Short Film - Codes & Conventions Part 3/3

Video	Mise-en-scene
Perfection	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Game Doll Violin Awards	Living Room Bedroom	High-key	Shallow	Baby Clothes Dress Female suit	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - B&W Shallow Focus Framing Low Level Over shoulder Scale MS MCU CU ECU Movement Zoom
	Editing
	Transitions Dissolve Cheat cut Jump Cut Matches Duration Quick Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Non- Diegetic - Music Diegetic - Ambient		Loud Volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Quest, Short story, Biography, Closed Narrative Drama - Life Story
This is Me	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Hospital Equipment Toy Aeroplane	Hospital Garden	High-key	Shallow	Swimming trunks Child clothes	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Cool, Bright Shallow Focus Framing High Angle Scale LS MS MCU CU Movement Zoom
	Editing
	Transitions Superimposition Cheat Cut Matches GM Duration Quick Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Contrapuntal Sound		Diegetic - Speech Non-Diegetic - Music		Medium volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Short story, Biography, Closed Narrtive Drama - Medical, Comedy - British Humor
Surprise	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Mirror Bath Cake Glass	Bathroom	Threepoint	Shallow	Towels Underwear
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - B&W High Contrast Deep Focus Framing Bird's eye view High Level Low Level Scale LS MLS MS MCU Movement Steadycam Crane shot
	Editing
	Transitions Reversed sequence Matches Duration Long Take Style Continuity Editing
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Non-Diegetic - Music		High Volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Short story, Closed Nartive Drama -Tragedy
Lovefield	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Crow Sign Knife Car	Farming Fields	High-key	Deep	American farmer	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Dark, Neutral Shallow Focus Framing Low Level Low Angle Scale ELS MLS MS MCU CU Movement Tracking Pan Tilt Crane Shot
	Editing
	Transitions Cheat Cut Matches Duration Long Take Quick Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel sound		Non-Diegetic - Music, Crow Diegetic - Ambient Synchronous Sound		High Volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Short story, Tall Tale, Closed Narrative Horror - Classic Horror, Drama - Melodramas
Loop	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Blood Phone Cup Coffee	Kitchen	High-key	Deep	Pyjamas Police	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Neutral Shallow Focus Framing Low level High Angle Worm level Bird's Eye View Scale LS MS MCU CU Movement Tracking
	Editing
	Transitions Cheat Cut Matches Duration Quick Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Diegetic - Ambient		Medium volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Short story, cyclical, Closed Narrative Drama - Life Story, Horror - Macabre
Desserts	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Eclair Fish hook	Beach Sea	High-key	Deep Frontality	Red Coat	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Dull Shallow Focus Framing Low Level High Angle Scale ELS LS MS MCU CU Movement Tracking Tilt Pan
	Editing
	Transitions Cheat Cut (Re)Establishing Matches ELM Duration Long Take Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Non-Diegetic - Music Ambient		Quiet volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Captive, Tall tale, Closed Narrative Horror - Macabre
Tick Tock	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Box	University Halls Outside	High-key	Deep	Casual clothes	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Dull, Natural Deep Focus Framing Following Shot Scale MLS MS MCU Movement Steadycam Tracking
	Editing
	Transitions Reversed sequence Matches Duration Long Take Style 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Diegetic - Speech Non-Diegetic - Music Ambient		Loud Volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Quest, Short story, Reversed, Open narrative Drama - Love story.
'Ronan's Escape'	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Sandwich Football Bell Bird Baton	School Gym Bus Field	High-key	Deep Offscreen	School uniform	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Bright, Warm Shallow Focus Framing High Level High Angle Low Level Ranking Focus Scale ELS LS MLS MS MCU CU ECU Movement Tilt Tracking Steadycam Crane
	Editing
	Transitions Cheat Cut Cross Dissolve (Re)Establishing SRS Matches Duration Slow Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Diegetic - Speech Non-Diegetic - Music Ambient		Slow Tumbre Medium volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Short story, Biography, Closed Narrative Drama - High School, Life Story
Love Sick	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Car Baby Bus Bike	Park City Cafe	High-key	Shallow	Casual clothes Suit	Typage Comical
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - Bright Shallow Focus Framing Low Level Bird's Eye View Scale LS MS MCU CU Movement Tracking Pan Tilt
	Editing
	Transitions Cross Dissolve Cheat Cut Matches MoA Duration Quick Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Non-Diegetic - Music Voice Over Ambient		Loud Volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Fantasy, Quest, Short story, Closed Narrative Comedy - Teen/Teen Sex Comedies, Screwball Comedies, Drama - Love
Within Temptation	Mise-en-scene
	Decor	Setting	Lighting	Space	Costume	Acting
	Toy Grenade	Bedroom	High-Key	Shallow	Smart Clothes	Typage
	Cinematography
	Quality Colour - B&W Shallow Focus Framing High Angle Bird's Eye View Scale LS MS MCU CU Movement Tracking
	Editing
	Transitions Reverse sequence SRS Matches Duration Quick Rhythm Style Continuity Editing 180 Rule
	Sound
	Sound Editing		Source		Qualilty
	Parallel Sound		Diegetic - Speech Non-Diegetic - Music		Loud Volume
	Narrative / Genre
	Myth, Realistic fiction, Open Narrative. Drama - Tragedy, Social Problem Film, Horror - Macabre

Periods and Deadlines for completion.

Below are the list of dates and periods that certain specific criteria need to be met by to complete the coursework on time.

Research - 18th June - 30th September 2012
Planning - 1st October - 17th November 2012 (both main and ancillary tasks)
Production - 19th November 2012 - 18th January 2013
Post-production - 1st December 2012 - 31st January 2013

Draft deadlines for both main and ancillary tasks.

First Draft - 15th December 2012
Second Draft - 7th January 2013
Third Draft - 18th January 2013
Final Draft - 31st January 2013

Product should have been complete on 31st January 2013 (& on my blog).
Evaluation should have been complete by 1st March 3013 (& on my blog).

All the dates are flexible however the product and evaluation completion dates must be completed on the dates given, as they are the dates that our teacher has given us so he can mark and assess each of our products in the needed time frame. Therefore I must meet these deadlines for my coursework to be graded and assessed.

Magazine Film Review - Codes & Conventions

As well as researching into the codes and conventions of the film poster, another ancillary task, that needs to be completed is a film review for a magazine. This again meant that I needed to research and investigate into current magazines to understand how they were composited together and what features were unique to the review. I bought and investigated into the film reviews from "Total Film" and "Empire Magazine". I have analysed four reviews from both magazines these being the double page, single page, half page, and column size review. This will give me a foundation understanding for the key and necessary elements for a review, as the column size is smaller and therefore the key elements are necessary, where as the double spreads, being larger will use more sophisticated, second or tertiary elements will be used.

Images: From analysing all eight reviews one of the key elements to engage the audience is to include a image of the film. This image should be taken from the film and reflect and connote the films genre and cinematic style. The image is usually positioned at the top left hand corner of the review as it is usually the first place the audiences eye is attracted to and therefore should suggest and reveal to the audience the type of film, and should also engage them. The image size is relational to the amount of content that is in text body and should feel all the free and available space on the page.

Title: The title should be positioned below the image and is usually the largest font on the page, and therefore is the most significant and also the next element the audience looks at after the image. However the style of fonts and sizes is all relational to the house style of the page with some magazines using the san serif and other using serif font.


Text Body: Text body takes up the largest amount of relatives space on the page, however is usually in the smallest font. In all the reviews that I have looked at the text body has been designed and laid out in columns to feel the available space. The style matches the house style of the page and usually reflects the same style as the title however being in a smaller font.


Rating: On every review I looked at there was a rating to indicate how good or bad the film was. In all of the reviews there was a star rating (1 to 5) indicating how goods or bad the film is. Depending on the magazine this was either positioned at the beginning of the review below the title or at the end of the review, after the text body.


Other (background) information: On all of the reviews they had to some extent some background information about the film, such as the director's name, the release date, the cast, and the certificates (etc). This was usually in the same style as the text body but positions in different places according to what magazine reports. For example "Total Film" positioned the further information at the end of their review whereas "Empire" positioned it at the beginning of the review.


Author's name: Of all 8 reviews there was the authors name of the article at the bottom of the page positioned within the text body at the end of the last sentence. Though it was positioned in the text body this style of font was similar with the major difference being that it was a bold font separated from the main content.


Verdict: On every review there was a verdict or conclusion summarising what they commented on within the text body giving the audience and overview and final summery to take away from the article. This was positioned in all the reviews at the end, after the text body.

After investigating into the current code and conventions of a film review I have a much better understanding of the needed and necessary elements that are usually used in a traditional review. Now I can go away and start to consider how I would like my review to be designed and composed, however I still feel that I need to investigate into the style of writing a review with researching into the actual written content of the text body. This will help me and support me in my writing as I will begin to understand the structure and necessary language that is used in writing a review, opposed to a commentary or essay style of writing.

Film Poster - Codes & Conventions

For my project, as well as making a short film I need to make some ancillary tasks, one of these is a poster for my short film. Therefore I feel that I need to understand the codes and conventions of film posters to be able to create one of my own. This will have to be predominantly primary research that will focus on me finding and analysing 15 posters and concluding what elements they all have in common therefore I can use these common elements in my own creation. I also will be taking part in second dairy research into understanding the different types of film posters and any other information I can find.

Primary Research into the Code & Conventions of film posters.

Film Names:

Position: Centre at the bottom or lower third of the poster

Font: Conventionally a san serif font that reflects the genre of the film.

Size: Larger text on the poster

Colour: Contrasts the background colour and standout as the most dominant part of the poster

Actor(s) Names:

Position: Either around the actor head on the poster or above/below the title of the film.

Font: Conventionally a san serif font that matches the title font.

Size: The second largest font on the poster with the surname being larger then the first name.

Colour: White or matches the colour of the title.

Main Images:

Objects: The majority of posters contain floating heads of the main character/actors which key scenes/landscape or props that revealed the films genre.

Represented: The majority of posters are represented photographically instead of graphically, or illustratively. However older film poster are illustratively or graphically represented.

Tagline/Slogan:

Position: The conventional position for the tagline is at the top of the poster in the centre.

Font: Conventionally a serif font that is like the font style Trajan.

Size: Is the smallest size font on the poster apart for the cast and crew at the bottom of the poster.

Colour: White or matches the colour of the title.

Cast & Crew:

Position: Positioned at the bottom of all posters and centre to the middle of the page.

Font: Conventionally a san serif font.

Size: Is the smallest size font on the poster.

Colour: Grey or a dark colour that does not distract from the main content.

Secondary Research into of film posters.

Types of posters:

Teaser poster - This poster contains basic information to whet your appetite. It often does not indicate much about the plot, but may have a picture of the stars, and the name of the film.

Main theatrical poster - This contains information about the production personnel, the stars, and the distributors.

Video/DVD release poster - This one comes out when the film is released on DVD/video and often has all of the above plus short, one line reviews from relevant publications.

Genre poster - eg an action film will nearly always have images of guns/weapons, a Romance will always have the 2 lovers in very close physical proximity... etc...

Character poster - this one features the main character. Remember that the posters could be a combination of two types.

Teaser Poster The Hobbit (2012) Peter Jackson

Main Theatrical Poster Angels & Demons (2009) Ron Howard

DVD release poster The King's Speech (2010) Tom Hooper

Genre poster Hot Fuzz (2007) Edgar Wright

Character poster Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) David Yates

Unconventional Film Posters

The Truman Show (1998) Peter Weir

True Grit (2010) Carter Burwell

The Social Network (2010) David Fincher

The Matrix Reloaded (2003) Andrew Paul Wachowski, Larry Wachowski

Font for Film Posters

Reflection

After researching into film posters I have now been able to understand and gather together the main elements of film posters, that when combined together will create a recognisable advertise meant for a film. I can now take these elements and create my own poster for my short film that audiences will be able to engage with and hopefully interest and intrigued them about my short film. 

However I do not feel that my research is finished with as I don't have a full understanding of the  conventions for film posters as each genre had it's own conventions. Therefore I feel that I need to choose the genre that my short film will take and therefore again research the codes & conventions for a short film poster based around the genre e.g. Comedy.

References:

Websites:

Ferguson., K. (2007). Trajan is the Movie Font. [Online] Youtube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t87QKdOJNv8&feature=player_embedded [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Portchester School. (2011). Film Posters. [Online] Youtube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSTzM8p4tVE [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Dogberry. (2007). Analysing Film Posters. [Online] Blogger. Available from: http://asanda2filmstudies.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/analysing-film-posters.html [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Dogberry. (2010). How To Analyse a Film Poster. [Online] Blogger. Available from: http://asanda2mediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/how-to-analyse-film-poster.html#uds-search-results [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Wilson., K. (2000-2011). Analysing Movie Posters. [Online] Media Know All. Available from: http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/bbustermovies/movies.php?pageID=posters [Accessed 11 August 2012].

(2011). Top 10 Movie Poster Artists. [Online] My Favorite Waste of Time. Available from: http://myfavoritewasteoftime.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/top-10-movie-poster-artists/ [Accessed 11 August 2012].

Codes and conventions

Codes and conventions govern the way in which signs are chosen and combined.

For example , newsreaders sitting behind a desk as part of the set is a 'convention' of TV news. The choice of desks available, the meanings they create for viewers, and the way they fit in with other choices in the programme are all part of a 'code'. Conventions are the rules which describe predictable patterns. They govern which patterns a re normally appropriate, and can also predict the meanings which the patterns convey. A code is a sign, or system of signs, such as dress, speech or music, that make sense when arranged by a set of rules, or conventions, about how they are organised, for example conventional narratives (structured story lines) or themes (controlling ideas).

Consider as an example the filming of interviews. The traditional code of a TV or documentary film interview is to combine shots of the interviewee with occasional cutaways to the interviewer. The convention is that the shots of the interviewer show the putting of questions and the listening role the interviewer plays for the viewer. Behind the scenes in production, the interviewer shots are usually filmed separately, often after the interview has finished. The listening shots are called 'noddy shots' and are used to disguise edits.

Conventions can be broken and new or alternative codes set up . Recently some documentary film-makers have been making interviews breaking the traditional rules above. For example, they have been keeping the interviewee in shot throughout the interview and asking questions from behind the camera. This offers an alternative to the traditional interview code, and is developing its own conventional meaning as a new documentary technique.


References:
Books:
Nicholas, J., Price, J. (1998). Advanced Studies in Media. Nelson