Final Blog Post

Name: Lucy Stafford

Candidate Number: 8074

Centre Number: 20299

Centre Name: Bishop Walsh Catholic School

Evaluation Q4: How did you use new media technologies in the Construction, Research & Planning and Evaluation stages?

Evaluation Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I asked two of my peers what they thought of my short film and this was the response they gave me. I found this feedback very useful as I received it near to the end of creating my product and it was all positive. The positive feedback told me that I did not need to make any drastic changes to my film, if any at all which was useful as I could focus on other areas of my course work. My peers specifically mentioned my varied use of camera work and strong narrative which are elements I think have worked well in my film so I agree with their feedback. I also found gaining this feedback useful as they were aged 17 and 18 which are prime ages for my target audience. So it enabled me to see a small representation of how the film would be consumed by my target audience.

From looking back to my original audience feedback it is clear that I haven't included all elements that were brought to my attention in this research. However my audience feedback was still positive making it apparent that I didn't need to include everything that I found people enjoyed/expected from horror films. On the other hand I could use this original research to make improvements if I were to do it again. I would consider adding more suspense and drama with a more dramatic narrative. Also people said that ghosts and weapons were elements likely to be seen so I could include some of these things.

In my audience feedback I also applied the uses and gratification theory form Blumler and Katz. I found from my original research that audiences viewed films mainly for entertainment purposes and escape from reality. So I used this in creating my film I needed to ensure that it addressed these needs for audiences.

Evaluation Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real products?

Final Film Review

Additional Film Poster

Final Film Poster

Final Short Film

Planning Film Review

To plan the content of my film review I have been searching for film reviews to use as inspiration, specifically short film reviews. The best website I have found is thelondonfilmreview.com . i found this website helpful in planning the content for my review, i liked the style used on the website as it came across more chatty and colloquial with the reader. this is the same style that I am aiming for in my short film review. I also found that the website reviews a range of different types of film which was helpful to see how different genres are reviewed in different ways.

This is an example on one film review that I read and used when creating the content for my own review.

Edited Photography

Photography for Poster and Review Page

Although I already have some shots of the setting of my film that I think would be effective in my poster and review page I decided to take some pictures of the characters in the film to give me some variation when deciding what shots to use. It was difficult to find a time to suit both cats members of my film but I did eventually and managed to get some good shots. I took some individual shots of the victim and the stalker focusing on the darkness which I think is one of the biggest conventions of the horror genre. I then took some shots of both characters in the setting for one of the scenes in the film. Once I have decided which shots I want to use I will use the same website as I mentioned in a previous blog post, picmonkey.

Film Review Page Plan

this is the outline and plan that I will be using to create my review page. I made it in publisher as it is easy to use and has allowed me to create a simple plan. I used different shapes to outline the positioning of feature son the page and then colour coded the shapes with the text so I know what goes where on the double page spread. I have planned to only use one image as I think this will have a greater impact on readers. I think focusing on one image gives less of the film away to readers which is especially important when making a short film because there is less fro readers to watch. I also think this will add a sense of mystery with readers as they will be unaware of what the majority of the film looks like. The layout on the left age is also very simple ensuring there isn't too much on the page to distract readers. It just shows the text a side column of features then headlines and titles.

Film Poster Plan

I have created a plan for my film poster using publisher. I will use this as a guideline for the positioning of the features on my film poster. Using publisher I used different shapes and colours to outline the position of the elements on my poster. This will be useful for me during the creation process as I will have a guideline to follow outlining where items need to be placed. My poster will follow conventional rules in film posters by using only one image, as I think this will have the strongest impact and it is very rare to see more than one image so I think audiences will be more drawn to familiarity. Other features include a billing block, cats members, title and slogan. These are all elements typical of film posters so I have followed the stereotypical positioning of a film poster.I think the image will be the most important part of the poster as that is what will lure the audience in.

Editing Photography

My favourite site for editing images is picmonkey.com because I find it so easy to use and it offers such a wide range of effects and features for free. The website is clearly set out and allows you to adjust basic settings on an image such as cropping, rotating, brightness and contrast, you can give your image different filters, add borders and text and edit facial features. For my images I will be adjusting the basic settings to avoid an overly edited image and possibly adding a subtle filter to some.

Institution Title Sequence

I decided to make my own institution for the production company of my film as I think it will appear more unique and it is unlikely that a large institution such as warner bros. will be producing a short film. I brainstormed some ideas of company names:

• Static Productions
• Revolution Productions
• Time Out Productions
• Epic Pictures
• New Light Pictures

My final choice was Revolution Productions as I think this portrays the idea of a new and unique short film. The production company only produces films that are exciting and unseen before, making it more exciting for the audience. Knowing the name I then moved on to creating an opening title for the beginning of my short film. To do this I downloaded a trial of Adobe After Effects and used a tutorial from youtube of how to create a title animation. I found After Effects hard to work with as it was fairly slow and complicated even following the tutorial. Also to get the best effects you needed to buy add ons so my work didn't come out how I hoped because I needed to improvise using what the software provided.

This was the tutorial I followed to create the title. I found it very helpful even though the software was difficult to work with.

I created the image myself to give the effect of light being blocked by a hazy cloud. For this I used a lens flare effect and distorted it using curves and other editing techniques. Then I added a layer containing my text which I made online and then added the music I found on freesound.org so create the idea of lightening. This took a long time to create as I found the software difficult to use with it being my first time trying it. However I am happy with the overall effect and title sequence that I created.

As I wanted some animation on the sequence I finally used Windows Movie Maker to add a simple zoom and the sound which I decided would be lighterning to fit in with the image. Windows Movie Maker was very easy to use to add these final touches to the animation.

This is the final outcome for the institution title sequence I created.

Editing My Film

The editing of my short film has been one of the most important parts of the making of it. This is where I was able to see my narrative come to life and create the effect I wanted through the film. I wanted to create something slightly jumpy with focusing my editing skills on cutting. The music was also important layer on the correct scenes as I have used a varied amount of sound and music.

Software has created a slight issue for me as it would've been ideal to use iMovie but I do not have access to this. I also found that the editing software provided on the computers at my school (Adobe Elements) was very hard to work with due to constant freezing and it taking a lot longer to get things right. It didn't play my film in real time when I had edited so I had no way of knowing if what I had cut out was correct.

I decided to complete all of my editing at home using Windows Live Movie Maker. Although this is considered to be amateur I found it the easiest to work with as it is very simple to grasp and played my film in real time so I knew exactly what I was cutting. The only issue I have had with this software is the lack of variation for editing the actual image for example contrast and brightness, I may use a different software to do this later on in my work. Overall I think this has been the best way to edit my film.

Photography for Poster and Review Page

This is some of the initial photography that I have taken for my film poster and possibly to use in my review page as well. As it has been difficult to arrange a scheduled time to meet with the actor/actress from my film to model for the photography I wanted to try taking some images using the setting as the focus. I still might take some images of the actor/actress to try with the setting images in the future.

I am pleased with all of the images as I was unsure if it would look good with no models but I quite like it. I have used a range of shots, such as long shot, extreme long shot and medium shot. I think this gives a diverse choice for the final images that I choose to use. All of the images were taken at night which is the same time that my film was shot showing continuity in my products. I also like the variation between in focus, out of focus and blurry shots that I got and I think once I have edited the images I will be able to make a clear choice on which ones I want to use.

Film Poster Planning: Billing Block

A billing block usually features at the bottom or top of a film poster. It contains the credits given for the creation of the film. I think it is important that all aspects of my poster look authentic so I will create my own billing block. For inspiration I have found some from the internet to ensure I know the conventions of billing blocks and what to include.

All of these billing blocks have similar conventions. There is varying font size used when it states roles and names to make the names stand out more and create diversity so it looks less uniformed. Also the fonts style is the same in all of them giving me a clear idea of what font styles work in billing blocks. The colours are all back and white which is useful as I know not to over complicate the billing block, it needs to be more subtle and not take the focus from the main features of the poster. At the very bottom there are also other features such as the film website, institutes that have endorsed/produced the film along with the rating for the film.

Planning my billing block:

• Production Company - Revolution Productions
• Starring - Charlotte Liggins and Will Harris
• Music - 2hear/turkitron/PacmanGamer/DirtyJewbs
• Casting Director - LG & Co.
• Costume Design - LG & Co.
• Editing - Lucy Stafford
• Written by - Lucy Stafford
• Produced by - Revolution Productions
• Directed by - Lucy Stafford

My billing block:

This is my final billing block that I created. To do this I typed everything out on word and changed the font and sizing to make it look professional and to give the look of a real billing block that would be used on a real produced film. To the bottom I added the website for the film in a standard bold font I think this stands out well form the rest of the billing block which is important for the audience so they know where to get more information on the film. I also included my production company that I made and an already existing production company as every billing block seems to have more than one institution in it. Then finally there is the rating that i think my film would receive as this is often a common feature of billing blocks.

Film Poster Planning: Font

This is the first option for the text in my film poster. I want to keep the style similar to what features in the first scene of my film, I think this keeps continuity and creates a set house style for this film. I like this font but I don't think it fits in at all with the genre of film and the content. I also think that it won't be bold enough if I used it in my film poster. I need a font that will stand out strongly so it lures the audience and I don't think this font would work well.

I prefer this font because it is a lot bolder. It still uses a similar style to the one in my film which is important. I think the boldness of this font will make it stand out clearly in the film poster. I also like the font style because the lines aren't perfectly straight which makes it appear less clean and gives a distressed effect.

This final font is my favourite. It still has the typewriter style that I think is important to keep the house style of my film. The lettering is also very bold ensuring that it will stand out. I think the best thing about this font style is the distressed look to it. It isn't overly distressed so is still readable but that slight effect on the style embodies the horror theme and hints at the distressing narrative of the film.

Film Review Annotation

Rough Cuts

I have started the filming for my short film and now have some rough cuts. I will be editing the clips to create the desired effect with them but these rough cuts are what I will be starting with.

Storyboard

I have used a storyboard to help in planning my short film. This has allowed me to clearly plan out every scene so it will be easier to film. It will also be useful during editing as I will know my original ideas for the film.

I haven't gone into a lot of detail regarding sound because that is something I will decide upon during editing but I have specified the type of shots I am planning on using to give me a guideline for filming.

Film Poster Analysis

Planning : Camera Shots & Angles

The use of different camera shots and angles creates strong variation in a film. The use of a different camera shot or angle creates a different effect for the audience.

Examples of shots I have used:

Extreme Long Shot:

This shot gives an overall idea of the scene for the audience. It is the only shot from the film that shows outside and only the stalker is shown leaving the house, this can be interpreted by the audience. This may portray the idea that only the stalker can walk free from the situation where as something has happened for the young girl.

Long Shot:

This shot shows the whole of the character in the frame providing detail of the scene for the audience. The audience can gage the idea of the setting and character's lives.

Medium Long Shot:

I have used medium shots when the scene is darker to show a bit more detail but at this point I didn't want full detail of the characters face to be seen by the audience to still keep an element of mystery, I think a medium long shot does this.

Medium Shot:

This shot type provides the audience with a better understanding of the frame and scene. More of the character can be seen but there is still a balance with the background as well.

Medium Close Up:

This shot provides a full view of this character making her more personable. The camera shot is also from inside a cupboard giving an unusual point of view for the audience that is different to most films and camera shots.

Close Up:

This is a more intimate type of shot that opens the character up to the audience. Her emotions can be seen in this type of shot and I think it is important to vary shot types and include these close up shots.

Privileged/Over the Shoulder:

This is an unusual angle/type of shot but I think it gives a good effect on the audience. The idea of a stalker in the narrative comes through from this shot as it gives the impression of someone looking over this character's shoulder.

Low Angle:

 Low angle shot's provide an indication to power. Often they are used to symbolise the character shown inn the low angle shot has a higher power but in my short film this is not the case. The character shown has less power and is more vulnerable which is a contrast to the stereotypical use of a low angle.

Other camera movements I have used include:

Panning: I will use this a lot of my film as I think it is a smooth camera movement that allows you to see a lot more in a scene. It will be effective in showing the audience more of the setting to build on their understanding of the plot. I think it is especially effective in reflecting so I will be using it a lot at the end of my film showing each room in the house to allow the audience to come to their own conclusions about the plot and what has happened in the film with the last few shots.