20 NEW MOVIES IN OUR WINTER PREVIEW
FILMPOETICS
FILM FANATICS MAGAZINE - EMPOWERING READERS
DECEMBER 2015 ISSUE 1
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• SPECTRE • OF MICE AND MEN • LISTEN TO ME MARLON • BRIDGE OF SPIES • EVEREST • IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Contents December 2015
Editor: Prena Visavadia Film Poetics magazine are proud to launch the December edition publication. Get an insight of information on all celeb-buzz, connect with your favourite stars and catch up with all the reviews of all latest releases and exciting news. This month’s Film Poetics issue brings you the latest theatrical reviews on mainstream and independent releases. Catch up with reviews of “Star Wars The Force Awakens,” “The Lady In The Van”, “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and more only on our latest issue.
6 Timetable: Holocaust Memorial Day A compelling and intimate feature film, produced by Becky Adams Subscriptions
Digital edition available on iPad, Smartphone and Android devices 20 NEW MOVIES IN OUR WINTER PREVIEW
FILMPOETICS
FILM FANATICS MAGAZINE - EMPOWERING READERS
DECEMBER 2015 ISSUE 1
Get close and personal with MD Becky Adams founder of Reelscape Films Northamptonshire. Reelscape Community are proud to announce the acquisition of short feature film “Timetable”. I would like to give special thanks to Northamptonshire based filmhouse Reelscape Community and Errol Flynn without whom this editorial would not be a success.
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FEATURES 1 Editorial
Opening words by editor
3 News
UK surge for MCM Comic Con and popular culture shows
8 - 9 The Film Industry
How to make a short film Filmaking process Development to Post-Production • SPECTRE • OF MICE AND MEN • LISTEN TO ME MARLON • BRIDGE OF SPIES • EVEREST • IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
PUBLISHED MONTHLY Social Media f: facebook.com/ FilmPoeticsmag t: twitter.com/FilmPoeticsmag Subscriptions t: 01604812045 e: filmpoetics@media.co.uk
6 Tale from screenplay This months film review Timetable, by Reelscape Community
10 Listings of releases
Mainstream and independent upcoming releases 2015-16
Academy Awards
Nominations for the 88th Oscar Academy Awards 2016 Oscar Predictions December 2015 Film Poetics 3
NEWS
MIDLANDS BOOMING WITH COMIC CONVENTIONS Calling all anime fans geeks, gamers and cosplays to the MCM
T
his weekend 21-22 November the weather arrived in force, but that wasn’t going to stop thousands of comic fanatics to head down to the NEC in Birmingham for cosplay, guest appearances, and memorabilia stalls. Some of the stars lined up for the weekend were a combination of old and fresh talent including: AndrewLee Potts (Primevil), Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings), Dina Meyer (Starship Topppers, Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man) and Game of Thrones stars Ian Beattie, Ian McElthinney and Eugene Simon.
Marvel Universe Characters, CC
“The passion and commitment the organisers are putting into the newer cons to make them work. Sure it comes from the desire to succeed but first and foremost it’s comics that drive us.” Victor Wright (Geeky Comics)
RADAR
Comic Con has announced its ‘quadruple bill across the Midlands where it seems cons are on an increase. In a four weekend, back-to-back conventions were scheduled in Leicester, Leamington, Nottingham and Walsall.’ On the next page we have prepared you a upcoming Comic Con and Memorabilia events in the Midlands including Northamptonshire. This is a great opportunity for you to meet your favourite Marvel comic writers and artists. Don’t forget your camera and costume for this will be an unforgettable day.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Captain America: Civil War
This fictional universe of Earth - 199999 is crafted by Marvel Studious, based on the mightiest superheroes that appear in Marvel Comics including: Captain America: Civil War Iron Man 3, The Avengers, Thor, Ant-Man and Daredevil.
Genre: Action, Thriller, Sci-Fi Running Time: 131 minutes
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War between Captain America and Iron Man leaves the Avengers in an uncertain predicament working together to safeguard humanity.
FILM COMMENTS’ TRIVIA TOP 10 BEST ACTOR PERFORMANCES 1. John Boyega - Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, 2016 2. Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant, 2015 3. Jennifer Jason Leigh The Hateful Eight, 2015 HAVE YOU MISSED THIS YEAR’S COMIC CON COVENTION? DO NOT DESPAIR, HERE ARE
UPCOMING EVENTS 2016 13 Feb
Telford International Centre.
19/20 NEC Birmingham Mar 23 Apr
Birmingham Edgbaston Cricket Ground
4/5 Athena Leicester June 5 Lancester Library June 3/4 Sep
Bedford Corn Exchange
4. Carey Mulligan Suffragette, 2015 5. Ian Mckellen - Sherlock Holmes, 2015 6. Joseph Gordon - Edward Snowden, 2016 7. Jennifer Lawwrence - Joy, 2015 8. Christoph Waltz - Spectre, 2015 9. Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs, 2015 10. James Spader Avengers: Age of Ultron, 2015
29th Nottingham Comic Oct Convention
X-Men: Apocalypse Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Running Time: 131 minutes A powerful mutant awakens after thousands of years. The immortal mutant was worshipped since the beginning of men kind and recruits other mutants for his new world order. The faith of human kind dependents on the X-Men.
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy Running Time: 151 minutes Whilst Batman dislikes Superman’s ideology, that leads the two heroes fighting each other, meanwhile Doomsday is created as a imminent treat to mankind emerges. December 2015 Film Poetics 5
FEATURES
Location fiilming Rushden Railway Station, Northamptonshire
TIMETABLE REELSCAPE COMMUNITY are pleased to announce the acquisition of “Timetable”, short feature film created on the onset of World War II tackling timeless motion of Holocaust Memorial Day. The poignant themes of Timetable are centered on cultural and historical events marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. Timetable is filmed on a secluded railway station in Central Europe 1930s, involving three main characters Walter, Hannah and Genscher. With men away in the armed forces Hannah (Fliss Walton), a schoolteacher by day, is working as a part-time deputy station mistress. A stranger Walter (George Dillon) arrives looking for a connection to the night train for the coast. Hannah is surprised - ‘the connection is only once a week and a few people know about it’. The two circle each other, neither wanting to arouse suspicion by revealing too little or too much. Walter reveals he is a doctor, a psychiatrist, and she is curious about events in the city. A sense of rapport develops between them but they have little time to find out more before another passenger arrives. The new arrival is Genscher (James Hornsby), a salesman for a ladies underwear company. He is rather arrogant and tone somewhat vulgar. Walter’s modesty and aloofness immediately arouse his suspicions. Genscher is eager to Exclusive interview: Becky Adams, producer of Reelscape Community
December 2015 Film Poetics 6
play the responsible citizen: in these turbulent times all must be vigilant. He tries to plant suspicion onto Hannah, and urges her to contact the police and get the stranger’s papers checked. There is talk Original image of Fliss of ‘certain people’ whom the Walton courtesy of authorities have identified as Reelscape Community being the ills, with intellectuals and psychoanalysts among them. Hannah finds herself in a tight situation. If she refuses to report Walter then Genscher may report her. Can she stall him until the train arrives? But the question remains who is Walter- is he trying to leave the country illegally or perhaps working for the authorities? Whose side will Hannah take? Originally Timetable was a screenplay for a festival in Harrington Sussex, how did you go about making it into a feature film? It tied nicely with Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 and the theme ‘Keeping the Memory Alive’, making a film obviously helps that memory and story travel further. The theatre script was outwardly about a Jew escaping Nazi occupied Germany whilst the film is slightly less obvious, in that but is about a man trying to get an obscurely
“TIMETABLE IS VERY
COMPELLING AND INTIMATE, THAT OBEYS THE ARISTOTELIAN UNITIES OF TIME, SPACE AND ACTION� DIRECTOR STACEY SWIFT
timetabled train, which will take him out of the country.
How did you secure funding for project? We went to Northampton Borough Council, when we thought about doing it for Holocaust Memorial day it tied in well with the event they run each year to commemorate the day. The borough council supported us directly through the councillor funds and through Northamptonshire Community Foundation (NCF) and other existing council grants. Why did the filming take place at Rushden Train Station? The story is set on a train station, that is a period train station we had thought about doing it as something nonnaturalistic to emphasise the fact that this could be a situation happening now not just referring to that very specific period of time. We picked Rushden in the end
because it is absolutely gorgeous looking and gives a nice atmosphere to the piece Obviously that train station is as it is now, the point of it was although everything you see theoretically could exist back in the late 1930s equally could exist today so it was trying to be a bit timeless
How did the casting proceed? Casting was quite easy because we used one of the actors from the theatre show because we thought he was so good. The director had seen George Dillon who plays Walter the lead character, he saw him in theatre show and just thought I have to work with this person. So we just wrote to him and said please will you be in it and he came from Brighton and did it. We also had a lady I had worked with previously on other films called Fliss Walton who I thought would be prefect for the role Stacey the director agreed and so we hired her as well. So its very simple literally our first choice is what we got. December 2015 Film Poetics 7
THE FILM INDUSTRY: HOW TO MAKE A SHORT FILM?
1 DEVELOPMENT
Image courtsey of Pixabay CC
Editing
Editing also known as the final stage of post-production, it is where the editor cuts and edits segments that design the format of the film.
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Do you have an idea? Imagine a visual story or scenario that can be developed into a film.
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Image courtesy of Wen-Shan Fang CC
The pre-production stage is undertaken prior to shooting production. An independent video company may use pre-production on a small scale including: client meetings, research, storyboarding, location planning and risk assessment.
PRE PRODUCTION
Production
This is where the craft of filmmaking is accomplished with the production crew and cast.
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Develop the idea into story? Have a storyline and cut it down when writing the synopsis. Realistically list the availability of props, actors and locations to develop the film.
PRODUCTION
Pre-production for feature film is more controlled and only begins when financing, staffing and screenplay have been ‘greenlit.’ Nevertheless pre-production is larger due to the medium and includes: location recce, production schedule, set design construction, script finalisation.
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Production Crew Regardless of the scale and format of production, a production crew is detrimental to its running. Some of the main roles include: Director, producer, Director of Photography (DoP), sound engineer, electrical lighting technician (ELT), floor manager, runner etc.
Create a Screenplay The screenplay breaks down moments of story scene-byscene. It typically incorporates: dialogue, description of scene (INT/EXT), some camera movements and physical direction that is narrated. The script format and style must be set in Courier typeface. The action and slug line should be positioned left aligned, while character or dialogue is centre aligned. All scripts must begin with ‘fade in’ ‘fade out’ and transitions should be in capitals right aligned.
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Production Design The ‘look and feel’ is paramount to filmmaking due to its visual aesthetics. Some of the conventions inter-twined are cinematography, mise-en-scene, equipment, design costumes and sets.
The production is the implementation stage of filmmaking whereby shooting and recording takes place. Shooting must be carried out in accordance with the script, storyboard and shooting schedule to ensure the correct content is being recorded.
Post-production is the final stage of the production that involves editing. Postproduction often takes longer than the overall production due to cutting, rearranging and assembling raw footage. In stage ten the recommended editing software for moving image is Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2014.
When recording try and use lighting to create a particular aesthetic look and naturalistic style to convey ambience to audience.
POST PRODUCTION
The duration of the production can last months or even years, depending on the medium. Production involves sticking to the budget, minimising risks and making compromises to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.
In the post-production it is the editor’s job to create an Editor Decision List (EDL), whilst the director works alongside the editor and lets him/her know what to keep and what to needs discarding.
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Image courtesy of FilmScope
Funding Film funding can be sought from the BFI that invest lottery funds into projects helping established filmmakers and up-rising talent.
There are several existing schemes that back film distribution such as tax relief benefits, CREATIVE ENGLAND, and FILM LONDON.
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Storyboarding Storyboard the film by planning and co-ordinating camera shots and angles that run between transitions of sequences.
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Taylor JamesCC
Location Recce When shooting on location, carry out a preliminary survey of that assesses the sustainability logistical and technical aspect.
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Taylor James CC December 2015 Film Poetics 9
LISTINGS UPCOMING RELEASES 2015- 2016
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (3D)
The Space Saga continues ‘The Force Awakens’ set three decades after Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. The Galatc Empire faces an ultimate threat from the First Order that seeks to erradicate the Resistance and its perpetrators. Release Date: 17/12/2015 Trailer: http://www.starwars.com/the-force-awakens/trailers/ Cast: Adam Driver, Daisey Ridley, John Boyega, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher Director: J. J Albrams
Carol
An adaption of Patricia Highsmith’s novel ‘The Pince of Salt’, captures the livelihoods of two women Therese Belivet and Carol Aird from opposing backgrounds whom find themselves in an unforeseen love affair during the 1950s in New York. Release Date: 27/11/2015 Trailer: http://www.slashfilm.com/carol-trailer-2/ Cast: Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchette, Kyle Chandler Director: Todd Haynes
The Lady in the Van
An adaption of Alan Bennett’s memoir, the film is centered on a strained friendship between Miss Shepherd and Alan Bennett in the 1970. Romance iniates when Miss Shepherd travelling women ‘temporarily’ parked her van in the driveway of Bennett’s home. Release Date: 13/11/2015 Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3722070/ Cast: Alex Jennings, Maggie Smith, Dominic Cooper Director: Nicholas Hytner
The Revenant
A semi-biographical film inspired by frontiersman enduring experience. American wilderness explorer Hugh Glass was left for dead by his hunting team, after a bleak survival from a ferocious bear attack. He seeks a path of retribution to avenge those who left him behind. Release Date: 15/01/2015 Trailer: http://www.wired.com/2015/09/trailer-the-revenant/ Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Lukas Haas Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
December 2015 Film Poetics 10
The Hateful Eight
An American Western film set years after the Civil War in bleak Wyoming. Eight strangers endure a chilly snowstorm they are stranded on a mountain pass seek refuge in a ‘stagecoach stopover.’ Release Date: 8/01/2016 Trailer: http://thehatefuleight.com Cast: Kurt Russell, Channing Tatum, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh Director: Quentin Tarantino
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Metropolis’s protector ‘Superman’ dislikes Goltham City’s masked vigilante ‘Batman’ ideology they battle in a ultimate showdown having ever-lasing consequences. With Doomsday on the horizon a imminent threat arises putting mankind in great danger. Release Date: 25/03/2016 Trailer: http://batmanvsuperman.dccomics.com Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Gal Gadot Director: Zack Snyder
Sunset Song
An adaption of Lewis Grassic novel, the film is situatated on a farm girl Chris Guthrie searching for her independence in a poverty sticken Scottish community of Kinraddieduring during the turbulent era of World War I. Release Date: 04/12/2015 Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2262161/ Cast: Agness Deyn, Peter Mullan, Kevin Guthrie, Jack Greenlees Director: Terence Davis
Deadpool
Upcoming Marvel character and former special forces agent Wade Wilson is gifted with eccentric behaviour and powers, he adopts the alter ego Deadpool and confides to hunt down the man that almost destroyed his life. Release Date: 12/02/2016 Trailer: http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/deadpool Cast: Morena Baccarin, Ryan Reynolds, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand Director: Tim Miller
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