Flight Title Font

In preparation for our film poster and magazine review we have decided to each look at some fonts (primarily using the site dafont.com), pick our favorites and then as a group finally decide on the font we are going to use for the title of Flight.

This is the first font which really appealed to me. I like the way the font looks shaky and edgy which simply sums up our production. The shaky look of the font also represents the surreal element to our film and hints at the underlying narcotic theme present in our film.

I also liked this font and the typography effect used on it. I think this font looks edgy and different. The font also looks broken and cracked which hints at our film narrative, Sophie cracking under the pressure of her ballet practice. One thing about this font which I found to be a negative however is that that font is quite hard to read at a glance due to the broken look of the writing.

I really like the way this font looks handwritten. There is a sense of elegance to this font which represents the first dance sequence part of our film. I think this graceful font could be very effective against the hard-hitting photograph of Sophie we plan on putting on the front of our poster. 

Other 'Flight' logo experiment

Final Font Choice

We as a group have decided on this font choice which I found. We feel that out of our choices this one was the most appropriate to use, this is due to the reasons I listed above. We feel that this font would be the most effective against the image of Sophie we plan on putting on the front. I like the elegance of this font and I think that the contrast between the font and image will be interesting for audiences and make them think about the narrative and underlying themes of our production.

Font Analysis

Before deciding on a suitable font for Flight I have decided to do some research into other films and the types of font they use for their production. Hopefully by using doing this research I will be able to gather some inspiration and ideas for our own title font. 

I decided to firstly look at the 'Black Swan' font as we have used the film narrative itself to inspire our final product. I have to say I don't particularly like the font they have chosen to use as I find it very plain and uninspiring, however, I do think the font is suitable for the film is its very prominent and is in a nicely organised and neat format, this mirrors the theme of 'perfection' which runs throughout the production.

 

I really like the way the 'another year' typography is incorporated into the image of a tree. I think this is really effective and eye-catching. The way the tree is going through the motions of all the four seasons gives the impression of year going by, mirroring the 'another year' film name. I think that the font and combined image gives of a romantic/cutesy type of look and hints that the film narrative may include elements of romance. 

The font used for 'Atonement' is very strong and makes a statement on the page, this suggests that the film could cover hard and emotional topics. The smudging effect also adds to the feeling that the film may be quite emotional. The black wording makes the font stand out against the background and the lack of colour again suggests that the film may be quite dark and emotional. The word atonement means 'Reparation for a wrong or injury' and the fact the font is quite harsh hints to the audience that unpleasant events occur during the film. 

The font gives of a dark fantasy type feeling which I think is perfect for the film 'Twilight' as the film narrative itself revolves around vampires and werewolves. The fact they've used dark colours to mirror the film name 'twilight' is also very effective. I think this font will appeal to the films target audience as it stands out on the film poster and fits in with the fantasy 'twilight' image. 

When I first looked at the 'This Is England' film poster my eyes were immediately drawn to the font, mainly because of the bright colours used, it engages the audience and suggests that the film is fun and interesting. I like the use of colour featured here as many films just chose to stick to one for the font. The red, white and blue colours represent the union jack which is symbolical of Britain and British heritage which tells the audience that the film is going to focus on British themes. The other thing I like about this font is the way it looks tattered, this hints to the audience that the film is going to focus on real issues and real people, the gritty side of British life.

Sight and Sound - Film Review Analysis

After deciding that our film review would be suited to Sight and Sound magazine I decided to do an analysis on a film review I found in the magazine.

Dragonball Evolution Review - Sight and Sound Magazine, June 2009.

Layout
My initial thought of this page was that the layout is very basic. It is split up into three areas, the review, a short synopsis and half the page is taken up with the credits. Although not my favorite type of layout this is appropriate for the type of reader Sight and Sound target (film critics and academics) as they will be interested in this very text heavy article and the basic layout makes the text easy to read, appealing to the audience. There is a small picture of the main characters at the top of the page which entices audience to read the review, using a picture of the main characters of the film is a good idea as readers may be more inclined to stop at the page if they notice that their favorite actor stars in it. Although the credits take up a lot of space on the page I would not class this as a big design flaw as the majority of people who read Sight and Sound, as stated before, are interested in finding out who is responsible for the different parts of the film. One disadvantage to this review I think is the balance of images and text. The review looks very wordy, although really it has about the same amount of text as the other two magazine review I analysed, I think this is because there is only a small picture at the top of the page. The review could do with another picture to perhaps break up the credits in the bottom right hand side. Although the review looks quite basic I think that it does look professional thanks to the basic colour scheme. Within our magazine review we are going to have to consider whether we want to go for a more fun and interesting look or a basic but professional type style review.

Features
There isn't any features included within this review. I personally find this makes the review very plain and uninteresting as I like to have some engaging features on the page (such as the 'interest curve chat' in Total Film magazine) however Sight and Sound magazine targets an audience who are more interested in reading the bare analysis of films rather than look at unnecessary features. Again within our magazine review we need to think carefully about who we are targeting and add features only if we think the audience are going to be interested.

Film Exhibition

Film
As our film is not a mainstream product, meaning it will only appeal to a niche audience, our film will most likely have a restricted release. This means it will only be shown in approximately 40 - 60 cinemas. The local cinema which is most likely show our film is Cinema 3 in Canterbury. Cinema 3 is located inside the University of Kent, this means that their audience is primarily students (this is also our ideal target audience), film students in particular will be interested in the type of film shown at the cinema this is why Cinema 3 shows a variety of specialist and foreign films but also a few mainstream products. Cinema 3 primarily focuses on showing niche films which are not shown at large multiplexes such as Vue (who focus on showing mainstream film, mostly blockbusters, which will appeal to a wide audience).      For example:

Cinema 3 film listings

Vue film listings

As you can see Cinema 3 shows a variety of film from 'It's a Wonderful Life', a classic American film which audiences will be interested in watching time and time again to 'Les Enfants Du Paradis' which is a french foreign film which will appeal to a niche audience. Vue focus on showing the big blockbuster films, as you can see from the image above all the films shown are blockbusters and appeal to a wide audience. Vue also show films in 3D unlike Cinema 3. As our production 'Flight' is a niche film and will only appeal to a certain type of audience Vue will not be a suitable screening choice.

Poster
As our film is most likely to be shown in Cinema 3 (Canterbury) our film poster would probably be displayed around the surrounding areas. Also our poster could feature in Sight and Sound and similar magazines.

Magazine Review

The type of magazine which would review our film would be a international film magazine such as, Sight and Sound. Popular film magazines such as Empire and Total Film would probably not choose to review our film as they focus on mainstream film which feature famous actors and directors so that their magazine will appeal to a mass audience. Sight and Sound magazine is an international film magazine run by the B.F.I (British Film Institute) and focuses on reviewing all types of film, not just mainstream. Sight and Sound magazine also interviews up-coming directors and promotes new talent.

Twitter

Throughout the course of my A2 project I have been using Twitter to add photos and updates of our progress. I have also 'tweeted' my first drafts and storyboards and gained lots of helpful feedback from my followers on Twitter, they have helped my Media production develop by giving me useful feedback and solutions to problems we have had regarding 'Flight'.


As well as me using Twitter to record our A2 film progression Jack also documented our progress using Tumblr. You can find his blog here.

Wuthering Heights (2011) Trailer

As a fan of Andera Arnold's previous work I was excited when the trailer for her new film, Wurthering Heights, was released.  Right from the start you can tell that this production is definitely the work of Andrea Arnold. Her style of hand-held camera work and diegetic sound is used all the way through this trailer. Arnold also uses binary opposites as displayed in this trailer, for example, we see a mysterious dark scene set within a field apposed with a really light shot of open landscape. I really love this trailer and the way it switches between dark and light scenes. I also like this trailer because of the emotion it captures, all the scenes are very powerful and the shots of the different characters, particularly the ones of their faces, are very emotive. The type of feeling this trailer gives off and the strong emotive feeling we get when watching it is what we hope to achieve within our film.

At the start of the trailer the camera is low, lurking in the long grass. It is apparent that it is quite late at night which adds to the mystery of the sequence. The audience is immediately put on edge and starts to wonder about the happens on the screen, who is this creature? what is it following? where is the location? The scene then cuts to a hand-held tracking shot following a character through the dark location, I particularly like this shot as we only see the silhouette of the character meaning that nothing is given away and the sense of mystery is retained. The hand-held camera work also gives the trailer a sense of realism and makes the audience really part of the action. We then see another dark scene with just enough light to see a young girls face, the girl has a quite a depressed and angry look about her. The dark mysterious scenes along with the emotion displayed by the girl hints to the audience that this film may be quite dark and cover hard topics. The only thing we hear throughout the first part of this trailer is the soft sound of blowing wind, this sound makes the audience focus on the action on screen and draws them into the cinematography. The screen then cuts to a medium shot of plants blowing in the wind, the brightness of this sequence is effective as so far the trailer has been very dark, the scene quickly then cuts to a few sequences of different characters, mostly using long shots, this introduces the audience to all the characters. Shots of nature are included in between these shots of character faces, drawing parallels between the characters and the idyllic countryside setting. We then see parts of different characters faces, this technique is called fragmentation, this continues the sense of mystery which is throughout the trailer. The trailer then uses quick jump cuts of all the characters at key moments within the film, this is typical of a trailer and therefore I will not be using this technique within my production. The only dialogue within the trailer appears three quarters of the way into the trailer, this dialogue finally gives the audience some clues as to what the film diagesis is about. The dialogue is simple, ''you broke my heart, you killed me'' these words give the audience the impression that the film has an underlying theme of love within it but also that the film is quite dark and violent. The dialogue is typical of the drama convention. The diegetic sound of wind and rain runs throughout the whole trailer and ties all the visual cinematography together. The trailer has a strong theme of nature which runs all the way through it. After this voice over we see the film a blurry long shot of a woman walking through another field, this gives off a sense of detachment and the audience starts to ask more questions such as is this the woman who spoke the dialogue? where is she going? drawing the audience into the action. The shot then cuts suddenly to a hand-held shot of a barn and the film name 'Wurthering Heights' appears, the trailer doesn't give much away about the film which leaves the audience with questions and influences them to go and see the production.

Changing Location

We have decided to change our location from Minster (minster toilets and the streets in minster) to Sandwich public toilets and rope walk. This because we didn't receive a reply from Minster Parish Council and so instead of waiting for their reply email and delaying filming we decided to just change the location. Sandwich is also an easier location for us to get to as we can simply walk a few minutes down the road from school, meaning we can film during our free lessons. Photos of our new location are below.

Replacement Street Location

We will be filming on The Rope Walk, this location is perfect as the path is surrounded by trees and a river allowing us to capture some edgy and mysterious shots and allows us to play with shadows as we are filming at night.

Public Toilets

The new public toilets are also a better location to film in as they are a lot easier to get to than the Minster ones. These toilets also have a mirror which the other toilets did not, meaning we can play around with reflections. We can use it to show the two choices Sophie has, should she take the drugs or not?

Experimental Footage (Mobile Phones)

We decided to do some experimental footage with our mobiles to see if we could use this type of filming within our final project. 

The footage below was filmed and edited by myself.

Experimental Footage

The main problems with filming on mobiles is that when the footage is expanded it becomes blurry, this will make the picture look very out of place compared to the rest of the film. The other problem with using mobile footage is that the sound is of a very bad quality or (for example, the video below) isn't recorded at all. If we did use footage like this we would need to add a backing track and re-record any dialogue and ambient sound meaning this would delay production time. For these reasons we have decided to stick with filming all footage with a professional camera.

Experimental Footage (Animation)

To get a feel for our final production and to practice our animation sequences we have done some experimental footage below. The below shots were comprised of a series of photographs taken one after another to give a sense of distortion. From doing this task it is apparent that we need to leave less time between each photo so the footage is a lot smoother, one weakness to the footage below is that I feel it moves too quickly and looks very jumpy.

We all took turns experimenting with animation and taking photos and then I put together the video below to showcase our experiment.

Experimental Footage

Contacting Sandwich Leisure Centre

We also needed to ask permission from the Leisure Centre to be able to film in their room.

Above is the email we sent on the 3rd December 2011.

We received a reply saying that the room was free from 1pm until 2pm every Wednesday afternoon. As we have Wednesday afternoons free this is a perfect 

time for us to film.

Contacting Minster Parish Council

We needed to ask permission from the council to be able to film on their property.
Above is the email Jack sent (on the 1st Dec 2011).
We are currently awaiting a reply.

*Edit*
As we have now changed our location we no longer need to wait for a reply from the council.

Qualitative Research

After looking at the research we previously compiled using Tumblr and also our Audience Interviews we decided that it didn't provide us with the amount of detail we were looking for and didn't answer many of our querires about what people expected from our film. We then thought about why we were not happy with our results and realized it was because we had included a lot of closed questions, usually requiring a yes/no answer (steotypical of quantitative research), this meant that people didn't go into much depth about why they did or didn't agree or like something.

To improve our audience feedback we have decided to do some qualitative research. This requires coming up with a selection of around ten open questions which require detailed quality answers. To get answers we have decided to set up a focus group of around six people, the majority being our target audience, and individually record their answers to our questions.

Questions
1. What issues would you expect to be covered in a social realist based film with the underlying theme of drug use?
2. What characters would you expect to see in a short film of this type, why?
3. What locations do you feel would be appropriate to use in a production of this sort, why?
4. What type of emotion do you expect to feel when watching a production of this sort, why?
5. What type of moral message do you expect the audience to be left with after watching a production focused on narcotics?
6. What editing techniques do you feel would be appropriate in a production of this sort?
7. Do you think that the film should have a realistic or more surreal element to it, why?
8. What kind of sound do you expect to be used to portray meaning to the audience?


Answers

Below are videos of a few members of our focus group giving us their answers.