Filming update

The recent change in weather made it impossible for me to record my film this weekend as I planned due to transportation issues. Therefore, I have decided to involve new actors/actresses in my film that are in my family as opposed to college friends. The reason I have done this is because the college friends who I planned to be involved are currently not very reliable due to them having their own college coursework to complete, not living very close to me, etc. Therefore, I have opted to use older family member who have more free time and their own transportation, and are more unlikely to let me down.

Font Research and Drafts

An important feature I am including in my film is the text included throughout which will portray the dialogue of each actor/actress to an audience, due to the film being silent. This is an important and well known feature of most silent black and white films and therefore, there are certain codes and conventions which must be followed. I have researched a number of films which include this style of portraying dialogue to an audience, included a film dircted by Charlie Chaplin -  a main insperation for my own film.

The text included in Charlie Chaplin’s ‘City Lights’ is very simple thin styled writing, connotating the light heartedness and fun nature of the film and the actual dialogue (and it’s fun loving theme) that is being portrayed to an audience. Additionally, the use of the open and closed speech marks visually shows an audience instantly that the text is speech from the actor/actress who has just visually (not audibly) spoken in the film, instead of there being confusion between the text possibly being a title included in the film. The background image which the text is layered over has a smokey black and grey texture, which look familiar to a piece of artist's crete/cartridge paper.

Jess Robbin’s ‘The Lucy Dog’ (famously known for the first appearance of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy) title font is very thick and bold – this grabbing an audience’s attention in a way that that this text is obviously the title of a film as opposed to dialogue/name of the setting/etc. The full title is in capital letters, and each letter is perfectly aligned with the letter next to/either side of each individual letter. Similarly to the text included in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights, the background which the text is layered on has a smokey black and grey texture, which look familiar to a piece of artist's crete/cartridge paper. This being a similar feature which is included in a lot of silent films.

The text used in Fred Guiol’s ‘45 Minutes From Hollywood’ starring Hardy from the comedy due Laurel and Hardy is very different from the fonts used in the previous film fonts that I have researched. The font has been specifically chosen to connote the Hollywood element/theme of the film, using a well recognised style of font which is well recognised importantly by an audience. The background however, follows the similar connotations of the past two previous films I have researched, the background which the text is layered on has a smokey black and grey texture, which look familiar to a piece of artist's crete/cartridge paper. This being a similar feature which is included in a lot of silent films. The difference between this film's text shot and the two previous film's text shots I have analysed, the text has a boarder going all the way around it. This border looks a like a 'fancy' wooden photo frame without the glass or a photo, but instead the film's title. This, I think, is done to add importance to the title as well as making it clear to the audience the importance of this text by singling it out from other text included in the film.

This fan made silent black and white recreation of the famous film ‘Star Wars’ also follows the codes and conventions of 1920’s silent black and white films. The text used by the director is quite fancy and sophisticated looking due to the swirls. I believe however, this is not done purposely as this is an amateur made video that looks as if he has not

My Findings

I have found from my research that similar features can be seen with regards to the font and layout/appearance of the text included in silent black and white films. I have found that the background layer of the text shots are all based around the visual artistic image of crete/cartridge paper. Additionally, I have seen that the font used for the dialogue of the actor/actress speaking in the film is very different to the font used for the title of the film - this purposely done so that the audience can tell the difference between texts. Also, I have seen that specific style of fonts can portray a specific connotation to an audience like the importance of the text, the theme of the film, etc.

For these reasons, I have decided that I will style the font of my text shots around the theme of Italy where my film is set, this theme being shown to an audience through the connotations that the actual font will portray to them. The font I have chosen to use to do this, is from http://www.dafont.com/, a website which features a large number of useable fonts. The website which features a search bar in which (when I was reseraching usable fonts) I typed in key words relating to Italy to find fonts that I could possibly use. The key words I searched were: Italy, Italian and Pasta.
 

The font I have researched and decided to use for my text shots is called Italian Cursive, 16th c (as exampled below). I think that the font well connotates an Italian theme without being to 'in your face' obvious and is easily readable. Additionally, the font appears to look fairly old fashioned (obviously due to the font being created around the font used in the 16th century) and therefore, fits in with the time period my film is set in. 
 

For the title of my film, I decided to look on a different website as I couldn’t find a font which I felt I wanted to used on http://www.dafont.com/. The website I found to research a font for my title is www.fonts-lab.com, a website which includes a small number of free downloadable fonts. Luckily, I found a font that fitted the connotations which I felt were needed to be included for the title font in the section of the website which includes free downloadable text fonts.

Blogger Problems, Other Problems and Filming Update

At the moment I am seeing a lack of blog posts on my blog. The reason for this is I am finding it difficult to get on with the work that I have to do at college due to the lack of computers and laptops as well as working laptops in the media/film department at my college. Due to this, I am finding it slightly difficult to balance my written blog work and the recording of my film because of the fact that I am only finding the opportunity to do blog work at home when I should be focusing on the recording of my film as opposed to having the opportunity to do this work during my film college lessons. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no real resolution to this as unless the college decided to purchase more computers/laptops or try and convince someone with their own personal laptop to let me borrow it during college lesson times.

Additionally, the fact that my personal circumstances have recently changed, unfortunatley I am currently seeing a dip in the amount of work I am able to produce at the moment. However, due to the fact that I will not be coming into college from approximatley March onwards (as I will be doing college work at home en onwards, only coming into college for exams) I have decided that I will have my complete footage ready for editing by mid-way Feburary. The reason I have chosen this specific date:

• is because I will have an extra 6 days of being able to record as I am no longer going on a planned college trip to America and therefore, I can record during this time
• if I have the recording done by this time (which I plan on doing), I have chance before taking leave from college to edit some of the footage at college with the help and advice of teachers
• the editing that I do at home (after finding out what specific editing software is used at college so that I can download/buy the programmes) will be only minor editing to improve my over-all film after receiving help/advice/critisisms from my teachers and an audience as I will have done the majority of filming/editing work during my time at college and can focus on the writing/blog work

Filming Update

At the moment, due to my transportation being limited (due to my parents being on holiday) I have been unable to continue with my recording from Christmas (because of this, I have been focusing on my storyboard, editing of script and film, genre and audience research). Therefore, I have decided that instead of my original idea posted previously about recording during a weekend and editing during the week, I have decided that onwards from the 25^th January, when my transport is available, I will plan a full weeks recording schedule every day for approximately an hour each day. This not meaning however I will have 7 hours of footage, but giving me and the actors included more than enough time to record whichever scene is being recorded, get the setting/props prepared, giving enough time in case transport is late (traffic, etc). I will write up this schedule on the 23^rd/24^th January  whilst sat with my Mum who will be my transportation to my setting.

Audience Research Update

After asking 26 differently ranged people in different audience types (gender, age, profession, etc), I narrowed my target audience down specifically demographically and psychographically. I have decided to present my findings from my questionnaire as a pie chart as I think it is the easiest visual way in which to see which target audience my film is aimed at.

I asked an audience from a range of ages, because I wanted to find information from a range of audience’s, different genders and different ages. I could not evenly split the four age ranges into 26 and therefore, I asked 12 16-21 and 14 22-26+. I asked more of an older audience (even if only by two more people) because I felt that information from an older 'niche' film audience would benefit my target audience research further.

I decided that when asking for an audience to complete my survey that I would ask an evenly split gender audience due to this being the fairest way in which to learn about an audience that is not specifically targeted at one sex. The reason for this is because I do not want my film to specifically target one gender audience as this will restrict the viewers of my film as opposed to targeting a large range.

I specifically wanted to ask this question about my specialised film to see the difference in ages which have seen a silent black and white films contrasting with those who haven’t. Just as I predicated, the majority of a younger audience (under 20 year olds) have never seen a silent black and white film, they have only seen small snippets which have been included in other films, been shown by their parents/grandparents, seen referenced in TV programmes (e.g The Simpsons), etc. However, every person over the age of 25 I asked this question to has seen a silent black and white film, with the additionally comment that people over the age of 35 remember watching them as a younger child as well as enjoying them.

With regards to cinema and DVD spending, the older audience spent more money on going to cinema and buying DVD’s due to having a lot more disposable income to spend on luxuries. However, the reason I found this was apparent is because the older audience seem to go to cinema on full prices and more expensive nights (Friday and Saturday prime time nights) less often than a younger audience went to cinema more often on cheaper student nights (Orange Wednesdays and Student Film Fridays) as well as buying DVDs at full price when they first come out as opposed to a younger audience waiting until they have dropped in price, or download them cheaper off the internet, or download them for free illegally. However, when I added the additional question to an older audience (21+) if they would spend more money on a specialist cinema night/DVD (e.g black and white vintage films like The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius and released 2011 being shown in selected cinemas in the UK), 3/4 said yes however, 3/4 of a younger audience said no.

From this question, I can say that a younger audience is more likely to watch films through internet streaming and downloading as opposed to an older audience, especially choosing the options of downloading illegally. However, this does not mean that an older audience does not download and/or watch films through internet streaming as a number of people from an ‘older audience’ I asked this questionnaire to answered this. I find this due to digitalisation and an older audience being under pressure (it could be said) to be able to use modern technology like the internet, iPhones, downloading, etc due to digitalisation.

Filming Update

I have not posted on my blog for approx a month, the reason for this being is that I have been focusing on the actually filming of my film as opposed to work included with the overall production. Through the month of December and the December Christmas holidays, I have been recording various scenes of my film on a HD camera however, not yet have I recorded a full first draft of the film. I am planning on doing this during the month of Janurary during weekends and editing my recordings during the week during coursework classes and my free periods. I plan on having my first full draft of the film as well as the film being more or less fully editied by the latest of the 7th of Feburary. This giving me time before the Feburary half term to show an audience as well as teachers my first draft and see where improvements could be made by receieving feedback from teachers and students through general opinion and questionnares.