Key Quetions Homework- Channel 4

Key Questions!

- There is some similarities between the early Channel 4 and an independent film production company, as they both have very simplistic camera work and it is always mainly filmed as a documentary, also they both aim to appeal to a diverse society. Channel 4 and an independent film production company both have a niche target audience, as they both have controversial themes that not many people enjoy. Also their camerawork is unconventional which makes it hard to watch, they dont always stick to the camera rules.

- In 1993 Channel 4 moved to target a more mainstream audience, this affected channel 4's achievement and assignment decisions, as they had to think about having programmes that appealed to a bigger audience and had to stray from their original remit. During this time channel 4 gained control of its own advertising sells. They started to show programmes like Friends and ER. These appealed to a mainstream audience, and had a different design to what they had before for example My beautiful laundrette, and mini pops.

-Channel 4 has lead major originality in british television, as channel 4 first took the risk to have contraverisal themes and have a completely different ideas to other territistial channels. In 1987 Channel 4 began its "Dispatches", which is well known to tactle difficult and contraversial material. By doing this, it opened doors for other channels to produce more difficult themed programmes. Therefore channel 4 has lead originality in British television.

- As Channel 4 began to target a mainstream audience, it also started to stray from it orgianl remit, as a public service broadcaster to showcase innovation and diversity in television. It has started to become just like another broadcaster on television. As showing programmes like Friends and ER between 1993-1999, made it stray from its ethos. Friends and ER, are programmes that a bigger audience enjoy watching, due to its comedy and not many serious topics are shown on the programmes. Also in 2000, channel 4 showed Big Brother. This was the channels most successful programme ever, with 10 million viewers for the first few series. Programmes like this have no value to people apart from providing entertainment, it has no educational factors or have anything that is controversial that is similar to how channel 4 was in the early years. In the beginning channel 4 had individuality and was different however now, it has no value and has not got the same effect as it did in the beginning.

-The channel 4 factual programming today has not got the same effect as it did 25 years ago, as Now it does not deal with the issues in a more serious matter as they are delicate, controversial themes, however 25 years ago, it was dealt more seriously and people was educated much more back then.

- One can argue that channel 4 has some elements that it still maintains its original remit, for example it still has some educational programmes that tackle difficult themes, and it also "appeals to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society". Furthermore, it has a programme (Big brother) from Europe, which is part of their remit.

- Channel 4's ownership of film 4 production is an example of vertical integration as Film 4 Productions, produces the film, and channel 4 Distributes it. The parent company (Channel 4) owns multiple companies (Film 4 Productions) across different stages.

Fantasy Film Making: Part One.

Fantasy Film Making (Part One)

The first lesson on fantasy film making, as a group we randomly picked a production company, Brasso Films (British independent), we then picked a budget (also randomly) of £0.00, and finally we picked a scenario which was 'A slasher, horror film in which the victims are trapped in a high school with a psychopathic killer'.
After getting the production company, budget and scenario, as a group we came up with a synopsis for the story. As we are a British independent company and have no budget, we had to give this some thought on where we would film as we need to have real places and use real people.

Synopsis:
Normal teenage school life. A group of friends all go to the same school, there is a couple 'Stacey and Craig'. However this is a slightly dysfunctional relationship. Craig is always cheating on Stacey. One day Stacey witnesses a passionate kiss with Craig and her best friend Lisa. Having seen this she storms off, and heads home. Very Emotional she goes to the basement. A dark basement with a desk. She then picks up various photos of different girls, Craig cheated with, and sticks up on the wall, placing Craig in the middle. Stacey opens the draw, and takes out a knife, she looks at the photos, and stabs each one, one by one, whilst doing this she has flashbacks to the day where she saw Craig cheating on her with the girls. The final picture she stabs is a picture of Craig. The order she stabs the photos, is in the order they will die. The next day Stacey tells all the friends that they should break into school, and have a little gathering/party. They all agree, Stacey and another friend go to a local convenience store, and picks up some alcohol and snacks. That night they all meet, (Stacey, Craig, Ben (Craig's best friend), Jack ( Craig's best friend), Lisa, Lauren, Hannah and Caroline) outside the school. They break in. Everyone gets drunk, apart from Stacey and Ben. After an hour or so, everyone goes around the school in small groups. However, Craig insists that he goes with Lisa. Stacey becomes angry, and storms off, she takes out a knife, and begins to follow her first victim Caroline. She corners Caroline in the girls toilet, and tells her if she screams she will kill, and she begins to tells her that she knows she slept with Craig. Caroline tries to deny this, which Stacey even more angry, as she is insulting her intelligence, Stacey picks the knife up and runs across Caroline's face, Caroline begging her not to hurt her, Stacey makes marks on Caroline's face, and carves the letter 'S' on her cheek. She then stabs her in the chest several times. She does this to all the others, except she cant find Hannah. She moves on, as she is about to find Lisa, she sees that Ben, has already beaten her to it. Ben has already killed her and is standing over her body. She storms in and has a massive argument with him. He then confesses to her saying that he was doing it for her, and the he loved her. Stacey is too angry, but then realises that Ben is only helping her and she remembers all them times Ben was there for her. She admits that she has feelings for him too, and they kiss romantically. She says to him, "leave Craig to me, i want to hurt to him just like he did to me". Ben goes looking for Hannah, and Stacey goes for Craig. When Craig sees Stacey he asks her why shes covered in blood, Stacey lies saying she had a little accident. They have a conversation, and Stacey confronts him about the affairs, he denys them all. She gets angry and pushes him up against a wall, holding a knife at him, Craig becomes extremely scared and confesses immediately, Stacey backs down. Craig pushes her, her head hits a table, and knocks her unconscious. Craig runs out. He runs into Ben, and Craig tells him everything that's happened, Ben laughs at him and says "I know." They fight and Ben pulls out a knife, Craig pushes Ben and grabs the knife and stabs Ben in the leg. He runs towards the front gates, he finds Hannah hiding at the reception, and they try to open the doors, however Stacey is running and screaming towards them as well. They realise they have to press a button behind the reception desk, Craig runs and does this. The doors open, and they both run out. Stacey is behind them. Craig and Hannah runs to the park where they see a man, and tells them to call the police and ambulance. Stacey is still running after them. After a few minutes later, the police show up, and arrest Stacey. The police and ambulance go in the school where they find the other bodies and Ben. At the hospital, Craig and Hannah are getting cleaned up at getting questioned by the police. There Parents come.

The story ends with, showing a court case of both Ben and Stacey when they are being sentenced.

Location/Sets:
As we had a budget of £0.00, we had to find real locations that were free of cost.

• The School "High school"- Free - Various locations (Dark drama studio, science room, gates, etc) - Most murders.
• House- Free- Dark Basement - Used when putting photos up and planning.
  
• Shop "Convienece store" - Free- The Shop - Used when buying Alcohol and Snacks.
  
• Park- Free- Used at the end.
  
• Hospital - Free- A hospital Bed - End scenes.

Character & Actors:
We had to use real people, i.e ask friends to take part in the film. The five main Characters are,

• Stacey - Played by Lucy Rigden ( A friend ) - Main role, Murderer and in a relationship with Craig.
  
• Craig - Played By Jamie Chandler ( A friend) - Main Role, in a relationship with stacey but cheats on her, and plays one of the victims.
  
• Ben - Played by Orlstyne Wilson ( A friend)- Best friend to Craig, and is the second murderer.
  
• Lisa- Played by Abby Woodhead (A friend) - Best friends with stacey, One of the girls who craig cheats with, and plays a victim.
  
• Caroline- Played by Siobhan Cunningham (A Friend)- One the girls who craig cheats with. A victim.
  

All these actors will be free of cost.

Music:
Again, as we had a budget of £0.00 we had to find people who will be willing to play some music for the movie. These people will be mainly friends.

• Violin- When trying to create suspense.- Shivani Desai ( A friend).
  
• Rock- When they are drinking in the school, and the opening scene when they walk into the school. - band name called Saifa (friends).
  
• Piano and Violin- Closing scene, the end, making it slow and soft- Shivani Desai ( A friend).
  

Budget Review:
Budget : £0.00
Total costs for sets and locations: £0.00
Total Cost for actors: £0.00
Total cost for music: £0.00
Remaining budget: £0.00

Audience:
The film will have a niche target audience, as it is an independent film. Independent films tend not to have many marketing and promotions so not many people would know about the film. Independent film companies rely on word of mouth. The targeted age for the film will be for 15 - 25. I chose this target audience as it will be suitable for 15 year old's as they will be able to watch horror films, also because of the young actors and the storyline it will appeal more to the 15-25 audience. The film is aimed at both male and female audience, as it has both genders in the film. The audience the film is aimed at will be, outgoing, like to have drinks, also people who are interested in horror films like this such as, Awaken the Dead, Hallows Eve: Slaughter on Second Street, these two movies are examples of independent movies, but they could also like Hollywood horror movies, the exorcist, The omen. The film is aimed at all ethnic groups. The location of the film will be in London, and a working class background, therefore the film will target a more working class background who live in London.

Representation of Britishness:
The film shows britishness in a both positive and negative way. It shows the representation of how police officers and doctors work in Britain, also its shows the law of Britain, when the two character get sentenced. This gives an insight to other countries on how Britain works. The film shows that the young generation of Britain are educated (this is shown in the film when they go into the school) However, it also shows that Britain is quiet violent.

Feedback

Evaluation of Pre-lim exercise.

Good Points:

The digital technology, has clear shots and there was a good use of 'match on action'. Also, camera angle was good and the over shoulder was used well.

For the creativity, it was an original story line that would happen in some teenagers life, so therefore they would be able to relate to it. Also by the actors wearing regular clothes, adds the sense of reality to it. In addition, the ending was creative, when the hands separated was blurry.

For Post-production, the graphics used was good and the music set the mood. Also the music flowed with the suspense of the story line, for example 'the heartbeat' used at various points added to the feel that the teenager is nervous, this adds to the tension of the story line. The graphics at the beginning was good, the way the title came together and then faded out.

The research and planning was done very well, for example, taking one of the actors 'sukhvir' out of her free time to come and film. Also, getting the room as i had to ask permission before filming there.

Bad Points:

I could have used a better setting to film, to make it more believable and help set the scene more.

Some of the shots did not flow as well as it should, (for example the close up of my face and then the over shoulder.)

Improvements i would make:

If i was to film it again i would film it in a living room, so it will be more realistic and help set the scene for the audience. Also, i would make sure the editing flowed well to make it seem more professional and well done.

The Final Edit.

Comparitve Analysis

Hollywood Vs. Independent

Comparative Analysis

East is East and Superbad are the two films I have chosen to look at. East is East, is the independent movie, it was released in 1999 and directed by Damien O’Donnell. One of the production companies involved is Film Four. Where as the Hollywood movie I chose was released in 2006 and directed by Greg Mottola. Superbad had one of the big Hollywood production companies, Columbia pictures. Both Movies are comedies, yet has different storylines and deals with different themes.

Actors and Characters:
In Superbad the actors are Hollywood actors that have been in previous movies, for example Michael Cera, who plays one of the main characters in the film (Evan) was also in a movie called Wayside School (2005). The actors are shown to be glamorous and have been “Air brushed”. However, in East is East the actors look like real people. Even though some of the actors have been in a few movies and TV programmes, they haven’t made any big hits and are not well known.

Sound:
In East is East, some of the music played are bollywood, this appeals more to the Asian audience. Also, their dialogue and the way the speak sounds like the way people talk in real life. Where as in Superbad they are upbeat and dance songs. This appeals to the younger generation as they are more likely to listen to this, especially when they go to parties songs like in Superbad will most probably be played. The dialogue is mainly the way teenagers speak.Even though the music used is different and has a different target audience, it still has the same effect on people when they listen to it, the music in East in East and the music in Superbad are both upbeat.
- Superbad (soundtrack)
- East is East (soundtrack)


Camerawork and Editing:
It is quite obvious which film is independent and which is Hollywood. In East is East there was not that many camera movements, it was very simplistic. There was not much variety of shots, only straightforward shots. However, in Superbad there is much more variety. The editing in East is east is also basic and simple. There are not many transitions used. In Superbad there is more editing used and SFX. In Superbad and East is East there are some scenes were it is filmed in the car, which is difficult to keep the camera steady.




Mise-En-Scene:
In Superbad, it was actually filmed in Southern California. But it also had other locations, such as the liquor store scene, the parking lot, Supermarket, The high school, the track and field scenes, “party house”, and the mall scenes. They used a lot of different places to film the movie, as Hollywood movies can as they have the money. In East is East it had some variety of locations, it was filmed in Manchester, and had other places, like the fish and chip shop, the house, the street, the club and France. As East is East is an independent film, it had to have Found locations.

Conclusion:
To conclude, the independent film “East is East” had a low budget of £1.9m, but still was very successful in the UK and the US grossing over £10 million. The film also did extremely well through rentals making £12,300,000. It was distributed by Channel 4 Films (UK theatrical), and in the US by Miramax (theatrical). The film did very well for an independent movie.

Where as the Hollywood film “Superbad” had a high budget of $25,000,000 and made a gross revenue of $170,871,719. The film won four awards and was nominated for 8 awards. Both films did extremely well, even though East is East is an independent film it still did remarkably well. This just shows that both independent and Hollywood films can make brilliant movies even without the “amazing” equipment.