Test Market

I put my film plot on Facebook, to see what my friends would think. They all like the idea of the film as you can see and can't wait to see it, this makes me more confident about my film and I now know that it will be successful.

wix website

Here is the link to my website, where I have planned my film

http://www.wix.com/lucydragon/film-plan

Time and equipment

I will shoot my film between 11 to 1, this will give me lots of time to film and to edit afterwards. I want to shoot early so if anything goes not to plain I will have lots of time to fix it also they will be less people walking around as its not pep time. I will to look up days when there will be a no rain as this will effect when I can film. I will film in the winter so there will be dead trees I can film this will make my film have a creepy feel to it.

I will need a tripod to make my shots look professional and camera so i can film it. I'm going to use the JVC Everio as its HD, has an SDXC card slot and features 40x optical zoom. I'm going using Imovie to edit and Garageband to make a soundtrack, these are both very easy software to use.

Planning film

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Style Influences

I found two youtube videos that are tributes to my 2 favourite directors, they show film clips of their films with music. I think these videos are great as they some up what type of director they are. They also inspire me to be like them as they have made some amazing films., that everyone can enjoy.

Michael Bay Tribute

ShoWest 2009 Michael Bay Tribute from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.

Steven Spielberg Tribute

My Target Audience

I have made a slide show of images, which are associated with my target audience. My target audiences are boys aged 16 to 18, having completed a research questionnaire my findings were that boys are more likely to visit the cinema than girls who preferred to read books.

It will be a challenge to produce a film for a different gender but I am motivated by this challenge. My film targets those who enjoy playing video games with their friends and eating lots of junk food and going to the cinema. They also enjoy astronomy; they will probably have a telescope and they may entertain ideas of aliens visiting our planet. Science is possibly a favourite subject in school.

My audience in the main will derive from upper working to middle class families with a degree of disposable income coming from either pocket money or a part-time job. They wear jeans and t-shirts, which carry humorous slogans or related to films like Star Wars. They are probably achievers so may wear glasses due to long hours of study. Musical tastes may be techno as it reminds them of sci fi.

Research of sci-fi films

Research of sci-fi films

The Thing (1982)

Rating - 18

Genre - horror, mystery and sci-fi

Director-John Carpenter

Plot - Scientists in the Antarctic find a shape-shifting alien and its ship.

District 9 (2009)

Rating - 15

Genre - action, sci-fi, thriller

Director - Neill Blomkamp

Plot - Aliens come to earth are forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth by the government

Alien (1979)

Rating - 18

Genre - horror, sci-fi

Director -Ridley Scott

Plot -A mining ship lands on a distant planet and the crew discovers some strange creature.

Description
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities.

Types of Sci-fi
A sci-fi film can have many sub genres as I found researching the film trailers. Some of the sub genres include horror, action, thriller, adventure and mystery.

Most famous sci-fi films
Star Wars, Inception, Terminator, Alien, Back To The Future, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Thing, District 9, Avatar, Jurassic Park, E.T, The Iron Giant and Transformers.

Famous sci-fi film directors

George Lucas, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay.

Conventions of a sci-fi film

Location
Most sci-fi films take place:
On a space ship (Alien)
On a different planet (Avatar)
In a City (Transformers)
In a isolated place (The Thing)
On a Island (Jurassic Park)
In a small town (The Iron Giant)

Character
Usually the main character is ether a young boy (E.T and Transformers) or an older man (Inception). It is rare that that they have a women as the main character (Alien)

Plot
Most sci-fi films are about aliens trying to take our planet/killing us all (War Of The Worlds). There are some films where the main character befriends the alien and helps them in some way, mostly to get them back home (Paul).

Props

Alien body parts/full suit, weapons, space ship sets, new technology, alien plants and rock ( for the alien planet).

Sounds

Here I is a video with the convention for sound in a sci-fi film.

By identifying what makes a film a sci-fi I now know how to create a realistic sci-fi film, in which involves the conventions of sci-fi.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

I want my target audience to be around my age, as it will be easier to ask them questions to find out what they like as I go to school. I made a questionnaire, to find out what people wanted from films so I could make my film to the best it can be. I had questions such as how often do you go to the cinema?, Whats your favourite genre?

I found out that boys watch more films than girls and they like to watch sci-fi/action/horror films. The girls told be they like reading better than watching a film. So I now know that my film will be aimed at boys and with be a sci-fi/action/horror film. I think it will be a challenge to make a film for the other sex but I'm looking forward to it.

Saving Private Ryan

This film opens with a tilt movement of the sea with titles telling us the date and location. This provides the audience with an understanding of the times in which the film is set.

Next violent shaking shots of the boats fighting against the power of the sea, this shaking has been done to give the audience a sense of being in the boat with the soldiers. A close up of a soldiers hand shaking has been use to demonstrate fear and create empathy for the character. The camera then follows the hand to the soldiers face and zooms out to show the other soldiers around him this has been done to show he’s not alone in his mission.

Soldiers are depicted vomiting which again creates empathy and a sense of hopelessness. Then a series of shots of different soldiers faces is shown so that we may absorb their individuality. The mise-en-scene of the some of the solders praying to god shows they are desperate to be granted mercy. Then the boat doors opens and the soldiers are immediately under fire. Some of the characters with whom the audience has connected are killed demonstrating the fragility of life.

There is a shot of the soldier jumping in the sea to avoid the bullets and the camera follows under water making the audience share in his plight to escape. Then the camera moves above the sea then bellows, this has been used to show how hard the war was. The camera moves along the top of the water showing men being killed, the camera shakes a lot making believe you are there and making you remember it was this real as it’s a true story. In the opening you also attach to the people but for little time as they get killed, this shocks the audience. Then the camera focus in Tom Hanks is character as he looks around trying to take everything in. The shots are all in slow motion making the audience feel shocked at what’s happening we see people crying, being burn alive, a man pick his own arm up. Then we go back to Tom Hanks he picks up his helmet from the bloody sea as he places the helmet on his head the blood drips down his face which he fails to notice as he struggles to comprehend the massacre that has just taken place.