Target Audience and Analysis 3

Un chien andalou

The film is largely known for being one of the most influential surreal films ever made. The film is seen as either a masterpiece or a disgusting load of clap trap.

86%  of people liked the film, also it received a 18 fresh and also 0 rotten rating.

This one of the reviews praising the film and looks at the elements of a dream and a nightmare, he tells the reader about how influential the film is and how its used in classes today. 

This is one of the opinions we are expecting to have to deal with, when our film is seen many people will express a sense of misunderstanding.

By Amy Greenaway

Target Audience and Analysis 2

  Requiem for a dream

The website rotten tomatoes gave 99 for fresh, but also 28 for rotten, overall 93% of people liked the film. many reviews had been written, I have selected 2 reviews from both points of views.

The reviewer feels the film  will stand the test of time and finds the film to be a dream state. He then goes on to say the dream like format, does not glamorize drugs and drug addicts in any way. 

Another review which does not follow the feeling of the review above. The reviewer feels the film is an experiment that went wrong, the cinematic approaches are weak and did not live up to the earlier picture, he also tells the audience to just say NO.

Requiem for a dream box office numbers  

US box office £2.5M this shows the box office was not very high as the film may not appeal to the mass audience, but the film has become a cult hit in its own riTarget Audience and analysis  Requiem for a dreamght.For our film the dream like style is a main style and focus in our story, but our film subject is not as  extreme as having a film about drugs and drug addiction. We will obviously not have such a full on message and story, our film will still be full of meaning and symbolism.       

   By Amy Greenaway

Target Audience and analysis 1

Review of Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

I have researched numerous websites, to find critical reviews and box office numbers. 

The well known website full of reviews and information on many films. The website's critics and audiences gave the film a 200 for Fresh and only a 16 for rotten. 93% of people who voted said they liked it. Here are some examples of reviews for the film:

The review gives the film a A-, the reviewer praises the originality of the film and wonders how no one thought of the idea before. The reviewer is interested in the way the characters emotions are expressed in such a thought provoking way.

The review below is not so complimentary, he talks about the weakness of some characters and tells us he does think the film had potential, but wasn't well executed.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind's box office numbers:

As you can see from the above the film was widely distributed and overall was accepted worldwide. The films US box office was £34.1M, this obviously shows the film appealed to a number of different people. The film is said to have surreal elements but it has restricted its content to appeal to the mass market, this is shown in the amount made though the film. 

But our short surreal film will obviously have a less hollywood feel to the film. Also we are not interested in the box office and market appeal to the same extent to the Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Being a low budget surreal film, we can play around with the content and be more brave with our ideas and story. 

By Amy Greenaway

Moodboard 1

By Amy Greenaway

9 Circle the strongest and clearest element of each review

Un Chien Andalou

Strongest element - Layout

Most people circled the main headings showing that they thought the strongest and best element of the review was the clear layout and 'easy-to-read' format. As you can see the layout is - 

Title

Star Rating

Plot

Review

Verdict

Burning Inside

Strongest element - Use of imagery

The majority of people circled the images and some wrote that they liked how the images were placed alongside the relevant section in the text. I think they work really well and help you to understand more about the film that you are reading about.

Money Never Sleeps

Strongest element - Rating

The people believed that the most strongest element was the rating and I very much agree as it is very clear and imediately gives you an idea of whether it is a film worth watching. Although this does not nessesarily relate to the reviewer's thoughts, the people who have voted have each written why which is a different and interesting way to show an online review.


By Rebecca Archer

8. Write the strongest element of each poster...

In the questionnaire, I asked people to circle which element of the posters they thought were the strongest. These elements were, Image, Font, Layout, Colours and Title as I thought this would cover the whole range and will mean we get the best and most effective results.

‘Salt’

Strongest element – Image
The image shows a close up of the main actress’ face in low lighting which is very effective in putting across the theme and general feel of this dark and mysterious film. The text is simple and white which also draws all of your attention to the image, which contains all of the colour of the cover. 

'Cloverfield'


Strongest element - Image
The image is clearly the most prominent element as the is little text to draw the attention away from it. It has been highly photoshopped to create a surreal and ghostly scene not only to interest a passer by but also to introduce the film as a action/sci-fi and give the viewer in idea of what to expect in the film. 





'Valkyrie


Strongest element - Layout
The is the strongest is the layout out of all of the covers and many of the elements have come together in the layout to create a different but equally interesting cover. It works well as the different lines represent the secret passages and rooms that the Nazi secret services used in WW2. Minimal colour has been used to portray the tough and intimidating characters, which is complimented by the bold font that the title is written in.



'This is England'


Strongest element - Image
The image of the characters and the era in which the film is set in is the main element of the film and therefore should be the first thing that you see on the cover. The cover clearly does this as all of the main characters are seen in the image. The main title has become part of the image which is effective and it is also links in which the character's outfit colours, red, white and blue which also conveys a sense of patriotism and Britishness which is a very prominent element in the film itself.


By Rebecca Archer

7. What is the most important element in a short film?

I asked this question to help us find out what spercific elements that we need to focus on when making and planning out surrealist short film.


By Rebecca Archer

6. In what magazine would you expect to read a review of a surreal short film?

This question made the most interesting and prominent results, I wanted to know which magazine would be of a suitable genre and theme and one which would be likely to publish a review of a surreal short film. 'Sight and Sound' came out the most popular with 85% of people believing it was the most suitable. Both 'Empire' and 'Total Film' seem to be the most common on the market whereas 'Sight and Sound' is not so well known, however people obviously know that it would contain different or surreal reviews. 

  I added a separate question asking 'Why?' they thought their choice was suitable and the ones that answered 'Sight and Sound''s results are shown below - 

• 'It's more arty'
• 'It's aimed more at quirky themes and is less mainstream'
• 'Sight and Sound is internationals and appreciated by many different film makers and film fanatics.'

By Rebecca Archer

5. What spercific features would you expect to see in a surreal short film?

I asked what specific features that you would expect to see in the hope to find out the common features in surrealist films of which we could look in to and explore the ways that we could incorporate them into our short film. The answers that people wrote were –

• Unusual Narrative structure
• Strange weird images
• Surrealist happenings
• Lots of interesting props
• Plenty of symbolisms
• Representatives of different themes and myths

By Rebecca Archer

4. Have you seen any surrealist films?

From the results, we can see that most people, 58%, have no seen any surrealist films where as 42% have. Again, this shows that surrealism is not as popular as other media forms or films however this will just mean that we will need to work harder on the poster and review to promote our film and make surrealist films a more popular and common theme in short films.


By Rebecca Archer

3. Are you aware of surrealist art or media forms?

The results showed that 42 people had seen or are aware of surrealist art or media forms and 58 did not. Althought less people knew than those that did, we wan still get a good idea of what these people know about it. Alongside the question, I asked ‘If so what?" and I have listed some of the answers that people wrote down - 

• Dali's paintings
• Andy Warhol's sitting people
• Rene Margritte's paintings

These are the surrealist forms that we were looking at originally which shows we are on the right track and the subject that we are focused on is known by the public and therefore, our short film will not be too far from what people can relate to.

By Rebecca Archer

2. What is your gender?

These results show that most of the people who filled out the questionnaire were female however there were also many male so this means that the results will be equil and won’t nessesarily sway to one gender’s preferences.  


By Rebecca Archer

1. How old are you?

From the results we can see that the majority of people who filled in the questionnaire were within the ages of 21-25 and the second most were 16-20 which suggests that many will be open minded and are likely to know of many different types of film and genres.


By Rebecca Archer 

Questionnaire Results Introduction

The questionnaire went really well and 100 were successfully filled out. I was really interesting to get them all back and work out all of the results. Above, you can see all of the results in pie charts and a short analysis of how they will help create the themes and ideas for out surrealist short film.

Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire I have made as part of the target audience section of the coursework. I wrote the questions to help us get a better idea of what people want to see in a short film and will therefore make the final product more popular and effective. I not only asked questions to help with the short but also to get useful information for he poster and the review. 

Article Analysis 4

Stille Nacht 1: Dramolet


The article i'm reviewing is about the short film Stille Nacht 1:Dramolet, the film is a surreal film and is artistic.The layout seems professional, as the text is clearly laid out and the text content is in depth and focused. The amount of writing may seem daunting, as it is quite a large amount of text and would not appeal to a young audience. The pictures are clearly laid out but not in an exciting way it seems very formal and a bit dull to look at. The amount of pictures is good as it shows the plot of the film. When producing a review page we will ensure that the screen shots we use are clear and link to our article. The articles length should be conservative and not to many words, on the other hand it shouldn’t be too brief in content.When putting in pictures we would ensure that the layout would have the text and pictures intertwined. When writing our article we want to keep the length at a reasonable size, making sure not to repeat ourselves or use overly simple language. But on our magazine page we will make sure its colourful and also that we could involve some extras, such as behind the scenes pictures.  Also i our review we could ask the audience magazine readers to give their opinion. These features would make the article more personal and also get the audience involved and film apart of the film.




By Amy Greenaway

Article analysis 3

"The Thieving Hand"


The article I have chosen to analyse is reviewing a surreal film called "the thieving hand" made in 1908. The review talks about comparing J.Stuart Blackton's previous work and then goes on to talk about the plot and content of the film. The writing content is reader friendly it is short but gets straight to the point. The text is in some parts maybe to brief it seems very rushed.  The pictures used are limited, as only 2 photos have been used. Also the pictures used could have more meaning to them and maybe have references. In our article we would use more screen shots to give a clear analysis and appeal to a large audience. The layout seems simple and rushed again, when producing our article we would have a cleaner layout. When putting in pictures we would ensure that the layout would have the text and pictures intertwined. When writing our article we want to keep the length at a reasonable size, making sure not to repeat ourselves or use overly simple language. But on our magazine page we will make sure its colourful and also that we could involve some extras, such as behind the scenes pictures.  Also i our review we could ask the audience magazine readers to give their opinion. These features would make the article more personal and also get the audience involved and film apart of the film.

By Amy Greenaway

Article Analysis 2

Un Chien Andalou (15) - Empire

Firstly, the structure of an article is one of the most important elements and it should clearly show the different sections to the review. In this review from Empire magazine, we can clearly see that the title of the film is at the top, them comes the rating that the writer has scored the film, then the plot to inform the reader of the film, to either remind them of the plot or give a brief outline if they have not seen it, the main review and then the simplified verdict to nicely wrap up the review.

   I like this format, as it is clear and easy to understand. The review itself seems to be quite short however I think it just right as the reader may loose interest, especially if they have not seen the whole film.  It is a well written review as it contains detailed information about the most prominent scenes in the film, such as the sharp razor and the woman’s eye. There is also a description of how they created the shot, ‘It’s an editing trick, using an animated shot of clouds slashing across the moon…’, which gives the reader a better idea of the style and genre of the film.

  The reviewer also writes a little about the directors, Bunuel and Dali and how they came up with the strange concepts in the film, which seems a fitting question to ask them, due to the genre. The verdict is an interesting feature which sums up the film in a single line.

   In conclusion, this is an interesting review that has all of the information that you need to know about the film and is split into helpful, easy-to-understand sections. However I would put either the cover of the film or a short clip to help the reader recognize the film if they saw it elsewhere.

• Make the review fairly short and relevant
• Clearly split up the sections
• Use a clear '5 star' rating for quick reference

By Rebecca Archer

Article Analysis 1

'Burning Inside' - Brutal as Hell


This article is considerably longer than the first, therefore we can expect it to be much more a detailed and in depth review.

   It begins with the title at the top, followed by the poster of the film and below that, the main information about the production of it including the studio it was made in, the Director, the main cast members and the name of the man reviewing the film.

    This is a fairly good introduction as you are aware of the style by the poster and of the main information from the beginning however if you had not seen the film before, you may feel lost as to what the film is about. This article could be improved by having a short introduction to allow the reader to get a feel for what type of film this long article is describing, before reading it. It does go into more detail later on as describes many different aspects of the film and also relates it to other films, " a lot of natural comparison to David Lynch's Eraserhead" which shows he has well analyzed the film and understands the different sides to film.
  However Patterson seems the write the article in first person which may be a little of putting for some people as it may be portrayed as a more subjective review as opposed to an objective one, which is more appropriate for a public article. There are also screenshots throughout the article bringing together the text and film.

• Don't write it in the first person
• Show the poster at the beginning 
• Use screenshots of the film clips throughout

By Rebecca Archer

Poster Analysis 4

"Bal"

The poster is of a young boys face but the colours in his face have been changed and saturated. Which as a group we like, we could really use colours to evoke emotions. Also looking past the boy his face is covered in another picture of trees, this ideas seems appealing to audiences as the image is not threatening or confusing. If we wanted to produce a poster in this style we could really play around with the colours and what picture to put behind the persons face. The picture we could use could be ants or petals, as these elements feature throughout our film ideas. That way we could incorporate a lot of symbolism or recurring themes to the audience. This technique will also have references to the film, but in a subtle way.


By Amy Greenaway

Poster Analysis 3

"Pandorum"


The poster I have chosen may not seem to reflect our surrealist film ideas, but using the raw elements of the poster is what we would use. The position of the arm, as a group interests us as we could incorporate our ideas. We could do this by having the arm in the same position, but we could put some ants on the arm. Salvador Dali and his work on decay influenced using ants in the poster. In the poster the name of the film is running along the arm, I don't think we would use this position of the title. Also the hand is gripping the air, this seems to strong and threatening. If we were to make the poster in this style, the hand would not be gripping the air, instead holding some petals; this would make the poster look softer and welcoming. This could be a great idea for a poster .


By Amy Greenaway

Poster Analysis 2

'abre los ojos'

I really like this cover as it is a simple concept gives the viewer a good idea of what the film is about. The fact that there are two images of the man suggests he has two personalities or that there are two sides to his story. It also links back to surrealism as it seems dreamlike and calm however the mysterious eyes appear through the main image, seemingly spying upon the viewer.

  The disjointed text that the title and sub-heading is written in brings a sense of confusion and informality which is enhanced by a similar part-transparent coded design that is seen across the whole poster.

  There is a small element of red in the title which connotes blood and danger but as it is not the most prominent part of the poster, you feel as if murder or death is in the film itself.

   There is more text on this poster however it does not distract you from the powerful imagery above. 

• Use simple imagery to good effect
• Use the title font to help convey the genre
• Minimal colour is equally effective

By Rebecca Archer

Poster Analysis 1

‘Un Chien Andalou’ – Louis Bendel & Salvador Dali

This is a poster from the Dali/Bendel surrealist film and we can see that the top half of the poster is an image from the film itself. This may look confusing for someone who has not seen it before, however if you have, it makes sense and allows you to make the link between the film and poster as this is a particularly surreal scene.

  It only shows the information that you need to know, the title and who it is by which is an interesting feature as many modern films have a lot of information on the poster. Our poster would need to have more information on it however I think we could design it to prioritise the most important elements of it.

  He colour scheme works well as the orangey tint makes it look aged and historic. It also looks dark and mysterious when used alongside the black bottom half, which compliments the high contrast in the image above. I think the fire makes it look more interesting however there are no special effects in the film so viewers may be mislead into thinking it is more of an action film.  

   The font of the text is 50’s style which helps transport the viewer to the eera in which the film was set. This is an interesting point which we will have to consider when deciding the font we want to use as it can tell a lot about the genre of film you are making.

• Clips from the film can look good on the cover
• Minimal text 
• Use space to the poster's advantage

By Rebecca Archer

Film Analysis 4

"Meshes of the afternoon"

The film i have chosen to analyse is the meshes of the afternoon, this film has influenced us as a group a lot, the whole feel and symbolism within the film has interested us as a group.The music used in the film is a simple guitar and flute and drums are used when something happens such as the flower being placed on the floor. We are hoping to produce are own music in a simple style using repetition of certain sounds with specific images throughout the film. Tracking shots are used along with very quick shots, when we make our film we want to include a variety of different cinematography techniques. In the film objects such as a flower and a key are objects that occur throughout. When making our film as a group we want to have flowers recurring from the start to the finish of our film. Towards the middle of the clip there is a extreme close up of a woman's eye. Eyes are a very emotive part of the face and we would use a close up when the girl in are film has headlights shining on her. This would be a good shot to have when expressing her fear of death. Towards the end of the film a man is wearing a black coat and has a mirror as a face. In our film we wanted to have two men in white doctor like coats and have mirror as faces, this will hide their identity and create a sense of uneasiness. Within the end of the film the makers play around with pace, this could be an interesting technique to use as we want to have some shots of the girl in headlights at a slower pace. This technique would be a great way to focus on her facial expressions.


By Amy Greenaway