Observer Articles

The Observer is widely known as offering respectable, educated opinions on the culture of Film and British Film. Because of this I have decided to explore some of their articles in order to gain an insight into a professional view on films, which may be helpful in inspiring the distribution and production of our own short film.

The BAFTAs - 'The Artist'

The BAFTAs, or British Academy of Film and Television Arts, are a British charity that hosts an award ceremony annually. They reward excellence, and promote new talent within the country, making them very important in terms of recognition. The fact that 'The Artist' was awarded one of these prestige awards shows that films produce in the modern era do not necessarily have to comply with expected stereotypes. This is inspirational in terms of our own film, as although our film will not be silent like 'The Artist', it will have no dialogue and a lack of special effects. This use of breaking the stereotype should prove effective to audiences, as 'The Artist' has shown. 

Silent Films

This article also looks at 'The Artist', but explores the effects of silent films on a deeper level. The article says, "Of all the many strengths of Michel Hazanavicius's film, the absence of words is the greatest. No words means no reliance on a form of communication that isn't, in fact, anything like as effective as we think. The language of gesture often says more – and it's always more passionate." This shows that for our film to be as effective as possible, we will have to utilise the importance of body language within the production, as this is an effective tool of communication. 

British Film as a Global Brand

I found this article and thought that it was relevant to 'Flight', as the distribution of the film will only be within the United Kingdom, meaning that less money will have to be spent, although it reduces the size of audiences dramatically. David Cameron himself said that the UK Film Industry, particularly the British Film Industry, should financially back "more commercially successful pictures". This is due to the recent success of 'The King's Speech', directed by Tom Hooper. It had a budget of $15 million, and took a staggering $414 million. It's success is due to the fact that it features well known names - such as Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth, and that it captures the sense of British spirit. If other British films similar to 'The King's Speech' were to funded appropriately, it could mean a massive success in terms of profit, which will, in turn, help the economy of the country. The article also states that "The review, which will be unveiled on Monday , is also likely to propose a system that allows the profits from successful films to be fed back into the industry. Such a scheme would see a percentage of box-office receipts paid back into the lottery fund in cases where producers had received an initial grant." This means that the money made from the profits of British film can be funded back into the industry, meaning that Britain can be a competitor with the Hollywood film industry which has dominated the globe.

During Filming - Colour Issues

When filming the footage I could see that colours differed in two of the different shots, due to the quick change of the natural lighting which we were relying on. As cinematographer, I decided to shoot both of the scenes so that our editor, Hannah, and I could choose which one she felt was most appropriate for our production. On reflection, I feel as though the second shot has better lighting and colour, due to the warmer tones of the footage, which creates a homely atmosphere. This adds a sense of safety for Sophie in the homely atmosphere. The blinds are also more defined in the second shot, which is important in representing Sophie's confinement. Both myself and the editor of the film decided to edit out the first shot, and only incorporate the shot which shows the homely glow.

Shot #1

Shot #2 

'Sweet Sixteen' Poster Analysis

The film 'Sweet Sixteen', directed by the award-winning Ken Loach, falls into the social realist genre due to it's gritty representation of reality. It deals with themes of drug culture and the representation of youths, which is similar to my own short film 'Flight'. Because of the reasons given, I feel that it will be effective to analyse this poster. This will allow me to see the expected forms and conventions of social realism posters. From there, I will then decided whether to conform to or break the expectations of the viewer.

The most notable aspect of the poster for the social realist film 'Sweet Sixteen' is the protagonists' - Liam's, face. It takes up the majority of the space on the poster, which shows that he will be in control of the narrative throughout. This effectively lets the viewer know who will be the protagonist of the film before they have even viewed it. This allows the audience to create connections to the character. The tag-line underneath the image of Liam's face "Life... it's about to hit the fan!" shows that changes to Liam's life will be the main driving force of the narrative. This shows to the viewer that it deals with issues about the lifestyle of youths within Britain today. I feel that it is important to allow the viewer an insight into the narrative of the film through the poster product, as it will engage them deeper within the film. However, the tag-line could be considered to be slightly cheesy. This takes away from the otherwise professional-feel from the poster, and deduces from the social realism genre which is shown throughout, despite the insight into the themes which reside within the narrative. The logo of the film also takes up a lot of the room of the poster. This draws the viewer's attention to it. Also, the black colouring of the logo contrasts with the rest of the colours on the poster, which is effective. I will consider placing a large logo with contrasting colours on my own poster product, to ensure that the viewer's attention is drawn directly to it. However, it is important to ensure that the logo does not stand out too much, and that it fits in with the house-style. This will make the product effect yet professional-looking. The award placed at the top-right of the poster shows to the viewer that it is academically-acclaimed, which may entice the viewer into seeing the film. I will consider putting awards on the poster for my film to ensure that it is seen by the most amount of viewers possible. The yellow images at the bottom of the poster allow an insight into the actual film. This matches the house-style of the product, as the colouring of the images are yellow like the award and the director information. Putting images from the actual film on the poster is effective as it allows the viewer to connect with the film before they have even seen it. However, the four images shown can deduct from the overall primary image. I think that it would be more effective if only one image was shown on the poster, which I shall do for 'Flight'. I will consider using the primary image on my poster to ensure that audiences feel connected to the film.

Qualitative Research

From looking at the audience research we conducted previously, it was clear that the responses given did not greatly benefit my production. The audience interviews resulted in closed answers, due to the general amount of close questions asked. Due to these closed responses, there was only so much that we could change about our production. The questions asked were focused towards more of a quantitative research style, as opposed to qualitative. Quantitative research focuses on gaining mass responses of closed answers, whereas qualitative focuses more towards gaining long, precise answers, although in a fewer number. Using quantitative research resulted in the people we interviewed not going into depth about what they did or did not like about the film or what they expected to see within the social realist genre, meaning that 'Flight' did not benefit as much as it could have from the research conducted. To combat this issue, we decided to conduct some qualitative research. We questioned around 5 to 6 people within a focus group. Doing this amounted to a wide range of views and opinions given, who went into detail about the questions asked. The questions that we asked the focus group are shown below. As you can see, many of the questions asked feature the words 'why'. This urges the audience to expand on their point.



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?

Above are two members of our focus group responding to our qualitative research questions.

From conducting this qualitative research, it has clearly outlined the expectations of the social realist genre. This has greatly helped the production of 'Flight' as we know now what to include within our film to ensure that it effects audiences and viewers. The moral message is clear to have been to show the negative side of focusing on narcotics, which we will be sure to include within the narrative. It is also clear that youths are a key age grouping for the social realist genre, meaning that we will be sure to focus on this theme.

Photography Inspiration

I have decided to look at photographers for inspiration. One particular photographer that caught my eye was 'Lee Miller', a surrealist photographer based in Paris in the 1920s/30s. She was born in New York in 1907, and died in 1977. Below are some of the examples of her work:

 
 


I thought that her photography was very effective and appealing to the eye. This is mainly achieved through basing her products on having two solid colours - dark grey/black and a light grey. This allows the viewer to focus their eye on the two contrasting objects that Miller is trying to convey. I really like this idea of binary opposites, and I feel that portraying it through the use of colour and lighting is very effective. As cinematographer for 'Flight', I will use a similar technique to portray Sophie's split lifestyle, through use of shadows and landscape (as shown above).