Evaluation Draft - Fred

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. 

http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/issues/winter2004/line_items/short_films.php

• 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Colours are important but they must match the theme of the film, much like the title.
5. 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.
6. Credits/Legal requirements are another convention that is now impossible not to include on a film poster.
7. Actors names on film posters are always included, much like the reviews, as they will influence an audience and attract an audience.
8. Taglines show the genre of the film, or atleast re-enforce it, and also give the actors more credit.
9. Rewards and sponsors are also important in showing the acclamation of the film.
10. Logos show the production company and the previous acclamations from that company.
11. A website is a good way of publicising the film, and getting it's name out there.
12. 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 initial interest 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. 

http://prezi.com/uek7hiibmjyk/how-did-you-use-new-media-technologies-in-the-construction-research-planning-and-evaluation-stages/