Category: Film

3 stars appeared today for the study session. You know who you are! Well done.
The rest of you missed being given the discs with lots of helpful film clips to remind yourself of codes – camera angles, colour, sounds, special effects etc – that were used in each scene.

These discs are available for uplift for all Intermediate 1 pupils. Please drop by and pick up your own disc.

Notes on the production codes are also available from Mr B. Pick them up!!!!

There will be a final supported study session on Friday 31st May from 1-3.30.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

Remember to come in tomorrow periods 1 & 2!!!!!

Phrases to make it look as if you know what you’re talking about (but not enough on their own)

Genre – Blockbuster sci-fi adventure

Narrative structure – Equilibrium – Disruption – Attempt to repair disruption – New equilibrium

Representation – stock character stereotypes villain / heroine made using colour, camera angles etc

Antagonist/Protagonist – enemy/central character

Special effects – exciting and dynamic visual and sound effects created an impact when…

Subversion – story goes off somewhere unexpected such as during a flashback of the mine explosion

diagetic/non-diagetic sound – it matches what you see on the screen / it has been added in but there is no visible source like the music soundtrack.

Profitability – trailers in cinema and on TV duing Superbowl / posters / internet website / social media such as Facebook; Twitter etc / Chat show interviews of main stars / Award ceremonies / Magazine and Newspaper articles.

Use this link

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W9J3DRM

Think about how each of these were used in the narrative structure. Opposites in character, setting etc are common themes in films
light/dark

good/evil

noise/silence

youth/age

right/wrong

poverty/wealth

strength/weakness

inside/outside

Character Type Role within narrative

Protagonist (or Hero) – Leads the narrative, is usually looking for something (a quest) or trying to solve something (a mystery). Does not have to be male 🙂 Katniss

Antagonist (or Villain) – Gets in the protagonist’s way President Snow

Heroine – Is usually some sort of prize or reward for the hero. NB if your hero is female, your heroine can be male 🙂 Peeta

Helper/Mentor/Donor – Helps the hero – often acts as a sidekick – Haymitch

The control room is completely created through the use of CGI and green screen. The set consists simply of bare desks and actors who mimic movements which are later matched which computer generated images.

Examples of CGI can be seen when one gamemaker creates a fireball in the control center and then pushes it towards Katniss.

 

Another gamemaker creates a hologram of a mutt on a touchscreen interface and places it in the arena near Katniss and Peeta. Both the fireball and the Mutts are created  with CGI but look extremely realistic.

 

Point of view shots – the camera aims to show us what the character would see. Example when we see the target just before Katniss shoots her arrow towards it.

Reaction shot – usually a close up or extreme close up so we are aware of the character’s emotions – Example when Katniss is overcome when she is interviewed by the TV host and she asks him to repeat the question because she hasn’t heard it and her embarrassment makes the studio audience warm to her.

Shot-reverse-shot – where the screen shows us the close up of two characters having a conversation, alternating between the two. Example when Katniss and Peeta are talking intimately on the window ledge prior to the games beginning.

Insert shots – where the cinema audience knows something the main character doesn’t know yet. Example when the computer generated large dogs are created and about to go in to the game or when the fire and projectiles are planned so that Katniss will be in even more danger.

Establishing shot – The camera is set far back to show/ephasise the location or the setting. (Forest, District 12, Capitol)

 

Slo-mo – A moment replayed very slowly – used for the flashback of Katniss’s dad being in the mining explosion.

 

Pan shot – The camera moves horizontally taking in all the details along the way – used when the train is coming in to the Capitol.

 

Tracking shot – Follows the action – used with a handheld camera to follow Katniss when she was running through the forest – made us feel part of the action.

 

 

Generating interest for the Hunger Games – the need to make a profit

Marketing techniques used by Lionsgate

Lionsgate used all the usual old-media tricks — giving away 80,000 posters, securing almost 50 magazine cover stories, advertising on 3,000 billboards and bus shelters.

More unusually they also had a year-long digital effort built around the content platforms cherished by young audiences: near-constant use of Facebook and Twitter, a YouTube channel, a Tumblr blog, iPhone games and live Yahoo streaming from the premiere.

Lionsgate  generated this high level of interest with a marketing staff of 21 people working with a relatively tiny budget of about $45 million. Bigger studios routinely spend $100 million marketing major releases, and have worldwide marketing and publicity staffs of over 100 people. The studio has been able to spend so little largely because Mr. Palen has relied on inexpensive digital initiatives to whip up excitement.

One important online component involved a sweepstakes to bring five fans to the movie’s North Carolina set. Notably, Lionsgate invited no reporters: The studio did not want consumers thinking this was another instance of Hollywood trying to force-feed them a movie through professional filters. “People used to be O.K. with studios telling them what to like,” Ms. DePalma said. “Not anymore. Now it’s, ‘You don’t tell us, we tell you.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/business/media/how-hunger-games-built-up-must-see-fever.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

The final countdown…

 

Hunger Games Hair and Make up

 

3,000: People who were processed through the hair and makeup tents each week. “Extras couldn’t just have their normal hair. Everyone had to be in the style of the time,” said Flowers.

 

500: Cast members and extras who had their eyebrows bleached, including Elizabeth Banks, who plays Effie Trinket.

 

400: Cast members and extras wearing wigs in a single day of filming. “We went with odd permutations of colours like dusty rose and chartreuse,” Flowers said. “The challenge was to make them look couture and sophisticated.”

 

45: Hairdressers working in a single day.

 

20: Minutes spent creating Katniss Everdeen’s signature braid for Jennifer Lawrence.

 

3: Coloured wigs worn by Elizabeth Banks: One pink, one green, and one lavender.

 

1: Wig worn by Stanley Tucci, who plays Caesar Flickerman. “It’s a dark navy blue wig in a Karl Lagerfeld-style ponytail,” she says.