Sam- Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

9 Frame Shot Sequence of researched films.

Narrative: 

• The narratives in all of the short films had many different lay out's, some being non-linear, others being straight forward linear to the end point of the film, but on short film in particular which I felt had a good narrative base was 'The Last Man On Earth'. 
• The start of the film not much is given away, if it weren't for the title then the audience may just think it is a homeless man walking down the street maybe very early in the morning as it appears deserted. Confirmed by the character that there has been an 'event', nothing is given away by the directors and this could make the audience trigger guesses as to what the event may have been; it gets the audience thinking about the film. 
• I personally found this choice of scripting to be a clever technique as it engages the audience into the film from a very early point.
• For a narrative theory for this film it was edging towards Todorov’s theory as there is both equilibrium and disequilibrium with him poisoning himself and then finding another man exists, leaving him in a 'tricky' situation. 
• In another one of the short films Nightwalking, it uses a non-linear narrative. 
• The choice to use a non-linear narrative is clever in the sense that it gives the viewpoints of both characters and their perspective as to what is happening for them on screen, dramatic irony is used here cleverly as the audience after hearing both views of characters know more about what each character is thinking. This use of dramatic irony is clever as it makes the audience feel somewhat silly after finding out how both the characters are feeling through a clever use of narration. 

Characterization:

• In short films as they are obviously shorter there isn't really anytime for the audience to really feel too 'attached' and really bond with the characters, therefore this means that the director has the job to create an obvious looking character who the audience can identify almost impetuously what each character is about; and that is carried out through mise en scene. An example would be in the short film 'Support'. There is a man lying in a hospital bed with patient costume on surrounded by many pieces of medical equipment. Instantaneously the audience know that this particular character is in hospital, is a patient and is ill with all of the life support around him. Having such a limited amount of time in a short film it is key that the director makes it easy for the audience to identify a character in such a short period of time, I mean this particular short film is just 2 minutes long. All of the elements of mise en scene such as props, costume and setting are key to giving the audience an idea of what the character is about.
• Also in short films as there isn't much time their is only a real limited amount of characters with normally up to 2 or 3 key characters as there just isn't enough time for the audience to bond with every character for example: In a highly budgeted film such as James Bond there are many key characters and of course always a bond girl. In the 'Quantum Of Solace' the 'Bond girl' gets killed and the audience feel somewhat sad however, in a short film where there isn't a lot of time if a character who you haven't got to really know dies it is somewhat meaningless.

Camerawork:

• I found that with many of the short film's there are a lot of complex shots such as clever focus pulls and  wide range of shots from extreme close up's to extreme long shots. The use of many complicated and aesthetic shots could be done due to the fact that they aren't well known directors and possibly looking to impress and break into the film industry, and to do that you have to impress. However as the majority of short films aren't budgeted it means they won't be able to perhaps rent out a stun car driver and perform a focus pull of a car doing seven or eight consecutive flips which would be seen as impressive, whereas in Bond films again for example where they are highly budgeted they can afford to hire stunt drivers and take many different takes of a car doing numerous amount of flips and choose their favorite shot.

Sound:

• With sound in short films there has been a re-occurring pattern of the use of foley's. The use of foley's and non-diegetic sound I have seen to be very popular in short films as perhaps it they need to stress one key factor of a short film more than anything else. An example of this would be in the film Night Walking and Support. In the film Night Walking there is added foley's of the sound of the man walking towards the woman, this highlights the importance of the man trying to get closer and triggers stereotypes of the man chasing a deserted woman at night- danger? Also with the film Support, the added foley's to the bleeping of the machine to monitor the mans heart rate is increased to once again make it the key point of the frame- It stresses that the audience need to pay attention to this sound and if there is a disrupt in rhythm then it once again spells danger. 
• I also feel that sound is more important to short films than large budgeted films as they need it more to help set the mood/atmosphere of the film (through non-diegetic) sound. This could be due to them not having the finance to shoot as many shots and truly visualize all  what the director wants too, therefore they do it through sound as it may be cheaper.

Mise en Scene:

• Using mise en scene in short films is key as it helps the audience identify certain characters quickly as they don't have as much time to explain each character like in a normal film. One trend that I wasn't particularly shocked to notice was the fact that the setting/location of each short film was normally kept down to one place. The choice to do this is probably to do with the fact that they have a short time to get the film across and don't want to from too many locations leaving the perplexed as to what is going on. Another reason for this could be due to the fact that the may not have the budget to fly to a luxurious location such as Dubai and shoot a 'quick beach scene'- that being an extreme example.  

Use of genre conventions:

• With short films, a large majority of them could have a 'shout' to cross over into the Drama genre. An example of where one of the short films I researched would be with the film Night Walking. Night Walking is a Drama as it is representing a real life social problem and their are emotions being expressed by both the characters. Both of the characters express different feelings in the short film Night Walking and they are both very much so in contrast to each other for instance, the man is trying to create a happy atmosphere and is trying his hardest to not alarm the woman, where as the woman is extremely frightened and just wants to get away from the male character. Having both of these points in the film suggests that these are genre codes for a film falling under the Drama genre. The genre codes to a drama to conclude is that it is somewhat social realism, and the characters are emotional and you (as the audience) are made to understand the emotions. 

Editing/Post Production:

• For the editing of the short films it is clear to see that they are done very professionally done and they haven't cut (pardon the pun) any corners whilst editing. A trait carried over through all types of film is the changing of filters/editing of colours throughout a film. An example once again would be in Night Walking where everything is made black and white, as it is at night it would be predominantly black however, making it black and white further more stresses the fact that there is darkness and helps set a somewhat vulnerable/negative atmosphere.

Themes and issues: 

• Short films tend to focus on what key factor of the film and build/focus the rest of the story-line around this one particular event or character. A reason for this is probably due to the film being a short film, therefore meaning that there isn't enough time to create a numerous amount of issues and have them all effect one and other, as well as reaching out to the audience about each issue in the limited time available for a short film. The confusion that could be created from having too many different factors/issues in one film could be another reason for a short film to limit the amount of key issues/events in a film and this again all relates back to the length of the film; they just wouldn't have the time to portray all of the issues effectively. The one issue that is usually focused on in a short film is generally one which can be related to by people who are watching the film. An example of this would be in the film 'Support' where it is about a depressed man wishing to take his own life but accidentally taking another man's instead. Suicide is something which is widely publicized in the world therefore the audience would know how bad this part of the film is and would be able to understand what is happening.

Does our media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

9 Frame Sequence of our short film, 'Home'.

Characterization:

• For characterization, we used the research of other short films to help portray how our characters could potentially be portrayed in our short film. We followed the trend of our researched films to not swarm the audience with heaps of details about both characters, and instead we only gave the audience enough information to be able to feel something/understand each character. We used Mise en Scene to help portray our characterization for each character, an example would be the portrayal of our female character: through mise en scene the audience is able to identify that she is well dressed, seems to work in an office and is not of a low social class status (as well as finding out she has lost her ring). As for the male character we intentionally kept details of him to a minimum, and we had to do this for our short film to really work; if the audience knew that this was the women's husband, then the 'break in' to their house wouldn't be seen as bad but as we don't know he live their, then the audience immediately jumps to conclusions and lead on to think the worse (all influenced by things such as his dark clothing and actions in the shots). We tried to use a modern and realistic representation of what two people at this age what look/feel like in this situation in order for the audience to be able to relate to the characters.  However, the audience is only really felt inclined to with both characters at the end as this is where they are educated to the fact that both of the characters are actually at the least engaged. 

Sound:

• As for sound we tended to also mimic other short films and keep diegetic sound to a minimum in our short film. We felt that this was the best idea as we had seen how pace/suspense can be added to the film through non-diegetic sounds such as soundtracks, or foleys. The only real diegetic sound that we used was the dialogue of the male at the end giving the audience the equilibrium at the end, radio, phone and car sounds. We felt by having no real diegetic sound and only really using the soundtrack it left a somewhat eerie atmosphere around the location, and we liked this. We listened to the film both with and without the soundtrack and we were more than astonished as to how important the soundtrack was to building suspense, pace and atmosphere for the film. Without the soundtrack the film lacked a purpose really, it was as if neither of them were really going to cross-paths... they could have just been two different strangers millions of miles away from one and other!

Camera Work:

• For our camera work we used many different camera angles/shots to try and give off a numerous amount of different points. An example would be when it seems the protagonist (the male character) appears to be breaking into the house, the camera angle is high and we tried to portray the fact that society is looking down on this character. As for shots, we used a wide variety of shots just like other short films we researched therefore sticking to the convention of short films. We did this as we are trying to impress the audience, where as short film directors would do it to to possibly try and break into the film industry. We used big close ups of both characters and of props; we used a close up of the exhaust so it highlights that this is a key part of the shots and adds a sense of urgency to the film. As for on characters we used close ups so the audience is able to understand what each character is feeling emotionally. 

Editing and post production:

• With out short film we created a basic stand alone title of our short film 'Home'. We did this to ensure that we didn't give anything away to the audience, we wanted to keep them guessing. We felt this kind of enigma in our film was needed for it to really succeed. We also created basic titles in the film for example the starring of the two actors, and we did this so it stands out from the film and the audience are able to tell who the actors are if they like them and maybe would want to see them in another film. 

Narrative:

• As for the narrative of our short film we tended to stick with the popular convention of making it linear, simple and easy to follow. We did this as we didn't want too much going on our film and we wanted the audience to focus on one point at hand, and feel something towards that issue. As for theories we applied Todorov's theory where there is an event which upsets the balance of the film (the equilibrium), and then at the end of the film there is a resolution to balance out what has happened. In retrospect to our film the equilibrium would be seeing the male character 'breaking in' to the house of the female, and then the resolution would be when you are finally educated the fact that he has just lost his keys and had to climb through the window to get in.     

Mise en Scene:

• As for mise en scene in our film we stuck to the general stereotypical representation of each character in how they were dressed for example, the male had a hoody and wasn't really dressed up very smart where as the female was well and smartly dressed with assets such as jewelry. We chose the costume of these characters to be different and possibly be seen to be in a different social class just so we could try and trick the audience into thinking that they don't have anything to do with each other, yet. We did this as we want to keep the surprise at the end of the film the fact that they are actually married. As for the location of our film we challenged the general convention of short films by using many different locations in our short film; for example the office, outside the office, the car journey home, the house, outside the house. Having all of these different locations challenges the fact that there are normally only 2 or 3 locations in each short film.

Themes and Issues:

• For themes and issues I believe that we stick to the convention of having an issue at hand like in other short films such as support, the issue is the fact of suicide and so many people know that this is a massive issue in society. One issue that could be potentially seen in our film is the fact that there is a 'burglary' appearing to be taking place, the audience may be able to relate to that if they know someone/or have had experience of burglary themselves. Judgment of people in society and stereotyping is also an issue, and the audience is taught after the film that they have probably made a quick judgement of character, and that it is the wrong one. 

Genre and Conventions:

• With short films, a large majority of them could have a 'shout' to cross over into the Drama genre. An example of where one of the short films I researched would be with the film Night Walking. Night Walking is a Drama as it is representing a real life social problem and their are emotions being expressed by both the characters. In our film we present the issue of having the emotions of what it'd be like if you knew you were getting 'burgled', and we did this by showing her emotion with close ups for example as we wanted the audience to see her emotions. The genre codes to a drama to conclude is that it is somewhat social realism, and the characters are emotional and you (as the audience) are made to understand the emotions. Therefore to conclude we have stuck with the convention of sticking to the popular genre of Drama with our short film.

Ancillary tasks- Here is analysis of British, Independent Films I analysed to help create the best possible poster for our film.

Ill Manors

Ill Manors is a British Independent film written and directed by Ben Drew (famous musician 'Plan B').

• The image included on the movie poster is some what 'raw' and 'rough' looking, this indicates what the film is going to be about, and educates the audience of what kind of genre it'll be allowing the film to bring in the right audience.
• The tagline 'we are all products of our environment... just some environments are harder to survive in' furthermore indicates that this film could be quite violent. In addition it is backed up by one of the reviews on the poster using the word 'bullet', the choice of words is very much so relevant to the image on the poster and educates the audience of what to expect before watching the film.
• The film poster has both 'PLAN B' and 'A BEN DREW FILM' presented on the poster who are both the same person however, using his well-known band name Plan B on the poster may be done to increase popularity of the film as he is using his musical fan base to generate a bigger audience.
• Having all of the positive reviews on the poster in crystal clear capitals allows the audience to read these full of praise reviews, resulting in them being left impressed; leaving them wanting to watch the film.
• Having the name of the film in such a visible location is done due to the film producers/distributors wanting the audience to be able to see clearly what the name of the film is if they are intrigued and want to watch it. However having it in such a bold character may suggest that the film may not be as popular as other films for example, in an extreme case such a Avatar which had hundreds of millions of pounds in advertisement. it had such a small title due to them not needing to publicize the name of the much anticipated film as they had a bigger budget.

Genre

• The films genre for this British film is thriller/crime. This is suggested through the posters gloomy and dull color combinations of grey and a yellow/green tint.
• There is an empty and dark space behind the character in the poster which looks exceptionally empty and eerie, but made to look intimidating by the primary dominance of the darkened colors which makes the audience think what lays ahead for this character?
• The rough outlook of the stereotypical 'council estate flats' in the sides of the posters marks the film to maybe be in a somewhat poor location, as well as confirming it for the audience.
• The man holding the gun suggests the fact that the film is going to be violent and include 'crime' in one way or another, not to mention the fact that he is dressed up in stereotypical dark clothes for these kind of events, (also backed up by one of the reviews saying 'bullet paced and unforgettable').

Representation

• In concept with representation a lot has been given away about one of the presumably main characters of the movie, suggesting the fact that he commits crime. This is all carried out through mise en scene with the lighting being darkened near the character, and a gloomy and miserable sky's above possibly suggesting the fact that it's gloom/daunting times all round for everybody in this film?
• Predominantly the main factor is the fact that he is holding a dangerous prop in form of a weapon, the gun. The gun suggests the fact that there will be shootings/crime committed in this film.
• This is furthermore backed up by the fact that the character is wearing dark clothing which is usually used on characters who aren't up to any good, which suggests that he will also be committing crime in the film.

Audience

• In terms of audience and who it is targeted for, this film could have a wide range of targets.
• In first terms the films emphasizes the fact that the film is written and directed by that of Plan B (Ben Drew). In doing this it suggests the fact that they are trying to boots the popularity of the film by bringing up some of his loyal fans over from music into cinema, they're making them spend their leisure pound on the cinema rather than his music on this occasion.
• For a wider yet more accurate viewpoint of who the target audience for this film would be for, it is clear to see that it is dominantly aiming to bring in fans of crime movies. Having such a wide and open portrayal of the character on the poster holding a gun in what looks like a 'run down' and 'rough' location; it ticks all the boxes of a stereotypical genre codes associated with crime.
• As for age the movie is clearly aimed at an older audience maybe younger adults/older teens due to the fact that the film is certificated at an 18. Having to make the film and 18 cements the fact that the film will contain violence, and backs up the point that is would be enjoyed by those who are fans of the genre 'crime'.
• If this film were to be non-violent at rated at an PG for example then the colors on the poster suggests a lot about the audience. The colors on the poster are very dark/gloomy and daunting. Where as if they were to be bright and happy such as yellow and a shot of a blue sky then the film would be given off a different impression, therefore the colors used make it point towards an older audience.

Media Language

• The characters positioning in the frame and use of a medium-long shot is key in the poster, it allows the audience to see the element of unknown laying behind him and see how empty the shot is. This also educates the audience in where the film will be set.
• The dark colors used in the photo suggests the fact that the film is going to have a 'darkened' atmosphere and will be criminal related.

Tower Block

Tower block is a British thriller film directed by both James Nunn and Ronnie Thompson, and written by James Morgan.

• Image used in the movie poster is clever in the way in which it blends in with the title 'tower block' in the style of an actual tower block. Having this as both the image and the name of the film suggests the fact that the 'tower block' is an extremely important factor in the film
• The tagline used 'no-one gets out alive' immediately suggests the fact that nobody will be getting out of the tower block alive. Having both of these on screen allows the audience to put points together and give a rough underlining of what the film is about, and wanting to know more... why does nobody get out alive, how did they get in that position in the first place? Not to mention the fact the font color is red which means that their is danger as red, is commonly known to be the color of danger.
• Having the actors/actresses names clearly visible in large characters on the poster clearly suggests that they are either up and coming or popular actors, this also suggests the fact that they may be trying to tempt fans of individual actors/actresses in to watching this film as they may have liked them in previous films. However in contrast the directors name is not advertised as much; this suggests that he isn't as well known possibly trying to prevent 'putting off'' potential naive audiences who are judgmental of non-established directors.
• Once again the title of the film is the dominant figure of the poster in line with the image of tower block. This could be due to them trying to emphasize the importance of the tower block in the film as well as them informing the audience of the films name so that if audiences are interested, then they are fully informed of what the film is and what the film would be set on.

Genre

• The films genre is thriller, which is implemented and suggested in many ways on the poster, such as...
• In classic thrillers there is always the element of unknown, and with this posters design it leaves the audience asking many questions: Why's the tower so important, whats going to happen in the tower?
• The tagline 'no-one gets out alive' confirms the fact that there should be death in this film like the case with many thrillers and sticking to generic codes, as well as leaving the audience wanting to know if anybody beats the odds and gets out the tower block... alive.
• The people on top of the tower block are overshadowed by an intimidating dangerous red. This red color confirms the fact that these people are in danger and leaving the audience wanting to know why.
• The tagline highlights the key events and focus of the film, and like with most thrillers it will be around that of death.

Representation

• Not a lot has been given away in terms of representation and any of the main characters involved in the film, as there isn't a clear character from the film shown on the poster.
• However the shades people on top of the building on the character appears to be an outline of a male. This man is standing with a strong and confident posture which could mean that their could be a strong male character in this film.
• Having no character on screen makes it hard to interpret any ideas of characters as it would be made easier by costume/hair and makeup (Mise en scene) .
• However the main point of the poster being a tower block, it indicates that this will be the location and play an important role in the film. Tower blocks can be seen to be fairly working class conditions, therefore the people represented in this film could be working class people.

Audience

• On the poster the name of the actors/actresses in the film are clearly presented along the top line of the poster. This could have been done due to them being popular and trying to lure fans of specific actors to watch this film as they are starring in it.
• The genre of this film is outright thriller therefore meaning that this film would obviously be one for thriller fans. The typical mystery and questions left by thrillers is what makes a thriller, a thriller in my opinion... and in this case its no different! The poster gives nothing away and leaves the audience wanting to watch the film and find out more for example, will anybody beat the odds and get out alive?
• Age wise, the movie is certificated at a 15. Having the movie at this certification concludes the fact that this movie wouldn't really suit a younger audience due to the presumption of there being violent/killing scenes.
• As for a more specific audience I feel this is aimed at for older teens/adults. The main/key characters used in the film are in general at an average of 30 years or older; this could suggest that the director wants adults to be able to relate to the characters due to them possibly sharing the some similar characteristics, but this could be sparked off by their age relation.

Media Language

• The extreme long shot of the tower block in the poster could suggest that the location is fairly isolated and there isn't really an escape?
• I feel the technique of pathetic fallacy has also been used on the poster. For example, the stormy weather surrounding the building could mean sorrow/bad times ahead as rain has been widely known to represent saddened moods. I feel this because if I were to picture the weather around the tower block to be that of sunny it wouldn't have the same negative mood surrounding it.
• In terms of the lighting around the poster it is that of a somewhat neon blue, the same color of police/ambulance sirens! This could indicate the fact they are both needed in the film, which must mean crime/violence... it's a sub-consciously links the two.

Our short film poster 'Home', and how it challenges/develops forms and conventions of real media products.

• For our poster I feel that we have communicated what our film is about, by giving a rough representation of what the film is going to be about through: colour, mise en scene, and images on the poster.

• For the colouring of the poster we choose to dominate the use of the colour black. The reasons why we decided to do this is because the colour black is seen to be very daunting, and are colour associated with mischievous people. We want to represent the fact that this film is going to have a bad event taking place such a maybe a murder or a robbery, and we felt sticking to dark colours was the best way to give off a darkened atmosphere for the film.

• The film credit blocks below the imagery of the poster is there to help make the poster look good and as professional as real life media posters. We have also associated other logo's such as BBC Short Films with our poster as we felt that this is a realistic representation of what a short film poster would be like the reasons for this being; the fact that BBC Short Films supports independent short films and we have created an independent short film.

• As for the font and title of our film we have chosen to go for the basic colour of white as it clearly stands out ahead of the black background. Having the title so big was something that we chose to do so it made the poster eye catching, and the first thing the audience would notice is the title of the film- therefore if they liked the look of the poster then they would know the name of the film and hopefully go and see it. Also having the title as HOME, it helps the audience understand the fact that the film could have something to do with one of the characters home and hints to the audience the key location of the film.

• Having the two characters on the poster us as we want to show the potential audience what the characters look like, and then they can judge through their mise en scene what kind of person they are going to be. The clever blend of the house or 'Home' of one of the characters in the background is used to help the audience understand the fact that this house must be of a significant location to be on the poster, and that is why we decided to put it on the poster- it educated the audience of where the location of the film is going to be set around.

• As for the titling of who the characters are being played by, and who is starring in the film, we decided to make this also more than easy to see as we want these 'stars' to help promote our film. We could have boasted the fact that these actor's were up-and coming rising stars in the movie industry and this may have tempted people into wanting to see how they perform.

We carried out research into many Little White Lies reviews, and learnt what they did to create a great review, to help us make our review just as good in a similar style. Here is what I found out:


Little White Lies

Little White Lies is a British bi-monthly which is published by 'Church of London' with their first issue being released 8 years ago in 2005!

Renown for its illustrative and exceptionally creative style, Little White Lies writes and illustrates reviews related to cinema.

With the readership of the magazine being creative, male and in the age bracket of 25-35 years old, the magazines advertisements focuses on this type of reader. However, with the low amounts of adverts in the magazine (below 10), the magazine makes most of it's money through it's cover price and loyal subscribers to the magazine.

Design/Layout

The magazine has a creative and illustrative design to it with symbols/drawings a familiar occurrence. In terms of reviews the layouts are as follows:

Page measurements - 196mm wide, 245mm in length.

Column measurements - 52.4mm wide, 107mm in length.

At the top of the review there would be a big banner image stretching over nearly one quarter of the page 168mm wide and 70mm long. Centrally underneath would be the title of the movie, who it starred/was directed by, and when it was going to be released.

Example of banner image and movie details.

In terms for the actual review the mode of address can change determined by who is writing it or what film they're reviewing. The review has a wide rang of vocabulary and is intelligently written with carefully structured paragraphs. Averaging at 450-600 words per review, the review is graphically 'perfect', for example the end columns match up perfectly to the sides of the banner image.

At the end of the review there is a review system which consists of three sections:

Anticipation- What they were expecting

Enjoyment- What is was like whilst watching the film

In Retrospect- Taking all pointers into consideration after the film, and giving it a rating.

Gangsta Squad Review

I think the review system is clever and unique as it offers three levels of review instead of just one cliche rating... it's different! The review used here is for the recent film 'Gangsta Squad' which has been given a couple of different ratings which is good as it gives the readership more reviews/opinions.

                                                             Our final film review:

Our final Little White Lie Review

Our review is effective as we have copied the style of successful film review magazine ‘little white lies’ using indesign as we wanted to mimic their style of reviews, therefore this means that we didn't challenge any conventions.

What we did:

• We used the same lay-out, placing a photo of our film on the top of the review, showing roughly what our film is about. We used similar fonts for subheadings, headings and the actual review, as well as using similar language, features and conventions of the little white lie reviews. We mimicked, having an almost cover photo of at the top of the review.
• For the actual review itself we used the same structure as a little white lies review, giving a rough indication of what the film is about, informing the reader who was starring in our film, without giving anything away using a wide range of vocabulary.

• For the actual photo itself, it entices the audience into wanting to read the review as it grabs their attention wanting to know what this character is all about.  And this is why we chose the photo we did, we believe that it gives a good representation of what our film is about.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary tasks?

Here is a video response of me answering this question, I couldn't get the pictures to go on top of the audio, therefore they are only up for a few seconds each when introduced.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our audience demographic was for people aged 16-35 years old. Offering an intense nail-biting film, we felt that the films content was perfect for the chosen audience. If the audience was able to relate to our films themes and issues, then it would be even better.

On a the social networking site Twitter, I asked people for feedback on what they thought was good or bad about our film. All of the people who replied to my video were in our audience demographic so that straight away makes it more useful:


Daniel Johnstone, aged 17-

James Ely, aged 18- 

Matt Bishop, aged 18-

All of the feedback that I have received on our film come from people who are in our audience demographic of being between aged 16-35, and this is good as it will gives us reliable and effective feedback as to what went well or bad with the film.

We wanted to create a clever narrative where there is a lot of suspense, high pace and intensity to our film and from the research it is clear to see that they felt the suspense. Two of the three mentioned how the use of cross-cut editing in the film created the suspense, where as the other person (Daniel Johnstone), mentioned how the music was the key reason for creating suspense and building tempo/pace. In particular the comments of how the soundtrack creates suspense, that is the one that please me most and the reason behind that is; we had to find a relevant, royalty free soundtrack which we could use on our film and make it work- it took us days- "it's just nice to see that the time and effort is enjoyed".

As for the twist at the end of the film we wanted to ensure that nobody was expecting it, and that it would be a welcomed/comical resolution to the film, and from the feedback above I believe it shows we did this successfully:

1) "Didn't expect the ending at all!"
2) "The ending was unexpected and made me laugh! haha"

From these comments above it does show the fact that people didn't expect the ending, and that they liked the twist- someone even found it funny!
For the ending it is fair to say that we were inspired by the short film 'Love fields'. This is a film where it appears a man is possibly raping or murdering a women in a cornfield, and as a matter of fact he is just helping a woman deliver her baby! I personally am very happy that we managed to pull this type of unexpected ending off, as if you watch it again after being educated of the ending it becomes a whole new different film.

< << Short film 'Love Fields'.




From the comments it is clear to see that people liked our editing of of the film, and in particular the cross-cuts as it mainly builds suspense.

The 'Camera work' of our film was also heavily praised with a numerous amount of shots being pointed out and having feedback as "being really good". This is good as we stuck to the general convention of short films by using a numerous amount of camera angles/different shots, and we did this as we wanted to impress the audience and make our film as best as possible.
"I liked the shot of the car exhaust zooming off"- Was part of our feedback from Matt Bishop. I am happy that he acknowledged the car to be speeding off more due to the close-up of the exhaust, purely because that is the reason why did choose to have a close up of the exhaust, it helped add more urgency and increase pace/tempo.
One of the constructive criticism comments we received:

Paul Seward, aged 17-  "I feel the film worked well however, I can't help but feel if this was shot in the dark then it would have helped create the atmosphere even better as burglaries tend to take place at night, not in broad daylight!"

Those comments we received from Paul Seward we felt were true and we agree that it would have helped build the atmosphere itself even more due to the dark being associated with:

• Crime
• Mystery
• Secrecy
• Enigma

Therefore we feel that these comments were valid and very much so appreciated and true in our audience feedback.

To conclude I feel that it is clear to see that our film went down well with our target audience demographic. With comments saying that they 'didn't expect the end' and that there was 'suspense', shows that we were successful in creating the kind of film we wanted to- A fast-paced drama with a twist! In general the audience feedback also shows that they enjoyed our film and it shows that with the right camera work, mise en scene and sound you can create a great short film. The audience feedback also showed that we could have improved our short film by shooting it in the dark, and this is something we would consider if we were to create a similar film again.

Poster feedback:

We all created one poster, the one on the left is the one I created and the one on the left is the one that we decided to take forward and improve for our final poster.

Poster 1:                                                                                 Poster 2:

We asked 10 people as to what of the two posters they preferred the look of, here are the results:

Poster 1:                                                                                     Poster 2:

8                                                                                                   2

The feedback on how many people prefer the other poster (left) as oppose to mine (right) clearly shows that the one we are going to take forward is option 1.

General audience feedback:

From the audience feedback on the poster the generalization of why they preferred poster one over poster two was due to, "Poster 1 looks a lot more professional".
They also preferred the images used on poster 1 as it 'wasn't just one photo', and the way the images fade into the darkness of the poster looks very professional & is creative! 

We decided to carry poster one forward and develop it to use as our final poster as the audience feedback clearly favored poster one.

                                                           
We helped produce the final poster from audience feedback on all of the following features: Fonts, imagery and colouring.

Liz, aged 23: "Perhaps make the title of the film even bigger, make it stand out and be the first thing you see!

Steve, aged 18 "Keep the fading of the images into the background, I dunno, it just kind of makes it look like this film is all about darkness!"

Sam, aged 17 "It may sound silly but put the 'baddy' behind the good guy or girl! It just kind of makes it seem like that they are always watching him, and/or maybe the protagonist is always one step ahead!"


All of the comments above we took on board, and put into action!

• We made the title of the film stand out even more by increasing the size of it.
• We made the 'antagonist' be behind the female on the poster so it seems that he is 'always watching her'.
• We kept with the style of having the imagery fading into the darkness of the poster.

This is our updated and final poster, we decided to update images of the two characters, who now wear appropriate costume, and updated the location of where the film is set (background of poster).

To conclude I feel that the poster has represented our film well  in   trying to give off the fact that  the film is meant to be 'dark' and something bad is going to happen. We used the audience feedback to help improve our drafts, and choose which one to ultimately improve and make our final poster. It shows that if you do stick to genre coding, and stereotypical dark colours it helps represent a film in the manor you want.

Review feedback:

This is our final movie review, copying the style of 'Little White Lies' reviews we wanted to create a review which is well written, looks professional and one which tempts the reader into wanting to see our film!

I surveyed 5 different people asking them a variety of questions about our review, or general 'Little White Lie reviews', here are the people, questions asked and their response:

James, aged 18                                                           Female,
Matt, aged 18                                                              Malesjs
Laura, aged 18
Tim, aged 17
Dan, aged 17




Have you ever read a film review before ours?

Yes
Yes
No
No
No

Have you ever read a Little White Lies film review?

No 
Yes
No
No
No

If yes, what did you think of them as oppose to other reviews?

I felt it was more creative than other normal film reviews, it isn't like other ones; it uses language you wouldn't expect to see in a review like swear words! I just suppose it's more creative really.

What part of our review did you like the most?

The photo at the top!
The language you used in it was very clever.
You enticed me into wanting to see your film, you tease!
Dunno really.
I like the review system at the end, it all looked very professional too!



From all of this audience feedback on our film review, and other reviews in general it is clear to see that I have surveyed a number of different individuals. Some of them surveyed didn't really appear to be interested in film too a great extent, where as others really enjoyed the review and were 'enticed' and wanted to perhaps see our film!
One of the comments that I am most pleased with is that they called our review professional looking and that we 'teased them'. A review is there to give the audience a taster of what a film is about and pretty can give them a nudge in the direction to see our film, therefore I am happy that they found our review to be enticing! Having it look the part is always a massive factor in whether or not a review is going to be a good one, and having feedback from our target demographic and having them say it looks 'professional', I feel means we have succeeded in creating a strong review for our film.

To conclude I am exceptionally happy as to how 'professional' are review looks, and how well we managed to mimic that of Little White Lies. We succeeded in creating a well written review, which leaves the reader wanting to see the film... success!

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction, and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I chose to do this question on the online presentation creator Prezi, as you can be as creative as you like and I can answer the question using clever visuals.

Prezi