Final day of filming

We have finally finished. Looking back at our shooting we really did take into consideration the range of camera angles and shots we wanted to use. In car shots, Tracking shots, high angle shots and many more  I think as a group we really worked well together to bring our ideas for the film together and we have actually produced a film much better than expected, we are all glad all our hard work has actually paid off. Anyway here are some pictures from today's antics:

Trying to keep as much light our of our
 scene as possible

A bit squished but the inside car shot.

Beer Pong on set

Even though we never played beer pong on set, we however, did use the idea of alcohol consumption. Due to Kirsty and Ben being under the age of 18 we obviously couldn't legally drink the alcohol especially not on film, so therefore we pulled out all the stops and replaced it with Barr's 'Appleade'. With the use of the Guinness and corona bottles on set, we thought we would send an email to these companies to ask for permission to use their brand in our videos but are yet to receive a reply, at least we tried hey.

Filming right now

We are currently out filming the last final shots for our film opening, and just as we begin to film...yes you guessed it, the batteries ran out! So we have elected Patrick to go and fetch some new batteries whilst Ben, Kirsty and I enhance the set with the use of empty beer cans.

Casts current reaction to the battery situation:

Final task: Final Location (for flashbacks)

We have finally come up with an answer... we are going to film these additional shots in Royden park, it has the same atmosphere and features as ashton park featured later on in our film except it actually has a car park and an area to shoot our car shots, it is covered with trees therefore reducing the light which is exactly what we wanted. Despite it being a public place we think this is the best option.

4th day of filming

4th day of filming: Location, Location Location

To get these shots including the car, we wanted a quite enclosed area with trees and a good light balance. At first we had no idea where to shoot these so these are the places we went to 'check out':


We have been location searching using Google maps and also driving around in Patrick's car to find the perfect location for our first shots in our video (the flashbacks) to happen. We're looking for a place with a lack of natural light, to be perfect for our horror genre unfortunately this setting in West Kirby  is to open and prone to alot of wind and pedestrians therefore filming here would reduce the sound quality as well as disrupting the actors.







< This is Kings Drive on the left and as you can see it would be the perfect place for a couple of friends to chill out as there is a bench and a lot of room also a nice view, however it is too light for our horror story to take place in, it juxtaposes the whole theme and set genre of our film, light is very important to our film despite its locality and pleasantness it will not work in our film.

Editing update

All the footage we have has been edited in except the new footage we are yet to film (hopefully filming tomorrow). We have worked on the sound effects and the music builds tension and allows the audience to guess somethings going to happen. So far its exactly as planned and we are all very pleased with it.

Evaluate the role of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of products. (50 marks)

                   In this essay I will be evaluating and comparing the roles of digital technologies in the marketing and consumption of films. Digital technology is defined as a method of achieving a practical purpose digitally, helping us create and share information with one another. In the film industry this includes things such as the use of green screen, CGI, cameras etc, although it also links into the marketing and consumption of a media text. Marketing is the way in which a company promotes their product via strategically advertising, researching and distributing. Consumption is linked to digital technology and how audiences watch and access the films they are going to watch.

                Marketing plays a large part of gaining viewers interests with the use of trailers, songs and often merchandise. A prime example is Harry Potter, since day one it has had its mass amounts of top of the range Green screen use and special effects, from flying broomsticks to giant spiders, Warner Brothers have hit the nail on the head with successful marketing via unique digital technology use. What works well for Harry Potter is how high the standard of production and technology is throughout the whole set of films, the standard never drops, Which occasionally happens with some trilogies produced by one of the big six. Marketing plays such a huge part in the production of big six films which therefore helps to create such a big impact when they release films. Films, such as Harry Potter’s ‘magic tricks and spells’ may have influenced hundreds or thousands of peoples children’s lives and the reason for this is how well its marketed via teddy bears, merchandise, costumes and much more. The rise in new technology has seen the media’s audience become more ‘active’ as digital technology increases, for example, in 2011 a feature film was shot entirely on a Nokia Smartphone and showcased at west hills cinema in Los Angeles, California

                       Two films which I have studied are ‘The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug’ produced by Peter Jackson and Warner Brothers productions, which belongs in the big six and holds the largest market share of 19.7% in the film industry . The other is ‘12 years a slave’ produced by renowned individuals such as Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Steve McQueen and had small production companies such as Regency Enterprises and in association with film 4. There are obvious contrasting factors about each of the films such as budget: The hobbit being budgeted at $250 million and 12 years a slave at $22 million, box office: The hobbit grossing $960.4 million in comparison with $187.7 million and film type: The hobbit with 3D and HD yet  12 years a slave screening on 35mm widescreen. This clearly indicates the classic stereotype of the big six, in this case Warner Brothers with the Hobbit, being able to afford mass amounts of special effects and 3D features due to convergence of numerous subsidiaries allowing Warner Brothers to set high budgets and use a larger amount of technology and methods of synergy, needed to meet the high expectations of the existing fan bases of the book and also ‘The lord of the rings’.

                           Digital technology in marketing varied in both of the films. The Hobbit set high budgets so could therefore use more widespread modes of advertising, using quite traditional methods such as billboards, TV and cinema trailers, online teasers, cardboard cut outs in Wal-Mart and Asda promoting the movie ‘ coming soon’. The Hobbit also used audience linked marketing such as Facebook groups with live updates of the films production, special teasers and ranges of trailers which is clever because it would have been so cheap to run yet attracted so many more people as they like using Facebook, this could link with the gratification theory of audience and producers taking into consideration what the viewers ‘likes’ and ‘wants’ are. Even before release there were huge amounts of merchandise such as posters that had been made digitally for mass production to send to stores and be sold at high prices for fans excited for the release. In the movie the use of CGI and green screen to create the magical world of fantasy is very effective. Large river barrel slides, monster dragons and cave houses all add to the authenticity and uniqueness of the film.  A video game was also released following the films storyline. The hobbit used above the line advertisements to attract new fans yet also supplies the existing fan base with everything they want for the run up to the release of the film.

                      Once The Hobbit was released we saw numerous formats: 3D , HD, IMAX, the hobbit took the box office by storm with queues flooding all cinemas for the first week of release. On the other hand 12 years a slave went for the individual film methods of marketing. With the ideology of releasing the movie purely to art house cinemas the use of a singular trailer to attract fans obviously went down well as it made a profit of around $160 million at the box office. With the film being in association with Film 4 this would of really attracted the lovers of creativity and original art pieces to view the movie, and is gritty realistic storyline would of gripped an audience. Brad Pitt also starred in the film which would attract his fans to view his movie what he also produced. In comparison 12 years a slave clearly uses less marketing techniques interlinked with digital media. It opted for cheap below the line advertising such as in the adverts on film 4. No merchandise was released and the closest to it was a soundtrack. With 12 years a slave, most of the setting was pre built and no ground work really had to be done, saving masses of money.

                       In terms of consumption this simply how an audience watch and access films. The digital technology was so much higher quality in The Hobbit, with the use of 3D compatible and HD cameras. It was shown on all formats ranging from IMAX, 2D, 3D, HD whereas 12 years a slave stuck to the traditional 35 mm widescreen. When released the use of technology helped the Hobbit create more DVD covers as interesting as they could possibly get to attract major fans to buy each version of the DVD along with the blu-ray, 3D version, soundtracks, extras, merchandise and also prompted to buy Netflix to view it on. Netflix is, I’d say, the most popular website for streaming movies, which stands out because warner brothers have decided to go with that, nothing but the best, compared to 12 years a slave being brought by a smaller company amazon prime.

                          12 years a slave was released digitally via DVD only along with an audio book sold on iTunes, pretty mainstream for individual films. The hobbit released behind the scene teasers, interviews with cast etc. which fits in to the gratification theory of audiences viewing what they are interested in and are not forced upon with a clear message ( hypodermic needle model). The hobbit used its Facebook group to allow audiences to comment, like and share and allow them to give producers suggestions of what they want to see next. Whilst the traditional use of digital technology worked so well for the 12 years a slave one time wonder, the hobbit with the use of so much more digital variance clearly reached out to most of the public eye, with everywhere you go The hobbit is being advertised, bus stops, billboards, TV adverts all showcasing The hobbit coming soon.

                         In conclusion, the role of digital technology in the marketing and consumption of products is not necessarily vital but could play a huge part in the profit of a film, because want to see things created digitally that wows them, something they have never seen incorporated in film before, the huge over exaggerated sets and scenes, huge magical fight scenes all attract audiences to ‘see what it’s all about’. 12 years a slave had a huge success due to its true storyline and historical background. It can be done either way although mass digital technology by the use of the big six has been a huge factor effecting profit and production of products to be sold as an ‘add on’ to the release of films.

New prop!

We have a new member to the movie! Patricks car 'Sasha', we thought that because we have Patrick with a driving license we could use the car and a shot of Doug/Ben getting to the car, struggling to open it due to him being drunk. Once he gets in the car we would need a shot of him driving so we decided we would get Patrick to wear Bens coat and glasses whilst driving. We need space for patrick to be able to recklessy drive asif he was drunk, so the right location for these shots is very important, brainstorm time!

So close but so far

Just as we were near the final finishing post, we, as a group realised our storyline was very mish mash and montage-like, so we needed to add things to the storyline to link everything together so heres what we come up with:

• Ben (Doug) and Kirsty(antagonist) are friends who have finished school and decide to drive to an isolated area surrounded by forestry etc to have a few drinks with their friends.
• Ben gets quite drunk and decides to offer Kirsty a lift home, Kirsty kindly declines and begins to walk.
• Doug struggles to function soberly but insists on driving and ends up hitting Kirsty and Killing her.
• A few months later Doug is going to 'Doms' party and decides to take the 'short cut' through the area he hit kirsty

                                                     (original storyline continues after this point)

Basically we have added a few shots in before our planned storyline just to give the viewer a bit of background as to how and why this situaton has came about, I think the addition will create a more tense and interesting film opening. Now all we need to do is shoot this new footage.

New Shot ideas

We have decided our storyline is abit vague. These are the ideas we came up with brainstorming possible better storylines to our film, or thinking of things we could add in to improve the flow of our film. It seemed like we were taking one step forward and two back, although, the more planning and development we do of our film the better it should be, editings still underway and now we only need to film the new shots, looking good.

 

The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug facts

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug  Facts taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit:_The_Desolation_of_Smaug
Directed by	Peter Jackson
Produced by	Carolynne Cunningham Zane Weiner Fran Walsh Peter Jackson
Screenplay by	Fran Walsh Philippa Boyens Peter Jackson Guillermo del Toro
Based on	The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Starring	Ian McKellen Martin Freeman Richard Armitage Benedict Cumberbatch Evangeline Lilly Lee Pace Luke Evans Ken Stott James Nesbitt Orlando Bloom
Music by	Howard Shore
Cinematography	Andrew Lesnie
Edited by	Jabez Olssen
Production company	New Line Cinema Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer WingNut Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	2 December 2013 (2013-12-02) (Los Angeles premiere) 12 December 2013 (2013-12-12) (New Zealand) 13 December 2013 (2013-12-13) (United States)
Running time	161 minutes
Country	New Zealand United States
Language	English
Budget	$225 million
Box office	$960.4 million