ROGUE ONE, A Star Wars STORY

• Who produced the film?

Kathleen Kennedy and Allison Shearmur

• Who directed the film? 

Gareth Edwards 

• What other films have they directed? 

Star Wars: the last Jedi

End day 

Monsters 

Godzilla  

• What was the budget? 

$265 million (gross). $219.5 million (net)

• Who stars in it? 

Felicity Jones

Diego Luna 

Riz Ahmed 

• What other films have they been in?

Felicity jones: The theory of everything, on the basis of sex. Inferno 

Diego Luna: Narcos: Mexico 

Riz Ahmen: Venom, The night of, The sister’s brother 

• What technology has been used to make the film? (What cameras did they use? How was the film edited? What CGI was involved?) 

They used a computer-generated imagery to bring back characters who appeared in the 39 year old movie to appear them same in this movie. As well as, the character Fisher’s younger self makes a cameo by using CGI. 

• How was the film marketed? Which different marketing tools were used?

Lucasfilm realised a teaser trailer for vogue one on April 7^th 2016. It was praised by reviewers for portrayal of strong female characters. The trailer was viewed close to 30 million times in it’s first 29 hours in June 2016, Rogue One was promoted at the star wars celebration Europe III event in London. During the event, a new official poster was unveiled, a second teaser trailers was also unveiled and was screened exclusively for the audience at the event and not streamed online. This new trailer was reviewed favourably by critics. The second trailer was shown publicly during a broadcast of the 2016 summer Olympics and received favourable media reviews. 

 • What examples of synergy with other products/merchandise can you find? 

When the film was realised it collaborated with Disney, this associates with the merchandise produced through Disney, they made toys, t-shirts posters and many other pieces of merchandise you can think of, these were sold in Disney stores all around the world. 

• What examples of cross media convergence can you find? 

Walt Disney supports the film by selling merchandise In their stores. 

• What examples of technological convergence can you find? 

Through the use of their official app, on the app you can take a selfie of yourself as a Jedi and share it on social media, this is then shared around to other people making them do it as well. This promotes the film as it spreads word about the film, this is an example of viral marketing. This is how devices such as smartphone and iPad can engage and interact the audience to gain popularity and interest in the film 

• Where and when was this film released (nationwide, worldwide) and in what cinemas?

The film premiered in Los Angleles, California on December 10^th 2016 and was realised in the United States on the 10^th December 20116 and then in England on the 13^th December 2016.  

• What formats was it available in (digital / 3D etc…)? 

It is available in DVD format and online platforms such as Apple TV, Disney Plus and also on blu-ray and 3D. 

• Who is the target audience?

The target audience for this film is extremely broad as Star Wars has been going on for years meaning all age groups would be interest in this new film, this would mainly appeal to males and females of the age 15-35 years. 

PRELIMINARY EXERCISE

Camera Angles and Shot Types 

I have studied camera angles and shot types by reading professor Daniel Chandler’s website called The ‘Grammar’ of Film and television

Shot sizes:

Long shot (LS): Shot which shows all or most of a fairly large subject (for example, a person) and usually much of the surroundings. 

Close up (CU): A picture which shows a fairly small part of the scene, such as a character's face, in great detail so that it fills the screen. It abstracts the subject from a context.

Medium shot (MS): Medium Shot or Mid-Shot (MS). In such a shot the subject or actor and its setting occupy roughly equal areas in the frame. In the case of the standing actor, the lower frame passes through the waist. There is space for hand gestures to be seen. 

Big close up (BCU): forehead to chin. Close-ups focus attention on a person's feelings or reactions, and are sometimes used in interviews to show people in a state of emotional excitement, grief or joy. In interviews, the use of BCUs may emphasise the interviewee's tension and suggest lying or guilt. BCUs are rarely used for important public figures; MCUs are preferred, the camera providing a sense of distance. Note that in western cultures the space within about 24 inches (60 cm) is generally felt to be private space, and BCUs may be invasive.

CONTINUITY EXERCISE

ON THE SET 

Prior to filming, we passed around the camera and each of us practised how to handle the camera, insert the battery and memory card. We also learned how to set up the tripod and to ‘bubble’ it using the spirit level to help make the camera balanced and in focus. We explored the camera such as how to focus, how to begin filming. The exposure on the camera is adjusted by moving the dial up and down.

After learning how to use the camera and balance it on the tripod we looked at the title sequence ‘Delicatessen’. At the beginning of the sequence insensitive laughter drowns out the man’s final whimper as a meat cleaver comes crashing down, delivering his end as well as the opening titles for ‘Delicatessen’. In the butchers shop there is a hanging pig, swaying back and forth, in and out of the shadows. The falling notes of a piano ushers the camera toward a notepad, passing a severed hand along its way, and the first set of film credits. With a gory charm, the title sequence floats through various twists and turns, the camera fluently capturing remnants of survivor’s past, while the jovial intro music underscored the film’s black comedy. 

By watching the opening sequence to ‘Delicatessen’ it influenced us to make a similar opening sequence using the same camera movement but using different objects to create a different story line. For our task we had to place different object on the table top, that had a black cover over it. The objects we chose were: old letters, old pictures of a couple, a wedding dress, wine bottles, pearls and talcum powder to make it look like drugs. Next we took the table top shot, by using the objects we were able to tell our story of a girl looking through old pictures, drinking her sorrows away. After taking this shot we had to take a live action shot, for this shot we videoed a girl with a prosecco bottle going to buy drugs, this conveyed a sense of missing her true self which lead to us naming our short story saudade.

When filming our table top shot we had a range of problems such as: we kept getting the floor in the shot which would ruin it as it is a different colour to the table cover we used to it was obvious, we also found that we didn’t have enough objects so we had to push the objects we had closer together, which ended up benefiting us. We also had problems doing our live action shot as we did it one day and we didn’t get a long enough shot, as we went to shoot some more the following day, we realised our actor had different clothes on. This meant we had to reshoot the action shot, when we did it again, we shot it in a different place which benefited us again as it was a more secret area than where we shot it before. 

Once we finished shooting our short film, we began editing it, the song we used in our opening sequence was Nostalgia by Emily Barker. The film title we chose due to the context of our film was ‘Saudade’ which means ‘missing’ in Portuguese. The credits we used were all our names (Leila Saville, Evie Hand, Morven McIntyre and Jessica Power) we put these throughout the opening sequence.

 

RESEARCH:AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

Using Google Forms i produced an audience questionnaire, I was able to collect data that I will be able to present in both graphical forms and words, as I asked questions that provided me with both quantitive and qualitative data. Using Google Forms is useful as it is easy to produce a questionnaire that allowed me to consider what my target audience wants to see. 

AUDIENCE questionnaire results by leila saville

CONSTRUCTION: SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram: 

Since we were all very familiar with Instagram, we chose it as our first marketing strategy. Since users on Instagram have an average age of 16-32 (which is our films target audience) we thought it would be the perfect social media platform to focus on most. We decided to put a brief summary of our film in the biography of our page, so viewers can see if they'd enjoy the genre and what it is about, in the hope of drawing an audience base in. Once we attracted an audience we were able to maintain them as followers, allowing us to remain in contact through our feed and profile, keeping them informed in things going on with our film! To view our instagram click here! 

Twitter 

We created our own Twitter feed and posted material that was related to our movie genre and target audience. This included trailers from over films that are similar, re-tweets from similar films and tweets that we wrote ourselves, giving an insight into our films plot. To view our twitter Click here! 

Facebook

When creating the Facebook page, we wanted to make the title simple like our other platforms  so it was engaging and straight to the point. Like Instagram, a biography was used, once again informing viewers what our film is about. This includes enough information for the audience to understand enough about our film but not too much so that there is no big question or suspense/mystery that will cause the audience to want to find out more. We posted our film poster on our Facebook page so that the audience were further captivated and wanted to continue to follow our movie. To View our Facebook Click here! 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

Before I filmed my opening sequence I needed to plan how to research my target audience, and what type of people they were. I had to research age, gender, ethnicity and social class. I also needed to investigate what their media needs were so that I could produce a product that they would enjoy watching. Finally, in order to market our movie and share our ideas, we had to come up with ideas that would reach them and capture their attention. I will show how my research has influenced my planing by answering the questions below along with pictures of support my answers.

1. Who is my primary audience? 

British females and males aged from 15-34 who enjoy a movie with drama and suspense. 

2. What kind of films and television are the likely to prefer?  

After doing some film research we discovered that the film "A simple favour" would seem like a popular movie for our target audience. This film is about a women who disappears leaving her friend and her husband to look after her child. Throughout the investigation her friend begins to unlock secrets about her that no one knows. 

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films? 

Our audience is most likely to watch our film at high end cinemas such as the everyman and  curzon, these cinemas allow the audience to feel the true richness of it and experience the unravelling of the mystery. However some may enjoy watching it at home on a streaming service such as Netflix, Sky or Apple TV and they may use other streaming services. 

4. What brands do they prefer? 

My audience profile: 

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition? 

We are focusing on how famous people suffer in the spotlight and how being famous isn't as glamorous as we all dream it to be. 

6. Why should my audience watch my film? 

My audience should watch my film because even though there are films that also look at the lives of famous people such as musicians, mine differentiates as it looks at the personal lives of a celebrity and how they are effected and how it effects their family. It gives an in look on the lives we are hidden from and doesn't glamorise being famous. Its a personal, emotional, suspenseful film that is a must see!

ON THE SET

ON THE SET 

Prior to filming, we passed around the camera and each of us practised how to handle the camera, insert the battery and memory card. We also learned how to set up the tripod and to ‘bubble’ it using the spirit level to help make the camera balanced and in focus. We explored the camera such as how to focus, how to begin filming. The exposure on the camera is adjusted by moving the dial up and down.

After learning how to use the camera and balance it on the tripod we looked at the title sequence ‘Delicatessen’. At the beginning of the sequence insensitive laughter drowns out the man’s final whimper as a meat cleaver comes crashing down, delivering his end as well as the opening titles for ‘Delicatessen’. In the butchers shop there is a hanging pig, swaying back and forth, in and out of the shadows. The falling notes of a piano ushers the camera toward a notepad, passing a severed hand along its way, and the first set of film credits. With a gory charm, the title sequence floats through various twists and turns, the camera fluently capturing remnants of survivor’s past, while the jovial intro music underscored the film’s black comedy. 

By watching the opening sequence to ‘Delicatessen’ it influenced us to make a similar opening sequence using the same camera movement but using different objects to create a different story line. For our task we had to place different object on the table top, that had a black cover over it. The objects we chose were: old letters, old pictures of a couple, a wedding dress, wine bottles, pearls and talcum powder to make it look like drugs. Next we took the table top shot, by using the objects we were able to tell our story of a girl looking through old pictures, drinking her sorrows away. After taking this shot we had to take a live action shot, for this shot we videoed a girl with a prosecco bottle going to buy drugs, this conveyed a sense of missing her true self which lead to us naming our short story saudade.

When filming our table top shot we had a range of problems such as: we kept getting the floor in the shot which would ruin it as it is a different colour to the table cover we used to it was obvious, we also found that we didn’t have enough objects so we had to push the objects we had closer together, which ended up benefiting us. We also had problems doing our live action shot as we did it one day and we didn’t get a long enough shot, as we went to shoot some more the following day, we realised our actor had different clothes on. This meant we had to reshoot the action shot, when we did it again, we shot it in a different place which benefited us again as it was a more secret area than where we shot it before. 

Once we finished shooting our short film, we began editing it, the song we used in our opening sequence was Nostalgia by Emily Barker. The film title we chose due to the context of our film was ‘Saudade’ which means ‘missing’ in Portuguese. The credits we used were all our names (Leila Saville, Evie Hand, Morven McIntyre and Jessica Power) we put these throughout the opening sequence.