Research
Primary Research
Focus groups
Date of Research: 05/04/22
Type of research: Primary
Research material: Focus groups
What I learned
We first conducted focus groups for primary research. I learned young film students were interested in Short films and were considerate of the restranties of filming therefore more accepting of locations and narrative changes. I also learned that most don't watch short films in their spare time unless the topic particularly interested them or because it was part of a short film competition. This made me consider the target audience as an important feature of pre-production and primary research, which I will consider in the questionnaire. I also learned people were generally more interested in narratives with characters representative of themselves, e.g. their age, which I will use to inform my target audience also.
Reason for research: To get a initial understand of peoples interest in my CMP to understand how to go ahead with other research.
Questionnaire
Reason for research: To further understand my market and project cons-etc in combination with what people want to see.
Date of Research: 06/04/22
Type of research: Primary
Research material: Questionmaire
The Questions
Responses
This told me the large majority of the participants were under 25, letting me take the responses as a mean for the age-group.
This affirmed my initial research that young people don't watch short films often and therefore I will need to market my film and focus heavily on target market.
This finalised my distribution to be based on YouTube as constantly people watch short films in you tube.
This is useful as I will be considering cimermatophry as my main discipline. I will be considerstar with making the film
My plan was to make a 10 min film thought with this in mind I will consider making it slightly shorter.
This data is too varied to be conclsive, thought I could take this as interaction for a mixed ocular scheme. I will re-evaluate this later, with interns after test shots.
The locations people liked the most were the street at night and Bus locations, which I will have feature most predominately in the film.
I learned people prefer fast paced short films which I will consider in the script writing process though not at the hinderance of the cimepathphagyic style.
Similar projects of the Genre
Date of Research: 08/04/22
Type of research: Secondary
Research material: Similar projects
Reason for research: I wanted to look at similar projects to take inspiration and learn conventions and learn more about genres.
I looked through a list of slice of life short films and picked thought ones that caught my eye and had similar themes I was interested in. The 3 I looked at ranged in langage, populatilty and decade, these were: MIRAFLORES by Rodrigo Braz Teixeira (2021), Low Tide by Roberto Minervini 2012 and Nomadland by Chole Zhao.
MIRAFLORES by Rodrigo Braz Teixeira (2021)
Miraflores is a portigreze film from the suburbs of Lisbon, it is a funny teen comedy looking at the turmoils of youth. It mixes a mockumentary and slice of life style which tells the history of the Miraflores neighbourhood. This particular film I choose to research because of cinematic style and passing. The opening of the film is just a series of architectural shots of Lisbon that allows for the word around our protagonist to be built before he's seen. This made me think about the setting of my film almost as another character - as our environment greatly impacts the stories will tell. It made me consider the differences in culture between different countries and cities. Watching miraflores I was eager to see the setting design as it is a place I am not familiar consquenclty making me consider audiences who are not familiar with london and how I will have to focus on the setting design in my film. To do this I may take inspiration from Miraflores and begin the film with a seris of architectural shots before seeing Elijah and Lucas.
Low Tide by Roberto Minervini 2012
The next one I looked at was Low Tide made in 2012, directed by Roberto Minervini which follows a 12 year old boy's solitude and freedom exploring parels of nature and society. The thing that really stuck with me in this film was the shacky, natural shooting style, which stays on level with boys, giving the film a natural - flowing quietly. This style gives the audience a kinship to the subject even when the action is slowly passed, as we experience life with him. I will transfer this and use shaky movements over a sturdy one.
Nomadland by Chole Zhao 2021
Finally, I watched Nomadland released in 2020, directed by Chole Zhao, and awarded best picture 2021 at the Oscars. This film is certainly a slice of life with its beautiful cimerohograty and slow pace. It followers a woman in her sixties after losing everything in the Great Recession as she travels through the American West living in a van with a plethora of other nomads mostly played by real people. The themes consist of loneliness, age, poverty, grief, and community, which it communicates with its cinematography and natural acting. The use of real people inspired me to stay and involve extras just living their life. I will also take inspiration from the sound mixing of music and painful silence, as well as of course the thoughtful cinermaphotger.
Visual inspiration
Date of Research: 09/04/22
Type of research: Secondary
Research material: Analysing other work
Reason for research: Visual inspiration
Hotoifilm
I take massive visual inspiration from the hotoifilm instragram run by Mark Davis, with the treatment of night shoots and visual storytelling. His account started as a photogrsahy account of his grandpas old photos, which seems to heavily influence his work now shotting interilty on film. And thought theses are not narrative films rather just a way to document his life, the style is every reflective of the 3 films I looked at in the slice of life genre, with observational nattuar of the shots, such as with the following from behind. I will be looking at 4 of his films, Fate, free smells, Dec 20, May 21, all of which are around a minute long.
Museum
Date of Research: 09/04/22
Type of research: Secondary
Research material: Museum
Reason for research: Visual inspiration
Jitterbug
Next I went to the muesmun of the home in shordictch where I watched a new film called Jitterbug about a young woman from Hackney with great potential shot down by the coniucils removing of her family from her home. Though I thought the acting and cimermathprthy was sometimes lacking I thought it was an interesting study of the concept of home, and community. I wish to transfer this into an addition of observational footage to my script.
Market Research
Date of Research: 11/04/22
Type of research: Secondry
Research material: Market Research
Reason for research: After looking at these various films I was intrigued to look further into the target audience, to see who would be interested in my chosen genre and the current market trends.
Popularity of Music Videos
The first question I pose is the market trends in those watching short films to do this. I looked at a website by cult-box looking at this question. The article suggests the COVID pandemic gave way for new mediums of film without the ability to produce large budget films due to restrictions in production and distribution (a move to online, instead of in person cinemas).
It also argues the movements in Black Lives matter have inspired many to take on documenting things themselves.
From this i gained that people appreciate short films ow more than ever with the increasing accessibility.
Trends
I then looked at general predicted filmmaking trends of a page on rain-dance film School website. I will be taking note of all the elements I think apply to the short film industry as I will be using this to analyse my market not bigger budget films.
First it suggests there will be a move for more eco-friendly filmmaking with the increasing emphasis on that with climate change a central topic in society.
Next it argues films will be asked to lend themselves to social movements, to have a social impact or make a point.
It also suggested comedy is as crucial as ever and more with difficult times people turn to entertainment as an escape. Oppositely it also says their will be a large movement to gritty realism
It argues there will be a new normal to filmmaking in 3 things
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Story line
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Filmmaking techniques and technology
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Sales and distribution
Finally it suggests there needs to be and will be a movement to broader diversity, with audiences demanding this as principle.
From this market research I will be taking into account the trends pointed out by the article. I will remain eco-friendly filming, include gritty realism and will aim to be diverse in casting.
Secondary quantitative data
Next I wanted to look at the quantitative data that supports these hypothesis, to do this I looked at an article by the website “stephan follows, film and data and education”
First it find that the number of new live-action festival short films has increased in recent years which It suggests is due to various contributing factors.
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Cheaper filmmaking technology;
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Increased information sharing online;
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A greater number of film festivals.
Next they looked at the average length of a short film from 2000-18. This shows the most popular length as around 10 and 15 minutes long.
Thought It is to be noted this research was conducted in 2018 it is interesting to see the market trends and use them to inform my work. For example I will be making a 10-15 minute film as the data suggests this is most popular.
Job Role Skills
Date of Research: 05/04/22
Type of research: Secondary
Research material: Various sources
Reason for research: Approaching planning and production I wanted to get a understanding of my job role and the skills needed.
Job Role - looking at directors
Reason for research: Next to look at the job role and style I wanted to look at specific directors to see how they work and contribute their style. First Barry Jenkins whom I have looked at previously.
Date of Research: 13/04/22
Type of research: Secondary
Research material: Directors
Photograhy
Date of Research: 13/04/22
Type of research: Secondary
Research material: Visual inspiration
I also took inspiration from visual inspiration from photography. Especially the works of Sophie Day in her photo series capturing boyhood and youth. I draw inspiration from her visual styles as I think It is reflective of emotions and people, I get on their level and capture candid moments of interaction. I plan to draw from her couleur grade and shooting style.
Interview about directing actors
Date of Research: 15/04/22
Type of research: Primary
Research material: Masterclass/interview
Reason for research: I said in the skills section of the job role that I would be learning more about how to direct actors, and thought that the best way to do this would be to learn from a professional.
I talked to Jo Carter a director and organizer of the theatre company's immediate theatre. She talked about how to direct actors, what techniques to use and what different practitioners say works.
What I learned:
i Found this externally useful and will be transferring the skills I learned in this talk into the production. For example, I will be blocking out each scene for the actors, giving them motivations and emotions. I will also make sure to keep the actors relaxed but focused on set as the she suggests.
bibiliography
Jitterbug. 2022. [DVD] Directed by A. akingbade. London: Artangel production.
MIRAFLORES. 2021. [film] Directed by R. Braz Teixeira. Lisbon: IMDb.
Low tide. 2012. [film] Directed by R. Minervini. USA.
RYM. n.d. Slice of life. [online] Available at: <https://rateyourmusic.com/> [Accessed 9 April 2022].
Nomadland. 2020. [video] Directed by C. Zhao. West America: W. W. Norton & Company.
Fate. 2022. [video] Directed by M. Davis. America: Hotoifilm.
Free smells. 2022. [video] Directed by M. Davis. America: Hotoifilm.
Dec 20. 2022. [video] Directed by M. Davis. America: Hotoifilm.
May 21. 2022. [video] Directed by M. Davis. America: Hotoifilm.
SOMERSET, D., 2021. 3 Reasons Why Short Films Are Growing in Popularity in 2021. [online] CultBox. Available at: <https://cultbox.co.uk/general/3-reasons-why-short-films-are-growing-in-popularity-in-2021> [Accessed 12 April 2022].
Grove, E., 2021. Twenty-Two for 2022: Trends Filmmakers Track. [online] Raindance. Available at: <https://raindance.org/trends-filmmakers-track-2022/> [Accessed 12 April 2022].
Stephen Follows. 2020. How many short films are made each year?. [online] Available at: <https://stephenfollows.com/how-many-short-films-are-made-each-year/> [Accessed 12 April 2022].
Moonlight. 2016. [film] Directed by B. Jenkins. Miami: A24.
Jenkins, B., 2016. Moonlight. 12th ed. [ebook] Miami: dailyscript.com, pp.1-12. Available at: <https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/MOONLIGHT.pdf> [Accessed 13 April 2022].
Beale Street Could Talk. 2018. [film] Directed by B. Jenkins. USA: Dial Press.
Brendan Canty - Director. 2022. Brendan Canty - Director. [online] Available at: <https://www.brendancanty.ie/> [Accessed 13 April 2022].