The Film Industry:- Current Issues and Context

• Acessability of films has increased with the invention of digital technology.
• Digitisation
• Price of cinema. (Has increased because of the recession and inflation.)
• The recession has a direct affect on the buget and box office returns of a film. (Both being lower.)
• The new version of 3D which in some versions doesn't need glasses at all, but most do, but not the typical red/blue glasses when 3D was first invented.
• Funding of British Films. (The PM only wants successful films to be funded and made in Britian.)
• With new technology it's lots easier to pirate films, but then recently piratebay.com was shut down

Stages of a Film

This is for section B part of the Exam.

There are 4 stages in the making of a film.

1. Production

The initial stage, and is the stage where the film is made.
It involves the writer, director, actors, producer and all the film departments. (Like make-up, SFX, sound, camera, and stunts for example.)
If a film goes into production doesn't necessarily mean it'll go to the next stage.
Production is at the mercy of distribution.

2. Distribution

Describes everything that happens between production and the showing of the film.
Literally how the film gets from the production company to the audience.
Also they produce a physical film reel in order to show the film.  A few cinemas are digital, so they only need a DVD with the film on it, but most cinemas in this country are still analogue.
It entails booking into several cinemas in order to secure a run.
Organising the marketing campaign.
Transportation of the film reel to and between cinemas.
Obtaining the BBFC certifcate. (The age rating.)

Major Distributors

United International
Warner Bros.
Buena Vista (Known for distributing the older disney films.)
20th Century Fox
Sony

3. Exhibition

Showing the film to the audience.
This can be through:

• Cinema
• Film Festivals
• DVD/Blu-ray/VHS
• TV
• Netflix
• Piracy
• iTunes

4. Exchange

The unintended use of a text by other people who use the film (or parts of it.) to form new texts. For example replacing the audio of the characters with their own voice.
This happens after Exhibition and nearly always involves digital technology.

 

Gender traits/characteristics.

Sex traits for women

• Caring
• Selfless
• Team player
• Worriers
• Talkers
• Dependant
• Emotional
• Passive
• Weak
• Nurturing
• Organised

Sex Traits for men

• Strong
• Active
• Blunt
• Independant
• Selfish
• Stubborn
• Efficient
• Competitive
• Short-Tempered
• Lazy
• Confident
• Dominating
• Powerful

These are all sterotyped traits for men and women, and not all character adhere to their typical gender traits. For example the character of 'The Bride' in 'Kill Bill' is the complete opposite of her typical gender traits

Editing

What is editing?

Putting the shots together.
Adding in effects.
What happens in post-production, to create narritive.

Why is it important?

So the film links together smoothly, looks professional and imposes the correct order.

Most texts use a systems of editing editing known as continuity editing.

The function of this system is to make the action as fluid as possible, so that we aren't aware of the construction process.

Some editing terms.

Split screen - the screen is divided to showtwo lines of action simultaneously.

Cut - change from one shot/image to another. One of the most common transitions but it still creates an effect.

Dissolve - a slow transition as one image merges into another. It can suggest a strong connection between the two shots.

Graphic match cut - This is when one object is cut to another of a simular looking (but completly different) object. ie: A sunset cutting to a tomato.

Jump cut - same scene but it cuts to a slightly different angle. (under 30 degrees difference)

Slow take - a shot that lingers on the action, it's the equivelant of staring.

Focus pull -  where the focus is changed in the middle of a shot.

Narrow focus - when the range of distance that's in focus is very narrow/small.

Parallel editing - a technique which allows for cutting between two or more scenes where action is taking place simultaneously.

Camera Angles and Movement

Establishing shot

Camera far away from subject. Lots of background showing the location.

Long shot

Camera far enough away to see the whole character and part of the background

Medium shot

Camera shows only from the waist-up, with some background

Close-up

Head and somethimes the tops of the shoulders. used to high-light an important object or to show emotion.

Extreme close-up

Focuses on 1 object in the mise-en-scene/an element of the face.

Point of View shot

Camera positioned so the audience sees through the eyes of a character. (Breaks the 4th wall.)

Over-shoulder-shot

Seeing what a character may see but this time not from their POV, often the audience is an invisible observer.

Low angle

Camera lower than eye-level looking up. Shows that the character(s) in the shot is/are more important , or a higher authority.

High angle

 Camera is higher than eye-level looking down the character(s) who will normally be weaker or less important.

Representation and Sterotypes

Represation is

1. how something is portrayed
2. using something to represent something else.
3. The way media present a reality.
4. Something that can be created in any/all of the folowing;

   Dress-codes; editing; voice-over; text; colours; camera angles; mise-en-scene; what's not included, the order in which something is placed.
The place , person, group of people, or event has already exists so the media are rerepresenting it to the audience.
Does suggest that the media present images/ideas over and over againover and over again so much that they become normal.

Representation is always:

Selected
Organised
Mediated

Sterotypes

Is a generalisation of a group of people which is an exaggeration and an assumption.
It's a way of making sense of the world. the media use it because we instantly know what a character is going to be if for example they are blonde; so they don't have to have to create a complicated back story for the character.

 

 

Theorists

 

 

Dyer- 1977

Sterotypers have the power - the insiders - who make sterotypes of the outsiders, the sterotypes are negative?

 

Perkins-1979

The poweful can be sterotyped by others. Sterotype often have a kernel of truth, they aren't real/right but they help to represent the the real.

 

Barker-1989

Helps to show the inequalitiesin society. People need to categorise to be able to make sense of the world.