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Friday 7 January 2011
Thursday 6 January 2011
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
1) Once we had decided on our storyline we set about thinking of a suitable name. As the main feature of our film is all about lies and deceiving, we eventually decided on ‘Deception’. I believe that this develops on our genre of ‘romantic mystery’ as you subconsciously learn the genre without realising.
2) We used 4 main setting and locations to create out short film; the protagonists house, a swimming pool, Smith’s restaurant and Ongar high street. I believe that only smiths restaurant uses and develops the genre code and conventions. So therefore the other 3 locations all challenge the genre codes and conventions. Firstly as part of the sub-genre is romance you would straight away presume the couple to be out as a ‘couple’ in romantic and expensive places, however what you find is part of the ‘couple’ stealing the protagonists cars, killing/pushing him into his own pool, and him doing the exact same thing with two different girls, music was crucial to complete all these effectively as in romantic films music plays a huge part. We used this to our advantage by having no dialect between characters to help manipulate the deceit between them.
3) The protagonist is a young well-off business man; he dresses continually smart throughout the film, even when wearing ‘casual’ clothing. The protagonist does eventually die in these ‘smart’ clothes. The two girls in the film both dress up to ‘impress’ the protagonist, and they often wear black; the colour often seem of symbolizing death. I believe the costumes all use and develop both of the genres romantic and mystery/thriller.
4) Camera work and editing has to be completed to a high standard to create a definitive thriller genre. In our film we cleverly used fades and cuts to an effective standard. We also used dark and bright lighting at the correct times. Rapid editing is also regularly used for thriller genres as to speed up the tempo, as a group we decided to do this with a wide a variety of fades to gradually show the passing of time. Angles are another important code and convention in which we tried to develop by using a variety of wide, mid, low and high angle shots to help narrate the story.
5)For our title we as a group decided we wanted to stand out bright and bold, therefore what better then a black background with white Georgia font typing. To help develop the genre codes and convention we decided to keep it simple, but striking. Although this does in some ways challenge the genre as it is not specific to either one.
6)The opening shot of a body falling into water with the white flash develops the genre of thrillers, however entirely goes against the romantic genre. These shots help to set the scene and sets the tone for the rest of the film as continually a surprise/shock/enigma occurs.
7)Through the opening shots the genre is unknown and is unidentifiable, so therefore challenges all genres. We as a group thought of this as a clever idea as it captivates the audience and hopefully intrigues them into watching more of the film to find out what type of film it turns out to be.
8)The protagonist is introduced straight away to help make sure the audience know that he is the main character. However we decided that the two girl characters should be introduced in a more interesting way; involving a 360ᵒ spin. This meant before the spin you see girl 1 with the protagonist and after the spin you see girl 2 now in girl 1’s position. This camera movement goes against and challenges all genres.
1) Once we had decided on our storyline we set about thinking of a suitable name. As the main feature of our film is all about lies and deceiving, we eventually decided on ‘Deception’. I believe that this develops on our genre of ‘romantic mystery’ as you subconsciously learn the genre without realising.
2) We used 4 main setting and locations to create out short film; the protagonists house, a swimming pool, Smith’s restaurant and Ongar high street. I believe that only smiths restaurant uses and develops the genre code and conventions. So therefore the other 3 locations all challenge the genre codes and conventions. Firstly as part of the sub-genre is romance you would straight away presume the couple to be out as a ‘couple’ in romantic and expensive places, however what you find is part of the ‘couple’ stealing the protagonists cars, killing/pushing him into his own pool, and him doing the exact same thing with two different girls, music was crucial to complete all these effectively as in romantic films music plays a huge part. We used this to our advantage by having no dialect between characters to help manipulate the deceit between them.
3) The protagonist is a young well-off business man; he dresses continually smart throughout the film, even when wearing ‘casual’ clothing. The protagonist does eventually die in these ‘smart’ clothes. The two girls in the film both dress up to ‘impress’ the protagonist, and they often wear black; the colour often seem of symbolizing death. I believe the costumes all use and develop both of the genres romantic and mystery/thriller.
4) Camera work and editing has to be completed to a high standard to create a definitive thriller genre. In our film we cleverly used fades and cuts to an effective standard. We also used dark and bright lighting at the correct times. Rapid editing is also regularly used for thriller genres as to speed up the tempo, as a group we decided to do this with a wide a variety of fades to gradually show the passing of time. Angles are another important code and convention in which we tried to develop by using a variety of wide, mid, low and high angle shots to help narrate the story.
5)For our title we as a group decided we wanted to stand out bright and bold, therefore what better then a black background with white Georgia font typing. To help develop the genre codes and convention we decided to keep it simple, but striking. Although this does in some ways challenge the genre as it is not specific to either one.
6)The opening shot of a body falling into water with the white flash develops the genre of thrillers, however entirely goes against the romantic genre. These shots help to set the scene and sets the tone for the rest of the film as continually a surprise/shock/enigma occurs.
7)Through the opening shots the genre is unknown and is unidentifiable, so therefore challenges all genres. We as a group thought of this as a clever idea as it captivates the audience and hopefully intrigues them into watching more of the film to find out what type of film it turns out to be.
8)The protagonist is introduced straight away to help make sure the audience know that he is the main character. However we decided that the two girl characters should be introduced in a more interesting way; involving a 360ᵒ spin. This meant before the spin you see girl 1 with the protagonist and after the spin you see girl 2 now in girl 1’s position. This camera movement goes against and challenges all genres.
Wednesday 5 January 2011
Monday 3 January 2011
Ancillary Task - Magazine Review Chosen Layout
In the end we decided to choose this layout, however instead of one full page picture we decided to use several.
Sunday 2 January 2011
New Ending Idea
As a group we decided that our ending idea would not leave a strong enough impact, so therefore whilst we were filming we set about thinking of a new, better idea.
This new idea was to have the protagonist and girl 1 walk up the protagonist drive way, however whilst this was being filmed girl 2 would walk in to the shot behind them, this would make the audience presume that girl 2 has been watching and following them. This new ending helps to get both protagonist and the two killers at the scene of the death. The rest of the ending will then continue as first planned.
This new idea was to have the protagonist and girl 1 walk up the protagonist drive way, however whilst this was being filmed girl 2 would walk in to the shot behind them, this would make the audience presume that girl 2 has been watching and following them. This new ending helps to get both protagonist and the two killers at the scene of the death. The rest of the ending will then continue as first planned.
Thursday 30 December 2010
Ancillary Task - Possible Layout Ideas
To create a film review it is crucial to have a suitable article layout. To achieve this we decided to look through a variety of Total Film magazines, above are the three layouts that we felt most suitable to fit with our short film, and greatly liked as a group. All were typically seen many times throught the variety of Total Films chosen.
Monday 27 December 2010
Ancillary Task - Magazine Review Writig
Quotes
“Truly Captivating”
“Another cinematic master piece from Wolf Pack”
“Typical of the short film genre”
Synopsis
The story of a “player” being played at his own game... with dramatic consequences.
Staring
Joseph Mulhare, Kelsey Freeman, Alice Quinlan
Release date
January 14th 2011
Positions
Edited by – Joseph Mulhare Kerry Sheehan Helen Daniel
Directed by – Helen Daniel
Produced by – Kerry Sheehan Helen Daniel
Avaliable one
DVD and Blue Ray
Previews avaliable on TotalFilm.com
Coming Soon to download on iTunes
Certification
15
Run time
3 minutes 34 seconds
The short film genre is something of which is often overlooked in the film industry, but all of the best directors start off by creating short films. Take Spielberg and George Lucas they both started off directing short films before moving onto million dollar blockbuster productions such as Jaws and the Star Wars franchise.
By the looks of things Wolf Pack Productions are not far away from becoming one of the best top listed short film creators. Last year they brought us the award winning film “Pandemic” which stayed in the Top 10 Film’s for over 9 weeks. Now with their latest project they seem to have excelled everyone’s expectations with their short film “Deception”, choosing to be different once again with the oddly chosen sub-genre romantic murder mystery. The story follows the life of a successful business man in his early 20’s as he attempts to juggle relationships between two women, but as the story unfolds we realise all is not as it seems. With the director’s high skills they cleverly incorporate fades and well tuned timing to show progression of time throughout. All of this eventually leads to dramatic life-changing events, which are sure to leave the audience wondering and captivate the audience further into the story. This unusual twist chosen by Wolf Pack Productions is sure to leave an impact on all of those audiences life’s choosing to endure in a monogamous relationship, such as the young protagonist.
Wednesday 22 December 2010
Magazine Review - Why We Chose Total Film
As part of our ancillary task we need to write a review of our finished short film and then shape it in the style of a leading film magazines article. When it came to researching film magazines we looked at the leading magazines, Total Film and Sight and Sound. We also looked at some online review sites but found none that interested us as a group; such as Empire.
When looking at the Sight & Sound magazines we realised that each article was very detailed and left no stone unturned when it came to a review, because of this the articles in this magazine were very long and explained basically the whole story line. Another point found in the magazine was that there wasn't much visible media within the whole magazine which we found, as a group, was a weak point because it’s a media magazine and it should have more than just the written word and a few visual aids. However there were good points about the magazine. The fact that it was a specialist magazine interested us greatly as only true media fans would know and read Sight & Sound, linking with our target audience. Also because short films are such a specialist genre our production would suit the magazine well.
The other magazine we looked at was Total Film. We found that articles in this magazine had a good combination of text and visual aids. The way the editors had chosen to layout the article also intrigued us, as they often used a image and quote in the centre with the text surrounding these. Another positive feature of Total Film is the key sections within the magazine; this means the magazine is kept more organised and more readable. The key section that our article will be featured in will be ’Screen’. Screen is where the main cinema reviews sections are, and where every new movie for that month is reviewed and rated. Smaller short films receive a concise review and rating which is crucial to the distribution of any short film as it allows the director and the film to be widely noticed.
In the end we decided to go with Total Film as it has a more modern feel, and we aimed for our short film to be contemporary and modern.
When looking at the Sight & Sound magazines we realised that each article was very detailed and left no stone unturned when it came to a review, because of this the articles in this magazine were very long and explained basically the whole story line. Another point found in the magazine was that there wasn't much visible media within the whole magazine which we found, as a group, was a weak point because it’s a media magazine and it should have more than just the written word and a few visual aids. However there were good points about the magazine. The fact that it was a specialist magazine interested us greatly as only true media fans would know and read Sight & Sound, linking with our target audience. Also because short films are such a specialist genre our production would suit the magazine well.
The other magazine we looked at was Total Film. We found that articles in this magazine had a good combination of text and visual aids. The way the editors had chosen to layout the article also intrigued us, as they often used a image and quote in the centre with the text surrounding these. Another positive feature of Total Film is the key sections within the magazine; this means the magazine is kept more organised and more readable. The key section that our article will be featured in will be ’Screen’. Screen is where the main cinema reviews sections are, and where every new movie for that month is reviewed and rated. Smaller short films receive a concise review and rating which is crucial to the distribution of any short film as it allows the director and the film to be widely noticed.
In the end we decided to go with Total Film as it has a more modern feel, and we aimed for our short film to be contemporary and modern.
Friday 17 December 2010
Ancillary Task - Final Poster
By previously undertaking a poster analysis on the film poster ‘Inception’ we discovered several things that are important for us to include. One main aspect is to have a centralized image of all main characters; this allows the audience to become aware of who will be featured within the film alongside clearly stating their names at the top of the page. The faces of all the characters have not been included within the poster however; this is to coincide with the theme of the film. The illusion that people are not who you think they are is built up by keeping the audience view limited. The tag line, ’A woman’s desire for revenge outlasts all her other emotions’, followed by ‘Deception’ again emphasizes the theme of betrayal working well alongside the image. At the end of the page the poster states ‘From the creators of Pandemic’. This was a beneficial item within the film as this was the film created last year by our group. The theme of Pandemic is similar to that of Deception, the views towards Deception will be a reflection of the success of Pandemic as they will fall into the same category and the audience will expect the same standard if not higher of Deception.
Monday 13 December 2010
Ancillary Task -Poster Analysis
Before creating a poster we decided that undertaking some research into posters within the same genre as it would allow us to produce a poster that will entice and attract the target audience. Inception is both a current film to have been released, alongside falling in to the category of a romantic thriller. The title being in bold and red allows a contrast against the dull navy blue background, instantly drawing the audience’s eyes to it. Due to the story line of the film the image used has been edited and warped to create a continuous theme throughout the film. Yet it allows the audience to view all of the characters that will feature within the film, having Leonardo Dicaprio in the fore ground. He is the leading character in the film as well as the most famous; this is emphasized through the image and the placement of his name at the top of the poster. It shows his importance within the film. All the characters are dressed in smart formal wear, showing that the film will be bias towards the thriller aspect rather than the romance. Below ‘INCEPTION’ it says ‘FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE DARK KNIGHT’ this shows the audience the standard of the film, this is due to the dark knight being huge hit. The audience instantly feel that the film will be of the same standard and are again drawn to the film.
Saturday 11 December 2010
Exemplar Posters
When designing the initial poster for our short film it was decided to look through posters of films that filtered into genre similar to ours. As there are few films that fall into this category the amount of exemplar posters we had available was limited.
Monday 6 December 2010
Continuity problems due to “adverse weather conditions”
From Tuesday 30th November until Friday 5th December we had large amounts of snow fall. So many people this caused a number of problems but for us as media students it gave us a longer lasting problem, continuity.
Many of our scenes outside had been filmed weeks before the snow fall, but we still needed to film and re-film some parts of our short film. The snow also presented several problems, the most important being that the setting now had snow cover, which they didn’t before. This meant that any scenes that needed footage added to it wouldn’t work as when you played the final piece back one moment the ground would be clear and the next covered in snow. Other problems were mainly health and safety (risk assessment) due to slipper ground surfaces and transport problems due to the roads being in such a condition it was hazardous to drive in.
There wasn’t much we could do in this week and the week that followed when it comes to filming, so in these weeks we sat down as a ground, planned our reshoots, discussed blog posts and suggested ideas and researched our ancillary tasks.
Many of our scenes outside had been filmed weeks before the snow fall, but we still needed to film and re-film some parts of our short film. The snow also presented several problems, the most important being that the setting now had snow cover, which they didn’t before. This meant that any scenes that needed footage added to it wouldn’t work as when you played the final piece back one moment the ground would be clear and the next covered in snow. Other problems were mainly health and safety (risk assessment) due to slipper ground surfaces and transport problems due to the roads being in such a condition it was hazardous to drive in.
There wasn’t much we could do in this week and the week that followed when it comes to filming, so in these weeks we sat down as a ground, planned our reshoots, discussed blog posts and suggested ideas and researched our ancillary tasks.
Thursday 25 November 2010
Editing equipment & software
As a group we have decided to use Pinnacle Studio Plus as our editing software. We have chosen this as it is an industry standard and offers everything we need to successfully produce a professional looking short film. This software offers a variety of editing techniques from cutting footage and editing sound to adding effects like shadowing, also we will be able to tweak the footage (add a tint, change brightness etc.).
Editing is regarded as the unseen art of film, our group agree with this and believe that editing plays a vital part in the film making. This is why it has been decided by the group that we must make sure that our production is not seen as a "sixth form production" but a professionally produced film, we will achieve this within the editing stage of our work.
With pinnacle being the industry standard, it's main rival is windows media player, which is another industry standard. They both have many unique advantages and offer a great user interface which is easy to use and comes with many helpful tips (providing you know where to look). So when it came to deciding which software to edit with it was a hard choice to make, but after weighing up the pros and cons it was decided that we were to use Pinnacle Studio Plus to edit our footage.
The equipment of hardware used to help edit was a real easy choice because of the cameras we were using. When uploading footage it needed to be in the DV format, to achieve this we needed a Tape to DV converter. We found this in the form of a base which connected to the computer we were using. Other bits of hardware or equipment used were simpl
e things like memory sticks to transfer copy right free music onto our project and headphones to listen to the work in progress.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Church Permission
We decided that our filmed needed an increase in variety of locations. It was then decided that including a church scene with the vicar giving a speech about the loss of life would be a shot that would improve our film drastically. Yet to film in a church we needed permission. After a vast amount of research I called several churches in the Brentwood area. Thankfully our first choice, St Thomas's in Brentwood gave us permission to film our scenes on the 5th January.
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