Questionaire results

1. Do you enjoy watching films?

YES: 48 NO: 2

2. Do you enjoy darker comedy films and tv shows eg. The league of gentlemen, spaced?

YES:24 NO: 26

3. Do you enjoy random comedy eg. The mighty Boosh?

YES: 31 NO: 19

4. Do you prefer lighter contemporary comedies eg. Friends, American pie?

YES: 34 NO: 16

5. Would you attend a film festival if there was one nearby displaying new works by independent film makers?

YES: 40 NO: 10

6. Do you often listen to radio?

YES: 36 NO: 14

7. Do you stop to look at film posters?

YES: 17 NO: 33

Questionaire

Planning questionnaire

1. Do you enjoy watching films?

YES NO

2. Do you enjoy darker comedy films and tv shows eg. The league of gentlemen, spaced?

YES NO

3. Do you enjoy random comedy eg. The mighty Boosh?

YES NO

4. Do you prefer lighter contemporary comedies eg. Friends, American pie?

YES NO

5. Would you attend a film festival if there was one nearby displaying new works by independent film makers?

YES NO

6. Do you often listen to radio?

YES NO

7. Do you stop to look at film posters?

YES NO

Radio Trailer Script

Piano music starts

Narrator: Have you ever had a dream that feels so real it scares you? what would happen if you never woke up? A strange world is your home, you feel isolated, your name lost to you (the piano music stops) and your mother is a stuffed animal.
(piano music starts again)
A new short film directed by and staring Thomas Hutchin, acclaimed director of the award winning short film: 'duck love and me'. "Ted" a dark and strange comedy premiering at the London Short Film Festival, in Mason's Factory, Liverpool Street on the 25th of April . For more information go to London film fest.co.uk.

Textual Analysis: Radio advert

For the radio trailer for my short film i will have to research the various techniques that are used in radio advertising to appeal to their target audiences and how they sell their individual project effectively.

"switch"
Lexis
http://radioville.co.uk/

In this advert for the car manufacturer Lexis, there are certain techniques which i wish to apply to my radio trailer for my film. For example, the use of orchestral music to give a calming feel to the advert which is associated with the topic of the advert which is the smoothness of hybrid engines. I on the other hand wish to use quite dark music which contributes to the darker themes of murder and insanity which are present in my short film. In the Lexis advert there is also a use of word play in which the speaker switches to another man very discretely in order to bring the theme of smoothness back in to the advert from an interesting angle so the theme sticks out in the listener's mind. There is also the use of rhetorical questioning in order to appeal directly to the listener. There is also an effective use of a slogan at the end of the advert in order to give the listener or potential customer a message which in this case implies reliability and modern thinking.

"Phone"
Scottish Widows
http://radioville.co.uk/

In comparison this advert, the narrative voice is a lot more direct towards the listener with constant use of the word "you" this catches the listener's attention since he/she is listening to something which is relatable to him/her. In this case listing distressing or seemingly difficult things that a person would commonly use a mobile phone for. The true meaning of the advert is only shown right at the end to insure the the meaning has a lasting impression on the reader which in the case of this advert is sorting out your pension over the phone. Also using the list at the begging it is suggested that sorting out a pension plan through this company is easier than most of the other things that you would use a mobile phone for.


The music for this advert is very simple, powerful and rhythmic with the use of a strong drum beat to catch the reader's attention. An aspect which i would like to use for my radio trailer is used in this advert, the music stops when the list stops so the meaning of the advert is more prominent. Like the lexis advert, this one also switches the narrative voice to another one. However the switch in the Scottish widows advert is a lot more obvious. The first narrative voice is quite rugged in order to reflect the possibly difficult situations that a person can go through whilst on the phone. In comparison the second narrative voice is a lot smoother and more well spoken to imply trust and ease which is reflective of the apparent ease of sorting out a pension through Scottish Widows.



"Nipper"
HMV
http://radioville.co.uk/

In this advert for HMV they the distributors attempt to use humour to advertise their product. In this case they use a "talking dog" called nipper who is very well spoken while the main narrative patronised towards "nipper" like he would be towards any dog using stereotypical phrases like "good boy" or "good doggy" to invoke humour. This use of humour attracts the listeners' attention toward the topic of the advert which is the HMV summer sale. The technique of humour is something which i would like to use in my film trailer in order to attract potential audiences. There is also a sense of informality achieved by the casual greeting of "hi" to the listener. Like the two previous adverts there is the use of a slogan at the end which is: "top dog for music, video and games". This slogan not only ties in with the talking dog joke in the advert, but it also implies that HMV is the best through the common saying: "top dog". Unlike the two previous adverts there is no music used, this is because the distributors want the listeners to focus more on the conversation between "nipper" and the main narrator who are both giving the listeners facts about the HMV sale and the prices some of it's products.

Textual Analysis: Posters

In order to create an effective poster for my original film i will have to conduct research on various film posters in order to decide what sort of layout, style and color that i will use in my final product.

The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

The layout of this poster is quite different to normal movie posters, instead of the title being the focal point, the characters are. this is because the League of Gentlemen was originally a comedy sketch show where the humor is derived from the characters themselves, and the positioning of the characters shows that like the original television show the characters will be the main attraction. This means that the actual title of the film is quite small in comparison. There is also a tag line underneath the title which is third in positioning in the poster so it's font is smaller. It reads:
"To save our world... they're coming to ours"
The use of ellipses creates a sense of anticipation and tension for the viewer and the tag line itself gives a slight indication of the plot but it doesn't give a lot away so we are now curious as to what happens in the film and what happens to the characters.

The colors used in this poster reflect the title and the original television show. The title "apocalypse" is being emphasized by the colors of red and orange and fire can clearly be seen in the background which reflects the theme of hell. The colors of the title itself are also associated with fire and underneath the main title, the tag line is colored in white which makes it easier to be seen over the lower part of the poster which is darker than the upper part.

This poster's success relies very much on the appeal and popularity of the characters. Which is not only shown through it's large image of the characters but also the use of the word "they're" in the tag line which shows their confidence that the viewers will know exactly who "they" are. Since "The league of gentlemen" is very popular and it's characters are what gives it it's dark and edgy humor, the poster seems to be quite successful in fulfilling it's purpose of advertisement.

Shaun of the Dead


The layout of this poster is quite basic, with the main characters at the top and below is the title. Unlike the League of Gentlemen there is more emphasis on the title than the characters and there is also more emphasis on the tag line of the film which is:

" A romantic comedy with zombies"

This tag line reflects the objective of this film which is to spoof the horror genre implying that this is not a horror film but a romantic comedy. This point is also emphasized by the title which spoofs the popular horror flick "Dawn of the dead" but replacing dawn with "Shaun", this simple word play is very effective since it creates humor for the people who are a fan of horror flicks and who have seen "Dawn of the dead". The positioning of the zombies also contributes to the spoofing aspect of the poster since they are not the focal point of the poster and are around the characters which implies that this film is more character and plot driven which is more typical of a romantic comedy than a horror film.

The way in which the characters are posing implies that they're dominant in comparison to the zombies who are trying to grab them but are quite out of reach. They are also carrying everyday objects which could be used as weapons which implies action.

The colors used in the poster (mostly red and black which are colors that are associated with death) are more reflective of a horror film than a romantic comedy. However this film is also a spoof of zombie horror films which shows in the choice of colors. The color of the main title is white which makes it easier to see over the dark background of the poster plus the tag line is colored red over a white background which not only makes it stand out but it also contradicts itself because of death orientated color which is associated with horror films and not romantic comedies.

This poster's success relies mainly on the context of the title which is supposed to create humor through word play, and this humor is evocative for the viewer because this is supposed to be a comedy. It is also very eye catching due it's dark and striking colors, and the images of zombies around the edge of the poster which would evoke the attention of viewers who enjoy zombie horror movies as well as comedies. Also the fact that the characters are carrying "weapons" catches the attention of those who like action and the idea of fight sequences with zombies is an exciting concept for a fan of both horror and action movie fans. I believe that this poster is successful in it's purpose of advertisement because it appeals to most demographics, including fans of horror, action and romantic comedy which maximizes the amount of people who are likely to see the film.

The Dark Knight

This poster's layout is very similar to Shaun of the dead, with the tag line at the top, a central character being depicted and the main title at the bottom. However unlike Shaun of the Dead there is an emphasis on the cast list, this is because the Dark Knight has a cast of famous Hollywood actors who are more likely to attract viewers
than the cast of Shaun of the Dead.This poster is like a parody of the original poster:






















Like the Batman poster, In the Joker poster there is the use of a low angle shot on the joker to show his power as the main antagonist, also the shot is taken behind the joker which adds a sense of mystery since you can not see his face. While Batman on the other hand is facing the camera which shows the fact that he is the hero and the dominant character. This use of positioning in the Joker poster is something i wish to apply to my poster since the identity of the main character in my film is remained a secret.

This poster's use of color is very effective, the dark cloudy background not only combines with the dark context of the film and it's characters but it also creates a sense of foreshadowing, creating the idea that a storm is coming. Plus the striking image of an explosion in the shape of a bat not only catches the reader's eye with it's strong reference to the franchise but it also emphasizes the sense of anarchy and destruction which is one of the crucial themes in "The Dark Knight".

Storyboard

textual analysis: Film

Nostalgia critic Halloween special

Although this video is in the comedy/spoof genre, the use of a teddy bear and the interaction between a human and a teddy bear is very well used in this video and is a good example of it's genre and what want to achieve.

The effect used at "0:58" is achieved through the use of stop animation, although i won't use stop animation throughout my film since it would be hard for interaction between the person and the teddy. In light of this, i may use stop animation for close ups and extreme close ups of the teddy bears or for scenes in which there are only teddies.

In this video the speech made by the teddy bear is recorded later and added during the editing process. Doing it this way means that the audio quality is a better. The music used at "0:50-1:34" is quite dark and atmospheric; although this is more reflective of horror films, i still wish to use similar music in my film in order to set the theme and like "nostalgia critic Halloween special" use the music to create a dark and atmospheric feel to my film. There also non digetic sound effects used this video throughout, i will use applications such as garage band to find suitable sound effects or i could make them myself through use of a microphone.

The lighting during this video is generally very dark since is replicating the stereotypes of a horror film. Although my video will be a black comedy, i still wish to use the dark lighting to create the atmospheric mood i want.

Beethoven's moonlight sonata movement 1

Since the music in my short film is very important in setting the theme and feel of the film, i have decided to take influence from a very beautiful piece of piano music called "Moonlight sonata movement 1" Since this piece is in sonata form it has three sections: the exposition, the development and the recapitulation (beginning, middle and end) and this form embodies the form of a story and as the "story" develops and changes, so does the music through a series of key changes which create a very dark yet beautiful piece of music. There are also examples of chromaticism (when the piece uses notes outside of the set key), and modulation to show when each section starts and finishes. I wish to use these aspects of "Moonlight sonata" in my piece of music so i can emphasize the darker tones of my film (eg. lighting).

The League of Gentlemen

The league of gentlemen is a comedy sketch group who specialize in dark comedy. I chose to take inspiration from this sketch because it is very dark and is often quite grotesque in terms of it's characters. The dark lighting that is used throughout this sketch reflects the dark humor and is an aspect i wish to use in my short film. In terms of it's camera angles there are quite a lot of close ups used in this sketch on the main character in order to emphasize his slightly grotesque appearance and his facial expressions which create a lot of the humor. The subject matter to which this sketch derives it's humor from is also dark (the subject of death, and abduction). I wish to derive some of my humor partially from the subject of death but also the subject of insanity which is touched upon in this sketch through the main characters obvious and comic) insanity.