Evaluation 4) How did you ue new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation 3) What have you learned from your audience feedabck?

The Audience feedback helped me hone in on slight issues I had created and how to rectify them an example of this is my films poster which originally had the slogan "who decides if you die honourably?" which from the feedback was well received but the audience asked me to try swapping the words honourably and die as it'll be more effective. So on the final poster the tagline reds "Who decides if you honourably die?".

Evaluation 2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Ancillary Text 1 -
My first ancillary text is my movies poster which takes a still from the original film which shows the pill bottle on the bench just after the protagonist runs out of shot This shot creates intrigue in the audience and the image is shocking enough to grab you're attention. The shock and intrigue makes a viewer want to see the film.
Ancillary Text 2 -
This is my review which explains the positives of my film and where I went wrong for example it clearly states that my sound was mixed incorrectly and could've been improved, which is very true as well as this the review is in a wordy talky fashion you would find when reading a review.

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

Characters-
Most short films keep there character count as low as possible, 2 or 3 at the most due to the fact there isn't a lot of time to develop these characters in a short film. The further the development of a character the more invested an audience member becomes in the character. This causes the audience member to be more effected by a short film. I follow this convention knowing that to many characters makes a confusing and a times pointless short film as you take nothing from it. Shown below are my two characters, Annabelle played by Chloe Manley and Hannah played by Amy Shelmerdine.

 Twist-
Short Films only have a short amount of time to create an effect on the audience oppose to the 90 minutes normal movies have so some short films use twists to shock the audience and effectively put the message across. This convention I found far to enticing not to use the way some short films like 'About a girl' and 'Spider' can leave me thinking about the film for three hours after the credits shows me how effective this convention is and I wanted to have a go at it. The twist is created by creating a predictable narrative lulling the audience into a false security and then pull the rug from under the audience with a shocking revelation or sometimes fatal event. Below is an image of the car crash which creates the shock twist.

Budget-
Short film directors are usually independent meaning the budget is usually very low and can only support having two actors in a few locations. A lot of actors usually do short films to get there name out there and not for the money so will perform for free. I had to follow this convention as I didn't have the money to put behind it but the film ended up looking more real because it was set in a simple neighbourhood like the one most viewers live in.
Length-
Short Films are between 5 and 35 minutes long and shorter than 5 minutes it would not be able to expand a story long enough and longer than 35 minutes it would be a feature length film. My film had to be 5 minutes as it has to fit the A2 criteria but I did follow this convention.
Situation-
Most short films have a low budget and want to engage with there audience so usually use an everyday situation that the everyday viewer can relate to then flip it on it's head through a twist ending or an unforeseen revelation. This convention was used in my piece, Hara-Kiri as I turn the everyday goings on of a teenage girl into a dark and unfortunate series of events.
Todorov-
Todorov's theory of Equilibrium is typically applied to short films beginning with a form of equilibrium where everything is normal then an event causes a problem throwing the narrative into disequilibrium finally the protagonist fixes the disequilibrium bring back the equilibrium which is somehow different from before. I did not follow this convention as my film had a message behind it about media today and by ending my film with disequilibrium the message is put across in a much more devastating and shocking way.

Ancil 2 - Movie review

Final Film - Hara-Kiri

Task 6 - analysis of at least 3 magazine review pages (for a C grade)

http://prezi.com/ktchscaudemy/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Task 4 - upload of prelim task with prelim task post (see Music Video prelim post)

 a)      Task outline and real video
For the Preliminary Task we we're asked to recreate the opening minute of 1 of several popular music videos, we chose One Direction's hit record 'Little things'.
b)      Planning
We watched the original video through several times picking apart the shots we would have to recreate as well as this we created a list of props needed for the film and decided what room we would use to create the film.
c)      Filming
The filming process took around 2 hours one afternoon and was fairly straightforward we put the original video on a projector screen just out of shot so we could perfectly lip synce the song and ensure the shot was as close as it could be to the original.
d)      Editing
The editing process was fairly straightforward as we filmed in the same order as the original, the challenges we're turning the entire film black and white and matching it up with the original in the bottom corner.
e)      Final Product
The final product was a pretty much a success except for a few shots which are out of synce I think are effort was admiral considering the enviroment we had to film in as well and creating as close a copy to the original as we could.
f)       Your contribution           
                Hours of contribution- 6 hours
                Which sections you filmed- Most shots I'm not in I filmed due to the fact I was a slight controlfreak when it came to filming.
               Which sections you lipsynched- As you can see from the film I has a similar amount of lipsyncing time as the other two I worked with. I am the one in the white t-shirt you can see it in it's entirety below.
               Which sections you edited- I personally took care of the black and white filter and editing the smaller version in the bottom corner while the other two cut the shots together.
g)      Evaluation      
Overall I believe the film was a success I picked up some new skills through the editing process for example how to use the black and white filter, the film is pretty close the the original apart from the fact it's a few seconds faster than the original.

Task 10 - Research into the film industry

The film industry is a collaboratioin of the technological and commercial institutions of filmaking which includes, film studios, film production comapnies, cinematography, editing, screen writing, film festivals, distribution, actors, film directors, etc. The movie industry, due to the amount of money it creates, the film industry quickly became controlled by big production companies, Lionsgate, Universal, Paramount, Pixar, etc. This made it harder for independent films to be noticed and rewarded for the talent shown and put into them. But the development of sites such as youtube, etc has enabled these film makers to be noticed and the independent film industry to evolve. Currently in today's modern era of film the largest box office markets are the United States, China and Japan. This is world wide but in Europe the biggest film productions occur in the United Kingdom, France and Spain.  

Movie Poster Final Draft

Feedback from first edit of poster:
Pros-

• "Blood red font is very eye catching"
• "Image is shocking and very relevant to todays media making it more relatable as a viewer."
• "Tagline makes you curious about what this movie entails."
• "The font is very clear and effective when reading it."

Cons-

• "The tagline seems clunky when reading it, the words "die" and "honourably" should swap places.
• "The date isn't clear enough"

This feedback I took into consideration and altered accordingly the final edit is above.

Title of film - Hara-Kiri

Hara-Kiri is the Japanese form of honourable suicide, where when a samurai is disgraced they use there own sword to take there own life. My plot is the story of Annabelle who embarrasses her-self at a party causing her to want to take her own life, but I twist this at the end when she gets a message from the girl she confessed her love to the night prior and went to meet her and sadly ends up hit by a car.

Task 3 - Research into a marketing package for a film

Analysis of marketing package for Fight Club
DVD cover-
The DVD cover I have chosen to analyse is the Fight Club special edition which displays the films title in huge red letters of an easy to read font, making it very clear what the film is. The DVD cover also cleverly appears to be wrapped in brown parcel paper and string creating an intriguing concept leading the viewer to wonder why it is dispalyed in such a way. The DVD cover also uses a strange simplicity in it's cover as the front of the cover features no actor names whatsover, relying solely on the cover to intrigue a member of the public to be so intrigued they want to view the back of the DVD which continues the brown parcel paper design and explains the main plot very faguely, mentioning the lead characters in the text. A least of

Task H - Script

Scene 1: Film opens on the exterior of a warehouse the the camera quickly cuts to a shot of inside where we see a close up shot of the lead caharcter, Sarah's face with a tear running down it, with out giving anything away we then cut to the next scene.
Scene 2: The way the film is structured is so we next see the scene before the one we just saw and so on. So the next scene opens on a long shot of the character walking towards the warehouse, which cuts to a close up shot of her hand opening the warehouse which then cuts to a tracking shot of her setting up the noose.
Scene 3:

Task 11 Research Inspirations and directors

The idea I'm running with came to me through several short films and several techniques used by certain directors.

Spider (2007)
This short film influenced me in the way that it made me want to include a huge revelation in my film to the point that it makes the viewer feel so uncomfortable. This film directed and written by Nash Edgerton shows such a simple situation in which a couple are driving somewhere in silence after an argument and turns this situation completely on it's head. I first watched this film with a group of peopleand Nash's direction and his story's twist causes a gasp from every member of the audience but he doesn't just leave it there Nah's writing turns the simple situation of a woman being hit by a car on it's again with what happend to Nash's character.






Sir Ridley Scott
Scott is a 78 year old director born and raised in England and is famously known for creating phenomenal films, such as Thelma and Louise, Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner and most recently the Oscar nominated 'The Martian'. This filmaker will witout a doubt go down in history but his films are much more to me than a pulsating joy ride like most of his films are there a perfect creation of tension to the point where you are completely enthralled in this characters stroy and cannot look away. A perfect example for this is the opening to his 2012 Alien prequel, Prometheus where the opening 3 minutes are a selection of panning shots of landscape a stragely tense set of shots, perfectly setting the scene for the rest of this film. This perfect use of landscape to create negative and tense feelings, is something I'd like to recreate in my film. As well as this use of landscape Ridley Scott is very good at creating strong an powerful female protagonists you are one hundred percent behind throughout. Examples of these protagonist are Ellen Ripley from 1979's "Alien" and Thelma and Louise from "Thelma and Louise" this creation of a strong female protagonist is something I have attempted to recreate in "Hara-Kiri" with my actress Chloe.

Planning - Task D Pitch

My pitch was mostly showing the short film, Taser which uses a technique I'd like to incorporate which is reversing the narrative also used in the film irreversible. This reversed narrative will show a short part of the end without giving the twist away and then a scene follows it that comes before it and so on. My story at the minute is a collection of 'inbetween moments' which are moments that happen around life, e.g. waiting for the bus, walking down the street humming. Normal things which will take a huge abnormal twist leaving the audience shocked. This big twist was suicide but after hearing thoughts from a focus group I've decided that's far to obvious of a twist instead my character will decide against suicide cross the road and get hit by a car in consequence dieing anyway.

Planning - Task C

Task 9 - Analysis of at least 3 posters for a short film

Photobooth - Photobooths poster contains some interesting images with the ability to intrigue a reader but the quality of the poster itself is poor, maybe due to the low budget but the Photobooth looks very cgi and creates a tacky feel to the poster. The choice of font as well is very basic and doesn't help the poster come across as official, but it is very clear to read though very basic. The poster does create a certain sadness suggesting distress from the film itself. Overall a very basic poster it does put across the content of the film itself, a group of soldiers coming across a photobooth in the desert. The poster is tacky and seems quite basic but intrigues the viewer to watch the film by not giving to much away.

Spider - This poster takes a very different approach to the one above given nothing away apart from the fact the film involves a spider. The font is less clear but much more inventive giving off a very eery almost creepy feel. Sadly the writing underneath the title is so small and in such a small font that it is very hard to read and understand. The use of coulour in the poster is very clever using dark red and a light pink as the main colours creates a sense of trajedywith the use of blood red on a colour similar to that of skin. The use of a web image also suggests deceit as, for example a web of lies. The most important thing about the image which makes a viewer feel uncomfortable is the use of a spider image which is the cause of fear in a lot of people viewing the poster. Overall I believe it achieves it's job of not giving the story away and intriguing viewers but the font is at times undesipherable.

Cargo - My favourite of these posters is the one for the film Cargo, which at first glance gives off this idea of decay and sadness but when you look closer you realise the film is much more that that seeing at first the red balloon and then below a baby attached to a man's back alters the viewers perception of the film. This poster also contains one thing the others don't, a tagline, something I believe is crucial for a film to extend the curiosity of a viewer.

Task 8 - Prelim Photography Task - Realism Vs Surealism

Task 7- Review of 3 short films

Prelim Task

Task 2 - Analysis of previous students work "Sketch"

The main narrative for this short film is young girl's imagination coming to life through her drawings. The film starts with a steady zoom on a vibrant student's room where the student is sat on her bed in shot. The shot on it's own only creates intrigue but combined with the non-diegetic music creates an air of sadness as the music is minor and includes zylophone and flute, two typically basic instruments. The shot then changes to close up shot of the notebook in the students hand which is accompanied by some non-diegetic pencil sounds which ruins the image on screen as the sound doesn't match the strokes of the pencil. It then jumps to a close up of the lead characters face, really out of focus accompanied by the same non-diegetic sound as before but a female voice is heard.The shot quickly comes into focus as she moves giving off a professional feel. The camera cuts to a low angle of her legs moving off the bed. The camera then stays in a high angle shot showing where the girl was sitting, and the shot slowly loses focus and becomes white washed. As the white was appears the clear black font of the word Sketch slowly appears bit by bit on the screen. The slowly steady almost fantastical music sung by the female soprano does create a peaceful stmosphere with a sense of sadness.

Task 5 - Research into genre I would like to do

The genre I would like to choose is not as much a genre as a technique, by this I mean I would like to create a straight forward and predictable film but include a heart wrenching revelation towards the end of the film. This idea is not the easiest to explain but better to show you examples of short films which have given me this idea. Each of these short films include a hidden and unforseen circumstance which I would like to incorporate in my short film's narrative. My film personally will be a thriller incorporating the technique mentioned before. The film will set the audience down a path convincing them they know how it will end until the film's narrative side swipes the audience leaving them shocked and unsure throughout the remainder of the film and for minutes afterwards if I have used the technique correctly. My film will hopefully create a similar effect to the film's below.

History Of Short Film Research

The art of Short Film making is a huge pillar in British Cinema history, without which cinema would be very different today. Before the film we know and love today, films were much shorter but due to the huge advances in technology and the ability to watch these pictures alot of people never really noticed how short these films were due to the novelty of the experience they were having. The first short films were viewed using Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope (pictured right) which could only be viewed by one person at a time. The reason all the earliest films we're short was due to the fact men such as Edison thought audiences would not be able to withstand the "flickers" for more than ten minutes. Edison loved the idea of these films and eventually created the first movie projectors so more audience could all view films at the same time. Edison and his assistant W.K.L. Dickson designed the world's first movie studio, The Black Maria completed in 1893. This was to feed Edison's thrist to create more film. The Balck Maria was the home to between 200 and 300 works of Edison and his assistant. One of the most famous and memorable works of his was the Lumière brothers’ Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1895). Which you can view below
This 55 second clip allegedly sent audiences running in terror as the locomotive steamed towards them. The fact this simple short film of ladies and gentleman disembarking a train can kick off such a huge surge of cinema. Without such a simple film as that we wouldn't get as much classics as we do today.

Task 1 - Short Movie Analysis

Analysis of opening 30 seconds of ‘Eight’ by Stephen Daldry, 1998

Stephen Daldry’s heart-breaking story of a young boy dealing with the passing of his father begins very simply with a panning shot of an empty beach on an overcast day, this very simple opening may create a certain sadness and foreshadowing of something sad to come but due to the brightly coloured ball we see towards the end of the shot, the mood shifts and a more happy childish feeling is created. The shot lasts for around 15 seconds allowing the setting and the diegetic sounds of the ocean and the swaying of the grass combined with a slow violin piece in a minor key creating a sad monotone feel. The peaceful scene is then interrupted by a child’s foot kicking the ball in the air and we get a second long bird’s eye view of the ball hurl towards the camera and the child’s face watching it as it flies into the air. This shot though it is a second long smashes through the monotone feel and creates a soft gentle childlike feel. Just before the ball is blasted into the air we get a piece of narration saying “I reckon my dads an astronaut”, this childish remark from our young protagonist first makes us smile with the childish remark obviously an idea from the child’s vivid imagination.  But when you think back on what the child said it becomes very sad as the child doesn’t know what his father does suggesting either loss of life or a broken home. This brings us back down to earth but diegetic sound then appears from Jonathon, yelling over the calming sound of the ocean “My name is Jonathon and I am eight”, this short line completely turns the feel of the short film around again as it perfectly encapsulates the invisibility a young child feels. This rollercoaster from childlike fun to monotone sadness I think is a very hard and powerful think to achieve in 30 seconds of film and this short film does it perfectly.

Analysis of the first 30 seconds of The Gasman 1998 directed by Lynn Ramsay

The  film is about a daughter slowly putting together a dark secret her father isn’t trying to hide. The film opens with a close up shot of a pair of shoes being polished with depth of focus being used with a blurry picture of a woman running around this goes on for around 15 seconds. The opening shot always sets the tone of the piece which would be quite sad and downhearted but combined with the radio creating some diegetic music we hear ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’, telling us it’s Christmas creating all these feelings. This clever opening shot cleverly only shows us the bottom part of two characters bodies  creating this wonder and intrigue into what the two characters look like and there roles in this story. The shot the cuts to an over head shot of a child playing with a metal racing car suggesting the era is roughly 1990s through the car and the rest of the items in the apartment. The boy fuels up his car with sugar. This bird’s eye view leaves us to wonder what the child looks like. This clever use of putting us in angles where we can’t view the characters almost distances us from them. This shot lasts a similar amount of time with the same diegetic music but we hear what may be the mothers voice yell over the top of the radio saying “come on get ready”. This was said in a Northern accent setting our location perfectly.