"Broken" Textual Analysis

We decided to record a discussion among our group surrounding 'Broken', an A2 media piece featuring filmmakers our age. Originally, we planned to match our commentary with the short itself, however, due to time constraints and technical problems we were unfortunately forced to separate the two. Please Watch the Short first and then watch the Audio of the analysis.

Below is the short:

Theoretical Research 3

Theoretical research from Jake Foulkes

Conventions of Social Realism

These are the most important things we have learned from the Genre research.

It's always been the focus of British social realist films to make a point.

Whether it be about race, class, or other social issues, social realism is all about bringing to light issues that the director or writer feels is ignored. As such, the narrative is geared to showing this message. Twists and turns ensue, throwing characters the audience often views as innocent and downtrodden (but not always completely above reproach) into the worst society can offer. Injustice, alienation, and anger are often core themes.

The end puts the point across in one neat bow to the audience. Whether positive, negative, or ironic in nature, there's always a point. I, Daniel Blake makes its social message very clear at the end, were a tragic death encapsulates the sense of injustice people can feel within the benefits system. In This Is England, the main character rejects racist and nationalist views after seeing first-hand the destruction they can cause.

I think there really needs to be a point to our own production. I've gotten a lot of ideas for this after completing the topic research post. Issues of abuse, of not understanding what can go on behind closed doors. These are the kind of points I want to communicate.

We need to look at the example films above as guide how to do this though; forcing a message in too strongly could really damage our overall narrative.

Theoretical Research 2

Form research from Jake Foulkes

Theoretical Research

A2 - Theoretical Research from Morgan Glover

Email to Professional

 

 

Email to Professional

 

For advise on the narrative for a short film, I decided that it would be a good idea to email a well known YouTube Film Critic by the name of Chris Stuckmann.

 

  

He is widely known amongst the YouTube Platform alongside another YouTuber by the name of Jeremy Jahns. Stuckmann has over 1,000,000 subscribers who watch his content on a daily basis.

 

He states that films these days "Go for  Style over Substance". Which is true as the narrative of a film is almost neglected and all focus is put in visual effects and camerawork. Perfect examples of these sort of films would b from the superhero genre of film. However some films such as Nolan's "Interstellar" have the perfect balance of style and substance.

For our Production we want to focus on the narrative and how we are going to present it in a way that is relatable but also interesting. The five minute duration that we have to stand by is only a very short time therefore we need to come up with a way to show a whole narrative that has an effect on the audience.

For advise, I sent him an email asking him what aspects of a narrative makes a social realist drama so effective on its audience.

 

 



Cohesive Marketing

What is Cohesive Marketing?

Cohesive marketing is a strategy employed by producers and publishers in order to ensure that all platforms that promote their product are cohesive; they all have the same brand identity.

This is communicated in many different ways:

One example of this would be the particular font or typography that the movie franchise might use. A prime example of this would be in the Harry Potter franchise. The font that those films use is instantly recognizable across the world. The metallic / jagged font stands out from other film franchises as it is very unique.

This particular franchise has been expanded into other mediums including Video Games, Magazines, and even Music.   

When applying this to our own, I think we should find our own unique typography and make sure we stay consistent with our decisions. If we do so, I think we'll be able to find a clear font style - just as we did in our AS production (bold and monochromatic) - that'll help contribute to our cohesive marketing.

Another example of Cohesive Marketing could be the certain layout of a poster. For example Stephen Spielberg directed the Indiana Jones franchise. All of the posters have the same layout in which they display the lead protagonist along side other side characters such as the antagonist.

In these posters we can see the clear colour scheme and layout that links the films together and makes them recognizable and differentiated from other films.

Conclusion:  

Once we fully plan the stories, characters, and visuals, I'll be a lot more comfortable selecting a method in which to make sure our brand identity is consistent across all platforms. However, as it is, I'm confident I can define not only what cohesive marketing is, but how to apply it to our own work at a later stage of development.

  

Short Film Poster Textual Analysis

Progress Update #2

We have started to gather ideas for the narrative of our short film as we think that it needs a lot of thought because if we leave it too late we feel that the story will feel cliche and rushed which is something that we really do not want.

We are struggling with deadlines however we are still working hard to try and complete the tasks for when they are due.

We have started to look into locations for filming our production, preferably near some terrace houses in Leicester. This is specific because we want to emphasize the fact that we are making a social realist drama that revolves around family issues and more mature themes, therefore we feel like that would be the ideal location for the film.