Harry McHale - Evaluation

Question 1 - In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

PRE-PRODUCTION: ANALYSIS OF EXISTING SHORT FILMS
During the pre-production stages of our product, we were set various tasks in order to contribute to the research and planning of our film. One of the tasks set required us to individually watch 4 different short films and make a  analysis on how these short films are constructed, using elements of MRANG in our analysis.

• Media Language
• Representation
• Audience
• Narritve
• Genre

Throughout this task I notice a variation of narratives which incorporated a wide range of techniques/features which helped me think of ideas for our short film. This task also helped me define what makes a film, a short film. Various features of short films I have noticed include:

• 3 - 15 minutes in length
• Very few main characters, rarely any secondary characters due to the short amount of time they have to establish  characters to the audience compared to feature length film
• Short films are published by independent film companies
• Short films can be found in almost any genre you can find a feature length film in
• Short films represent the majority in the social-realism genre.
• The basic narrative of a short film usually has a protagonist needing to solve a situation
• The actors are never big names due to low budget of short films; the actors are never advertised in big bold letters on the short film posters

The 4 short films I researched aid my thought process on how I would construct our short film. The plot of our short film is a combination of ideas generated from viewing other short films by either doing things differently to the real media products; or something similarly. 

SHORT FILM 1: 'THE SWITCH'

'The Switch' is an adventure short film directed by Rigan Ledwidge and unlike most short films, has a large budget as it is backed by sporting company Nike however the film lasts 6 minutes which means it is still a short film; making a good film for analysis as I can learn from the techniques that are used in this short film. This film contains features from well renowned football stars including Cristiano Ronaldo (the most popular footballer on social-media) this film is too long and nearly impossible to cut-down for TV promo. 

Cribbing the well-known sci-fi concept of “body-switching”, international superstar Cristiano Ronaldo collides with a young British fan in the stands and is startled to find himself waking up in a rundown flat. Equally surprised however is the 16 year old Charlie, who wakes to the impressive trappings of Ronaldo’s lifestyle: a mansion, beautiful assistants, and exotic sports-cars.

The short film starts with a very short extreme long-shot establishing the scene which appears to be Wembley stadium. From this establishing shot we can make out this is a football match between England and Portugal where a corner is being taken as the box is filled with attackers and defenders. A close up to an English player moving towards the goal and the diegetic voice-over of the commentator stating it's 'corner' but then we cut to a medium high angle shot where we can see a Portuguese player clearing the ball from their goal and the commentator saying 'Portugal clear'. We then see various shots of Portugal on the counter or more specifically Ronaldo (one of the main protagonists) running down the wing via fast paced cuts.

In terms of Tvetzan Todorov's narrative theory, this is the equilibrium as everything appears to be normal. Then there's a change in mood as Ronaldo trips over the advert billboard and hits an England fan. A light non-diegetic ringing sound is played as both Ronaldo and the young England fan Charlie Lee are seen with their hands on their heads as if they have a concussion or another head injury. This is the disruption to the equilibrium in terms of Todorov's narrative theory.

A sound bridge into an alarm ringing brings us into the next scene as the previous scene transitions via a fade to black. We see Ronaldo wake up via a close-up but through his facial expression the audience can make out that something is wrong. This helps emphasise the disruption to the equilibrium in the narrative. In contrast, we get a close up of Charlie also waking up, we cut to a POV shot to a poster of Ronaldo and back to Charlie's facial expression which also implies shock. We see both protagonists explore their setting; there body language and facial expression shows they are confused - The camera tracks Charlie as he runs to the bedroom window to see he is living in a terraced flat. Ronaldo looks through his window to see his more vibrant place compared to Charlie. He turns around to the mirror in which his face is immediately shocked. We cut to a low angle extreme long-shot of Ronaldo's residence with the sound of him screaming. The screaming carries on via a sound bridge to a long-shot of Charlie's neighbourhood as we also hear him scream. At this point the audience are aware that the two men have switch bodies. This is confirmed when we cut to a medium shot of Charlie when we hear diegetic dialogue from him saying "I’m a kid?" in a questioning way. His accent suggests he is from London but he is speaking in Portuguese which also seems unusual. This helps explain why Ronaldo is confused as he hasn't said any dialogue yet.

After the title sequence plays, we hear non-diegetic music which makes the situation less comedic and more serious. We carry on to cross-cut between the men in there new bodies. We hear charlie's mum call for him as he rushes down the stairs and we hear a diegetic voice calling for Ronaldo. Ronaldo as Charlie asks Charlie's family what he is doing here and 'who are you' in Portuguese. Charlie's mum responds with diegetic dialouge 'oh dear me, looking who's being taking Chinese.' When (supposively) Charlie responds with "I'm Cristiano Ronaldo." Much to this disappointment, Charlie is laughed at by his family who think he has lost the plot.

As we continue to cross-cut between the two protagonists, we immediately see a representation in the difference of social class of the two characters. Charlie is taken to school by his mum in a old Volkswagen Polo whereas Ronaldo is given his keys by his assistance to his McClaren P1. Charlie (In Ronaldo's body) is going to football training with professional footballers whereas Ronaldo (In Charlie's body) is going to the school playground to play amateur football.

Despite being in different bodies, there characteristics are still the same. The comedic value of this is the other characters are unaware of the body switch whereas we the audience are aware. This creates dramatic irony as we know more than the characters. The other Portuguese footballers are very confused as they see Ronaldo playing poorly when it's actually an amateur footballer trying to play like Ronaldo. The opposite is predictably happening as we cut to a playground as we Charlie's friends in complete awe as they see Charlie performing advance football skills including the 'Ronaldo Chop' ironically. The jokes continue as we see Charlie at a training ground, when he approaches a freekick the oppositions wall joke about his stance by saying "Who'd you think you are; Cristiano Ronaldo?" in a mocking way as they laugh; this is shortly followed up by near goal which the opposition stop laughing and there facial expressions suggest they are shocked and impressed.

Otherwise, We see Charlie struggling as Ronaldo. To mix with this the commentator states via a digetic voice-over 'Ronaldo gives it away cheaply' which further emphasises Charlie's new struggles as pretending to be one of the world's best footballers. We cut to the next scene where we see from Ronaldo's facial expression and body language that he is frustrated as he keeps training. This shows a change in attitude as he keeps wanting to thrive otherwise he will be founded out as an impostor if he doesn't. We can also see it from the Ronaldo's teammates facial expressions that they are puzzled by Ronaldo's drop in form and one of his teammate's body language connotes that as well as we see him pointing at Ronaldo constantly training hard.

We then cut to Ronaldo as Charlie who is also training harder than usual as his freinds look at him in a strange way when he goes out on a run after football. This is when we cut to a timelapse of Charlie going up the ranks of football league from non-league to playing in the top flight for Manchester City. This represents the differences in social class of Charlie and Ronaldo as charlie has to go playing from the streets to reach his goal whereas Ronaldo wins awards despite not playing very well. In terms of Todorov's narrative theory, this is the start of trying to repair the damage caused from the disruption of the equilibrium as both Ronaldo and Charlie try and reach top level so they come in contact with each other.

The non diegetic soundtrack becomes more lively and brings out a positive feeling: this could foreshadow a new equilibrium in terms of Todorov's theory. We cut to similar looking scene, a football match between Portugal and England. We see evidence of Charlie Lee's meteoric rise in football as he is seen playing for england. In the tunnel as the player's wait to go onto the pitch, Ronaldo turns around and see's his original self which instantly takes him by surprise as seen by his facial expression; Charlie doesn't seem too bothered but does give his original self eye contact.

The football match proceeds and Portgual are on the attack. Ronaldo performs lots of advanced skills which show how much training he has put in to regain his form. He crosses the ball and Andre Gomes scores the goal - the commentator then shouts 'scored by Gomes, made by Ronaldo.' We cut to an england attack where this time, Charlie sets up Harry Kane to score; this shows that despite being in different bodies, Charlie has made it to the top level with Ronaldo's football intelligence and Ronaldo has re-gained form via Charlie using his Ronaldo's physique to help him.

After various cuts of intense football action, we cut to the two protagonists run towards each other as they go for the ball. The non-diegetic soundtracks has a crescendo to it as the music builds-up and the cheerfulness of it is gone. The action is intense as the facial expressions of the spectators feel that there may be a horrible clash between the protagonists. The same diegetic beeping sound that was played when the protagonists clashed with each other is played again. The game is stopped as the two players regain conciousness. It's immediately obvious through there body language that the two have swtiched bodies. Ronaldo picks up Charlie and in terms of Tvetzan Todorov's theory; a new equilibrium is created. The characters never known the two have switched apart from the protagonists themselves. This creates dramatic irony for the spectator as we known what has happened this whole time.

Overall, what I have taken inspiration from this short film is the use of dramatic irony is done very well as the fact the spectator knows whats going to happen makes this film surprisingly more enjoyable and it's something I had considered using in the production stage of the advanced portfolio. This short film's narrative is chronoligical and the plot can be matched with Tvetzan Todorov's 'equilibrium' theory.

SHORT FILM 2: 'AMBITION'
This short film also has a chronoligical narrative like 'The Switch' therefore it uses elements of Todorov's narrative theory. The difference between this short film and 'The Switch' is the budget of this short film is what you'd normally expect of a short film as it appears to be low budget; another difference is the genre of this film which aims for a more social-realism feel to it. Many short films implement elements of social-realism which is why we used conventions of social-realism genre in our short film.

The short film is about a six year old boy named Thomas. Thomas has an ambition, an ambition to save up his pennies to buy himself a toy from his favourite toy shop. This short film follows Thomas' journey from the point he fills his piggy bank but the protagonist is confronted with a dilemma and has a big decision to make at the end of the short film.

The short film begins with a high angle medium long shot of what appears to be a family coming out of there house on mild day. In terms of mise en scene, the costumes of most the characters suggests they are going out on a family outing. One of the charcters, 'Thomas', a young boy, is wearing blue jeans and a green rain coat; this indicates that this is set on the weekend as he's not in school uniform which is what you would expect a young boy like Thomas to wear on weekdays.

As a spectator, we assume that this family outing is probably something along the lines of going to town or going for a walk somewhere. The lighting seems to have manipulated in editing in order create a positive mood: a calm tranquil non-diegetic sound helps emphasise this.  The shot pans down and zooms into a close-up of a penny; the spectator will question the importance of this penny and what it foreshadows in terms of plot or narrative. As Thomas picks up the penny and the camera pans back up to his face, the title appears onscreen in a soft, simple font, suggesting the film to follow a similar trait; adopting a possible convention of the genre type.

A close up of Thomas in his room placing the penny in his piggy bank connotes a beginning to the plot of this short film; this leaves the spectator wondering where this short film will take us. The title of this movie 'Ambition' implies that the boy has something he wants to save up to; a 'ambition'. This links to a generic representation of social realism in Britain as it is common for children to want to save money in order to get something they want; the audience can most likely relate to this therefore making the short film more enjoyable as it brings a sense of nostalgia.

                     

As the film progresses, Thomas finds himself earning extra money from other sources such as finding pennies down the back of his parent's car seats as well as doing chores around the house which he gets 'pocket money' for, for example, a long shot of Thomas cleaning the what appears to be living room with a vacuum whilst his dog sits out of the way on a chair.

Thomas' activites contradict the stereotype of children that is all they want to do is play around, no child wants to do household chores. However, this also shows a child's determination to get something they want; the audience will most likey be able to relate to this which creates a special connection between the audience and the film.

At various points in the film, various shots (mostly close-ups) of Thomas' piggy bank keep us, the spectators, on track with Thomas' progress towards his goal; his 'ambition'.

Once Thomas has saved enough money to buy his prized possession, he is immediately faced with a difficult dilemma or a disruption to the equilibrium in terms of Todorov's theory. As he approaches the toy store, a cut to a mid shot of Thomas' facial expression implies shock and grief. We cut to a POV shot which chows a man dressed in a dog costume holding a bucket for charity to help disowned dogs. A brief pause in the scene shows the boy looking back at the shop at the one toy he wanted, before turning back and facing the man in the costume. A close up of the man in the costume before a shot reverse shot of the boy again, indicates to the audience the connection between the two characters, making us emphasise with the boy, before a close up of the bucket with the picture of the disowned dog on the front is used to also emotionally attach the audience with the situation.

We then see Thomas walk up the bucket before a close up shot shows us the money falling into the bucket as he attempts to fix the disruption in the equilibrium. It's this close up of the money falling into the bucket which really places the emphasis of the boys ambition. For ages he had wanted to save up for the toy, yet in the end it wasn't worth it and he figured that it should go to a good cause, making the audience sympathise. Thomas then turns back to his mum with a smile on his face; indicating a new equilibrium has been created. The scene fades the black and the credits role up, indicating the end of the film.

What I like about this film is the nostalgia of it and how well it connects with the audience with elements of nostalgia. The audience really focus on the story which despite the dilemna, the story has a happy ending and has a moral story behind it. I also like how the title of this film works really well with the narrative of the film. In the production stages of our product we aimed to make sure our film connects to our audience in a emotional way.

OUR FINISHED PRODUCT: 'ON THE BRINK'

Our short film attempts to follow key features of short films, but in places, challenges and develops them. We ensured that it mirrored these key features:

• Duration: our short film was just above 5 minutes - similar to 'The Switch' and 'Ambition'.
• Narrative: our short film has a chronological linear narrative and is supported by Tzvetan Todorov's equilibrium theory; similar to 'The Switch' and 'Ambition'.
• Realistic - throughout our short film, it follows the conventions of the social-realism genre.  

However it challenged these key features:

• Minimal characters - our short film contains 6 characters which is much more than you would see normally in a short film.
• Voice over - the narrative is told by following the protagonist's journey: not through a voice over unlike various other short films.

9 FRAME ANALYSIS: 'ON THE BRINK'

Frame 1: Our short film starts with a blurred shot of the sky with the production company logo on top. we cut to a low angled shot of a door with the title 'on the brink' in bold white capital letters covering the middle of the shot. We anticipate two characters coming as the diegetic sound of footsteps becomes clear. The title disappears as we see two characters walking in front of it towards the door. The lighting suggests it is early evening with indoor lighting imply that there's a group of people inside. It cuts to an eye-level medium close-up of the door opening and revealing two other characters greeting the ones at the door. We learn through diegetic dialogue of the characters relations with one another and find out that the daughter hasn't seen her parents in a while. We follow the characters into a dining room where the protagonist introduces her boyfriend to her brothers. In terms of Tvetzan Todorov's narrative theory; this film indicates a sense of equilibrium however the audience will know that this will not last and will question when the equilibrium will be disrupted.

Frame 2: After the dinner scene, we follow John into the bathroom where it becomes clear that the something isn't right or in terms of Tvetzan Todorov's narrative theory; the equilibrium has been disrupted. In the frame we see via the facial expression in the reflection of the mirror, that John's emotion is obviously different from what it was earlier where he was happy and bubbly. This makes the audience ask what is making John sad. This sadness is reflected via the diegetic background music getting louder which is contrapuntal to John's mood therefore exaggerating his sadness.

Frame 3: The disruption to the equilibrium continues as we find out John was hiding and is now consuming drugs; the volume of the diegetic contrapuntal music is raised to further emphasise the difference between moods that John has gone through this film so far. Parallel cutting is used to show shots of the happy family and John in his current depressed state. The difference between the two moods represented in each of the settings is apparent and helps the audience emphasise with the audience as the family downstairs is completely unaware of what is taking place in the bathroom.

Frame 4: The contrast between John and the family becomes more apparent after John leaves the bathroom and struggles to get downstairs. We see him turn over to focus onto his family; we can not see the family very well as they are blurred out via shallow depth of field but we can hear laughter and conversation (in a happy mood). John turns around with a displeased facial expression and goes off. As time passes the family when made aware of John missing  don't seem to be to concerned as one of them mentions that he does this quite regularly but returns in the end. This makes the audience ask even more questions on what John is doing.

Frame 5: In the initial church scene, there is only one shot of John in the church. The shot is long in terms of duration and despite not a lot happening; the audience can learn about John through his body language in this scene. The shot is a medium angle extreme long shot and this creates dramatic irony for the audience because unlike the family who are desperate to find John; the audience already know where he is. This shot is very effective as the lack of dialogue allows the audience to interpret this scene in many ways.

Frame 6: We follow Rebecca as we return to the church again but find out John is nowhere to be seen. The scene gives an isolated feel to the characters as they don't seem to be aware of each other. We carry on to follow Rebecca as she finds a note. A gloomy non-diegetic guitar soundtrack works parallel to John's voice-over of the what the note contains. The focus on Rebecca's face via the close-up allows the audience to see Rebecca's emotions worsen as she reads further into the note.

Frame 7: Via low frequency cuts the audience experiences dramatic irony yet again in our film as we cut to a cliff side where we see John walking towards the edge whilst the family is still completely unaware of his whereabouts. This is all happening whilst John's non-diegetic voice-over is still being played as Rebecca continues to read the letter. This leaves the audience with a complex array of emotions as the sadness from the letter is emotional whilst the anticipation of what's going to happen to John will keep the audience enticed.

Frame 8: We dissolve to a medium shot of John and Rebecca together however the lighting feels to vibrant and the transition used suggest this is a flashback. This connotes Rebecca's emotions in a visual way which allows the audience to connect to the protagonist. We hear of John mention of his 'happy place'. When we cut back to the church scene, Rebecca starts to run which implies that she knows where John is and the audience find out that the mysterious location where John is at, is actually a place where he supposedly has fond memories.

Frame 9: This shot is one of the last ones in the film. A lot has been building up to this moment therefore there is still a lot of anticipation and elements of restricted narration as there are multiple possible outcomes to the end of this film. We follow Rebecca as she approaches John in a hurried fashion screaming out his name. The use of shallow depth of field emphasises the distance between Rebecca and John physically. The intensity of the non-diegetic soundtrack is raised via a crescendo which continues to become more intense as Rebecca gets closer to John. We end the film on a cliffhanger (no pun intended) as the we leave the audience wondering if John decided to carry on with his life or if he jumped.

FILM POSTERS: 'REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS'

The film poster promotes the film and attracts the target audience, therefore it's an important factor in advertising the film. Film posters have certain conventions that have to be followed in order to create a successful one. These conventions include:

• Name of the starring actors
• Pictures of the starring actors in/out of character
• One main image usually from the film
• References to other films
• Cultural references and taglines
• Website
• Critics praise for the film
• Rating system
• Billing block
• Age certification
• Release date
• Main title

As part of the pre-production planning, I researched several film posters in order to gain a deeper understanding of what is required when constructing a film poster. This low budget poster for a short film demonstrated what's required:

This poster is a visual representation of life in Moldova during civil unrest. The battered shoe abandonded represents the people fleeing from the corrupt government and the runaway implies this as well.

The lack of characters makes the audience asks questions. It makes them wonder who is the owner of the shoe and what happened to him/her. This is a strange and unique technique as the majority of posters I have looked at (short film and feature length) have the protagonist(s) and some also have the antagonist(s) as well on the poster. This already gives the film poster a USP. It's important to make your poster to stand out therefore I implemented a unique design in my poster.

The poster has various conventions of film posters such as a bold title, credit block a tagline etc. However this poster contains elements that I have not used in my final poster such as actor's names, listing of the director, certification and a tagline. Whilst some short film posters have a tagline the other features listed are often found in feature length films instead of independant short films; especially foreign films that aren't as popular.

A also analysed a higher budget feature length film in order to compare the difference in terms of content and style between a low budget poster and a high budget: 

From first viewing this film poster, a lot can be determined in terms of target audience as well as genre of the film. Firstly due to the fact that the poster shows a young teenage boy overlaid onto a dark black and grey background (colour), suggests that the film is probably aimed at audiences that are 17 and over, and with the likelihood that it is aimed more towards the male population instead of the female population. This could be connoted from the typography of the word 'illegal', bringing in stereotypical connotations that the person doing the illegal activity is the boy on the poster. This could be backed up further from the way the boy is in the centre of a long shot, with a bright light from the background emphasising the fact that he is the main character in the film. 

Looking deeper into the poster, a lot is revealed from the background images. Most notably the graffiti sprayed onto the garages and walls of the alley. This instantly tells the audience that the film is mainly about crime as well as the fact that the boy could be from a working class background. Now looking further at the boy's clothing (costume), a lot of stereotypical judgements can be made of the boy. Firstly because of the way he is wearing tracksuit bottoms, a hoody and a baseball cap, the audience assumes that the boy is from a minority background, this is also backed up from the way the boy's skin colour suggests that he could be from a ethnic minority background. 

The bag that he is holding also suggests to the audience that that is his equipment used when carrying out the 'illegal activity', hinting at possible theft. Finally when looking at the typography at the top of the poster (knowledge is power) the audience recognises that the boy obviously knows something that only few people know and so when it comes to doing the 'illegal activity', he gains some sort of power from it, either from friends or family.

This poster contains elements that you would expect from a film poster. Some elements that aren't apparent from the feature length film poster including the avoidance of using actor's names. Most feature length films have their short films in massive bold lettering. The typrography of the main title is intriging: unique typography is an element I implemented in my final poster. 

FILM POSTERS: 'OUR SHORT FILM: ON THE BRINK'

Our four posters main purpose is to generate interest into the film. Whilst many of our posters share similar elements such as a large, bold title; many have elements that differ from one another such as elements in my poster:

The poster design is based around a screenshot from our short film of a extreme close up of the protagonist. The facial expression doesn't suggest anything that would spoil the film as such. He has a subtle look which means the audience could foreshadow that he is concealing or hiding something like he is in the actual film.

The other half of his face is partially hidden which creates enigma but also makes the poster eye-catching and stand out which is equally as important as film posters are used as a form of advertisement. The typography has a almost stair like effect in terms of alignment with the 'b' in brink having a diagonal cut through it. This represents the edge of the cliff which he stands on in our film.

The poster is done in grey-scale as this is used in various posters that want to give off a mysterious vibe. The lack of colour is another way of making the poster stand out.

Conventions of short film posters are included here such as the awards and nominations from film festivals that support/raise awareness. One of the changes in the final version was making the festival awards and nominations smaller as most short film posters are more focused on the poster art rather than the advertisement of film posters. Various details at the bottom of the poster were made smaller in the final version as these are not important for our target audience.

Reviews were added to the top to attract people to see the film. I didn't use star reviews as I felt this is more common in feature length film posters and I wanted to create a poster which was distinct from generic film posters.

One the aspects which had positive feedback on is the poster's clever design however a point to consider is that the poster doesn't reveal a lot of about the film and from an initial analysis: I will keep it like this as it creates enigma and makes the spectator have to guess what could happen in the short film.

LITTLE WHITE LIES: 'REVIEW'

Little white lies is a independent movie/film magazine that's published every other month by The Church of London.

The magazine features a variety of things that appeal to their target demographic. It includes features such as: 

• Film reviews
• Adverts
• Interviews
• Photography/Illustrations

It's split into six chapters: the lead review, an a editorial introduction, a series of articles inspired by the feature film, theatrical reviews, the back section and future releases.

The magazine ensures that the content appeals to their target audience, therefore they carefully consider what features in their magazine. Statistics from 2008 show that the magazine is popular wiht people aged from 25-35 (51%) that work in the media industry (22%) and are mostly male (63%). It's clear that Little White Lies have constructed their magazine to appeal to these people.

The people reading this magazine will have an interest in films and critics and will have their own opinion on their favourite films. Statistics from 2008 show that most people hardly went to the cinema, (72%), to see films due to the popularity with DVD's at the time which was before online streaming. The statistics also show that 93% of readers read the magazine from cover to cover and kept their copies after reading them.

Some of the adverts appeal to the male demographic due to advertisements for beer and other male specified things. However, not all the adverts are targeted for males, some of them suggest that the magazine are targeting well-educated people of both sexes that are high class due to the feature of advertisements such as BBC Proms which would include high class/classical music and 1% for the Planet which would include environmental issues that caring higher class people would be usually concerned about. The cost of the magazine is now around £6 which also demonstrates the higher class demographic due to the expense of the magazine which lower class people wouldn't want to purchase because of how much it is.

In our review, we made sure to meet the conventions of the layout and style that Little White Lies use in their magazines.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

SCRIPT: 

When creating a short film one of the important factors to consider is marketing. There are various techniques in terms of marketing; some more effective than other however, the less effective ones can be more cost-efficient. The combination of our main product and my ancillary tasks accomplishes effective marketing of our short film.

One of the tasks I was set was to create a poster which would be stylistic and advertise our film. The aim of this poster was to generate enigma to attract people to our short film. Our posters have differentiation in terms of elements but I made sure that my poster had specific elements to make it successful and match the conventions of modern film posters. These elements include:

·         A large, bold title

·         Reviews with key words standing out (These were added to the top to attract people to see the film.)

·         Laurel leaves for film festivals

·         Billing block low in the frame

·         Social network icons to connect with our target audience (15 – 25 year olds)

·         Companies involved at the bottom of the poster

·         A main image with one of the main characters

The poster design is based around a screenshot from our short film of a extreme close up of the protagonist. The facial expression doesn't suggest anything that would spoil the film as such. He has a subtle look which means the audience could foreshadow that he is concealing or hiding something like he is in the actual film.

The other half of his face is partially hidden which creates enigma but also makes the poster eye-catching and stand out which is equally as important as film posters are used as a form of advertisement. The typography has a almost stair like effect in terms of alignment with the 'b' in brink having a diagonal cut through it. This represents the edge of the cliff which he stands on in our film.

CUT

Another marketing method is using a film review to show the target audience what others think after watching the film. The review can be good or bad but if the review gives the film universal acclaim, the reader will be more intrigued to watch the film. The review works in synergy with the poster to reveal aspects of the film without giving away too much detail.

Taking into account that the review is written by the Little White Lies Company, it's important to remember that they target a different audience; the magazine ensures that the content appeals to their target audience, therefore they carefully consider what features in their magazine. Demographic statistics from 2008 show that the magazine is popular with people aged from 25-35 (51%) that work in the Media industry (22%) and are mostly male (63%). It's clear that Little White Lies have constructed their magazine to appeal to these people.

The language tends to be complex and chatty at the same time which allows the review to carry undertones of seriousness but also to seem friendly and engaging to read. Little White Lies likes to use a variety of styles when writing in order to appeal to their target demographic. The style can vary from:

• ·         Nouns/complex nouns
• ·         Complex sentences
• ·         Restricted Codes in language
• ·         Adverbs
• ·         Metaphors
• ·         Puns
• ·         Adjectives
• ·         Rhetorical questions

It was important to that we matched these aspects in our review. In order to do this we made sure to meet the conventions of the layout and style that Little White Lies uses, using advance page publishing software such as Adobe InDesign.

  
Question 3 - What have your learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is vital when it comes to altering things and changing things for the better during the editing process. We managed to gain a stable amount of audience feedback on several aspects of our project. Our main goal however is to gain feedback from our target demographic which is young adults aged from 16 - 25 male and female. 

We used social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter due to the vast amount of people it would reach. We were able to study the comments that people made and apply those changes to our short film. We also asked people whether they liked our overall ideas for our short film using the survey creator, 'SurveyMonkey'. We chose to use these websites as our target demographic would be familiar with these websites as they are used often day-to-day, and so this would give us reliable data that we can positively use towards our film.

FEEDBACK: 'PRE-PRODUCTION IDEAS'

It was important that we'd gather audience feedback before moving into the production stage of our product. We were able to analyse the responses from the questions we asked which enabled us to develop a further understanding of the conventions of our film and make changes to our film based on feedback.

We asked 4 people these questions:

• Would you be interested in the genre (drama) and why?
• Do you like films that have a cliff hanger or not and why?
• Do you think the idea is good? Is there any improvements we could make to appeal more to your age group.

Here are the responses to the questions:

Caitlin, aged 23: "I would be interested in a drama genre because suspense makes it interesting and keeps your attention. Yes I like cliff hangers, but not if they're too obvious as to what is going to happen next. I think there should be more information given on the dad’s background and why he ended up depressed as this will make the characters more relatable to the audience."

Connor, aged 17: "I would be interested in a drama genre because it sounds very gripping and a well thought out story. I think a cliff hanger in a film is good because it makes you think what happened after and keeps you thinking. It's a good idea, but it could be made clearer on why he is depressed and why he is so desperate to commit suicide."

Tara, aged 17: "It seems like an interesting short film and something I think along with other teenagers would be intrigued by mostly due to the fact that the drugs involved could perhaps be relatable in some cases however personally I think what would be most intriguing to me is the dramatic plot. Honestly no I would only probably like a film with a cliff hanger if I knew there could be a second film to find out all the information. I think that adding more information on all the characters would be good (so your audience connects with each character more). I would also suggest focusing on the dad a lot. An idea, maybe the daughters mother actually died a long time ago and that was the catalyst for the father which caused the depression and eventually the drug use."

Kellie, aged 19: "It sounds as it could be along the lines of crime drama and anyone who knows me knows I love a good crime or mystery and I love a bit of drama. I love films that have cliff hangers. It's like when you read a really good book and you get to the end and there’s a huge twist and it ends on a cliff hanger and you just want more. Cliff hangers are just exciting because there's usually twists and things you weren't expecting and they get you all excited wanting more of the story. The idea in itself is good. I think maybe you could add a little more mystery in it, even if it’s the tiniest little thing. It would appeal to my age group, but could also appeal to those older than me because of the mystery and crime essence about it."

FEEDBACK: 'PRODUCTION'

During the production (construction) stages of our product we wanted to make sure that our film stills appeals to our key demographic. 

We asked Erol, age 18, about our short film. The questions we asked would allow us to make changes on whatever didn't seem to work or could of been done better. It also furthered our understanding of how the film relates to our key demographic or how it doesn't therefore how we can make it do what we intended.

Do you think the ending is successful? How does it make you feel?

Yes, it leaves the audience in suspense and made me feel very tense.

Do you think John's motives are clear enough?

Yes, definitely. It is clearly represented throughout the film.

Did we use appropriate settings in the film?

You have chosen great locations, for example, Beachy Head as it is so iconic and sadly meaningful to the kind of message you are putting across.

Does the music reinforce the mood of the narrative?

The music is very fitting to the narrative and adds an emotional response to the situation.

Any other comments or improvements on our film?

I think the acting is really good and very genuine. I also think many people can relate to it on some levels as mental health is such a common thing.

We asked an extra 3 questions to James and Niamh. James and Niamh aren't media students: this gives us more variety in our feedback which makes our overall feedback more reliable. We used this feedback as well to make improvements on our product. 

Do you understand the relationship between each character from watching the opening shots of the film?

James: "Hello darling" made it very clear what the relationship was between the daughter and father. You can tell that the daughter was more relaxed as she was with her family, however it clearly showed that the young man was her boyfriend through his handshake with the father.

Niamh: I can tell it was the mun and dad inviting in their daughter and her partner. I can tell this through their excited facial expressions and body language which expressed that it was the daughter's parents.

How effective do you think this scene (bathroom) is in portraying John as a character with immense stress and addictions?

James: The shot in the water really expressed his distress as it was very distorted. Where the tablets were hidden makes it appear that he knows what he is doing and has been hiding this addiction for a long time.

Niamh: It was effective as it engages you to understand his situation that he is in and why he is doing it. The close-up of him taking the pills emphasises his stress and addiction, generating a sympathetic response.

Does this ending build suspense effectively and leave audiences on a successful cliffhanger?

James: Yes, I feel as though this cliffhanger is very intense. I love cliffhangers as it makes you want to watch more.

Niamh: It captivates you and want to see what happens, it is almost frustrating as you want answers.   

 FEEDBACK: 'POST-PRODUCTION'
 We wanted to have feedback on our finished short film from our class who our all in our key demographic. This was important as it allowed us to see if the short film appeals to our target audience. This is the feedback we got:

Erol, Jacob & Oscar

• Good shot variety
• Great body language to suggest meaning
• Use of different filming techniques
• Variety of shot sizes
• Close up to show emotion

Sam, Jake & Connor

Very good, keeps the audience engaged throughout. The camerawork looked very professional. Story is easy to follow however we feel that the ending seemed a bit sudden.

After the note reading the short film feels more like a trailer, this could be due to the music, the sudden ending and the tile screen being at the end.

These responses helped us in the construction of our short film. The positives validated what we were trying to do and the criticism were equally useful as we were able to use these criticisms in order to make improvements which overall, creates a better product.




Joe, Alex & Imogen

The story line was really good and the narrative fitted well. The music tended to fit together with the action in moments on the hill. The title was effective and when the actors walked to the door and it faded away. The techniques used for editing were really good too.

Although, it's not clear what the message is and it didn't feel like a short film, just the opening of something yet to come. Some of the conversations don't reflect on how a conversation takes place i.e when talking about searching for dad.

Tasha, Jess & Maria

• Interesting and relatable storyline for the demographic
• The parallel shots between characters were very effective and also built up the tension
• Eyecatching settings
• The dialogue sound was very clear and edited well
• Keeps the audience guessing being left on a cliff hanger
• Very emotional subject and can effective people in different ways 

The overall response was possitive. This means we successful constructed a short film that appeals to our target audience however there were criticisms which we will consider next time we construct another similar product.

These responses helped us in the construction of our short film. The positives validated what we were trying to do and the criticism were equally useful as we were able to use these criticisms in order to make improvements which overall, creates a better product.
 

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

CLICK HERE!!