This blog will cover the beginning to evaluation of my Advanced Portfolio media work. My research and planning can be found in earlier posts and the evaluation being found in my latest posts.
(A2 ADVANCED PORTFOLIO)
YouTube.com/ST3Maguire
So in an earlier posting, I submitted a questionnaire asking significant questions, that would help me further in establishing which age certification my film should be, and not only that, the findings would also help me for future purposes as I would know from the audience's experience whether the film had been a success or not. Below are the graphs I have produced to make the findings easier to view. We asked a total of 21 people varying it out so that it made the results a fair test of opinion. Please click on the questionnaire and graphs below for an enlarged view.
First set of questions
Second/Last set of questions
As you can see above, this was the questionnaire that I handed out to the participants. I believe that overall the questions asked were efficient and allowed me to gain the necessary information needed from participants. I have asked questions that will be able to link my short film to its target audience, and also allows me to gather opinions from that audience. The graphs below will explain how these findings turned out.
We asked a total of 21 people, the age group being presented above.
We believed our short film was a 15 rating due to there being some scenes of violence and bad language. The chart above shows that the audience also believed this, which helped establish our target audience.
We asked this question to see how interested our target audience would be within the film industry. We can see that the majority of the audience felt that it was important to visit the cinema once a month, and once every few weeks. This shows that they have a keen interest with films and their response to our questions really will benefit us.
Our film throughout consists of character speech and dialogue. we felt that it the film would be strong and be beneficial to the plotline as the audience could get familiar with the characters persona. In the findings we can see that majority of the audience agreed with our views that a third person narration wouldn't fit this particular short film.
Again with this finding, we can see that majority of the audience believe in buying or renting a film every few weeks, although there still seems to be a small percentage that would purchase a film once a week. This helped us in the sense that we now know how dedicated our audience is regarding their interest in films.
I wanted to know whether or not our acting was good enough to a standard to which we could be proud off. Also the proficiency of the acting would need to be to a good standard as bad acting could distract the audience from the storytelling and other elements that we used.
With this question I wanted to know whether or not our camera angles helped when creating suspense and tension. Within all thrillers it is important for the audience to feel the tension building towards a particular scene, and as stated in earlier blog postings, I had incorporated influential camera angles within scenes to create the sense and atmosphere of a horror genre.
The findings above were for the benefit of knowing that we achieved our overall aim, in creating a short production that would be entertaining to our target audience. As you can see the majority of our participants (17) stated that they did find the film entertaining. From these findings we can remain positive that if we were to create a short production again, we would learn from this experience in trying to make our short production more interesting/entertaining.
Again linking with the question and findings above, I wanted to see whether or not our short production would meet the standards of a recommendation within the film industry recommendations from the audience and the use of advertising and word of mouth can really bring attention to films, thus them becoming more popular and achieving an overall greater success. So from the findings above you can see that linking with whether or not the audience found our film entertaining, they found in interesting enough to recommend it to their friends.
This was one of the most important questions on our questionnaire, this being due to the fact that within the film industry, a film will have a specific target audience that will want to watch that particular film. For example if a film was a comedy, an audience wanting to watch a serious drama would be disappointed if they were mislead with the film's genre. I had labelled our short production a 'psychological thriller' as it uses both psychological and thriller elements in terms of story telling and tension. From the findings it appeared as though the participants agreed with my views.
The last question on my questionnaire was to determine the star rating that the audience felt our film would be. The majority of the participants believed my film represented that of a four star, which in my opinion I believe are positive results. In my opinion I believe our film was a four star or a high three star. We were fortunate enough to gain two five star ratings, however they were the minority and didn't reflect the overall opinion of our participants.
I uploaded our finished short film to YouTube in order to gain feedback from other users viewing our film. Users will be able to leave us feedback in the form of a comment, they will also be able to contact me directly on my YouTube Channel.
In conclusion I believe the overall audience feedback was positive, it has helped me determine which audience my film would be aimed at, and their feedback has shaped the way in which it can be improved. If done differently I would have changed some aspects of the film, such as changes to the plot and character development, however overall I believe the short production works well and has achieved the aims that I had originally set out to achieve. I believe that this unit of work has expanded both my knowledge and my skills within the media industry The audience feedback has furthered my knowledge into what a target audience would expect from a short film. The feedback has allowed me to use this knowledge for any further productions in the future .
When conducting research, and during the editing stages, we used Microsoft Vista operated hardware, these being found in our schools media room, where most of the production and research took place. When producing and conducting research at home, I used a Windows 7 operated laptop, which doesn't differ too much therefore compatibility wise it wasn't an issue.The final cut of our film was produced using Adobe elements 9. We had time to develop our schools for elements, as we had used it before during a preliminary starter task to introduce us into short films. Below I will go step by step in the different types of technology that I had used throughout the process of creating my short film.
The computer hardware that I used to create my short film was a Toshiba satellite pro Laptop with the use of a windows vista operating system. I decided to use the laptop when creating my short film because it was more convenient in terms of travelling back and forth to school, not to mention its consistent high speed which allowed the editing process easier. I also used a dell computer within sixth form but the majority of the work was created with the use of the laptop. Another reason for why I had decided to create the short film production on my laptop was because I would have more time overall if I were to continuously work from home. An image of the laptop and the dell hardware can be seen as follows:
Along with the use of computer hardware, another major piece of equipment which helped me throughout the process of creating my short film, was the USB memory stick that was used to transfer and store any data from my production from school to my home laptop. The convenient size and amount of memory that I had within the memory stick allowed me to save a sufficient amount of data, and thus operating from home allowed me to improve and optimize my short film and ancillary tasks further. When using camcorders and digital cameras the memory card provided was a Sandisk GB. The memory card was large enough to allow us to film our entire film on it and also include a range of photography that we had taken during the course of our ancillary task creation.We used tripods to secure the cameras and alter their height position, and angle. The Video Cameras were used to record all of our visual footage and Still Camera's were used to take picture of the filming process. Microphones were also used to enhance the sound quality complete with microphone stands to keep them steady and we then edited the audio clips and sound files using audacity.
I used a Fuji 8MP camera when taking all of my photos for the Ancillary tasks and stills for our film. The camera was of a high quality therefore the images would be also. The images that were produced from the camera were sharp and the brightness/contrast was accurate. An image of a similar camera can be seen below also. We used a HD camcorder to record our short film, we decided to use the HD feature as it keeps up with current technologies and the quality would look greater if the film was being played back onto a High Definition tv. At the end of filming we decided to opt to use the new iPhone camera as it was also HD and there wasn't a difference between the camcorder. We decided to use it due to technology problems with the camcorder, the memory card had corrupted and we had no more space left on the camcorder.
For Planning & Research
I had used this site, http://www.blogger.com/ to record all of my A2 Media work on. Blogger has enabled me to learn the key blogging skills and foundations, which are key fundamental media skills in the vast improrving society of media.
Along with using blogger, I had also used and developed skills in word processing programs such as Microsoft Word and Powerpoint. I used the Microsoft office suite when writing, keeping a track of of my research and findings, and for providing evidence and printscreens for work that I had created in other programs and used the print screen feature. On blogger I have used a variety of interactive elements in order to make it look more appealing for the audience.
I had created a blog last year for my AS portfolio therefore I have some key knowledge already and the experience this time round, I'd say im more confident with learning and knowing a more wider range of technology elements.
Blogger Logo
The dashboard on my Blogger Profile, Shows both blogs I have created.
The internet has been a substantial tool in the planning and researching stages of my A2 portfolio. By using a variety of websites I have been able to see the latest and conventional trailers and film posters, film art that had inspired me throughout the production stages. I have looked at these in order to help me determain which style I should follow. I used YouTube once my film was finished. I uploaded it to youtube and with uploading it onto YouTube this allowed me to link it to my blog through the use of signing in to my youtube account and sharing it. YouTube was also helpful for when I was researching on short films and teaser trailers as I had looked at a variety of them. With the use of internet explorer it allowed me to gain further knowledge and learn key facts regarding the film industry and typical media conventions found.
Construction of our short film
In the beginning process of creating our film, once the idea for filming had been decided and once we had our actors, props and scenes established, we needed to decide which program we were to use and more importantly if we had the ICT knowledge and experience to use this program. We decided to use Adobe Premier Elements as it had received positive reviews from other media students creating their media films, also in comparison to other programs we could of used, we felt that Elements had more features, this allowing us to create a better and produce a higher quality short film, with the use of effects, transitions and video conversion. Below are some screen shots to demonstrate how our film looked in the editing stages. As you can see the screenshot to the left shows our video footage in action, whereas the screenshot to the right shows how we edited our video footage with the inclusion of text and fade in effects.
After we finished the editing process, we then had to convert the video into a suitable video format so that it would run and would be compatible with YouTube. Elements allowed us to change the format into a flash video file, this being ideal as it would be supported by YouTube. Below is a screenshot to show the uploading process to YouTube, we simply signed into our account, click upload and find the video location and simply click OK. The process would then start and when finished YouTube would ask for a title and description for the uploaded video.
YouTube Uploading Screen/Process
Another great use for YouTube was for finding uncopyrighted sound clips that we could then use in our short film. Below is a sound clip that we used within our final film, Sourced through YouTube.
The sound clip above was then used for our accident scene. We had to edit the sound clip so that we could only hear the sound of the thumping, making it appear to be realistic. We then introduced a black screen to the scene, this I believe made it more effective as it would appear the character was struck, the black screen hiding the details to show a sense of mystery. Obviously due to the fact that we didn't have any budget when creating our short film, we felt this was the best route in terms of representation and overall quality. If we were to show the student getting killed without the black screen being present within the film, the acting wouldn't have been good enough to portray this, therefore it would have suffered significantly when shown to the audience, as it would have been labelled unrealistic. During this scene in particular we had layered the sound from the opening titles so that it would continue and fade into the car accident scene. The soundtrack stopping at this scene would be significant as the tension and suspense would increase and overall it would look more professional.
The other sound files that we had used were found on a website called incompetech. The website had a large range of royalty free audio and sound clips, that we were able to save download and then manipulate and edit these files. We also used a Google search to see if there were any more websites that we could of used when finding particular sound files. Below are the hyper links to the different audio we considered using and then the final sound clips that made it into the final cut.
When editing the sound we decided to use audacity as I was familiar with this program when using it in my ICT lessons. After having used Audacity for two years, I knew where all the key tools were, therefore when editing the sound it wasn't a problem. When editing the sound clip used in our final credits, audacity came in handy in terms, of cropping and altering the amplification of the audio. I cropped the audio's length as we simply couldn't have the track running, once the credits had finished. I also used the fade in and fade out effect so that the track wouldn't jump in straight away or finish abruptly as this wouldn't look professionally and would ruin the editing conventions of a short film. After finishing the editing process I then exported the file into an MP3 format so that it would be compatible with Elements and other programs that would need to run our short film in future.
Other programs that helped in the creation process
Fireworks I had a brief knowledge when working with Adobe Fireworks, however after using the progressing with my Ancillary and short film, I had learnt a variety of new skills enabling me to edit and improve the effects on my photography and Ancillary tasks. I used Fireworks when removing the green screen from my photography. This was vital when creating my Ancillary tasks, as in order to make it look professional and meet the conventions of professional media products, I would need to remove the green screen and be able to edit the photography. Photoshop As with fireworks, a similar program that I used was Photoshop. I used Photoshop to edit my images to an extent that Fireworks couldn’t. For example Photoshop allowed me change the background of my photos, also increasing and decreasing the brightness and contrast. I used Photoshop when deleting parts of the green screen in my photo, after Fireworks magic wand feature had failed to do so fully. Photoshop wasn't used for a majority of time; instead it was used when needed for a certain task that proved difficult for other programs. I used Photoshop when changing the effects of my chosen photo, I added a sketch effect to the image in order to make it represent the genre and feel that I wanted. I then manipulated the lighting in order to gain a spotlight so that it would look similar to film noire art and media. Microsoft Office Suite I had also used Microsoft Word and PowerPoint when editing images and saving word documents. I used these programs because they contain a variety of image editing options and they also allow me to create a backup for my written evaluation. Therefore if I can’t access my blog, I still have the reassurance of opening the documents in Word.
Skills Gained From Construction
Filming Skills
Over the years I hadn't really much experience when it came to filming. I had only recorded using a camcorder if I were on a holiday or if I was recording on my mobile phone at a music event. This was the difference in this aspect. Filming the short production gave me the experience of trying to film professionally, filming a variety of different shots, capturing scenes from a certain light perspective and not trying to use the zooming in and zooming out feature of the camcorder as this wouldn't look or meet the demands of a proffesional short production.
Editing Skills
The editing stages of the film were certainly the longest and required the most skill. Editing would require us to use our independence in terms of timing and decisions. Being able to make these decisions and using my independence, improved my management skills and overall improved my knowledge of the conventions and decisions in editing.There was also the fact that from construction I learnt how to use new editing software in the form of Adobe Elements and learning some new key functions of programs that I had already known how to use.
Computer Hardware Skills
I learnt how to convert videos into different formats and converting the sound so that it was compatible with the appropriate programs that I would be using. Over the course of production I improved my photography and improved my image editing. My skills within Photoshop improved vastly being able to change the effects, brightness and contrast within images. I learnt a variety of new technology elements which could be embedded into my blog, for example in comparison to last year I now have the ability to import video's sound clips and use third party templates to represent my blog and ideas.
Teamwork, Management
Teamwork management was an improvement, and with past experience in my other subjects, working in a group with colleagues that wanted the same overall product as myself, it turned out to be a success. Myself and jack had to decide on which camera angles/shots we would use or the plot narrative that we would pursue. We both contributed in the forms of how we thought the film should be presented, from which perspective it would be viewed, and how our soundtrack would link to and improve certain scenes. Another aspect of management that we learned and improved on was patience. Creating the short film was a long process, months of working and planning, and therefore we couldn't rush through the process as this could ruin the quality of the final product.
Overall I believe that this unit of work has expanded both my knowledge and my skills within the media industry. I hope within this evaluation you will be able to see how my technology skills have played a large role within the construction and research of my short film and ancillary tasks. Throughout my blog there are also other posts demonstrating me using the technology to change and manipulate different aspects of my ancillary tasks. Please reader further on within my research and planning.
The ancillary tasks that I have produced will be combined with my main product (Short Film Production). These ancillary texts will be a film review and a film poster. I found that the final products linked in well with my finished short production, they complemented it well and represented a proffesional modern approach, that could be compared to those that meet the professional requirements within the industry.
To begin this evaluation, I will start with the creation of my film review. As seen in an earlier blog post, or by looking at the slideshow seen to the right of this blog template, I have used a consistent red and yellow colour scheme. I chose to use this colour scheme as I felt it reflected a modern review, that of Empire and UK Film magazine. Red and yellow have always been contrasting colours being popular within a variety of different media texts. My research into the Music Industry for last years foundation also helped me within making the decision to use this colour scheme, as from seeing NME's scheme being presented in a magazine format, it allows the font, and text to be presented easily. Back on topic you can see that the written word is within a black font, contrasting with a white background. I felt this was the best option to compliment the yellow and red scheme, as too much colour would be too distracting and the focus on the review wouldn't be as strong. I feel that it is important and a vital convention for the magazine itself to be eye catching and aesthetically pleasing for the audience, but at the same time being able to read the writing is the most important aspect of a film review. Below I have listed the key conventions that my Film review follows and have shown these conventions, demonstrated in the image below:
Main image (usually from the film)
Overall view and star rating
Main article (review)
Film Tagline
Release Date, Certificate, Director, Cast, Running Time, Plot Summary
With my short production 'The Following' I felt that the film review above complimented the film in terms of style and keeping to the consistency of conventional elements. My film review complimented the film's storytelling, the ambiguous plot and how the story isn't just straight forward, it has a level of creativity.The review highlights all the aspects of the film, explains the structure and gives an insight into what the film has to offer,without revealing too much as this will spoil the film. The plot summary and description of a film that makes up the majority of any film review can have an important impact on whether people decide to see a film, therefore I have summarised the plot, not giving too much away as readers will then feel the need to watch the film and see the conclusion. I have included two scenes from the film within the film review as a way of gaining the readers attention to the visual effects present. These screen shots will be effective as it will demonstrate the atmosphere found within the film, the reader will view these scenes, see the actors/actresses and gives them an idea and an appetizer for the upcoming film.
The final film poster compliments the film review and my final short production as it links to everything I have stated within the review and with its simplistic modern design it reflects its intended genre. As I have stated within my film review my film focuses on the simply storytelling, it doesn't rely on action scenes or complexity seen in other productions. I felt as though it resembled an old fashioned story, being shown to a modern day society. An example of this can be visible within 'Shutter Island' the story is all simple until the last remaining scenes in which the audience is shocked to find out the truth, then by watching the film for a second time they can then see how the plot links with earlier scenes. As my film contains elements of mystery, a murder, and the theme of psychology nature, I felt it would be suitable to create a poster using the elements and conventions of film noir. Again below I have listed the key conventions of a film poster and have demonstrated how they appear on my poster below:
Title of film
Leading actors names
Central image of characters
Billing block
BBFC age certification
Within the poster you can see our main character (Jack McGrath) being shown in front of our supporting actor (Stephen Maguire). It was a lengthy process in creating the film poster as I went through a variety of stages of photography and editing. I was inspired by many film poster's that could fall under the genre of our film, and with this I decided I wanted it to appear that (Stephen Myself) was in the background, looking and being represented to be more casual in stance, to demonstrate the sense of no stress or worries, whereas with Jack, and our ambiguous psychological plot, I wanted it to represent that he is doubtful, scared and worried. Therefore him looking at the ground in a distressed manner with Stephen looking onwards with no signs of emotion, allows us to use and represent the psychological thriller genre. The film poster in conclusion with the combination of our films plot, allowed me to use the style of film noir as the typical elements of this genre would be murder, mystery and lies, all being seen within our protagonist and his actions.
Film Poster Photography As stated earlier, creating the poster was a lengthy process to which I have gone through many different stages of planning and photography to find the correct images for my film poster. Below I will share with you the best photos that went through the editing stages in order to represent effect I wished to achieve.
Portrait (Medium close up)
So the photo you see above was the first intention I had for my final film poster. I thought that if Jack were to be my main character it would be good to represent him through the use of his emotions. To show that he is distraught and looking into the distance. However this was the first photo taken and I still needed to edit the image in order to gain the representation I need. There was also the problem that the corner of the green screen was visible, however this wasn't too much of an issue as I could of edited this out.
Altering Brightness & Contrast
The photo above then shows me editing the first photo taken. I started off by editing the area in which the green screen corner was visible, as this looked unprofessional if I were to use this image. I then went into the brightness settings and changed the ratio scale of brightness and contrast. I then achieved the image above, and while still showing a protagonist in clear view, I thought the colours were too dark and it seemed to represent that of a horror/ghost genre, which wasn't intended for the genre of my film, therefore I were to carry on the editing process.
Sketch Effect (Photo Shop)
Sketch Effect (Fight Club)
The above image was the final one that I would have used. It reflected that of 'Fight Club' a psychological thriller that shares some of the conventions and elements that our film contains. After researching this type of artwork and photography, I realised that my film poster could be portrayed and would reflect my films plot more if I were to include both main characters on the film poster, in a similar fashion to how 'Fight Club' has achieved their aim, of having both protagonist and antagonist presented to the audience. With this in mind I then decided to re-take photos and I was at stage one once again.
Medium Long Shot
Taking everything into account and from my past experience of research and editing, I then decided and chose the above photo for my final film poster. I thought it represented the similar effects that 'Fight Club' achieved, with the main character standing in front position, with supporting actor being present in the background looking upon. I also liked the idea that, due to our film having an ambiguous psychological element, this photo allows the target audience to decide whether the supporting actor's (Stephen's) Character is a figment of Jack's imagination or whether he has came back to haunt him in the form of a ghost.
Film Review Ancillary Images
When choosing the images for my film review, I would need to choose images that would represent demonstrate my genre while at the same time the scenes that I would include within the review would have to be appropriate, appealing and resemble the visual effects, such as camera angles and filmography throughout.
For the larger image (dominating image) that would be featured on my film review, I decided to use the image of Jack walking up the stairs to investigate a noise he had heard. I felt that the emotion he portrayed during this scene, being worried while investigating, it portrayed that of many established thrillers. An audience could look at this image knowing that there is a distraught, suspenseful tone to this film, and linking to the written word in my review it will clearly represent the genre even more.
The image above then shows what I have used for the corner of my film review. I decided to use this image for the corner of my review as it would give readers another suspenseful scene to view, and to further encourage them to watch the film. The scene above was inspired by a film called 'Mirrors' it featured a very similar scene, this type of camera angle and scene is also apparent in many horror films, which shows that there is some horror elements to our film in the build of suspense and tension.
I dedicated an entire blog post to creating the font and title used within my film poster, Please click on the link below to view the progress and edits I made in achieving the final font used for my poster's billing block and title. CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW THE FONT CREATION PROCESS
In conclusion together I think that the combination of the main and ancillary texts are complimentary to each other and represent the genre and overall feel that I wanted the viewers to gain when seeing them. Overall I think they all work well together, featuring the key conventions presented in established films within the industry. If I were to change anything differently I would perhaps use a different editing package rather than PhotoShop when editing my images for my final poster. When editing certain aspects of my images, PhotoShop would sometimes not perform certain tasks which made editing a more difficult and longer process.
In the recorded interview above, we speak about the conventions of our film and how it relates to other modern day films that would feature within the same genre. We talk about the conventions, such as the soundtrack that we used within our film, and how the camera angles reflected the genre that we were aiming for. Due to our film being a psychological thriller we decided to share what inspired us, such as actors that we had scene in similiar roles/films. We were asked how we had used our time to create this film, and how our film had changed over the course of this time.
Since films can be promoted on a variety of different platforms, I will be explore the different codes and conventions, and whether my short film conforms to them.
To start off I created my short film for the fictional film THE FOLLOWING based on the forms and conventions of existing films. I have seen a variety of different films that share the same genre as intended for my film. Prior to constructing my short film, I spent a large amount of time on research and planning as you can see from earlier blog posts. I researched into the different sound, camera shots, mise en scene and atmosphere that can be created within film. I looked further into the chosen genre that I wish to replicate. My film's genre will be a psychological thriller and I will look further into more of these films, learning the techniques and conventions these films follow.
Below are some film trailers that I feel we have took inspiration from and have took certain conventions and given them a different twist so that it would meet our plot line and cater for our target audience.
Conventions of a short film
As seen in earlier research and blog postings, I have looked into short films and the conventions and codes that they follow. Below are the key conventions that I have aimed to replicate and include within my short film.
Key characters - protagonist
Propp's theory of characters - e.g. there always has to be allocated roles in films such as a hero and a villain
A genre is needed for the narrative
Clear plot - Todorov's theory is what most plots follow
Effective techniques (flashback/flashforward, cliffhanger's, separate narratives)
No budget - needs to be professional
Steady shots
Scripting, storyboard, location, props, costumes
Key Characters-Protagonists When planning our short film, we decided originally that we were going to use two established drama students within our sixth form. However there was a large demand for these specific students since they had done other productions and the fact they have a passion for this industry shows why they would be first on a directors casting list. So since our original choices were already dedicated to a number of films/trailers while also having school productions and school work that had to be produced, Myself and Jack decided that we would instead act the roles ourselves as we thought we would have the knowledge and could represent these characters the way we wanted to. When researching films and just watching films in general, you will see sometimes that a director will also act within their film, as they believe that they can portray a character the way they want to without needing to guide someone else or give advice/criticism on how it should be done. I felt as though this was the case with us, we didn't want to use actors that didn't have any experience, as they would of just been in the same position as us. So we took it upon ourselves to present these roles.
Propp's theory of characters In propp's theory there always needs to be a hero and a villain within the film. We have applied the solipsism nature to our main character. The solipsism nature allows our protagonist to be the antagonist to himself as he is fighting himself mentally into what is right and wrong. Throughout the film the audience can see the guilt in our protagonists actions, that he knows he is mentally unstable. I believe that this replicates the psychological thriller, and I believe the audience watching the film will be able to see and deem this film within that genre.
A Genre is needed As said throughout this blog, I believe our film falls under the psychological thriller genre. We have followed the conventions of this genre, by incorporating different elements that would fall under the psychology field. Our main character within the film suffers from post dramatic stress after killing the student. We have left it ambiguous as to whether the dead student does return or whether it is just within the protagonists imagination. This being seen in many psychological thrillers, to name a few such as fight club, and the more important inspiration to us being shutter island.
Effective Techniques When telling the story within our film, we thought of a variety of ways in which we could portray the plot and how it could be presented. We decided to use edits such as quick transitions and fading in and out effects. We thought with the use of these effects it would represent the film in a better way then if we were to just record the footage and then not use these transitions. An effective way in which we used transitions were during the car hit and run scene. We decided to use the fade out effect on our victim, however we still allowed the audience to view the reaction shot before we faded out. Also we then introduced an audio file of a car thumping, as if were to have just hit the victim. More importantly as the film progresses we then showed then shown the interest of time taking place. This effect being seen in films such as Paranormal Activity to show the lapse of timing from the start to finish.
Showing the lapse of time
Opening BBFC Certificate In order to follow the conventions of short films we needed to include either the green screen, a graphic used within the beginning scenes to indicate which age rating the film has been deemed by regulators. The certificate/green screen also indicates the authenticity of the film that it is real, short films not being recorded by a professional studio or not having a budget, may not use a form of greenscreen/certificate, however because we are trying to follow the conventions of professional short films, we needed to include this screen within our opening sequence. Our created BBFC certificate replicates that of an authentic one, us keeping the key conventions and key information that would ideally be found on any professional certification. Also with us keeping to this convention it creates verisimilitude as the audience will be able to recognize and identify this and it establishes whether it will be appropriate or viewing or not.
The green screen, commonly shown at the beginning of trailers.
The created BBFC certificate that we made for our short production.
We had kept to the key conventions found other film certifications.
Creating the BBFC Certificate for my short production
The screenshot shows the first step in creating the BBFC certificate for my short film. I found the certificate image on Google images and then saved the image, in order to import it into paint.
The screenshot above shows me editing the BBFC certificate in paint. After importing the image into paint, I used the text tool to insert the title of my short film “THE FOLLOWING”. Due to the text box being white and black I will need to invert the colours in order for the font to be white, and the background the match the rest of the BBFC certificate. I have incorporated the BBFC rating logo onto the certificate, and as this example used a 12A I needed the find a 15 rating and use this instead. For this process I used Google again and copied and pasted the logo onto the certificate.
The screenshot above shows an image of the 15 year rating. I found the image using Google images. This allowed me to find it with ease and is convenient in keeping within my time constraints. I then copied and pasted the logo into paint, to which I then cropped the image, and changed the background to black so that it matched the BBFC certificate.
The final screenshot above shows the finished BBFC certificate that I will be using within my short film. The certificate will keep to conventions by being present in the beginning of my short film. It looks authentic, and with this it allows my short film to replicate key conventions found in movies and short films. The BBFC age rating can be seen in the right hand corner, warning the audience of the age of audience viewing.
Film institution logo
Along with certification, another regular key convention found within short films and teaser trailers are the film institution to which it was created by. They will regularly be shown after the certification has been shown, appearing within the opening scenes of the film/trailer. This is simply done as both a representative of pride and ownership within the product. It allows the audience to see which film institution created this piece of filmography and then allows them to conduct further research into this studio and then perhaps if they enjoyed the film, they could then in future look at other films made by the same film institution. Institutions are recognizable and can then be established/recognised by fans. Below I have shown how our film institution will be represented in comparison to a leading established institution such as MIRAMAX Films.
Our film institution. We decided to call ourselves M&M Studios simply because
there were two of us in our group with the surnames being McGrath and Maguire.
We drew inspiration from MIRAMAX films because although it looks simple
it still reflects a strong bold font making it stand out the target audience.
Varying iconic camera shots and angles
As we all know, camera angles and shots can make or break a film. All good films will use a varied amount of camera angles that fit that particular genre. We have used a variety of different camera angles, these I will show below, also showing comparisons to inspiration that we had took from films we had seen that implemented these angles.We used our chosen camera angles to create suspense and tension and give our short film the pace that would be seen in other thrillers, Please look below to see a variety of camera angles we used within our film production. As our film consists of five minutes, I couldn't possibly show every camera angle that Iv'e used, however I have shown the angles that I feel replicate our films genre and create the suspense and tension found within film. Also please bare in mind that some screen shots below may lack in quality as we change from different hardware, however the intention and aim of individual camera angles remain visible and intact.
Establishing Shot
This was the opening to our short film, as you can see we also show the film institution appearing within this camera angle as we felt this would be a good camera angle and establishing shot to show or foreshadow the films plot. As after seeing our short film you will see how the travelling cars will foreshadow that they could play a significant role within our film. There's also the fact that this camera angle could be seen from an omniscient perspective, could it be the ghost watching the travelling cars ? this could be questioned after viewing our short film for the first time.
Medium Long Shot
So with this camera angle you can now see the character being introduced. The fact that we have included our films title THE FOLLOWING over the scene, highlights that he could be the follower. This camera angle shows our victim walking towards his inevitable death, and once again you can see the parked cars being present within our setting linking in with our first establishing angle.
Third Person (Omniscient) Perspective
The camera angle above being a third person perspective,would show how our scene would look like to a third person watching this occurrence.Within our plot there were no witnesses to the scene, and therefore we just included this scene as a benefit to the audience, the quick transition allowing the audience to see more, creating tension and suspense.
First Person Perspective
The first person perspective is always important within filmography, and it is no different in this particular case of us creating our short film. We needed the audience to get a realization of how our victim saw the car travelling as it creates a greater understanding, while at the same time creating suspense. It also allows the audience to see that our victim is standing in the middle of the road, witnessing his untimely death.
Driver's First Person Perspective
As with the same camera angle above, I felt it was important for the audience to view the driver's perspective of events. This angle in particular allows the audience to see the victim in full view, also with the addition of the windscreen wiper, it gives it a realistic effect as to which we tried to achieve. The weather also allowed us to achieve this angle as without the rain, the setting and atmosphere wouldn't have been the same.
Eye Level Shot (Victim's Reaction)
Medium Long Shot (Killer's Reaction)
Above are the reaction shots for both leading actors. As you can see both camera angles aren't within the first person, and would be represented from a third person (the viewers) perspective. When using the eye level shot with the victim, it allows the audience to get a full image of the victim's face, notice the headphones being present within the mise en scene, it allows the audience to question Was the victim not paying attention ? Looking at the killer's reaction we felt it was better overall to show the interior of the car, as it would give it a more realistic approach, show our actor driving as it would fit with the plot.
Tracked out Long Shot
With this camera angle we wanted to achieve an 'isolated' atmosphere, that our character felt out of place and divided from everyone else at school. I believe this scene does our aim justice in the sense that there is a barrier between the conversational students and our character walking alone.
Pan Right
Low Shot
Over the shoulder
The three scenes above show the suspense and tension within our film. This scene consists of a variety of camera angles, shots and transitions. The three above are examples to show how we have tried to keep it conventional, as in horror films you would see these camera angles being present throughout. Our film contains elements of horror, notably being in this scene and another which I will talk about further below.
Low shot for both, the camera was kept in a consistent position.
The scene above was definitely the trickiest to film as we needed to position the camera in an angle which wouldn't catch the victims character either walking into the scene from their current position, or the fact that the camera would have been viewable in the mirror, this would have ruined the scene and would have looked very unprofessional, thus not challenging forms and conventions.
Summary Of Key Film Conventions Followed
So as you can see the within the following post, I have included the key conventions that would deem this short production acceptable to be labelled a short film. It contains the conventions that would challenge the audience as to whether it was professionally made, this being apparent with my designed BBFC certification, it would be hard for someone to label it 'fake' when compared to an authentic one. My Short Film Includes:
The BBFC Certification
Film Institution
Production company logo
Credits
Did my short film break away from any codes/conventions ?
I felt as though my short film followed and challenged conventions within film, however there was an issue that may have slightly lowered the impact/familularity of a film. This convention being audio and soundtrack. As we had no budget when creating this production, we simply had no right to use any copyrighted audio files. In many films or trailers you will see familiar music and songs so that the audience would be able to recognize it and relate to it. As we were unable to use established audio, we then needed to use customized audio made by a third party, bearing in mind that this music had not been heard by others or may not have been used before within a short film. Luckily we found an uncopyrighted soundtrack that met the aims of our film, and didn't diminish the impact we aimed to achieve. However if given the option to use copyrighted audio, I would have chosen to do so, as I already know a variety of established soundtracks that we could of used within our film that arguably might have given it a better edge in terms of atmosphere and tension.
Film Magazine Review
As you can see from earlier blog posts, I had researched into current film magazines with the UK industry, in order to view and replicate the key codes and conventions. I would say that I am familiar with key magazine conventions, and as with creating a magazine last year for my AS foundation Portfolio this wasn't the first time in creating magazine elements. However that was music, and with film there is still a significant difference. I read a variety of film magazines, so I already knew most of the conventions found, but with my created film magazine review I would still need to expand my knowledge.
Empire magazine and UK Film magazine were the two that I had taken most inspiration from when designing my house style and colour scheme. I had also looked at the way in which elements had been layered out. Please check my bog posting on Ancillary Tasks to see how I evaluated my film poster and review, in comparison to established media products.
Did my magazine break way from the codes and conventions ?
I felt as though I had challenged the forms and conventions of film review magazines. I had included the key conventions that you would find when reading a film magazine. I included a contrasting colour scheme of red and yellow as it would be striking and would stand out to the audience. With the chosen colour scheme it would also be easily visible, this being important as a film magazine would not cater to one specific target audience. I had chosen an appropriate image to go with my film review, the image being a screenshot taken from my film during a suspense and tension building scene. This would attract the audience into watching the film as it portrays the genre that I wished to achieve. The key conventions that are found in every established film review are and were present in my production:
Main image (usually from the film)
Highlighted part of the article
Overall view and star rating
Main article (review)
Film Tagline
Release Date, Certificate, Director, Cast, Running Time, Plot Summary
Film Poster
In leading to creating my film poster, I had spent a large amount of time researching posters, looking at the key conventions they implemented. Although I had a brief understanding on the key features included on a film poster I still needed to make further research, so I had made sure my research was detailed. As you can see from earlier blog posts I had tried to replicate a (film noire) effect for my poster, as I felt that my film reflects that particular genre or mystery and suspense, while at the same time not including over the top action scenes, instead relying on story telling. The key conventions that are found within every film poster, and also incorporating them into mine are:
Title of film
Leading actors names
Central image of characters
Billing block
BBFC age certification
Below are two examples as for my main inspiration for my film poster. With film noir there is always a black and white colour scheme. However with my poster I decided to add a red colour scheme to some of the font, in order for it to be acceptable within the modern day film. As you can see I have replicated the lighting effects having the spotlight focused on the two leading actors.
My Final Film Poster
Example One- Spotlight Lighting
As seen in the example above, you can see the similar conventions that I have tried to use within my created poster. In this example you can see both leading characters being clearly visible within the poster. What you will also notice is how the lighting effects, will make it appear as though a spotlight is being presented on the actor/actress only. Another typical convention would be that the background will be plain, and it usually doesn't feature scenery. The lighting then creates a dark background which represents the sense of mystery as only the characters within the film will be visible.
Colour Scheme- Lighting Effects
Both examples us low-key lighting, this being the scheme of film noir. The colour scheme is associated with stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning, this style is known as chiaroscuro. Once again you will notice the spotlight being presented on the leading characters only. I feel as though my film poster reflects these conventions and colour schemes, however I have tried to make it appear more modern with the use of a red font, and the use of colour within the BBFC age rating.
In conclusion I believe that my media products do use and challenge the conventions of the film industry and real media products. I have featured all the key conventions that would be found in a film review and a film poster, I am pleased with the final results of my media products, how they turned out in the end and believe that they represent a high level of professionalism .
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