Evidence of sound editing

This shows sound being edited around our project. Sound was something we focused on after we had placed all of the clips into the project instead of bombarding ourselves with everything at once. 

Poster Analysis - Nigel

The fly is a short film which was, by what I can find, crowd funded. The poster is unique for a short film as it it actually made, what seems to be CGI. This means that it isn't pictured in real life, but is actually edited on the computer to seem realistic. So this has been created purely artificial (as seen by the center image) and shows pretty much what the short film is about. The conventions of this genre are mystery and suggests that the tone of the short film will be dark. The Title FLY SPY also suggests that it is a short film about just that, but could be about many things. There is a blacked out person in the background which seems to be in a silhouetted out doorway, this could create enigma surrounding who this actually is, but also could make it seem like the object in the foreground is actually show that is isn't seen by what is in the background, but I cannot confirm this. The institutional block is at the top and shows the names of the people who appear in the short film. The title is grey which may be to just suit the background, nothing fancy but also may be in the genre of spies. The tagline ‘watching was not enough’ also creates enigma surrounding this short film. I have no details in how long this film actually is, so this short film could be 5 minutes to 20 mins, I don’t know. The institutional block at the bottom is a general block which shows what people are involved and their roles. The tone of this poster is low key lighting, this makes the doorway even more bold as it stands out through the darkness. The background/floor of the poster is wood, this could show that the location that the fly is at is hidden away like an attic. I think this poster is successful because it conveys the genre of short film that it is aiming to suggest. 

This poster is seems to have similar concepts to what I could do for our short film as my draft film poster.  The genre of this seem to be dark, mysterious and maybe thrilling. This means that the conventions which help lead us into thinking this is the colour black, low key lighting and little information – which this short film poster does well. There isn't much information given away due to to the way it has been edited together.  This is kinda what our short film could do as it is comparing two characters. This here is comparing a female and a male character, although their facial expressions are clearly shown, their body language is cut off since it is just their faces shown merged into together. In the top right of the merged picture, there is a setting which may be important in the narrative, this could show us as a viewer that they perhaps are brought together here, or even that these 3 things  are as important to the story as each other.  The title seems to be rusted which is suited to the actual context of the title being The Rusted, which is a easy link to both the title and the actual content can link together. The word The and Rusted are  Although all of these ignite enigma, the colour scheme may suggest otherwise, although the blue look of the poster could also relate to perhaps fog or mist, so unclear as mist and fog are a convention of a thriller since everything is hidden beyond the usual sight. As before, the institutional block is at the bottom of the poster. All of the text and even the image on the poster is in the direct center line, there is nothing which is out of place. It is all mirrored in this sense. In conclusion I think this poster can help me decide what my ideas can revolve around, show the usefulness of the center line being the base of where everything is and the idea of what should stand out in the title.

 This low budget film obviously became a huge success, but the original film was low budget so this poster can be one that I analyse to help me think of what I could do to get a response from the audience as this one tried to achieve. The conventions of a horror is blood, uneasiness and anything scary, although this is true, you cannot make a poster which will be too rough as it would not be suitable for more audiences, and probably will restrict where it can actually be shown too. Although this is true, this doesn't mean that this cannot happen. The image in the center of this poster is a screenshot from the film, I believe this is one of the only shots you get in the bedroom, therefore it is a famous scene as it always has both of the characters there, although this is true, they didn't know it would end up being as big as it was. The image has been edited to make it seem like it has been recorded by a camera. The woman in the image is pointing towards the door too, the door has darkness behind it which creates enigma behind what the door actually means, and what is behind the door too. The blue effect makes it seem darker, as it shows it is at night as if the camera can only shoot at night so the characters would be seeing something darker, so people can relate to the poster since usually people sleep in the dark at night, and that there is something dark. The quotes at the top are from critics, they show what the film may actually be like, giving it a good name. The title is red, which stands out contrasted with the black background of the poster. The tagline is 'what happens when you sleep?' and 'don't see it alone; which supports my other point about the image, this is trying to get a response from the viewer without producing anything which may be age rated. 

This is the most unique poster of the few I have looked at. There are critic ratings on the poster and also quotes (similar to Paranormal activity'. This is a British independent film, so its poster may help me develop my own understanding on what I want for my own ideas. The immediate difference to this poster to the others is that this one is landscape whilst the other ones are portrait. This fits more onto the poster, including the picture of the character which is quite a big name. The critics at the top also mention this 'Benedict Cumberbatch is outstanding' which shows that they want to show off this big name on the title. This may be able to convince people to go and watch the film as he is a big name especially with the TV show Sherlock. The image of him is clear and takes up the right side of the poster which suggests that yes, they are trying to sell the film as they have a high list actor. The text is spread out to fill in the space between the character and the edge of the left, this takes up a lot of the space that wouldn't be taken up otherwise. There is a small institutional block, I suppose this could be because the main actor has been given away, suggesting that he is the main person that they should know. This poster gives me a new perspective to my own ideas and allows me to think if I should have it portrait or landscape, and what that will allow me to actually do extra. 

4 film posters analysed: Stephen Griffin

Monsters:

Media Language:

• The setting is shown as a forest on the outskirts of a forest; there are clear signs of destruction showing that these characters are either escaping from this destruction, or venturing closer towards it. The use of props and décor further enforce the feeling of destruction, while showing us (by way of the sign) that the monsters are the cause of the destruction. The composition of the shot shows that the two characters are the centre of the story; and yet they are small in comparison to the forest: this gives the impression that they are inferior to the monsters and nature in general. This is further shown by the use of an extreme long shot of the characters; emphasising their predicament of finding themselves out of their comfort zones. The eye-level view provides us with an angle which can explore the character’s facial expressions clearly; with the eye-line match of the male meeting just above where we would be standing: perhaps telling us that the ‘monster’ is right behind us and in front of them.
• The colouring of this poster provides us with a great amount of background towards the story; we can tell that behind them lays a city which has been affected by the monster’s destruction. The colours in the city are lighter and brighter than when they get closer to the forest, with a darker colour building on fire and darkness either side of the characters. This lighting and colouring tells us that it will be even more dangerous the way that these characters are going (shown via body language), as it only gets darker the closer they come to the foreground.

Representation:

• We have a strong female character shown in the poster: her face is covered in dirt (make-up in terms of media language) instead of her face being clean to create a ‘doll’ character. We get the feeling that she isn’t a ‘damsel in distress’ and instead has rescued the male on a few occasions (her sweaty and matted hair compared to his windswept hair.)
• ·The male is represented as being weaker than the female, again by use of hair-styling- but also how his body language is much more relaxed- in a known dangerous situation- showing he has let is guard down and isn’t fully prepared to go up against what is coming.
• Another representation is that of the balance between cities and forests’, how they both can be easily destroyed by nature.

Audience:

• ·    The target demographic for this film would be a teenager aged 13 to 19, of any gender. This is due to the portrayal of a potentially strong female character, as well as the use of thriller (enigma codes and suspense) which particularly appeals to the teen demographic.

Narrative:

• ·     The plot is shown to be a ‘journey’ by use of media language; we are also told that these characters are escaping the (either soon to be or previously) destroyed city. We are told via a prop(the camera) that the man is a photographer, and we can tell that both of these characters have no business being in a dangerous forest- already creating a suspenseful situation.

Genre:

• ·     The genre of this film is a hybrid between science fiction (shown by the use of a ‘monster’) and a thriller- due to the enigma that these monsters have left us with.

Layout:

• ·    The layout of the poster shows the title truly bold so you know for certain what the film is about. The title is edited in a way so it looks like a ‘warning’ road sign; emphasising the danger that these characters are facing.  Above the title is a faint writing that shows the production company: Vertigo films- as it is a debut film perhaps they did not wish to ruin this poster with an unknown production company? Either way, the line is in centre composition and the spacing between each letter is semantic to science fiction films- effectively showing the distance that these characters are going to travel. On the bottom of the poster, above the credit block, is the tagline “BEWARE”, again, the letters spaced out. This is semantically involved in showing the dangers that the story entails.
• ·    The credit block itself is small, showing how little funding the film has received- and mainly consist of the actors in the film (Whose names are not shown on the actual poster.)
•      Below the credit block lays a website for viewers to go to; showing how this poster has a particular focus on the users of social media; stereotypically the target audience for the film (12 to 20 year olds.) The rating is shown just below the title as being a 12A.

Ce Lume Minunatâ

This poster provides a strong visual image of life in Moldova during civil unrest. We see a shoe on the ground, part of a costume for an unseen character. This abandoned shoe represents the people of the county- abandoned by their government and neighbouring countries as the Communist party ‘rigged’ the elections and led them to civil unrest. The setting is that of a runway- again, representing the people of Moldova and their desperate attempts to flee the corrupt government- hitchhiking on planes as a way to escape. The shoe itself is clearly battered, showing the plot of the story in a single instance- a journey. The shoe shows that the journey has been rough- the ‘make up’ effect of dirt and the battered, broken shoe. The composition of the shot allows the shoe to be centre frame; while the rest of the text shown on the poster is also aligned to the centre- emphasising the shoe itself. Through colouring and lighting we see that the sky is a deep grey with hints of yellow- almost as if there is a fire burning to the right of the shot; out of the poster view. This creates the feeling of imminent danger, and provides a short insight on the narrative plot as well- showing that the characters in the plot will be going through a dangerous situation. These all detail semantic codes for a thriller; telling the audience that this is a thriller film.

The lack of characters shown in the poster makes the poster much more personal; the viewer is met with an emotional reaction as we wonder what has happened to the owner of the shoe. Using an enigma in the poster it not only solidifies the genre of the film but also creates a sense of hope within the viewer; if they aren’t from Moldova than the viewer will hope that this situation is now long over and people will not be in any more danger. And if the viewer is in Moldova they will remember he pain that everyone went through, and remember the trials they endured and rightfully got through.

The age certificate is shown clearly as being 18+, shown in the same simplistic font used in the rest of the text- perhaps telling us that the plot is something that is simplistic, or so common, in Moldova that it doesn’t require any flashy text to tell a riveting story. This also attracts a more mature audience, those who want to see a proper narrative story and those who want to be thrilled by an event based on real life.

Through the layout of the poster we can see he large amounts of people listed on the credit block; however each of them are names and none are huge in the film industry- showing that this is an independent film (expected with a foreign film.) Both the director and the producer are shown at the top of the film poser; emphasising their positions in the making of the film.  By making their names capitals it emphasises them; giving past viewers the momentum they need to watch this film.

The Immigrant:

The background colours are that of the American flag, instantly recognisable. We know instantly that this is a man’s journey from Canada (the maple leaves as the stars) to America. He is obviously looking for work, any work, by the way his costume and props show him: his rake shows he is up for any kind of work, and his sunhat shows that he’s willing to work in the blistering sun. The plot is laid out for us instantly.

Through a camera angle; a low angle shot, we get the feeling that this man- even though his composition is small compared to the rest of the poster- he holds power over us. The composition of the poster shows him as being small to show that America is big and a bully, all in one- how it treads all over the little people to have its own way. While the angle itself shows that instead this man is bigger; and he is climbing to the top of the system- where his eye line is matching. This is a positive representation that most immigrants aim to live up to; people who want to work hard and earn their place in society.

The genre in this poster isn’t clear; it could be a social realism piece but it could also be a mockumentary- a comedy laughing at America’s view of immigrants. The background, with its broken walls making up the American flag, gives a serious impression so it’s likely that this is a piece of social realism. However, it could also be used to give the impression that America is already broken: a comedic view which would fit with the comedic genre.  

The title text, as well as the actors name’s, run parallel to the lines that make up the American flag. This slanted effect gives the impression of the not-straight thinking government, the corruption that occurs. Additionally, the effect makes the title even more eye-catching, and the audience will easily be able to see the title.  The title itself is bold, along with the lead actor’s name, to enforce the fact that the main character is a hard working- bold- person. The title is personified to reflect the character’s mood.

The title block at the bottom contains all the companies and groups that have assisted in making the film; 6 including the Levy Brothers, whom Josh Levy being the director of the film and Robi the producer. This shows the wide scale production that the film was; something typically used only for Comedy films. Additionally, below the title block lays a website link- which tells us that the target audience for this film are the young generation- whom rely on social media, and use social media to spread their news (ie: how good and ground-breaking this film could be.) Going further with the target demographic; it the title of the film itself will not appeal to most (if not all) old generation conservatives, so it’s most certainly aimed at the, generally, more liberal and open-minded younger generation.

Recoil: 

The film recoil is instantly eye-catching (something that all movie posters want to be) by the use of the main character being in focus on the side; the lighting and colours of this poster create a science fiction-esque feel. The main characters face is clearly shown; giving way to his frowning facial expression- it is very obvious that this character is in a lot of pain. Additionally, the costume that the character is wearing (with the addition of the title ‘recoil’) is very military like; perhaps telling us what the plot is likely about. Furthermore, the ‘O’ in ‘RECOIL’ is edited to look like a black hole from space- again, a plot point. From these key factors we get a good idea of the genre, a science fiction film, and the plot: this man has to face going near (or in) a black hole to rescue someone. From the edited picture, on the character’s shoulder there is another face-the person that the main character is meant to rescue.

Through the background of the film- the institutional white- we get an added on feeling of emotion connected to this ‘sanitary’ white. With this colour often comes a mental dysfunction; perhaps this character has suffered greatly and now remembers those details vividly, or perhaps he’s going through an already tough time. Either way, we get the impression that this character is going through a lot more than meets the eye- further enforced by the scientific drawings etched onto the background (which clearly mean something to people who know.)

This short film seems to have a demographic targeted to mature teenagers (15+), due to the editing It’s very retro and something that’ll appeal to the older science fiction fans, so perhaps up to the people of the age of 40. The title is also reminiscent to the old science fiction films ‘Total recall’ which could perhaps be an influence for this film; further enforcing the demographic.

Audience feedback

Title Audience Feedback

The way home
Gone
Alter Ego 
Fighting Within
Second self
Hallucination
Figment
Mirage
Poltergeist

These are the titles we are going to show to our target audience. We want this title to be both catchy and appealing, so a short and snappy title will be best. We will put each of these titles into a strawpoll in order to find the best one. 

The audience is critirical to our choice in title as it will show what will actually attract the audience we desire. 

We will post our results 

Stephen's response:

This response has made the new title: 'Second Self'.

Filming Evidence

A little video with some behind the scenes, filmed on our phones.

+ photos

Revisions

Character revisions

Adam:

Adam was set to be a second family member, Eve's baby brother. We removed Adam from our plans due to the creation of Luke. This father and daughter relationship is stronger therefore may get a larger response from our audience. There was no room for Adam to be introduced to the audience since we didn't want too many characters in our short film. Luke could have a speaking role instead of a difficult procedure to make it known that Adam is Eve's baby brother when we weren't sure if Adam would actually feature in the short film and instead hinted by Foley sound. Another reason why this would be troublesome for us is the casting since we would have to get a young person to play the part if we had any onscreen footage of Adam. This onscreen footage would only last a few seconds as he wasnt a large part of our short film and was to develop Eve.

 

Country Lane

In our location post, we mentioned how we needed a cut off road to shoot our first scene when the car is pulling up to the camera and that we would go to a location near Burgess Hill. Instead of doing this we chose to go somewhere closer to one of our other shoots and film it there as it wasnt busy and that is something we needed. To go to the separate location and film would have meant that we would have needed all to have got there via car which may have been a hassle for all of us to do when we could get the same success close to another location. We also don't know how we would have got permission to shoot on the road and there is a main road not too far away so sound could travel and get picked up by the sound device. The road that we picked as our final shoot road was on a quieter part of the location so we could try and record minimal sound and footage of anything around. So basically this change meant there would be less traveling for us but with the same results with a similar looking location.      

 

Weapons and extra screen time for the survivor

In our plans, we included having weapons to have extra screen time with the survivor but this got changed once our ending idea changed. We wanted to extend the survivor meet up time to have a confrontation with weapons but then we had the idea of Luke and Eve to have a small confrontation either in her mind or in person, the viewer doesn't know. We had health and safety in mind when discussing if we should use any weapons in our short film. We didn't want to cause any problems that would risk our actor and crew so we decided against having a weapon and instead make her seem more vunerable by not giving her any weapons, although there are no immediate threats shown which shows why she would need a weapon as the other characters she interacts with are friendly, scared or imaginary. 

 

 

 

 

Hourglass

The hourglass was an idea that we were very ambitious and hopeful about, we still aren't sure if we will cancel this part completely as it seems such a good idea for us but we never found the spot for it in our narrative. We wanted to have a shot with a functioning hourglass which will have a foley or sound recorded at the time, this would be close up with the camera slowly tracking out or in from it, but not revealing what is going on in the surroundings too much. This was perfect when we were thinking of including more death and blood, which would have suited our ideas to have a scene suggesting that there is a riot occurring or just general apocalyptic bloodshed. This idea went out of the window to allow our narrative to have more focus around Eve and her hallucination or as we began to call her, Lucy, to make it easier when talking about each one.  I still think if we can include this in some way it could create an unique scene, but we would need to be very creative surrounding the changes that put it out of the question in the first place. Although this is true, we have tired to by even suggesting we could have changed the script to include more flash backs therefore include more shots of the hourglass. We also wanted to use a bucket to show time, this would mean there would be drips then it would be full in the next scene.

 

Plant Pot

 The plant pot was originally supposed to be thrown in a house. I dont think we thought this through well as we had to think whilst shooting how we could do this efficiently without any unwanted damage from the surroundings. We put a wooden board behind curtains and instead of as planned throwing the pot, it was pushed towards the board without as much force which eventually gave off the wanted result of the pot smashing apart. We put pillows above the board to block the window as a safety precaution. Although we only got one shot of the plant pot smashing, we got a fair amount of it bouncing off onto the pillows below. This can be synced with the sound we recorded in a safe location where we smashed the remaining pots that our prop buyer bought just in case we needed a number of them, this was also something we did safely as we stood back and recorded it from a distance. We originally planned to do this outside in another meltdown scene which would have made it all so much easier but I feel like it was a success even though the changes made us have to advert to new measures to achieve it. This may not be the biggest of change but it shows how we had to think on the spot to create the shot that we desired from writing the script to shooting but regrettably we should have tried to get more takes of this happening.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Script  

The script was changed throughout production and pre-production to fit our advancing ideas and issues. The script was modified at this point to make it less bulky and more flowing, cutting all unnecessary dialogue so we could fit more in which helped move the story onwards. I think this was involved the most drastic changes we made in the short film because it effected everything. This includes some of the things on this post as they all started with us removing them from the script or changing things around. 

Audience feedback

 Comments about our draft of the script and film synopsis:

'I enjoyed your story and look forward  to future progressions'

'Good, I like it. However the distant past is confusing.'

Straw polls:

"Would you be interested in a Short Film depicting the Apocalypse?"

We were so glad that this was appealing to our audiences because we were excited to make an apocalyptic short film due to our interest in that area. We thought it would be a good idea as other medias as well as films are focusing on apocalyptic settings more which means that perhaps there is a audience there to target which are really intrigued by a broken down Earth far away from the norm. If this feedback told us that it wasn't a good idea to do an apocalyptic short film, we would have to change and restart our idea too so this also made sure we were heading in the right direction to create a successful product.

In conclusion we were thrilled to have this feedback as it allowed us to do what we intended to do in the first place and the genre and narrative that we were excited to make. 

"What sort of apocalypse would be most interesting to watch?"

This research helped us understand what kind of story would be more favourable to the audience. We were glad this turned out this way as we wanted to do this kind of background anyway meaning we didn't have to change too many of our ideas to continue. To redo our narrative and include others such as the zombie apocalypse, which we thought was over used, means that we would need more actors, time and creativity which we may not be able to achieve to create a successful short film in this sub genre because of the extra items included in that kind of narrative.

I think Economic meltdown would be the easiest to show although the one with the most votes is also fairly easy too. Although this is true, this one is probably the most boring one that could happen due to the uneventful situations which could have happened due to this. Rioting, famine and full out breakdown in civilization which probably wouldn't leave as many people dead in a short amount of time, which we wanted, so this one would make us have to break up our narrative immediately since the story only takes place a short time after the start of the apocalypse. 

Aliens would also be a difficult one to succeed with as we would have to base the whole story behind that instead of focusing purely on Eve as we had more leniency for with the bio warfare narrative, for example creating an encounter or flashbacks revealing what had happened, taking the realism away which shouldn't happen with some of the causes such as natural, world war, economic meltdown and bio warfare. This would have created a whole different feelings onto the narrative as perhaps Eve would be seen as a lucky to have not been killed or abducted, depending what happened.

Natural causes could work with our narrative but now we can see that it would have been hard to actually suggest to the audience and difficult to make realistic without any shots showing the event meaning that we would have to include many special effects. This could work, we did note down ideas of the background of the short film for every genre but this is the one which we couldn't think of many things which wouldn't wipe out everyone on earth if it was as drastic as being alone for a lot of the team roaming the wasteland. 

The one which we will go with and the audience backs us, bio warfare. This means we can do what we planned on doing, easily creating a reason why she stayed a live after everyone else died, instead of confusing back stories that the other ones may bring. This could be linked with world war as there could be bio weapons used but we wanted to focus on a singular back story instead of branching two or three together so instead we decided not to release how the bio weapons were released to the public. 

In conclusion here, we were glad we got the feedback we did once again and it allowed us to narrow down our narrative and ideas. If we got any other ones we would have to change our narrative and perhaps include things which are identifiable for those genres but instead we can just suggest that something happened without revealing too much and focus more on the subject in the short film, Eve.