Contexts & Critical Perspectives

Why I am making this film:

Having been a long time fan of the action genre, there are a number of reasons for why I am making this film project. Personally, I believe that films have grown to be too serious and often lack the entertainment factor that they used to have. Films such as the Bond series where during the earlier eras and especially Pierce Brosnan’s era, there was more to learn and discover about the fictional technology the characters had at their disposal. The narratives were also a lot more extreme and perhaps less plausible than the Daniel Craig era but something about that made Bond a unique and exciting cinema experience. Considering the new Bond films, they do still excite audiences but the approach is much more gritty and realistic. This approach seemed to become a lot more popular as Christopher Nolan released his take on the Batman franchise. Whilst the franchise itself calls for a world of exciting, and at times unrealistic, events and characters, Nolan rationalized a lot of these ideas to fit it into a more familiar concept, for the audience.

For a period of time, there were films which are now considered, ‘far-fetched’ where perhaps a certain plot twist is seen as being too melodramatic or a certain stunt is ridiculed for being ‘impossible’. Looking at these films around the time that they were made, audiences were entertained. It hardly mattered that what was being screened was questionable and unfeasible; It was entertaining and appealed to a wider audience.  I believe that with cinema, there has to be escapism and audiences should want to be quoting characters and re-enacting fight sequences because that is often what the genre entails; that audiences are going to feel entertained and inspired.

Whilst there are hundreds of action films currently in cinemas and an even greater number yet to come, there is always a gap in the market for something like this project. I am essentially trying to introduce the styles of feature length action thrillers which have influenced me into that of a short film context. There are a number of ways this story could be approached and I am aiming to make it colourful, thrilling, humorous and feel-good. To do this I have chosen one of the characters to be the comic character and whilst this project is a thriller and concerns serious matters, this character will find themselves in situations where humour is introduced and their reactions make the audience laugh and respond, positively.

As a whole, I am trying to reiterate points made by Matthew Vaughn and Edgar Wright; that films do not have to take themselves too seriously. There are ways of still achieving a successful thriller without having to reduce your target audience to feeling melancholy or dissatisfied by what they see. With the proof of concept, I chose to present one of the action sequences and deliver each shot with the intention of it looking and feeling entertaining. This was often done by prolonging certain shots and following characters through the scene whilst action was taking place, around them. Also, I accentuated the lighting rigs by altering the brightness and contrast until each frame was vivid and aesthetically pleasing for that of a comic book action sequence.

As a regular visitor to the cinema, seeing something like this always proved entertaining and left me thinking about the film long after I had seen it. With any film, you want the audience to feel compelled to see it again and enjoy your story telling so having these aesthetics and conventions really adds a unique twist to my project. I am establishing this vivid approach to film making as my own style whilst paying tribute to Wright and Vaughn’s typical styles.

Where it could be screened:

When approaching places for my project to be screened, I have considered four different platforms. These are Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and my own site created with Wix. Facebook has been the very forefront of marketing for ‘Richie’s Lost & Found’ and with all the updates, reminding the audience that the film is going into production, it would seem almost wrong to not involve the finished product on the official page. Depending on the final running time of my product, the full film may be uploaded to an external source and embedded onto the page. Often, Facebook limit the file size for media and if it oversteps the limit then it is not uploaded onto the site. With YouTube, there are hundreds of short films now marketed on this platform and millions of people who would fit my target audience use this site, daily.

Marvel studios use both Facebook and YouTube to market their projects as well as numerous other social media platforms and even through television and cinema advertising. It is Marvel studios whose work also relates, closely, to my own. Their approach to humour and action are is something I have long seen as inspiration.

Facebook Page

Official Site

YouTube Page

With last years final project, the duration was longer than expected and so it was uploaded to Vimeo. Vimeo has no limit to the duration of any uploads and, therefore, is more flexible when considering my project could run over the 5 minute time frame originally put forward for the unit. Also, there are many people who acknowledge independent film makers by their showreels and work. Often, the first site which comes to mind when approaching looking at other people’s film work is Vimeo.  And, of course, I will also be screening the film on my website as it adds to my growing portfolio of film projects and acts as the latest step in my progression of film making. I believe that it will also reflect my passion for the subject being that it is featured on a site, personal to me and my projects.

Another place where I could publish my final film would be into the Aesthetica Film Festival as it is opened to millions of independent film makers and gives them all a chance to enter their film for consideration. Having my final product premiered on the big screen would be an achievement in of itself so whilst the chance of having the film be part of the festival is not a hundred percent assured, at least entering it and letting people see the work that has been dedicated to it would be rewarding.

The advantage with Aesthetica is that there is no major restrictions of the genre or overall type of film you enter. Being that my film will fall under several genres and have perhaps an alternate narrative to many of the other entries, it is reassuring to know that this does not factor the eligibility of the film for the festival. The film is a celebration of upbeat British Action Thrillers and so to have it be part of Aesthetica would feel, to me, that the celebration was being forwarded to others and made available to a wider audience who may or may not feel the same way about these types of films.