assessment: 

-Low: it is in a house therefore the risk of injury or something happening is low along as precautions are taken with filming

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Session 4

Date: 3/11/12

Time: 5pm-8pm 

Location: Migle's house

Shots: 33-38

Actors: Migle, all party extras

Crew: Eva (camera and directing), Migle ( directing), Calum (props and camera)

Costumes and Props: cigarettes, alcohol bottles with non alcoholic content, shot glasses, fake smoke, 

Equipment: SD camera, SD card, tripod, lighting

Potential Issues: 

-Lighting: to create the party scenes there has to be flashing lights however this may distort image

-Public: the neighbours on the street may get disturbed due to noise

Risk Assessment: 

-Low: these scenes will be done inside the house therefore there is a low chance of risk. 

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Session 5

Date: 13/11/12

Time: 5pm-8pm

Location: Eva's house

Shots: 39-41; 42-43

Actors: Migle

Crew: Eva (camera and directing), Migle (directing), Calum (props and camera)

Costumes and Props: fake needle, photographs

Equipment: SD camera, SD card, tripod

Potential Issues: 

there are no potential issues with this session

Risk Assessment: 

-Low: due to these scenes filmed in a house the risk is low

Location Research

When it comes to planning our short film we had to try and consider various locations to be used for difference scenes. Each location had to be visited, checked if they were available for when we needed them, if they were suitable, and which had the easiest access. We do not have the funds to have paid for locations meaning that we had to be creative and geographically aware of local locations which were free for public use as when it comes to using cameras there are legal links with the public possibly not wanting to be in any footage without consent.

Possible Locations:

Migle's home:

This location would be used for again one of the "house party"scene where the main character is seen to overload on alcohol and become as they say "wasted". The fact that it is in a home portrays Britishness as mentioned before youths in Britain do not have the funds or the legal age usually to go to private clubs etc. therefore resort to using their friend's homes. It portrays delinquency also as stereotypically it is common for youths to have parties when their parents are not around. The main room can be used as it large enough to fit a large number of people inside it however can make it look like they are tight together. The garden may be used for any smoking scenes to portray the youths being tempted into the drugs route. Also, since it is one of the cast member's residence it means there will not be a price to use the location and it will be available. However, if this location is used neighbours will have to be warned about any noise disruptions as to not have legal issues.

Eva's home:

Eva's house will mainly be used for the bedroom scenes, where Greta will be shown sleeping, fighting with her mum, and in the final scene, dying. This room is suitable to use as it is a typical young childs/teenagers room filled with posters of her favourite movies. The room will be available to film in whenever we need it as it belongs to a member of our groups who has no objections to this. Another part of Eva's house that will be used is the ground floor window for the sneaking out scenes. Although this window is in fact on the bottom floor of the house, we are going to film from a low angle, making it look higher than it actually is. This is ensures safety when filming. The film is again situated in Eva's house which means there will be no travelling between bedroom scenes and sneaking out scenes. It will also be available to film whenever we need.

Elthorne Park:

This is a large, forested park that is open to the public. If this location were to be used by us it would be used for one of the montage scenes where the main character is drinking and partying with her friends. It is a good location to use as it portrays Britishness since British youths do not have the money to go to paid for locations usually therefore tend to settle for parks. Also, if this location were to be used due to the large space there would be areas to film without disturbing the public who may not want to be in any footage. One problem that could arise however is that the park has certain times that it can be locked therefore if we want night time footage we would have to film it before the park closes. Also, if we have a large number of extra's to create a "party" atmosphere the noise may disturb passers by therefore if the location were to be used we would have to regulate noise with our actors.

Lammas Park: 

This is large, family friendly, public park, equipped with 2 playgrounds which will be perfect for our playground scene where we show the first transition of Greta growing up. If filmed on an early morning, this playground is usually empty and we will be free to film as we please. It also has all the facilities needed for our scene; swings, slide and see saw.

Gunnersbury park: 

Another possible location is Gunnerbusry park. This is a good option for us to look at since it is freely open to the public. Though not as large as Elthorne park there is still enough space inside the park to find a more deserted area to use for filming some of the smoking/drug scenes to portray British youths. The main location problems we have come across when it comes to parks however is that most of our scenes that we need to film in park must be when it is dark: with that there are safety issues, issues with the times the park closes, and legal issues with the public. Gunnersbury park could also possibly be used for the beginning playground scene as it has a large playground. Gunnersbury park is situated in our local area and very near our school so we could film there promptly straight after school. 

Street:
The street we have chosen for the argument with the boyfriend scene is very near to Eva's house, this is at our advantage as it will save time travelling from location to location. The wall we have chosen is the back wall of some garages, this means that we should not be disturbing anyone as we are not that near any houses. On this road there are a number of streetlights which will be useful as we are wanting to film in the late evening. We shall film directly under and streetlight to capture the image, however if it is still too dark then will bring our own powerful torches.  

Storyboard

Storyboard

In order to make the storyboard, I had to make small changes to the script in order to adapt it to the medium. For example, the playground scenes were made to look further away and silhouetted, in order to give the idea of reminiscing of the past. This can be linked to the ending and can be seen as an element of foreshadowing, as it makes it seem that the main character is remembering her past or it is flashing before her eyes. In addition, the script does not go into too much detail as to how each shot is filmed, so as to give me some aspect of control over the shots and showing how each shot should be framed etc. There were some parts which I imagined would be difficult to film, such as the party scene, so I left the storyboarding simple and allowed the montage to be shot sporadically, so as to make it easier. Finally, I was able to show things that were not clear in the drawings such as movement through the use of arrows, which make it clear what is happening and how.

Casting

Young Greta: Greta

We chose Greta as she is the little sister of a member of our group and therefore will be reliable when turning up to filming sessions. Even though she is 12, she is small for her age so can get away with playing an 8 year old, but at the same time, with help of thought out outfits and tasteful makeup she can   be made to look older. 

Older Greta: Migle

Migle is perfect for the roll of older Lauren as not only is she a member of our group so will always turn up to filming sessions, but she is willing to play the part and is a good actress. Again, it will be easy to show the changes of her age throughout the film by her costume and makeup. 


Mum: Eva

As Eva is aslo a member of our group and will therefore turn up to all required filming sessions.

Boyfriend: Liam

Liam is a confident actor and easy to rely on to turn up to filming sessions. 








Young friends: Emily, Lucy, Kirsten, Johnny

These are real friends of 'Young Greta' so will be easy to rely on and will look the right age.

Older friends: nameless extras

These are real friends of members of our group so will be easy to rely on and will look the right age.

Script (Draft One)

Happily Ever After?

scene 1
INT (in a house at day time)
A zooming out of a baby's blue eyes. It is a home video of the baby girl being innocent, happy and playing 

scene 2
INT (in same house at day time)
A mum is holding up her 5 year old daughter as she laughs and again shows her innocence

Title Over Black

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

When I grow up i wanna be um...

scene 3

EXT (in a playground at day time)

Greta is at the playground with one friend as an 8 year old playing and having a fun happy time. She goes on a swing and as she swings up she is not seen

scene 4

EXT (in the playground at day time)

Greta is coming back down the swing as a 13 year old girl shown by change in costume/makeup. She leaves the park with more friends

scene 5

EXT (on a typical British road at day time)

Greta is walking home with her friends as one by one the friend disappear showing time going past

scene 6

INT (in Greta's bedroom at night)

Greta is still a 13 year old as she turns on her pillow ready to go to sleep

scene 7

INT (in Greta's bedroom at day time)

Greta is waking up as a 15 year old shown by a change in actress as well as costume/makeup. She turns on the pillow to look at her alarm clock and turns it off. Her mum is seen on the other side of her bedroom door screaming and knocking. Greta(2) is screaming back at her mother and violently throws  her alarm clock at the door which then smashes into pieces on the floor. Greta(2) then covers her ears and shuts her eyes tightly still in her bed. 

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

Oh yeah! When I grow up I wanna be just like my mummy cause I love her so much

scene 8

INT (in Greta's bedroom at night time)

Greta(2) is waking up as a 16 year old shown by change in costume/makeup. She looks at her new alarm cock to see the time which shows that it is late in the night. She gets out of bed and walks over to her bathroom. 

scene 9

INT (in Greta's home at night time)

Greta(2) is walking out of the bathroom in party costume/makeup

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

I want to look just like a princess: wearing pretty gown

scene 10

INT (in Greta's home at night time)

Greta is sneaking out of her bedroom window to the outside

EXT (outside Greta's home at night time)

Greta(2) is seen to be meeting her boyfriend outside of her home. As they meet she takes his cigarette, inhales herself and hugs him

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

I want to fall in love with a prince

scene 11

INT (in Greta's home at evening time)

Greta(2) is sneaking out of her home through her bedroom window again

EXT (outside of Greta's home at evening time)

Greta sees her boyfriend talking to a female character. She confront him which starts an argument shown by hand gestures and screaming. The boyfriend is walking away from Greta(2) as she watches upset

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

Me and my prince will stay in love forever Just like mummy and daddy

scene 12

EXT (away from the home in front of a wall of a building at night time)

Greta is showing to be drinking up against a wall upset and crying. This is shown as a montage that time is passing and her alcohol intake is increasing through various shots and cuts to emphasise the amount she is drinking. 

scene 13

INT & EXT (in various locations: in a house, in a park, on the road during day time, evening time, night time)

This is a montage of Greta(2) at parties with her friends getting drunk (shown through various shots to show that her alcohol intake is large), at parks smoking and being around male characters. 

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

I want to have lots of best friends. We will stay by each other's side like snow white and her seven dwarfs

scene 14

INT (in Greta's bedroom at night time)

Greta(2) is now seen to be 18 years old through costume/makeup. She is sneaking back into her home through her window, walks over to her and drops on to it. The shots show that she is too restless to sleep as she keeps tossing and turning on her bed.

scene 15

INT (in Greta's bedroom at night time)

Greta(2) is seen with the same costume as the seen before as she was too restless to sleep. She is walking over to her bedside table, she is opening a drawer and looks into it pushing away childhood photos of her. She is picking  a needle and is seen to be injecting herself with the contents. 

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

When I grow up I want to be a doctor and save billions and trillions of lives

scene 16

INT (in Greta's bedroom at night time)

This is a continuation of the previous two scenes. Greta(2) walks up to a wall and slides down in defeat. The camera is slowly zooming into her as a montage of home videos is faded over the zooming in with the sound effect of a heart beat getting slower. The camera is zooming completely into Greta's(2) blue eyes revealing tears pouring out of them as the sound effect of the heart beat completely stops portraying she has died shown by no movements made by the character. 

GRETA

(voice over: childish innocent voice)

But mostly, When I grow up I want to live happily ever after

CREDITS OVER BLACK

Final Synopsis: Happily Ever After?

And they all lived happily ever after... or did they? 

Happily Ever After is a short film following an innocent, beautiful baby as she grows into a monster of a woman. As a young girl, Greta is asked: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Like all little girls, her reply is: "To be a princess... to marry a prince... to live happily ever after." However, this is not Greta's reality as she is growing up, she gets mixed up with the wrong crowds and loses sight of her moral beliefs. The film highlights the struggles of growing up in a modern day, media influenced Britain from a young woman's point of view. Will Greta get her Happily Ever After? Or will she get eaten up by the big bad world? - Eva

This is the chosen idea for my group and I's short film. It will have mixes of montages as well as old home videos used paired with new footage we will film ourselves to portray the difference in growing up in Britain for a girl from a baby to an 18 year old. She will start as innocent, vulnerable and fragile and along the way make wrong choices due to the British atmosphere and peer pressure and end up a complete contradiction to what she wanted to be as a little girl. - Migle

Synopsis idea three

"Happily Ever After?"

A baby. A young girl. A growing girl. Happy. Innocent. A growing woman. Drugs. Drinking. Screaming. Arguments. Depression.
As a child, a girl was asked what she would like to be when she grew up, things that most little girls would have: "marry a prince", "have lots of friends", but most importantly "be happy". Growing up proves something different to many children, especially in Britain when innocent vulnerable children become the feared. This short film shows the stages of growing up in Britain from a girl's point of her: her dreams and ambitions and how reality seemed to contradict that in this moving realistic drama that will hopefully make you think: who do you want to be?

This is the chosen idea for my group and I's short film. It will have mixes of montages as well as old home videos used paired with new footage we will film ourselves to portray the difference in growing up in Britain for a girl from a baby to an 18 year old. She will start as innocent, vulnerable and fragile and along the way make wrong choices due to the British atmosphere and peer pressure and end up a complete contradiction to what she wanted to be as a little girl.

Synopsis idea two

"Watching You"
A group of teenagers in Britain go out on a friday night for their usual drinking, smoking, free time. The funfair was a clear stop for them to visit as well as their local parks feeling as if they were in their own little word, what they did not realise was that someone was watching them the whole night, and they were after one of the friends and takes his chance to grab what he wants. But do the friends realise in time?

This is a thriller with Britishness all over it. The teenagers going out on a typical night out will highlight the underage alcohol intake problem in Britain as well as drugs problems in Britain for teenagers. Also, the fact that they do not look after one another and are not aware enough results in one of the girls being kidnapped by the watcher which is meant to raise awareness in teenagers to always be careful and that it is never safe to be out in public and under the influence of alcohol and drugs as you do not know what is going on.

Synopsis Idea one

"Its kind of a funny story"

When a teenage girl decides to baby sit children on her street for her neighbours, things don't go the way they were planned. Her neighbours decide to go to a pub for a night out and leave their children in the trusting hands of a teenage baby sitter. She also believes this will be like any other night till she notices something creepy in her neighbour's room; something that keeps staring at her; a statue: or is it? With this horror  no one will see whats coming; and as they say "its kind of a funny story".

This is a horror that is based on a true story about a clown serial killer. My group and I have thought about doing this specific short film due to horror's not usually being done when it comes to short films which is probably due to the short time frame. Britishness would be portrayed in this through the parents going to the pub which is a typical British thing to do, also the children that are being babysat would  come in in uniforms which Britain is well known for: uniforms in schools. Also, the children would talk about bullying in their schools which again is an issue in Britain that can be more focused on. Finally, this film is meant to be entertaining however hold some kind of awareness of being careful, even in a home.

Synopsis Ideas

Idea 1: Water Cooler

My first idea for our short film was a comedy short based around a "water cooler" conversation, a stereotype of office workers. The idea of the film was that one character would be talking to another describing his day, while the other reminisced about theirs. The narrative would be told through flashbacks in a montage format, using a voiceover to portray the conversation. The story would be that one person has had a bad day, while the other has had the opposite. Through the conversation it becomes clear that the person talking has been directly influencing the other's day - for example, if one drops a cup of coffee from a window, the other is hit by the drink. The idea would be that one person would tell half the story and the other would tell the other. The idea could easily be linked to Britishness since we would be able to make the events of the film British-centric, for example the use of public transport could connect the film to national identity. In the end, however, we decided against this idea, since it seemed too difficult to pull off effectively and in the time limit we had.

Idea 2: Receiver
My second idea was a thriller film about a person who receives anonymous instructions over the phone. The idea was that the film would progress through real time as the person follows the instructions, with a twist ending as the instructions lead them into a trap. To convey the sense of real time, the editing of the film would be as smooth as possible, leaving out any cuts or sudden changes of angle and instead easing into each one, making use of masks etc. similar to the editing of Enter The Void. In the end, we decided not to use this idea since the editing would be too difficult to pull off effectively, and we would have to have very elaborate shots to set up to pull off the effect.

Synopsis Idea 3

Happiness (Title to be confirmed) is a 5 minute short film which follows the life of Lauren as she grows from a toddler into a adult. The film highlights the different choices she has in life, and what he consequences are of her actions, whether they they be good or bad. The film begins with a close up of Laurens bright blue, smiling eyes, followed by some home videos of Lauren as a baby, gradually growing older. As the titles role, a voice over reads, "When I grow up, I want to be... erm..." The film the follows Lauren through her primary school life, making friends, being close to her mum. The film then takes on a darker mood when Lauren starts secondary school as she makes friends with the wrong crowd. 

Each time Lauren makes a wrong decision, for example being in a relationship with a boy who has a bad influence on her,  a voice over is heard of her younger self saying "When I grow up I want to marry a prince" and so on. Eventually Lauren ends up in a dark place, thinking about her past, realising she doesn't one to be this person anymore. The films ends with a close up of Laurens bloodshot blue eyes, with a tear rolling down them.

Synopsis Idea 2

Fish & Chips

Fish & Chips is about a boy who falls in love with the girl behind the fish and chips takeaway counter. Adam, the teenage boy, goes to the fish and chip bar every Friday night without fail, all in order to talk to Freya, the girl of his dreams. Each Friday he asks her out on a date, and each Friday she turns him away for one reason or another. The short film would include a montage of Freya talking into the camera (as if its Adam), expressing her different excuses, this would represent time passing.

 Eventually, Adam decides to move on with his life, 20 years pass and Adam is now a very handsome and extremely successful business man. He decides to pay a visit to his old favourite fish and chips takeaway bar, he had completely forgotten about Freya by now. However, as he walks in, he sees her and his memory is jogged. Even though 20 years has passed, she is still working there and hates her job. She begs him to go on a date with her because she hasn't been on one in years because she constantly smells of fish and no one can stand to be around her. Adam has to turn her down as he is married with kids. Adam laughs to himself as he walks out of the fish and chips bar, saying to himself "God, I am glad she turned me down all those times."

Synopsis Idea 1

 

11:10

A young teen called Amber is set to leave her best friends house at 11:10pm on a cold, dark, Friday night. As she leaves, and begins her walk home down the 3 streets to her house, she feels someone is following her. She decides to make a run for it, but as she hears a dark voice say her name, she trips over. She gets back up and continues running. As she reaches into her pocket to get her phone to call her mum, she realises its not there. She is positive it is some sort of personal attack that has been planned. However, she makes it to her front door, fumbles with the keys, and steps into her house. When she feels safe, she leans back again her front door and tries to calm down her breathing. Suddenly, there is a loud knock on her front door which makes her scream. Her mum comes rushing down the stairs, and Amber begs her mum not open the door. However, from outside a small voice is heard saying "it's only me!". Amber recognises the voice and opens the front door to find her best friend standing there, out of breath with Ambers phone in her hand. It had in fact been Ambers friend, trying to catch up with her as she had left her mobile at her house.

If this synopsis was made into a short film, it would be for entertainment purposes and the target audience would be 15-18 year olds. The synopsis is thrilling and should grab the audiences attention. However, it is a very cliche idea and after a group discussion, we decided against it and agreed we could thing up some more original ideas for our short movie.

Audience and Purpose

As a group, we decided that our target audience was going to 15-18 year olds, as we are of that age, we will be able to use our own movie preferences when deciding a theme and genre and ensure that teens will enjoy it. Another advantage of choosing a target audience of the same age as yourself is that it will not be hard to find some volunteers to help us conduct some primary empirical research. However, as our synopsis ideas evolved and developed, so did our purpose, and therefore our reason behind choosing 15-18 year olds as our target audience.

Our original purpose was going to be purely entertainment, and we were going to go about this by creating a short horror film. However, we then decided on a more realistic and educational film, which then changed the  purpose of our film to be about raising awareness of drugs and alcohol, and how you should always think things through in order to make the right choices in life.

Even though our purpose had changed, we felt the age range for our target audience still fitted in well with the themes of our idea. Between the ages of 15-18, you forget about the innocent child you used to be and are easily peer pressured into taking drugs and drinking alcohol at a young age. The type of short film we want to make will be suitable to show to show school students, aged 15-18, in order to show them how their life will end up if they take up drugs and alcohol abuse. Directing it at 15-18 years old is also important as it is that this age you are making the choices whether to stay in higher education like sixth form or college, or go to university. We hope our short film will be enlightening for them and guide them to make the right decision. 

Film Magazines and visual codes

Visual codes are to do with the representations that certain images and colours have that the audiences can understand or see without having to have text with it to explain or describe it for example the colour pink would have a visual code of innocence, feminine, pure, gentle, childhood etc. When it comes to film magazine articles the layout, font, typography, pictures, graphics, colours and more all have specific visual codes that editors and journalists think about in order to tailor to their target audience, create an atmosphere and give more depth to the pages and articles without having to have specific text to explain what certain things mean. Semiotics come into play with visual codes: this is the study of signs and symbols and the interpretations and representations that come with them for example as the image above shows an eye, the interpretations that can come with that are "seeing" or "looking" the world purely visually or that a person's sight is a gem. Consequently, my group and I will have to read into semiotics in order to use visual codes effectively in our film magazine review in order to satisfy our target audience as well as have a more in-depth film review choosing colours, fonts etc depending on visual codes meaning that they will have a purpose and will be seen that they were well thought out and planned.

To the write is a logo for "Walt Disney". Though this has nothing to do with film magazines it is a good example for looking at semiotics or visual codes. The font here seems to look like it was hand written in old English times as it uses specific calligraphy. This can represent the age of the company showing that they keep to their old roots and are proud to have lasted as long as they have. Also, the font also looks mystical which represents the fact that the company's target audience is young children as all the "original" characters are seen to be from an older era therefore the company want to portray that. Finally, the original logo itself has a black colour though there are interpretations and variations in modern day, which shows that it is a "classic" brand and company: something that can not be changed.

Another good example to look at for visual codes when it comes to typography and font is the logo for "easy jet" which is completely different to the "Walt Disney" logo. This one uses a bubble serif font which tries to portray a modern, easy, friendly, almost child like atmosphere. The company try to emphasise that they are new, modern, and "easy". The same way they use a bright orange for the font which interprets boldness, meaning they want to attract customers as as mentioned before they are keen on showing they are the new way forward and are more friendly and easy going compared to a flight brand like "British Airways" though this may make them seem less professional and more like friends.

The examples above have been shown purely for the reason that the choice in things like font and typography and colour can completely change an audience's view on a particular brand or company therefore when it comes to my group and I's film magazine review, if we choose the wrong colour or font it could take away from the article and give the wrong idea or target the wrong audience.

Film Magazines and written codes

Written codes are an important, if not the most important, part of film magazine reviews. Written codes help tailor to a specific target audience and speak to them, satisfying their needs. Also, a mode of address comes into play with written codes which has to do with how a text speaks to an audience. Each film magazine uses written codes different as they all have varied target audiences therefore cannot use the same written codes for example if the same written codes were used in Total Film as in Sight and Sound, the audiences would be put off as the language tends to be more intellectual, more formal, with use of technical language which Total Film audiences would not relate to as they desire to read more colloquial, friendly language with more quickly understood humour.

Film Posters

A film poster is a form of advertisement used by the publishing company to gain attention for their new release. The general idea of a film poster is that it needs to attract a certain audience to watch the film, and as such will need to make use of different codes to attract different audiences. A film poster conventionally contains a title, a tagline, a billing block and actor credits, and will vary greatly between posters about what is shown in terms of imagery. Symbolism is important in a film poster, as the poster has to tell the audience what the film is about, the main focus and the genre of the film in a  small space.

Film posters originally began to be used only in theatres that they were being shown in, only being used by the theatre itself. All posters were created and distributed by a 3rd party distributor, such as the National  Screen Service in the United States. Once the films ceased showing at that theatre the poster was returned to the distributor, who would recycle the poster at another theatre until the film stopped running - as a result, posters would often be severely weathered before they returned to the NSS for storage.  This was the general process of poster distribution until the 1980s, when film distributors took over the publishing of their posters. Posters were initially made similarly to theatre posters, and until the introduction of digital photo editing, many posters were painted or produced by an artist. Due to the nature of the posters, however, artists were not credited, or decided to stay anonymous, and as a result not many became big names in the film poster industry. Film posters are still occasionally produced physically, often as a homage to these older posters, however nowadays nearly all film posters are produced digitally. As a result of this the means of distribution and advertising influence has increased due to the changes in technology and the independence of film studios. With the advent of the internet film advertising has also become easier, through the use of Alternate Reality sites based around the film or through viral marketing such as videos and advertising.

Another form of film 'poster' is the "Lobby Card", also known as the "Front-of-House Card", which is a smaller type of poster, generally used to display a still from the film. While this is rarely used, they do display another way in which films are advertised through posters. Modern-day posters have begun to utilise digital methods, such as 3D, or even going to showing a brief trailer for the film in place of the poster, with use of projectors or screens, such as seen to the right. Some films even create interactive posters, such as the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film in 2005, which made use of a touchscreen that played different trailers when you pressed a 'button'.

Film Magazines and Reviews

A film magazine is, in general, the best place to find 3rd party, professional reviews of new or upcoming films. While online can provide free film reviews they are often not in depth, and so film magazines are a key source of which to gain information on films on. Film magazines generally come in three different formats:

• Consumer magazines, ie. Total Film, Empire
• Academic magazines, ie. Sight & Sound
• In-house magazines, ie. Odeon, Vue

A consumer magazine is something that the general public are expected to buy. As such they are less in depth, more casual in nature, and focused towards reviewing the enjoyment of the movie for the general public. These magazines will review commercial cinema films that people are expected to watch casually, unless it is a themed magazine such as Sci-Fi which will review films under a certain category, but still focus on commercial releases.

  Academic magazines are focused more on people who have a job in film, are film students or are filmophiles. They go further in depth into films, often analysing the entire film and its techniques and technical details, often making references to papers written on it. These magazines will often assume you've already seen the film and summarise the full plot in its analysis. Academic publications put larger focus on less well-known films, such as foreign and arthouse cinema, rather than commercially available films, due to the nature of the publication.

 Finally, an in-house magazine is the free publication available in the cinema itself. Unlike the consumer and academic magazines, an in-house magazine is trying to sell the film to it's potential audience. As such, it contains no criticism whatsoever, focusing only on the movie's strengths and sidestepping anything deemed negative. this makes the in-house magazines unreliable as a source of reviews.

The main film magazines in the UK are Empire, Total Film and Sight & Sound, as well as the in-house magazines. Each one makes use of different layouts to address different audiences. I will be analysing Empire in detail and referring to it's layout to distinguish between the magazines.

Empire is the most typical of the three, and it makes use of several layout conventions that also appear in the other publications. The main focus of the article is on the image, which takes up half of the page. This is the image used to sum up the film, and as such has to make use of different elements to distinguish the intention of the image. We can see, for example, that this is a horror film from the dark lighting and flashlight. In-house cinemas generally make this image larger to utilise fewer words, while Sight & Sound will make the writing the focus of the article and keep the image smaller. The image is also accompanied by a caption, which in publications such as Empire would be a joke about the image. Sight & Sound is more serious in tone, and while it might make a light joke it will often be an analysis of the picture itself. In all publications, a section title will be used in order to inform what part of the magazine the reader is in and easily distinguish what type of article they are reading.

The next aspects are the Headline and the Strapline. In Empire, the Headline seen is that of the film title (since this is a review), while the strapline is a pun on the title. In Total Film, this strapline would usually be a summary of the review while still retaining humour, while an in-house magazine would generally make the strapline a positive overview of the film. Sight & Sound, however, would have an individual title for the article itself whilst using the strapline as an outline of the following article.

The important section of the article, the main text, can also tell us about the magazine's attempts to attract audiences. For example, Empire makes use of 4 columns in its review to make the writing look somewhat accessible - in a main article, this column count is reduced to three to draw attention to the articles they want the viewer to read. Total Film makes use of two columns in its articles to make it look easily accessible, while Sight & Sound will use four most of the time. With the use of less columns an article can look more or less accessible - an article with no columns looks difficult to read and can make people avoid reading them. In addition, text types are used in different circumstances for different reasons. Serif fonts (ie. Times New Roman) are used in main texts because they help the eye along the sentence, and as such make something easier to read. Sans-serif fonts (ie. Helvetica) are used in headers and largened portions of text because they are bold and stand out to the reader. An important part of the main text is also the Byline, which credits the author of the piece. Depending on their importance, their position might change; Empire and Total Film have the credit at the end while Sight & Sound puts them at the head of the article. An in-house magazine will not credit the author at all.

We also see in the article the use of breakout boxes - these help something stand out amongst the rest of the article and attract the audience's attention. Here we see it being used to highlight a summary of the credits of the film and a plot synopsis. Another box highlights a quote from the article, purposefully left open to try and get the viewer to read the full article. In other publications the breakout boxes might be used for other purposes; in Total Film, the breakout boxes are often used for their 'Predicted Interest Curve' graphs and their 'See This If You Liked...' boxes. In this example we see the use of graphics in a magazine review, catching the viewer's eye with colourful, attractive areas that stand out and draw the eye in. A graphic may also be used to fill space if the article has white areas, so as to make it look full - for example, the yellow strip next to the credits breakout box.

conventions of film magazines (technical codes)

Film magazine layouts can be looked at and analysed using the conventions using technical codes. Technical codes are to do with what the magazine portrays through the layout and what information/images are placed onto the pages for visual effect. The technical codes include:
-headline: tends to be a summarisation of what the article is about and therefore is extremely important in order to catch audience's attention consequently journalists tend to use a smart of play on words however not always depending on the magazine e.g. Total Film do not always do this as their articles are better known to have headlines of the name of the film.
-section titles: this is a piece of information which lets the audience know what the "section" in the magazine they are reading is about for example in Total Film they have a section such as "buzz" where they talk about the latest news in the film world, the magazine Prevue has a section called "revue" which is quite obviously about reviewing films.
-strap line: these are "lines" that usually appear underneath the heading/headline acting as an extra piece of information to aid audiences to understand the contents of the article before actually reading it.
-introduction: this is usually a separate paragraph that tends to look slightly different to the rest of the main body be it due to font style or size, it again helps summarise or introduce the article to hook the audiences in.
-sub headings: these are headings that help break up the article. They can be used in break out boxes to title what is inside the break out box. Sometimes subheadings are found in the main body of the article to organise and break up the information so audiences understand there are sections of information.
-breakout paragraphs: these are paragraphs that are embedded within the main body however either use larger font, different font style, or even colour to help distinguish that it is separated from the main body however journalists tend to use breakout paragraphs to emphasise a particular quote in the article etc.
-breakout boxes: again like the break out paragraphs these are not part of the main text however breakout boxes can range from having extra detail, a separate review, interview, recommendations of other films etc. They help the layout to look more aesthetically pleasing and also help fill white spaces on the pages.
-columns: this is a form of organisation with the main body to break the text apart and help to make it more reader friendly by sectioning the text in narrower paragraphs also allowing more text to be added into a page but also helps it look more aesthetically pleasing.
-graphics: these can range anything from logos, to graphs, to the picture itself; basically images that are not text however like for logos, text can be incorporated.
-pictures: these are images or photographs used within articles such as film posters, still from the film, photographs of the director or actors etc. It helps to break away from the text, add more interest to the page and make it more aesthetically pleasing. Also, sometimes the pictures can be what catches the audience's attention to the article.
-call to action: this can be any form of allowing audiences to contact or access the film magazine be it the website of the film magazine, contact details for customer service etc.
-by line: quite simply this is a line which portrays the journalist's name which can be incorporated into articles differently depending on the magazine e.g. Sight and Sound magazine tend to have the by line in bold in the introduction whilst Total Film magazine generally put the by line in bold right at the end of the article which is the "norm" for less recognised journalists.
-issue information: this is any information which can give clue to the issue of the magazine be it page numbers, the date, the section title etc.
Technical codes are an important aspect as even before reading the article the first thing audiences will do is see a page and if the page layout is not aesthetically pleasing to them they will not read the article, but rather keep searching for something that will catch their eye.

Film Magazines UK

In the UK, as with most countries, it inhabits a variety of magazines tailored for certain hobbies, jobs, locations and audiences for example there are magazines for different music genres, for different hobbies such as cooking or knitting etc. The types of magazines that my group and I are interested in for our project are film magazines which focus on all aspects of film and reviewing them to give audiences an honest unbiased opinion. Due to there being various audiences and people of various interests, not all film magazines are the same: some may have similarities but each one has a specific target audience which therefore means it's contents is tailored for that target audience: no audience is the  same so one film magazine will not suit the needs of a different type of audience.

One film magazine found in the UK is "Total Film" magazine which is the second biggest selling film magazine in Britain. This film magazine is fairly reader friendly meaning that it uses colloquial language with a minimal number of columns therefore making audiences feel more comfortable with reading the reviews as they know it will be easy and will not take too much of their time. Also, certain audiences are put off with long articles as they predict there will be sophisticated language used that they may not understand. Therefore, the main target audience for the magazine is people who enjoy mainstream films as the magazine usually writes articles about new releases, releases in the near future, films that have had a lot of good feedback or bad feed back etc, as it even has a section that is gossipy about films. It's lay out tends to be about 2 or 3 columns to make it reader friendly using serif font for the main body. The heading is usually in a large, bold sans-serif font to make it emphasized and easier to see, the headline also is usually the name of the film the magazine is reviewing. The magazine's style tends to be to layout the pages so it is as aesthetically pleasing as possible with as little white space as possible meaning using a wide range of break out paragraphs and break out boxes, larger pictures, graphics etc: the articles are constantly put to life and made to look interesting. Humour is also part of the style of the magazine as the journalist tries to engage the reader through humour such as for an article on "The Road" the journalist made a slight joke on the picture saying "after another muddy year, they vowed it would be their last Glastonbury". Overall, Total Film magazine is very "Hollywood".

"Sight and Sound" is another major film magazine in the UK which is produced by the BFI. Its style, contents and layout is completely different compared to "Total Film" magazine. The magazine is mostly aimed at mature film academics who are probably middle class, well educated and into art house film meaning less main stream and more artistic such as films by french directors such as Andre Techine. Like "Total Film" the main body is usually written in serif and the headline is written in sans-serif however the layout of "Sight and Sound" shows an average of about three times the amount of columns as "Total Film" which is to do with the target audience being well educated therefore they expect a lot more detail and do not mind spending longer to read on articles. The magazine assumes that the readers are art house film fanatics therefore constantly throw in technical language, art house films from the past etc. The magazine's articles tend to be structured like the following:
1. reference to other films
2. synopsis (extremely detailed, the opposite of Total Film where they try condense their information)
3. discussion of narrative structure and style
4. balance of opinion (extremely important for any audience)
5. academic references
6. contextual information
7. summary and closing reference (this magazine are fairly successful at concluding)
When it comes to connecting with the readers the magazine are not as quick to do it, they use intellectual jokes that only educated film fanatatics would understand first time round. Also, there do not tend be many white spaces however that is due to the amount of text since they use less break out boxes and break out paragraphs than "Total Film" magazine.

Finally, another film magazine in the UK is "PreVue" for the Vue cinemas in the UK which is an in house customer magazine. This magazine will mostly review forth coming films about to be released therefore it is mostly persuasive with no critical opininions to balance them out. This magazine tends to focus more on mainstream films however the reviews tend to not focus as much on the actual film and plot as it does on the Hollywood actors: the journalists assume that most of their audience will usually pick a film to watch based on the actors. "PreVue" magazine's main audience are quite obviously people who go to the Vue cinemas and who are insterested in the newest main stream films. Like "Total Film" magazine, break out boxes and break out paragraphs are also used to fill out white spaces in the pages however the pictures used in "PreVue" tend to be more dominating and seem to be more of the focus than the article itself. Short sentences and colloquial language is used throughout the article with an over emphasis on punctuation when the magazine tries to engage the reader; it makes it seem more like a chat rather than a proffessional article review about a film.