In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Short films are usually more challenging and controversial then full cinematic films firstly because anyone these days can make a short film, so there for more opinions, theories and ideologies are going to be put forward through peoples work.
Secondly because short films are usually a whole story in a short amount of time they can put across a meaning or a moral to a story in a quick amount time, meaning the viewer of the piece does not drift away.
Thirdly short films don't have to go along with usual tastes and practices that you would find in a long film, this is because the creators of short films are not out to be making money, so therefor aren't complying with popular culture and taste within film, which would normally bring in high revenue, instead the intentions of creating a short film are to send a message, therefore that is why short films often have hidden meanings behind them.
Before creating our short film we had to plan and research into what genre our short film was to have, we chose to focus on a physiological thriller which is a interesting sector to research and analyse as the genre has been approached in so many different ways.
When producing a short film we thought it would be best to be creative and original, by thinking outside the box at different ways of putting forward to the audience different ways of working out that the character has psychological problems before a gruesome ending, this would help keep the audience engaged in the film as they work out the nature of the character.
Within most short films the changing point within the plot is signaled by a change in the main characters personality, this is shown in our short film where the character begins to have odd feelings,emotions and urges that make him act differently, this signals to the audience that not everything is quite normal and that there soon to be changing events within the story line.
The last element of our short film that we had to think about when sculpturing our final production plan was the time period within the story line.
Through research I have come to analysis that all short films (but a rare few) all have short time periods normally within a day or two, many of the short films that I have seen share the same time period as the actual length of the short film.
To keep with this practice used in short films, we made our story line time period two days two nights, this could have been made shorter but wee wanted to show two dreams, to show the significance of the first dream in comparison with the second.
Although short films can be the most challenging media products towards traditional media conventions, they also share many common features that are used widely in the creation of media products.
Here are 9 shots from several short films that show common media conventions:
Shot 1
Its common in filming short films that objects of relevance to the media text and to the narrative of the film are focused on making it clear to the viewer that the object is going to hold certain significance within the film. Within in thrillers objects such as knifes, answering machines or a ringing phone are effective tools in creating tension and unease.
Here is a shot of our character stroking a knife, this is relevant as its one of the first signs that our character is not mentally stable.
Shot 2
The second shot is an extreme close up, this is used in many media texts to bring across the characters feelings and emotions, this is commonly shown by the characters facial expression and eye movement. This can be effective within a thriller genre, as we can show a character as being evil or not mentally stable through the use of there eyes e.g. having shifty eyes.
This is an extreme close up of our characters eyes looking shifty, showing the audience that he is tense, which in return puts the audience in a tense feeling.
Shot 3
Shot 3 is an establishing shot commonly used at the beginning of media texts or at the beginning of scenes within a new location, it is used to show the audience the sort of climate/ surroundings in which the characters are within, their commonly used on famous locations or buildings e.g. The Eiffel tower to show the viewer that the scene is set in Paris, France. For a thriller this can be useful when showing a murder scene or a dark, Gothic location, this is usually supported with tense thrilling music.
This is a shot used at the beginning of our shot film, its an establishing shot used to show that the day is turning into night.
shot 4
Shot 4 is of a flash back/dream a technique used to provide the viewer information about the present character or situation. They are often shot in different contrast or lighting to make it clear to the audience that what is being filmed is not present to the film. This is used to good effect in thrillers, as we are usually shown flash backs, often from the characters childhood or early adult years, which gives the audience further understanding as to why the mentally unstable character has turned out the way they are.
This is a shot from the first dream, showing our characters partner looking scared, this gives an indication to the audience that she could be harmed later on in the story.
Shot 5
Here we have a POV shot (Point Of View) this is used to show the viewer the current scenario through a characters eyes, this can make the audience feel more apart of the scene as if they are the character themselves, this is a successful technique when trying to make the audience become involved in the media text. In a thriller this can be useful when showing a murder taking place or putting across the characters mental state, maybe through illusions, or showing the effects of a drug etc
This is a POV (point of view) shot of our main character finding out that his dream where he kills his partner was actually reality.
Shot 6
This is a shot on action, this is usually shown by pointing the cameras view towards an object of some sort (door handle) then viewing the character reaching to grab it, and perform whatever function it has, this is useful when creating tension in a scene. For a thriller this can be useful when showing a killer picking up a weapon or reaching there arm out to stroke a victims face. Common techniques used when putting across to an audience that the character is not mentally stable.
This is a shot on action taken from our short film.
Shot 7
Here we have a shot where the audience attention is first brought to girl in the mirror, however it takes a second glance for the viewer to realise the man in the background, often this background charachter is relevant to the story, this provides mystery and maskes the viewer think about the situatuion more throughly, this is effective in making the viewer interact more with the media text. This technique is used in thrillers to reveal a shocking bit of information or to alert the audience of another persons presence when the other character does not know.
This is a shot from our short film revealing to the audience that our main character has killed his partner, at this stage he does not know this himself. This shot is effective because at first our eyes are drawn to the main character on the left but are shortly fixed on the dead body laying in the bath on the right.
Shot 9
Here we have a slanted shot this is commonly used to make the audience feel disorientated and confused as to what is to happen, this is commonly used in thrillers and horrors to give the audience a sense of unease and uncertainty as to what is about to happen.
Here we have a shot taken from our short film of our main character standing over his partners corpse, at this stage himself and the audience believe this is a dream.
Ancillary task
Conventions that I had to consider when making a film poster:
Layout is important, as is positioning in the development of a film poster. This includes juxtification, text positioning; the layout needs to be eye catching and clear and so it is easy to pick out important information.
Image is key in the targetting of an audience and the portrayal of the film and its subject. Generally, the image used on film posters is not an actual shot from the film, and is staged but with all the elements that the film portrays.
The title is a key feature and the convention is that they are larger than all the other text in order to stand out and also that the represent the theme of the film.
Colours are important but they must match the theme of the film, much like the title.
Reviews are also very important becuase they give professional opinions of the film and can influence an audience as to whether they want to go and see it. The convention is that there should be a star rating on the poster and also that the reviews should be from professinal sources.
Credits/Legal requirements are another convention that is now impossible not to include on a film poster.
Actors names on film posters are always included, much like the reviews, as they will influence an audience and attract an audience.
Taglines show the genre of the film, or atleast re-enforce it, and also give the actors more credit.
Rewards and sponsors are also important in showing the acclamation of the film.
Logos show the production company and the previous acclamations from that company.
A website is a good way of publicising the film, and getting it's name out there.
Release dates are a convention and a neccessity of a film poster in order to get it out there and get an audience interested.
Final Poster
After several draft copies this is our final draft and design of our poster for our short film.
Layout
Firstly, when planning out my layout for the poster I thought about the size of the main title and the surrounding text. I positioned the main title in big font to the right of the main focus. This is so that the main title imdediatley has the viewers attention.
I then positioned the supporting text around the outside of the poster in the darker shadowing of the photo, this is so the text is easily readable and does not block the main focus of the poster.
Image
We chose the image we have here because of he positioning of the two characters, the lighting used is effective as it becomes lighter as we meet the center point of the image, this helps to focus on the female character, showing signs of fear.
We also positioned the knife carefully so that the shadow of the knife is shown on the wall in the right corner above the female character, this is to give the image a more dark, evil and sinister look to it.
Title
The main title " Sleep Tight" has been placed in big font so that it stands out the most on the poster, this is because the title is the most important factor when attracting an audience.
The name of the title was also carefully developed so that there is relevance in the meaning of it, sleep tight was used because within the film there are two bedtime scenes and two dreams one of which is in fact reality.
This title is effective because when we hear the phrase sleep tight, we think of it in a positive way, e.g. something a mother would say to there child when sending them to bed, when in fact its a connotation of something bad.
Colours
The use of color in our poster is also effective especially in our text as we have some text in white and then some in red.
The text that is in red is relevant as points out important information on the poster, in this case it highlights the actors, release date, and most importantly relevant words that can be easily linked to the film.
Reviews
A review is now seen as an important convention when creating a poster, as a viewing audience would be more intrigued to watch the film if it has a good review.
A star rating is what usually classifies weather a film is good or not, but quotations from magazine reviews also help to support a film.
Tag line
Our tagline holds significant meaning in relation to the film, as Restless Mind is referring to someone who is not mentally fit/stable, whilst a Restless Pillow refers to the dreadful acts that fall after the characters have gone to bed.
Final Review
Conventions I had to consider when creating my review
Image
We chose this image because we believe that the glaring eyes, give a sense of mystery.
Also the choice of shadowing is effective as it implies goodness over evil, light vs dark, this gives the viewer an indication that the character can be normal,kind and pleasant. Or there mind can mess with them making them physiologically unwell turning to violence and other evil ways.
Layout
The layout we've used is copying that of "Little White Lies" a high educated film magazine, for this we have image at the top followed by tittle underneath. Below this we have the review leaving a bit of space in the right corner.
This space in the right lower corner is a few reviews and a rating out of five.
How effect is the combination of your main product and your ancillary tasks?
Here is a video explaining how effective the combination of my short film is with my poster and review:
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Target Audience
Audience feedback is extremely important when creating a media film as it helps you acknowledged, the correct target audience in which you are suppose to pursue as well as helps you improve the short film by changing parts that are heavily criticized.
Without the support of a key target audience its extremely difficult to promote your film as there is no initialinterest in the film as its unknown to viewers.
Genre is a huge part of forming a target audience as specific genres are tied in with particular sex's and age groups e.g. a romance would aim to attract a female target audience.
Our choice of genre was a physiological thriller which would be aiming for a target audience aged around 16-25 years old, we would also expect more that a higher proportion of our viewing audience would be male.
Feedback
To gain our feedback we created a questionnaire asking specific questions on our short film.
This we gave to twenty people to fill out so that we could gain a wide range of answers giving us a better understanding of which parts of the short film were positive and which part were negative when attracting a viewing audience.
We were also able to assess what common contexts within a physiological thriller attracted the audience to further watch the film, giving us an idea of weather viewers prefer traditional and predictable aspects of a thriller or whether they react more to new techniques.
Here is a copy of the questionnaire we sent out:
Here I have a table showing the results of the questionnaire:
How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?
The prezi would not upload onto the blog, so instead I have placed this link to it on the prezi website, again this is due to technical difficulties.
In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Short films often include the most controversial, and original techniques and subjects within the film industry as a whole. I feel the reasons for this are diverse, but the most important ones being that the creativity needed to complete a whole storyline with detail and impact is a challenge in a short amount of time, and with a restricted time frame. Another important reason I feel is the less mainstream nature of short film, and the lesser impact they seem to have than feature length film; more controversial subjects are explored in order to grab attention that short films seem to lack.
Before we even considered producing our short film we had to do research into current short films, and look into the different conventions of certain genres. We had already decided upon the psychological thriller genre for our short film, and this was an interesting area to research. The importance of short film that we discovered through our research is that there are no limits, and we found this integral in the planning of our film. Originality and creativity I feel are the key to short film, and this was the aim eventually to our short film, whether we acheived this or not.
Classically, thriller short films have a reveal or a surprise that the audience cannot see coming and typically the beginning and the end are very different in style and feel. Through a diverse range of mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound the genre is created, and this was an important piece of research that I found through watching current short film of this genre. Another importance of the thriller genre in short film is the disguising of character, and the limiting of the knowledge to audience or characters alike. This was a very crutial element of our short film as it turned out and I feel the very most importance piece of knowledge that I learned from the research completed prior to our project.
These are examples of shots from our short film in which we restrict the audience's knowledge of identity:
In regard to genre, short films are often hybrid in format, mainly due to the time limit, but also due to the controversial nature of short films and the vast subjects they cover a hybrid style genre format seems to work effectively. This is clear in the short film The Black Hole, as an ordinary man with an ordinary life experiences something out of his usual sphere of experience. This is an aspect of genre and narrative structure that I wanted to pick up on in our film, and our plot reflects this as the ordinary man experiences urges and feelings that he is not used to, and cannot control; this shows the inversion of personality, which is an aspect of our film that interests me greatly, and I feel is a huge strength in connection with the convention of genre and subject diversity in short film.
When it comes to narrative conventions within short film, there are many aspects that have become common. The initial idea that a short film is set over a short period of time seems to be a common element. During our research I found it hard (almost impossible) to find an example of a short film that was set in a longer period than that of a couple of days or less. For example, Signs appears to be set over the space or a week or so, which in terms of short film is a long period of time. More common are films set over a period of a couple of days or even less, some even only the same period of time as the film lasts; examples of this are The Girl with the Yellow Stockings, Love Field, and Sacrifice which all have a parallel structure of editing. This was then a convention that we picked up upon, and in order to be true to this we set our short film over a period of 2 days and 2 nights, so as not to break the rule of convention, but also to fit the time frame available to us whilst still exploring our idea and plot to the full.
The characterisation of characters through camerawork and mise en scene is crucial in short film as there is not a great deal of time to convey feelings and opinion so facial expressions and the shots of these are an effective way of communicating a character's feelings. We used close ups to show this:
These are some close up examples from other short films:
Quick shots, close ups and blurring to create a sense of disillusion
Flashbacks or visions seen by a particular character
Black and white to show difference in time or place
A vunerable female protagonist
A dark mysterious male antagonist
Everyday locations turned sinister through character or situation
In many ways our film is predictable, but this was an element that I noticed was common in the short film thriller genre; the way this is shown in our short film is very similar to other films of the genre, as we include the same stereotypical characters and suggestions.
Though they are very different in style as it is a feature length film, I feel that 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock was my main inspiration for our short film, though it is not a short film, the sequence in which the woman is stabbed in the shower (or suggestedly stabbed) gave me huge inspiration in the creation of our death scenes, the bathroom element of our film and also the characterisation of the female character within our film. I feel that within the genre, bathrooms, and the idea of the danger of them juxtaposed with the innocence of their purpose is an interesting element that I wanted to introduce to our piece. I think that in our film the bathroom becomes a symbol of a conventional, ordinary realtionship, but also the location of the destruction of the relationship, and the destruction of normality and I think that it's an important motif that we created.
This is snapshot of shots from 'Psycho' that I feel shows what I mean regarding the inspiration I found in this specific sequence.
Image one
This medium close up shows the everyday nature of the mise en scene, before the abnormality of the situation as it develops. Her sitting at the desk is a very classic image of a woman. She is presented as very elegant through her costume of a silk dressing gown, and also her relaxed blonde curls (Marilyn Monroe style).
Image two
This medium close up again depicts a mundane environment, and a very relateable situation, that increases the tension as the audience can relate to the situation as what the woman is doing. This was something I tried to create in our short film, and was a key reason for the casting of our characters and the location.
Image three
The close up of the woman's legs was very important in our film, as it showed me the power of the close up, and the importance of it within thriller film. I also feel that the mere suggestion of what is happening is a very important lesson that this sequence taught me.
Image four
Again, a mundance and relateable situation shown by this medium shot; this impacts the audience, as sound and image do not match through contrapuntal sound, which creates tension and was something really influential within our film.
Image five
As the tension and suspense comes to a head, a shadow of the antagonist appears behind the woman in a medium shot. This is an instance of the audience knowing more than the character, which creates huge tension and was something that we contiuned in our film. This also combines the everyday and the abnormality.
Image Six
(as above); the close up of the shadown increases tension.
Image Seven
The close up of the man holding the knife is the beginning of the suggestion of the woman's stabbing; knives are a clear signifier of death, and this image became important in our film as the image of the man holding the knife in conjunction with the woman became key in the presentation of both characters.
Image Eight
The last image in the sequence is a medium close up which shows the man stabbing the woman, and the suggestion of her death. The confusion of the shot is a clear example of the convention of close ups, and the importance of suggestion within thriller films which we took on.
This next sequence of shots shows how we used this research in our film:
Image one
This is the first shot of in our short film, and this medium close up uses a convention of thriller that Psycho does not; the use of a mirror here is very effective I feel and uses a convention that is considered typical of the thriller genre of using a mirror to show that there are alterior motives and multiple identitys to characters. This shot shows the mundane everyday nature of the relationship in question that becomes the subject of our film, very much like the relateable everyday mise en scene in 'Psycho' that we have tried to recreate in our film.
Image two
This is another example from our film that shows a medium shot of an everyday situation becoming sinister as the man takes a knife to cut sandwiches and ends up mesmoirsed and transfixed by the fact that in his hands he has this knife. This is also an example of what I mentioned earlier of the image of a knife becoming a signifier of death and danger in 'Psycho', as it does in our film. The same knife is used throughout to show this other side of our character's personality.
Image three
This third shot is very similar to the first medium shot but includes both the male and female characters; the importance of this shot is that its shows them sharing the everyday task of brushing their teeth, and in turn shows the normality of their relationship which is thrown into harsh realisation in the following scenes. This is similar to the beginning of the 'Psycho' as the woman goes about her daily tasks such as writing a letter, and having shower, unaware of the fate that is set for her later in the film. An importance of these shots in our film that again echoes that of 'Psycho' is the contrapuntal sound in both that doesnt match the image seen and creates tension.
Image four
The shot of the man and the woman in bed togther is yet another example of them going about everyday tasks, which only emphasises the later events and the violence that follows in contrast to this image.
Image five
This is one of the first shots that shows the male character's split personality, and the consequences of this on the female protagonist. This shot is very effective I feel due to the flickering nature of the knife above the woman's head which fits the convention of a thriller as decpetive and compelling.
Image six
This shot shows the inversion of the earlier scenes of the couple brushing their teeth as it shows the character's unstability and the difference between the two sequences though they are connected through the soundtrack similar to that of 'Psycho'. It is also similar that the audience are in a position of authority over the characters as we know more.
Image seven
This shot again shows the inversion of the everyday situation in our film, into a thriller situation, showing the convention of the genre to make a relateable situation sinister in order to create suspense.
Image eight
This shot is classic to the thriller genre as it shows the audience's superioirity to the characters as we can see both sides of the wall, and so we can see the whole picture. We are in the position of power as we can see the unaware man, who doesn't know what hes done, look for the woman, who he has killed and is in the bath. We can foreshadow what is going to happen, and so the convention is completed.
Ancillary tasks
After we produced our short film we had to make a film poster for this film, and a review in the house style of the 'Little White Lies' magazine.
Conventions that I had to consider when making a film poster:
Layout is important, as is positioning in the development of a film poster. This includes juxtification, text positioning; the layout needs to be eye catching and clear and so it is easy to pick out important information.
Image is key in the targetting of an audience and the portrayal of the film and its subject. Generally, the image used on film posters is not an actual shot from the film, and is staged but with all the elements that the film portrays.
The title is a key feature and the convention is that they are larger than all the other text in order to stand out and also that the represent the theme of the film.
Coloursare important but they must match the theme of the film, much like the title.
Reviews are also very important because they give professional opinions of the film and can influence an audience as to whether they want to go and see it. The convention is that there should be a star rating on the poster and also that the reviews should be from professional sources.
Credits/Legal requirements are another convention that is now impossible not to include on a film poster.
Actors names on film posters are always included, much like the reviews, as they will influence an audience and attract an audience.
Taglines show the genre of the film, or atleast re-enforce it, and also give the actors more credit.
Rewards and sponsors are also important in showing the acclamation of the film.
Logos show the production company and the previous acclamations from that company.
A website is an effective way of publicising the film, and getting it's name out there.
Release dates are a convention and a neccessity of a film poster in order to get it out there and get an audience interested.
(The colours in this text relate to the image above)
1. Layout -The layout is very important in the film poster as it is key in the presentation of the film. A key element of this was the juxtaposition of the image and the title as it wraps around the woman. I think that this went well, and that the overall effect was good in presenting our film and the genre. The other conventions that I felt were really important were the tagline and the date. The tagline is important as a convention because it shows the themes of the film, and it is usually positioned in regard to the image. We followed this convention in relating the tagline to the genre and themes and in positioning it underneath the image. The date of release is key and the positioning is important as the convention is that it is large, and in a prominent position within the poster in order to grab attention. In our film poster we chose to position it in a medium large font, and in the bottom right hand corner in order to be recognisable; I feel that the convention we followed was successful in this aspect. The credits and legal text are traditionally positioned on the bottom line of the poster, and justified to the left or the right. We chose to justify to the left, as this worked better with the overall design of the poster and also with the convention we aimed to follow. Overall, I feel that the conventions of the layout worked well, and the outcome was effective.
2. Image - The image we chose was important due to the genre of the film; all along I wanted to use this image as I felt it represented the themes of the film, and gave a good presentation of genre and character. In many ways the choice of this image was key in the poster's final design as it holds the power in the composition, as conventionally it should. Our following of the convention in this manner meant that the poster's effectiveness was heightened and the attention that it would attract was greater than it would have been with a different image with a different representation. I really think that we followed conventions well in the choosing of the image, and the way we eventually chose to present it.
3. Thetitle - Titling of a film is key in the presentation of genre, theme and character. The decision to name our film 'Sleep Tight' was a joint one, and overall it worked. There was some doubt with it as it does reveal a lot about the outcome of the film. However, in the film poster, the positioning of the title, and inclusion of this was a main concern of ours. we felt from the beginning that it was essential that the justification was to the right, and wrapped around the image as this connected the clear fear of the woman in the image and the suggestions that the title provokes. The decision to follow convention was to jusitify to the right, and also to have it in a larger font than any other text item on the poster. We also chose to change the font style and size of the first letters of each word, to put emphasis upon these and draw attention to the title as convention demands.
4. Colours - The colours of a film poster must reflect the themes of that film; we chose red black and white to represent the themes of good and evil and the inclusion of danger and blood in our film. I feel that this colour scheme worked well, however the background image did become a slight drawback as we wanted to place white or red text where the background was not dark enough to hold it - but we overcame this by re-arranging the layout. We also wanted to match the darker colours to the dark colours in the image to create a link between the two seperate layers of the poster and in turn between the film poster and the actual film. The dark colours that both characters are wearing in the image were intentional to highlight the evil and the mistrust that the film conveys.
5. Reviews - Reviews are a rule of film posters that in many ways validate the film as successful. This convention was one we followed in creating our two reviews and the star ratings. It is a convention that a magazine or famous person within the film industry will make a comment on the film, and this will be included and so we included a quotation from the 'Little White Lies' article we created to increase the relavtivity between our pieces and because it is a prominent part of the industry with a good reputation and professional standing. It also it more crediable as our film is only a low budget short film. The star rating being in red as well is a convention, and was not just to fit our colour scheme. We noticed that many posters used this colour to rate their films, and so we followed this convention.
6. Credits/ Legal Text - This element is a convention that is not only traditional but is also a legality. This text is usually positioned on the bottom line of the poster, and this is a convention we followed. We also followed the idea that the legal text is in small text, in a block format and with names in capital letters as you can see. 7. Actors Names - The inclusion of actors names on the film poster was very important, as nearly every film poster we studied and found had this element. It is mainly important in showing the calibre of actor who is involved in the film, but also in attracting the audiences that will be interested in certain actors. The conventions of the poster is that the actors names are in big text, and in connection with the image. In our poster we have put the names on the top left hand corner and in the same font as the title; this worked effectively as not only does it fit convention but also catches your eye.
8. The Tagline - The tagline was really effective as we chose a very clear and powerful phrase. The positioning of it was important as the convention is that it connects with the image and also that it reflects the genre. We followed this as we put the tagline underneath the image, and also in the same colours as the rest of the poster. We also used a variation of colour to highlight certain words which isn't a convention but was effective.
9. The Rewards - The rewards and certificates are a convention because they give the film their credits. We chose to use the Dolby logo to show professionalism, the national lottery logo, our own S and M logo, and the Cannes film festival logo. We used these logos because they made our poster follow convention and made it look more professional.
10. Logos - as above.
11.The website - The inclusion of the website name isn't a traditional convention but is becoming a key convention of film posters as websites become a really effective way to grab an audience, and publicise a film. We included it as to show the future of film posters.
12. The Release Date - The release date is a clear convention of the film poster; we chose to put it in the bottom left hand corner of the poster, and in a large font as to get attention and attract an audience. This was a convention that we felt was very important, and we feel it was successful.
After researching conventions I wrote a 500 word review of our film, in the style of 'Little White Lies'.
After finishing this review, I began working in Adobe Indesign, and created this review which I made a number of drafts for but this is the final product:
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary tasks?
In order to answer this question I have made a short film concerning marketing and distribution in connection to our three products:
Due to technical difficulties at the time I made this video the final film poster design did not load properly and so I had to use an older version of the design in this video. Here is the final poster design in relation to the combination of our main product and the ancillary tasks:
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Audience feedback is key to any production, as the audience is the way that a production will become successful and make money; without the support of a key audience base it is impossible to successfully promote your film. With this in mind, target audience is essential, and knowing your target audience is invalubale as you make decisions regarding the promotion and advertising of your film that will specifically interest them. Genre is a huge part of this also as different genres carry themsevles different target audience groups. With our decision to make a psychological thriller, the stereotypical target audience is a young 16-25 audience bracket with some blurring into an older group depending on the content of the film. Our short film is targetted at a 16-25 audience as is stereotypical, and I feel the content and subject would limit it to some extent to this age bracket. Gender is just as important as age representation when it comes to film, and our short film is aimed at a near enough 50/50 split, with a slight tendency towards the male side of the spectrum. Here is a link to some earlier work I did on the target audience of psychological thriller film: http://advancedportfolio201134.blogspot.com/2011/12/target-audience-for-our-short-film.html
To begin our process of audience feedback, at the outset of our production process we made a questionaire to try and get an idea of the types of subject and context our target audience enjoyed as part of a psychological thriller film.
This is an example of the questionaire that we gave out to our target audience. We gave out 20, and the results were very helpful and instructive.
This is the table of results for the answers that our target audience gave us:
These results were interesting, and influenced our decisions hugely when it came to deciding on a plot, and finalising our idea. We had already discussed ideas briefly before we gave out these questionaires, and it was quite surprising to us that our ideas seemed to fit what the target audience wanted. For example, we wanted a male antagonist, and this seemed to fit with what the majority of our target audience wanted also.
The idea we had come up with had potential for a twisted narrative and a straight forward format, and so the results of the questionaire were key in our decision as to which way to go with this decision; the results led us to make the decision to have a twist in the narrative, which not only was what the majority of our target audience wanted but was also more accurately in conjunction with the conventions of thriller film. Also, the decision as to what position to put the audience in during the film was very important to me especially because I find the concept of audience positioning very interesting. The results of the audience feedback showed us that they generally wanted to be in the position of power over the characters, and to know more than them which was eventually the decision we made to produce. This also worked really well with the plot and the inclusion of the dream sequences as neither character was aware of what was happening during the dreams but the audience was aware of the whole thing, putting them in a position of power and also increasing the tension, (another convention of thriller film).
The modern day setting was a decision we had basically already made when it came to giving out the questionaire because modern settings were all that was available to us generally; the results of the survey confirmed this, and so our short film was set in a modern house. I also think that this decision was effective because it made the events more relateable to, and to a modern day audience was a setting that they were used to - adding to the tension again.
The results on the last question were close, and this made it hard to decide which route to take with our short film; in the end we chose to combine the two ideas. We did this by deciding to show the woman's body in the penultimate scene, leaving no doubt about her death, but at the same time showing the man's shock at what he has done leaving some doubt in the audience's mind about why he did it, and what will happen now.
Alongside this research I carried out my own audience feedback in the form of the stereotypical audience member of our short film, review and poster. This was in the form of an 18 year old male who was a student and who had a varied interest in film. This was the response I got:
This feedback about the short film was really helpful. Whilst there were positives within the comments, the importance of feedback is the negatives, and the critical comments that can be changed in the future of this project. Firstly, when asked about our short film the audience member said that the negatvies were that the narrative structure and the plot was slightly "patchy","hard to follow" and not very "streamlined" in places, which is something that I would agree with. The nature of the storyline meant that it was a challenge to make every detail of the film make sense to the audience without giving away too much of the reveal at the end; whilst this is true, I think that it would have been possible, maybe with more time, to improve this element of the film, perhaps with more dream sequences as the audience member suggests in his feedback. I agree with him that a dream sequence would have been effective as the male character sits on the grass in a state of confusion and fear, not only to re-enforce this but to create a better sense of clarity about the events and to generally make the film flow in a more coherant way.
This is the sequence in which another dream flashback could have worked well in order to clarify and simplify the narrative:
The positive comments were helpful also, as they gave us an idea of what had worked well. The audience member said that the soundtrack was an effective part of the film, and that is was "eerie" which is exactly the effect overall that we were trying to achieve. This was to fit convention of psychological thrillers and the sound that the audience has grown to expect from films of the genre. In particular, he said that the "lightning" sound as the dreams sequences begun were good, and this was really important feedback for us as this had been an area of debate. It was a decision we had to make whether to let the dreams just creep in to the narrative, almost unnotcied in order to match the audience's confusion as to whether the dreams are reality or just images the character is seeing, or whether to make the dreams an obvious part of the narrative through sound (and black and white) such as the"lightning" sound that shows the beginning of the dream, and becomes a motif. we chose the second option as we felt that it worked more effectively, and created more tension (as is convention within the genre) to have the dream as an obvious feature of the narrative, and not an element that was ambiguous. With the feedback in regard to the narrative as "hard to follow" even after we made this decision, I am glad we did as I feel if we had gone the other way it would have made the storyline even harder to follow. The fact that the audience member thought that this feature was good as well confirms that we made a good decision to include the break between dreams and reality in the form of sound.
The lightning sound seperated this shot in colour (representing reality) and this shot in black and white (represesenting dreams).
Thestereotypical characters were a decision that we made early on, and easily. We thought about trying to break stereotypes and have a woman as the antagonist and a man as the protagonist but we decided that sticking to the psychological thriller genre included sticking to the stereotypes that have been moulded by the genre. This included having a blonde, pretty, naive girl as the victim, with a big dark mysterious man as the character in the position of power. The audience members feedback again said that this was a good element if the film, saying that he liked the classic character representation of the"blonde girl" being the victim of"another psycho". This piece of feedback was very helpful in confirming that we had made a good decision with this casting, and overall I am pleased that the characters work within the piece. However, I did feel at the beginning of the project that short fim was the ideal format in which to break stereotypes, and to challenge conventions, and so maybe that the casting could have been a little more 'out of the box' and less predicatble, but in following genre and convention you have to follow expectation, and so overall I feel this was a good decision.
This is our stereotypical blonde female character:
This is our stereotypical male mysterious "psycho" character:
Another piece of positive feedback that this audience member gave us was about the shot in which the male antagonist walks out of the house and sits on the grass, and in particular the zooming extreme close ups onto his face. He described these shots as "really cool" and I am pleased that these worked within the film as they were a highlight for me also. I feel that these close ups provide the first indication that the male character is not going to give in to the urges and feelings he is experiencing, and I think you see the danger in his eyes for the first time. As mentioned earlier in this evalution, these shots were key to our short film in order to show character feelings and facial expression to reveal intention as the time limitations of short film can sometimes limit this also.
These are examples of the zooming extreme close ups from this sequence:
Overall, the audience feedback we recieved on the short film was really helpful, and influenced our final decisions hugely.
Audience feedback from this 'stereotypical' audience member was also really helpful with our decisions regarding the ancillary task of the film poster.
The audience member made the following comments about the film poster:
Positive
He said that the tagline was a positive element of the film poster, and that it was "catchy" and "spooky" which was what we were aiming for through the tagline initially. I feel that the tagline shows the layers of concept that run through the film, and the danger of a corupted mind that we portray. I am pleased that the tagline was recieved in this way as it is the strongest part of the poster in my opinion.
This is the tagline that was used on the final poster that the audience member described as "catchy" and "spooky":
The colours and the fonts were also picked up as a positive element of our poster. He said that the red and white "went well together", and suggested that these are quite stereotypical "scary" colours. I felt that this was a good point, as when we were choosing our colour scheme I opted for the red white and black not only because it when well together but because I felt that the colours represented the themes in our film. For example, I chose the red as a signifier of the danger, and the bloodshed that ensues and black and white to show the contrast of good and evil, and its merging in our film. As the audience member said, black white and red are also very conventional colours of thriller film.
This is the final film poster which shows the colour scheme that the audience member said "worked well":
The quotes were also mentioned as a good feature as the audience member felt that they "legitamised" the poster. This could be in relation to the fact that it is not real but I also feel that the reviews and quotes were effective on the poster as we chose influential sources to quote from such 'Little White Lies' magazine.
This is the section of the poster that included the reviews and quotes which the audience member said "legitamised" our poster:
His comment on the image had two branches to it; he said that it was "quite good" in representing the film, however he felt that it doesn't quite meet the genre that we were aiming for (psychological genre) and instead met the conventions of "solely a horror film". I do agree, and if we were going to change anything about this project it would be the image we used, because even though I do like the image, and feel it represents the film well, maybe it does give too much away about the plot, and also doesnt give indication of the specific genre.
This is the image that was used in our film poster that may not completely fit the genre:
Negative
The main negative comment that the audience member had was that he didnt like the font of the title, and felt that this decision was "lazy". I disagree that it was lazy, because the choice of font did take a great deal of time, and I did have to decide between this font and another more standardised font. In many ways this could be personal opinion, but were we to change this element I would make two posters with one of each font and see which one gets higher audience appreciation.I think that the title does work, but audience feedback makes a greater impact on the industry and so changes would be made if we could do this again. With this said I do agree that the font does not represent the genre particularly well on hindesight, but our decision for this font was for this reason as it showed the confusion of the main character; this was the aim, but if it doesn't work for this audience then it should be changed.
This is the font that was used on the final film poster that the audience member described as "lazy":
Another negative comment was that the date was "a bit small", and that he "couldn't really see" when it was coming out. On some of our earlier designs the date was in a larger font but we decided against this as after doing research of other film posters this seemed to be an element that was over represented in our film poster; by making the date smaller it fitted convention better, but I agree that it seems small on the final poster design. If we were to change this I feel it could improve our film poster.
This is the date that we used on our final poster design that the audience member said was "a bit small":
This is the final poster design so you can see the size of the date in relation to the other elements:
Overall the audience member said that the film poster was good; I feel that the film poster is the weakest of our three tasks, but whilst saying this I do feel it's effective, and does fit appropriate conventions created by the genre.
This format of audience feedback was also very useful in relation to our other ancillary task - the film review in the style of 'The Little White Lies' magazine.
The audience member made the following comments relating to this review:
Positive
His first comment is that they look "very very similar" and are "almost exactly the same", which was what we were aiming for in our attempt to copy the house style of 'The Little White Lies' magazine. As an 18 year old male student with an interest in film, the audience member I interviewed is a stereotypical 'Little White Lies' reader, and so his opinion that we had succeeded in following the house style was valuable.
This is our final film review compared to a 'Little White Lies' film review that we tried to replicate the house style of:
The audience member specifically commented that the rounded corner, and the capital letter at the start of the text were good elements that added to the similiarily of the two pieces. When copying the house style we had to take all these details into account, and I am pleased that the overall outcome has caught an audience's eye in the manner.
Negative
The only negative comment that the audience member had to make was that the fonts in the two atricles were different. In relation to this the decision of which font to use was a hard one, and one that I spent a great deal of time changing and considering. After research I discovered that you cannot use the exact same fotn as 'Little White Lies' have made it especially and not only does it cost money but its copyrighted. I looked at some free online font websites, such as http://www.1001freefonts.com/ and http://www.fonts.com/?gclid=CIDygbfRxa4CFUZa3wod-QEZTQ but there wasn't an option that would match the font used in the original film review closely enough. As well as this I experienced technical difficulties with downloading these fonts and was eventually advised to find the best match I could on the InDesign programme that I was using to create my film review. I chose Franklin Gothic Medium for the bulk of the text, Franklin Gothic Demi for the thinner text at the top and in the anticipation, retrospectiive, and enjoyment boxes. This was a close enough match, but it is not identical as the audience member pointed out. If I were to change this I would have spent longer looking on font websites until I found a better match.
Overall the audience feedback about our review was positive, aside from the fonts which I agree with, and given more time would have spent longer perfecting. In manyw ays I feel that our film review was the strongest part of our project as I does fit the house style effectively and to a good standard. The audience feedback did highlight my only issue with it, and as said above, I would change the fonts if going about the project again.
4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? This is the Prezi I have made to evaluate the new media technologies used to construct and develop our short film, poster and review.
