Wednesday 12 February 2014

Future pathways into film

I have considered my future in film making on a regular basis. I want to do a degree in film production, from this I hope to develop my own style of film making and possibly gain more connections.

I would love to start my own production crew and hire directors and cinematographers to help me create films. I would love to either write scripts on my own or collaborate with other people I have met. In my research I found out that If you have a strong enough idea, with plenty of research and detail gone into the presentation. There are companies that can offer you money to create your film idea and bring it to life. I would love to start off and possibly short films/documentaries and hopefully if I build up my portfolio I will be able to one day be largely involved in many feature length productions.

http://www.netribution.co.uk/funding/regional/ympa.html

This is just one possibility as to where I could look into gaining funds. I can't wait.

I knew that there must be a stratergy to gaining funds, i knew that if I was producing and explaining my products to possible investors, I would have to be enthuseastic. http://www.chrisjonesblog.com/2013/04/who-will-finance-your-film-and-why-proven-strategies-to-get-your-film-funded-and-produced.html
This website helped me understand who could be investors and how to get people to invest. I AM THE 1%!

I also read the following: http://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2013/jan/22/how-to-first-job-film-career-tips This helped me understand how to actually break into the industry and what is helpful in doing so.  I especiallly like the concept of point 2. Getting up and doing what you want to do! I am a big believer not being lazy, often when I hear people talk about there hopes and ambitions for the future, I can't help feel like they are all talk. Often they have taken no real steps towards achiving their goals. I don't want to be these people, I want to make films. I am going to make films.

Learning about artists/Organisations


I want to look at organisations that are based around the UK. Simply because if i do go into the industry I am more likely to come across them... They are both based in London, it made me realise how pretty much all major production companies from the UK are based in the capital.

Film 4 - I did alot of research into Film 4 as I was curious as to how they function and earn money. The more I researched the more interesting I found it! I discovered that Film 4 gave the budget to alot of danny boyle films which I love (such as trainspotting and Shallow grave) they can offer equipment and even people to help with the filming! for example runners to fetch tea and coffee. But what I found most interesting is that they then have the rights to play the films they gave the budgets to on their television channel 'film 4'. Film 4 was offically launched in 1998 however was previously known as Film 4 productions and this was first established in 1982. The channel frequently has themed nights or seasons in which a number of films centred around one genre, director or actor are shown. A good exaple of this is when Nick Frost starred in the new film (Cuban fury), they had a 'night of frost' where they showed 'Paul' and 'attack the block'. This promoted his new film and they already had the rights to these films as it was Film 4 which produced it, so they would have already had all the rights to the films.

Working Title - The reason I chose to research working title is because I knew little about them. It is to my surprise I found that they have produced some of my favorite films and have had many collaborations with edgar wright and the cohen brothers and moved on from some of their films to films like 'united 93' which is another film I really like. They also got bought out by Universal studio's, this was interesting to me as it formed a conglomerate.This is where one company owns another and can often happen in the filming industry. It is mutually beneficial and helpful for advertisement, equipment and staff. I was also surprised to find out working title was established in 1983. They seem to have only really came into film prodcution in the 1900's. They also have co-produced alot of their more recent films with studio canal. Working Title's main reason for their sucsess is because of 'four weddings and a funeral'. This is a british rom-com that managed to make $244 in its boxoffice world wide and is one of the main reasons Univeral Studios bought a 68% share in them.

Also while I was researching working title, I came across this http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/features/video/id/190 - even though paul is not my favorite frost and pegg film (probably because it was missing the magical directing of edgar wright) This really made me want to watch it again. So I did! and surprisingly I enjoyed it more!

It is really easy to overlook what organisations actually create the films we love so much. after watching a a couple of films since I have done my research, I pay alot more attention to the organisations which make these films.

Final project

http://www.bfifilms.kinematic.tv/3%20Steel.mp4

Monday 27 January 2014

Arts Review: Arts Challenge review

In researching into producers, I have realised more than anything how important to role of a producer is in making of a film

a Producer can be a writer, an investor, an idea man, a manager or all of the above. In film, the head producer is called the executive producer and is responsible for each and every phase of filmmaking: pre-production, production and post-production.
In pre-production, the Producer reads scripts and hears ideas from writers, directors and agents. After choosing an idea, the producer has to raise money to fund the project. One route is to get the backing of a major movie studio. Another is to go independent and seek funding from individual investors.
Now the producer has to hire a screen writer, a director, production staff, casting directors, art directors, camera and lighting crews and editors.
It's the producer's job to make sure that the project stays within budget throughout production and post-production. A good producer not only makes good films, but makes money for the investors.
Like most jobs in the film industry, producers work their way up. You might start as a production assistant or a script reader, learning how to spot a good idea and how to bring it to fruition. Or you can just leap right in and learn by trial and error, making small, low-budget films and working up to bigger ones.

A producer also makes sure the group sticks to a scheduled time frame.I found out during my research that it is very rare that they will own cameras. They usually rent them. So sticking to a set time frame can be very important as it costs money each shooting day and of course they don't want to go over there budget. My research not only helped me understand the invididuals I researched but also the general role the a producer has in film production.

The main thing I will take away from my research however is what I have learnt about the qualities of a producer and various things in which good producers have to have, from being bold and ambitious like Howard Hughes, to being calm and cool headed like Laurence Bender. I also now admire each of my chosen producers so much more. I have realised that becoming a producer doesn't happen over night and it takes time and a creative spark, but it is possible to do it even from a young age, as shown by Paul Thomas Anderson.

It has also been interesting for me to see how nobody is just a producer really, they all have written, directed or acted in something. I am glad I found this out as it means if I ever do go into the industry it doesn't necessary mean I have to have the some role within film production every time. Which is good.

All in all I am extremely glad I chose to research what I did, I became so interested in researching producers I actually went over my original target of 3 producers and did 4 instead.

My Mum briefly summing up her thought on my Arts Challenge

Arts Review: Review of Arts Leadership

This is me Editing a part of the short film.

You can see more pictures of what we got up to on the day on Alice's (our groups cinematographer) flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/110108693@N05/

I am really happy with our project on the whole, all my team was proud of the film. I know this because two of them approached me and asked me if they could enter it into their local film festival around their village! obviously I was more than happy to let them, It is fantastic to see them so proud of what we created together.

I created this facebook group, which was extremely helpful when it came to communicating with each other and preparing for the shoot day:


I feel as though because my group was happy; I was happy. I felt happy that I was making other people happy and that I believe each of them reached their full potential, which is all I wanted!

I have dedicated each saturday, every week to the BFI academy, in various workshops and masterclasses. I have to admit, I was sceptecal about what I was going to learn and if would cover appropriate areas which would actually benefit me in the film making industry, however I have to say... Time well spent, each week I learned about specific areas, including: Editing, Producing, history of film, Cinematography and even animation. Each week I learned more and more about every role in a film making enviroment. I now feel confident to do anything in the industry and understand the skills that it takes for each role. I have still not decided what definitivly I am going to do within the industry, but I know it will be something. I love film making and films in general too much to not do something! Each week in learning more about every part of making a film from pre-production to post-production and even after the release of the film. It has just given me so much confidence in my own abilites.

http://www.interviews.kinematic.tv/AdamS1.mp4
http://www.interviews.kinematic.tv/AdamS3.mp4


I also had a chat within our group on our facebook page chat, this is to review each others roles within the films and how we thought the final porject came out:

hey guys, how do you think the project went?
Chester Kirby named the conversation:Steel.
February 13th, 5:44pm
Guys...
February 13th, 6:46pm
Alice O'Donnell
I think it went really well, I know we got tripods in shots at the end but we found a way round it! That's an achievement it itself!
I was really happy with the film in the end anyway
Chester Kirby
Hahaha! Suppose but we just had to cut that shot, cause of the tripod!
Good work on the editing Chester... Good work from everyone, we did a good job
Alice O'Donnell
I know they are family so they have to be nice but everyone I know who has seen it said they thought the film was really good
It was a great location, so well done for finding that Alice!
Chester Kirby
Yes we'll done on the location and aye I did oreyt but wished we had more time to edit there was so much more I wanted to do!
Yeaa... The timing was tight but that considering,You did well in the time we had!
Alice O'Donnell
Yeah, I think the editing day was really tough, you did well just to stay calm under the pressure Chester haha I think Adam, you helped a lot in the whole process just making sure we were all doing things on time
Alice O'Donnell
I think we needed that
Chester Kirby
Ah cheers guys and ano the time was quote restricting for the shoot and edit! The footage we took in the day was pretty killah though!:) I wa Reyt please with it all!
Alice O'Donnell
Yeah, I think if we take into account the time we had it was really great, we could have really struggled and done some much worse, probably because we had planed quite a lot before
Chester Kirby
Yeah and I think that was down to a good producer good lad Adam son!
I think the preparation we made really helped when it came to shooting it, because we planned a lot, we were ready for it! Chantelle had a fantastic idea and the script from Sophie was great! I loves seeing the film come to life! I wouldn't change a thing!
Thanks guys
February 13th, 10:01pm
Sophie Higgett
I think the film came together pretty well in the end, I wish we'd had more time to spend on it though to get it as good as it could be. I think Alice got some great footage and Chester did a really good job editing it together, but I thought it was a shame we ran out of time on the shoot day. We ended up having to change the ending and I didn't think it quite came together properly from my script/story perspective. That being said, we really didn't have much time and I think Adam and Chantelle managed it well on the day!
February 14th, 9:10am
Sophie Higgett
Oh and Chantelle's idea was super great!
Chat Conversation End
Seen by Alice, Chester

Arts challange Research: Howard Hughes

I was only originally going to research 3 producers but in learning more about the role of a producer I came across Howard Hughes in the following: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-producer.htm. I felt as though I wasn't on track with my target, so to change this I thought I would go all out, in detail research of Howard Hughes...

I then became fascinated over his work, and leaned the the film staring Leonardo DiCaprio, is intended to show Howard Hughes life, even if it is glamorised, So I bought it on DVD and watched it... I had high expectations because it was such a gripping story and it was directed by Martin Scorsese and I know he is a fantastic director. This lasted 170 minutes

Anyway, It was amazing to watch Howard Hughes persistence and see him strive for perfection, he is very different to my original image of a producer I have in my head. I always saw them as people who are stingy with money and want to film it and move on to maximise profits but obviously this was not the case for Howard Hughes.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/hughes.htm: He was such an interesting person. I wanted to watch something he had done,  so I decided to watch 'Scarface' and it ran for 93 minutes (this is fitting as for my AS film studies we are studying US cinema and the gangster genre). I found the film absolutely incredible, it was made in 1932, so technically speaking it was not incredible in terms of sound and picture quality. However the  way it tells the story and shows yo the downfall of Tony and seeing his rise and fall, it was truely facinating and even if it was made in 1932, I still prefer it to De Palma's 1983 remake, I feel as though it is slightly less glamorised and more gritty.

The thing that makes Howard Hughes for me is his ambition and his fearless film making style, Scarface is one of the first real gangster films, so effectivly Howard Hughes Pioneered a whole genre and made it what it is today

Alot of my 12 hours of Arts Research has been spent just by watching films, however there is truly no greater way to learn about film than watching films and doing a bit of relevant research to go alongside it...

Arts Review: Review of Premier

The 25th of January is when parents, friends, teachers and anybody else who is invited came a long to view the films each group has created, they also watched our stop motion animation films. Now I have to say when we first finished our films I was not entirely happy with what we had created, I thought we didn't have long enough in the editing and there were shots missing and every tiny bit that I didn't think went to plan. Anyway in retrospect I have to say, I was far to critical on myself, the day was a massive success and everybody loved all the films, my film studies tutor was there and he loved it. My mum saw film and she couldn't understand why I didn't like it, she thought it was fantastic! this was so refreshing to hear, They work I had spent so much time and effort over was finally being recognised. It has given me so much more confidence to continue filming and making short films in the future. All the audience were happy to view them and applauded at the end of each short, which actually felt amazing. The main thing for me was the rest of my group coming up to me and saying they want to enter it into there local short film competition and they wanted to show there class it. They not only enjoyed filming it, but they were proud of it! they had created something they were proud of, which is fantastic to see as a producer! I hope all my group are encouraged and want to make more films in the future (like I do).