Synergy - How related items across a variety of media platforms promote each other. An example relating to the film industry is how a DVD, soundtrack CD, merchandise can promote a movie, yet the movie also promotes the other items. Furthermore, the production company can promote a film and the film promotes the production company.
Convergence - Where companies within the media industry distribute a product/brand/concept over several media platforms. Relating this to the film industry, an example of this is releasing both a movie and a video game (e.g. the corresponding release of Avatar, the movie and video game).
Wednesday 30th October 2013
Former graphic novelist Martin Villeneuve talks about how he made his ambitious big budget movie Mars et Avril with only $2.3million dollars.
One of the main messages expressed frequently throughout the talk is that it is not a problem if something is difficult. In fact, difficulty should inspire creativity in finding a way to get around it.
An example of this is when Villeneuve wanted Robert Lepage to star in his movie, but the actor is very busy. This lead to Villeneuve's idea that the character's head be a hologram. This allowed them to use Lepage as the character's head and voice whist they hired someone else to play the body.
Another thing he explained to the audience was how he got VFX designer Carlos Monzon and his childhood hero (comic book artist) Francois Schuiten to work on the project, when they were busy and had offers of better projects (Monzon turned down the next Spielberg movie to work on Mars et Avril). The reason for this, he explained, was that he gave them the freedom to be creative.
Wednesday 30th October 2013
In this TED talks, Beeban Kidron pushes a need for narrative and how sharing cinema, narrative and storytelling enriches the lives of all - particularly the young.
Kidron was one of a group of people that set up film club in schools. This involved the whole school sitting down to watch a film uninterrupted, followed by a discussion about the film. This started with 25 schools and grew greatly as people saw its success.
The film club allowed these children to think about issues and meaning. It taught them life lessons and improved their behaviour, confidence and academic ability.
She also talked about a boy taking part in the film club who used Jaws as a means to explain how he felt about the tragic events that had taken place.
As for Kidron's personal experience, she describes how the world of film has helped her to understand the past of her elder family members, who would be too pained to talk about what happened to them in the past. Films that document these historical events were how she grew to learn.
Sunday 13th October 2013
Scriptwriter Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, WALL-E, Finding Nemo) explains what makes a good story.
He described several key elements to story/script writing and these were:
- Make the audience care (what makes the viewer stop on the channel that your TV show is showing on?)
- The audience should have to work for the story. Don't give them everything at once, let them work things out for themselves (He called this giving them "2+2" not "4").
- There are know rules - sometimes breaking conventions can work out for the best (he used Toy Story as an example. This broke the stereotype for animated movies).
- There should be a theme throughout the story.
- Constant change (because life is never static).
- Characters should have 'spines'. This is their driving force and ultimately fuels the decisions they make.
- You know you have told a good story when the audience leave the cinema having experienced a feeling of wonder.
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