Radio Trailer

Here is the radio trailer for our A2 media production. When planning how to make our radio trailer we looked around various different sites on the internet, including YouTube, to look for previously uploaded trailers so that we could absorb ideas for our very own trailer. The structure of our radio trailer is very basic and is like what you would find on most trailers with it being roughly 20 seconds long, having audio clips from the actual production in it, as well as a voiceover describing it in as little detail as possible so that the plot is not given away. We feel this is effective as it builds tension which may entice the listener to go and view the end product.

Critical Evaluation Question 4

Here is a powerpoint of the digital media which we used to help produce and edit our film. It shows both the digital hardware and digital software that we used in our production.

Critical evaluation question 4 how did you

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Critical Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We first uploaded our video onto YouTube not long back. This was the incomplete version and was our target to gain some audience feedback on how we could improve upon our film in different ways relating from sound to different angles.

We responded to the comments made by the audience after their viewing of the initial video by adding some music to it to give it that little bit extra, as most of the feedback was about the lack of music on the video. The previous audience research that we had done prior to putting our video out there for feedback, was that we went round people and gathered primary research by asking them what they like in films and then what they liked about our film and how it could be changed as well as other questions related to this topic.

When we filmed and edited our film we made it apparent to the audience, using their feedback. The way we did this was to change the sequence of events around, so that the viewers could understand it more easily. The scene where the main character is looking at his girlfriend has been edited and moved near to the end of the film to give the audience a better idea of the events that caused this tragedy.

The audience responded to our film when we trialled it by providing us with positive feedback and how effective it was. The comments made by the viewers were very productive and let us know that nothing needed majorly changing with our short production. The film was interpreted differently by different people that watched it. Our film may have affected people of different cultures in certain ways. The reaction from people with different lifestyles and lifestyles similar to those in our film felt that the video related to them in one way or another.

The completed version after audience feedback is featured in the clip below.

Critical Evaluation Question 2

Here is the film poster for our A2 media production. As shown in the mind map above, the film has many attributes that mean it can relate to film posters from extremely successful films.

Below is the film poster for 2010 film 'Inception'. This is the main poster we based our design on. As you can see the title, movie quote and credits are all placed in similar positions to the ones on our poster. Both also feature big images as the background. The main difference is that the Inception poster is vertical, yet ours is horizontal. We chose to do it horizontally as it shows that the relationship of the two characters on each sie are being dragged apart, whereas the Inception poster follows the plot of the story as it's about going through levels of dreams which would be recognised as more vertical.

Critical Evaluation Question 1

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

Our media product uses forms of real life media products in various ways. The first thing that is similar to real media products that most people will pick up on is the different camera shots. These are done from different angles and really capture how one of the characters is feeling, may this be through facial expressions, posture or body language. The way the character on the right is walking up and down the room would signify a slight sign of anxiety. Another sign of anxiety can be sensed through an action that one character performs during the outdoor conversation. This occurs when the character puts his hand over his eye (below) after the other character in shot mentions about him driving home from a party - again this challenges conventions of those in real media products.

Our film develops conventions from our last media product, in the way it is edited. Last year we used a lot of fading in and fading out to cut between shots and scenes. This year we have developed this to make it look like it goes straight into the next shot or scene, This gives it more continuity in the sense that it gives the film a better flow.



The way the actual film runs from start to finish is quite similar to real life media products that are recently gaining popularity in the fact that the order of the film is different to the events that occurred in the film. Other factors that contribute to a lot of recent films which is challenged in our film is the use of split screen images. We use these to mix up our production and give it a bit more variety. In ways it also compares the two characters in shot's lifestyles. The shot shown below is one of a couple of split screen shots in our film.




We wanted to try and relate our film to the audience that view it so we didthis in as many ways as we could, but yet still trying to make the film effective. One section of the film - where Nick and Ciaran are conversing - is a section in which we thought the younger audience of whom our film is aimed at could relate to, as it refers to a party and going out and just having a good time. I feel that our film challenges conventions of real media products with the different range of shots that we use in our film. We have used a lot of close up shots to really capture important features like facial expressions and certain movements. Some are shown here:













The two shots that we captured here contrast in every way. They contrast in gender as one is male and the other is female. They contrast in moods as Ciaran's facial expression comes across as happy, whilst Claire's comes across as quite sad. They also contrast in the fact that one of these was shot before the incident, and the other was shot after the incident.

Independent Distributors

For this part of the blog, I have decided to look at 6 different film distributors from the UK. The distributors that I have chose to have a quick look at are;

Momentum Pictures

StudioCanal UK

Dogwoof Pictures

Soda Pictures

Diffusion Pictures

Entertainment Film Distributors

Momentum Pictures

Momentum Pictures are a film distributor from the UK founded in London in 2000. Before getting popular as Momentum Pictures, they were known as Alliance Films UK. They release approximately 20 theatrical films a year and also have several STV releases each year. The most successful release by Momentum is 'The King's Speech' which won 7 awards at the 2011 BAFTAs. Other notable releases are Law Abiding Citizen, The Crazies and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

StudioCanal UK

Formerly known as Optimum Releasing, StudioCanal UK were founded in 1999 in London. When it first started off, Optimum was acquired by Vivendi SA, a French international media conglomerate and when they released films, they released them under four strands; Optimum Releasing (Theatrical new releases), Optimum Home Entertainment (DVD, blu-ray disc and HD DVD new releases), Optimum Classic (DVD re-releases of back catalogue films) and Optimum World (New and back catalogue world cinema). They also released over 200 films as Optimum, the most famous being Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Tyrannosaur.

Dogwoof Pictures

Dogwoof Pictures was founded in 2004 by Andy Whittaker and Anna Godas. The distributor is based in London. They originally planned on making foreign films, but have recently started making documentary films. The foreign films they first started of with were 'Don't Move' (Italian), 'Fateless' (Hungarian) and 'El Lobo' (Spanish) until they then moved on to documentary films. The most notable documentary film that they distributed was called 'Black Gold' which came out in 2006. This film was an insight into the inter

national coffee trade and its ramifications for the farmers who grow coffee.

Soda Pictures

Soda Pictures came about in 2002 and like most other UK distributors, is based in London. They have provided distribution for many award-winning films including 'Frostbite' which won best film at the Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal in 2006.

Diffusion Pictures

Founded in late 2006, in London, Diffusion Pictures have only distributed a small number of films - 7 in total. These films are; Funny Ha Ha (2007), Mutual Appreciation (2007), Reprise (2007), The Boss of it All (2007), Bacon's Arena (2008), Gunnin For That #1 Spot (2008) and their latest release, Mommas' Man (2008). They also distributed a documentary on the life English philosopher, Francis Bacon.

Entertainment Film Distributors

Entertainment Film Distributors is a UK film distributor that was founded in 1978 in London. It's owned by Nigel Green. They have distributed several series films, the most notable of these being Lord of The Rings and Austin Powers trilogies. They have also distributed a lot of comedy films including The Inbetweeners Movie, Wedding Crashers, Run Fatboy Run, Little Nicky and all of the Rush Hour movies. Directors of films that were distributed by EFD have included award winning Peter Jackson. Actors have included Rowan Atkinson, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.

Location Photos

1st shot - Ciaran's Bedroom:

2nd shot - Stairs and hallway out of Ciaran's house:

3rd Shot - Ciaran's door and drive:

4th Shot - Ginnel where Ciaran walks down and the fence both Claire and Ciaran put their hands on:

5th Shot - Lampost at the end where Claire drops the note:

This is also part of the final shot where there is a lamppost and the street where Claire walks down:

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing plays a big part of advertising films in today's age. It can be passed around from person to person and can spread, like a virus. If this is done well, or done excessively, then this may create a real hype for the film in question. Viral marketing does not cost very much either, unlike other sources of advertising (TV, Radio, etc.)

Here is a picture that basically shows how viral marketing and advertising works. One person tells others, they tell others they know and so on until it has spread to thousands of people.

A film that used viral marketing was 'Cloverfield' which came out in 2008. The film was first publicised with a one-and-a-half-minute teaser trailer attached to the film Transformers. Nothing was known about the film before this trailer. The trailer did not advertise the name of the film; only the producer's name, J.J. Abrams and a release date, 18.01.08. An element of viral marketing included pages being created for fictional characters on the social networking site MySpace. The viral marketing also lead to websites being created for fictional companies that were later alluded to in the film.

Another film that used viral marketing to their advantage and gained plenty of advertisement was the 2008 film 'Shifty'. Just before the film was released the website for the film allowed users to send an e-mail with a friend's face attatched to a person in a photo which is meant to be from the police. The photo is two people who appear to be doing a drug deal. The person who receives the e-mail is supposed to be fooled in to thinking that they have been caught dealing drugs by the police. The e-mail also came with the following warning: "If you fail to respond to this e-mail within seven days of receipt please be aware that this will then become an official matter and there will be a strong likelihood of criminal investigation". This fits in well as the film in question is about a drug deal. The image below shows what users could send to their friends or family.

Another form of viral advertising , from 2007, was done by Portuguese football club Sporting Lisbon in an attempt to raise season ticket sales. Before the start of the 07/08 season, a video was integrated into the club's website. Before the video started playing, the user had to enter his name and phone number into the boxes. The video featured then coach Paulo Bento and the players waiting in the changing room while the coach makes a phone call to the user saying that they can't start the season until he buys a season ticket. The synchronisation between video and phone call and the fact that it was a new experience for the user lead to nearly 200,000 page views and phone calls in less than 24 Hours. Here is the link to the video.

Poster Analysis

I looked at several poster designs in preparation for designing a poster for our own film. The posters I looked at reflected our own film in some way, shape or form. We have to make sure our poster doesn't give away too much of our film because it's only a short 5 minute film.

The first poster I looked at was for the film 'Adulthood'. The form of the poster is landscape which shows a wider image. This could be saying that there is a wide range of races, sexualites, etc. The poster shows the main characters of the cast set out along an urban background, which is identical to where our film is set. The characters look very intimidating, especially the guy at the front. His head tilted up, hoodie up shows he is quite a rough character. He also looks like the leader with him being at the front of the gang. The girl in the pink tracksuit looks like she is trying to fit in with the rest with the way she is posed, whereas the other two girls are posed in a feminine way. The sky is not an ordinary sky blue colour. The combination of yellow and orange in the sky shows that there could be a lot of chaos throughout the film and that not everything is going to be simple. The title has a lower case 'd' in it. This could be to symbolise that there is an obscurity in the gang and signify that not everyone plays by the rules which would be key to the arguments which entail in the film.

Another film poster which I analysed was the film for the 1997 drama film 'Titanic'. It is a portrait which emphasises the size of the ship on the poster. This also emphasises the size of the terror that the characters will encounter. The poster is set out with two characters at the top of the poster. This gives you the idea that they are the two main characters. It also shows you that the film is a romantic film. You can tell this from the posture of the two characters and how DiCaprio has got his arm round Winslet. Just above each of the character's heads you can see their name. This may draw the audience in if they know who is in the film. Despite the disaster that occurs in the film, the sky is a nice light blue which gives off a positive vibe. This is a good little twist. Another twist, referring back to the two characters, shows them in the sky fading in a dream-like way. Yet in the film, it unravels to be nothing like a dream, but a nightmare. The title is in white and stands out against the black ship. The font is smart and classic which reflects the time period of which it was filmed in.

Story Board- FIRST ROUGH DRAFT

Genre Research

The genre of which our film is is Drama. Drama is a genre which originated from the Greek word for 'Action'. Drama films shows people when they're at their best, when they're at their worst, and it shows everything in between The sub-genre of Drama we are basing our film on is Romantic Drama. A film of the same genre of ours is Titanic which was written, co-produced and edited by James Cameron. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures in the USA and was internationally distributed by 20th Century Fox. Our film compares to Titanic in the fact that it involves two close lovers and one eventually dies. The thing that makes our film similar to Titanic is that when the respective character dies, the other cannot get over the death and is full of sorrow. Titanic is also similar to our film in the respect that it is the main male character that dies, which is a similar theme to many romantic and drama films. The YouTube link for the trailer for Titanic is posted below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCy5WQ9S4c0

I also found an A2 5 minute short film of the same drama genre of our film on YouTube titled 'A Smile And A Song'. This film is like ours in the fact that someone has lost someone close to them that they love. A father visits a church and starts playing the piano in hope of remembering his daughter as he can't forget about her. This is similar to ours because Claire can't forget about Ciaran. The link for the film on YouTube can be seen below.

Ending Music Research

We have decided that the ending of our movie is going to be very emotional so the song we have chosen is not suitable for the end scene but is for the movie. At the end of the movie we are going to use a powerful piano piece that will give a better sense of emotion and pain.



This is a piano cover of Linkin Park's In The End. the pace and key of this piano piece is very effective and would work well within our ending scene of our movie.


This is a cover of Lisa Miskovsky's Still Alive. This is also a very good song possibility because of the pace and effectivenes of the piano piece.

Script Screen Shots

Title sequence research

To gain further knowledge on title sequences to make one of greater quality for our short film, we have been looking and researching title sequences from short and full feature films to see what film makers go for and what they do to make them successful. We also looked at title sequences from films which are similar to our short films and ones which aren't really similar in terms of genre or length.

The first one we looked at is 'Batman' which was produced in 1989. Although this is a very simple opening title sequence, it is really effective and goes hand-in-hand with the type of film which is dramatic and full of excitement. This title sequence is also brilliant as it is tense and adds excitement to the audience as they wait for the film to start. We want to take this into our opening title sequence and add tension to ours as the audience wait for the film to start. It also doesn't give anything away in the opening title sequence which we want in ours. In addition, the Batman video features the perfect music for this particular title sequence and we need to find the perfect music which will suit our title sequence if we are to do one similar to this. Another point is that this title sequence is very dark and you can't see what is happening and where the camera is which makes the audience more eager and excited for the film to start. The link to this video on youtube is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l11BPzYehUE

The Next film opening sequence we looked at was 'Terminator Salvation' which was produced in 2009 by Warner Brothers. This film is more of an action film although the opening title sequence fits the aims of our title sequence and what we want it to be like. It is really dark at the opening scene and the music is slow and is used to build up to the film and gives out a sort of anticipation to the audience without giving too much away. This is a key point we want to take into our opening scene in our film. Although it must be remembered that this Terminator film is the 4th in the series, so a lot of the audience will have seen the previous films and will know a lot about the films and what they involved, so the directors don't need to give much away in the opening scene. The writing is also suitable for the opening scene as it is slow-running and is it time with the music and the overall scene, which is dark and looks to be moving across various places associated with the film.

Character Costumes - Nick Cooper (Liam Fountain)

Nick will wear the same clothes all the time throughout his appearances in the film. This is because he is only in for a short amount of time. He is a very fashionable kid and takes pride in his appearance. He is judged as mainstream by the choice of clothes he wears but he likes to think he's the trend-setter. We feel the clothes chosen for Nick reflect him as a person.

Indigo hoodie (Topman) - As Nick is a bit of a plain lad we felt that a plain hoodie would fit his character well. The colour contrasts well with the rest of the clothes he wears.



Black skinny jeans (Topman) - As well as being a bit plain he likes to think he's a bit of an indie kid so we felt that skinny jeans would be the perfect trouser wear for him. The colour black also fits in brilliantly with the rest of his costume and suits him down to the ground.



Blue fairisle jumper (Topman) - We felt this jumper is the best one for Nick as these kind of jumpers are thought to be mainstream. The different shades of blue match the hoodie well and really make Nick look the part.



Hi-top Converse (Schuh) - The chosen footwear for Nick are also considered very 'mainstream' so these are a great choice for him. The colour of white with black jeans makes them stand out a lot.

Character Costumes - Tom Johnson (Nathan Denman)

Walking over to Claire - Same as before

Same costume throughout the rest of his appearance in the movie

Character Costumes - Claire Johnson (Bethany Vaines)

Character Costumes - Ciaran Farley (Kieran Lawless)

Ciaran is a lad who likes his designer clothes and always has to be seen with the latest brand names. He'll pay eccentric amounts of money just to have a 'name'. The clothes we picked for Ciaran reflect how much he loves designer clothes.

In bedroom - Voi Jeans (black) - We picked these as they are a popular brand and they also cost a lot, therefore reflecting the kind of clothes the character likes to wear.

Then enters bathroom to get changed - Voi jeans (black), Black checkered shirt (Topman)

Just before leaving house adds - Nike Hi Tops and Body warmer

Same costume throughout the rest of his appearance in the movie

Shooting Script

Shot 1: A split screen of Ciaran and Claire talking on the phone.

Shot 2: The split screen continues onto here and shows them finishing the conversation.

Shot 3: Close up of both characters pressing the 'end phonecall' button on their phones.

Shot 4: Both characters begin to get ready and turn the radio on. The music is diegetic so both the audience and characters can hear it.

Shot 5: They both turn off the radio and leave their bedrooms.

Shot 6: Leave the house at the same times.

Shot 7: Camera follows both characters on their journeys. First shot of journeys is walking down to the end of their respective streets.

Shot 8: The second shot of them on the journey shows how similar they are to each other. E.g. Holding onto railings as they go past, etc.

Shot 9: The camera flicks from split screen to full screen and just a mid-shot of Ciaran having a conversation with Nick.

Shot 10: This is a shot of Claire walking into the flower shop to purchase flowers

Shot 11:

Questionnaire

How old are you?

What is your occupation?

Where you from?

Gender?

Do you watch short films?

If so where and what?

What type of movies do you like to watch?

Do you like romantic drama's?

What do you think to our story?

What type of music do you think will be on short films?

What type of titles will be on this short film?

Where do you think our film will be shown?

Would you personally watch our film?

If so would you recommend it to friends?

What type of audience would our film be aimed at?