Evaluation of Production, how we challenged use and conventions of media productions
Our Production comprised itself upon many twists and turns within its narrative structure, almost to throw the viewer off balance when trying to deduce the meaning behind the film, this is achieved by using a variety of shot types, locations, actors and acting styles. These shots consist of shots found within short films yet used sometimes at the same time, with static professional looking shots being used within some parts and joggy documentary styled shots within the bulk, almost looking amateurish but really a clever ploy on the viewer.
The use of soundtracks did play a large part within the structure of the film, not because of it’s inclusion but by how it solidifies on one genre of film, which in turn when the genre changes will throw the view off balance. The use of a classical piece within the first few minutes with a transformation to a voice-over is a classic example of this. The use of costume, falling into the category of mis-en-scene, is also used in this film, not as much as would have been seen in other films dedicated to the costume drama genre, but still a respectable amount, and with it still looking period accurate was also a great boost. Speaking in terms of lighting the film was not really contrast in the usual sense, it was rather light throughout, with not too much glare from the sun, which was a bit of a problem during filming, and good matching of colours to the period of the day.
We used a fair few settings within the film, using about four or five, more than some short films, who usually use a maximum of two or three, and all were done on a budget, which turns out was nothing, which explains the majority of the film taking place in outdoor locations, which judging by the shorts I have seen personally, it’s not seen as that much of a big deal, meaning that it’s not an immoral thing to do, the only problem we had, was the weather it was rather cold to say the least.
Like I said before, short films tend to keep to as least amount of main characters as possible and we tried to replicate that, our main characters predominantly being the two ‘actors’ and the ‘production team’, and most of these actors will never be known for acting ever again, but a few move towards acting as a profession, and this how many celebrities start out, which we sort of paid a little homage to within our piece.
Representation is shown for the characters as would be stereotypically accepted, with the Hollywood ‘star’ as being rather arrogant, annoying, maybe even a little bit angry with a short fuse, which we had an easy source of inspiration from recent times such as the actor Christian Bale’s now famous rant on the set of Terminator Salvation. The couple are shown as one of any rowing couples seen in stereotypical marriages, with the woman being the clear dominant one and the husband being rather weak and weedy. There doesn’t seem to me to be any dominant age group in the film, yet I do feel that the film is class dominant, in this case the Middle class is dominant, I can’t help but feel it’s from the Costume drama section.
There is definitely a theme to our film; it is based around the structure of reality, the perceptions of people and the basis of love, we were asking the questions on a “What if…?”…or “What is?” line, we toyed around with a few concepts but eventually found that it love would be the best to use. It was inspired by ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ which is based on perceptions and love.
Ancillary Texts and Final Product Effectiveness
The Ancillary texts add depth to the film experience, which assists in the effectiveness of the genre switches that go on, by not giving away too much to the plot it does give people an expectation to the film which is totally disregarded once the film is in effect, this is most effective through posters and reviews.
Each one of the posters created were inspired from the film with a clear view of not giving any plot away but to draw the viewer in to essentially get them in to find out the plot for themselves, the posters can be used to guess the plot type but we were sneaky as we played on what people would expect to see and then show them something else. Once people are aware of the film many would attempt to acquire as much info on the film as possible before their first viewing, given that this was a possibility we wrote film reviews as would not give away much of the plot, in a perfect world there would also be a trailer to go with a film such as this, if it were a full length feature film, but as this is a short film, I feel it would have been redundant and may have given too much plot away.
Promotion is key to getting a film seen in the cinema, yet for this process directors and distributors must be a bit biased and show all the best parts in a trailer, a poster or, if they can get the influence, a film review, yet this is highly un-common, it would only be seen if the owner of the film company owned a newspaper company also, for example a Rupert Murdoch Figure, most film reviews have to be neutral in order to get a fair analysis, yet there are some which are more positive in order to bring in more viewers to bring in more money, they will not be completely positive but there will be a better feel to the review.
Advertising for a film can be a bit problematic, there are two possible options, one is to go the cheap way, advertising in the middle of the country away from the intended cinemas, or the expensive way, by advertising right near the cinema and having everyone see it. Advertising can be expensive or cheap, depending on the type of directors or how much money is available, there is a possibility of a compromise yet this would be problematic.
The ancillary texts for our group are of a very professional standard, the posters are of a very high quality, with the possibility of being full sized and the reviews are written to a high standard also.
New Media Technologies Used
We used a variety of new modern technology in the process of making this film; we probably would not have been able to do most of this film without it, the cameras for example were digital, very easy to upload to our editing software and very easy to use, whereas if we were using analogue cameras we would have had problems with upload times and usage. To create the film posters a digital camera was used, a Fuji Finepix s5100, and Adobe Photoshop Pro 4.For editing we used Magix Movie Edit 11, which was relatively easy to get the hang of as we all were present at some editing sessions it did seem like it would be an easy program.
The internet and satellite technologies of the modern age helped very much in organising us for film days as without it we would have found it difficult to find places to film and to communicate.
Audience Feedback
As the group is showing the film to different types of audiences I thought I would experiment and do a comparative test, one age group very young and one middle aged, as to see who would get the message better, or at all, and surprisingly they younger group grasped the concept better than I would have hoped, some thought it was just an extra piece to go with the film and others found it to be really clever once it was explained to them that is. The older generation had to have a little more explanation as they were completely confused from the first viewing, so with a little time to reflect they got there in the end, as this selection of people was not of the film buff category they did not have a great deal of analytical prowess but few were helpful none the less.
Darrill aged 43 said “I found that the structure was slightly confusing, but it was nice all the same,”
Andrew said “Although it is amateur made it has a great deal of potential and has a great set of people, I just wish there was more of the couple rowing.”
All things considered I think most of the people asked really enjoyed the experience, not just the adults but the kids as well, yet it was a shame that there were not any different classes of people, yet there was nothing that could be done about that.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Becky: Film Evaluation.
Ways that ‘Grace’ is similar and different to the
typical short film conventions.
Short films started to appear in North America in the 1910`s and has evolved considerably fast since and has became increasing popular. Short films vary from live action to animation, however Comedy was extremely popular, famous comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and others are well known for staring in the early short films. Mediated
Even though the themes of short films vary, its narrative structure stays relatively the same. Similar to main stream films, there is a beginning, middle and an end to it; however everything is more compact as there is less time to mediate to the viewers. Frequently short films have twists and unexpected outcomes as well as fast pace sections and moments that are included to make the viewers jump; all of these important techniques keep the viewers intrigued and keeps them interested. In our film ‘Grace’, we included twists and changes from old to new to keep our viewers interested, also it tests them on what is real? This is similar to a variety of Shakespeare plays such as ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, as it tests the audience on what they perceive as real. This means that our film even though has a unique set up and theme, still fits comfortably in the typical narrative structure of most short films.
Unlike mainstream films the overall number of characters are very small; allot of short films such as ‘LoveField’ by Mathieu Rathe and ‘Post – It Love’ directed by Simon Atkinson, only have two main characters. In our film we have one main character which is ‘Grace’ as she is present in every scene. There are other characters present in the film including the over confident director.
In conclusion the amount of characters in short films are significantly smaller than the vast amount of characters in main stream films such as ‘Final Destination’. As well as this, the characters in short films are not usually well known, however actors/actresses may have started their career playing roles in short films, but as it would have been before than became famous, at the time they wouldn’t have been well known. The reasons why famous actors/actresses don’t appear in short films are because, short films aren’t widely published also do not make as much money compared to main stream films. This is the main reason why we do not have any famous people in our film.
The low budget that is set for the making of short films are one of the reasons why there are only a couple of locations featured in the films. As well as this the locations are usually outdoors in public areas as it provides a wider space to film also it is usually free. This was the same with our film as the majority of the shots were filmed in a park with open land. However our interview scene was set indoors in a minimalistic, bright open room; this room was available to students so did not cost anything.
By watching a variety of short films prior to the production of ‘Grace’ it was apparent that not all shots were filmed on tripods as some shots were shaky and unsteady. This technique is ideal for documentaries as it brings a realistic feel to the film. Also as most documentaries are filmed outside, the majority of the land is uneven; if the tripod was used for each individual shot, it would have to be altered to assure that it was level, overall this would take up a lot of precious time. We used this technique in the last section of our film as we were aiming to trick the audience to think that it was a real documentary, but it was highly constructed and planned just as much as the other scenes but wasnt edited as much to enhance the natural, real affect. The other scenes such as the period drama section and the interview scene were clearly staged and planned as the camera was waiting for the main character to arrive; this is the same in most programs and films such as Top Gear. What we see may look real and untouched but the footage we see has been retaken many times and edited before shown; even documentarys are constructed and planned as it has a start and an ending, also we only see what the director wants us to see.; we are not shown what is happening behind the camera.
Also the majority of short films are not dominated by dialogue but by imaging and footage, this means that the viewers have to concentrate more to understand the plot. Grace differs as it is dominated by dialogue, this is because the complex plot needed it to make it comprehensible otherwise each individual scene would not have any meaning to the next one.
Similar to main stream films, posters are available for the public to see at special occasions such as film festivals, also they are highly accessible on the internet; posters are a source of advertisement and are produced to invite and persuade the public to watch their short film. The posters are usually simple with one main picture or drawing as the main attraction point, however this picture/drawing varies from a person or object to a location. My poster has one attraction point and that is a photo from behind of the main character ‘Grace’ surrounded by blackness; I decided to black out the background to keep the location a secret, also it draws all the attention to the image and the title, which is bold and bright.
GodFather Death by Star Wipe Films
This film poster is simular to mine as there is one focus point which is the main image, also this image is surrounded by darkness.
The combination between ‘Grace’ and the effective ancillary texts.
Ancillary texts such as posters and reviewers can make or break a film. It is vital that the poster matches and connects with the film; the theme or image on the poster needs to relate to the film as it is advertising it to the public and marketing the film. There are different types of film posters from cinema to DVD posters, each are cohesive and connects with each other as well as the film, this includes the font of the title and information. It is important that the title is in the same font and colour for each poster as it brings them together, as well as this it plays the same part as a logo for a company; people remember the name of the film. Also it is crucial that the text is clear and easy to read, to assure that the public are able to read it with ease.
It is important that the information such as the dates the film will be released, the cast and crew names as well as the title of the film are clearly present on the posters, as these dates informs them when the film is available for them to watch and potentially enjoy. My individual poster included all these essential parts of a typical cinema poster. As well as this, the image I decided to use was captured by a high quality camera which enables the poster to be blown up to the size of a real cinema poster, however this would be very costly, so the majority of short film producers create smaller, cheaper posters.
Each film has a specific target audience which can vary from a certain age group or gender to people which a certain job description or interest e.g. archaeologist may have a greater interest in historic films such as Gladiator or Jurassic Park. Anchoring a specific audience can be done by designing the poster to suit its target audience e.g. for a children’s film, animated characters and bright colours are often used to attract the younger generation.
Each person in our group designed and created their own poster, Leonie and Martyn amplified the modern side to our film by including an image of giant video camera, where as Craig and me based our posters on the period drama section. By doing this we have expanded our target audience, as people who are interested in media studies and the filming industry will be influenced to watch the film by the image of the camera, where as others may enjoy period dramas which will connect better with mine and Craig’s posters.
As well as film posters, reviews play a significant part in the success of a film as negative reviews can persuade other people not to watch the film. However positive film reviews can encourage the public to watch the film as if a group of people enjoyed watching it, they may like it too. Also it is important who requests the film such as specific newspapers or magazines e.g. Vogue or Heat magazine may request a ‘Chick Flick’ which may persuade viewers who are intensive readers of these magazines to watch the film. We all created our own reviews for our own product ‘ Grace’; as we produced it ourselves we would not want to write a negative review as it would be difficult to do, also would reduce the amount of viewers, so each member of the group wrote positive reviews which in the filming industry would attract potential viewers.
Audience Feedback
Each member of the group has a copy of our film ‘Grace’; to receive other people’s opinions about our film we were assigned to present our short film to a variety of people, from different ages and gender. I previewed our film to 6 people who were separated into two groups and asked for their individual opinion. To assure that they tell their honest opinion I did not inform them that I was part of the making of the film they were going to see. Here are their reactions and opinions:
Stewart Aged 45: “The film was different from anything I have watched before. I have never watched short film until now; I can see why they are getting more popular as they can be watched in your free time. The film defiantly tested me on what I thought was real; all of it was believable which made the directors cuts a surprise, good twist”
Jacqueline Aged 67: “I enjoyed the period drama section allot. I never knew that short films exists so I have not watched any so it is hard to compare to an actual film, however the period drama section reminded me of books by Jane Austen as frequently older men marry or attempt to marry women that are considerably younger in them.
Matt and Megan aged 18, both study Media Studies at college: “We think the usage of a hand hold camera worked well as it gave the film a documentary appeal, also made it feel more believable, it reminded us of the film Clover Field which is an awesome film. We have never seen a short film like this, the plot is defiantly unique”
Daniel aged 21: “Grace really tested me on my perception of realism because at first I thought it was a documentary but the ‘cuts’ made me rethink, what was real, or was it all fake? The argument scene was my favourite, if it was fake then they are really good actors because I totally believed that it was real”
Tasha aged 16: “At first I didn’t really get it, but after talking with Daniel I realised what the people were trying to do, test us on what we believe is real and fake”
I decided to choose these six people as there is a variety of age, includes both genders, also have people with cinematic knowledge (Matt and Megan). I am pleased with their feedback as the majority of what they said was positive. This makes me even more pleased of our short film we have produced. Also as most of them understood the plot, our target audience is appropriate as all are over the age of 15. I have learnt that our film accomplished what we previously aimed it to do, test the audience on what they perceive as real.
New Media Technologies
Throughout the whole process of researching and planning for the film ‘Grace’ as well as evaluating it, was submerged in new technologies from the internet such as Firefox to programs such as Photo Shop and Magix Movie Edit Pro.
Photo Shop
(Used for film poster)
Magix Movie Edit Pro
(Used to edit our film 'Grace')
Right at the beginning of the process a high amount of research had to be gathered before even thinking about our film. This research was extremely important as it gave us a better understanding of the filming industry from successful directors who started off directing short films e.g. George Lucas and David Lynch, to different programs such as Edit pro, which is an editing program that I used to develop the raw footage to create smooth flowing scenes.
A new type of technology that I had never used or done before was blogging; at first I was apprehensive that it will be very complex and hard to use, but after practice and many posts later, I got the hang of it and now believe that it is a great way to keep an online diary of this whole process.
There are many benefits of new technology including:
- Can keep in contact with friends and family overseas for free via Email.
- Photos captured by a digital camera can be uploaded onto a computer which then can be transferred to a CD which can keep the images in better condition. Also the quality of picture has improved overtime, as now they can be captures in high definition.
Even though technology has ‘improved’ our way of living, it has caused and created alternative problems such as:
- Instead of people going out to talk to someone or send a letter, they can just send an email or speak on Instant Messenger (IM); things can be planned without exiting the house, yes these methods are less time consuming but what has happened to face-to-face communication?
- Expensive: New technologies are normally connected some way or another to computers and the internet, this means that the consumer will have to pay to have excess to it, also the electricity bills will increase as its usage of it would have amplified. As well as this, if the computer isn’t fully protected (which can cost) and has access to the internet, viruses can be transferred which may result in the computer/laptop breaking.
- Cause accidents: Since mobile phones have become extremely popular, many more road traffic accidents (RTC) have occurred; frequently they are linked to mobile phones being used whilst driving.
As technology is growing it is apparent that camera sizes have decreased and are now designed to be light and easily portable. The video camera we used to film our footage was no larger than an individual pack of tissues; not so long ago the smallest camera was very heavy and extremely chunky, this just enhances how much technology has evolved. Now there are HD TV’s and cameras which also have usb connections, it is amazing, yet slightly scary how fast technology is improving; new electrical products are being designed and manufactured every day.
Becky: Film Review
I have designed a film review in the style of the ones available in magazines. To gain a better understanding on how they are presented I looked through a variety of magazines. I discovered that they are usually rather simple and minimalistic, with only one or two images which are linked to the film.
My review is about our film ‘Grace’, it includes both negative and positive points and gives an insight of what the film is like and about. However it was important that I did not reveal too much about the film, as it would have ruined the surprises and twists in it.
Below is a photo of my final film review.
My film reiview is an independent review which if published would be printed in magazines such as the 'Film Review' which is specifically designed for film fanatics. The design of the review itself is minimalistic with only one image, i designed it this way to reduce distracting the readers from the text and information. Also the title is simple yet appropiate; the blue colour of the title symbolises the blue sky which connects extremly well with the name of the page; to enhance this a small image of a sun is added. The background colour of my review is grey; i decided to use this specific colour as it is plain and dull which will allow the reader to read the information easly. If the colour was bright e.g. red or yellow, it may create difficulty for the reader to see and understand the text, also it would attract and anchor the wrong audience as from research bright colours attract the younger generation.
Craig: Final Evaluation
Right, we’ve finally come to the evaluation, it only seems like a few weeks back when we started this whole project and days when we were out in the freezing cold filming this, thankfully, it is much warmer now, and it’s time to look back on the project as a whole.
How our product challenges, use, and develop forms and conventions of real media products
In the film itself, there are multiple twists, throughout various places, and the different shots help to show this, through news report style in the first section, which is very highly constructed, with the edits, and how it flows pretty much like a normal documentary, and gives the feel still of whether there is mass editing or not, with clearly arranged sections, like the part in the car, and also when the actress comes out of the car. Whereas, the second section is pretty much a static camera, and is very clearly staged, followed directly by what appears to be a documentary, which can be shown to be slightly more real, due to the fact that the camera is constantly behind the action throughout the shot, there is also swearing, and also, that whole section was done in 1 shot. Due to the considerable number of twists, the shots appear to be very quirky due to the number of handheld shots and regular shot sizes combined together. This is fairly unusual for a short film, as they usually consist of one or the other, not both. The irony is, the whole thing is heavily constructed! And this returns to one of the themes, is anything real? With film, can anything be not constructed? The answer is no, no matter how random a piece of film is, there is always some way to construct the footage, with shot sizes and types, editing, and so forth.
However, likewise with a short film, main characters are kept to a minimum, and only 4 can be identified, the two ‘actors’ and the two main members of the ‘production team’. The characters used are massively stereotypical of what they should be, and in real life, are not known, as are most actors in short films, and most of the ones that are known only appear in short films before they were major Hollywood actors or actresses. Short films are used as a stepping stone for actors and directors to reach the big time. Representation is what is pretty much expected from the characters, the ‘Hollywood star’ is very annoying, and arrogant. The couple are shown to be what appears to be a standard family household, with the woman very dominant and fed up with her husband, whom she feels, is pretty much useless and too commanding. As a whole, females are shown as the dominant gender throughout the majority of the film. No specific age is particularly shown to be dominant, but the very young and the old are not shown at all in the product. Middle-class dominates the film, with working class appearing to be non-existent and upper class characters acting arrogant and also not getting what they want solely through money. White people and heterosexuality also dominates the film massively with anything else being non-existent.
Soundtracks were used throughout the film, with a voiceover used early on, which usually occurs in a documentary, but rarely in a short film, and with classical music used at the very beginning of the film as well. Mis-en-scene was also used regarding costumes massively; the whole costume drama section was costumed to make it feel as if it was back in that period. The whole film is quite light, and as much lighting was used as possible in some areas, and in the case of the interview we decided to switch on all of the lights in the room to give the setting much more brightness. Short films usually consist of a lot of soundtrack and lighting varies from film to film. The credits consist of sounds used from the outtakes on top of this.
Multiple settings were used, and the cheapest ones possible were used, hence why a lot of the filming took place outside. As the vast majority of short films are very low budget, like this one, filming outside is not unusual for a short, the only issue is making sure that the weather is perfect for filming, thankfully for us, the day arranged turned out to be as we wanted (except for being very cold!)
Theme-wise, we used the questions, ‘What is reality?’ and ‘What is love?’ Asking ‘What if..?’ and ‘What is..?’ questions is not unusual for a short film, and we portrayed these by changing what was happening on screen multiple times throughout. We followed the idea of ‘What is love?’ from the Shakespeare play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ which portrayed different stages of love through deception, and at times show it as a play within a play. We have deceived the viewers by changing the plot every two or three minutes, and making it seem as if it was a film within a film, but through a cross between modern day life as well as the Jane Austen set era of the Regency period. Our ancillary texts follow a similar format of trying to confuse the viewer, but not too much.
Effectiveness of ancillary texts when combined with the main product
The ancillary texts assist in making the film seem like it is something it is not, by giving away very little through the posters and not too much detail is expressed through the film reviews. They help to ‘anchor’ each other, joining the film and the ancillary texts together, and therefore restricting how the audience can respond just by looking at the poster or review. Each of the posters goes with the film, highly subtly, and once the film has been viewed, the poster would make sense, it almost seems as if, the poster gives the response, ‘What is this film? I’m so unsure I’d have to go and see it just to see what it is.’ Not too much is given away so that they can work out the whole film without viewing it, but just enough so that by viewing the posters and reviews, it helps to give some sort of idea of what the film is about. The marketing factor also plays a part in this, by making people aware of the film as people will look at posters, and read film reviews, for people to go and see a film, they have to hear about it somewhere, and unless we produce a 5 minute trailer for a 6 minute film, which is pointless, we are restricted to film reviews and posters, but it still does the same job.
The main purpose of a film poster is to promote a film, to help make people aware that it exists while at the same time hoping to attract them enough to go and view it in the cinema. And the only aspects portrayed are positive ones regarding the film, biased? Perhaps, but it’s all in how films make money, by stretching the truth in some areas by using marketing ideas. Film reviews are slightly different, as they are not written by the film company, they will not be 100% positive, and at times can be highly negative, a poor review from a respected critic can completely destroy a film, and an excellent review from one can make a film from a relatively unknown director, featuring unknown actors sell millions, just look at Slumdog Millionaire. Film reviews are completely independent, and they are not biased at all. Film reviews for a film like ours would be placed in specific film magazines like ‘Film Review’, ‘Film Magazine’, and also perhaps in some broadsheets.
There are issues with film posters and reviews, as to where to advertise the film? Posters could be placed in the middle of nowhere, where it is very cheap to advertise, but nobody will view the poster, or in the middle of a major city which is highly expensive, but everybody could view it. Advertising can cost a lot of money, depending on how much advertising is intended.
The quality of all of the posters is very high, and can be blown up and used on a billboard or on the side of a bus shelter if chosen to. The poster attracts the audience correctly, by giving away very little about the film, and in my own poster, all that is given away is that there is a woman, in a regency period, and the film itself is about a film about a woman in a regency period, and perhaps the loose framing helps to show this.
Audience feedback and what was learnt from it
Thankfully, there is a small theatre down at the bottom of my road, which can hold around 100 people, and the whole road and a select few others were invited to a screening of our film. This was done anonymously, they had no idea this was done for an A-Level project or that I had any contribution towards it. The reception was mixed; however, the diversity of people there was highly varied as well. Lisa, 35, gave the opinion that ‘It appeared to be quite Pride and Prejudice-like in places, and had a behind-the-scenes like feel towards it.’ Nick, 37, felt that ‘It was a film about making a film, and the final section just lost me completely, a film about making a film about making a film possibly?’ Finally, David, 56, exclaimed that it was ‘An insight into the troubles surrounding making a film’. All of these people are residents of the road. Out of the 40-something people that were there, more than half said that they enjoyed the film. The residents of this road are mainly white, British and middle-aged, all representations which are shown as strong in the film.
How new media technologies were used during all stages of the production.
Of course, the internet has contributed massively towards completing all stages of this project. The research stages was done mainly through YouTube, where simply searching ‘Short Films’ gives millions of results, and this contributed massively as to what a short film is, and provided a major stepping stone regarding how to structure the film. Even the blog requires modern day technology! Without modern day technology, reading this would be impossible as there would be no internet. Images for the film posters research were also taken from the internet. The storyboard, along with the film posters was produced using Adobe Photoshop, and the posters were developed and finalised using Microsoft Office Word. Finally, the cameras used were upon the very latest in digital camera technology, including direct links from the camera to the computer using USB 2.0 built in to the camera. In addition, we have been introduced to the world of High Definition by using a camera with a built in HD lens to make the quality of the film higher than ever before.
How our product challenges, use, and develop forms and conventions of real media products
In the film itself, there are multiple twists, throughout various places, and the different shots help to show this, through news report style in the first section, which is very highly constructed, with the edits, and how it flows pretty much like a normal documentary, and gives the feel still of whether there is mass editing or not, with clearly arranged sections, like the part in the car, and also when the actress comes out of the car. Whereas, the second section is pretty much a static camera, and is very clearly staged, followed directly by what appears to be a documentary, which can be shown to be slightly more real, due to the fact that the camera is constantly behind the action throughout the shot, there is also swearing, and also, that whole section was done in 1 shot. Due to the considerable number of twists, the shots appear to be very quirky due to the number of handheld shots and regular shot sizes combined together. This is fairly unusual for a short film, as they usually consist of one or the other, not both. The irony is, the whole thing is heavily constructed! And this returns to one of the themes, is anything real? With film, can anything be not constructed? The answer is no, no matter how random a piece of film is, there is always some way to construct the footage, with shot sizes and types, editing, and so forth.
However, likewise with a short film, main characters are kept to a minimum, and only 4 can be identified, the two ‘actors’ and the two main members of the ‘production team’. The characters used are massively stereotypical of what they should be, and in real life, are not known, as are most actors in short films, and most of the ones that are known only appear in short films before they were major Hollywood actors or actresses. Short films are used as a stepping stone for actors and directors to reach the big time. Representation is what is pretty much expected from the characters, the ‘Hollywood star’ is very annoying, and arrogant. The couple are shown to be what appears to be a standard family household, with the woman very dominant and fed up with her husband, whom she feels, is pretty much useless and too commanding. As a whole, females are shown as the dominant gender throughout the majority of the film. No specific age is particularly shown to be dominant, but the very young and the old are not shown at all in the product. Middle-class dominates the film, with working class appearing to be non-existent and upper class characters acting arrogant and also not getting what they want solely through money. White people and heterosexuality also dominates the film massively with anything else being non-existent.
Soundtracks were used throughout the film, with a voiceover used early on, which usually occurs in a documentary, but rarely in a short film, and with classical music used at the very beginning of the film as well. Mis-en-scene was also used regarding costumes massively; the whole costume drama section was costumed to make it feel as if it was back in that period. The whole film is quite light, and as much lighting was used as possible in some areas, and in the case of the interview we decided to switch on all of the lights in the room to give the setting much more brightness. Short films usually consist of a lot of soundtrack and lighting varies from film to film. The credits consist of sounds used from the outtakes on top of this.
Multiple settings were used, and the cheapest ones possible were used, hence why a lot of the filming took place outside. As the vast majority of short films are very low budget, like this one, filming outside is not unusual for a short, the only issue is making sure that the weather is perfect for filming, thankfully for us, the day arranged turned out to be as we wanted (except for being very cold!)
Theme-wise, we used the questions, ‘What is reality?’ and ‘What is love?’ Asking ‘What if..?’ and ‘What is..?’ questions is not unusual for a short film, and we portrayed these by changing what was happening on screen multiple times throughout. We followed the idea of ‘What is love?’ from the Shakespeare play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ which portrayed different stages of love through deception, and at times show it as a play within a play. We have deceived the viewers by changing the plot every two or three minutes, and making it seem as if it was a film within a film, but through a cross between modern day life as well as the Jane Austen set era of the Regency period. Our ancillary texts follow a similar format of trying to confuse the viewer, but not too much.
Effectiveness of ancillary texts when combined with the main product
The ancillary texts assist in making the film seem like it is something it is not, by giving away very little through the posters and not too much detail is expressed through the film reviews. They help to ‘anchor’ each other, joining the film and the ancillary texts together, and therefore restricting how the audience can respond just by looking at the poster or review. Each of the posters goes with the film, highly subtly, and once the film has been viewed, the poster would make sense, it almost seems as if, the poster gives the response, ‘What is this film? I’m so unsure I’d have to go and see it just to see what it is.’ Not too much is given away so that they can work out the whole film without viewing it, but just enough so that by viewing the posters and reviews, it helps to give some sort of idea of what the film is about. The marketing factor also plays a part in this, by making people aware of the film as people will look at posters, and read film reviews, for people to go and see a film, they have to hear about it somewhere, and unless we produce a 5 minute trailer for a 6 minute film, which is pointless, we are restricted to film reviews and posters, but it still does the same job.
The main purpose of a film poster is to promote a film, to help make people aware that it exists while at the same time hoping to attract them enough to go and view it in the cinema. And the only aspects portrayed are positive ones regarding the film, biased? Perhaps, but it’s all in how films make money, by stretching the truth in some areas by using marketing ideas. Film reviews are slightly different, as they are not written by the film company, they will not be 100% positive, and at times can be highly negative, a poor review from a respected critic can completely destroy a film, and an excellent review from one can make a film from a relatively unknown director, featuring unknown actors sell millions, just look at Slumdog Millionaire. Film reviews are completely independent, and they are not biased at all. Film reviews for a film like ours would be placed in specific film magazines like ‘Film Review’, ‘Film Magazine’, and also perhaps in some broadsheets.
There are issues with film posters and reviews, as to where to advertise the film? Posters could be placed in the middle of nowhere, where it is very cheap to advertise, but nobody will view the poster, or in the middle of a major city which is highly expensive, but everybody could view it. Advertising can cost a lot of money, depending on how much advertising is intended.
The quality of all of the posters is very high, and can be blown up and used on a billboard or on the side of a bus shelter if chosen to. The poster attracts the audience correctly, by giving away very little about the film, and in my own poster, all that is given away is that there is a woman, in a regency period, and the film itself is about a film about a woman in a regency period, and perhaps the loose framing helps to show this.
Audience feedback and what was learnt from it
Thankfully, there is a small theatre down at the bottom of my road, which can hold around 100 people, and the whole road and a select few others were invited to a screening of our film. This was done anonymously, they had no idea this was done for an A-Level project or that I had any contribution towards it. The reception was mixed; however, the diversity of people there was highly varied as well. Lisa, 35, gave the opinion that ‘It appeared to be quite Pride and Prejudice-like in places, and had a behind-the-scenes like feel towards it.’ Nick, 37, felt that ‘It was a film about making a film, and the final section just lost me completely, a film about making a film about making a film possibly?’ Finally, David, 56, exclaimed that it was ‘An insight into the troubles surrounding making a film’. All of these people are residents of the road. Out of the 40-something people that were there, more than half said that they enjoyed the film. The residents of this road are mainly white, British and middle-aged, all representations which are shown as strong in the film.
How new media technologies were used during all stages of the production.
Of course, the internet has contributed massively towards completing all stages of this project. The research stages was done mainly through YouTube, where simply searching ‘Short Films’ gives millions of results, and this contributed massively as to what a short film is, and provided a major stepping stone regarding how to structure the film. Even the blog requires modern day technology! Without modern day technology, reading this would be impossible as there would be no internet. Images for the film posters research were also taken from the internet. The storyboard, along with the film posters was produced using Adobe Photoshop, and the posters were developed and finalised using Microsoft Office Word. Finally, the cameras used were upon the very latest in digital camera technology, including direct links from the camera to the computer using USB 2.0 built in to the camera. In addition, we have been introduced to the world of High Definition by using a camera with a built in HD lens to make the quality of the film higher than ever before.
Craig: Review (final)
Below is a screenshot of the final review, to give some variety, other (feature-length) films which I have watched have also been reviewed, but only as ancillary texts, the main article is shown as the one in the middle, as is with any review.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Martyn - Review of Film
Here is a screenshot of the finalised edition of my review as it would appear within a magazine, it was a really strange experience as i found trouble talking negatively about my own work, in any case i carried on regardless and this is the result, it also includes an example of a real film review taken from the guardian website, if only for comparison.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Leonie - Overall Evaluation
Well with the film all wrapped up now, it only leaves the evaluation of the process and the outcome. Comparing it to real media, how effective my poster and review was, what type of feedback I got from the audience I presented it to and how technology aided me in the production are all areas that will be covered.
Looking into the narrative structure of a typical short film, it usually has a strange twist such as the abstract storyline of Mathieu Ratthe. That short film played on the archetypal horror movie setting in which you think the older man is going to kill off the younger woman. That soon all gets turned in its head when it is revealed he is helping the poor woman give birth. Short films like to fool us all, shocking up with the pun at the end. Let’s face it, the feature lengths take over an hour to build us up to the climax and it is an art in itself to capture the emotional response in a matter of minutes like the shorts do. Our film runs along the same lines although our short is full of twists, constantly twisting the audience’s perception on what reality really is. It reflects the actuality of the film industry and what the audience recognises to be real. This is different from the usual conventions of short films but that makes it stand out. A complex mix of interview, costume drama and documentary style scenes all add up to the intricacy of ‘Grace’.
Characters in short films are usually unknown, Hollywood stars sparsely used, though sometimes short films are ladders for the striving actor such as Gerard Butler in Please. The actors we use are unknown people and we develop it around common stereotypes. We have the main actress, Christina Rose, who is a young, arrogant woman, her impending success only getting to her head. When I scripted the character, I knew this was the type of attitude that she needed in order to change personalities and therefore create more of a diverse reality change.
We use limited, cheap settings and make the most out of outdoor locations where we have the freedom to do as we please. This plays on real media, where shorts with low budgets use low class locations where they don’t have to pay too much. We used a social club to save on expenses during the interview scene and a local park for the costume and documentary scenes.
With short films, you can get away with idiosyncratic camera shots such as the hand held camera movements. Of course, with a growing interest in documentary films like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, the media industry for this style is only growing larger. This is great for our film! We use a lot of documentary techniques, whizzing the camera about in hand held fast pans and a solid long take of a period drama, which would (if it were real) be edited into a series of shots. Really, we played on the whole concept of untraditional cinema, avoiding the predictability of a normal, average short film with average camera angles. Many fashion/make over shows use the conspiracy technique around television where they are pretending it is all fluid documentary entries of the progress and we used this. Using noddy shots, we trick the watcher into thinking two cameras are trained on both of the people, not inserted in the editing after it is filmed. The normal drama piece is a normal, unedited-looking piece of footage. The end twist to everything (Post-Production) appears very natural and that is because it is but the whole joke is the audience being fooled into a comforting state of realism. However, as it goes on, the audience would become more weary of what is real and where the filming actually ends as they know a camera is there. Questions spring up such as:
- Who is behind the camera?
- Is there someone ready to film another piece, taking it a step back again?
The reality of what happens behind the camera is never actually shown and that would disorientate watchers.
We don’t use any music which is unusual for any piece of film. However, there was no real need to have any music or sound effects as it is raw documentary. The end credits were dubbed with an out take of the production that plays on realism and background music from the interview piece. Usually, short films like to keep the dialogue as minimal as possible but our piece is full of character interaction, displaying true movie sets.
Costumes were a huge part of our production piece, especially when mimicking a drama reminiscing a period drama such as Pride and Prejudice. We only managed to get high quality costumes because a kindly owner of a costume place offered them for free hire for the day. This saved us a lot on costs. Costumes were a huge part of our production, if that wasn’t obvious from the pictures posted on our filming day. Normally, low budget films don’t even try to recreate a costume drama piece, as it is a risky thing to try and pull off. Short films don’t really feel the need to do a costume drama as it doesn’t really convey messages if they stand by themselves. So, we have developed the ideas of costume, taking it further than most would.
With prissy, spoilt Hollywood actress and the idea of the costume drama plot device of an old man trying to marry a young female, we have played much on stereotypes. Almost every period drama has the issue of unwanted marriage and older men trying to and we play greatly on that representation on typical dramas. However, we changed the two females, both the woman in the Regency part and the Producer in terms of how they would typically be viewed (weak and helpless). Both females are powerful and authorative, which is strange in the Regency period and the modern film industry (which I soon think will change). Also, I have to mention, whilst we are on the subject of representation that it very Shakespearean. I know I have said about this before but to recount, I love Shakespeare and adore how this reflects his works such as ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’ where appearance and reality are played upon greatly. Of course, it’s not something the film industry takes on in a different sense. Sure there have been movies such as ‘She’s the Man’ (a modern twist on ‘Twelfth’ Night but nothing shortened and the idea played upon.
Feedback
Well, I’ve already talked about how a couple of people reacted to the poster and now it’s time to talk about the short film. Before we split up on half term, we all decided that we would each hold a separate screening at our homes, inviting people round. I decided to take on the older range for my audience, to see just who got what. Our intended audience is more of a specialist one but as we can’t get hold of any film buffs, ordinary people will have to do!
So, I managed to get people together for a screening, even with snacks. As I could not get it onto the TV, I used my copy to play on our main computer and they proceeded to watch it in small groups.
The ages ranged from 39-65 and this gave me a good variety of different feedbacks. I soon learnt from the feedback that the comedy aspect was definitely working! Everyone was laughing as the producer started to go off on one as her partner winds her up about the filming.
Also, I invited Trina and Dave, who starred at the Producer and Director along to see what they thought of the production as a whole:
Trina 42 says, “The editing is really great! It flows really well and can’t believe it’s us there on the screen. Everyone was laughing at our bit and I’m really pleased about it as people don’t realise how hard improvisation is.”
Dave 39 says, “I like how you edited the colour for the costume drama and then went to black and white for the rest of it. It was good how it went from the production stages as well, showing it is a documentary. You don’t realise how funny you look when you see yourself on screen but everyone was laughing as well so it couldn’t have been that bad.”
Dave also was a media student and so he has the knowledge of the film industry and how things work. Even on the day of filming he was pointing out certain things and I thought it was a good experience to interview him so see what he thought of the film as a whole.
I’m afraid I couldn’t get any feedback from different classes as I come from a working class background! I would have liked to but I know it was not possible. This was a family event as I couldn’t really drag a few strangers off the street and take them in my house! The good thing about my family is that they are very critical of things, especially when it comes to films! So they are generally honest about how things look and can even look from a cinematic knowledge as one of my relatives took a Media course in college (though many years ago!).
I can safely say that technology today helped us a great deal whilst planning, researching, constructing and evaluation. The internet was probably the biggest help out of all of them in all aspects of our production. We looked up short films to start with and I analysed ‘Please’ (it is one of the first entries of mine in the blog) on YouTube, as well as many other videos. When I was looking for costumes, I used the net to explore where I could get period drama costumes. It also came in handy when I had to research in-depth the Regency period to make my script as realistic as possible.
The blog, as a new media, was a big learning experience as well as – in my opinion – the best way to record everything. As it poses as an online diary of events, I think it captures the whole thing perfectly. From this, we can see how done what when, what needed to be done and our progress in a very real timeframe. Placing the evaluation on the blog as well was a huge relief, as we could put our entire work on one place, one a secure internet page so the public could see it if they wished.
Photoshop 5 was a blessing when it came to making our posters. We used a digital USB camera - Fuji Finepix s5100 - (very high standard) for our photo shoot and then uploaded them onto Photoshop to edit them (such as blacking out the background and fiddling around with the contrast).
For all the editing aspects we used Magix Movie Edit pro 11, which was very simple to use whilst we used trial and error as well as getting a tutorial session. Also, the other groups offered advice, as one member is very experienced with editing programmes.
Also, I cannot forget Celtx, which I used to format all my script. This is a free script writing programme and all my scripts look professional quality as they were written straight into it. It has many aspects that only helped aid me, even giving me areas to store all my character and location information! Other basic programmes like Microsoft Publisher helped me design my A3 spreadsheet for my reviews.
As for filming, our group had a very high spec HD camera. This managed to get our video in an extremely high quality, which only made it look even better! The media industry is going head first into the HD industry so this gives our short film a heads up. They were USB-ready so no messing around with cables and leads; we just plugged them in and uploaded it to edit.
Real Media
Looking into the narrative structure of a typical short film, it usually has a strange twist such as the abstract storyline of Mathieu Ratthe. That short film played on the archetypal horror movie setting in which you think the older man is going to kill off the younger woman. That soon all gets turned in its head when it is revealed he is helping the poor woman give birth. Short films like to fool us all, shocking up with the pun at the end. Let’s face it, the feature lengths take over an hour to build us up to the climax and it is an art in itself to capture the emotional response in a matter of minutes like the shorts do. Our film runs along the same lines although our short is full of twists, constantly twisting the audience’s perception on what reality really is. It reflects the actuality of the film industry and what the audience recognises to be real. This is different from the usual conventions of short films but that makes it stand out. A complex mix of interview, costume drama and documentary style scenes all add up to the intricacy of ‘Grace’.
Lovefield by Mathieu Rathe
Characters in short films are usually unknown, Hollywood stars sparsely used, though sometimes short films are ladders for the striving actor such as Gerard Butler in Please. The actors we use are unknown people and we develop it around common stereotypes. We have the main actress, Christina Rose, who is a young, arrogant woman, her impending success only getting to her head. When I scripted the character, I knew this was the type of attitude that she needed in order to change personalities and therefore create more of a diverse reality change.
We use limited, cheap settings and make the most out of outdoor locations where we have the freedom to do as we please. This plays on real media, where shorts with low budgets use low class locations where they don’t have to pay too much. We used a social club to save on expenses during the interview scene and a local park for the costume and documentary scenes.
The local park during filming
With short films, you can get away with idiosyncratic camera shots such as the hand held camera movements. Of course, with a growing interest in documentary films like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, the media industry for this style is only growing larger. This is great for our film! We use a lot of documentary techniques, whizzing the camera about in hand held fast pans and a solid long take of a period drama, which would (if it were real) be edited into a series of shots. Really, we played on the whole concept of untraditional cinema, avoiding the predictability of a normal, average short film with average camera angles. Many fashion/make over shows use the conspiracy technique around television where they are pretending it is all fluid documentary entries of the progress and we used this. Using noddy shots, we trick the watcher into thinking two cameras are trained on both of the people, not inserted in the editing after it is filmed. The normal drama piece is a normal, unedited-looking piece of footage. The end twist to everything (Post-Production) appears very natural and that is because it is but the whole joke is the audience being fooled into a comforting state of realism. However, as it goes on, the audience would become more weary of what is real and where the filming actually ends as they know a camera is there. Questions spring up such as:
- Who is behind the camera?
- Is there someone ready to film another piece, taking it a step back again?
The reality of what happens behind the camera is never actually shown and that would disorientate watchers.
We don’t use any music which is unusual for any piece of film. However, there was no real need to have any music or sound effects as it is raw documentary. The end credits were dubbed with an out take of the production that plays on realism and background music from the interview piece. Usually, short films like to keep the dialogue as minimal as possible but our piece is full of character interaction, displaying true movie sets.
Costumes were a huge part of our production piece, especially when mimicking a drama reminiscing a period drama such as Pride and Prejudice. We only managed to get high quality costumes because a kindly owner of a costume place offered them for free hire for the day. This saved us a lot on costs. Costumes were a huge part of our production, if that wasn’t obvious from the pictures posted on our filming day. Normally, low budget films don’t even try to recreate a costume drama piece, as it is a risky thing to try and pull off. Short films don’t really feel the need to do a costume drama as it doesn’t really convey messages if they stand by themselves. So, we have developed the ideas of costume, taking it further than most would.
Main male in costume drama
With prissy, spoilt Hollywood actress and the idea of the costume drama plot device of an old man trying to marry a young female, we have played much on stereotypes. Almost every period drama has the issue of unwanted marriage and older men trying to and we play greatly on that representation on typical dramas. However, we changed the two females, both the woman in the Regency part and the Producer in terms of how they would typically be viewed (weak and helpless). Both females are powerful and authorative, which is strange in the Regency period and the modern film industry (which I soon think will change). Also, I have to mention, whilst we are on the subject of representation that it very Shakespearean. I know I have said about this before but to recount, I love Shakespeare and adore how this reflects his works such as ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’ where appearance and reality are played upon greatly. Of course, it’s not something the film industry takes on in a different sense. Sure there have been movies such as ‘She’s the Man’ (a modern twist on ‘Twelfth’ Night but nothing shortened and the idea played upon.
The product and the ancillary texts
Right, as anyone would know, film posters are used as a marketing technique for a movie. I have already posted my film poster and mine is very different from the rest of the groups. The decision was made by me because I am doing the general poster and I wanted it to be a mystery. Mine was definitely aiming towards marketing rather than promoting it. The rest of my group decided for the Jane Austen approach, which would obviously target the female audience. Mine, I feel, would border on our target audience of the film buffs. What is very special about our posters is that they are very high resolution and can be blown up to the size of a real film poster if we had the funds.
My poster is so abstract from the film that it stands out, which is always a good thing. I have received high praise from people for my poster, I am delighted to say and proceeded to ask people what they thought of it when they saw it:
Ian, 17, thinks, ‘Crime, Poirot, Agatha Christie, possible film set.’
Sharon, 39, thinks, ‘Perhaps documentary or some plot about the camera?’
In a previous post on March 18th 2010, I explained in a little detail of why I chose to did as the picture and how I got the desired effects through editing. I noted that it was an ambiguious image with just an arm reaching down for a video camera. Also, there was the naked arm of a female that could symbolised sexual themes, which would drawn in the older audience we are aiming for. The main reason I loved this poster was because it could be taken any way possible and would stir up people's imaginations. It anchors the text to the audience of a professional older audience with its simplicity and technical nature. Being mostly black, it doesn't give much away with a background and its sharp, raw editing techniques would only anchor my audience more into my text. The camera itself comes from the documentary, where the fake cameraman is holding it as if he had filmed with it and the arm is mine as I play the part of the leading actress.
In a previous post on March 18th 2010, I explained in a little detail of why I chose to did as the picture and how I got the desired effects through editing. I noted that it was an ambiguious image with just an arm reaching down for a video camera. Also, there was the naked arm of a female that could symbolised sexual themes, which would drawn in the older audience we are aiming for. The main reason I loved this poster was because it could be taken any way possible and would stir up people's imaginations. It anchors the text to the audience of a professional older audience with its simplicity and technical nature. Being mostly black, it doesn't give much away with a background and its sharp, raw editing techniques would only anchor my audience more into my text. The camera itself comes from the documentary, where the fake cameraman is holding it as if he had filmed with it and the arm is mine as I play the part of the leading actress.
I think the review and the poster go as a good duo. They really are polar opposites. The review, I made to portray as a costume drama with a slight hint of more to it than the norm whilst the poster is more confusing and documentary-like. After all, we did really make a documentary piece, not a costume drama. The cleverest twist of the poster is that it doesn’t anchor someone into thinking ‘yes, it’s a documentary’ or ‘yes, it’s a costume drama’; it leaves the audience flexible enough to make their own mind up about it as combining the two has never really been done before. My text would feature in a broadsheet, something appropriate such as 'The Independent' or 'The Guardian' as these are the higher, professional and older audience we are targeting. However, our main texts would be the specialist film magazines such as, "Film Review", "Empire" and "Little White Lies" as the film buffs would love a piece of complex film as ours is. The only problem is the fact the review is done by me, therefore I hold a biased view towards the film as a whole. That could be seen as a good point though! What we look for most, everyone does, is a bit of entertainment and that is what we are aiming for and I think it is what my two texts mediate.
The review is partnered with two other short film reviews that are very recent (updated in the past few months) and is effective in the fact that it gives the reader two other movies to compare it to. ‘Grace’, in the review, isn’t only setting it up as a typical costume drama but a piece of complicated drama that needs to be taken seriously. This works well with the product as a whole as both portray the two sides of the short film.
The review is partnered with two other short film reviews that are very recent (updated in the past few months) and is effective in the fact that it gives the reader two other movies to compare it to. ‘Grace’, in the review, isn’t only setting it up as a typical costume drama but a piece of complicated drama that needs to be taken seriously. This works well with the product as a whole as both portray the two sides of the short film.
Feedback
Well, I’ve already talked about how a couple of people reacted to the poster and now it’s time to talk about the short film. Before we split up on half term, we all decided that we would each hold a separate screening at our homes, inviting people round. I decided to take on the older range for my audience, to see just who got what. Our intended audience is more of a specialist one but as we can’t get hold of any film buffs, ordinary people will have to do!
So, I managed to get people together for a screening, even with snacks. As I could not get it onto the TV, I used my copy to play on our main computer and they proceeded to watch it in small groups.
The ages ranged from 39-65 and this gave me a good variety of different feedbacks. I soon learnt from the feedback that the comedy aspect was definitely working! Everyone was laughing as the producer started to go off on one as her partner winds her up about the filming.
Nigel 65 says, “It was good. The couple made me laugh and it had different layers that kept you watching.”
Mark 44 (above) says, “That was pretty good. The Producer and Director were hilarious and it was filmed really well.”
Trina 42 says, “The editing is really great! It flows really well and can’t believe it’s us there on the screen. Everyone was laughing at our bit and I’m really pleased about it as people don’t realise how hard improvisation is.”
Dave 39 says, “I like how you edited the colour for the costume drama and then went to black and white for the rest of it. It was good how it went from the production stages as well, showing it is a documentary. You don’t realise how funny you look when you see yourself on screen but everyone was laughing as well so it couldn’t have been that bad.”
Dave also was a media student and so he has the knowledge of the film industry and how things work. Even on the day of filming he was pointing out certain things and I thought it was a good experience to interview him so see what he thought of the film as a whole.
I’m afraid I couldn’t get any feedback from different classes as I come from a working class background! I would have liked to but I know it was not possible. This was a family event as I couldn’t really drag a few strangers off the street and take them in my house! The good thing about my family is that they are very critical of things, especially when it comes to films! So they are generally honest about how things look and can even look from a cinematic knowledge as one of my relatives took a Media course in college (though many years ago!).
Technology and how it helped us
I can safely say that technology today helped us a great deal whilst planning, researching, constructing and evaluation. The internet was probably the biggest help out of all of them in all aspects of our production. We looked up short films to start with and I analysed ‘Please’ (it is one of the first entries of mine in the blog) on YouTube, as well as many other videos. When I was looking for costumes, I used the net to explore where I could get period drama costumes. It also came in handy when I had to research in-depth the Regency period to make my script as realistic as possible.
The blog, as a new media, was a big learning experience as well as – in my opinion – the best way to record everything. As it poses as an online diary of events, I think it captures the whole thing perfectly. From this, we can see how done what when, what needed to be done and our progress in a very real timeframe. Placing the evaluation on the blog as well was a huge relief, as we could put our entire work on one place, one a secure internet page so the public could see it if they wished.
Photoshop 5 was a blessing when it came to making our posters. We used a digital USB camera - Fuji Finepix s5100 - (very high standard) for our photo shoot and then uploaded them onto Photoshop to edit them (such as blacking out the background and fiddling around with the contrast).
For all the editing aspects we used Magix Movie Edit pro 11, which was very simple to use whilst we used trial and error as well as getting a tutorial session. Also, the other groups offered advice, as one member is very experienced with editing programmes.
Also, I cannot forget Celtx, which I used to format all my script. This is a free script writing programme and all my scripts look professional quality as they were written straight into it. It has many aspects that only helped aid me, even giving me areas to store all my character and location information! Other basic programmes like Microsoft Publisher helped me design my A3 spreadsheet for my reviews.
As for filming, our group had a very high spec HD camera. This managed to get our video in an extremely high quality, which only made it look even better! The media industry is going head first into the HD industry so this gives our short film a heads up. They were USB-ready so no messing around with cables and leads; we just plugged them in and uploaded it to edit.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Becky: Cinema Poster
Everyone in the group had specific poster types e.g. DVD poster, mine was to create a cinema poster. Firstly we had to draw a rough draft of what we were aiming our posters to look like; this includes the chosen font, tagline and images that will be used. It is important that each poster is cohesive with the other as all are advertising the same film, so the title and tag line on each poster needs to be the same.
Rough draft of my cinema poster
When taking the photographs for the main image, I used my draft as a guild to angle the model to create the image I was aiming for.
After the photos were taking and uploaded onto a computer, I opened it up on a program called Photo Shop. On this complex program I cropped the image and blacked out the background, I did this to keep the location a secret also it draws all the publics attention to the writing including the title as well as the main image.
When this was completed I transferred the finished image to Microsoft Word 2003. As Leonie was the first person to do her poster, she created the template for all our posters; this included the font and colour of the title as well as the names of the cast and crew.
When my image was opened onto this program I had to move and alter the size of the writing to fit around my main image, also I added some extra information including the opening date of the film.
Final cinema poster
As our target audience is adults (15+) i kept the coloures of my poster dull and not vibrant as from research most children film posters are vibrant and extremly colourful; these bright, attractive coloures anchor the younger generation to watch the film, also it draws them in; therefore i used darker and more blunt coloures as i didnt want to attract the wrong audience. As well as this, we chose a font that was simular to those that are used for the titles of period dramas e.g. Pride and Prejudice; this font works cohesively with the main image which is of the main character in her dated, Tudor styled dress; together they attract our target audience successfully.
I am pleased with the outcome of my poster; I believe that it is suitable for its purpose which is to attract and perswade the public to watch this film.
Becky: Small alterations make a big difference.
After the editing was finished, we decided to experiment with different effects to see if anything could be improved. We were able to do this as we had time to do so; it was very beneficial.
Here are the changes we made:
- Volume – We found out that adjusting the volume level draws attention to that certain section as it is louder than the other noises. We used this technique during some of the conversations to enhance the significant parts in the dialogue, e.g. the personal question about the secret relationship between the main character and a famous actor. Also we discovered that the variation in the volume increased the attention span of the audiences; kept them intrigued.
- Colour saturation – Our film is made up of 4 sections, 3 out of the 4 scenes have been changed to black and white as when you look through an old camera the image you see is in black and white, it only changes to colour when transferred onto a TV or computer. We decided to do this to make it look like untouched, raw footage, also it makes the audience feel like they are seeing what we are when we are filming. The period drama scene differs from the others as it is set in the ‘past’ also the dialogue and costumes are also set in Tutor times. From looking at older films it is clear that the colours are very strong and vibrant, this is from the technology they use to use; we recreated this affect by increasing the colour saturation to make the colours more intense. This also enhanced the difference between the old and new affect in our film.
- Added Noddy shot – Previously we only had one noddy shot of the interviewer, we felt that another one needed to be added into the interview sequence as it needed more reactions shots. Whilst doing this we discovered that we could lengthen the answer from the interviewee and overlap it with the interviewer’s reaction shot, this connected the shots together smoothly.
- Titles – More titles were added to increase the documentary feel we aimed to create. Also the font of the titles was changed from Harrington to Arial. Harrington would suit period drama styled films; this is why we previously used that font but as most of the scenes are in a documentary style we had to change it to a more appropriate font.
We are all satisfied with the final outcome; we feel that the changes have improved the film considerable.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Martyn - Storyboard Images and updates
Ooookay first things first...sorry for the lack of posts on my part...basically what has been happening recently has not been the hugest work load for me, apart from these stroyboards (which i was going to draw out but it was decided it would be better this way) i have been just helping out wherever i can, helping editing and taking pictures for the film poster, which will be posted at the same time as the poster.
Without further delay here are the storyboard images, which i shall give a little description with them, and relation to their place in the plot,
this is the very opening shot set, basically the whole set up for the disbelief, it gives the whole reality feeling right off the bat, and has a voice over describing the next shot,
which are these two images, these show the interview scene from both sides, on the image on the left above we show the main actress, Christina Rose, who is featured in the entire interview with a few "noddy" shots of the interviewer, right.
Without further delay here are the storyboard images, which i shall give a little description with them, and relation to their place in the plot,
Next there is the main bulk of the film, which starts with the costume drama, played here by our storyboarder/ actress and a stand in for the actor playing Lord Thane, and continued,
here, which progresses onto,
the argument scene, one of the best in the film, i will not give any plot away but it is highly entertaining, which leads to the improvisation scenes which delve the viewer deeper into confusion.
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