Company Logo's (Mainstream and Independent)

Warner Bros. Pictures

The Warner Bros company logo has changed over the years, the original logo was a shield with the letter WB, standing for Warner Bros at the bottom of a shield. Within 1937, the company changed their logo to be based on the original, but the letters WB would then take up the whole shield, with what the letters stand for written in the centre of the shield, 'Warner Bros. Pictures'.' Throughout times, all companies moved to animated logos because times were moving on and the audiences love it, for example, Leo the Lion, was the first animated logo to be seen.  The Warner Brothers also began to used animation, before moving onto the logo that we are familiar to, they began to incorporate their copyrighted characters, for example 'Bugs Bunny'  who would walk on, lean on the logo, and then take a bite of his carrot. Warner Brothers will always stand out because, although the gold shield is recognisable throughout the world, it is also seen as unique, as its background (The clouds) seems to be pained on, which gives more emprises  to the golden shield which shows connotations of wealth, and therefore this logo is for mainstream companies.



Walt Disney

The 'Disney' logo consists of the fairy-tale castle often seen within their films, such as 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' and other princess movies. Their logo also represents that of the castle placed within the Disney resorts around the world, for example, Paris and Florida. Through the years, as technology has increased, so has their logo. The first version of the logo, was projected onto a blue screen, with the white outline (behind the castle) outlining the castle, which already brings in connotations of their companies main objective, for example, the white line could be seen as a fairy, tinker bell drawing the line.

 

The logo then changes, and became more advanced within technology, for example the white line, then became a line of sparkles, or 'fairy dust' which still shows connotations of the companies main genre they create, fantasy. By evolving their logo, this also shows connotations of wealth and higher placement, as they use warm bright colours such as pink and purple, which shows connotations of royalty, which could also be a subtle message to other companies and audience members, that Disney are the highest that they could be and would only get bigger, seeing how they are the largest out of the 'Big six' companies, and also they use a castle, which again shows connotations of royalty and also a higher power to others.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Focus Features

 

Focus Features uses a simple yet effective logo which ties in with their name, i.e. the typography is more focused than the background, therefore showing connotations of links between the logo and the title. The colours used compliment each other, and although the design is simple, it shows connotations suggesting that the film company has a smaller budget compared to that of mainstream Disney. However, the typography, again is simple within font, the effect used on the 'O' again links in with the company title 'Focus Features' because the 'O' shows connotations of being a lenses cap of a camera which is what the company is all about, films.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Film 4

 

 

 
 
 
The Film 4 company logo is basic and has stayed the same since the original company began in 1998. The design in basic but effective, as it doesn't take effect away from the company name, but isn't as gad as that of mainstream Disney or Lionsgate. The colours used in this logo, red and white can be seen to show connotations of passion, for example, independent films are aimed at niche audiences who have a passion for a very particular genre or type of film. As this is not as grand as other logos, this also shows a difference in company use and that of/or how much the company can have to budget, meaning that this is an independent company logo.

 

 

  

 

 

Audience theories (Main)

Hypodermic Needle ( The effects theory)

This theory comes to the conclusion that an audience will all respond and receive to the films message the same way, e.g. if the film was a horror, all audience members would be scared at the same time. This theory suggest that the film is somewhat 'injected' into the audience, therefore suggesting that the audience have no other option that to take in what they all see, The media can also be seen influence e.g. children playing violent games makes them want to pick up a gun, or even the murder case of James Bulger. The case included the claims from the murderers that because they had watched 'Childs play' that was their reasoning behind their crime.


The Uses and Gratifications theory.

This theory is seen as the opposite of the above theory, the uses and gratifications theory states that the audience go to watch a film for pleasure, and to also accept or reject the messaging within the film. This also suggests that the 'power' is at the audience's hand and not that of the producers.


The Reception Theory

The final theory suggest that when the producers make the film, they then hide hidden messages or/and meanings which are there to impact on the viewing/cinematic effect on their audience. Again, a little like the uses and gratifications theory, the audience members can chose to accept or reject the messages,  but if an audience member doesn't understand this message, they possibly will decline it or negotiate, meaning that they may not understand it but they are not opposed to the idea.

Genre Questionnaire cont.

From doing this exercise I was able to understand what a mainstream audience looks for within a film, and also what films are the most popular. Considering the fact that I have taken to be an independent company, this questionnaire still does help, as it then allows me to, for example, if I was making a 'Horror' I could then import what the audience members expect, such as 'blood and a good bad guy' therefore meaning that, I could then gain a stronger niche audience because I had taken into account what they expected and then developed those ideas and, demands.

My Best Friends Wedding Title Timeline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-SxXqsjje8 - Reference to the video.

My Best Friend’s Wedding Title Timeline

 

0:00- ‘Tristar’ Trademark

0:19 – Tricstar pictures presents

0:27- A Jerry Lucker/ Predawn production

0:32- Julia Roberts

0:36- Dermot Multoney

0:40- Cameron Diaz

0:53- My Best Friend’s Wedding

1:05- Rupert Evenett

1:11- Philop Bosco

1:27- M. Emmet Walsh

1:32- Rachel Griffiths, Carrie Preston, Susan Sullivan

1:48- Casting by David Rubin

1:55- Music By James Newton Howard

2:01- Music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg

2:06- Costume designer Jeffery Kurland.

2:14- Edited by Garth Craven, Lisa Fruchtman

2:19- Production designer Richard Sylbert

2:25- Director of Photography Laszlo Kovacs, ASC

2:49- Production by Jerry Lucker and Ronald Bass

3:04- Written by Ronald Bass

3:14- Directed by P.J. Hogan

 

 By doing this timeline this will aid me within my coursework task as it will allow me to create an order, similar to that of a professional film company.

Why are we creating a re-make within groups?

Me and my group are doing a re-make because we believe that it will help us when filming, as we will be able to understand shots, and the process to how they are shot, therefore giving us time to plan ahead for our film opening.

It also allows us to look at the typography used, the sequence and also the way they are presented, which would help us when filming because we will be able to create a professional presentation, which would result in a better chance of achieving a higher mark overall.

Genre Questionnaire

We were asked to collect research on what audiences would like to see and/or want from Genres, for this exercise I have chosen to ask mainly about 'Drama' and 'Horror' because we are doing a hybrid drama genre, and horror is a well known genre.


I have given my final questionnaire to 14+ persons of different ages and genders so I can get a better set of results to understand how, when we come to make our film opening, and how we can understand demographics of our target audience to create a film opening that would make them want to watch the rest of the film.


Here are the questions that i asked.

1. How old are you?
2.  What Genres are your favourite?
3. What Genres are your least favourite?
4. What would you expect from a 'Fantasy' genre of film?
5. What audience members would you expect to go and see a fantasy genre of film?
6. What do you expect from a 'horror' genre of film?
7. what audience members would you expect to go and see a fantasy genre of film?
8. what was the last film that you saw in the cinema?
9. did you enjoy that film?




From the 14+ people that i asked, i was able to draw up my results.

1. four were 16 seven were 17 and three were 18

2.  3 picked animation, 2 picked sci-fi, 3 picked fantasy, 4 picked drama, 3 picked horror, 5 picked comedy, 4 picked musical, 2 picked action and 2 picked romance.

3. 1 picked animation, 3 picked sci-fi, 3 picked fantasy, 5 picked drama, 2 picked horror, 1 picked comedy 6 picked musical, 4 picked romance 2 picked action.

4. Gnomes, Vibrant settings and over the top characters, wizards, pixies, magic, cartoon, fairies, mystery, unicorns, action, good storyline, witches, pumpkins, toadstools.

5.  6 said Young children (8-12), 6 said young teenagers (13-18) and 2 said adults (19 onwards)

6. Blood, suspense, death and suspense, to be scared behind the sofa, scary parts, crazy music, jump scares, gory make-up, good storyline, murder, lots of violence, screaming, a good bay guy, tension

7. None said younger children (8-12), 10 said young teenagers (13-18), and four said adults (19 onwards)

8. 5 had seen the Lego Movie, 1 has seen The Hunger Games, Catching fire, 2 had seen Mr Peabody and Sherman, 3 had seen The Hobbit, desolation of Smaug, and 3 had seen Frozen.

9. All 14 said they enjoyed the film the saw.

Film Diary

Due to being organised, we were able to film on just one day (30/04/14) and we began at 10:30am and ended at 5:00pm.

 

 Before we began to actually film, we had to set up our equipment and also any props/special effects that we were going to use, for example, while one group member began to set up on set, the other was with the actor prepping them for the takes.

As you can see,  liquid latex was added to the actors hand, and then thickened with more layers, and red/black face paint to give the illusion of a deeper wound.

 

 

The special effect took roughly around 10-15 minutes, which was the time we estimated when creating our plan for the day. Apart from the small complaints from the actor (that his didn't like sitting still) our prep for the day seemed to be going well.

 

 

Later on within the day (1:00pm onwards) we began to film our exterior shots on location. Things were running smoothly with everyone involved, and we didn't seem to have a problem with filming. When looking at our storyboard we began our first shot with that of 'shot 26' which, in theory was an interesting shot, but put into practice, we didn't realise how hard the shot would be to make.

 

 

 

'Shot 26' included one of our group members sat awkwardly in the back of the car nearly falling out of the car itself. This shot took a lot of time to get because although we took each shot three or more times, to ensure that we would have the right shot, the camera wasn't steady, or group members, or the camera would of been seen in shot. So again, we all thought quickly and changed our seating within the car, and were then able to get the shot that we needed.

 

 

 

 

 Still shooting our exterior, we can up to a hurdle yet again. When consulting the storyboard, we then realise that the actor would have to cry so we could get the shot that we wanted. The actor, although capable of our directing, found it hard to produce actual tears. Different tactics were used, such as the actor fanning his eye, and staring at a spot without blinking, but none those tactics worked. So we ended up using a bottle of water to produce the tears for him instead.  This shot was, although rather funny to film, was rather difficult, and when we come to edit,  as a group, we possibly won't end up using this shot because it doesn't look realistic and the camera was a little shaky on all four takes.

 

 

Our final exterior shot was easier than the others, and also was one of the final shots within our story board. This shot was at a high angle, and therefore only needed the tripod to be lifted high enough over the actors head. The shot didn't take long, and meant that we were on time with our plan for the day, and also meant that we could have a longer lunch break as we had finished slightly earlier.

 

 

 

 

 

*When shooting our interior shots, we also paid attention to Health and Safety on set*

Open Road Drama

Research:

An open road drama will mostly consist on a character, or a group of characters searching or running from something in order to achieve something higher than their state already, for example, 'A series of unfortunate events'

A series of unfortunate events:

This film tells the story of the three Baudelaire children who loose their parents in a fire and are forced to live with their uncle count Olaf, who A. is the stories antagonist and B. plans to kill them to inherit their fortune. The three children escape from their uncle and go to live with others that their parents trusted, unfortunately count Olaf follows them around, and disposes of the new found 'friends' in ways he seems fit, meaning that the children are back on the open road searching for a place to happy and safe.

The film was Directed by Brad Silberling
Produced by Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes and Jim Van Wyck
Edited by Michael Kahn
Distributed by Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures.


The film had the budget of 142 million dollars and made $209,073,645 at box offices.





<





The Grey:

This film was based on the short ghost story of 'Ghost walker' and follows the story of many oil workers stuck in alaska after surviviing a plane crash, and are left to survive as a team, to get back to civilization

.

The film was directed by Joe Carnahan
Produced by Jules Daly, Joe Carnahan, Ridley Scott and Mickey Liddell
Edited by Roger Barton and Jason Hellmann
Distributed by Open road Films and Universal Studios

The film had a budget of $25,000,000 and made $77,278,331 at box offices.

Chosen Type of production company

As a group, we have decided to become an independent film production company as we believe it allows us to target a more specific audience, and it also allows us to focus more on our genre 'Road Movie' instead of meeting audience requirements in elements of technology and/or cast.

Extra Research

Ps I Love You:

This film tells the story of how a young married couple (Holly and Gerry) live their lives, sometimes fighting, and the sudden shock of Gerry dying of a brain tumour. Holly is then left alone with the empty feeling inside, until her 30th Birthday. Gerry arranged for several messages to be sent to Holly after his death in order for her to move on to a new life without him, by doing the things she always wanted to do, therefore she was able to get out on the open road, leave her old life behind and move on knowing she could carry his love with her, always.


The Film was Directed by Richard LaGravenese
Produced by Wendy Finerman Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove and Molly Smith
Distributed by Waner Bros. Pictures

The film had the budget of $30 Million and made $156,835,339 in box offices.

Dear John Title timeline (Drama)

0:34  Screen Jems
0:36 in association with Realitivity Media
0:41 a temple hill production
0:45 a realitivty media production
2:13 A film by Lasse Hallstrom
2:30 Channing Tatum
2:34 Amanda SeyFried
3:18 Dear John
3:23 Henry Thomas
3:27 David Andrews
3:31 Scott Porter
3:39 and Richard Jenkins
3:43 Casting by Joanna Colbert CSA Richard Mento CSA
3:48 Costume Designer Dana Campbell
3:56 Music Supervisors Happy Walters Season Kent
4:03 Music by Debroah Lurie
4:06 Editor Kristina Boden
4:19 Production Designer Kara Lindstrom
4:24 Director of Photography Terry Stacey ASC
4:28 Associate Producer Michael Disco
4:32 Co-Producers Kenneth Halsband Jamie Linden
4:37 Excutive Producer Jeremiah Samuels Toby Emmerich Michele Wiess
4:47 Executive Producer Tucker Tooley
4:52 Produced by Ryan Kavanaugh
4:58 Produced by Marty Bowen Wyck Godfrey
5:03 Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks
5:07 Screenplay by Jamie Linden
5:13 Directed by Lasse Hallstrom



By doing this timeline this will help me because it will give me extra information about the order of titles, and how I should present my titles within my course work task. 

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (Road Drama)

The opening to this film begins with three children (to be seen as the protagonists) within a boat alone at sea, this already shows connotations of abandonment and loneliness, therefore giving an overall atmosphere that it not the same as that compared to a children's fairy-tale. The use of mise-en-scene when the children are revealed, (Approx:0:10) is a black screen being cut away in the shape of a face, this shows connotations of the face to be that of the antagonists and also to be connected to the three protagonists still in the boat. The Titles are integrated into the scene, for example, later on within the clip, as the eye blinks, the titles appear, yet again with the protagonists. the use of typography also links with the mise-en-scene as it looks to be hand written in a fancy way, therefore implying grace and education towards the three protagonist or the antagonist. The mise-en-scene itself also looks as though it is a painting with dark colours, which shows connotations of despair and loss of hope, which can then give a 'grunge' atmosphere to the piece, therefore allowing audience members to know that the film itself would not a genre of comedy.


























The whole title opening sequence follows the children on their journey which involves going on weird air balloons, falling through the sky with an umbrella and also singing like birds in a cage. This highlights to the audience that film itself will contain struggles for the protagonists, and just when they thought they were safe, something more deadly was just around the corner. A reoccurring image that plays throughout this title sequence is an eye, which is made apparent at the beginning, with the cutting of the black silhouette and also when the children are within the balloon (Image above.) This shows connotations of the image (the eye) having importance within the storyline, and that It possibly would show a character.