Evaluation

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

The main impact that new media technologies has had on our project is the use of the internet . For our research and planning we were able to quickly assess who our target audience was and examples of similar media texts on sites such as Youtube and Fastpasstv, peekvid and so on. it became very easy to watch these films through the click of the button whereas before relying on television etc. We were also able to gather the opinions from our audience by reading some of the comments that can be left this gave us clear views on what our audience liked and what they disliked.



This is a slideshow we did on Photo-bucket and this is to just advertise ourselves on our blog and to also show our time plan. The time plan which we made in Toms Planner. The internet also helped us with storyboarding as we have used our draft filming to make screen shots to show people an idea of what we would like to do in the short film. In doing this we were also able to show the more detailed mise en scene for our film in the storyboarding. During our research and planning we realized that we needed to utilise the social networking sites like Facebook to reach out to a broader audience.










Within the production of our work, we used the Mac computers to edit our video. This device has helped us so much in our development of this film. We have been able to correct parts that were not in sync, we have brightened up parts which were making the video look dull, we have also added effects which make the audience not realize its a film. For our ancillary tasks we used Adobe Photoshop also on the Mac computers. This really demonstrates the power of technology because in one machine you find so many devices to help with the production of your media text. I used photoshop to do the film review and I was very proud of it because there was no limitations to what I could put on the page. I could use the brush to brush off anything i didn't like, I could add more pictures and even edit them to fit my plans.


The biggest benefit that new media technologies had within our work was being able to present it all clearly on a blog. Sites such as Scribd allowed to embed our work (which was saved as Word documents and Powerpoints) onto our blog neatly and efficiently. This was especially helpful in presenting audience feedback results which we were able to present as graphs. We were also able to gain audience feedback using our Facebook group page as well as uploading all our work for everyone to see, giving us the opportunity to have our work be seen by market that we wanted.

Evaluation

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The use of Web 2.0 within our product has been very beneficial in gaining accurate audience feedback. As well as going about audience feedback in the more traditional ways such as questionnaires, interviews and viewing sessions we've also posted our short film and ancillary tasks on the Front Room Films Facebook group page and also on Youtube.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Here you can see a screen cap of our Facebook group.
The main response from everyone has been surprisingly positive, the reaction we were hoping for really came out as our teachers really seen the humour we were trying to show as we were not very sure if they would pick it up. One of our teachers also complimented on the speed of the editing in a small part in our film as it's extremely fast paced to show an effectively that the actor is bored. We were also very fortunate to have thought about making a twitter page because it also helped us get the word out and to get people following us and seeing our progress.


When analysing the results from our questionnaire we can see the most people thought our short film was good and a few people thought our narrative was stronger than our performance which is a very good thing. We can also see that the majority of people thought that our short film was appropriate to the genre. We've also found out that 20% of our audience thought the genre of the short film was not clear enough something if we had more time we could rectify, but majority people realized the genre very quickly which is very pleasing.




This is a screen shot of our youtube page in which we uploaded our video and we have a few subscribers. It seems that we had a mixture of comments as some people thought it lacked depth, other people loved it. We liked that we were given creative criticism.









How would you rate our short film out of 5?
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 2
4 - 4
5 - 14

How would you rate the performance out of 5?
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 0
4 - 6
5- 14

How would you rate the narrative out of 5?
1 - 0
2 - 0
3 - 4
4 - 6
5 - 10

Is the narrative relatively easy to follow?
Yes - 13
No - 4
Don't know - 3

Does our video look like a typical comedy short film?
Yes - 13
No - 7

Have we used a variety of different shot types?
Yes - 16
No - 4

Is the editing at a standard where meaning is apparent?
Yes - 15
No - 5

Evaluation

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

We have gone through a long year and its definitely not been easy and developing ideas has also been a very difficult thing to do. I would say that our short film has much relation to the film poster and the review page, looking at existing promotional packages this is particularly common in the film industry. The film, film poster and the review page all connect layout wise because we see that in every one of those products we put a clock in the layout. It has become sort of a logo or something viewers would remember the film by. In the film it also has a comic flow to it as it demonstrates how bored the main actor is as he keeps looking at the clock. The film poster shows a photo of the main actor looking towards the clock. The review page shows the name of the page next to the clock so it all connects together.




Our short film is definitely not the brightest around. It has a very depressive feel to it which makes it fitting that our film poster is black and white and the background of our film review is grey. has a sort of lonely, isolated feeling in the way it's very gloomy but comic at the same time. I think they are all effective together because they connect in a way the audience would notice that "this review is about this film" without seeing the text.

Evaluation

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

To make any successful short film you need to know how to incorporate at least one of these elements of conventions. In our group's case I think we had all three elements to help us with our short film production and pre-production.


The Black Hole:

Black Hole is a great short film and we decided to challenge the message of the film and turn it into something different. The Black Hole's message was about greed but we channelled our message to show that "there will always be someone bigger than you" which in a way is a common convention in the film industry. I cannot say that this film had a large amount of conventions which are common in the industry but the ideas we gathered helped us a lot in planning stages. We also did not develop any of the conventions from the film. The message of the film was what appealed to us the most before we started the production journey.


New Boy:

This is probably the short film we used the most conventions from. We used conventions from this short film because when we were developing our ideas we decided to move on to another message consisting of bullying. In our ancillary task mis en scene was our main priority and we used the classroom setting as shown in New boy and we developed the bullying into physical instead of mental. In our final product we used very effective shots we seen in the New Boy, shots like the 'over the shoulder shot' are very effective in making the audience see what you see and also show some of the emotion being portrayed.



The Bullying Effect:

This is very similar to New boy mis en scene wise. When we were developing our ideas we came across The Bullying Effect. The name of the film is a clear indication of the message. The shots used in this short film made the main actor seem more segregated amongst the class. shots consisted of 'close ups', 'over the shoulder shots showing kids laughing behind her. They are all very creative shots but we decided to challenge the conventions and channel our thoughts to a more comic delivery, so we made sure the shots we used gave a sense of humour to the audience. We used a very effective camera pan movement when the first person walks in signifying that there was no reason for him to sit next to the main actor when there is so many seats still there. A very uncommon convention in the film industry as the characters are usually introduced straight away. We also used the point of view shot for the audience to see what the main actor saw. We used this convention as a lot of hollywood films use this convention for intensity.
Before we had made our decision we had been very stuck on what non-diegetic music to use and the Bullying effect seemed to have straight forward, powerful music which we thought to use. 'Let the drummer kick that' has very powerful lyrics which would be very good in getting an emotional side to the audience out but as we went on, it became apparent to us that using this convention would drain the comedy we wanted to show in the short film so I decided to make an original in Garage band.


The Waiting Room: This is the start of our film and we decided to use the wall to lead it into the reveal shot. A convention which is not very common but worked for our short film. The convention however is very common in the music industry. I think it is a very great way of starting the short film because of the mystery. Another convention used in this clip is the non-diegetic music. Most films start with their soundtracks so that people have something to remember them with. Its always catchy and repetitive and I feel that ours meets the criteria.

This is a very common reveal shot which we used after looking at a film called Training Day. Its common in the film industry as it gathers up mystery for the audience, makes them wonder what will be happening. It is most important at the start of films because the audience can almost predict the rest of the story from the start so it has to be very clear. I can say that we used this convention to make our short film more professional and less realistic as possible.

In this scene we challenged the point of view shot so common in the film industry. We opted for this shot so that the audience can also see the actors face as well as where he is looking.











I personally really like this camera movement as we pan around his legs as he walks and the camera slowly tilts up. A shot I think should be more common than it is in the film industry. It has the same effect as the reveal shot because it creates mystery.










The close up is probably the most common of our used conventions as it shows people the emotion of the actor and also allows people to pick up what the actor is saying with their body language. The close up we used so that the audience can realized that the actor was confused why the man came and sat with him with all the other chairs free.









Here we did a pan movement on the chairs for comical reasons and this we challenged as usually in the film industry they put dialogue to show a comical effect but we just used the shots which we thought would work and they have.

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We have used a pillar as the background of our first credits because we thought it would be a creative way to start the film. This is where we introduce the name of the film. I like this shot because it leads onto a panning reveal shot to the beginning of the film.

GarageBand

I decided to use GarageBand in our short film because it is quick and easy to use. I new that I have to put strings and something that'll support the mood on the screen (Contripuntal). I have also added some acoustic guitar to it which will give it more depth in my opinion because it has the effect of making people think more into the story. The main focus is not on the music but it makes a difference when giving the audience an insight in the genre of the film.

Credits:
For the credits I have decided to use a simple drum beat to end it. I got this idea from watching some short reviews on youtube and its a really good way to end something on a high.

Film Poster Final

We have decided to change the picture of the poster to the smaller actor looking up at the taller actor to give a direct message already through the poster. Its also a very strong indication of representation which is always that the taller male usually is represented as the bully on the smaller one. I have used conventions from a magazine called The Empire. A review page of Casino royale gave me a lot of ideas for our Film Poster, especially with the title of the page.

Finishing Product

We have showed our final video of the short film to the media teachers. They seemed to respond very well to it which I was really happy about. We also got some feedback from them which is very helpful on our Post-production. We realize that we can add another scene to it which can give it a humorous effect to end with. The ending would show the message of the film through humor and it will be great way to end the film. The first person on camera comes back to take the good magazine from the tallest man on camera.

Short Film

We have looked at several short films in class. Films like Black Hole, Shelf life, Shit happens, The Bullying effect and so on.

Shelf life shows a man undergoing a series of safety procedures before beginning to drill into his wall, a certificate that we see shows he is a health and safety officer and has been rewarded for his accomplishments.
Once the man begins to drill into the wall, we see another shot of an elderly man, his face drops and he falls as we notice his head has been penetrated by the safety mans drill. The credits roll and we see the man continuing to drill a series of holes. The film then ends.

The reason i chose to analyse this film is because of the unseen twist that happens towards the end, where the elderly man is killed. The twist really draws your attention into the film more, as it is very unexpected. What makes this so intriguing is the way the main character is set out to be very safety conscious, this leads us to believe he has taken every precaution and that the foreseeable events will run very smoothly, this is then completely changed as wee see the character accidentally kill a man, and not even know he has done it.
This adds a very comical yet cynical feel to the film and makes it very enjoyable to watch.

This short film is about mundane everyday things, and a lot of emphasis is shown on these simple everyday tasks, this links the short film to the one we were planning on making, as in the one we are planning on making would also emphasis everyday tasks that everyday people would undertake. Although in our short film it is going to give the viewer a view of the life of a standard person, with no twist, the short film we watched is still relevant for the fact of it being about everyday thing

FiLm PoStEr

we have been getting some ideas from the internet on our short film poster. We've realized that it needs to have an edge to it which draws in the audience. A certain bubbly but mysterious way of portraying the message of the movie through the poster. As for now we have not yet put the finishing touches to it but its at a stage where we can modify and polish it. It definitely needs colours which are dim but at the same time stand out. We have print screened a clip of a male with a sad face looking towards something the audience cannot see. This being the background we have put a diagonal box going through the poster for the name of the film, credits and so on.

SoLuTiOnS

For every problem there is a solution and we have been able to find a solution to all the problems we've had. We decided to keep our filming clothes at the school so then whenever we get to film we're ready for it. We had to look for taller and taller people and we have found all of them so thats something to be happy about. We have done most of our filming if not, all of our filming. The editing has been our strongest point. We have been doing really well with our continuity editing, match on action and we are always looking for the simple and effective editing.

FiLmInG PrObLeMs

We have had a lot of problems during our filming and most of them to do with continuity. Continuity is a form of editing and we had problems getting everything precise. One of the main things which we needed, to make the film ascend with a flow was clothing. We had to remember all the time that we have to bring the same clothing every lesson and we would sometimes forget and that became a big problem because we would lose valuable filming time.

We also had problems on thinking about a location to film. What was needed was a location which we know we can use all the time. We found a location in the end which is right next to the class and we can always get advise from teachers which is always good.

A major problem we have had recently is getting people which are taller than Tom. We have been searching for a long time and it has become a serious problem for us. I think we should start being more assertive and organized before we get to lessons. Problems will always be there for us but I think that we will have a really good project at the end.

EdItInG

I have started to learn more and more stuff on the Macs. Most of the things i have learnt are mainly to do with editing. The macs are so much easier to use and faster. I have learnt how to do fades and i can utilize them at the right time. We have used fades in our short film when we show clocks. I like the effect of fades because it never takes the audience's attention away and makes them believe that we are going to a different timing or place. We have cut our film from a long 3:48 to 2:23 minutes and this is a good thing because it gives us room to do some more filming and we will be filming quite a lot so we also have to make time for editing.

FiLmInG

Filming has gone so well for us so far and we have gotten footage of about 2:40 secs which is really good at this stage. We know now what and who we need to film so thats what we need to start planning our time upon. I think that after we are done filming the hardest thing for us to do will be to put some music for the start of the short film. Different elements need to be thought about when doing a short film:

- How will we manage our time?
Managing time is a very hard thing to do and even when we did our gantt chart, some of the things we wanted to have done by then couldn't be done because we were either missing someone or we couldn't accumulate the space and sometimes we lacked resources. I think that we should start to book our spaces in advance and we need to also be prepared with resources all the time.
- How much resources will we need?
We will need a lot of resources and they are mainly things like cameras, tripod, a lot of what we needed involved electronics. We need resources that will always be there when we need them. The editing is so much easier this year than it was last year because this time we have access to the mac computers which are so much faster and easier whereas the ones we used last year were always being used and you couldn't find any time to do some editing.

Filming is a hard thing to do and the only way we will get our short film to become noticeable and to stand out is to do as many effective shots as possible.

Today's Lesson

Today's Lesson we are starting off by doing some practical work. We will be filming the other half of our short film, We will be filming Matt and we are hoping that Josh is in later so we can film him aswell. We are hoping to achieve a well illostrated and orchastrated short film which is pleasing to the eye and to do this we have to make sure that every shot we do will be benefitial for the next one. I hope that by the end of the day we would have finished most of our final draft.

Later on in the lesson we will be doing some exam preparation which we all desperately need. The exam prep is so we can be ready for our exam in January. We were given a task of doing an essay and the question for that essay is "Discuss the extent to which the Distribution and Consumption of media have been transformed by the internet. This task will help us to think of all the aspects in which things like Web 2.0, Social networking etc have helped people to distribute their films especially independently based films.

Today's Lesson

Today's Lesson we will be starting our ancillary task. We will also be doing a lot of the editing. We want to make the shots we have so far to link and then we will put some effects and fades to make it more like a professional film. This lesson should be good for us so we can establish our audience and to also establish to the audience what we're about. From the clips we have got so far we should be finishing the editing today but obviously not polished yet.

Last Lesson

Last week we did a little bit of filming for the start of the short film. We wanted to show the contrast between two delinquite factors so that we preserve the characters to the audience.

Today's Lesson

Today we became much more sure with our Idea and we know what we want to do. Now we are starting to think about the type of shots we want for different scenes. We've taken some pictures with me in them and sort of a photogenic storyboard which shows the sequenced shot projection. Today's Lesson prepared us for filming next lesson and its getting us ready to get even more ideas for the future. We want to send a message through our short film and I think we have the right shots to do so.

Initial Idea

Setting
Different classes throughout the school
1. Cabot eye building
2. ICT Room
3. A-wing Room
4. Another Room

Actors
1. Joab
2. Luke
3. Sam
4. Tall Teacher

Music
Let The Drummer Kick

Story
Joab is sitting in a classroom and Luke is bullying him buy pushing his things of the desk, then we cut to another room where Luke is getting bullied buy a slightly taller person (sam). We could then move to another classroom or the canteen and show Sam getting bullied buy the tall teacher.

Our film Shows how there is always going to be someone bigger and better than you. We will use pull focus to highlight the person we are concentrating on in the particular scene. All scenes will be shot in a school environment because this is easy available to us. We will also only be using one actor outside of our class to male it easy for us to get filiming.

Theme tune for Short Film

We want to use part of this song in our short film. Especially when the singing comes in because it really builds up a lot of tension plus its a really good song to show sadness or to use at depressive moments. When I'm being filmed after being bullied, thats when we want to incorporate the song because it not only allows us time to show some effective shots but it also gives the audience an opportunity to see the emotion of the film. Most of the shots during this will be of me walking consisting of high angle shots, establishing shots, close ups to keep with the main actor.