Finally, this is the opening sequence of the movie I made. It is about a girl who struggles with her debilitating obsession with shopping. She studies in Beacon House School which is one of the most prestigious schools in town. Everybody in her high school follows fashion religiously. Each Friday, the students attend school in their colored clothes. Hence, everybody wants to look their best. Anosheh, the lead actress has this craze for shopping. She has all the best brands in her wardrobe but she still thinks that she is short of stuff to wear and that she needs to shop more!! Although this is just the opening sequence but the basic idea of the film which I had in mind was about how she struggles and tries to overcome this habit of hers when it comes to choosing between her loved ones and the crazy habit of hers i.e. SHOPPING. It’s all about whether she would SHOP TO LIVE OR LIVE TO SHOP!!!!
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Trailer - Shop To Live OR Live To Shop?
This is the trailer of my opening sequence. IMMENSE effort was required to make the video as well as the trailer because I had to edit it time and again.
Story Boarding - Opening Sequence.
This is the story boarding of my opening sequence. I had to draw this before i made my video. It was quite helpful as I had a proper plan made regarding how to go about with my video. DON'T MIND MY DRAWING PLEASE :P These were just rough notes which I made.
Monday, 9 April 2012
My Evaluation
Answer. My film is more of a chick flick. I saw various movies before I started making my own opening sequence. I had to do my research work. A lot of directors and producers like Florien Heckle, Gary Marshal and Catherine Hardwicke were my ideal. I tried to copy their ideas and merge them up with mine so that I could come up with something similar yet new. The genre which existed in my film was romance and comedy. It’s just the opening sequence hence not everybody will be able to get an idea of it but still one does get a hint.
Q2. How does your film opening represent a particular movie genre?
Answer. The movie I am working on is called “Live to shop OR shop to live “. Just like its name suggests, it is about crave and craze for shopping. It is a chick flick.
As I am still working on it, a lot of research work had to be done. I watched many chick flicks to get a good idea of how to go about with my opening sequence. I wanted my film opening to be a little different though. I chose the song “moves like jagger” by MAROON 5. It’s a hip song and I love its melody too. The main thing that represents the genre of the movie is is the back ground music, the dresses and the way the character of a shopaholic is represented. Just when the movie starts a character is established. This is played by me myself (ANOSHEH ASIF). Its about a girl who studies in one of the most prestigious schools of the city. She does not know what to wear even though her wardrobe is full of latest clothes and accessories. She still thinks that she needs to shop more. The acting, the basic idea, the colors, the artificial soft lighting and the back ground music is used to make the clip seem like a chick flick. The genre is more of a romantic and comedy one as one can see that Anosheh wants to look her best. She could shop till she drops. The male character would not be much of a major role in the movie which is why I did not introduce him in the opening sequence of my film BUT still obviously when there is a chick flick, a charmer shown is a must for whom the girl would give up all she has. It’s for the audience to watch the movie and see for themselves
Q3. Who would be the audience for your film?
Answer. Media is for everybody. That is what I believe in. Your product must be accepted by all but still I’m open to critics: P
My film here is more of a chick flick as ihave already mentioned before. Im my opinion , everybody would like to watch it as it is acceptable for the children to watch it too because it does not contain any material like nudity or terrorism. It will always eb a good time pass for the adults too but what I personally think is that the female audience would like it more. This is because the female audience can understand the depth of feelings and emotions of other girls. The know how girls can compromise over stuff and let go of whatever they have for the love of their life.
*laughs* THE SHOPPING FREAKS OUT THERE WOULD LOVE IT.
Q4. How did you target/address your target audience?
Answer. When you’re making the film, your main aim should be to target the right audience because if you fail that that then there is no use of making the film. Whether to what sort of an audience? That’s all upon you to decide. The three things that came into my mind were whether:
a) What to produce?
b) How to produce? And;
c) For whom to produce?
For me, the female audience was my major target along with the teenagers. In my opinion chick flicks leave behind more of an impact on the girls. To be honest, when I started working on this project, I had nothing in my mind. The cast was nowhere in my mind therefore I decided to work in it myself because I thought I could put my idea into reality with more ease. I played the main role keeping in mind how the audience would have like to watch it and that’s how I targeted them. From the clothes, to the set, to props, to famous bands to flashy sexy colors! When making it, what I had in my mind was that I will make such a thing which I would have liked to see if I was out there sitting and watching a film. I wanted the female audience so much into it that they would leave their house hold chores to watch it even for the 100th time: P
Q5. What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?
Answer. An institution is a company that distributes a media product for the audience. A film is firstly distributes nationally and internationally and then it comes to the local cinemas and is sold on DVDS. For the retail and distribution of my movie I had to do a lot of research work about the companies which do the task of distribution. A few of them were BBC, The Uk film council, Film 4 and Vertigo Films.
The UK Films council has produced/distributed more than 900 films. Those were brilliant films which included short films and featured films too. Their goal is to create a global centre for films amongst the world’s competitive industry. They support a wider audience. They target a wide variety of audience and also support upcoming directors.
BBC on the second hand is a world wide renound institution which gives a platform for new talent to come and showcase their skills.
Vertigo Films on the third hand is a UK biased media company which encourages commercially driven independent cinema. They encourage the use of new technology. They pay attension to budgets. The care about the audience and are authentic to what is trying to be represented.
Film 4 Lastly, has a wide range of British Biased films and they also have international films that come from all over the world. They also produce the films. One of their productions is the famous award winning film by Shone Meadowy called” This is England” Film 4 is also partenered with the “ wrap x Fimls” where they challenge British and International media. They look into the matters of creating films on a lower budget with the intension of expanding the audience.
I would consider approaching all of the above mentioned companies to distribute my film and look into the budget matters. This is because according to my research they are very well know all around UK and the world as large too. They would distribute my film because they are open to new talent. They would definitely find my work interesting and also worth investing over not only now but in the future too.
Q6 What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing your film opening?
Answer. I being an amateur director/producer have learnt a lot about various techniques, terms and technologies. I got to polish my skills while working over my project. I had to watch a lot of film openings of the same criteria and that’s how I got to learn more. It wasn’t as easy as I used to think over it while watching the films. I used to think that it’s just a good camera and a good editing program which is required to make a movie but BOY I WAS SO WRONG! I learnt different camera movements, got to know about various editing software, types of sounds, from camera movements to angels to the color management. EVERYTHING was so new to me. Everything was technical yet easy. I used the windows movie make to edit my clip. What I learnt is that one has to think beyond measures and change the ideas into reality. I had to face problems too. I had to edit my video a couple of times and all my handwork used to do down the drain due to load shedding and unsaved work. HAHAHA. It required a lot of patience. I gained patience I must say: P
Q1. In what ways does you film opening use, develop or challenge forms and convections of existing film genres?
Answer. My film is more of a chick flick. I saw various movies before I started making my own opening sequence. I had to do my research work. A lot of directors and producers like Florien Heckle, Gary Marshal and Catherine Hardwicke were my ideal. I tried to copy their ideas and merge them up with mine so that I could come up with something similar yet new. The genre which existed in my film was romance and comedy. It’s just the opening sequence hence not everybody will be able to get an idea of it but still one does get a hint.
Q2. How does your film opening represent a particular movie genre?
Answer. The movie I am working on is called “Live to shop OR shop to live “. Just like its name suggests, it is about crave and craze for shopping. It is a chick flick.
As I am still working on it, a lot of research work had to be done. I watched many chick flicks to get a good idea of how to go about with my opening sequence. I wanted my film opening to be a little different though. I chose the song “moves like jagger” by MAROON 5. It’s a hip song and I love its melody too. The main thing that represents the genre of the movie is is the back ground music, the dresses and the way the character of a shopaholic is represented. Just when the movie starts a character is established. This is played by me myself (ANOSHEH ASIF). Its about a girl who studies in one of the most prestigious schools of the city. She does not know what to wear even though her wardrobe is full of latest clothes and accessories. She still thinks that she needs to shop more. The acting, the basic idea, the colors, the artificial soft lighting and the back ground music is used to make the clip seem like a chick flick. The genre is more of a romantic and comedy one as one can see that Anosheh wants to look her best. She could shop till she drops. The male character would not be much of a major role in the movie which is why I did not introduce him in the opening sequence of my film BUT still obviously when there is a chick flick, a charmer shown is a must for whom the girl would give up all she has. It’s for the audience to watch the movie and see for themselves
Q3. Who would be the audience for your film?
Answer. Media is for everybody. That is what I believe in. Your product must be accepted by all but still I’m open to critics: P
My film here is more of a chick flick as ihave already mentioned before. Im my opinion , everybody would like to watch it as it is acceptable for the children to watch it too because it does not contain any material like nudity or terrorism. It will always eb a good time pass for the adults too but what I personally think is that the female audience would like it more. This is because the female audience can understand the depth of feelings and emotions of other girls. The know how girls can compromise over stuff and let go of whatever they have for the love of their life.
*laughs* THE SHOPPING FREAKS OUT THERE WOULD LOVE IT.
Q4. How did you target/address your target audience?
Answer. When you’re making the film, your main aim should be to target the right audience because if you fail that that then there is no use of making the film. Whether to what sort of an audience? That’s all upon you to decide. The three things that came into my mind were whether:
a) What to produce?
b) How to produce? And;
c) For whom to produce?
For me, the female audience was my major target along with the teenagers. In my opinion chick flicks leave behind more of an impact on the girls. To be honest, when I started working on this project, I had nothing in my mind. The cast was nowhere in my mind therefore I decided to work in it myself because I thought I could put my idea into reality with more ease. I played the main role keeping in mind how the audience would have like to watch it and that’s how I targeted them. From the clothes, to the set, to props, to famous bands to flashy sexy colors! When making it, what I had in my mind was that I will make such a thing which I would have liked to see if I was out there sitting and watching a film. I wanted the female audience so much into it that they would leave their house hold chores to watch it even for the 100th time: P
Q5. What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?
Answer. An institution is a company that distributes a media product for the audience. A film is firstly distributes nationally and internationally and then it comes to the local cinemas and is sold on DVDS. For the retail and distribution of my movie I had to do a lot of research work about the companies which do the task of distribution. A few of them were BBC, The Uk film council, Film 4 and Vertigo Films.
The UK Films council has produced/distributed more than 900 films. Those were brilliant films which included short films and featured films too. Their goal is to create a global centre for films amongst the world’s competitive industry. They support a wider audience. They target a wide variety of audience and also support upcoming directors.
BBC on the second hand is a world wide renound institution which gives a platform for new talent to come and showcase their skills.
Vertigo Films on the third hand is a UK biased media company which encourages commercially driven independent cinema. They encourage the use of new technology. They pay attension to budgets. The care about the audience and are authentic to what is trying to be represented.
Film 4 Lastly, has a wide range of British Biased films and they also have international films that come from all over the world. They also produce the films. One of their productions is the famous award winning film by Shone Meadowy called” This is England” Film 4 is also partenered with the “ wrap x Fimls” where they challenge British and International media. They look into the matters of creating films on a lower budget with the intension of expanding the audience.
I would consider approaching all of the above mentioned companies to distribute my film and look into the budget matters. This is because according to my research they are very well know all around UK and the world as large too. They would distribute my film because they are open to new talent. They would definitely find my work interesting and also worth investing over not only now but in the future too.
Q6 What have you learnt about technologies form the process of constructing your film opening?
Answer. I being an amateur director/producer have learnt a lot about various techniques, terms and technologies. I got to polish my skills while working over my project. I had to watch a lot of film openings of the same criteria and that’s how I got to learn more. It wasn’t as easy as I used to think over it while watching the films. I used to think that it’s just a good camera and a good editing program which is required to make a movie but BOY I WAS SO WRONG! I learnt different camera movements, got to know about various editing software, types of sounds, from camera movements to angels to the color management. EVERYTHING was so new to me. Everything was technical yet easy. I used the windows movie make to edit my clip. What I learnt is that one has to think beyond measures and change the ideas into reality. I had to face problems too. I had to edit my video a couple of times and all my handwork used to do down the drain due to load shedding and unsaved work. HAHAHA. It required a lot of patience. I gained patience I must say: P
Q7. What do you feel you have learnt from making the preliminary task to making a film opening?
It was a great experience. I got to learn a lot. From camera movements to shots to lighting to editing to various stuff. You name it and you have it. The preliminary task was initially hard. I still had a lot of research work to do, I still am doing it. I watched a lot of movies during my project and read about a lot of famous specialized people of the industry. My media teacher Mr. Shehbaz provided me with various slide shows and presentations. Hence I had a lot of material to go through and learn about. I learnt that a lot of patience, hard work and skills are required to make a film. TEAM WORK IS A MUST. When I made “The Blind Date”, I had such a wonderful experience. My friends, Arslan and Farsam were there to support me through out. We had such silly hilarious moments while shooting it. We used to go all silly when we used to make it. We cracked jokes, made fun of each other but still ended up working in a serious manner when it came to IT-IS-HIGH-TIME-WE –GET -SERIOUS-ABOUT–MY-PROJECT: P. It was more of a fusion of our ideas. They helped me out a lot. Plus, I learnt how to handle a camera and how to move about while shooting a video. The shot reverse shot was something very new for me as I had never noticed such a thing. I had researched over three main movies namely, the batman, Ironman, etc. I also wrote my analysis on them which you would be able to see on my blog. In my final opening sequence I had to roam about in the city of Lahore to capture the right shots. I had to merge them up and edit them where as in the preliminary task I made the video at my place.
Overall, I learnt quiet a lot. I learnt that it is not just a piece of cake. Everybody in the media industry does a lot of hardowrk to entertain their views out there. Hats off to them!!!
Plus, I hope that people like my work to J
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Trailer Review.
The Tourist
The Tourist was released on the 10th of December, 2010. It has an outstanding, my personal favorite cast starring the charming Johnny depp and the stunning Angelia Jolie. The Cast itself is such an attraction to the film that the second I got to know about I I had made my mind to watch it.
It is a PG-13 film and is a fusion of action, romance and mystery. The director and the writer is Florien Heckle von Donnersmark. The movie revolves around frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart and Elise is an extra ordinary woman who deliberately crosses his path. The trailer is outstanding. It starts with telling that the film is approved for appropriate audience by the motion picture association of America. It is a two minute and 20 seconds long trailer. It then tells that it is a sony entertainment production and GK films spy glass presentation.
An extreme wide shot is shown of a lush green area with a train running on its track with a train running on its track with the camera zooming in and blending in with another shot, a mid shotof Angelina Jolie’s head showing that she is walking in the train. The next few shots are of random passengers looking at Angelina in mid shots. In a close up shot of Johnny Depp is shown with Angelina sitting on the seat on his opposite side. A shot reverse shot is taken with both the characters exchanging dialogues, introducing their selves. In the next shot an extreme wide shot and a birds eye view shot is captured to show the city. Fast music is being played through out the trailer which creates excitement for the viewers. Good editing techniques are used. The characters are efficiently established. A lot of fade in and fade out techniques are used.
A hotel is shown with a rich touch. The lighting is overall very nice. Natural and artificial lights are both used. The set is amazing. The city, Italy is itself such an attraction. The props are according to the theme of the film too. The costumes were outstanding. Angelina A Brilliant sort of sound bridge is used through out the trailer which tricks the audience very efficiently. The was continuity in the film’s trailer that one could not tell whether where does the shot changes. The technique made the actions seem uninterrupted.
It was an overall amazing trailer. EVERYTHING, and yes I mean EVERYTHING in it made me want to watch the movie!!
The Princess diaries
The movie Princess Diaries is a movies directed by “Gary Marshal” who has also made fabulous famous movies like “the pretty woman” and “the runaway bride”. It is written by Meg Cabot and is a novel biased movie. Gina Wendkos has done the screen play. The cast consists of the very fashionable, very sexy, Anne Hathway. Julie Andrews and Hector Elizondo have also portrayed their respective roles very efficiently. The movie is biased on a teenager, Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathway) who is an average teenager – sweet and a little geeky, who ends up discovering the fact that she is a princess and is the Queen’s grand daughter.
The trailer starts with a notice that this film is recommended to all audience. It has been rated as a “G” which is for general audience. The trailer consists of 2 minutes and 20 seconds which is very ideal.
The trailer starts with a point of view shot of the photographers taking pictures. I wide shot of the castle is shown with the luxury cars of the royal family. In another mid shot the door opener opens the limo’s door. The princess is sitting inside but one could not see her. This created curiosity amongst the audience. It made me want to watch the princess dressed up in her royal look. The background music is very girly, very attractive and lively. The overall image of the trailer tells that the movie would be a chick flick. The female audience would LOVE it. Every girl dreams of having her own fairytale and this is the one I had dreamt off *no jokes*.
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A good technique is used while the editing is done. The trailer is itself divided into two parts. One of it is where Mia is just an ordinary teenager. She is more of a nobody. On the other hand there is the other part of the trailer where she gets to know that she is the princess, being the Queens grand daughter. In some of the mid shots, long shots, master shots Mia is shown along with her cat. In the rest of the shots she is shown with her best friends. The costumes are overall very nice. Some of them are royal where the castle an royalty is shown. Where as in the rest of the trailer, random everyday costumes are used to portray Mia’s everyday life of an ordinary “GEEKY-FASHION-DISASTER” teenager look :P
The characters are well portrayed and established. Her mother is shown as a middle classed woman by the way she dresses up, carries her self and spends her everyday life. Mia’s best friends too are shown as a middle classed geeky teenager who is very possessive about Mia as being her best friend. Mia’s grand mother on the other hand is shown to be very respectable, very decent, well maintained, well mannered woman. She has all the qualities that one would expect in a sophisticated queen would contain. She has the Diana cut. She dresses up very formally. She is never lazy and is always active.
The funny tidbits of the trailer were when Mia was shown messing up with things. Things never went smooth with her. The way she is shown breaking the glass, makes the area get on fire and eat in an ill-mannered way was hilarious. The shots are well edited in a good continuity. One could not feel the changing shots. Everything seemed so smooth. My favorite part was when Mia is groomed. The way she is taught about how to act like a princess was hilarious. Her mistakes were childish yet I loved the trailer.
The trailer was amazing. One of the best shots from the movie were combined together to form it. It was successful is targeting the audience. Good music and nice comedy has been done. I’m sure everybody is going to love the movie as the trailer has done the magic!!
Friday, 6 April 2012
TWILIGHT
The Twilight saga is biased on the a famous novel by Stephanie Meyer. This is its first part. The movie was released on the 30th of November, 2008. It is a Summit Entertainment Film. The genre is of fantasy and romance. It is more of a chick flick but guys around the globe are also crazy about it. It is directed by Catherine Hardwick.
The trailer begins with a master shot, catching the audiences attention. The view of a valley can be seen. The background music creates suspicion amongst the viewers. The weather shown is cold. Another long shot is shown of a car park at the high school. Students carrying their bags are shown. The school is shown where Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison) study. A mid shot of Bella is shown as she goes towards her truck. The trailer includes text like “nothing will be the same” which again grabbed my attention as a viewer. In another quick shots Edward Cullen is shown noticing Bella Swan in the car park in a point of view shot. In another mid shot a car, roughly being driven by a high school student is shown and the situation became intense as it was about to hit Bella. Edward in another mid shot quickly grabs Bella, pushing the truck away with his other hand. WOHOO, this was surely an “AWWW” moment for the girls out there. Being the audience it did touch my heart too. The very next shot was a wide shot where Bella’s fellow students rushed towards her to know investigate whether was she fine or not.Further more the trailer shows how Bella and Edward get to be close. Various, birds eye view, mid shots, long shots and Master shots are shown. The viewers generally get an idea how things roll about but the trailer keeps on attracting the audience via its shots and the slow yet suspense creating background music. The dialogue which grabbed my attention again was when Edward says “what if I’m not the hero, what if I’m the bad guy?” to Bella. It was simply amazing. His expressions were so deeply involved with the situation that one would really want to watch the whole movie wanting to know whether Edward was a bad guy or why was he calling himself the bad guy?
Gradually more characters like Edward’s Family, Bella’s Father and the dangerous Vampires are established. Vampires who are in search of Bella. Vampires who’re dangerous and MORE POWERFUL THAN EDWARD. This creates a twist for the viewers because suddenly the whole scenario changes and there is this certain curiosity that rose inside me while I was watching it, not knowing what was going to happen next. Would Bella survive or not? Would the people of Folks get to know that there are Vampires out there or will they keep on living with the fact that its just an old wives tale?
Towards the End of the trailer, Edward and Bella are shown in a full shot, dancing in a very romantic way. In a mid shot Bella is shown, scared. Edward tells her “you are my life now” and gradually the background music becomes louder. It was a terrific ending to the trailer. It starts off with a good note and ends on one too which I liked the best. Ups and Downs are shown in a very systematic order and hence in the end text saying “Twilight” appears to end the trailer.
I liked the trailer overall. It made me want to watch the movie. There was a lot of hype after the book and we, as the audience were really looking forward to watch the movie. The trailer created more excitement amongst the viewers. The SEXY vampires, beautiful Bella, the background music, the SET specially and the quick glimpses of random shots were just great!!
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