The Research Blog

Key Takeaways from The Comic Toolbox by John Vorhaus Comedy is truth and pain. The truth must speak directly to the audience while the pain is an exaggeration of it that will make it comedic. Comic premise is the gap between comic reality and real reality. Think of what is expected and then insert the opposite. Comedy deals with people's expectations, disrupting them. Three levels of comic conflict: 1. Man versus nature (Global conflict) 2. Man versus man (interpersonal or local conflict). Comic character versus normal character or comic characters in opposition. 3. Man versus himself (inner conflict) COMIC CHARACTERS: 1. Comic perspective: Unique way of looking at his world. 2. Flaws: distance the character from the audience. 3. Humanity: Closeness between the character and the audience. 4. Exaggeration: On all three: the comic perspective, flaws and humanity. COMIC TOOLS: - Clash of context: Takes something out of its usual place and sticks it where it doesn...

Historical Elements of a Film The Scene: The scene is a take of a completed action. Historically it is typified in films where the actors will act out a whole scene and then walk out and fade into the next scene. A scene would be one shot, one take. For example: A trip to the Moon (1902) - George Mélies George Mélies was a magician that owned the theater where he showed his own films. Between 1900's and 1910 he would make 10 to 12 minutes science fiction films. He made hundreds of these short films. As special effects (fx) he would use: -In-camera edits -Dissolves -Superimpositions -Animation (with live action) -Stop-motion photo -Match shots His 1902 film "A trip to the moon" was: 1. Very profitable 2. It was a narrative film, it told a story and thus was... 3. a drive towards longer films (10 to 30 minutes) 4. Editing appears. His films would be composed of scenes of completed actions connected by dissolves but with overlapping action and also prosc...

Beginnings of Cinema The Reel - Approximately 1890's to 1902 In the beginning there were reels of film. On reel would equal one film and there would be no editing, it would all be just one continuous shot.  The films would last 20 to 30 seconds. There was no illusion of continuity. Proscenium Arch Style (Theatrical view). Approximately the first ten years of the industry. This style of cinema was characterized by: - Long shots from around 12 to 15 feet away. - Long takes, takes would last a very long time. - Eye level. The camera would be at eye level with the action. - Stationary camera. The camera would not move at all during the shot. So called "firsts" films. The above films were typified in the so called "first" films which were: - Edison kinetoscopes (before 1896) and films - Lumiere brother "actualites" Edison kinetoscopes and films: -W.K.L. Dickson and the "invention" of motion pictures. - Kinetograph which was a ...

The Classical Hollywood Narrative Style Conventions for contriving believable images and sounds in film narratives. Conventions has a shared meaning: Development: Conventional style in the U.S. for film and TV. There is a dominance of U.S. culture which expands and globalizes. It is mostly single camera. Classical: Also known as conventional style, it is the accepted model. Conventions are things we don't usually have to think about. For example the conventions of editing are determined by continuity editing, we do no think about the cut because the cut tends to be invisible. Style for contriving believable images and sounds. We believe in the possibility of what we see in film narratives associated with american films but the conventions for narrative cinema are worldwide. Hollywood is just the word that represents the american style. There are competitive advantages in the industry. "Willing suspension of disbelief" This is the phrase used to describe t...

Documents that accompany a film When a film gets delivered to a distributor or to a sales house there are a series of documents that must come along with the film. The most basic documents are: - Original Dialogue List - Copy of E&O Certificate (Errors and Omissions) - Music Cue Sheets - Chain of Title - Chain of Title Summary - Dolby Licenses - Music Licenses

Needed items (in english and spanish): 1.      Tag line 2.      Logline 3.      Synopsis 4.      Film Datasheet (Country of Origin, total Budget, Release date, Genre, etc) 5.      Awards information 6.      Director Biography 7.      Director Statement (Brief paragraph explaining your motives for making the film) 8.      Actors Biographies 9.      Key Crew Biographies 10. Production notes 11. Press list (Noteworthy sound bites from press mentions and list of mentions in the press) 12. Sales Info (Distributors, Countries sold, available rights, Agents, etc) 13. Social Media list (and include a list of tags) 14. Artistic Datasheet (Talent Credits) 15. Technical Datasheet (Crew Credits) 16. Full Credits Theatrical Release Date: Overall Strategy 1.  ...

STREET TEAM Street teams are a great marketing tool to utilize fan bases. Popularized by bands decades ago, the street team allows you to communicate with your core audience and expand your reach towards their network.  Objective: To support and strengthen our fan events around the world and to amplify our notoriety outwards from the core circle of fans to wider circles and to create hype and word of mouth in order to support the release of a film or album. Proposal: All Fan events will be organized between the organization and a local distributor. In order to play all our cards and to utilize all our available resources we want to involve the core fan base. With the excuse of the Fan premieres that we will organize around the world we can begin creating excitement among our fans. An event can be a physical event but may also mean the release of an album or a film.  In relation to PR / Marketing we will then have the local distributor promoting through t...

Sample Theatrical Release Marketing Plan 1.      Poster 2.      Release: a.      Release Date b.      Copies c.      Core Target and opportunities 3.      Framing: We need to decide how we frame and sell this film. Is it Action-Adventure, Political satire, Female empowerment etc.   We need to make sure that we have an unified message. Everybody communicates the same. 4.      Competition: What similar films will be releasing around our dates. We need to decide what type of release strategy we want.   5.      Tie-Ins: Try and find strategic partners in order to have tie-ins that will allow to create branding around the release of the film. For instance, the popcorn containers in theaters. Maybe they could be done with a sponsor or two. Please turn off your cellphones clip in screens. Fast Food children'...

SAMPLE WORKFLOW FOR ASSETS: These are only examples to illustrate the path or workflow a file follows. Video Assets: 1.       Video is recorded on the camera into an SD Card for example. 2.       The SD files are exported from the card on a computer internal Hard Drive. 3.       The files are relabeled according to the naming convention (See previous post). 4.       A copy of these files is then archived in the Film’s Raw Video folder. 5.       A copy of the files should remain in the computer’s hard Drive if these files are used for editing. 6.       After editing, video files are then exported according to the naming convention. 7.       Files are then stored in the film’s edited video folder for access and use. Photographic Assets: Same as for video. It is very important that t...

CROWDFUNDING: NOTES FROM THEKICKSTARTERGUY.COM CONFERENCE Key notes: Tell a story that is personal. The best way to sell something is to tell a story, if you can tell a story that can connect with your audience, the chances of success will increase dramatically. There are certain timeframes that increase your chances of success: Best day to launch is on a Tuesday at 11am local time. It is best to launch in the middle of the month, always trying to avoid holidays. For film crowdfunding it is best to keep the campaign no longer than 30 to 40 days. The amount you should ask as threshold is the least amount you need to be able to create the project. So the least amount is the best amount, anything over will contribute to creating a better project. Also, always have a stretch goal ready so when the target is hit you can rehash for more money. If you are crowdfunding for a product, it is extremely important to do the research and figure out how much it costs to create the product, ...

THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION IN HONG KONG The standard minimum guarantee ranges in Hong Kong are: For independent films: $5.000 to $20.000 For films with a-list actors: $20.000 to $50.000 Deals with the film theaters are usually structured like this: Week 1: Distributor 45% - Theater 55%, except for special shows which are day shows which will range between 40% to 45% for the distributor. Week 2: Distributor 40% - Theater 60% Week 3: Distributor 35% - Theater 65% Week 4: Distributor 30% - Theater 70% Independent films will get stuck in the 2 to 3 shows per day which means the P&A expenditure has to be higher and the chances of making money are less. Studios get deals that range to the 6, 7 or 8 daily shows and get 50% to 60% of the ticket sales. An average independent film that does well will pull in about $750.000 in the box office.

THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION WORLDWIDE: In this day where globalization is becoming more common, the majors are taking two sides as to how they release and market their films. On one hand, there is the traditional way, which separates international and domestic distribution, mainly because of cultural issues. This means that a film needs to be marketed differently depending on the country it is being released in. Not only this, but it also looks into the content, the film itself, to see how it must be sold and who are the targeted audiences. On the other hand, we have a new global economy where culture globalization is become more and more intense. The U.S. which is the largest exporter of copyrighted intellectual property and the majors who are mostly responsible for this, are determined to treat the world the same. Instead of selling a film country by country and localizing the marketing, which is how most international executives think it should be done. The trend is for a day a...