How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout the process of making our creative outcome, we used different media technologies and enhanced software's to better create and improve our final film. We begun by using a Calendar application on our PC to keep the dates for filming and editing, this calendar was essential as it contained a "Sync" function with our mobile devices, keeping us constantly updated with times and dates of creating our film.
When we had our meeting with Helen from Age & Sons, we used an Olympus VN711 Dictaphone.
The Dictaphone was used to record the audio from the meeting and then I used Adobe Premiere Pro to create a video file out of the audio (with a simple black image, for use with YouTube). This helped us by allowing us to backtrack and re-listen to the meeting to remind ourselves of the insurance issues that had arisen. I used YouTube as the host for my film, it's drafts and most other media on the blog. I used YouTube because it's a free service to share your media with the world, and it also features an embed function to create a media player within the blog. Below is a Prezi on the other technologies used in the production of my film:
Throughout the process of our creative outcome, we relied heavily on feedback from our target audience to help meet a certain standard.
Feedback first caused us to change our initial idea. The iCan Contextual film was to be expanded and re-written, however the film was not meeting the requirements of the course, so we revised our entire strategy.
Wewere orginally going to make a commical TV advert for a fictional product based on the iPhone. For this we carefully emulated that of an existing iPhone advert. Due to audience feedback (comments on the video on Facebook and Twitter) we determined that our target audience would prefer a romantic-Comedy and started to work on Happily Ever After. In conclusion, our product was shaped and constructed by what we learnt from our audience feedback.
Our target audience is teenagers of age 13-18, both male and female. To meet this target audience, we looked into comedy films also targeted at our age group; such as "Vicky and Sam". In June we created a rough draft, the feedback we had received told us that the film lacked interesting shots and the comedy was much too generic.
Teacher feedback:
Here I received feedback directly from my teacher, this gave me direct knowledge on what improvements needed to be made from someone with knowledge of the course requirements and knowledge on blockbuster forms and conventions. The feedback from my teacher consisted of strengths, weaknesses and changed to be made. However we also needed feedback from our target audience.
After feedback on shot issues in our film, we decided to ever so slightly revise the script and re-shoot the entire film. Our original Happily Ever After used little music and was using obvious slapstick humour, however our new, final version of Happily Ever After uses more subtle humour and the shots are much more stylised and the video quality is stronger.
The image to the left displays the difference between setting in our two films, the original film (top) and the re-shoot (bottom). As you can see the area is more wedding like and has more on set.
Once this new version had finished its first draft, we decided to take a new approach to receiving feedback; social networking. We posted the video on Facebook to hear back from our target audience:
This feedback told us that it was appealing to our target audience, however also people spotted some small issues in the film; such as the lack of people at the wedding. For this we attempted to create a shot of many people in the church, however the split screen made the shot look out of place and the cuts can be seen. For this reason, the split was not used.
Audience feedback has helped me tailor the film to the target audience's preferences, and it has become seemingly vital in the film making process. Throughout the process of creating our film, our target audience have spotted and informed us of mistakes and things that they may not find particularly appealing, this has helped create a stronger film that better appeals to our target audience.
How effective is the combination of our main product and ancillary texts? Ancillary texts such as posters and reviews are primarily created and distributed to advertise the main product, such as a film. With this in mind, I created a poster and Benjy made a review using the same style to advertise and express the films forms and conventions. The film, poster and review have been created to intertwine with each other. The poster was created to effectively give the reader an understanding of the film's genre and narrative. The review then specifies what did and did not work in terms of our intentions, it also gives the opinion of the film as if from an outside source. The combination of these three products helps form an overall summary of what to expect from the film, and whether our target audience may or may not enjoy it.
As you can see, I used the same font for both the film and the poster's logo, this adds consistency between the themes of both texts. However I used a different colour for both font, this is due to different colours making sense and working based on the images surrounding the logo. Using the same logo gives viewers of the poster a better understanding of what to expect with our film.
The poster addresses the audience as a form of reaching out to them. This is done by Callum looking toward the camera, so the audience can empathise with him. The review then addresses the film's mistakes alongside the humour that worked. Both of these together help the reader understand what to expect when going to see the film.
As you can see to the left, the poster is using an image taken specifically for the poster as opposed to using an image directly from the film. This is a convention used in most Blockbusters and Romantic Comedies. However as you can see from the image below, the image was designed to resemble a scene directly from the film. This was done to communicate the themes and conventions of the film through the poster. The picture from the film is then to be used in Benjy's written review of the film.
The following review was made by Benjy Cohen (www.clapperboardcreations.blogspot.co.uk).
The review was deigned to communicate the films aims and conventions to readers. The image used is the section of the film that the poster is based on, this was done to link the three Ancillary texts together. As you can see, the review focuses on the good and the bad points in the film while displaying the Genre, this gives readers a strong understanding of our film's forms and conventions while also being used a good advertising.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Our film; Happily Ever After, is categorised within the Romantic-Comedy genre. This means we had to look into the general conventions of a Romantic-Comedy film (often referred to as rom-com), however at the same time we wanted to give our own spin on things. So in terms of following general conventions of a rom-com, we begin by introducing the characters subtly, with multiple comedy-specific sequences. We also have a romantic montage which is seen in many rom-coms. Similarly, we challenge the conventions of rom-coms by using a comedic meeting of the two romantic characters as opposed to over-exposing the romantic side of the film. Through the montage, we develop upon the general conventions of a rom-com. A usual montage will be a simple compilation of romantic scenes, while ours includes different scenes in a transparent fade playing simultaneously, we did this as we feel it conforms to the forms and conventions of real media products, while also adding to them and developing upon them. Our film was very much inspired by "Vicky and Sam". This short film uses similar shooting styles while also varying comedy types; they use subtle humour while also using obvious and over-exaggerated humour. The music used in the film goes for stereotypical love sequence music, however we decided to steer clear of that as we wanted to be less manipulative with our films micro-features. "Nightwalking" is another film that inspired our film, while focusing on the comedy as opposed to romance, the film uses many tracking shots to keep the audience following the main protagonist.
This image shows the comparison between our film and "Vicky and Sam", both shots are from the romantic montage, however we use cross fades between shots and light hearted music. However "Vicky and Sam" uses simple cuts and overly dramatic music. By opposing these conventions, we are challenging the forms of large budget blockbuster films.
For the poster, it mimicked other Romantic Comedy Posters such as the poster for "Win a date with Tad Hamilton".
Both posters feature two characters enticed within the narrative, while the other character is seemingly out of the loop. The thing we decided to do differently is not have the couple be the enticed characters, instead it is the protagonists best friend and 'girlfriend'. This was done to give the audience a fair understanding of what to expect.
Having looked back on more feedback, I needed to change the font colouring for the actor's names. So now that has been rectified, here is my final poster:
In this new poster I have changed the quotes to match a real-looking quote that would be taken from a professional review. I have also added a "Working Title" logo as they are the company we decided would distribute our film. The choice to have a simple white background was made based on other Rom-Com posters I have analysed previously, with Callum looking at the camera as he is the person we empathise with. Also, Callum is the person we follow through the story, and he is the only one that understands the absurdity of Benjy's chat-up lines.
The reason I have chosen this image is because it explains the story in one image. Benjy is acting like a puppet-master between Callum and Poppy, while Poppy looks happily in a relationship. The placement and pose also resembles a wedding, relating to the relationship. Callum is addressing the audience as we empathise with him and follow him throughout the story.
I sent Benjy the figures of our budget, how much was spent etc. And he put together a budget report.
Benjy's Budget Report:
Callum and I decided from the very beginning that we would put everything into the final shooting of our film. As a result we spent hours talking to people, either on the phone or in person, to acquire the perfect locations. We also spent money on this film to make the film as professionally as we could. Previously, every film we have made has been 100% free, so because we spent money on our film, for the first time, we had a budget which was previous an aspect of the media industry which was not applicable with films Callum and I have produced. We decided our budget would be £10 Callum (as expenses manager) gave me the figures so I could write up a budget report. Things we spent the money on:
Wedding decorations - balloons, confetti, and streamers
banqueting roll - to make a white carpet for the wedding
food for the restaurant date scene
Tiara
In the rough cut we wanted to get an idea for how we would set-up a wedding sequence so we bought balloons and confetti. We did not buy food for the restaurant sequence because we knew it was a rough cut.
Rough cut expenses
Balloons = £1
Confetti = £1
Total= £2
In the final shooting of Happily Ever After we bought more of the same wedding decorations and we also bought some streamers for £3. We also bought McDonald's for food during the restaurant sequence. We wanted actual food for three reasons:
to give the impression it was a real date
to make our film more professional
to give our characters something to do on their date and to add to our montage
The McDonald's we bought cost £2.18 for two medium fries and £2.98 for two cheeseburgers. We also got two packs of ketchup which was free and we bought plates from home.
Final Cut Expenses
Balloons = £1
Confetti = £1
Streamers = £3
Medium fries x2 = £2.18
Cheeseburgers x2 = £2.98
Total = £10.16
Overal Expenses
Rough Cut Expenses = £2
Final Cut Expenses = £10.16
Total Expenditure = £12.16
As you can see from these figures, we went over our budget by £2.16. We decided at the time that we would put in the the extra money because for the sake of £2 it was worth it in terms of the quality of our final outcome.
We have recently received feedback on our font dilemma.
The feedback suggests that the original font is more suitable for the film. However some of these suggestions are out of our target audience. Me and Benjy have decided that the new font is better fitting with our film.
Here is a side by side comparison of the old and new fonts.
Using our original font would challenge the conventions of a high school romantic comedy, but is used effectively. We will use facebook to get feedback on the two fonts as our tutor feels that the new font is institutionally correct.
The review begins with a small paragraph explaining the plot of the film. This should likely stay short so that I don't stray off the point. The plotline explanation isn't too detailed, but detailed enough to explain what's going on. The review itself is then kept short to likely avoid putting people off. The review begins by explaining what currently is happening during the film, before explaining why it is or is not entertaining or in-keeping with the genre.
The review goes into what sections fit the genre and how/if they are effective in their goals, before at the end reaching a Verdict (a short sentence concluding the review). The verdict is only one to two sentences long and sums up the review as a whole, I shall use this technique in my own review. There is also a rating out of 5, this film has only been given 3/5 stars, the reasoning is explained in the review.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5
For the main editing, I used Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. The software allows me to use arange of different cuts, fades and transitions for my movie. I also used it to create the split screen for me and Benjy during the wedding sequence.
I also used Adobe Flash 8, this is a 2D animation software. I used this for the ending credits, this was a way to get them manually moving upward at my chosen speed.
Get Benjy to produce a film review from a magazine which would be my target readership. (for example: Timeout or Empire)
Annotate the layout and structure of a review, focusing on the vocabulary used, where the image is places, institutional information, how the film is reviewed itself. Mirror an existing review in my own production.
Annotated review from time out and one from Empire.
This is the set up we had put together for our Photo Shoot. We are using two 500w Lights, along with a control panel to adjust the brightness and contrast. The lights were used to add some clarity to the shot, as the images with grainy and noisy without the use of lighting.
Here is the lighting when it's been switched on, as you can see it is extremely bright. Unfortunately one of the lights was slightly more yellow as opposed to the white light on the foreground. However it did not affect the majority of our shots. At this point we begun thinking these lights may not be strong enough.
So we attempted to use the Camera flash alongside these lights. Here is what happened, unfortunately it had become too bright and it is difficult to see what the image is of.
After some experimenting, we had come up with the best lighting configuration, we turned the lights to approximately 3/4 of the available strength, and didn't use the camera flash.
The blog is at a C- or a D+ -The first video of the photo-shoot was not very good but the second one was better because I was explaining what we were going to do Targets: -Annotate my own poster -Demonstrate the development of ideas and how we got to the final one -Links between existing poster -upload font analysis and why I changed the font I already had -screenshot process of poster creation -Audience feedback -Facebook comments and YouTube comments (done) -Pictures to twitter -Start considering where the review of my film would be placed -Image, language, Layout
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