First filming and then reviewing footage

The first thing that we decided to shoot was the conversation just before the beginning of the fight scene. This was our first choice of shots to shoot because one of our other locations was not available for that day.  When first at the location we had to make sure that the props were all in the right place, and that the had all the right equipment to film like the sound equipment. One of the main problems that we had was that we had a few outtakes, so it took longer to film than planned.

When we had our next media lesson we captured the footage on to final cut express, we were happy with most of the footage, but discussed that one or two of the shots may need to be reshot, just to make sure that we get the highest continuity.  

My film poster

As a part of the brief, we had to design our own individual film poster. This was my design:

- First of all one of the main things that i had to decide was whether to take a screen shot from the film or to design my own. I chose to take a screen shot from the film because if my group did decide to use this as the final film poster i felt that it would be easier to produce.

- Next of all i chose to have the shot of the main character walking down the street, this was because i felt that it showed him in isolation, and not around anyone which will signify to the audience that the character is meant to be coded as kinda lonely. This is also reinforced by the character wearing earphones, like he is in his own little world and cut off from everyone else.

- One of the other factors which i thought was important was the tag line, i wanted my tag line to be effective, and also make a potential audience watch the film. I chose to have the word isolation, because that is one of the main themes throughout the film, so it will give a hint to the audience and also because it is emotive language.

- I chose to have the title appear on the road so that where the road was plain it would make the title stand out even more. Titles that our group is looking at are "The bench" and "Like father, Like son"

- The cast names are placed at the bottom of the poster as it is a common convention to have the actors names at the top or bottom of the poster. This will reinforce to the audience that it is a film poster.

- The colours which i have chosen to incorporate into the poster, are dark and bleak. I did this so that i could try and represent the mood of the film. Therefore giving the audience and sense of the themes which are going to be represented in the film.

- I feel that this will appeal to this target audience because first of all, the potential target audience can relate to the character, as they will be of the same age and also of the same class.

Film poster analysis

On the left side of the poster one of the characters is holding a baseball bat, and also he is holding it in a way that suggests that he is going to swing it. This foreshadows that this film with have a theme of violence.

The poster also has a theme of juxtaposition. This is shown in two main ways. First of all it is shown through the colour of the text on the poster.  For the fact that the colour of the ext for the slogan is black, yet the colour for the title of the rest of the text is white.  Both of these colours have strong connotations, like black is a signifier of depression, and mainly bad things, where on the other hand white connotes, innocence and purity, so both of these colour covey completely difference messages when looked at separately but when put together on a poster it suggests, that their will be two different sides to a person, or that they will have to choose between being good or bad. Another juxtaposition, which can be seen, is through the use of colour in the background.  At the bottom of the poster dark colours are used through making the location maybe on a rooftop, where as at the top of the poster lighter colours are used through the use of clouds and a hidden sunlight. Both of these backgrounds make the colour of the text stand out more but also suggest a difference between what is right and what is wrong.

From having clouds up the top with a bright light shining behind, is a signifier to the audience of heaven.  Heaven has a very well know schema and connotation of death. This will most likely suggest to the audience that a character within the diegesis is going to be killed. Adding this together with the image of the boy holding a baseball bat, it could also signify that somebody is going to get killed but not only is he going to get killed but that he will be murdered and possibly by the character holding the baseball bat. 

The characters instantly give away what genre the film is (drama). This is mainly shown through their costumes but also from they way that they have been coded. The characters costumes code them all as though they are from a lower class background and that they are not wealthy or have had a good up bringing. This is shown for they fact they that are dressed and coded as “chavs” or “rudeboys” for the fact that they are dressed in hoodies and jeans. From this connotation it will be able to draw on the audiences schema and make them feel that this film is going to be in the drama genre. But not only the characters coding but also because the colours that are used on the poster are mainly dark and depressing colours. Which signify that bad things are going to happen which normally happen in the drama genre. 

Final evaluation questions

For one of the final parts of the blog i am going to do an evaluation of the presentation.

What went well 

• We conveyed all of the information of which we wanted to get across
• The presentation flowed well and we did not stumble on our words, which gave the overall presentation a better look
• We added more to the presentation which was not scripted, this meant we was able to include all of the information which was needed

What did not go well 

• One of our members was not present so we had to change who said what in the presentation at the last minute
• Part of the anamatic had swearing which is something that we are going to change but was not included in the presentation
• We had to restart the presentation due to a mistake made in the beginning. 
• When asked what i contributed, i forgot to say that i did alot of the work on the group blog

What i would improve

• Trying not to read from a script, so that the presentation would look more professional
• Try to add more pictures on to the prezie
• Try to give more input when it was the question time 
• Say that i did a lot of the work on the group blog 

What i contributed

• I put together the anamatic
• Putting together the presentation 
• Doing most of the blogging for the group blog
• Making the shot list 
• Contributed to looking for cast and locations 
• Made a questionnaire to put towards overall research 
• Did research in similar genre and similar products 

Looking at casting and further planning

Whist in the planning stage of film their were many aspects that we as a group had to consider, we all had a part in the story-boarding process and then turning it in to an anamatic, with a voice over.

Another part of the planning process was to look at casting. This needed much consideration, because as this is a short film, the character types need to be established very quickly as there is not much time for the audience to be able to make a recognition. When trying to find cast members we need to consider first of all if they could act. This would make all the difference because if they could not act then it would ruin the sense of it being realistic. Also the availability of the time schedule in relation to when we want to film. After considering these factors and others, we cam up with out cast members. The two main charcters will be the lead ( no name yet) played by Alex Eagles, and his Asian friend ( also no name as yet) to be played by Adeel Ikram. 

Audience research results

Audience reseach i conducted a questionaire of 20 people. The results were that :

Part 1
- 18/20 people were aware of what short film is. 
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- Most people considered themseleves interested in short film
- The majourty of people said that they would watch short film on the internet
- 16/20 people said they would prefer to watch a drama short film rather than a documentary

Part 2
- Most of the people that took part in the questionaire were British
- 12/20 said yes they have been affected by racism 

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- Not really was the most common answer when asked how openly can you talk about racism.
- Do you have the same views as your parents on racism, Not really was the main answer ticked
- 17/20 answered yes they crae about racism  

Audience research

For the audience research part of the project, i deiced that i would do a questionnaire. I am going to hand out the questionnaire to 20 people and then make a conclusion of my results. My questionnaire has 11 questions. Some are focused on short film and some are focused on racism. 

 

Analysis of a drama narrative

In the drama genre there is a conventional narrative which is normally followed when producing a film. First of all it starts off with the exposition. This is where the tone is set, along with the theme. Mostly characters will be introduced here and the audience will be able to gain the knowledge that it is in the drama genre. Next up in the structure is rising action. This is where the tension starts to build and the audience are going to get suspicious about what is going to happen and when. After this will be the inciting incident. Mainly this will involve the actual drama happening, this could involve physical violence, conflict between characters. Following this will be the  cooling down period where the characters will reflect on what has happened and if it can be resolved. This follows Todorov's theory of equilibrium. It starts off with equilibrium then something happens causing disequilibrium, and then finally it will be resolved to equilibrium again. 

Conventions of the drama genre

Conventions of the drama genre on Prezi

Review "On Time"

In realtion to what is a short film i am going to analyse a short film. It is called On Time.


There are many things which i enjoyed about this piece. Fisrt of all that it was all shot in one location. This made the film feel more continus and did not confuse me or other viewers. Another thing which i liked was that it had little cast members and few that actully had diaolouge, i like this becuase it did not make the film to complicated, and as it is a short piece it was less for the audience to take all the characters in and just focuased on the two, letting the audience try and connect as much as possible with the charcters.


Things which i didnt like about On Time, was that it seemed too sureal, and unrealistic. This made me not belive in the characters as much as i knew that it was not real. Another thing which i disliked was the use of colour. the use of colour was quite bland and dark, which did not really fit with the theme, this was becuase the theme was furturisct and all the the colouring was mainly blue, brown and grey.  

  

What is a short film ?

A short film is described as a  piece of footage that is from 3 minutes, to 45 minutes. Short films generally have a narrative,and includes stereotypically a beginning middle and end. They are normally produced by aspiring film makers and the general public. They will generally made to be uploaded onto the internet as sites such as Youtube, and also to be entered in to competitions,  and viewed by many audiences. There is no specific genre for short film, although the most short films that are made come from the social realist genre.