The Knife That Killed Me Case Study Introduction

The Knife That Killed Me

Film Genre and Type of Production?

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Teen
Type of Production: Independent Film
Rating: 15
Budget: Low Budget


sources: IMDB

What's the film about?

The movie is about the memories of a teenager, Paul Varderman that led to his death. He joins the school "Freaks", the outsiders, and also garners the attention of the school bully. He is then forced into the middle of a feud between two gangs, with pressure from both sides thrust upon him.


Themes:

• life and death
• youth
• friendship
• growing up
• fitting in

sources: wikipedia, trailer, IMDB

Global and UK release dates? Where and what formats?

There were several festival premieres including the European Premiere at the Rome Film Festival. The film was also shown at the University of York for the Kickstarter Launch and at Universal Studios for the Kickstarter preview. There were also three premieres as part of the Multiplatform Premieres, funded by Kickstarter. Finally, it was shown at a charity event in October.
A DVD version was distributed by Universal Studios and was also shown on a  Video-on-Demand streaming service. Both were released on the 24th of October.

sources IMDB, Kickstarter, official website

Nationality of the film?

TKTKM is a British Film, it was filmed in North Yorkshire and had a local cast. The crew and producers were also British, with Marcus Romer having written the screenplay and directing the film. 

sources: Wikipedia, IMDB

Institutions behind the film's production and UK/US distribution? Where are they based?

Production companies: Greenscreen Productions, Gloucester Place Films

Distribution companies: Stealth Media Group, Universal Pictures, Focus Pictures

Production Budget: estimated £3 milliion

sources: wikipedia, IMDB, Greenscreen Productions, Stealth Media Group

Any connections with other films?

No connections with other films, but it has a similar production technique to the movies Sin City and 300. It is based on the novel of the same name by Anthony McGowan
sources: trailer, Wikipedia

Who's the Director?

The directors are Kit Monkman and Marcus Romer


sources: Wikipedia, IMDB

How has the film been cast? Who's in it?

Stars:
Jack McMullen (as Paul Valderman)
Reece Dinsdale (as Paul's dad)
Jamie Shelton (as Roth, the school bully)
Oliver Lee (Shane)
Haruka Abe (Serena)

All of the actors are British and not completely famous, however Jack McMullen and Reece Dinsdale have both been on Waterloo Road before.

sources: Wikipedia, IMDB

Core Audience? Secondary/ tertiary markets?

Core Audience: Teenagers, young adults

Secondary markets: Local audiences (from Yorkshire, etc) 

Tertiary markets: Fans of the genre

Big Hero 6 Case Study Introduction

Big Hero 6

Film Genre and Type of Production?

Genre: Action-Adventure, comedy, superhero, animation.
Type of Production: high concept, event movie.
Rating: PG
Budget: estimated around $ 200 million


sources: IMDB

What's the film about?

Set in a fictional metropolis called San Fransokyo , a young robotics prodigy named Hiro Hamada and his robot Baymax uncover a criminal plot and pull together a team of inexperienced crime-fighters (his friends) to solve the mystery surrounding the crime.

Themes:

• good vs evil
• growing up
• friendship

sources: wikipedia, trailer, IMDB

Global and UK release dates? Where and what formats?

The film will be released in theatres globally. The first showing is at the Japanese premier in October 23rd, shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Then it will have limited US screenings on the 25th and 27th. The release dates in cinemas are as follows: November 7th in the US, December 20th in Japan and January 30th in the UK.

sources IMDB

Nationality of the film?

Big Hero 6 is an American, Hollywood movie, financed and produced by Walt Disney; however it is aimed at a global audience.

sources: Wikipedia

Institutions behind the film's production and UK/US distribution? Where are they based?

Production companies: Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios

Distribution companies: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Japan, Forum Hungary.

Production Budget: Not available yet, estimated around $200 million.

sources: wikipedia, IMDB

Any connections with other films?

From the creators of Frozen and Wreck it Ralph; based on a Marvel comic, but will not be set in the Marvel universe.


sources: trailer and Wikipedia

Who's the Director?

Don Hall and Chris Williams. Both have worked on Disney movies before.


sources: Wikipedia, IMDB

How has the film been cast? Who's in it?

Stars:
Ryan Potter (as Hiro Hamada)
Scott Adsit (as Baymax)
Jamie Chung (as Gogo Tomago)

They are recognised in American TV and small films, but they don't have to be well known, because it's being sold on their voices.

sources: Wikipedia, IMDB

Core Audience? Secondary/ tertiary markets?

Core Audience: Children/ families with children.
Secondary markets: Adults, teenagers, comic book fans, Disney fans, animation fans, superhero fans, fans of Japanese culture.
Tertiary markets: parents

AS Prelim Evaluation

AS Prelim

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
   

   I worked with Serena, Alistair and Ela on this task. We all planned the sequence together, but during the shoot I was mostly directing and Ela was mostly shooting. Alistair and Serena contributed to directing the shots when they were not acting, and some of the shots’ framing was checked by them as well. During editing we were split into two pairs; I edited with Alistair, while Serena and Ela edited their own version.
2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you take into account?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   We planned our sequence by first of all getting together and brainstorming ideas over what should happen in the sequence. After we had decided the genre and the story, we made a shot list which outlined the shots which we were going to shoot. We also wrote out a script of what would happen in our sequence, shown to the left. We mostly attempted to include match-on-action shots, but also tried to be mindful of the 30 degree and 180 degree rules.
    
3. What technology did you use to complete the task?
   To complete the task, we used a HFG30 Canon camera which had a directional microphone attached to it to record our sequence. We used headphones while shooting to make sure that the audio was being recorded. We used a clapper board at the beginning of every shot, to mark each shot with its scene and take. When editing, we used Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.
4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
   When planning, we tried to make sure that we would have match-on-action shots in our sequence, so that we could have a very identifiable continuity technique. While shooting we were sometimes careful of the framing of shots. Also, as we had some extra time we decided to take close ups, in case we needed to use them, this turned out to be a very good idea as they close ups of both characters were used. During editing we tried to carefully edit the shots together, so that it would look as though there were no continuity errors, but this was difficult as we only had a limited number of shots of some scenes, so we had to make do.
5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?
   I think the sequence turned out ok. There were some good parts of our sequence, such as the cut from shot 3 to 4 (0:11) and the last two shots (0:38) which created match on action, the framing of shot 5 was also quite good, however there were many errors. The continuity errors that I have spotted appear firstly at 0:08, the cut between shots 1 and 2, it appears as though Alistair has moved to the left of where he was standing as he was about to knock on the door. Then the 180 degree rule is broken in shot 5, however from shot 7 onwards it stays on that side of the scene. The 30 degree rule is also broken during the cut from shot 6 to shot 7. Other errors aside from the continuity errors included the framing of shot 8, there is a lot of empty space to the right of the actors and their heads look very close together. Also since our master shot was not very good, we were unable to use it. Finally, I don’t think that the sequence properly conveyed that it was meant to be a comedy, as I didn’t find it that funny, perhaps we could have done a simpler joke instead so that we could have quickly and efficiently conveyed the genre.
6. What have you learnt from this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
   I have learnt a lot from this task. In light of the errors that were in our shots, I think that in future I will make sure that there is a shot list which includes the framing of the shots, so that it is clear to the cameraman what needs to be/ doesn’t need to be included in the shot. I also think that having a master shot would have been useful, as we could have used it to cut away or to show more of the setting. In general, I think this task has taught me to be more careful and more thorough when shooting, so that no errors come up during editing.
   
   

Evaluation of AOTT activity

1)The Mentor is a horror-thriller movie. In the opening we see a student stalking then killing a girl. He then washes his hands and the weapon, then exits the school.

2) Some credits, the killer is revealed (the protagonist), the setting is shown and genre signifiers are shown.

3) White text is a convention of the horror genre, and it is also in a font that looks like typewriter font, which is another convention of the genre. The title "The Mentor" is also scary, as it implies that the killer is the "mentor"; the role of the mentor, to help people, contrasts with the killer's actions.

4) I think our opening is ambiguous. The audience should be scared of the killer, as he has just killed someone. They will be eager to find out more about him, why he killed the girl, if he goes on killing and if he gets caught. The opening is full of enigmas, as the audience is unable to know why these things are happening in the opening.

5) Setting - gives the audience a sense of where the film takes place; Barthes' Cultural codes, the audience will be able to assume more about the setting of the movie from the opening sequence's setting.

The introduction of the main character - The audience know who the film will revolve around, so they can assume what will happen in the movie, i.e. follow the killer as he kills people.

The introduction of the genre - I think the connotations of the horror genre that we included in the opening easily show the audience which genre the movie will be.

6) I think my project is quite effective as a film opening because it clearly shows the genre of the movie to the audience, while also having hermeneutic codes, such as who the killer is, why he killed the girl, what will happen to the killer.

Accident Sequence

1) One technique we used was the establishing shot of the setting, we used this so that the audience would have a sense of where things were happening relative to each other. Another technique we used was the 30 degree rule, in which we made the shots varied, so that the audience would not be confused. We tried to make it so that the shots linked into one another, using match on action, for example in between the third and fourth shots (0:25), however we found this hard to do without being able to edit them.


2)  In hindsight, the establishing shot would have looked better without the pan to the left, as the next shot is to the right, this made the transition seem confusing. The transition from shot 2 to shot 3 also could have been improved with a slight pan towards the doors, so that the audience would know where the next shot would take place, improving the continuity. I also think that shot 3 lasted too long, the skipping was too long and at the end; after I waved, I put my arm down and looked at the camera and in the next the shot I'm waving again, should have been cut earlier. Another thing I would have changed was the end of the fourth shot, as the end of the shot makes it look like I fall twice, where I should have only fallen once. In conclusion, most of the errors could have been amended by the use of editing, which we could not use.

Film Opening Analysis

Identify the film and it's genre:

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is an adventure/action film.

Identify where the story takes place and the time scale:

It is set in 1935 Shanghai, as shown by the shot at 2:55

Summarise what happens in the sequence in chronological order. How significant to the story is the story telling in the order of events?

A gong is hit by a man, then the mouth of an ornamental dragon is shown. Women then appear and start to dance, whilst one sings a song "Anything Goes". It is a grandiose musical number. As the musical number finishes, there  is a shot of a Chinese man clapping with who appear to be henchmen or guards. A man in a white blazer then walks down some stairs and is told to be careful. He then takes a seat at the previously mentioned Chinese man's table and starts a conversation with him. This sequence of events is rather important, as there is a sharp contrast between the first shots and the musical. The first shots seem very dangerous and in line with the previous movie, but then the musical is very different, it seems almost surreal. The musical is used to deceive the audience to play with the audience's anticipation. This confusion is then dispelled once Indiana Jones walks in, and the audience gain a sense of what is going to happen.

Do events link to each other or are they distinct, unconnected events?

The events in the opening link to each other, giving the audience a sense of continuity. This is a convention of adventure films, as they tell the story right from the beginning to get the audience immersed in the narrative.

Which characters are introduced and what their roles in the film? How do we find this information out?

Chinese Man - He seems to be the bad guy, this can be inferred by his "henchmen" standing next to him, guarding him as he watches the show.

Indiana Jones - A recurring character in the series of films, he stands out and is instantly recognisable by the audience.
How much story information is revealed and how is it revealed to the audience? What is deliberately withheld?

Very little information is given to the audience, adding to the confusion of the musical piece. The audience suspect that the Chinese man is bad, but they do not know why. Also they do not know why Indiana Jones would be in the setting and interacting with this Chinese guy, leading to suspense and suggesting a possible conflict.

What do you think the audience needs to know at the start of your film? Explain. 
I think the audience need to know who the main character of the film is, so that they can get a sense of what type of story the film will have. However in this case, I think it is not as important, as the main character had already been established in the previous film.
Another thing that is important is for the audience to know the credits of the film and the name of the film.

My film still

1. The girl is the main focus of the shot and she is holding what was meant to be a flower, the flower connoting romance. The girl staring outside seems to be thinking about something, as opposed to looking at something in particular. This image of the girl thinking about something while holding the ‘flower’ suggests to the audience that she is thinking about the person she is in love with. Also the girl staring out of the window is a common trope of romance. Her modern clothes and young appearance also connote that it is a teen-romance.
2. To achieve the effect of connoting romance, we made sure to clearly establish the setting, without having anything else to detract from the focus of the main character. The actress was young (not an adult) which made it clear that it was a teen romance
3. We intended the audience to interpret the still as the girl looking out of the window while thinking of her love interest, as she was holding the flower which reminded her of him.
4. The shot is successful because it effectively makes the main character the focus of the shot, and therefore easily establishes what is happening in the scene, which makes it easier for the audience to read the still.
5. In hindsight, I would have replaced the plant with a flower. I would try to make it so that the inside of the room could be less visible as I feel that the light on the ceiling of the room undermines the scene a bit. I would also try to get the top of the frame in the shot.