Today's Lesson - 17/11/09

Loglines - Today we started on our second unit of work; Pitch and Pre-production. As you can probably tell from the name that there are two main parts to this task. We started looking at the first part wich is the Pitch. We'll look in more detail in the next lesson about how to write a whole pitch but for now we were looking log lines.

So what is a logline? A logline is pretty much this: a single sentence summarising the main story of a film. We looked at a few examples (see below) but then tried to improve our loglines by using carefully chosen adjectives. This is important because a successful pitch needs to grab the audience's (usually the studio or producer who will make your film) straight away.

Read through the example of The Wizard of Oz to see how it works.

After a twister transports a lonely Kansas farm girl to a magical land, she sets out on a dangerous journey to find a wizard with the power to send her home.

Here's the examples from the board to help you:
1. A giant shark terrorizes a seaside community, only a police officer afraid of the sea can save the day.
2. A masked serial killer returns to his childhood town to reek havoc and spread terror.
3. A roguish pirate seeks to recapture his ship from the hands of a mysteriously cursed crew.
4. An elderly man heads off for adventure in memory of his wife, unaware that he has company in the shape of an annoying young boy.

You then had a go at writing your own and I was really pleased with the results.

In other news, firstly there is nothing wrong NOTHING AT ALL with crying at Pixar's Up. OK? You've got to remember that this is one of the best movies of the year (second at the moment only behind Star Trek, which I'm rewatching soon, so I'll let you know if it stands up), and it's meant to be emotional. And funny. It really is very good. Talking of things that are good (well lets hope so), you really need to see the 'Where the Wild Things' trailer (go here: http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/), now how good does that look? Very, is the simple answer.

Today's Lesson - 07/10/09

You should now have finished the analysis sheet for the clip you have chosen. This is really important because it will help when you write your essay. If you haven't finished this it'll need doing before next week's lessons. Remember, you have to write a 350+ word essay on your sequence, I'll put the help sheet on the samples drive and have copies of the A* essay available for you next week.

I was expecting your research sheets today but unfortunately no-one had theirs with them. Just to remind you, you should have completed your research (use the sheets on the samples drive) BEFORE next lesson, because I'd like to give you some feedback before I see you as a class. If you are not sure what to do or can't find information come and see me, email me or leave a comment on the blog.

Also, if you still haven't brought your trip money into me can I have it ASAP so that I can book the seats at the IMAX.

Today's Lesson - 30/09/09

More research today. Can I remind you that this needs to be completed for next Wednesday. Use the example form the samples drive to help you. Can I also remind you that you need a DVD of whichever film you have chosen to analyse. This needs to be with you next Tuesday and Wednesday in class. If you haven't got a copy then let me know and I'll try to sort you a copy (don't leave it until Monday to mention this, please!). Can I further remind you that reply slips for our jaunt to Bradford need to be with me by Friday 16th so that I can book the tickets with the museum.

We'll be watching Disney's new version of A Christmas Carol (I'm guessing it'll end happily and that the third ghost, you know the scary one, doesn't whip a machine gun out from under his robes and kill EVERYBODY!!). Remember folks this is in 3D! (anyone seen 3D yet? Any good?) and in IMAX! So its all very exciting indeed. See the trailer here:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/a-christmas-carol/trailer

This of course is another attempt at Mo-Cap (motion capture) that the director, Zemeckis, used on both The Polar Express and Beowulf. I'm still not sure that this is the future of cinema, as some of it looks ace whilst other bits (the eyes, their dead eyes!) are a bit ho-hum.

If I get chance I'll put another example of a research sheet, that I've done this time, on the samples drive. I will, of course, let you know when I've done this.

Today's Lesson - 29/09/09

Today we started on our first piece of coursework; your research on a film of your choice. We will continue this tomorrow. There are three parts to the research you need to do.

1. Production - who made the film, when and where.
2. Distribution - who put the film into cinemas and how did they advertise the movie
3. Exhibition - which cinemas was the film shown in (did the locals show it?), how long for and how much money did it make?

Like I say, we'll finish the research tomorrow (and at home if needed). I'll put up an example to show you after tomorrow's lesson.

Keep thinking about which are the worst films you ever seen. See the comments on the last post for some suggestions!

Today's Lesson - 22/09/09

Today we talked a bit about what you will have to do for your first coursework piece. There are two parts to the assignment:

1. Research the production and distribution of a film of your choice.
2. Analyse a key sequence from your film

I'm going to ask you again tomorrow for your choice. Choose carefully, think about a film that you know well and feel happy talking about. In preparation for this, we spent the lesson analysing a scene from 'Titanic' (1997, James Cameron). We looked at the sequence when the boat starts to tip up and Rose and Jack have to make their way to the top of the boat. We're going to practice with another scene tomorrow, not from 'Titanic' but 'Poseidon' (2006, Wolfgang Petersen), just to keep the whole soggy theme going!

The other thing we briefly talked about was the worst films you've ever seen. We're going to play a little game to see what is the worst film any of us has seen. Now I'm not talking about the rubbish and the shoddy, I'm talking about films that are so bad, so utterly terrible they make your eyes itch! So woeful that you can no longer watch. Maybe you've walked out on a film, maybe you've sat through a right old load of dreck with friends or family. I'm not interested in films that you don't like - that's a matter of opinion, I may have not liked Transformers 2, but its not a BAD film, just not very good. In my opinion. No, I want to hear from you about the films that looked like they've been put together over a weekend by a bunch of people who did not have a clue what they were doing. My nomination? 'Domino' (Tony Scott, 2005). Cor its rough, really rough. The whole thing is a mess and, as far as I can see utterly pointless. Its shot like the cameraman was having an epileptic fit and edited so fast that it becomes very difficult to say what is happening. In fact this may be the point, nothing IS happening and the director is merely trying to hide this fact. Dreadful.

Anyway let me know what are the worst things you've seen, either in class or post a comment on the blog.

Today's Lesson - 15/09/09

Today we started doing some research into what people like and dislike about films and going to the cinema. I asked you to write ten questions to ask to ten people. Research like this is important as it allows the studios who make the films (and films cost a LOT of money, so they have to get it right!) to understand what films people are watching and what they like. They will do market research to find this out, but the most useful information for the studios is the 'box office'. This records the amount of money a film has made from ticket sales in a week. You can go to www.boxofficemojo.com to find out the weekly and all-time charts.

Next lesson you will be summarising your results.

HP 6... Finally

So, last night I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and very good it was too. As far as I can see this installment is up there with Azkaban in terms of the series' best. I thought the first half was excellent with loads of laughs, mostly at Ron's expense. This got me thinking, a lot of the humour in the first half comes from teenage awkwardness surrounding burgeoning relationships and in many ways it felt like an American teen-comedy, but how many British comedies like this do we see? I can't think of one, sign Ron up for one quick!

The second half of the film was just as good but does seem to take more liberties with the book. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, films 1 and 2 are the most direct adaptations and are really slow, whereas Azkaban manages to find a clear path through the plot to deliver a strong film. So, back to 6: I don't mind the screenwriter and director changing things if it makes sense, so we'll have to wait and see why the Weasley's house gets torched and why Harry CHOSE not to intervene in the unfortunate event whilst in the book he CAN'T. We'll have to wait and see.

Finally, I saw the film in an single screen independent cinema in the Lake District (the Alhambra in Keswick http://www.keswick-alhambra.co.uk/). Small cinemas like this only get the prints a week or so after the big chains (Vue, Odeon, Cineworld) have finished with them. However, they are important because they allow people in smaller towns to see films they wouldn't otherwise get the chance to see. For instance yesterday's programme was: Ice Age 3 at 2pm, HP6 at 6pm and Bruno at 9pm. They also try to cater for their local area, sometimes showing older films, classics and often running films by local filmmakers too. More than just this, the tickets were cheap as was the coke and popcorn!

So here's to HP 6 (four stars me reckons) and also here's to independent cinemas, for offering a different choice.