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

El Montaje Para montar imagenes lo mas facil y utilizado es el corte pero hay otras formas. El fundido por ejemplo se utilizaba mucho en las películas antiguas. El fundido consiste en transicionar a negro y de negro a una nueva secuencia. El resultado es que esto suele dilatar el tiempo. También se puede utilizar el fundido sobreimpresionado, este tipo de transición se utiliza para recuerdos. También existen las cortinillas cinematográficas o el fundido encadenado. Imagen Analogica: La imagen más analogica es la fotografía ya que es lo que más se parece a lo que retrata. La elipsis es la eliminación de fases de la acción que pueden sobreentenderse. El raccord, utilizado para denominar el fallo de raccord es una error en la continuidad entre planos. Por ejemplo si en un plano alguin tiene un cigarrillo recién encendido y a continuación el cigarrillo estaría acabandose, eso sería un fallo de raccord. Puede ser también por ejemplo si un soldado romano lleva un reloj, esto sería el ...

Acto de Comunicación La comunicación es una acción que se produce entre el emisor que es quien comunica un mensaje. Este mensaje se comunica a través de un vehículo o canal para que llegue al receptor que es quien recibe el mensaje. Por ejemplo, este texto yo soy el emisor y el texto es el mensaje, el medio, canal o vehículo es este blog y el receptor eres tu. Si estuviesemos hablando, el mensaje sería oral, transmitido a través del sonido y el receptor serias tu. Una interferencia es algo que te distrae y no deja concentrarte en lo que quieres. La dimensión de una valla publicitaria puede ser una interferencia pues si vas conduciendo y es muy pequeña tienes que hacer un esfuerzo para fijarte en ella, no sería una interferencia si el mensaje se viese claro. El feedback o retroalimentación es un intercambio de experiencias que se produce entre emisor y receptor.

Los Fotogramas: Cuando la luz entra dentro del ojo, la imagen se queda grabada en la retina. El cine, video, etc juega con la retina. Para que veamos una proyección de una imagen en movimiento, tiene que haber 24 fotogramas en el caso del cine. En televisión o video tienen que haber 25 exposiciones por minuto. Cuando se graban 8 exposiciones por segundo y se rueda a velocidad estándar, es decir 24 exposiciones por segundo y se proyecta a esta misma velocidad, el resultado es que las acciones aparecen mucho más rápidas. Esto también ocurre en el caso contrario. Por lo tanto, grabando más exposiciones por segundo se consigue al proyectarlo a velocidad normal que la imagen sea más lenta y al grabar menos exposiciones y proyectarlo a velocidad normal, se consigue que la acción sea mucho más rápida. Una persona ve un fotograma pero al ser tan rápido no es consciente de él. Es subliminal y el resultado final es la apariencia de movimiento. La imagen en los televisores esta a su vez...

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.  ...

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'...

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...

CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA FILM FUNDS Creative Europe Media offers funding schemes for two types of situations: For Project Development For TV Production It does not offer funds for Film Production. Any funds for film production need to be applied to through eurimage. In order to get any funding the application just be done by a European company who has been established for a minimum of 12 months. The main core business of the company must be audiovisual production.  The producer applying for funding must have a producer credit in a film that has been released and that has had non-national distribution. For example a French producer may apply if he has had a film where he is credited as producer that has been released theatrically in for example France and Spain. The credit must be producer, no executive producer or co-producer credit is valid. For project development the company may apply for single projects or for slate, which are multiple projects. The time...