The second evaluation question we were set was to look at our two ancillary texts and evaluate how effective it became with the production of our short films. The two ancillary tasks I carried out were the postcard and short film review page.
Postcard
I believe my postcard was effective due to its style, layout and presentation. The theme of the picture presented on the front reflects a mood upon the viewer due to its low brightness image. This puts more of a depressing mood giving the audience an idea of what the film is trying to represent.
Also the text I believe creates a good effect as it relates to the theme due to its simple yet interesting style.
The picture itself was also effective as it shows this location is an important part within the film, where Lucieanne tends to carry out her bullying. This gives the audience something to familiarize themselves with, as well as understand the importance of it.
The information at the back such as cast and production team is effective as it was used within the film credits. It shows the importance of each member and who they represent, as well as familiarize the audience with the whole production.
The tag line I have placed on the front of the postcard I believe is hugely effective as this is the main attraction to the film, as it worded interestingly leading to the viewer questioning and wanting to know more on the film.
Short Film Review Page
My second ancillary task was a short film review page in which I believe is very effective towards our film, Karma. This is due to various reasons; the picture, text, and information.
The picture shows Lucieanne exiting her house giving a clear view of her mood due to her facial expressions. This gives the idea of how effective this scene is due to her later actions in school.
The text gives a detailed explanation of the film however brief enough to not give away the whole plot. This is important as audiences prefer to be surprised rather than already know what is to happen within the film, it reflects well on our film as it helps give a good understanding with the film’s meaning.
The information such as cast at the start of the pgae reflects on the film as it shows the important roles played within the film, familiarizing the audience with the importance of each member.
Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, and interactive.[1]Some examples may be the Internet, websites, computer multimedia, computer games, CD-ROMS, and DVDs. New media do not include television programs, feature films, magazines, books, or paper-based publications - unless they contain technologies that enable digital interactivity.
The above definition I researched from Wikipedia in order to receive a better understanding.
The fourth and final evaluation question was about new media technologies. Throughout the process of this project, every student used many forms of new media technologies to help with their products including research, planning and producing. This post shows what form of new media technology I used, what I used them for and alternatives if these new technologies weren’t available.
Internet: the internet became an important piece of technology throughout the course as it was used in the majority of it. Google was used many times to gain research and analysis on existing media products, as well as YouTube to familiarise ourselves with other media short films. We also used YouTube to place our filmed pieces on, which was then embedded onto our Blogger profiles. Blogger is another site on the internet which every class member had used to complete this course, updating it on every step of their production, also including research etc prior to the short film task. If the internet had not been available, the next reliable thing would possibly have been the library where we would have had to research into their books to gain knowledge, a huge time-consumer. However, professionals from the media industry could have also been a replacement for the internet as they would understand the majority of what we had to do.
Computers/Laptops: these were used to research into bullying, and other necessary things related to our film to help us receive a better image of what our film should represent when being shown. Computers were used throughout the process to upload tasks onto our Blogger accounts, research, analyse, watch videos, all increasing our knowledge in order for a better final product within a short amount of time. If this was not have been available, the alternative would again have to be the library however some of it would have to be primary research such as bullying stories etc. Yet again, consuming huge amounts of time.
Digital SLR Camera: although this is not as important as some other technology equipments, it still became hugely useful when required. We used this camera to take pictures of us when working on the film, therefore proof when uploaded onto our Blogger accounts. They were also used to take pictures for our postcards and film review pages if needed. An alternative to this technology would be to draw and illustrate what we had been doing, although this clearly would not have been as effective.
Sony PD150 Camera: this camera was used to record our film, Karma. Being the most expensive piece of technology, it became an extremely significant piece to help us capture everything required. It also allowed us to be slightly more creative as we were able to create different angles to give a better effect. It would have been extremely hard if this camera had not been available, an alternative piece would have had to be an older filming method, which has proven to cost a lot more.
Mobile phones: this was also used by every group member and at certain stages became fairly useful. Phones were used to contact members within the production in order to remind them or tell them of filming times, places etc. Or even used to help another member on certain aspects of the task. The best alternative to this would have been email however it would not have been as straight forward as messages could be misread. Writing letters could also be a replacement however this would clearly consume a lot of time, something we did not have much of.
Scanner: everyone was required to use a scanner to scan on certain pieces of their pre-production work onto the computer such as storyboards. This helped make it simple to upload images of drawn or written pieces onto our computers mostly destined for our Blogger profiles. The digital SLR camera would have been an alternative as it would be quick and easy however not as accurate as a scanner.
Edit suite: the edit suite was used to capture the footage recorded, and adjust it according to our needs. We were able to play around with the sound; adding or taking away any sound, edit any clips, as well as put the whole film together to produce our final piece. An alternative would be the old fashioned way, meaning it would not be as easy to edit what we had originally recorded.
Flip video: this was used mainly at the end of the task where we evaluated and received feedback on everything we produced. This enabled us to upload clips onto YouTube and then transfer over to Blogger, meaning a different form of communication. An alternative would have been either pictures or sound clips to explain what we were trying to get across.
Evaluation: new technology clearly has an important role in any form of media production. It is widely used in the industry, and heavily relied on. They are a key part to any media product as it helps people to research, construct, plan and produce everything required. I realised this as in pretty much every stage of this course, there was some sort of new technology involved. Although there are alternatives, these have proved to consume time and not be as reliant as new technology is now.
Once the short film, postcard and short film review page had been completed, as a group we began to collect feedback on each of our products. This I believe is a key part in the post-production part of the task as it gives the chance for each person to realise what they had done well, or what they could improve.
Once asking classmates their views on our final product, as a group we realised where we went wrong within the production of our film, however also where our best contributions were.
The main negative feedback we received was to do with the ending of our film. This was because as an audience, the majority of them were confused to what the message was when the film ended, leading us to think we could have improved the way we tried to send across the message to the viewer. Another point brought up was the lack of extras, however as earlier written about, this was already discussed upon and there wasn’t much we could have done within the time we had.
As well as the bad points, we received many compliments, mainly about the way we used our music; the integration and the variety of locations; how they suited the film.
Audience Feedback
If we had the chance to do this task again, within the film production I would have adjusted the way we sent out the message of the film. This would be to help the audience to understand and familiarise themselves with the message a lot earlier and easier. This came up in our feedback a few times therefore for me it became a big issue as the message of the film is the most important part of the film, so if it isn’t easy for the audience to pick up, the film can not be as much of a success as it potentially could me.
I believe my short film review page is a conventional one, going along with the trend of other similar products. With the inclusion of the usual such as a large title, picture, text etc, it contains the same idea as other review pages. The large image being the main attraction to the page, picking a decent image to catch the reader’s eye and question what it could be about. Followed by the reader friendly text to keep the reader at ease and continuously attracted to it. The short reviews on the side of the page are common with similar products, as magazines tend to advertise a variety of films therefore some films are located as the ones are in mine.
I believe the front of my postcard has used certain conventions of media products however not to its full extent. The style of my image, low brightness, gives a theme to the audience familiarising them with the mood of the film; something many postcards do in order to get their target audience to understand the possible occurrences within the film. Also the tag line included is a comparison to conventions of other similar media products. This tends to be used to be the main attraction to the film, as once the reader reads this; they begin to question the film, or even be interested to what it has said. Therefore I included one in order to attract any possible viewers, increasing the films popularity.
The back of my postcard also goes along with similar media conventions however there are some bits added which aren’t available on some other postcards. On each postcard I have seen, there are the basics such as the title, a time, a location etc, however in order to appeal more, I included a short paragraph in order to intrigue the reader to question the film and increase their desire to watch the film. Although one thing kept simple and similar to media conventions was the style and layout where everything was kept simple and not too attractive; this helped the product seem slightly more professional.
Short Film Karma
The first picture I used I believe adds an advantage to the film due to the techniques used in order to send the message across to the audience. I realised when watching other short films that within each first scene the film establishes the location, which is similar to our film where within the first few shots, the audience are able to acknowledge the family house due to the argument heard on the inside. Using conventions from other short films we had previously watched, this scene includes three shots which move out from a close up to a medium shot, giving the audience knowledge that something significant is occurring behind the door.
My second capture is one of our main character leaving with an unpleasant facial expression. This I believe follows short film conventions too due to the film establishing the main character early on, familiarising the audience with her, as well as her facial expressions giving a mood for the audience to take in an understand the events as the film goes on as well as giving the audience a thought on how the film is set to be.
The third picture shows the title of our film, although rather than being shown at the beginning, it is shown after a few shots of the film. This clearly challenges conventions of existing short films as the majority of them place the title before any footage is shown, whereas ours is introduced after the first few shots adding a positive difference to the film.
The fourth picture shows a shot of Lucieanne walking in to school using a long shot. This is an important convention used in many other short films, as it establishes the scene due to the long shot including a view of the school sign, the school itself and Lucieanne walking into it. This is an important convention as it familiarises the audience with the location which is vital within each short film production.
The fifth image shows Lucieanne preparing to once again get up to her usual no-good self. However, evidently it contrasts against usual conventions of other films as bullies are known to carry out such acts with friends or in front of friends whereas it here our main character carries it all out herself, showing she doesn’t carry out these actions to impress but to satisfy herself; which for audiences could link in to her problems at home.
The sixth picture shows our main character picking up her diary she had previously lost; this has an important convention used in the majority of short films. This is because the majority of films contain a turning point, or an obstacle in which the audience question what has just happened, grabbing their attention into the film; an important thing to do within a film due to the increased attention therefore positivity.
The next image uses existing conventions to send an image out to the audience. This is because it uses a stereotype of bullies; picking on those more vulnerable. It is well known for bullies to pick on those more fearful than they are; therefore for their own satisfaction they decide to pick on these specific people. As shown in this image, Lucieanne picks on another student who is shown to be by herself and carrying books, clearly an easy target for bullies.
The eighth image uses similar conventions to the fourth image as the camera work establishes the scene by the inclusion of the classroom, students and a teacher. Although certain aspects of the scene could have been changed, such as the layout of the classroom and the uniform of Lucieanne as well as the teacher, some of it simply seems a bit too relaxed to be shown as a school environment.
The ninth picture shows the camera looking up to Lucieanne from below, the victims view. This is an important and interesting convention for the audience which is used a lot with other media products. The camerawork plays an important role in setting an image to the audience of the inferior and superior, where this particular shot shows how Lucieanne over powers the victim, giving a stronger image to the audience. Many media productions use this to show the importance of such characters; to be familiarised by the viewer.
The tenth depiction shows two boys who were the suspects to the bullying of Lucieanne. In some ways this challenges conventions of normal media productions, as firstly boys generally do not tend to bully girls, it tends to be girls. The other challenging convention is, victims of bullying do not tend to bully the people who bully them, however in our short film, some of the bullies get their own back upon Lucieanne, however this adds a stronger impression on the film due to its difference from others.
The eleventh picture gives a clear view of our main characters facial expressions, slowing down the pace of the film. This is done for the audience to understand the importance of her current feelings, as well as to familiarise themselves with her emotions, however this contrasts to media conventions as in short films, the speed of their films tend to be quite fast in order to keep the audiences attraction.
Image twelve uses the same conventions and ideas as image nine however this time from Lucieanne’s view rather than the victims view. This time giving an idea to the audience of what Lucieanne could possibly be feeling when stood higher than her opponent.
The thirteenth image uses the same ideas as the fourth and eighth image, where the camera work is done in a way to establish the scene. This is important for thee audience in order for them to familiarise with the location of the scene, and the surrounding occurrences of our main character.
The fourteenth picture shows Lucieanne looking behind her in fear of an attack. This challenges media conventions as bullies tend to feel superior to all others, whereas here she is obviously scared of being attacked meaning she does not feel brave enough once on her own.
The fifteenth image gives an eye view of Lucieanne knocking over a chemical experiment done by other students. This goes along with conventions of media products as it gives the audience a clear view of the main events, an important part of short films in order to get their message across to the viewer quicker.
The last image is one of the credits shown at the end of our film. This is a widely popular convention as producers familiarise the audience with those who have contributed in the films production. This does not cover a lot of time however does include everyone involved.
Below is the final video from our production which we named 'Karma.'
Postcard
Once I had completed revising and analysing other short film postcard designs I realised the importance and success a postcard can bring to a short film. Taking notes of their conventions, I believed I had enough knowledge to use this information to produce my own postcard.
In order to come up with my best possible final postcard, I produced a number of mock-ups. Whilst producing these postcards, I made sure I used a variety of conventions and different styles in order to give more of an option when asking a number of our target audience which they thought was best. However, I did not fully rely on the audiences views on my postcards, I also included my own thoughts as I have more knowledge on the theme of the film, therefore would know what would best represent this film.
Once showing each of my postcard mock-ups to a few people I gathered within our target audience, and giving a brief explanation on how it would be once fully developed, the majority of my positive feedback came with my final design. This was mainly due to its ‘simple yet appealing’ design.
Eventually I came with a final decision of using the postcard the majority of my audience had preferred, as it also contained a theme strongly related to the film I believe. Although I initially thought an image of the main character would be best, I decided settling for an image which would relate to the film would best as it would give the audience a visual thought of what to expect.
The other two mock-up designs I created as potential final postcards I believe had great potential however it simply didn’t have the finish which would have gained the attraction as the chosen postcard does. One of the mock-ups simply contained the tag line as a background whereas the other contained grey clouds in the same style as my final postcard. I believe the picture of the school our main character attended, darkened, is a stronger image as the gloomy picture reflects on the theme and mood of the film therefore gives a strong image to the viewer of what to expect when viewing the film.
For the back of the postcard, there weren’t many interesting conventions I had come across therefore simply glancing at other similar items, I included what seemed most necessary and what most other popular postcards had, then placed them onto my design in a simple yet attractive way. This I believe would be better than keeping it the way the majority of other postcards had done, as it tends to hold significant things such as a synopsis, therefore keeping it appealing would help keep its attraction therefore making it useful to its best ability.
Within the back of my postcard, I included the cast, credits, and a short paragraph on the story, all three of which I thought would be important in familiarising the audience with our final short film piece. The colour choice was simply included to keep appealing to the viewer, however was chosen to compare with the front of the postcard as well.
Short Film Review Page
As the picture above of my film review doesn't enlarge big enough to be read easily, i have written below the contents of the text.
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Karma, a short film produced by Emily Downer set to bring a whole new image to the film industry. A brand new film produced by the newly come producer, it has also been tipped to become hugely successful within film festivals having introduced a story of a teenagers school life.
The main character, Lucieanne, played incredibly by Bryony Saletes is simply another one of those bullies every student comes across. However, although she gets a good feeling from putting others in misery, her family life has proven to do the same to her. There are many scenes within the short film showing how Lucieanne disrupts others from learning as well as sarcastically abusing others. This attitude she carries out in school leads to the main character eventually having no friends although they are unaware of her home situation which could be the trigger for her un-happy behaviour.
Emily Downer has straight away introduced the audience to Lucieanne’s issues making them aware that this could possibly be the reason to the horrible behaviour she later inflicts.
The film shows the outcomes of Lucieanne’s unnecessary behaviour; losing friends and even being bullied herself, a contrast to everyday bullies.However this clearly shows Lucieanne’s weakness, again linking into the first scene of her argument with her dad.
The music plays a huge part within this film as it helps reflect the mood of the main character. This is easily noticed when viewing the film, and helps easily understand the situation of each scene cue to the good choices and integrations.
The locations used also play a good part within the film as they are well chosen. The typical bully tends to carry out their actions within school grounds, however retaliations to these bullies tend to be outside of school to help the victims remain anonymous and successful in their revenge.
Overall, this film has many positive notes and is well worth looking out for as it is tipped to do extremely well in many Short Film Festivals.
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End of Review Text.
To start off the production of my review page, I firstly researched into existing reviews taking into consideration their conventions, the style in which they write, and what makes each review successful. These notes I had produced, I used on my review page in order to make my review look as genuine as possible; these included conventions and layouts from Sight and Sound articles.
Another convention I found and used was within the first paragraph where I explained the key details of the film in a fascinating way; this should most likely then capture the reader in wanting to read more adding to the films success.
My main target when planning for my review was to ensure an eye catching sight in order to attract the reader. I did this by using a convention popularly used in many other reviews, placing a large picture which could intrigue the viewer. I chose a coloured picture in order to make it seem more realistic therefore clearer for the reader to understand/imagine.
Another target was to keep the reader intrigued to the review, therefore what I had written had to be in a way which wouldn’t bore our target audience but attract them to the film even more.
Using the notes I had previously taken on other Sight and Sound articles, I structured out my review and wrote it to the best of my ability according to the notes I had taken. Keeping the text interesting was my main target when writing the review as our film is aimed at teenagers therefore the contents would have to be more appealing than if aiming at older people.
The reviews placed on the side of my review are ones I found on Sight and Sounds website. I used them to make my review page look more realistic, as small reviews are common in many film review magazines.
Due to the fact that many of our scenes needed filming in school, this brought us our first obstacle as we had to plan in advance our filming dates as we were only permitted to film weekdays until 6pm, therefore this and ensuring our actor was available became a challenge along with having to find extras, booking the camera and many other difficulties, all these tasks made the process a lot longer than we had originally thought forcing us to prepare things a lot more advance as we got more and more stuck into the production.
Whilst our filming was still in progress, during times we were not able to film, we began to complete the work required in the edit suite, including logging, capturing and editing, meaning on the final day of filming we only had that one last day to complete in the edit suite, helping us with using our time on other parts of the production. Even though we discovered the first two filmed scenes had no sound contained in it, we used this as a learning stage to prevent any mishaps in the future as there was no way of avoiding this within the edit suite.
The first main decision of the editing part of our filming was the music. Carolyn had originally come up with an idea of integrating two pieces of music together in order to produce a better effect on the audience. These two pieces of music contrasted each other as one was an upbeat rock style sound whereas the other was a dark and mysterious sound; showing the two sides to the protagonist of our film, Lucieanne. The rest of the group was shown this change the next day where we all agreed to the outcome as it brought more of an impression to the opening.
Each group member took turns in the edit suite as the filming of our final piece developed, however we faced a few continuity errors which we sorted out through playing around with each shot. The one continuity error we realised when looking back on what we filmed was the scene containing the teacher in the classroom as his position in one of the shots did not correspond with the following shots. The producers first idea was to fade the shot, which at first worked however still didn’t make sense when looking back at it. Although after a discussion with our teacher, the decision to delete one of the shots to go along with continuity came into place.
The remainder of editing needed went smoothly however included cutting down a few shots and playing around with the music to ensure the best possible outcome for our first rough cut.
If anything could be changed, I believe the best thing to adjust would be our planning prior to the filming. This is because as we began to film, we came across a lot of small problems we hadn’t originally thought of causing us to waste valuable time, therefore if we had spent more time together as a team planning, we could have completed the task quicker and focus on other important things.
Whilst planning for our filming, we came across a lot of obstacles which needed sorting before attempting to film otherwise it would cause disastrous effects on the final result. The two main problems were the weather and actors required for our film. The weather would affect continuity issues and the actors were hard to get as they were chosen from our school and obviously had their own lessons/things to do.
The main actor couldn’t do some of the days we had originally set to film due to personal commitments therefore we had to pre-plan in advance and set dates according to our main actors diary in order to prevent any clashes leading to no main actor.
The weather was a main issue as at the time we had set to film, the majority of days were fine however we had the odd day which would suddenly change leading us to delay filming, although at some points our cameraman was capable of adjusting the camera in order for each filming scene was the same as what was required. Also we had to be careful when it was raining due to the equipment costing a lot of money therefore could be damaged by the rain, we protected such equipments like the camera by placing an umbrella on top.
Another problem we came across whilst filming certain scenes was a primary school located to the side of the alley way in which our filming took place. This became a problem due to the noise of the students; our filming took place during their break time therefore the primary school pupils were on the field producing noise which distracted our filming which needed to be taken in a quite surrounding, also the nursery within the primary school had finished early meaning there were many parents who had come to collect their children which also distracted our filming. These interferences became a problem as the scene was supposed to reflect an early morning time period therefore a quite surrounding, whereas the parents would affect continuity issues as in some shots they would be there, and in others they wouldn’t. However our main problem was sound, as once we had finished filming we looked back on our recordings and noticed there was no sound, this was due to one of the microphone sockets being faulty, resulting in our group having to record these scenes once more.
After the mishaps of the first couple of scenes we filmed, our first successful filming was scene 5 in the science classroom. This was filmed after school as it was the only time any science room would be free. We only had three extras in the end however after a group discussion we realised that many sixth form classes do not have many students anyway so the lack of extras would not be an issue. Before we began filming, as a team we ensured the classroom was fit for the scene according to the script; this included the use of books, pencils, planners etc.
When we filmed the first two scenes again, we all realised we were more equipped and prepared to film as we had a better understanding of the surrounding and picked the times we knew would have fewer interruptions. Also due to the sound not being recorded before, we all became a lot more cautious to ensure the sound was constantly working. Other problems we encountered was unwanted noise by cars travelling along the road, aeroplanes, a removal lorry parked nearby as well as a dog located in the house we were using to film. Although whilst dealing with these problems and waiting for an all clear, we used the time to rehearse each shot in order to receive the best final production, as well as ensuring our director, Emily Downer, was happy with how each shot turned out. These rehearsals also proved to be useful for our cameraman, Liam O’Connor, as he now had time to practise how to film each shot perfectly as well as decide on what movement would prove best for each shot.
Once looking back at the filming we had done, we realised that the image our film was portraying was not correct to its full extent; rather than Lucieanne being shown as the bully, she came across more of a victim of bullying. This made us want to enforce the image of her being a bully therefore focused on this a lot when filming the final scene. Within this final scene, Lucieanne was originally supposed to push another student to the ground however as a group we agreed that it was a bit over the top therefore changed this into her pushing a student into the wall.
Also, for the scene in the corridor, we had to change our location from the technology corridor to the English corridor as we realised the original corridor didn’t have enough space and contained too much background noise which we didn’t want.
The main skills I learnt and developed throughout the filming of this project was all the different techniques capable of being used with the boom microphone. One technique was called booming, this includes attaching the microphone to a boom pole in order for the subject to have more space and movement. Others included booming from overhead and underneath.
I also increased my knowledge on lighting, mainly on reflecting unwanted light. This was due to the weather being unexpectedly bright on some days, therefore to prevent any lens glare i had to use a reflector in order to shade the camera as well as ensure the scene was to its expected visual appearance and visible to the audience.
Short Film Karma 
