development pack

CTK – A2 Media: Unit G324 Advanced Portfolio Coursework

Development

You have now been placed in to your production groups and it is time for the ‘Development’ stage of the filmmaking process. This is the first part of your project where you must begin to work as a team.

This is an exciting part of the film making process as you not only research the medium you are working in, but you also begin to think about the construction of your very own production!

There are EIGHT main areas you must cover for Development:

1. PROJECT BRIEF2. CREW PROFILES3. HORROR GENRE (SUMMER RESEARCH)4. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS – TRAILER5. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS – POSTER6. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS – MAGAZINE7. CONCEPTS8. TREATMENT

It is important to assign different tasks to the different members in your production team. This can involve a lot of work so share the workload. (Remember you are marked individually)


Crew Profiles

The first piece of work you upload on to your group website must be an overview of the project brief. To accompany the brief, the second piece of work to complete is your crew profiles.

How you present the crew profiles is completely up to you, but ensure you are as creative as possible (the examiners award creativity). You should include a group photo, as well as individual profiles on each production team member. These profiles should highlight what SKILLS each member will bring to the project, ensuring it is a success.


Horror Genre (Summer Research)

This section of your website is designated for the summer holiday homework that you were all individually set in June. How you display this work on your site is completely up to you.

Within your teams, you may have covered a range of areas relating to horror film such as:

The Horror Genre

Horror Theories

Horror Origins

Horror Film History

Specific Horror Films

Iconic Horror Characters


What is important is that there is no repetition on your website! All work presented to the examiner should reflect a group effort therefore you will need to combine all your summer efforts in to one presented outcome.

Remember, the examiners want you to be as creative as possible: PowerPoint’s, images, videos, sketches etc.


Movie Teaser Trailer - Textual Analysis

Before completing a movie trailer textual analysis you must include:

1. The Film Title: 2. Year of Release: 3. Director: 4. Production/Financing company: 5. Principle Cast: 6. Films Origin/Info: Adaptation? Sequel? Franchise? Re-make? 7. Synopsis: What is the film about? (100 words max)

There are certain areas that should help you to pull apart a trailer and analyze its contents. Remember, what are the connotations? Everything that is put into a trailer is put there for a reason, what do they all connote?

Mise-en-Scene: Lighting, NVC, Setting, Costumes, & Props. Sound: Diegetic, Non-Diegetic, Sound Effects, Voiceover, Score/Incidental Music. Camera Angles & Movement. Shot Size (ELS, LS, MLS, MS, MCU, CU or ECU).

Genre: what type of horror sub-genre is it? Does the trailer have its own style and iconography that is common to a particular film genre? Are distinct genre features reflected in the Mise en scene of the video? Narrative: how is the story told? Is this narrative presented in a fragmented, non-linear order? Do you think this has been done to create mystery and leave the viewer with a desire to see the film being advertised?Location: how does the trailer reveal location? What clues tell you so?Characters: Who is portrayed in the trailer? How are they represented? Why? Do they support genre conventions?Voice Over: is there narration? If so, what is the style?Theme: identify at least one theme based on the trailerPacing: how is the trailer paced (fast, slow?) Does the pace change? What impact might pacing have?)On-Screen Graphics/Captions: what kind of info is revealed? What is the style of captions (font, colour etc.)?Editing & Post-Production (special effects) : What form of editing is used? If fast cuts are used, why? Does the soundtrack tempo drive the editing? Are digital effects or CGI used? What pleasure does this create for the audience?Music & Other Sound Effects: what role do they play? Upbeat or Slow? Haunting tones?Camerawork: Does camerawork convey particular meanings? (Shot size/ camera movement/ camera angle)

Questions to consider:

1. How does the trailer begin and end? Was it effectively edited?2. What film studio is releasing the trailer? What do you know about them & their previously released films?3. Why is this trailer being played before the release? What is its purpose?4. Do trailers tell you everything you need to know about the film? (Where can you get more information?)

Use the following sites to find examples of film trailers:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/trailerparkhttp://uk.filmtrailer.com/http://www.youtube.com/

http://www.youtube.com/

http://uk.filmtrailer.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/trailerpark

http://www.apple.com/trailers/


Movie Poster - Textual Analysis

Before completing a movie poster you must include:

8. The Film Title: 9. Year of Release: 10. Director: 11. Production/Financing company: 12. Principle Cast: 13. Films Origin/Info: Adaptation? Sequel? Franchise? Re-make? 14. Synopsis: What is the film about? (100 words max)

There are certain areas that should help you to pull apart a poster and analyze its contents. Remember, what are the connotations? Everything that is put into a poster is put there for a reason, what do they all connote?

Mise-en-Scene: Lighting, NVC, Setting, Costumes & Props. Camera Angles. Shot Size (ELS, LS, MLS, MS, MCU, CU or ECU). Main Image/Composition/Layout: Symmetrical/Asymmetrical. Focus: Soft/Harsh/Depth of Field. Colour: Connotations of Different Colours. Anchorage: Words/Captions, which help to understand context of the image. Type of Font:

o Serif fonts (small caps/feet/flick ups- connote tradition/old fashioned).o Sans Serif fonts (no flick ups, and generally connote a more modern feel).

Conventions: Does the movie poster follow any conventions of a specific genre of film?

Mood: Try to get a sense of the mood the poster conveys. Grim films tend to use disturbing images intended to evoke fear or anxiety. Epic movies convey a sense of grandeur, such as broad landscapes or a ship in outer space.

Font/Names: Presentation of film stars. If names appear above the title, or faces are prominently featured, the studio wants you to know who's in it. Posters with no names, abstract imagery, or unknown characters, are selling something other than the cast.

Credits: Look at the film's release date. Many movie campaigns slowly roll out their coverage, and the period of time before the opening may clue you in to how the studio wants you to feel. "Teaser" posters released early will often be mysterious or intriguing, intended to entice your curiosity without revealing too much. Posters later in the campaign will be more explicit, possibly revealing details about the plot.

Colour: Pay attention to the colour scheme. Harsh or intense colours tend to represent a moody or dark film, while comedies will have brighter, more upbeat colours.

Tagline: Consider the tag line or catch phrase. Action films stress excitement & adrenaline. Novel based films may tout the original book, while films by successful directors or producers may emphasize their earlier works.

Quotes: Examine quotes on the poster. Movie posters love to cite various different critics praising their film. The advent of the Internet, however, has rapidly increased the number of critics out there, and some are more reputable than others. Praise from Empire magazine, the New York Times, or the Wall Street Journal carries an air of respectability. Films that have fewer good reviews to choose from will often look further down the ladder for good quotes, citing sources you may be less familiar with.


Movie Magazine Front Cover - Textual Analysis

Mise-en-Scene: Lighting, NVC, Setting, Costume & Props.

Camera Angles. Shot Size (ELS, LS, MLS, MS, MCU, CU or ECU). Main Image/Composition/Layout: Symmetrical/Asymmetrical.

Text/Typography/Masthead/Cover-lines, Dateline/Barcode/Selling Line (USP)/Left Third.

Type of Font: Serif fonts (small caps/feet/flick ups- connote tradition/old fashioned). Sans Serif fonts (no flick ups, and generally connote a more

modern feel).

MASTHEAD (LOGO) The name of the magazine displayed in the typeface in which it is designed. This is the visual branding of the title and is often done in a specially designed typeface to be very recognisable & unique. The masthead is usually used on the contents page inside as well as the front cover, & as a logo for advertising/branding purposes.

DATELINE Month and year of publication, often with the price. Note that a monthly magazine usually hits the newsstands the month before the cover date.

MAIN IMAGE In the case of this front cover there is a single image of the character ‘Hellboy’. The image is used in a classic way, the face is big enough to stand out on the newsstand, with the model making full eye contact.

MODEL CREDIT/MAIN COVER-LINE

This says: 'You and Whose Golden Army?' This makes reference to the release of the new ‘Hellboy’ film ‘The Golden Army’. The photographer and model credit is usually on the contents page.

COVER-LINES Empire magazine uses a lot of cover lines, which are distributed around the main image without detracting from it. A mistake often made is cover-lines that run over an image that has many colour changes in it, rendering the words invisible.

LEFT THIRD The left third of the magazine cover is vital for sales in shops where the magazine is not shown full-frontage. The title must be easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. The start of the masthead is important here, as are short cover lines that are easy to read.

BAR CODE Standard bar code used by retailers

SELLING LINE Short, sharp description of the title's main marketing point or perhaps setting out its editorial philosophy.


Concepts

The concepts task requires each production team to pitch three-four possible ideas for a film (teaser trailer). As a group, you present each concept to your class in as much detail as possible, ensuring they are clearly and concisely explained. It will then be down to your class to vote for their favourite concept, and it will be this winning idea that becomes your trailer.

Individually, you should all have one concept that was constructed during the AS/A2 induction to pitch.

Pitches must include: A working title, sub-genre of horror, tagline, film influences, synopsis, and character overview(Propp’s theory applied), equilibrium /disequilibrium/resolution (Todorov’s theory applied).

Remember, the examiners want you to be as creative as possible: PowerPoint’s, images, videos, sketches etc.


Treatment

WHAT IS A TREATMENT?

A treatment is essentially a breakdown of your movie/TV production. It can be anything from a single page, to twenty pages (or even more, depending on the density of the script). A treatment is a blueprint for a screenplay. In essences, a treatment is a Short Story, covering the basic ideas and issues of the production as well as the main characters, relationships, locations, and story angles.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A TREATMENT?

There are two major purposes of a treatment. Initially, as a device for the writer to organise their thoughts and develop the texture of a script. Secondly, to sell the proposed movie to a commissioning editor, financial backers, or major stars. It is often presented in the form of a pitch, explaining why proposed financiers should invest their money in to your idea, it has to be impressive! Treatments are written in the present tense, concise, attention getting, and interesting to read.

HOW TO WRITE A TREATMENT?

Your treatment should read as a short story, in detail, stage-by-stage as it unfolds. It reveals the full story sequence and its structure, key scenes, the main and secondary character personalities, relationships, and how they change and develop. Treatments have different functions: a writer may compose a highly detailed treatment in preparation for the first draft, but this will have to be scaled down to meet requirements of busy producers and development execs.

TREATMENT CHECKLIST

Production Team Name: Include Logo Movie Title (Working Title): Title can change through Production stages. Tag Line (If Appropriate): Quote, one line/phrase from/about the film. Format: TV program, video, film, trailer, advert etc. Genre: Include sub-genre if appropriate. Tense: Always present tense. Intended Audience: Who do you think will enjoy your proposal?


Synopsis: Outline of story, angle, and summary of main events, similar the back of a DVD cover (50 words).

o SAMPLE - ROCKY (1976): Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time. Working in a meat factory in Philadelphia for a pittance, he also earns extra cash as a debt collector. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become a "somebody". The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time

Characters: Profiles and relationships between other characters.o SAMPLE: ROCKY (1976): Robert Balboa is a Roman Catholic Italian-American boxer, living in the slums of

Philadelphia in 1975. ‘Rocky’, as he is known, begins dating Adrian Pennino, a shy pet shop worker. Rocky worships her and will do anything to give her a better life. Adrian is the younger sister of Rocky’s best friend Paulie. Paulie is a drunk, and is often horrible to both Adrian and Rocky. Despite this, Rocky will always look out for him. Lastly there is Rocky’s trainer Mickey Goldmill. Mickey is old, but an expert within boxing. Rocky greatly respects and cares for him. Rocky gets his big break to fight the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion, Apollo Creed. Although Rocky respects Apollo as champion, their relationship becomes strained as Rocky feels he can not only compete, but win.

Dialogue: None! Style: Concise, vivid, evocative; keep text simple & visual. AVOID: abstract language, camera movement/angles etc. Length: Hours/Minutes of proposal. Ratio: If your script is 100 pages and your treatment is 10 pages, then 1 page of treatment = 10 pages/minutes of

script. Keep to this proportion. Rewrite: As with a script, you need to do a number of drafts of your treatment. Each draft should concentrate on

cutting away all unnecessary detail and making the story as vivid and engaging as possible. Less is more! Locations: Possible early thoughts on places to shoot.

WHAT THE PRO’S SAY

“The most common phrase in Hollywood is not ‘Let’s do lunch.’ the expression you’ll most often hear in production, studio, and agency offices is: ‘OK, send me a treatment.’ Michael Halperin - Writing the Killer Treatment

“Treatments can be a poisoned chalice. They are enormously difficult to write, a nightmare, &they only give you a sense of the movie. The problem is: you can’t write a script before a treatment.” Adrian Hodges - Screenwriter

“This treatment not only tells the story, but it sells the story. It is a market piece. You write it for producers, talent, and directors - you want them to love the story. You want them to say, ‘What a great concept! Let me read the script!’” David Trottier - The Screenwriter’s Bible

“A treatment may not get a project made, but if it’s good and interesting it will at least get you an interview with the powers that be.” Allon Reich - Channel 4 TV/Film

“An outline is for you; a treatment is for them… the creation of a treatment is almost a required step in selling your script.” Howard Jay Smith - Opening the doors to Hollywood

If you are serious about making it as a Film/TV screenwriter, best to master the craft of writing treatment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Goldmill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia

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