Radio Trailer Research

The TV and radio trailers that are promoting films of the same genre as my short films are similarly constructed, using the same codes and conventions. They all use a soundtrack that brings uncomforting and wondering feelings to the target audience (in fact any audience/viewer/listener) mainly highlighted using a piano as a creepy notes used on the instrument is familiar to everyone as to making them feel scared and uncomfortable. The sound effects are usually used from a drum kit such as if the screen goes blanks or there is a moment of silence there is either the beat of a drum or the strike of a drum kits symbol, adding panic to the audiences reaction as the feeling of 'something has happened and they don't what it is' kicks in. Dialogue is usually the elements that add fear into the narrative, added to the verbal warning given by the voice over are likely to make the audience jump just by listening to the trailer, giving them an idea of what to expect if they are persuaded to go and see the film.





Key information to remember when attempting to make a trailer for the sound levels it needs to change from quiet to immediately going to a loud sound e.g. going from a whispering dialogue followed by a loud sound effect leading to a loud and warnful voice over.

The Anatomy of Poster

Risk Assessment

Behind the Reflection-Filming Day 5

Behind the Reflection-Filming day 4

Behind the Reflection-Filming Day 3

Skills developed

The information on the glogster shows the skills we have learnt as a group while filming and what we found out was important for us to think about while filming different shots.

Behind the Reflection- Filming Day 2

A look at the groups 2nd day of filming:

Behind the Reflection- Filming Day 1

Here is an inside look of the groups first day of filming:

Refilming Plan

While we were at the beginning of our editing process we realised that there were some shots that did not work when edited together with other shots. So over the course of filming we made a list of shots that we as a group would be best to re-film as we continued our filming process. We think it is a good idea to have started editing while still in the middle of filming as this allows us to correct any mistakes made while at the same time allowing to keep on track to make the deadline for our short film to be produced.

Behind the scenes

Our filming process was  a little behind schedule due to casting issues, but we found a great replacement the next day. Our own group member Katie volunteered to do the acting, which all believed would be best mas she has been involved in the planning process and shall know how we want our short film to look. After sorting out casting, we hired a studio space in the college's gallery in the media building, set up equipment and got to work.

We decided also that we would show exclusive behind the scenes, in order to show how we are creating our student film.
 

We also decided to create a set diary, were we wanted to explain how we were working on set, explain our ideas and give an idea of how the process was going for us.

Typeface

Our group have started to decide our designs for the auxiliary tasks such as the poster and the double page spread. These are the narrowed down choices for the masthead of our film, as we think that these best suit our film genre of a psychological-horror-thriller.
1. We added a shadow to this text to help give the idea of a double personality to our main character. We also used italic font as this can suggest that things are not straight forward in the narrative.
2. Similar to number 1 we added a shadow to give the idea of a double personality, but this time we did use just a plain font as that can suggest that our main character is very blank and it's her two personalities that create who she is.
3. This bold tests conveys the idea of a that there is much to tell or learn about the character and the style of font represents a strange personality that is that of the main character.
4. This type of font is used in many films that tell the story or give an clue as to the twisted moment or subject that is coming the audiences way.

Audience Research

Gathering 5 eager film watchers that expressed an interest in films with a psychological thriller genre. We gave them a summary of our short films synopsis and followed onto show them our typeface designs and asked them to decide which typeface would be best used for both our opening film title and for our individual film posters.

All 5 participants seemed to agree that number 4 would be best used. Briefly explaining that it would make the film seem creepy and help suggest the idea that our character is different and is not who they really are.

Update

The group has decided to create video updates of where we are in our project process and what we have planned to move on to next.

Schedule for Production Process

Now that we have completed the research and planning process, we are now moving onto the production stage of the project. In this stage we shall be preparing, filming and editing our short film. In order to keep the process organised the group conducted a schedule this would allow us to know what the next step in the process was, in order to avoid confusion and the potential of missing the set deadline to have this stage complete.

Schedule

Week of:

Nov 4th-Preparation (costume, props and set up plan)
             -Storyboard
             -Blog tasks (complete and update)
Nov 11th-Last preparations
               -Begin filming-Nov 13th-Filming begins
                                       -14th-Review-Decide if re filming is needed
Nov 18th-Either:-Re filming-20th Nov
                           -Editing-context
Nov 25th-Editing-Finish context
                            -Start sound
Dec 2nd-Editing-Sound and Filters
                           -Auxiliary Tasks-Film poster, double page spread and radio trailer (individual work)
Dec 9th-Finish auxiliary tasks
             -Editing-Credits and titles
Dec 16th-Make any final changes
               -Ready for exhibition

We also conducted a list of tools and necessities we needed for filming our short film and elements we needed to remember to apply filming in order for our film to have the right technical codes and conventions.

Costume

-Doll style dress
-Black colour scheme-representation of blank personality that was controlled by a negative influence

Props

-Mirrors
-Televisions
-Doll house

Tools

-Camera
-Set lighting
-Filters-red
-Tripod
-Track

Technical Skills

-Framing
-Lighting
-Angles
-Mise-en-scene
-Editing
-Camerawork
-Acting
-Themes and Narrative styles
-Sound

Mise-en-scene Features

-Body language
-Decor
-Props
-Lighting
-Costume
-Setting

Animated Storyboard

This is our animated story of our story film Reflection. This presents the key cinematography and camera techniques we are going to use when filming our short film. The group as a whole contributed, presenting ideas for shots that would have purpose because in a short film you only have a certain amount of time to tell the story and you can't waste a single shot. We believe that our proposed shots each have a purpose and shall both narrative and symbolic codes that shall be easy for the target audience to understand, allowing them to enjoy the film to its full potential.

DISCLAIMER
The music used in this presentation was a music download belonging to a group member.
ALL RIGHTS to the song go to right owners.

Research and Planning Process

The first stage of the project was the research and planning. After being given an introduction to the project we first worked as individuals to explore the elements and conventions that made short films live up to expectations, by exploring successful short films, their filmmakers and their audiences. The following task was to how short films were marketed in the distribution process. The next piece of research was film genre, followed by exploring the narrative ideas of Todorov and Propp. We were then set the task of creating a birthday party scene and applying a genre to it by using every element we had researched, we then did an audience research to see if we had applied the correct elements that audiences were able to recognise the genre. Then explored more ideas such as anti-narrative and the shark-bite narrative. Gathering all this knowledge in groups we watched then reviewed short films which we believed lived up to short film conventions and those we believed didn't.

After the research we then went into our own choice of groups to who we would create our short films with. With all of our newly gained knowledge and after being given a pitch by our course leader on the process we needed to take and the elements, codes and conventions we needed to include, we created group spider diagrams of those elements we would want and need to consider when creating our short film.

After our group started to think of ideas for our short film. Thinking of possible story lines, titles and the rules we would and should follow to help our short film live up to the expectations of present short films successes.We created a power point of all of our ideas and presented it to our course leader and the other groups in a special pitch presentation. Along with our presentation we created questionnaires for the other groups to answer questions on what they thought about our ideas. These allowed us to know what they thought about our ideas, narrative and if our short film would appeal to them because age-wise they are our groups target audience.

We handed out one per group, although it would have been better to create one each to get a clearer idea of individual thoughts, we unfortunately could not print out enough for one each. The feedback we did get showed that the target audience we aimed for was positive as they stated that they would be interested in viewing our short film, also our idea was original, which is important as every short filmmaker would want their short film to standout and not be compared or a repeat of an idea that has been done many times before. The only negative feedback we received was that our narrative was too complex and that we need to simplify it, this type of feedback was important when it came to other tasks such as creating our animated story board.

The pitch presentation was the conclusion in the research and planning process, the next stage is the production process.

Ideas for Short Film PowerPoint Pitch

After exploring, then combining our group ideas together, we conducted a power point that concluded our final ideas. This introduces us as a production team and explains our project. Such as our chosen team name, film title, chosen audience, synopsis, distribution and exhibition ideas. This PowerPoint was also used to pitch our idea, as we went into greater detail of our ideas and our findings when we had concluded the research and planning stage of our project.

Team Kane: Reflection by KatieMitchellMedia

Short Film Mood Boards

Further into our research and planning for our short films, we were assigned the task to create a mood board of what features we should include in our short films. For my mood board I researched possible genres and their conventions, cinematography, editing, create and audience profile and suggest possible distribution and exhibition possibilities. All of these were elements are what we would need to consider when making our film in order for it to live up to the conventions of a short film, our chosen audience and chosen genre.

Other members of our group also created mood boards that explored different aspects that we would need to consider when creating our short film:

Katie- http://katiemitchella2media.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/short-film-ideas-moodboard.html#comment-form

Video Review of Virgin Short Films

Virgin Films is a website that shows a variety of short films, that have been created by unknown filmmakers. Virgin Films shows these films on the site allowing audiences who enjoy watching short films, either over or similar to full length feature films. In our groups we were given the task to watch a variety of shor films then pick two in which as a group we would review. As a group we picked our most favorite and least favorite, and then wrote down wy we enjoyed/disliked the film, referring to the elements used within the film. The elements we took into consideration when it came to reviewing the short film were:Narrative, genre, subject matter, origionality, camera work, editing, sound, performance and mise-en-scene. We then recorded our groups talking about the films we chose.
(DISCLAIMER: All rights go to Virgin.co.uk the source of all short films shown on this blog)

Our most favourite short film was: Just Say Hi

A short romance, expressing the importance of just speaking o movve things forward.

Our least favourite short film was: Wrongly Accussed

A short action/adventure, about how society can not fit everyones needs.

Narrtive Development

In groups we explored different narrative styles that were used in films. Starting by studying Todorov: Typical narrative structure: Equilibrium- Disequilibrium/Disruption- Resolution/ New Equilibrium. We first thought of films that didn't follow this structure, our examples were Red Velvet, The Lost Highway and Titanic as the has the Resolution at the beginning instead of the end.

 

Then we went on to devise our own narrative that followed the Todorov's typical narrative structure.

 

 

 

 1. Devising an idea with a clear narrative structure.

Horror, 5 teenagers on a road trip. Four of the teens disappear/die. One, a girl, survives.

What generic conventions are used to make the horror element clear?

 Character types: Profile/ description of each character

 How will the story start?

 What is the threat?

 How do they go missing?

 Why and how does she survive?

 

 

 Narrative Tasks

Devise an opening yo your original proposed horror story. The opening must use the shark bite technique.

Open on foggy beach at dusk, hear a girl scream 'HELP!' Then the sound of a body collapsing to the ground. Then camera moves across the beach to a close up of the girls dead body by the tide covered in seaweed, then followed by a close up of a buried body, that is visible under the sand. Close ups of foot prints of boots going up the beach to a wide shot of a blurred figure in the background.

 

Cultural and semic/symbolic codes: What subtle clues could you use to show that one teenage girl is interested in the occult?

-Small tattoos that are only just noticeable,

-Wears a piece of clothing that has a logo on it e.g. a coat, a blazer etc.

-Owns a piece of jewellery in the shape of the logo e.g. earring under long hair or a necklace that she would hide under her clothing or a ring hat no one would really notice or understand is meaning and just mistake it as a fashionable piece.

 

Sketch/describe or photograph 2 characters from the film that are binary opposites.

A skinny, weak, tomboy. That would be seen as harmless.

A strong, buffed, hansom male. That any person who dared tried to go against would be a little worried to face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group Task- Birthday Party Scene

In groups we were set the task to create a scene of a birthday and apply a genre to the scene. My group and I decided to go for a horror genre, we had a variety of idea that lead to us using a variety of props and even and even creating our own. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to plan ahead, we really only had time to collect any props that we thought would be useful. We were the last group to take our shot, that gave us the benefit of the doubt as we had more time to figure out how we were going to set up the shot and what the could potential narrative could be.

At first we were all coming up with different ideas, before we all agreed that there should be one main focus to the shot and that like any film of the horror genre we can use effects to get the narrative and genre across better. Meaning in the end we decided to keep the scene as simple as we could. Therefore a member of our group volunteered to play the 'victim' and be the scenes main focus. We took multiple shots, some of just him against the blue screen (in case we wanted to add a background) and then we came up with the idea to add a balloon in front of the lens. This was better than using red lighting or just a red filter as it added more of a symbolic code that danger lied within the scene.

On the original picture you could see the outline of the balloon, as we all had to edit the images individually while still sticking to our chosen genre, I decided to keep the outline of the balloon and use it as a prop for my edited version of the scene. 

I first took the balloon and cut around the edges and added it to a black background. I believe this helped it stand out and it would be able to help with the mise-en-scene of the scene. The main characters body language shows how he is trapped and confined, as he has been tied up his body takes up very little room in the image. The decor when we took the actual shot we tried to keep it as plain as possible not only allowing us to edit it, but to also allow audiences to have a clear idea that there is nothing around to save the victim. Props we used to clearly signify the idea of a birthday party is the pointed hat we created before we took the shot as it is traditional to wear those especially at children s birthday party's. When it came to the lighting we first tried using no lighting and creating a dark and curious scene so that the audience would get the idea that something unexpected was going to happen. However when the images came up it was not visible to see enough detail, then we decided to place a spot light on the left hand corner next to the camera, this showed more detail within the image meaning more of a story could be told and it created a significance to the victim bringing up the idea that he was in trouble for whatever reason. Costume wise we did not prepare to bring in a certain costume, however we did work with what we had and as he was dressed casually it could mean that our character was just going on about his day before being violently dragged away from that and being placed in an unexpected situation that could lead to him being in trouble. When it come to performance our character didn't have to do a much as our use of props did most of the work, as he is being contained and unable to make any actions of his own. With our camera angle we went for a long shot this would allow use to make any individual changes when it came to the editing process, although our main idea was that with a long shot it can be shown how the character is isolated and nobody else seems to be around, which is a key convention before a victim in a horror narrative has something awful happen to them.

Audience Research

After we had created and edited our images, we were then set the task to send our individual images out onto social media websites and ask people what they believed was to genre it fits into and what they would believe is going on in the photo. Unfortunately when it came to this task I did not receive any answers on Twitter, although I did receive answers on Facebook I did not receive the 10 i required and there was also a lot of inappropriate answers given. Therefore I asked my teacher if there was any other alternative and she said that I could do it like a survey and asked people face-to-face, just as long as it was mixed gender and I asked people I was not friends with. Which was reasonable as this meant I would get fair, honest answers that would I clearly would not turn into biased ones. For this I went round the colleges social area and showed people my edited image and asked them to write down on a sticky note what they believed the genre and the narrative was. Here are my findings:

From these answers I can tell that me and my group applied the right conventions to help the genre of horror come across. Also with my edited image I did try to make it look like a trap and that the victim within the image was in some sort of trouble. I think the audiences could tell that with the red filter it signified danger and that added with the black background is a traditional convention when it comes to a horror genre representative. The audience also suggested that the character is positioned and represented in away that suggests that they are not in a situation that can be enjoyable and that they are about to be treated in away that someone or something is going to attack or torture them. I believe that this is a correct reading of the image as with any other horror film poster audiences are given the idea that something awful shall happen to the characters, while only giving them little hints that could give them a whole range of ideas and from my research I believe that I have created a similar image, however on a more ammeter level as when it did come to the editing I did come to some difficulty when trying to add in certain features such as the hands around the balloon. But over all I believe that the image is readable as a horror as it contains horror conventions that audiences will be able to identify.