MY FIVE MINUITE SHORT FILM

EVALUATION

  1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the conventions of real media products?

After watching various short films of the same genre as the one I decided to produce, the conventions used were carefully noted and analysed as well as the kind of location and costume used in the films, I base my film on a drama genre. There are various camera shots long, mid, high and low angle shot in my short film as the ones in the short films I analysed During the production of my short film, the camera stand used wasn’t really good which made some scenes in the film unstable. Whereas all the scenes in a real media product has a stable and steady camera shot. The voice over used in the film wasn’t really good due to the type of device used in the recording the sound, causing an unclear sound.

Micro elements have been used in my films which are typical of a real media texts. The mise-en-scene was produced by unsing mise-en-shot. The camera shots  ihave used are in many different films of the same genre with the same target audience.

Wide mid-shots: it captures an atmosphere where more than one character can be seen which is used in the football match.

Extreme close up: To capture teh significance of teh item/ prop (football) to glorify teh small prop and make an illusion of it bigger that it is (low angLe are also used for this).

Extreme Long shot: Captures the environment, makes it seem personal as if audience is in teh area looking from afar (used in training ground).

Close up shot: To capture the emotion on the subject characters face (usually to signify the importance of that person or the event which had just happened) i used this in the scene where he was thinking about the advise his dad gave him.

 

2.How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

The combination of my main product and my ancillary text gave the product a higher platform of advertisement for the audience to be informed about what the film will be about. The film poster I did gives the audience an idea of the upcoming film. The boy sitting on a football tells them its about playing football and the stack of books also informs the audience it has an issue about education in the story line. After the audience has seen the film poster, they make their mind up if they want to watch the film or nor. So the film poster plays a big part of the whole product.

The Five minuite short film gives the audience an insight of what the film is about and tells the actual story. In my role as a cinematographer I ensured that the mise-en-scene was appropriate for our storyline. I created the atmosphere for the different scenes in the short film in the different locations. A home location was used in order to emphasis the effectiveness of the family life and to enhance the significance of the relationship between the main character and his dad. The lighting was bright for this scene which was used to work with the atmosphere needed. The props were of furniture and ‘everyday’ life use in the home environment. It is important to create the real life feel in order to connect effectively to the audience. To ensure that I didn’t distract the audience by the background I made sure there was no vibrant colours used to take the attention away from the subject activity. The use of costume also enhanced the set and created the correct ambience however didn’t distract the viewer.

The actors are the most dominant element in the short film. To deliver the storyline as effectively as possible I auditioned a few people interested to be a character. I wanted to make sure that they could become the character successfully. The body language of the actors was very important, because there is a monologue involved with the characters in the scenes. The way they walk, stand, comport themselves and their simple presence in the scene has a huge impact and I wanted the audience to realise this. Especially in the classroom scene where most of the classmates were working and the main character (Francis) was sleeping, their attitude and status had to become apparent to the audience through the way they concentrate on their work and their contact with other characters.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

After series of questioneer to the audience who watched my film, most of them find it reli helpful and inspirational.

Most of the audience who gave more positive response to my short film were male audience which is what i expected due to the storyline of the film and the centre character being a male. About 80% of them enjoyed and find it encouraging to strive on their future dream and have the hope that they will become what they aspire in life.

Some female audience also enjoyed the film and thought it could also help them making their own decision of thier furture, doing what they enjoy and doing everything possible to make thier dream come true.

About 60% of other female audience enjoyed the film but didnt think it has anything to do with making thier choice in life as it is mainly focused on male gender.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research planning stages?

I used google search engine to  make research on some images of film poster and magazine review.

The digital camera was used to film my media product during the production of the film produced. This form of technology can record both sound and moving images.

The blogger was used to create a profile using blog spot and all the pre- production, production, and post production was loaded in my profile on the blog. It helps in the visualisation of my whiole project all in one place which helps the examiner or the moderator to go throughj all my work nad mark it in an unstressful way.

Youtube is a very good search engine to make research on different kind of videos. I used this search engine during the pre-production of my project which is the analysis of various short films which gave me the idea of the genre i want to use for the production of my film.

Microsoft office is also a major part of my project. It is the only programme installed on my computer which has different facilities like Microsoft Word and Power point used for the production of my evaluation and some other aspect of my project.

The Photoshop is a very big aspect of my project, which i used to produce and edit my film poster. It has various functions like the abilitiy to chose a font, font size, font colour and some other features gave the film poster a more meaningful presentation along with the message the poster is passing across to the audience.

The USB was used to transfer different informations like videos, word document and music from another devices like my mobile phone and the digital camera to the computer.

The Blackberry Touch is a Telephone device with a lot of facilities. I used thid device to record soundtracks which was used in the pro- production of my film.

The internet is the most inportant aspect or my research and planning. without the internet, it would have been a very difficult task reasearching for different films and poster. Looking for DVDs of different short films would have wasted a lot of time during my research and planning p

MY FILM POSTER

MY FILM POSTER DRAFT

Some few changes were made in the final film poster

POSTER ANALYSIS

This is Tomb Raider film poster


The main purpose of a film poster is to show and inform the audience certain aspect of the film which the audience should be able to have an idea of what the film is about. A film poster should include things like USP which certain audience see and have interest in watching the film, like the name of a star or directore. There should be a release date in teh poster which tells the audience when the film is coming out. The camera shot in which the main image is shown gives the audience an idea of who or what is in control. the tagline also gives an idea of what the film is about and the billing block is also an important aspect of a film poster. The colour and image used in the poster also gives a meaning to what the film could be.

In this film poster, the main colours are the background which is partly dark blue with purple of the sea and the sky which connote it is not a good atmosphere, it also connotes danger. The splashing water show the sea is angry which gives an idea that the film has violence in it. The use of gun which is held by the main character symbolizes power and shows she is ready for action which draws attention to the audience who likes action film , knowing the game of the film.

The main character of the film is shown with the title of the film boldly written behind her which is illustrated graphically just like the way her image is shown in the game, and could amke the fans of the game think the film could be similar to  what is in teh gaem. The messages in the poster are both primarily visual and verbal. The target audience of this film will be people who play the game and also female audience because Angelina Jolie is the main character who is a female and it also shows she is in control. The techniques of USP used by the film are Lara Croft who is a star in teh film industry, Angelina Jolie who is the main character known in the game of Tomb Raider. They also used a 3D design which also draws attention to teh audience.

The facial expression and the poster of the main character shows she is confident along with the lether suit she is wearing which makes her look smart and not a usual outfit of a lady. the water splashing also connote trouble. The tagline (the cradle of life) goes along with the title of the film. This is an effective film poster becuse the main things required in a film poster are present, like the billing block, release date, USP, tagline, the use of low angle shot whic shows the main character been superior.

The are alternative readings that can be taken in case some audience cannot see the text in bold behind teh main character. The text is written on top of the billing block. The poster could be offensive to other female audience with the way teh main character is dressed which could make some female audience refer to the poster as not showing a good image of women.

FILM LOCATIONS

This is the football field used in the game where the main character was signed to be an official football player


This is the main characters house, where he lives with his parent.


This is the classroom used for filming

CAMERA SHOTS AND ANGLE

There are different camera shots in my film, such as close up shot, mid shot, long shot, high and low angle shot

TARGET AUDIENCE PROFILE

I am a 17 year old male, from london. I live with my brother. I am in my first year of college and am looking to go to university to get a degree in Architecture. I love going out especially to college with a good colour combination outfit. I enjoy listening to hip hop, grime rap and rnb. I am very opened to all genre of music. I work while im not in college. My favourite films are The transporter, Prison break and Home Alone.


I am a 18 year old female from london. I live on my own and i am a working class citizen. I am in my second year of college and am hoping to be in uni next year to get a degree in Business Law. On a normal day i wear jeggins, blazer and jenas. The sort of music i enjoy listening to is rnb and grime. My favourite movies are dude where my car

REPRESENTATION

My short film is a representation of teenagers who desires to do what they love for thier future career and not neccessarily going to university for thier dream to come true in what they want to become in life.

STORYBOARD

This is the storyboard for my short film.

SYNOPSIS/ NARRATIVE

A boy who dreams to play football struggles as his family forces him into education. This leads to disappointment for his family as the boy follows his heart and dream of bieng a professional football. Eventually, the dream pays off as he becomes a star player and signed to a big team.

GENRE

After series of research and watching different genre of films like horror, adventure, sci-fi, drama and action, i decided it is better to produce a drama based film due to the resources i have in my capability. I also had a discussion with someone i could potentially use as one of my characters in my film, and he also adviced it is better to use a drama genre because of the budget for the film.

I finally decided to use drama genre for my short five minuite film which can reach out to a very large audience who can relate to the story line to help them in their personal life due to the type of genre used.

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE/ THEORY

- A young boy plays football on the street
- His parent made him go to college which he doesn,t want to.
- He made his lack of interest obvious to his teachers
- He had a new equilibrium of now playing for an official team, which made his dream come through.

THEORY

Tzvetan Todorov- Equilibrium
All stories starts in a state of equilibrium, which is then disrupted, setting in a motion a chain of events. The resolution of the story is the creation of a new/difeerent equilibrium.
           Equilibrium- disruption- resolution/new equilibrium.

Levi Strauss- binary oppositions
Meanings, include narrative,depends on binary oppositions - he explores this in term of underlying typical themes rather than events. conflict helps drive the narrative.

          * Man vs woman
          * White vs black
          * Young vs old
          * Hero vs hillian
          * West vs east
          * Good vs bad

Robert kckee
Robert kckee has a simple 5 part structure of narrative

1.        Inciting incident
2.        Progressive complecation
3.        Crisis
4.        Climax
5.        Resolution

TARGET AUDIENCE

 

My target audience will be mostly teenagers, especially male audience and also for other audiences to learn a leasson. My target audience will be between the age of 15 - early 20s who are about to make certain decision that will determine their future.

AUDIENCE THEORY

Any form of media has to be analysed on three levels
- Production
- Text
- Audience

Therefore it is essential to refer to theories that explore the relationship between the audoence, media text and producers.
- The hypodermic syringe
This is the way audience reats to a media text, either actively or passively.

- Encoding and decodings model
 This is the way audience respond to that they see and what meaning they give to it

- Uses and gratification
 This differenciates dominant, negotiative and abberant audiences

Theory was widely known in the 1950's. Academics viewed the media is a negative way

Codes and convention (Research and Planning)

CAMERA
* Different kind of shots makes tha audience view the characters in a certain way
- close up shots gives more details of a character which is mostly used in short films
- There are other shots like low and high angle, long shots, mid shots creating certain mode in the film.

MISE-EN-SCENE
* It deals with the lightning, props, colour and some other settings in a film
* Gives an insight to the charaters social class and who they are.

EDITING SOUND
*  There are a number of other edits which all contribute to making a film interesting and varied.
- transition puts the audience from one shot to the other
- the use of montage also gives the audience different views in a fast paced shot which could really help a shot film.


SOUND
* some short films use digetic sound using dialogues, and some non digetic sound using a sound track to pass an information to the audience. 

Ideas of my film (planning)

I intended to use drama genre in my film of "CHOICE NOT TAKEN" after the ideas led to my final idea.

Short films Textual Analysis (Research)

This short film is about two office workers who likes each other and would do anything to show it.



The buildings shown which looks like a council estate at the begining of the film shows the location where the film was set, the tittle of the film was also written at the top left corner of the picture of the buildings. It was set in an office which is usually a place of work people go during the day, giving itthe lightning of a broad daylight. The day light makes everything plane and transparent.

Camera

The camera pans from right to left showing two different workin area of the office. Her facial expression was shown in a close-up shot after the man looked at her. The man sitting at his desk in a mid shot making the audience realise his reaction to the card the lady made for him and to emphasis that other workers around him are doing their work and not messing about. The film maker used a particular framming to inform the audience the man is in the toilet, showing toilet doors, and standing in front of a mirror being the only place there could be a mirror in an office,which was made known to the viewer when he looked backward at what is on the door. The use of extreme close-up shows the viewers a deeper expression of her inner feeling which is commonly seen through the eyes. A tracking shot of the lady walking through the offices gives certain information about the lady up to something.

Sound

Sound track is the only type of sound used in the film. The pace of the sound track changes at different stages to put the audience in a certain mood of thecharacters action. 

Mise-en-scene

The man wearing a suit which is a usual dressing code of a male office worker, informing the audience they are in the normal working hours.The  lady is wearing a pink leggings and a pink hair clip which shows a typical stereotype of a female. The lady used a blue cardboard which is known as a stereotypical colour for men with a pink smiley face on it which shows her emotion to the man. The cars parked close to the buildings shows they are upper class having a good job in an office and nice cars. The setting of the office tells they are a very busy company and they have a lot of work at hand to do.

Editing

The camera cuts from a close shot of the man making copies to a long shot letting the audience aware they are working next to each other. A quick cut of the lady speedily moving back to her desk after she notices the man saw the smiley face she put on his desk makes the audience know she is shocked. The camera cut audience from looking deep in her eyes to a paspective view of her turning on the light which makes it look as if she is holding a flower.

Representation

The second time she uses blue sticky papers to make a thinking symbol with a pink love inside, it is directed towards his head when it is seen from the mirror showing him she knows he has a feeling for her. Blue being a stereotypical colour for men represents the man being bigger with her love inside him represented by the pink love inbetween the blue thinking sign. different clours used like yellow, blue and pink represents passion and love.

After watching this short film, i think it is a way of expressing their feelings to each other, maybe bacause they are shy. They did every possible way they could using the resources they have with them to show their love, this tells the audience they can express their feeling in any way or form. 

Textual analysis (Research)

This short film is about a lady who did all her best to prepare for how she wouldn't be caught smoking on the aeroplane.

Camera
There is a tracking shot of the plane going into the sky which gives it a form of uniqueness. The long shot also give the audience awareness of the location of the film. A close-up shot of the lock which says "OCCUPIED" when the lady locked the door emphasises the tittle of the film itself. Everything she needed is kept and hidden in different parts of her body which is shown to the viewers in a close up shot.The mid shot of her checking the three different spots she has worked on to prevent herself from being caught showing both her facial and body reaction infoms the audience she can now have a rest of mind to relax. Her emotions was finally expressed with an extreme close-up shot of her face while she was smoking the cigerette which gave the audience a full understanging to the reason why she was going through all those processes.

Sound
Digetic sound wasn't used often in the film becaused it is mainly based on only one character, but the non digetic sound puts the audience in a state of suspence with what the character is up to using a fast passed soundtrack. The sound completely went off at some point to emphasis the importance of what he was about to do at a particular time in the clip. The soundtrack later continued which puts teh audience in a greater state of tension to what will happen next after she has cut the wires.

Mise-en-scene
The setting is in an aeroplane meaning she is flying to a city or country, this defines the social class of the character as being upper middle class. The interior of the plane where the lady was sitting has a basic decouration of a commercial section of an aeroplane. She is wearing a casual cloth which could mean she is not going on any important trip. Her underwears are both in pink which gives the audience more certainty of her feminility along with her red lipstick and her eye liner. The character smoking a cigarette shows her rebelious nature.

Editing
The montage of the lady leaving her chair going towards the toilet, and locking herself after closing the toilet door shows they want the audience to see the clip in such a way that the lady doesn't want the passangers in the plane to notice her goiong to the toilet. She doesnt want anyone to be suspicious of her action.

Representation
The lady repeatedly looking at the plan paper before cutting the wire shows her level of concentration being extremely careful not to make any mistake which could be really disasterous. All the equipments she used is hidden on every possible part all around on her body, implies she is doing something illegal and doesn't want anyone to see those things with her. The lady is going through all those  research, planning and processes just to satisfy her extreme love and passion for smoking cigarette.

This film shows the audience women can do anything they can to get what they want even with their feminility. This also shows people can go to any extent to get whatever they want no matter what they it will take that.

Short films Textual Analysis (Research)

This short film is about an office worker working over the night who unexpectedly discovers what could be the fortune of his life, but he ruined it all with greed. 

The tittle of the film is a white text going into a circle from a black background which represents the black hole. The setting of the film shows it is in an office which looks neat and tidy, the work place is in a good order with the things they use like chairs, computers, table lamps etc. This also imforms the audience the type of people working in the office, being neat and organised.

The office worker facial expression and him kicking the photocopier with his feet shows he could be unhappy with his job. This could probably be because of the time he is working or because he is working in isolation. The way he is dressed with his first button undone and his tie loose shows it is not in the normal working hours. The clock on the wall also says 3:00.

The dull lightning used shows an unusual setting of an office which puts the audience in a sense of suspence of what could happen at that time of the night in an office. Digetic sound is the only type of sound used in this film, this makes the audience have a full sense of what is happening in the clip.

The use of mid shot keeps the audience aware of the surrounding. Extreme close-up is also used to emphasis how he is feeling about what is going on and how his emotion changes, The camera zooming towards the door puts the viewer in suspence of what is behind the closed door and also shows his attention was drawn to it. The close shot of him operating the photocopier with anger and kicking it shows his fraustration,The man drinkin from the cup shown from a low angle shot represents the black hole.

Fast cut shot is used when the man is taking the money out of the safe. The mans whole reaction to the situation which he finds fimself and being in an unhappy state, represent the situation some office worker find themselves and his grid led him to what he finds himself.