Post 24: Evaluation Questions & Tasks Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

 

These screen shots from our film show both of the main characters by themselves. think that this is an important point as we produced a poster featuring a face made up of a man and woman that was based around the looks of both Sammie and Connor. By having both sexes merging together to make once face in the poster suggests that both the male and female- both Alan and Sophie-are of equal importance in the film.  

 

I find the poster to work effectively with the film as it entices the audience to come and find out more about the main characters, it also hints at the importance of both characters within the film.

The photo is the dominate feature of the review and because it features both main characters (like the poster featured both sexes) and because it takes up such a large amount of space in the review- it is the first thing our audience see- I think that the review suggests that not only does something happen between the characters but that they are, once again, of equal importance.

Overall I believe the combination of our main product, the film and ancillary texts were very effective and would grab an audience’s interest and attention. Behind Blue Eyes - which the audience would recognise and remember due to the title appearing in large and bold text throughout every piece of work, I think has been advertised well through the use of different media which has been created to suit our target audience. If I was to make any changes it would be to incorporate our actors into the poster, however I believe the rest of the information and projects work well together.

Post 24: Evaluation Questions & Tasks Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

Short film

1. The production companies name is featured in the opening credits, this is conventional as in real media products they often have the production companies name at the beginning of the film.
2. This shot shows the main character, Sophie, interacting with her best friend; this is conventional as it shows the audience the main character, their importance and also how they act towards others.
3. This shot shows an example of one of the many fades within our short film; this is conventional in short films as fades are used to help move from one scene to the other.
4. This shot shows the main character interacting with the antagonist, this is conventional as in real media products they establish the bad guy and how the protagonist interacts with them.
5. This shot shows the relationship between the protagonist and antagonist develop during a montage, this allows the audience to see the time scale of the grooming. This is not conventional in most films as you don't often have such a strong storyline with the main character being seduced by the villain.
6. Shows the same as number 5.
7. This shot shows how close Sophie and Alan's relationship is through the use of body language. This is conventional as body language helps to make the dialogue more realistic as well as suggest something because of how close they are.
8. This shot shows a close up of the characters movements, this is conventional in films as they often have cutaways to point out key points within the film.

9. Once again a close up showing the characters movements suggesting the relationship between the main actors. As well as pointing out the key points within the film.
10. This shot features the main character Alan, it is a medium close up to show his facial expression. This is conventional as medium close ups are often used in films for the audience to see the characters reaction.
11. A calm quiet medium shot that gets interrupted by a critical turning point in the film. Alan proceeds to get arrested which is the build-up to the end scene. This is conventional as there are usually large build ups in real media products to create tension for the audience.
12. Shows the same as number 11 however is a closer shot.

13. This shot reveals the policeman waiting for Alan outside his door. This shot is conventional as films often introduce new characters to the audience through a different shot not always including the main character.
14. A close up of Alan being handcuffed, this is a key shot to the audience as it shows the use of an important prop. This is conventional as real media products cut away to a close up of an important subject matter.
15. Medium close up of Alan being put into the police car and being escorted to the station, this is conventional as the police car helps make the police more realistic for the audience which often happens in films as dramas often try to stay as true to the truth as possible.
16. The final shot is of Alan being interviewed; this is where we leave the film on a cliff hanger which is conventional in real media products as it leaves the audience confused, interested and wanting more.

Poster

1.   This shows a bold, dominating title of the film. This is a convention seen in many other real media products as when advertising one of the first things distributors want the audience to see is the name of what they are trying to promote.

2.   This slogan is enticing and makes the audience think about the film a lot more. Again this is a convention of real media products as many films have small slogans on their posters.
3.   This is the additional information such as the production company and who else is involved. For the third time this is another real media product convention as it is nearly always seen at the bottom of most film posters.

Review

1. Bold, eye catching title of the film.

2. Large pictures taken from the film of the main characters.

3. Tag line to entice the reader and make them wonder what the film is about.

4. Basic information about the film.

5. An overall verdict on whether the film is worth seeing or not.

6. Description of what is happening in the picture.

7. The production company which is unconventional to have in a review unless it with the information about the film.

Post 23: Final Products

In this post is my groups final short film, the postcard we created and the film review of our film that I created.

Here is the link to our film Behind Blue Eyes:

 

 

 

Here is the poster for our film.

 Here is my film review in the style of Empire Magazine:

 

 

The review says:

'This unexpected film about friendship and the mistrust of those closest to you, demonstrates just how easily a child can fall through the cracks.

Capturing the audience’s attention from the opening titles it tells the story of Sophie, played by up and coming British talent Sammie Lovell, and her struggle to improve her maths. With twist and turns delicately placed throughout the plot you are always left guessing.

Similarly to the American movie ‘Trust’ the film circulates around the issues of sexual abuse and the mistrust of those closest to the main protagonist.  Trust’s writers Rob Festinger rgand Andy Bellin however steered their film down the more commercial  route of meeting someone online whereas Behind Blue Eyes uses a lesser talked about way of meeting an abuser by him already being situated in the girls life.

Told from the point of view of the assumed abuser Alan Thorne, played by another new British talent Connor Janes, the writer takes you on an emotional rollercoaster, with the audience never quite sure if he’s done what he’s being accused of. Sarah Roberts, although new to our screens, doesn’t let her co-stars talents overshadow her own with her outstanding portrayal of a fierce friend, loving daughter and helpless victim.'

Post 22: Post-Production Report

After we had finished filming our next step was to capture all of our footage onto the editing suite and start creating a rough cut of our film. The editing software that we used was Adobe Premiere Pro as that’s the only one available at school. Although we worked as a team to do the editing Katie-Mai took control and was the main person in charge of getting the editing done.

By creating a rough cut we were able to get a first look at what our film would end up like. To do this we had to go through all the shots and footage we had and chose which shots worked best and which angles gave the best view of the action.

 

Once we had a rough cut we then went back over the footage and cut out and errors and deleted a few shots that didn’t work or didn’t look right. We tried to make sure there were no continuity errors but as you can see from the pictures below some continuity errors were impossible to fix so late in the production of our film.

 

After we were sure we had created the desired footage we went through and checked the sound levels to make sure the footage ran smoothly. Once we were satisfied with what we had we added music and the voice over to help create the atmosphere and to give our film a more professional finish, this was mainly over the montages and in the background of the office scene.

Once this was complete we focused on the transition of the shots and proceeded to add in fades where we thought would help the pace of the film , this can be seen in the photo below. Once we had added effects and backing tracks our short film was complete, my group and I are happy with the outcome, however, I wish we had spotted certain continuity errors whilst we were originally filming and had the chance to fix the error - Alan and Sophie in the living room. 

Post 21: Production Report

Whilst filming my group and I kept a record the filming process and any alterations made.

Post 20: Ancillary Task 2 - Film Reviews

After the release of a film many of them are reviewed by different kinds of publications, for example, magazines, online reviews and newspapers. I have looked at different style of film reviews in order to distinguish the conventions used in the majority of magazines. I will then use what I have learnt to write and present my own review of Behind Blue Eyes.

The first review I looked at was in Empire magazine and it was about Cosmopolis. 

  

 

Some of the conventions in this film review that I picked out were that the review itself and how it is written in a conversation style and isn’t overly serious about what its writing. This jokey style is continued with the description of what’s being shown in the picture. The picture is the main thing that the eye is drawn to as it features the main character, who is also a well-known actor. At the end of the review there is an overall opinion of the film and a ranking out of 5 stars which would be what most readers would focus on and use to make their decision about seeing the film.

The second review I looked at was from Sight and Sound which was also about Cosmopolis. I decided to look at the same film in a different magazine as it would show me the different ways in presenting and reviewing one thing rather that looking at a different film that may be in a different genre, have a different target audience or not have the same kind of reaction about it.

 

The main thing I noticed about this review was its more serious style of reviewing than Empire Magazine. Sight and Sound is a film review magazine aimed at a different kind of audience than Empire whose audience are perhaps younger or less serious about the film industry and just want to enjoy reading about the latest films.

For my own review I have decided to follow the style of Empire Magazine because the layout is more appealing to the eye and the photo is larger so entices readers through not just the subject of the article. Empire Magazine also has a wider audience as it is a friendlier publication whereas Sight and Sound is aimed at a more niche market.

 

Above is the design for my layout of Behind Blue Eyes review, I have tried to base it as much on Empire magazine as possible keeping the title of the film bold, four columns of writing, a large image taken from the film and similar boarders. I shall keep the title bold so it grabs the attention of the reader, keep the verdict as this can often affect a readers opinion especially the star rating. I have made my image the focus of the review as I believe this often interests the reader and entices them to read the review,  I however have included a lot of writing as I believe this will convince the reader to go and watch the film.

Post 19: Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards

Film posters and postcards are commonly used by studios to help advertise their films to a wide range of people that may not learn about it in any other way.

Hollywood posters are conventionally large and eye catching using the large budgets that they have been given. They often the well-known actor or actress in the centre because the studios know that they have a large fan base and so will attract audiences. Along with an image of a well-known actor there will often by the names of all the larger and better-known actors names to entice more people. As well as this the title is central to the poster and in promoting the film so is always in bold and in an obvious place so people can see what the film is called just by glancing at the poster.

Below is a picture of the poster of the film The Dark Knight (2008), I have annotated it to show some of the different techniques used to grab the audience’s attention and techniques that give the audience information about the film:

  

British posters are typically different to American ones; however, there are a few British posters that have the characteristics of American posters. An example of this is the Les Miserables (2012) film poster which can be seen below.

A British film that takes a different approach is This Is England (2006). As seen there is a dominating photo but that is of all the characters not just one main one, the title of the film grabs the audiences' attention first due to it being bold and big. Along with this it shows some successes of the film, that could potentially help persuade potential viewers to go and watch it. The picture below shows how I annotated this film poster, highlighting the techniques:

 

 

Short films don’t tend to have posters to advertise them but rather post cards. Postcards are considered a more direct technique when targeting short film audiences.

Conventionally short film postcards consist of a dominating photo on the front that is related to the film, but also eye catching, and on the back there is a bit more information. This information could include the names of the people involved in making the film and the distribution company’s’ that helped in promoting the film, it may also include a website that the audience can go onto to find out more information. These are two postcards that I have annotated to show some on the conventions used in promoting short films.

Divine

On A Life's Edge

However even though most short films use postcards to advertise and sell their film to the audience, we have decided to create a poster for Behind Blue Eyes. Below is my rough plan of what I think our poster should look like.