Thursday 27 February 2014

Final Changes

Our final changes to the film were made after some final audience research with several target audience members. The main change being that we have put facts about autism at the beginning of the film. We did this to enhance the audiences understanding and give them a clear statistical relation to the film. We used facts poignant to the film like 'In a UK study of families with autism, one in three were single parents.' A fact like this tells the audience that our film is about autism and that we are dealing with a single parent, immediately setting up thew precipice for the film.

HH

Monday 17 February 2014

Poster Motif

We have created three film posters, each varying greatly in style, however there are a few coherent motifs and symbols that we have used to directly link them.

1. The title, each poster has the same 'cut-out' title font that Theo designed

 
 
 

2. Each poster has the Rubik's cube on it

3. The billing block is the same font on each poster and in the same order

4. The collage theme, each poster somewhat resembles a collage made by a child

5. The font, the same font is used (Avenir Next) for the names of each actor on all posters



We have then added awards to the landscape poster which has the most space and clear definition for them, whereas other posters such as the plain red one give more intrigue toward the film and tell us less about it but after seeing the film you can see the clear resemblance.

We are going to check the final posters with some potential audience members and the pair that we used for audience research before making the film and then add finish them based on the feedback we get. 

Monday 3 February 2014

Recording the Soundtrack

Cameron has now finished recording the four pieces we require for the film, a piece for the opening sequence at  the breakfast table, another for the meltdown sequence, the third for the section where the mother leaves the house and the last for the outdoor scene.

These are some of the influences we gave him and how we went about explaining to him. 
  • We recorded on a microtrack - using a Grand Piano in the theatre of our school to get a resonant sound and use a high quality instrument.
  1. For the breakfast scene we were inspired by the childlike music used in Disney Pixar films such as Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc



2. Then for the meltdown scene we wanted Camerons classical background to be at the forefront, we wanted that complex classical sound switching keys, melodies and crossing between major and minor to contrast with the simple family film style used in the first scene where order and simplicity is the key
  • We had less ideas as to exact pieces Cameron might replicate but more moods and tones we wanted to come across, we made it clear that the piece should build to a dramatic ending and should feel complex to listen to reflect what was happening on screen, we showed him the film several times so he might get a feel for what we wanted

3. For the transitional section where the child calms again and the mother decides to leave the house there should be a return to that first simple melodic tune that we used in the opening scene which will ironically contrast with the mother's choice to leave, the music should also feel like the sound coming from the TV, it cuts in just after the mother turns on the Tv
  • The influences we gave Cameron for this were young children's TV shows, this one specifically we thought captured the manic nature of the child and the volatility of the situation on screen


4. Then finally for the end scene with the mother outside we wanted to return to the classical music that had accompanied the meltdown, however we wanted it to have a more legato feel, we wanted the sound to feel more controlled and inevitable
  • again in this instance we didn't have any exact examples for Cameron but explained that this piece should be more emotive, we explained that the mother's situation was such that although she may want to just walk out there was no ability for her to do so and therefore the piece should not have hope, only a sense of fate and a clear path

HH

Poster Construction

To create a coherent marketing scheme, we have used the same motif/logo of the Rubik's cube in all of our posters, we also use the same fonts for the billing block, actor names and title font which was hand cut then scanned by Theo. This poster is our second that I've designed and it's based on the Marcel du Champ original 'nude descending a staircase' which here we've changed to 'child descending the staircase.' As this is an art house film we feel it's important to create innovative and creative posters that could be viewed as artworks as well as film posters. The blurred nature of the poster shows the slightly sinister nature of the story and hints at the autistic condition of the child. There is a collage theme to every poster we're creating. 




HH

Thursday 30 January 2014

United Film, Magazine Logo


This is the logo I have made for our magazine branding, the magazine is called United Film. The 'M' with the film reels makes up two people who are uniting - the film reels are their heads, also the top half  of their bodies is made to look like a clapperboard. These things all fit in with the title of United Film. I drew the logo on Adobe illustrator from a sketch that I did.

TB

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Treetop Inc. Ident Plan

I have created the tree for our ident in Adobe Illustrator. The top of the tree is in two halves which are a reflection of each other, I did this because I really liked the symmetrical look that it gave and it allowed me to make the tree more intricate within the time that I had.

These 4 screenshots are font tests using the fonts:
Chalet Comprime Milan 1960
Moon Flower Bold
Caviar Dreams
CF Alone On The Earth





Harry and I collectively decided that we preferred the font CF Alone On The Earth. We thought that the two more modern fonts didn't fit the style of the tree, and out of the other two agreed that Moon Flower was slightly too light-hearted and friendly whereas CF Alone On The Earth was more jagged and harsh which fitted the style of the tree perfectly.

I will now move each of the letters in the text so that they look as if they are sitting on the top of the roots. There is no full stop for this font since it is a demo font so I will also have to draw a full stop that fits the font's style.

Monday 27 January 2014

10 | So Far

The next few weeks are crucial in assuring the film, poster and magazine are completed. We have now finished a rough cut and are working on the close edit, we are also recording sound with Cameron this week who we briefed yesterday about potential ideas and influences, we gave him a list of examples from other films or songs we'd heard and liked that might be useful to him for inspiration.

As we get closer to the finish of the film on the 14th February it's become clear that the key element in getting the film to a standard it should be is audience reaction, showing it to people and asking what they think the narrative is and how they think it could be improved at all. We've been doing this once or twice a week since last week and will upload some results shortly, generally feedback seems to be that narrative is a little lost in the middle part (the breakdown) but that the motifs and continuity is pretty good, they also think that Amelie is captivating to watch! Which is exactly what we'd hoped for.

HH