Shannon - Evaluation 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback? 

Initially we agreed on a chosen plot. We then typed this up and presented it to our audience via Google docs initially which was able to be completed anonymously which included questions such as ‘what genre would put the short film under’ ‘what age rating would you give the film’ and so on. Not only did we have to decide on a plot but also we had to know the answers to the questions we were asking. We had sub-categorized our film as a thriller, which meant we had to identify our target audience to put the questions out to. Typically males enjoy thrillers more than females due to psychological side of it however we wanted to try and attract females also by giving it the 'romantic' edge. Therefore we came to the conclusion that our target audience was going to be adolescent teens and above. Below is the results we gathered via the Google questionnaire...

Another method we used as a way of gathering audience research was via video interview. We thought the ideal place to interview people would be college as that was our target audience. We asked the same questions as on the online questionnaire however i feel we got more genuine results due to the interviewee being put on the spot and unable to lie behind anonymity. Throughout this process we gave the public full permission to scrutinize any issues they thought we had with our plot. We found that most of the feedback was positive and we had little 'improvement suggestions'. Below is the results we gathered via video interview...

After receiving the feedback we took it on board and continued with the process of making our short film. Once we had completed our rough edit of our film we exported it onto YouTube and sent out another questionnaire to see if there were any minor adjustments an audience may see that we as a production team couldn't see. The results we gathered from this was that there was a small error with the audio that we wouldn't have seen other wise. Also there was a little confusion with the potential rating of the film which was expected due to there being little difference between 12 and 15. We looked at the bbfc guidelines and from here we made subtle adjustments to things such as lighting and sound which despite only being minor changes made sure that it fitted the guidelines of a 12 rather than pushing the boundaries and making it confusing for the audience. Below is the results we gathered via google docs for the second time....

Overall i feel the audience feedback was beneficial in aiding with our film making process and without it i don't think the media product we have created would be at the standard that it is at now therefore the feedback we received, although minor was crucial when reaching the quality our final product is at now. 

Shannon - Evaluation 1

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

As a group last year we were aware of all aspects what are needed to create a successful, one of those being continuity. Continuity meaning each shot follows on from one another. This rule is required for audience purposes as it allows the media product to be understood thoroughly also above all it makes the plot believable.

We achieved continuity by mainly keeping the mise en scene same throughout. We did this by ensuring if we were filming on different days we filmed at similar times to try and get the lighting as similar as possible, obviously this was something slightly out of our control however we did our best to maintain similar day light, which overall did work in our favor as shown by the images below. (the kidnap scene and fountain scene were filmed on different days). When looking back now the only issue i think was the sun, on the fountain scene it was partially sunny and on the kidnap scene it was mainly grey, however continuity was still maintained to some level as it just showed time progression and added to the story of Hollie waiting a while for Ethan.   

Another contributing factor to the continuity of our film was clothing. We ensured Hollie despite filming on different days was wearing exactly the same as she was the previous time we was filming. Also silly things such as hair styling and makeup all adds to the effect what continuity as you can see below...

The 180 degree rule also was present throughout film. We used a static camera on a tripod which meant a seamless continuous level was maintained whilst panning the camera etc. The change in equipment from last years preliminary task where we held a small Panasonic camera was vast and majorly improved continuity levels throughout our media product. 

This year i feel our media product conforms to the typical thriller conventions as an appose to challenge them. We had a typical antagonist (male) and typical protagonist (vulnerable female). We found this was a recurring theme in most thriller films similar to ours such as the call. Another contributing factor to the typical conventions was the fact that our antagonist was kept a mystery until the end of the film shown below...

The typical conventions we have stuck to i don't feel are boring i just think it will give the viewer full satisfaction in what to expect however we add a twist with the cliff-hanger at the end giving the film an edge.

The main aim of our film was to entertain the audience giving them satisfaction and pleasure in what they were seeing, to do this we used an entertaining genre which allows us to use suspense and action in our 5 minute film. The plot of the film keeps the audience intrigued throughout, right until the very end. I feel we have achieved this as our film gives a range of emotions keeping it entertaining to watch. However, although it is there to entertain we felt our film could be used in educational ways to show the dangers of the internet. We aimed to show that no one is entirely sure who they are speaking to which we took inspiration from the Catfish series, and I am very confident that we achieved this by using the most dramatic way possible of showing Hollie being kidnapped as it gives a sense of shock and highlights the dangers

Shannon - Evaluation 2

Final film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZx6dDGneaQ

Shannon - Evaluation Number 4

Radio trailer

Final poster

Audience feedback sheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvisjE6SOdCCdENRUEplaGJIbVRtYmx4eVdvYnhRNWc#gid=0

Audience questionnaire for 5 minute film

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ruCazAEwm90UIXZue0ZlgrQu4SUbEMETXelhOIjIyoQ/viewform

Title sequence research

                                          

                                          click here to go to the social network title sequence

The title sequence is almost dream like, it sticks to the main theme of the film, which is of course technology and Facebook. 

Imagery

The title sequence uses the main plot to the film. It gives you a sense what the film is about straight away. The images blend in and almost merge into one to form a new profile. It has a modern, technological twist which is unusual to see. It uses the generic 'Facebook' page to give all credits and creates profiles for them, or displays them as friends or shows how one of the actors has commented on an others status, it ties in all of them in a seamless way whilst still staying true to its main purpose. 

Music

The music used is a delicate, dream like and atherial. This is used i think as it shows that idea of setting up the 'social network' is a dream and it doesn't seem real when he does achieve it. The sound almost takes you on a journey which again may be used to insinuate that the film will take you on a jorney and not just any journey but mark Zuckbergs journey.

What id like to take as inspiration 

What i liked from the sequence is that it stays true to the meaning behind the film. I like the use of profiles and likes and comments to show the titles and roles, i particularly liked the part where it went straight into the film via a video which had been posted on to the social network its self, however i think this could be a little difficult to achieve. 

Progress Report

When we began filming we came across some problems. We intended to use my dad but he wasn't able to make the shooting times so we had to choose someone else to become the 'parent' we decided to use Ellie so we had to change some of the script. We have now finished most of our filming and have now begun editing. In the next few weeks we will shoot our last scene and complete editing. We had to shoot all of our scenes with Megan before 12/12/13 as she was dyeing her hair dark, once we had finished these scenes we noticed some of our focusing was wrong so we had to be selective of the shots we were able to use.

Non-Diegetic sound to use on time lapse

On our time lapse we will use Non Diegetic sound over the top. To create the desired effect we will need something slow and moving this gives a good impression of a lonely, in her own world feeling we are wanting to create for Hollie for example...

Although this isn't Royalty Free it gives us a base idea to work from.

Here is another example of a non royalty free song example, once we have these basis to work on i think it will be easier to find a good, moving royalty free example

Tricky Shots - Time lapse

Throughout our short film we have 2 tricky shots one being a split screen and the other a time lapse. We are wanting to do our time lapse via video and not stills. We first found inspiration from the following video...

The video gives the exact effect we want to achieve although we believe this video was done via a green screen as the girls are moving whilst filming. This will be a tricky shot for us as the character Hollie 'Megan' will have to sit still for a while (approximately 10 minutes) which when speeded up will give us around 2 minutes of actual footage which we will cut down to about 10 seconds.

Here is another video which has given us inspiration and we believe they have video rather than stills to create this effect..

This also in places shows something still such as buildings and statues which in our film would be megan, they have sped everything up however looks as though the stills are not moving and as if everything around them are going so busy. In this particular video they have used a non diagetic soundtrack, which adds to the fast pace.

As this is a tricky shot we also need to research how to achieve this effect when we are using final cut express, here is a video to demonstrate how...

Although this video is on final cut pro it gives a rough idea how to create the 'rushed effect' which is desired. I don't think creating this will be too difficult as we have researched it well plus we have previous experience with final cut express.

Why did we chose to use a time lapse? We as a group decided to use a time lapse as we think it will give a really great effect when Hollie is waiting for Ethan. It will portray as if the world is going by her while she is invisible and lonely. Our short film takes Hollie on a journey where she at the beginning is lonely and quiet, Ethan then gets Hollie to break out of her shell and starts to become more confident, then when Ethan denies her the world comes crashing back down to earth when she realises she is lonely and that no one does want her, this we feel is a why a time lapse will be effective.

Shot List

Ethan & Hollie

Day 1
Ethan - Hi... How are you?
Hollie - Fine thanks, you?
Ethan - Ye i'm good :)

Day 2
Hollie - Never guess what ... I've got a new phone, text my new number 07743576634
Ethan - Guess who
Hollie - No idea ;)

Day 3
Hollie - Had a good day at work?
Ethan - Missed you, meet up soon?
Hollie - Yeee :) Where?
Ethan - I'll let you know

Day 4
Hollie - How about a meet up in town tomorrow?
Ethan - Mine instead?
Hollie - Maybe after
Ethan - Dunno. I'm going now. Bye.

Filming Schedule

These are the days we are available
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday

These are the days our external actors are available
Tuesday (after 4:30pm)
Wednesday

This is our schedule 
Tuesday the 19th November - Megan's house (indoor scenes) - 12pm onwards
Wednesday the 20th November - Darton and Town - 12pm onwards

We chose to film this early to ensure that if any issues occur we can re-film. Another issue which we came across was megan's hair... Megan is changing her hair colour on the 29th of November which would be a huge downfall in continuity.

Progress Report

So far we have...
looked at similar film posters
researched viral adds
risk assessment
chosen a film name
What we will do in the next couple of weeks...
make a film schedule
complete shot list
start filming

Practice Journey

Click here to go to our Practice Journey

Sequence 1 - Practice Journey from shannon guthrie on Vimeo.

Production Logo Idea

Possible Hair/Makeup/Clothing Ideas

Hollie
Hair: Blonde, straight, fringe clipped with a bobby pin, very practical and neat, blonde to try and fit in with the crowd
Makeup: Minimal makeup throughout, however when she is ready to go on her date with Ethan we see Hollie 'dolled up'.
Clothing: Cute little tea, skater dress with tights and dolly shoes. Reserved and not daring to match Hollies Personality

Hollies Dad
Hair: N/A
Makeup: N/A
Clothing: Work clothes, showing he is supporting Hollie (his only family) by going to work and earning them a living.

Ethan
Hair: Dark, short styled hair.
Makeup: N/A
Clothing: Navy parka coat, skinny jeans, converse. (Not that we really see Ethan)