Audience Consumption 

Survey

• What is your age?:

• Out of these 3 movie genres, which is your favourite?

1. Action Films
2. Romantic Films
3. Comedy Films

•  Out of these 3 options, how many movies would you say you watch per year?

1. 10-20
2. 30-40
3. 50+

• Based on the last question, how many of those films would you watch at the cinema?

1. A quarter of them.
2. Half of them.
3. All of them.
4. Barely any of them.

• Name the top three most established cinemas in your area.

• What was the last film you watched?

• If you watch films at home, do you?

1. Watch the film from start to finish?
2. Watch the film with short breaks? (get water/snacks, answer the door, or go to the bathroom etc)
3. Watch film with longer breaks? (Please specify break length and reason here = 

• Out of these Streaming Services, which do you used the most?

1. Netflix
2. LightBox
3. Hulu
4. Other

Audience Trends Homework

Link 1 Notes:

Link 2 Notes:

• With a reach of 67 per cent, broadcast TV remains the media channel reaching the most people on a daily basis. However, based on the trend showing a decline from 83 per cent in 2014, this could well be the last time TV retains the spot on the top of the pile.

• When it came to individual channels, TVNZ 1, somewhat surprisingly, bucked the downward trend, growing its daily reach from 40 per cent in 2016 to 43 per cent in the latest figures (this is, however, down on the 48 per cent in 2014).

• Netflix is now bigger than two of New Zealand's major free-to-air channels – providing a strong indication of how much New Zealand's viewership habits are changing.

• New Zealanders continue to spend over two and a half hours watching linear TV each day, and over an hour and a half listening to radio each day.

• The time spent watching online video, via channels such as YouTube and Facebook, has increased to 49 minutes since 2016.

Link 3 Notes:

• Netflix: The Cost – Basic Plan $9.99 per month (no HD) / Standard Plan is $12.99 per month (HD) / Premium Plan $15.99 per month (Ultra HD)

• Neon: The Cost – $20.00 per month. Just like Netflix, Neon has not changed its plan, price, number of usable devices, or trial time limit. However, the Neon net has been cast wider to include different devices. “Having launched on iOS, Android and Web we subsequently have added X-box 360 and Chromecast,” a representative told us. “In terms of roadmap devices we plan to launch our first Smart TV App very shortly.”

• QuickFlix: The Cost – six-month term of $9.99 then moved to $12.99, Premium Pass $6.00 a month (free with subscription)Out of all the big SVOD services available in New Zealand, Quickflix has changed the most by adding some alternatives to their standard $12.99 plan. The no-brainer option is the six-month term of $9.99 per month that switches to the $12.99 regular after that half-year is up. The second alternate option, for those who are reluctant to subscribe, is the Premium Pass for $6.00 a month which allows you to watch any of their PPV movies once a month. Even sweeter, this Premium Pass comes free with the standard subscription.

• LightBox: The Cost – $12.99 per 30 days, Lightbox is still a TV-dominated domain “focused on bringing the best new and exclusive TV shows to Kiwi households” says Lightbox CEO Kym Niblock. These include recent hits like The Path, Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul, and the service is “constantly adding to our catalogue throughout each month… there are literally thousands of hours of TV to watch.”

Link 4 notes:

• The rise in popularity of on-demand video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime is increasingly seen as a threat to the 113-year-old ritual of going to a cinema to see a movie. James Robins spoke to Dr Karina Aveyard, Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, author of “Lure of the Big Screen: Cinema in Rural Australia and the United Kingdom” and co-editor of “Watching Films: New Perspectives on Movie-going, Exhibition and Reception,” about whether Netflix might kill the cinema.

• Prominent filmmakers have joined the chorus against Netflix and its ilk to defend the cinematic experience, including director Steven Spielberg, who doesn’t believe “films that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theatres for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination.” Christopher Nolan stated that “Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films. They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation.”

• Earlier this year, the organisers of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival drew a line in the dirt: only movies released into French cinemas could be considered in competition. Any film released solely on Netflix or other streaming services were barred from vying for the coveted Palm D’Or prize.

• At last count, Netflix alone has more than 125 million subscribers worldwide, with 1.2 million of them in New Zealand, while cinema attendance in the United States last year dropped to its lowest level since 1995.

Media Homework

Case Studies

Hollywood Film - Star Wars Rise of the Skywalker

Title: Star Wars Rise of the Skywalker.
Date of Release: 16 December 2019
Director: J. J. Abrams
A-list Cast:Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega
Budget: 275 million USD
Opening weekend Box Office Numbers: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker earned $176 million opening weekend.
What Platforms is it on: DVD - $20, Cinema, Disney +
Reviews: 52% Rotten tomatoes, 6.7/10 IMDB, 53% Metacritic

NZ Film - Hunt For the Wilderpeople 

Title: Hunt For the Wilderpeople 
Date of Release: 31 March 2016
Director: Taika Waititi
A-list Cast:Julian Dennison, Sam Neill, Rima Te Wiata, Rhys Darby
Budget: 2.5 million USD
Opening weekend Box Office Numbers: Taika Waititi's new film Hunt for the Wilderpeople has set a new box office record. has blitzed the Kiwi box office in its opening weekend taking in a record $1.3 million. 
What Platforms is it on: Amazon Prime, DVD, Netflix
Reviews: 96% Rotten Tomatoes, 5/5 Empire, 7.9/10 IMDB

An Independent Film - The Big Sick

Title: The Big Sick
Date of Release: 20 January 2017
Director: Michael Showalter
A-list Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff
Budget: 5 Million USD 
Opening weekend Box Office Numbers: 5 million USD
What Platforms is it on: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime
Reviews: 98% Rotten Tomato, 7.5/10 IMDB, 4/5 Empire

A Film That didn't do very well - The Interview

Title: The Interview
Date of Release: February 6, 2015.
Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg 
A-list Cast: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplan, Randall Park
Budget: 44 million USD
Opening weekend Box Office Numbers: It went on to earn over $1.8 million in its opening weekend, and by the end of its run on January 25, 2015, had grossed $6.1 million at the box office.
What Platforms is it on: Youtube RED, Netflix, Google Play Movies
Reviews: 52% Rotten Tomato's, 6.5/10 IMDB, 3/4 Rolling Stone

Thriller Sub Genre Homework

Thriller sub genre homework from AddisonSaxby

Opening Sequences Homework

1) What is the purpose of an opening sequence?

The purpose of an opening sequence is to set the scene for the views so that we know where the film is being set. This also includes at what time the film is going to be set so that we know what the cultures of that day would be. The opening scene can also give away or give hints to what the genre of the film is going to be, we can see as the audience what the genre would be based off the conventions that the opening scene gives off. For example we can see that "Skyfall" has a good opening sequence to show us that it is an action. 

(Knifes show danger that indicate action) 

(Blood shows injury and coupled with the use of the target board we see that he has been shot)

In some films an opening sequence shows an establishing shot to tell the audience where the first few scene of the film is going to take place. For example a castle on a hill. This technique is often used in TV and Film opening sequences because it shows the audience exactly where the scene, and potentially the movie, will take place. It also gives the audience a clear view of where they are in the "film world" These sequences can give away very little details as to where the film is set, but can give us clue to the genre of the film.

2) What is the difference between an Opening Credits and a Title Sequence?

Opening Credits are different to Title Sequences in film and TV because opening credits show the key roles in the film and also the "A-list" actors that are staring in the film. By including these key roles and actors the audience can read them and see who is in the film and who made it and can immediately make a judgement based on these roles about whether or not the film is worth their time. The difference between an opening credits and a title sequence would be that a title sequence can almost tell a story, or show a past films recap to get the audience "all caught up" and can give hints to what is to come in the film. However an opening credits simply opens the films and informs the audience of the key roles and the "A-list" actors involved in the film. Sometimes, films and TV programmes break the conventions in order to create a bigger, more unique, and more elaborate abstract title sequence, this could include a montage, voice over, or flashback. 

 ^An Opening Credits^

^A Title Sequence^

3) What techniques can be employed in Opening Sequences?

Some techniques to show an opening sequence in a film or TV show would be an establishing wide shot to show the audience where the film is going to take place, this is a very popular technique. Another way to show an opening sequence is to merge a title sequence and use the elements of a story based opening and then couple it with the elements of an opening credits scene. This can show the audience a small story at the beginning of the film and also show them who made the film and who is staring. By merging the two we can get a unique way of starting a film and the audience can get exactly what they want. 

My two films for research are 

1) The Joker (2019)

2) Vertigo (1997) 

Joker Opening scene 

The opening scene to The Joker starts off with happy digetic sound in the form of a piano player in the streets of gotham. There are other sounds in this scene too as we can also hear car noises and people talking on the street. The Joker we see as a clown waving a sign around resembles happiness and joy. But as the scene progress we hear that people are telling insults to him and he is oblivious. We see a close up shot of a boy hitting the sign away from the joker and this starts a chase scene. As The Jokers chases the boys that now have his sign, the music fades away and we know that the tone has switched from joy to sadness. We see dangers of the cars on the street as the boy run through the open road and the joker follows them. We have tracking shots showing the joker running after the kids and the kids running away from the joker. As the joker catches up to the boys they ambush him and beat him to the ground and destroy his sign. The boys run off and we see a low angle tracking shot that slowly moves up to where the joker is, lying on the ground in pain and has his sign smashed to pieces around him. The sign shows that he is broken and can never be the same. The colours in this scene are very dark colours that make the joker pop out in his colourful clown costume. The bright yellow sign shows that it is of importance, and the boys and other extras have be given dark clothes to wear to resemble the reality of life. The editing is very fast paced when in the chase scene however slows down when the joker is lying on the floor. When we see that the joker is on the floor we have the big title of "The Joker" appear above him as he is in pain on the floor. The overall mixture of the dark tones, fast-paced editing, chase scene, violence and dangerous under tones all mix together to create a thriller mood and tone. 

Vertigo Opening scene

In the vertigo opening scene we see the use of close-ups in order to create a sense of the unknown as we cannot see what the character sees. The emphasis on the eyes mixed with the extreme close-ups not only hides what the character is seeing from the audience by also creates a sense of danger as the character's eyes widen and almost look shocked and frightened about what is she is seeing. The can give suspense as the audience cannot see what is there and therefore we can get scared by the unknown. The colour grade slowly changes when we see the girl and it changes from a standard grade to one that is red when her eyes widen. This can indicate to us that what she is seeing is something of danger as red is symbolic of blood and danger. A fade is introduced and we see a spiral is show emerging from the characters eye. This symbolises falling which is linked to the plot of the film.

The difference:

The difference between these two films would be the change in obviously, film quality, the difference in tone within the colours used, the music used fits into the scene and therefore creates a different mood and feel, the camera shots in "The Joker" are more elaborate than of the ones in Vertigo. The difference in symbolism between the eyes in "Vertigo" and yellow sign in "The Joker" is the same concept however used differently due to the difference in time.  The overall genre is the same however how it is portrayed is extremely different. 

Thriller Opening research

Citizen Kane

• Music helps build the scene as there is barely any dialogue.
• Fade editing is used
• Camera movement uses angles
• Reflections in a mirror 
• Darkness on top of the film being in black and white helps create a creepy tone
• Music and visual is synced well together
• There is the use of some extreme close ups.

The Dark Knight 

• Music is quiet and the starts suddendly.
• Masks are used to conceal the identity of the robbers and this gives the sense of being in the unknown.
• Fast Music starts suddenly 
• Guns and weapons are used as conventions.
• Bank is the setting and the actors screaming tells us that this is a scary event of a robbery
• The masked villains are commanding the bank workers to do what they say.
• This is an opening to an Action Thriller.

Exception

• Music builds the scene and makes up for the lack of dialogue.
• Close ups to the eyes 
• Chase scene.
• As the audience we can see things that some of the characters cant see due to the camera placement. This builds lots of suspense.

The First Degree 

• Close ups are used 
• Music is overall slow paced
• Titles that were used helped understand what was going on in the scene.

Rational

The opening for our film will include a "news reporter" style which is going to be based around the plot of investigating a mental hospital. The film starts which a close up that shows a news reporter checking his emails and sees an email from a neighbor of the mental hospital. This email then gives information to our main character about the mental hospital and the supposed "sounds" coming from within. After reading the email our character knows there is no time to waste and quickly calls his camera-man and explains. While on the phone we will use quick cuts that are all close-ups and use the diegetic sound of a thunderstorm outside to give a sense of danger without even leaving our main character's house. The next scene shows a forest with a road cutting through. We will use an over the shoulder shot to show our news reporter standing on the side of the road waiting for his camera-man to arrive. The rain is still continuing. Upon arrival on the camera-man in the news van we here a thunder strike which is an audio cue that cuts to the next scene which is showing a broken window and a dimly lit hallway that has some flashing lights with an irregular pattern. The pair climb through the broken window and head down the creaky hallway. As they enter we will add in creepy music, creaky floorboards, rain and thunder and a howling wind flowing through the hospital. The next scene shows the camera-man and the news reporter setting up the shot they want to get. This scene will be shot with a high angle wide, close-ups and mid shots. After the set up of the camera and microphone is complete we then switch into the camera-mans POV except it is through the lens of his camera and it shows the news reporter in the classic news style we all know. (mid shot) Throughout this scene we have the new reporter warming up and practicing his lines. The reason why we have kept this in the story is to show more realism because the scene is technically scripted however appears not to be. As this is all going on we can slowly see a figure walk past the news reporter in the background and the news reporter is unaware. As the scene progresses we see this figure move closer to our news reporter and the music gets more intense. As the music builds suddenly the power in the hospital shuts off and all the light turns off. The music dies down and all we hear is some footsteps slowly getting louder. The camera shot then turns to night vision and we see the mentally ill man standing right behind our news reporter and a low bass hit comes in. Then the title of the movie appears.