Final Evaluation

From the start you can tell that the movie is serious and ready to send out a message because of the traditional black and white titles. The first phone message that plays in the background doesn’t give any of the narrative away. It makes you wonder why there would be a message playing if it doesn’t have any significance. Already the film creates mystery for the audience. The scene then appears showing the back of the head of Alex making the audience want to discover who this person is. This over shoulder shot also shows him reading his phone. This makes you wonder whether or not the phone messages and this person has a link. The camera then shows an extreme close up of Alex just showing the top of his nose and eyes. This gives a little more of his personality of the character to the audience so they can begin to shape an image of what this person is in the movie. The slow introduction allows the audience to get a detailed image of Alex in their own perspective. The scene dissolves into the time lapse where the use of character positioning and props are beautifully used to show that time has passed. The costume seems casual so that Alex’s personality is not given away. The use of food being whole, then half eaten and then completely finished makes the time lapse more believable and more realistic. The daylight also gets dimmer showing how far time has actually gone. The messages that are playing are beginning to get slightly more disturbing and aggressive. Showing that there is some sort of freaky nature to Alex. This is where his personality begins to unfold. The movie seems to have no sort of anchoring this will leave the audience to perceive freely.

The scene then changes with a dissolve into a letter writing scene. The scene beautifully uses diagonal compositions to show that there is something slightly disturbed about Alex. The way he is hunched over the table writing makes him seem even more strange. He shows how easily he can get frustrated by the way he throws away the letter he is writing. The camera shows a pile of letters on the floor showing that this strangeness that he has may not necessarily be straight forward. He ends the scene with a head scratch showing there may be something that is bothering him. The scene dissolves into the letter posting scene, which is where you hear the final message which cuts the tension. This scene from the beginning shows a parody of a silent film. This is done by the camera showing a message which completely dominates the screen. This acts like the messages that appear in the silent movies. The way that Alex’s fingernails have been treated shows he is maybe a nervous person. The camera then makes Alex appear to be completely weird with the use of composition, the expression of his face and his costume. The composition of the film is predominately horizontal however Alex stands directly in the middle of the shot with a deathly look upon his face. His long black cloak gives reference to the old movie Nosferatu. This shows that he is peculiar and has a deathly/ aggressive aura about him. The inside shot of the letters shows yet another time lapse. The build up of letters do not only suggest he has been posting the letters for a while, it also suggests that no one has been to collect them. This makes the audience question the whereabouts of Melissa. The light dimming in this scene also adds to the realism of the time lapse.

The film then cut to the park scene which already makes you feel uneasy due to the creepiness of the wooded area. From the beginning you already get a build up of suspense from the forward track of Alex. The extreme long shot then allows the audience to see just how eerie the area is. Alex settles on a bench which you see graffiti on the back. This shows that the area is not a good place to be in. The camera then shows a slightly submissive shot of Alex whilst he leaves yet another message on Melissa’s answering machine. This makes the audience question whether he is more of a victim in this situation. The phone message he leaves makes you certain that the phone messages that have played were his. the composition in this shot is diagonal making you feel uneasy about Alex. Another time lapse starts and at one point a man and his dog appear in the background. This yet again makes the time lapse more realistic. He then gets up and walks directly to the camera. The edit makes it seem like he has walked straight through it. Alex pulls out his phone leaving yet another message. Alex is slightly offset to the left hand side making the audience feel slightly anxious because they would want him centred. The scene then fades off.

The meeting with Melissa’s two friends begins and the character Leanne uses an abrasive tone with Alex making you feel sorry for him. Then Alex continuously asks questions about Melissa’s whereabouts. You then discover that she broke up with him a while ago making the audience no question their beliefs about him. The use of the long black coat on Alex in this scene makes him seem taller and much creepier than before. The medium shot of Leanne emphasises the stern feelings she has towards Alex. This makes the audience begin to wonder whether he has done something wrong. After the heated conversation Leanne calls Alex a freak and drives away leaving him watching as she goes. The comment she made begins to reinforce the audience’s view, that he has got something wrong with him. The scene then dissolves into the pub scene where Alex is shown initially joining his friend Tom for a drink. The pair begin to talk and after a while Tom begins to discover that Alex has been missing Melissa. Tom uses direct and abrasive language to get his views across. This shows that Tom is the dominant force in the relationship they have. There is a shot of Tom which is extremely dominant as he swears at Alex which accentuates his dominance. The film clips are sound bridged at one point making the conversation seem like it is continuously flowing. All the costumes so far have been casual to not give any personalities away and to keep everything realistic.

The final scene then dissolves in showing Melissa writing a message to Alex apologising for not getting in contact with him. This now puts a twist to the story and now completely makes the audience question whether Melissa has been playing tricks on Alex. The camera then shows that it is in fact Alex writing the message. This leaves the audience in a sense of shock as the camera slowly moves over revealing that Melissa is dead on the floor. The camera trembles as it moves making the audience feel nervous and uneasy. Both Alex and Melissa in this scene are both wearing jeans and a check shirt showing that Alex is really trying to replicate Melissa writing him a letter. The camera the zooms in on Melissa multiple times before it cuts to the credits. During the end credits the answering machine plays repeating “You have no new messages”. This has a big impact on the audience by really building up the emotion that is given by showing Melissa is dead. The end credits descend by importance to the film starting with the director followed by the cast etc. This and the black and white colour scheme ensures that it is all traditional.

The poster i created was an advertisement for the Cinema release of our film. I used a similar layout to a professional poster. I used relevant pictures to our film which were Alex and a wooded area. These represented the main character in the park however this was created by adding Alex to a dark wooded background. I ensured that the title was the largest piece of script on the poster and that the diamond at the bottom followed a format of most important people at the top and then the rest in a descending order from there. The font used was a bold text and left a mystery as to what the film was about. This left an element of suspense with the audience. The images used on the poster are a picture of the starring actor and also a picture of a wooded area at night. To apply the picture of the actor onto the background i traced the image of him out of one picture and applied it onto the background image. I then used photo filters to match colours between the images. This made it all look realistic. The poster shows that there is a dark twist the film by the facial expression of Alex and the dominant picture of him makes you feel that he is going to be a powerful force in the film. The tag line anchors the film to make you believe it is going to include some sort of violence. The dark colours, which are predominantly blue, make you feel the narrative is evil and slightly twisted. The poster attracts mainly a teenaged audience however it is a poster that is intentionally attractive to a wide audience. This is anyone from a teen age upwards.

The film review I created was made intentionally for a newspaper such as The Times. I targeted the review to a slightly literate person who is keen on movies due to some of the wording and references I used. I made myself appear to be a friendly person who is acting as if he is just having a general conversation with you. This is to make the review more humorous and to make it seem more appealing to the reader. Within the review I used technical language that only people aware of medial phrases and expressions would understand. I referred my film to the film American Psycho as it was quite similar to it. Especially when Alex is writing the message from Melissa to himself.  I used quite a sarcastic tone during the review to create more humour in the text. I used a few jokes to keep the reader entertained and to make it seem as professional as I could. After completing some research on reviews about movies like the kite runner, I believe that my review would be more critical as it would be from a mutual perspective. This would allow the critic to be as honest and impartial as possible.

By creating the film and the poster it gave the audience a slight insight as to what my movie is about. The poster gave the audience a slight insight to the movie and gave the impression that the movie is slightly violent and somewhat dark. This will attract and audience that favours movie genres such as horror. The tag line’s anchoring characteristic will also bridge a link to the movie, making the audience have their own ideas about what the movie is about. The poster is closely related to the film and tries to capture a small section of what the film is about through the creator’s eyes. The film review then gives a slightly different insight and talks about how much the film refers to American Psycho and how humorous it can be perceived. Although it is about the film they generally do not have a close relationship to the film. The film review is more of an independent source which looks at the movie in the perspective of 1 person and does not necessarily tell you anything about what the iconography, colour, costumes etc. really mean.

From the audience feedback i have learned that our media piece has quite a bit of potential in terms of becoming a well known piece. I learned that at times our film was at a slow pace and this bored the audience slightly. To overcome this I believe we needed to include more action into the scenes or maybe to cut the scene lengths. I have learnt that my editing and camera techniques are very impressive and I can edit to a high level of quality. The narrative structure was good, however I was told that it may need more detail into the psyche of Alex. We needed to emphasise how mentally deranged he really is. The final point I received from the audience feedback was that the final scene needed to have blood somewhere and needed to have some amount of mess/ wreckage around Melissa to allow the audience to grasp what happened to her. A few people really had to think about what happened to her. It seemed after these comments we just needed to pay more attention to detail.

Within our media piece i used a variety of technologies to produce our final film. I used magixx movie edit pro to piece the entire film together. With this application i was able to cut, fade, and add titles to our sequence. I also used a soundtrack from a different clip to create a very long sound bridge over the film. I used word to plan a majority of our script, filming times and also to write evaluations. Finally i used the internet to browse through different short films and Wikipedia to research for our film. I researched on three short films called Spin, Chicken a la carte and love field to give me an insight into what elements are key to a short film. From this I learnt that short films all need an element of surprise, suspense and shock. These combined really contribute a lot to the films and make them as entertaining as possible. I used a blogging system to post my coursework online. Whilst using  www.blogger.com I had to, not only input text into the blogs, but I also had to add imagery. I personalised my blog to have a unique style. This includes colour schemes, fonts, letter sizes etc. I used a digital camera to take photos of my work in progress and also images for my poster. I used my phone to keep in contact with the other members of the group and also the actors/ actresses.

New technology has been a big factor to making the film look as professional as it does. Present editing equipment and techniques enable the user to put virtually any idea into their film. After completing some research on how editing was completed a few years back I learned that to put titles on the screen the person had to actually film handwritten titles and also if they wanted their film to be seen by others they had to set up a screening of it. Websites such as www.youtube.com make it easy for any film to have a potential worldwide audience. There is no need for a screening it just gets posted on the internet and counts the views that it has had. To gain a larger audience the creator’s may set up a blog. This is used to promote the movie and to advertise it in a free way. Free applications can also be used to create posters and advertisements to a near professional quality. This would be impossible to do a few decades ago. 

The Film Review

The last message is yet another short film I have had the pleasure of watching. This film to you all may seem like a take on the movie American psycho and understandably it does have some significant similarities. However the film is a superb piece which will give you the real essence of the breakdown of man after a break up.

The initial phone messages that are left on Melissa’s (Katrina Allison) answering machine are left by Alex (Adam Marsh) the deranged boyfriend. These are played over the titles and make you unaware of what is going on in the film. But as the messages progress you begin to see what is actually happening. The opening film sequence begins a little slow however the use of props during the time lapse makes you really believe in the movie. This opening sequence will already make you question whether or not what you are living is reality. As the scenes progress the phone messages begin to unravel the psyche of the disturbed person known as Alex.

The camera then shows Alex writing love letters to Melissa. How much more desperate can you get? The growing frustration is shown by Alex as he scrunches up his message and throws it away like a half eaten apple. He then appears standing in front of a door waiting to post this message. The phone messages that were playing over in the background finally finish here. The phone messages do become very abusive and show just how aggressive and potentially dangerous this guy is. It ends on the message “You know i was joking right? You know i wouldn’t be that angry at you. Just call me back when you can.” How much more disturbed can you get? I’m not sure whether this film is exaggerating the reality of how men act or it is just showing how oblivious we are to this. Maybe this is just an exceptionally powerful message. We shall see.

The meeting with Melissa’s friends Leanne (Lorna Bradford) and Sarah (Marie Mortimer) makes you question, “Could this person actually be real?”. Believe me the answer may just shock you. The car scene just shows that if you’re male, that stalking is a BAD idea. The girls both abrupt and to the point leave Alex standing in shame. Do you feel sorry for him? I suppose this could be a debateable point. The park scene is beautifully set, it really shows how desperate he is to talk to this girl. After a long winded wait Alex finally gets the nerve to call her and, yet again, leave another phone message. Ironic huh? The Pub scene seemed slightly deserted, but then again who’s in the pub in the afternoon? People who stay inside perhaps? Alex has quite a heated discussion with his friend Tom (Harry Bradford) here. No matter how much Tom tries to shake Alex down you can see that he is totally set on this girl. The final scene is extremely suspenseful. It begins by showing “Melissa” writing a message to Alex. Just as you think he has got his way you then get hit with reality again. The camera reveals the message is actually being written by Alex. American psycho twist maybe? The camera slowly pans and reveals Melissa dead on the floor. Where’s the blood or mess? Well i suppose if you want to reach a larger audience you have got to restrict some parts.

The camera work in this film really works and makes you feel moved. The dialogue in this film is very cleverly pieced together to make you see the mindset of Alex. It slowly builds over time however you may feel a slight connection between you and Alex. This film really does send a Message across and i believe it will be a big hit. My rating: 

My Poster- The Last Message

My poster uses the professional elements to make it seem as real as possible. The poster was created by taking a photo of the main character Alex and then applying him onto a wooded area using Photoshop. I then used blue photo filters to take the orangey hue out of the picture of Alex so that he would look like he was in that area. To cut Alex out of the picture i simply used the magic wand tool in Photoshop to select the backdrop behind him then delete him. I used Alex to showcase the star of the show and i used the wooded background to relate to the park scene.

The fonts i used in this poster are bold and effective. This appeals to a wider audience as more people will be able view what’s on the poster. The largest words on the poster are the film title. This is because the starring actor is unknown. This also gives the audience a slight insight as to what the movie is about. This also hints that the movie may be a romance. The tag line “How far would you go to make someone yours?” makes you question the idea of this movie being a romance film. The diamond at the bottom starts with the Filming company and is followed by the production team. It is then followed by the director, then actors/ actresses etc. As the professional posters would have it, i have made the diamond descend in the order of the most important job down. My poster would be the type of poster seen in public areas to promote the release of the film in cinemas.

Poster Analysis- Battle Los Angeles

This film poster is about the film Battle Los Angeles. This is the most simplistic poster i have found so far however it shows so much about the movie. The only fonts used are the release date and the film’s website. The release date is the biggest text as the audience will then remember the date which they can finally see the movie. There is no tag line to this poster. The imagery is dominating the poster and it is a very visually appealing piece. It shows some mysterious shadowed beings in the sea watching a pier whilst missiles fall from the sky directly at the pier. This shows that the film is an action packed war film with some sort of surprise to it. The genre is obviously an action war film.

Poster Analysis- Space Jam

This poster is about the film space jam. The fonts are easy to read obviously to attract to a wide variety of audiences. The biggest words in the poster are the stars of the movie Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. This shows that the stars of the show will be the selling point of the movie. The words space jam are in a cartoony font showing some sort of animation will appear in the movie which will attract a younger audience. The tag line in the poster is “Get ready to jam” which hints at a bit of action within the film. This tag line along with the words space jam anchors the poster. The imagery on the poster includes both Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. This again shows that they will be a major selling point to the movie. The backdrop to the stars is a starry sky suggesting some sort of sci-fi in the film. The film appears to be a sci-fi animation film but may have some sort of action to it. The diamond at the bottom begins with “Warner Bros. Presents” which shows that they will be the most commonly known contribution to the film. This is then followed, on a line below, with the production company, then the stars of the show etc. This shows the importance of job in a descending order. 

Poster Analysis- The Simpsons Movie

This poster is about the film The Simpsons Movie. This poster is simplistic in its style however it is the sort of poster that will make you want to watch if you are a fan of the cartoon series. The fonts are fun and cartoony obviously relating to the style of film it is. The biggest word in the poster are the title of the movie meaning that the movie name will be stuck in the heads of people wanting to see it. There doesn’t appear to be a tag line so the anchoring is slightly off. However the large picture of Homer Simpson in the poster shows that he is the star of the film and that he will attract the audiences to come and watch the show. The picture of homer is slightly humorous as he is “caught eating the doughnut that makes the “O” in the word Movie. This shows this film is an animated comedy film.

Poster Analysis- Fast and Furious

This poster is about the film fast and furious. The fonts give the impression of indestructibleness and simplicity due to the boldness and metallic style they have. The stars of the film are all near the top of the poster showing their superiority. The tag line tells you that the same style of film is back but with a new story. This is obviously referring to the prequels of this film. this will mean that if you are a fan of the film series you will get a sense of nostalgia out of the film. the title and tag line anchor the poster. The image shown is out in the desert representing freedom. It includes a car which in the shine you can see the stars of the film. This shows that the film will be action packed and may be serious. There is no diamond in this poster however the genre is clearly displayed amongst the poster. This is an action film.

Poster Analysis- Hancock

This poster is about the film Hancock starring Will Smith. This posters font is metallic giving the audience the impression of something indestructible. The only name given on the poster is Will Smith showing that he is the person that they are advertising to try and gain an audience. The biggest writing by far is the title of the film to make it stick in people’s minds. The font used is slightly sci-fi driven giving the impression that there may be some amount of science fiction to the film. The tag line is comedic and tells the audience that the film will be funny as well as action packed. The tag line anchors the whole poster. The image used is a big picture of Will Smith in a rough looking state. The eagle on his hat is symbolic to freedom and the reflection on his glasses showing a city shows that he is above all humans and that he watches over people. The poster has no diamond but you can clearly see the film is going to be an action film.

Film posters

Film posters for many years now have been used to advertise an upcoming film for different occasions i.e. cinema release, film festival, Video/ DVD/ Blu-ray etc. It uses certain key elements to make it what it is.

First of all, the titles play a big part on the poster. The style of writing matches the style of movie that is being advertised. Generally the size of the font is dependent on how important the thing is about. For example if a poster is trying to attract an audience by the star actor his name would be the biggest writing on the page. The colour, just like the font, is generally symbolic to what type of movie is being watched. At the bottom of the poster there is a “diamond” which tells you details such as the director, producer, cast etc. This diamond will begin by giving information on the more important people i.e. the director, and will end with someone not so significant but still of some importance to the audience. Well known names are generally bigger than others. The job title is usually in lower case and the person’s name who does that job i usually in upper cased lettering.

 The tag line in the poster creates a thought of what the film is about. For example if the tag line says “Nothing will stop him” this will instantly make you think it is an action film. The tag line is simply the phrase that you remember to make you want to watch the film. The tag line also anchors the poster. Images are another key part to the film posters. They give the poster more of a visually appealing look and also gives the audience a slight insight into what the movie is about. It generally uses iconography of the film to give the audience a little teaser of what is to come. Sometimes imagery is used to tell a brief part about the narrative. This is to set the scene for the audience so that they want to know what happens.

The posters used to advertise films have quite a lot to do with the genre the film is about. This ensures that the right audience is being addressed. They do this by using the different elements like fonts, imagery etc. to begin to show the style of movie it is. Posters can be found in many places such as bus shelters, shops, cinemas etc. They can be found in many different varieties depending on the type of release it is advertising. If it were to be advertising for cinema release it would include the phrase “coming soon to a cinema near you” or something along that line. If it were to be released on DVD it generally uses a phrase to say that the film is back.

Titles

The titles were our final addition to the film. we all decided that we were going to have black and white titles to keep the film looking more formal and traditional. The font we used was in a style that made it look like a person wrote it. The credits at the beginning just fade in and out but the end credits use the traditional scroll from the bottom to the top of the page. The credits included the production team, director, cast etc. We then moved the phone messages around once again to play over the credits too.

Sound addition

Once we finished the editing process we then began to layer on the phone messages. I put across my initial thoughts on where to put these and it seemed to work. We put a slight delay on the recording that repeated “you have no new messages” in order for it to work at the end. We all agreed once again that the film did not need the use of music and that without it a stronger message was being put across.

Final edited film

After our last meeting we all began to change what was necessary and in the end it started to take shape. We decided the film’s order was not an issue so we didn’t change that. We then began to query a few parts but everything was resolved in the end.

Rough cut meeting

After the editing process was roughly complete we as a group watched the film and began to pick out different points that could be improved. We discussed whether or not the sequence was put into the right order. We then began to discuss where we were going to put the titles, how they were going to look and what they were going to include.

Editing my part

I used the editing tool called Movie Pro 11 to edit the footage that was my responsibility. I started by editing the phone messages. On this piece i decided to remove the video clip we recorded and to keep just the sound clip for the movie. I believed that this was going to be a good editing choice as i could bridge the sound over the opening titles and many of the film clips. I cut the last part of the sound recording out as it repeated “you have no new messages”. I believed this would be a very good sound to use at the end to wrap up the story. I intended to use it over the end credits. I then began to edit the opening scene where Alex was laying on the sofa. In this part i began by showing Alex looking at his phone for messages and then faded it into the sofa part. I used the fade to keep the story flowing. I then edited multiple clips together to make the time seem like it was passing fast (Jump cut editing). When the clip changed i dimmed the light to make it seem like the daylight was changing. This is to add more of a sense of realism to the film. I then was half way through checking out the facebook scene when i decided that it wasn’t suitable enough for our film. As a group we decided to get rid of it.

Post production meeting

Once we returned to school we had a group meeting to discuss the progress that we had made. We all agreed that we had problems but we said that it could all be edited out during the editing process. We discussed the possibilities of removing some of our footage and perhaps recapturing some of it. 

Final thoughts of the filming

After completing the filming process i believe that it was a very fun experience. We used our time wisely and did not cut anything out. We all believe it was completely successful and look foward to watching the final edited piece.

Filming part 4

This is our final day of filming and we set off to film the park scene. Here the only actor needed in this was me. In this scene we combined a variation of shot sizes, framing and camera techniques to create a very ambitious scene. It also used more jump cut editing to show that more time elapsed. This scene had no real issues and was our biggest success yet.

Filming part 3

Today we filmed the pub scene. Ollie and Harry met up at my house and i drove us all down to the Bramford cock pub. Here we set up outside and began by filming Alex sitting down with Tom. We then filmed the conversation from both points of view and then a few lines at different angles. This is for use when we edit so that we can have a natural looking conversation. We had problems remembering the script however the film was shot in such a way that we could pause in between. We then went back to mine and filmed the facebook scene. This required no more than an over shoulder shot and a couple of close ups showing Alex concentrating and using the computer equipment.

Filming part 2

Today we decided to film the scene where Alex talks to Melissa’s friends in order to find out any information about her. We all gathered around my house and began to shoot the film on my corner. This sequence was to involve Alex and two other girls. It uses different camera techniques such as backward tracking, point of view shots and also over shoulder shots. These combined seemed to make the sequence flow nicely and seemed to be easy to put together. We did encounter a problem with the dialogue, due to the day having strong winds. This made it hard to hear the dialogue at points however we decided to edit that out. We then parted from the girls and me Ollie and Harry went into my house to record the phone messages for the opening scene and the end titles.

Filming part 1

The first filming sequence we all met up at my house at 11am to film. The group consisted of me, Ollie, Harry and Katrina. We decided to get the Murder scene, Letter writing scene, Letterbox scene and the opening scene filmed whilst we were here.

We started by filming the murder scene. To do this we used the camera to show the entire message that was being written. The camera was positioned so that the view of the body was obstructed. It then used a slow pan to show the conclusion. This was used to build up suspense and give an element of surprise.  We then filmed the scene where Alex was laying on the sofa. Here we filmed him using his phone to see if Melissa had contacted him. Thereafter we filmed Alex in multiple positions on the sofa, which we will use later for jump-cut editing. This is to show time passing fast.

We then had a break which we then discussed shooting the next scene which is the letter writing scene. We used a few props to make the scene more realistic. Whilst Alex was writing the letters he screws up the paper and throws it away showing his signs of frustration and anger. We then decided that we would finish our day by filming the letter posting scene. This included footage outside showing Alex posting the letter and then multiple shots inside showing the build up of letters. We would use the inside footage later for another jump-cut sequence to show time progressing faster.

My script

I have to write the script for the phone messages that appear in the start of the film. As we have some scenes that do not require any dialogue we are rather limited on the script. The phone messages will start off being normal talking about how Alex hasn’t seen Melissa for a while and then they will start to get progressively more aggressive thereafter. The final message will make Alex seem totally crazy including the line “You know i was only joking right? You know i wouldn’t be mad at you.” This cuts the tension from the previous messages.

Planning schedule

We have held a meeting to discuss our schedule for filming in the upcoming weeks. We have are all in strong agreement that shooting the whole film during the half term week would be the best time to complete the filming. We are fully prepared with our storyboards, scripts, filming equipment etc. We have all came to the conclusion that we must film on the weekdays to fit with other arrangements. We said that this would allow us plenty of time to film and complete this part of the process.

Location decision

We have decided to stay with our original ideas for the locations. We are going to stay local as we are unable to access places that are further afield due to the lack of funds we have. We will be using my house for the opening and closing scenes. This is to keep the realism within the film and to build a relationship between the characters and the audience. The pub that we are going to use is going to be the Bramford cock as a member of our group is related to someone who works there. This will mean that we can gain access to any part we want without being disturbed for the filming. The park we are going to use is Broom Hill Park as this is a slightly wooded area. This will give the film an eerie feel to it. We have also decided that we will film on the corner of Marlow road for the street scene as the backdrop is exactly what we are looking for.

Music and Sound

With our piece we have decided that we will not include any music. This gives it more of a serious feel and will show the importance of the message that we are trying to put across. The only sounds that we will be including over the piece will be some pre-recorded phone messages that Alex will have left on Melissa’s answering machine. We have said that we will bridge the sound over the opening scenes and will include some over the final credits. The messages will start off normal and will get progressively more aggressive. This is to show that Alex will be mentally deteriorating and will tell the audience that something isn’t right with him.

Costume

The costumes for our characters are in no way specific as this would add to the realism of the film. The cast are allowed to wear their everyday casual clothes so that the film keeps to a modern time. I own a long black coat to which we all agreed would suit the mindset of Alex and would give the audience an insight to what his mind is like. We believe the use of everyday clothes with the other characters is vital as it would allow the actors/ actresses to act like themselves.

Locations

We have come up with a few ideas for the locations we are going to be using. As i have said before in this blog, we will be using locations that are public so that it adds a sense of realism to the film. For the first scene we will be using my house to film. This is to show that the Alex feels trapped. It adds to the narrative by introducing a scene familiar to us all so we can all relate to it. The second place we have thought about is a pub. This is because it is a place to socialise and to get out to. This is where Alex will meet Tom. This will give me more of an impression of being 25. The next idea we had is on a street next to Sarah’s car. This is to make Alex seem mental and disturbed. The final idea we had was to go to a public area such as the park. This is just to act as a meeting place for Alex and Melissa.

Casting

The main character Alex is set to be a 25 year old man with a slight paranoid/ disturbed look to his face. As i was the person to think of Alex i will be playing him in the film, this is because i know exactly how he is meant to be feeling and what mindset he is in. I am younger than he is in the film we have agreed that we will make the costumes work to make me seem older. The character Melissa, who is Alex’s girlfriend, will be played by my girlfriend Katrina Allison to try and add more feeling to my part. The best friend of Alex (Tom) will be played by another member of our group, this is because he created the character initially and we believe he will be able to express the feelings coming from Tom better than anyone else. Melissa’s friends Sarah and Leanne will be played by two best friends. This is vital as they need to have a strong bond to really get into the vibe of the characters. One of the reasons we have selected this cast is due to contact. As we all know each other we could keep in contact very easily and could arrange dates for filming without problems or complications.

Short Film Research Conclusion

After completing the research on the three short films I have now began to refine my ideas for our film and have thought in more detail about the locations and camera work that we need. The props will still be minimal however they will be key to our production especially the items where the main character tries to get in contact with his girlfriend.

Location/ Props/ Costume/ Sound

The locations chosen are to be shown as easy to access areas to make the film seem more realistic. Places such as the park and the pub can be accessed by anyone in the public. These are used to give a sense of realism to the film so that the audience can relate to the film.

The film will include the use of props to imitate indirect communication. Items such as a phone and messages will be used to show communication. Items will be used to make the audience more aware of the location i.e. a “pint of beer” to show that it is set in a pub.

The costume will be casual attire for a teenaged group of people. This is to emphasise the realism of the film.

There will be no sound track to the film to reinforce the seriousness of our film piece.

My Film's Certificate

After careful consideration my film will have a certificate of 15. This is purely due to the offensive language that is used in the film. The film contains scenes of psychological torment and abuse is only suggested in the film, it does not get shown at all. There are no drug references or scenes of a sexual nature and behaviours expressed in the film are not shown in an “easy to imitate” manner. 

Film Cretificates

Movies are generally filmed accordingly to the audience that is initially targeted. For example a film that is targeted to adults will include a lot of explicit content to adapt to the needs of the consumer audience. The British Board of Classifications set the rules and regulations of each age category.

For a U film (Can be viewed by anyone over the age of 4 without parental guidance) it must not contain any source of threat or explicit content. Nudity is allowed if it is natural and in a non sexual context. Mildly scary horror scenes are permitted as long as they are minimal. Behaviour shown must be positive in case of imitation by minors.

For a PG film (Can be viewed by anyone over the age of 4 but it may be unsuitable for young children) it may contain moderate violence if it is not detailed and if it is justifiable by context. Horror sequences must not last long and cannot be too intense. The sexual content must be discreet and only implied, never detailed. Potentially dangerous behaviours must not be shown incase of imitation by minors.

For a 12a film (Can be viewed freely by anyone over the age of 12, anyone under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult) it may contain moderate violence with no emphasis on the blood or gore. Sexual content  is allowed but in a brief and discreet manner.  Horror scenes are allowed in a moderate fashion. Disturbing sequences must not be prolonged. Dangerous behaviour is acceptable however it should not be shown in too much detail or appear harmless.

For a 15 film (Is not suitable for anyone under the age of 15) it may contain violence however cannot emphasise the infliction of pain or injury. Sexual violence is most likely not acceptable unless the context is acceptable. Sex is allowed in the film without major detail and strong sexual references are allowed. Strong horrific sequences are permitted however they must not have any sexual context. Dangerous behaviour must not be shown in an “easy to imitate” fashion.

For an 18 film (Is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18) it may contain any form of violence. Sex is allowed however not in a pornographic manor. Any level of horror or dangerous behaviour is permitted.

For an 18R film (Is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18) it may contain any content.

Short Film- Love Field

The film love field was cleverly used to challenge the first impressions of a viewer. Initially it seems like the man has just raped and murdered someone by the use of props i.e. bloody underwear, and camera work i.e. slow pans. However in the end the film shows a woman has just given birth to a child. The producer seemed that he wanted to challenge not only the audience’s first impression but also their stereotypical views. The man who was helping the woman was dressed in ragged clothing and was tattooed. It gave the impression that he was not a good person. I believe the target audience was any adult as they would identify and exploit the stereotypes they believe. Also only adults would really understand what was happening in the film and what was actually being implied during the main sequence. I believe it would be certified as a 12a due to the blood and disturbing nature of the film. I believe that this film piece would be shown in a film festival to showcase the directors talent. The setting is vital to this piece because the narrative would not have really implied rape if it was to happen in a town centre in daylight. The remoteness of the area makes everything seem slightly more horrific. The soundtrack is dominated by stringed instruments with high pitches to give the illusion of a horrific scene.

Short Film- Chicken a la carte

This film is beautifully done and captures the real essence of what it is like for a starving family to actually gain food, even if it is some ones thrown away left-overs. The producer wanted to show the reality of what it is like for people who struggle to get food and provide for their family. It seems that the target audience would be adults due to its message it’s trying to send. I believe this would be rated a PG as there are some upsetting scenes within the film and it does not come to a happy resolution.  I believe this film would be shown in a film festival due to the nature of the film and the message it is trying to give. Also it shows the real talent of the director showing his ability to catch the raw emotions in such a creative manor. The key characters in this film are the underprivileged family. They really give the film the emotion it needs. The chicken runner who takes the food from the bin sets the story. Once he returns back to his home the look of excitement on everyone’s face just makes you feel overwhelmed. The shots that show all the children diving into the bin really are gripping. The restaurant sets the scene and is obviously necessary for the whole story to make sense. The final scenes showing the slum just sets the mood perfectly, the decaying area really shows that the families living there are not in a very good state. The soundtrack used at he end of the film was very moving and exceptionally sad. It just adds to the emotions already coming from the camera work. 

Short Film- Spin

The film spin is all about a DJ who “plays God” using a DJ deck. The film ingeniously uses the DJ’s deck to act as life which can be altered by turning the vinyl or playing with switches. I believe the film was used to emphasise the point that every little thing that is done in life has consequences. I believe it was mainly aimed at teenagers due to the nature of the film being about God being a DJ and life being like a song on a vinyl. Primarily i believe the film was to be targeted at males in particular as it is a male dominated text piece and all females shown are generally portrayed as innocent or weak. I believe the piece would be rated as a PG as there is little violence with no emphasis on blood or gore and there are only short periods where drugs were introduced into the film. This film would be distributed at a film festival as the shot sizes were too large for an internet based production. It also uses some very clever editing techniques which would want to be shown off at a film festival. The main character that plays the DJ suits the role very nicely. The costume along with his characteristics makes him seem to be a street style DJ. The initial setting which is in an alley makes you believe that he person may be thrown out of a house in a rundown area. However the main setting which is on a street plays the perfect location for the street DJ to play. The soundtrack used is a very upbeat piece which bridges over all edits used. It gives the audience more of an impression as to what the movie is about.

Our distribution focal point and target audience

Our film will be set to appear on the internet primarily as the cause we have is focused towards a teenaged generation. We will have to keep explicit content to a minimum to keep the age rating down, however we are trying to capture the most realistic piece we can. More specifically our film will be targeted primarily to males as it shows the reality of how they act in the instance of a break up.

Final Idea

As a group we have agreed on showcasing the psychological breakdown of a male. We will be showing the torment and frustration that a male goes through after a relationship break up. To make this more appealing to a specific audience we are going to be using psychological thriller elements within our piece. it will contain a series of scenes showing the behavioural effects it has on the male, and it will end with the revelation that he has murdered the girl.

Distribution/ Target Audience

The way that we distribute our piece has a very big effect on what we film and also how we film the piece. For example a film that is dedicated to raising awareness of a cause would be more likely to appear on the internet on websites such as www.youtube.com. However this film would not be suitable for Long shots or Extreme long shots as the screen size would be too small. For a film festival the piece would try to showcase the talent of someone i.e. an upcoming actor. So it would focus more on the performance of the actor.

The audience affects the distribution method also. If the film was to be addressed to a younger generation the film is more likely to be posted on the internet. However the audience will also affect the content of the film. If the film is to shown to minors it must not contain any explicit content and would have to have certain elements that attract the audience i.e. characters, colours, costume etc.

Short film idea

We have discussed the up and coming film and have initially decided that we want to address a cause that is both common, however very unheard of. We believe that the film must have an element of surprise and also suspense to keep the audience entertained. These few ideas are still being reviewed between us and we will come up with a more detailed and accurate idea within the next week.

Overview of last year's project

Last year my group consisted of Oliver, Taiesha and Reanna. In this project we had to create a 2 minute opening sequence to a film. We based our project on a psychological thriller which was extremely exciting to us all. We all researched thoroughly into the genre so that we could get an idea as to how a psychological thriller was templated.

 We were all assigned specific jobs and I was delighted to have the roll of film editor. I learned quite a bit during the short experience I had, however I am confident that I will learn more in this oncoming project. This project will allow me to explore and use my creativity to it’s highest ability. I believe I will be able to resume this role and will be able to put the film in perfect order to produce a professional piece.

We all had input to elements such as camera angles, shots, costume, lighting etc. So that we could ensure our piece was flawless to some degree. Using the different techniques i had learned during the project i believe i gained a greater understanding as to how film language is used to address an audience. I believe the knowledge i gained from my project last year will enable me to create an even better piece this year. 

New project

Hello there, my name’s Adam and this is to be my second A level media blog. We’ve recently been briefed on our new project for the A2 media studies course. We’ve been set into groups to create a short film which is to last 5 minutes approximately. The film is to be accompanied by two other pieces of work. We can choose from;

A film poster

A film review

A radio broadcast

Before producing these we must research in detail about the chosen two and try to replicate a professional piece.