Final Copy Of Review - Caroline

Here is the final review that I have designed and created on Adobe Indesign about our short film 'Sleep Tight'.

Second and Final Draft of Review Text - Caroline

Review of ‘Sleep Tight’ in the style of ‘Little White Lies’.

Loaded with Hitchcockian mystery and bubbling with a sense of dread, ‘Sleep Tight’ very nearly claims its title as a psychological thriller – but not quite. Though brimming with atmosphere, it is far from subtle; a key piece in the jigsaw of the genre, yet this is a style we have become accustomed to from this directing duo (Caroline Kinderman and Fred Spyer). However lacking and predictable the film is, there are elements in the narrative that draw an audience in, and overall it is entertaining. Poignantly the much-admired American filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been quoted as saying that this film is “a credit to British cinema”.

The plot centres around a couple named Jack and Lucy Lowe played by the Tiffany Thompson who in many ways is overshadowed by director turned thes Fred Spyer: set in 2010 in the very everyday environment of a modern house, the film focuses upon the mental state of Jack Lowe, and in particular his erratic dreams which turn tragically realistic as his mind is warped to new depths of insanity. The house’s simplicity is only a counterbalance to the desperately unpredictable nature of the main character, and this is a strength of the film’s structure.

The image of Jack cleaning his teeth becomes an important motif throughout the film which works well to contrast the intensity and abnormality of the scenes that follow after dreams have taken over. His classically blonde and unarguably stereotyped wife (played by Tiffany Thompson) is the image of vulnerability against the insanity that ensues and predictably the victim of the piece. Through the stereotype however we do see a character that is well presented and contributes to the tension induced by the storyline. This first instance of dreaming is short and sweet, which works as an indication of the characters mental state. Jack Lowe then proceeds to realise that the images he was seeing were a dream and goes about a day of crazed behaviour as he tries to comprehend the images he has seen and the urges he is feeling. One particular moment that shows this effectively is his compulsion towards a knife as he is cutting up sandwiches; again the contrast of an everyday task with the abnormal compulsion h is experiencing is an effective technique employed by the directors, and is a highlight of the films structure. This said, the whole sequence is slightly contrived.

His confused state of mind confirmed, Jack Lowe then proceeds to get ready for bed again with wife Lucy, adding to the established motif as she is now taking part also. This is followed by another dream-like scenario very similar to the previous one but with gravitating detail, which gives the impression of a more realistic situation. The imagery escalates, and unlike the film as a whole does use subtle shots to show the events unveil. It is a shocking and entertaining ending, but in places does appear predictable and rather manufactured.

However, the film is intense, and does create the desired tension that a psychological thriller needs, it just doesn’t hit every note precisely – but then again, it’s a low budget film made by directors very early in their career. While it’s not perfect, it’s promising.

Final Poster Design - Caroline

This is the final poster design for our film 'Sleep Tight'. In this poster, key conventions of film posters have been included such as the names of the actors in large and bold in order to draw in an audience and also the reviews down the side to show widespread opinion of the film. I have used left justification throughout the poster, apart from on the title which I feel is effective in showing the disorientation of the main character and the unpredicatability of the plot. The kerning between the letters in certain places is unpredicatable and not standardised and this is to create a sense of importance on certain words but also to create the same sense of disorientation that the character expereinces. This is especially noticeable in the tagline.

Decisions that I made in terms of the conventions of this poster are as follows:

The image - I chose the image because I feel that it represents the film well and gives a good indication as to the genre and tone of the film throughout. It is dark, restricts spectator knowledge about the event they are seeing and also casts questions as to why the scene is happening. All these indications will draw an audience to want to answer their questions - by watching our film - so this is an effective image for a film poster that wants to make a profit.

The title - The title reflects the genre again as it is disjointed, unpredictable ad not standardised - just like the main character in his confused state throughout the film. You cannot understand why he is behaving as he is, and so I tried to reflect this in the title by using a font that seems to loom over the viewer, and also imposes strongly against the image as the character imposes on the female character. The diagonal nature shows this also and heightens the sense of danger that we infer from the font. I also wanted the text to seemingly wrap itself around the girl, in order to show that the comment 'sleep tight' is aimed at her, and that she is the victim of the piece but also so it seems to be looming over her, symbolising the danger she is in.

The Actor's Names - I used kerning when it came to these two names because I felt that it made a huge difference in the manner to which they stood out against the background as it is dark, but also because it seperates them from the other text on the poster. I used red becuase of its connotations but also because it linked the names to the other text in red on the poster such as the date and the highlighted words in the tagline.

The Reviews - The reviews were really important because they show the calibre of sources that have enjoyed our film. I chose to use 'Little White Lies' magazine because within the industry they are a trusted source, with a good reputation and so if they say that our short film is good then it is coming from a source that people will trust. I also chose it because I was then able to create a strong link between our poster and our review in that we could have the quote in the review and use it on the poster. The link between different forms of advertising is key because it creates a brand that the audience will recognise and want to get involved in.

The Date - The date of release was a key convention of the film poster that was essential in our design. I chose to place in in the bottom centre in order to draw attention to it and give the film poster a centre piece for the eye to be drawn to. The date of release is a key piece of information because people will always want to know when a film comes out in order to go and watch it therefore the more prominently we display the reslease date the more audience members we will gain, and thus, the more profit we will make.

The Tagline - The tagline was another essential part of our design because it is a key convention of film posters and also because it can sell a film due to the relevance it has to genre and theme. I chose our tagline because I feel it has very strong links to our genre through the mystery it conveys, but also because it shows our theme of sleepless nights. The decision to have "disturbed" and "restless" in red was to highlight them against the other text and background due to the fact that these two words show the theme and genre most poignantly.

Review Analysis - Caroline

This is a break down of the different elements of our review in regard to the different elements and function fo a review as mentioned below.

Introduction and contextual information

Plot Summary and evaluation

Conclusion and overall summary

The Four Functions of a Film Review - Caroline

There are four functions to a film review:

• Journalism
• Advertising
• Criticism
• Rhetoric (writing)

When it comes to Journalism there are two types -

• Journalism of opinion which presents a considered opinion on the film backed up with arguments and contentual information
• Jounalism of taste in which the journalist simly gives an evaluation of the film. 

As advertising, a film review usually acts to publicise and promote a film, in order to encourage the audience to watch the film, however the opposite is also true in a negative review.

As criticism, a review involves the description, analysis, and evaluation of films. 

As writing, reviews are in essay form and may be read for entertainment and inromation. They are also read simply on their literary merit. 

Film reviews usually contain

• A condensed plot synopsis

• Background information (see film Glossary in text)

• A set of abbreviated arguments about the film

• An evaluation

What reviewers tend to look for when they evaluate a film:

• The motivation of what happens in a film

• Entertainment value

• Social value

Review Design 5 - Caroline

Review Design 3 - Caroline

I have changed some font sizes and style in this design, and added a page number and information box.

After asking for public opinion and taking into account our personal opinion, we have decided that we prefer this image on the review and therefore this is the design that we are going to use in our final piece.

It has been modelled on this 'Little White Lies' review:

In researching 'Little White Lie's' reviews, the profile that we gained was as follows:

http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/theatrical-reviews - this website was helpful in researching the house style of the magazine's reviews.

Target Audience

• Young
• Student
• Educated
• Multi-gender

Language Style

• Complex Nouns and Verbs
• Puns
• Metaphors
• Similes
• Restricted Code
• Elaborate Description
• References to other film texts and literary sources.
• Evaluative comments, opinion.
• Plot description

Function: To inform, entertain and outline their audience.

Layout

•  Simplistic theme

• Writer in bold at end of article

• First letter bold and same colour as title

• Image rounded at the corner

• Indented paragraphs

• 5-6 parargraphs

• Justify paragraphs on both right and left

• Information box under title stating, Director, Starring and Released (in regular text, the information in italics)

• Summary box underneath article stating Anticipation, Enjoyment and In Retrospect (only justifed left and in italics) with information in regular text style

• Each summary category has a rating our of 5 and this rating is in same colour as title

• Each summary category is split with a double black line

• 3 collumns of text

The two reviews used for these exampes were:

This video was also helpful in deciding how to match the house style: