Final Products

Film



Poster



Review

Evaluation

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

My short film uses the conventions of real media products such as use of camera, narrative structure, sound, mise en scene and editing. In our use of camera we used a lot of point of view shots which is used often only from one person's perspective where as we have filmed from two different people's point of view. Through Lacey's perspective we see her saying hi to her friends. Whereas with the attacker it was during when Lacey gets attacked, this is because the whole film is based around the attack which was caused because of an argument and there are always two sides to an argument so we thought we should show the point of view of both of the characters allowing the audience to have a chance of seeing through both eyes and make the decision themselves who they think is responsible. The shot of the attack was a point of view shot as well as a hand held shot; during filming we were over shaking the camera moving it a lot from side to side on purpose to over emphasis the danger of the moment that was happening it also represented the feelings of the attacker felt towards Lacey her anger and frustration.

During the film we also used angles for example at the being when Lacey is getting ready we used a low angle shot looking up at her to show where she has started high up, happy and popular then at the end when she is looking at photos from years back we use a high angle looking down at her showing how she has fallen and feels alone and so small.



Narrative structure is another convention commonly used which is often in five parts:

• Exposition(characters introduced)


• Development


• Complication


• Climax


• Resolution

We started off following the structure introducing Lacey at the beginning, then we see that she is this happy girl with lots of friends developing her character but then we jumped to the climax when she gets attacked. The complication is after the attack when we see why this happened as we show the argument and there is no resolution as things just stay the way they are. In the story Lacey is dramatically changed from one thing to another so we like her the structure changed connecting to the character we also did this to trick the audience into thinking that Lacey was the victim but then 'twisted' it to show another side to her as an attacker. What one she is, is then left up to the audience as we don't have a resolution. Another reason there is no resolution is because when this kind of things happens in real life it's something that stays with you for ever so really there is no resolution except to live with it.

A soundtrack is one of the forms of sound conventions that is used within our film. The soundtrack is 'Problem Girl' by Rob Thomas; we used this because the pace of the song is quite relaxed just like the girls life appears to be but if you listen more carefully to the words it's about a girl whose life is hard and that feels as if it's her fault which is in complete contrast to what's being shown at the time as her life seems to be great, so it acts as a warning to what is about to happen to Lacey. The music also stops at the point when the attacks happens to say it's happening now. We also use a mixture of ambient sound which is at the beginning to give a sense of normality and the complete absence of sound after the attack to create an eerie feeling but also to show how things aren't the same anymore that everything to her just seems to be dark and empty.

Mise en scene is very important in our film as we developed the use of costume as before the attack Lacey wore bright colourful clothes like pinks to show the happiness she feels but also how she views herself as she thinks she's quite popular and wants to stand out. After the attack her clothes became dark with colours such as black or grey, emotionally it shows she is sad and defeated but it also shows how she trying to hide, to climb into herself. We also used props to show this change as at the start she always had something make up, phone, bag and photos but they suddenly decreased later on and the only props we see her with is photo which she throws in a bin liner leaving her with nothing which is what she feels like she is.

During the beginning of the film we used high key lighting to create the effect of bright, happiness but later we used low key lighting after the attack to show her emotions: the darkness her sadness. This helped to emphasise the way that she is feeling in each scene.



The conventions of editing were also used. A montage is one of the conventions that we used at the beginning showing the days passing and how this is her normal life, this is to give the audience the false impression that she is this popular beloved character when later on we see that she isn't as sweet as she appeared at the beginning. We then developed the convention of a Graphic match as normally it used between two different things that have a similar shape for example 'Psycho' the plug hole and an eye where we did it with Lacey's eye and the attackers eye showing how there is a deeper connection that hasn't yet been shown.

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

One of our ancillary texts we created was a poster advertising the film. We really wanted the image to reflect what happens in the film but still leave the audience unsure so they'd have to watch the film to get all the answers. We think it worked well because the image is slowly being engulfed by the background just like the way she changes into in the film but it isn't very clear just like what happens to her in the film. The language in the poster reflects the film in the way that it's simple and not a lot of writing just like there isn't a lot of speech and anything that is said is to the point. The font used is called 'capture it' which we chose because it reflects the film as the background is slowly creeping into the writing just like how Lacey has been infected and changed by her surroundings or even how she has affected someone who used to be her friend.


The other ancillary text we created was a review informing readers about what the film is like and if the writers think they would like it or not. The images we decided would be taken from the film it self giving the audience a look into the film visually as well as through the text. We chose two contrasting images from the film the first showing Lacey as a victim being attacked the other her as the aggressor attacking her friend, we did this to show the confusion and make people wonder who is responsible and the only way to find out is by seeing the film. The language is quite simple to appeal to the target audience, getting to the point about the film. The colours we used where very important as they related back to the film the pink, grey and black matching the colours of her clothes and the red represents the magazine HEAT creating a connection between the two.



How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

One of the technologies we used was fireworks which we used in the creation of our poster. The advantage of having fireworks allowed us to edit the image on Lacey's face to make it more interesting for the audience by using the blurry tool making the background eat into the side of her face as the darkness begins 2 engulf her suggesting the change within the film which is more intereting than a simple image of her face. With out fireworks we wouldn't have been able to edit the image so it helped to improve the poster alot.

We used Adobe Premiere Elements to create out film putting scenes together, transitions and editing. It also allowed us to use effects on scenes such as an echo effect which we used on a tracking that went aorund Lacey's head with cut scenes from earlier within the film scattered within the tracking shot acting as flashbacks. The echo slowed down the sequence and gave it an outter body experience taking the audience on the journey with her. But one of the negative sides to using this program is that it plays up sometimes also the effect did work but it wasn't very clear so we removed it which with the program was easy enough to do.

Another use of technology we used in the creation of our film is an MP3 file the soundtrack Problem Girl which we started when she left the house during the montage of showing her day to day life up until she is attacked. This song helped us to create a contrast to what they where seeing to the lyrics they were hearing which are about a sad girl, this is effective because it acts lieka warning to the audience what is about to happen to her. The MP3 file allowed us to add more atmosphere to scenes of forboding without it the scenes wouldn't have been as interesting.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We had a year group watch our film and gave them a questionnair for audience feedback asking them questions about the film for them to answer. The group had a mixture of male and females within the age group of our target audience.

First question was: 'What genre do you think the film is?'

Most answered genre which is what our film is which meant the audience was able to identify with the thoughts and feelings of characters to understand that the 'Twisted' is a drama. Some wrote sad or bulling which no are not actuall genres where improtant elements within the film showing how the audience where paying attention.

'What is the film about and could you follow the storyline easily?'

One of the answers we got back from the audience was 'yes i could, I think the storys about how things change' which was really improtant because a big part of the film is the effect bully has on people and showing what it can cause. Another response was 'a girl and her friend but then they don't like each other after and they fight' which shows how she was paying attetion as she new that they were friends where a few asnwered that it was to complicated to understand which means is something we need to take into consideration when setting the target audience.

'What was effective about the sound?'

One of responses that we really liked was 'the sound describes the character' showing how they were able to pick up on how we used things like the sound to emphasise the character what she is feeling and what is happening to her.

FILM: Research into target audience

During the process of creating our film we had to think of the target audience that the film would be appealing to, we had to think about where the films were played for example short films are quiet often played at gigs so they would have to appeal to teenagers as that's the age of the majority people of people who go to gigs. Short films are also often played before a film during the opening but this can be any age.

Short films are convenient for busy people like business men or woman as it fits well in to their busy schedule and also for young children as they tend to have a short attention spans. Our film 'Emotional Effects' target audience is 16-20+ as younger children may not nessecarily understand what happened but 16 and above would have experienced school life and some may even be able to relate to the event.

FILM: Developing a pitch

We had to consider the limited amount of time as we couldn't have a too complicated storyline as we wouldn't have enough time to show all of it, we didn't need to many characters as that would expand the story more all we needed was a simple story that we could make interesting by the way we directed the actors, through the camera techniques we used and music.

Our original idea was called 'Consequences' which was a drama and our pitch was: Consequences are soon learnt when a young girl separates herself from her group of friends because they have decided to have their own little party. Will they find out what has happened? Or would they even care?

But once looking at the time and preparation that would be needed we realised that it we wouldn't have quite enough time. We then came up with the idea called 'Emotional Effects' which is a drama and the one that we chose to go with as it seemed more possible the pitch was: Everyone loves this girl. Every where she turns people would speak to her but does everyone like her, is she really as popular as everyone thinks? Is it her fault this is happening? Or is it just jealousy? This is left to the audience to decide. This pitch seemed more doable as we could film it in the school and wouldn't need quiet as many actors we could also play around more withe the type of shots and angles to make the piece more unique to us but still making it look believable as a short film.

The original title 'Emotional Effects' thou it uses the device alliteration which makes the name easy to remember as it just rolls off the tongue it also more interesting than having two words that have no connection. The title also Incorporated what happens in the film without giving the whole story away but it doesn't grab the viewers attention as 'E' is a soft sound which doesn't cause it to stand out.

We then created a new title 'Twisted' which still goes with the plot of the film as we see how the girls life goes from being one way to dramatically changing to the other, it also shows how people themselves have become 'Twisted'. The title is more effective as the 'T' in 'Twisted' is strong and harsh which would draw more people's attention to it.

FILM: Scripting

Before we could start filming we had to write up a script to follow that way we could see what we wanted in each scene and what we expected from the actors. Even thou we didn't want a lot of dialogue which is very common in short films as it isn't needed we still had to write up the stage directions so both we and the actors knew what to do. This is our script:

During filming we tried it with the dialogue at the start but also tried it with out and found that we preferred the scene without as it had a better effect and fitted better with the style of short films. During most of the film we used either diagetic sound or complete silence except for when she is attacked as she pleads for them to stop this emphasis the fact that she is speaking as it's the only dialogue that is heard in the whole film.

We then later decided to put in music to add a relaxed feeling then when the attack occurred it would be a sudden change and there would only be empty silence creating a strong atmosphere of tension.

FILM: Storyboard

We then had to draw up a storyboard showing roughly how we wanted scenes to look and play out. This also helps to make us start thinking about where the camera will have to be in the areas for the scenes, how many times to do parts of the scenes from different angles to then mix together to make scenes flow from one to the other and more interesting for the viewer and also the height of the camera for example if it's a point of view shot it has to be eye level for it to be believable. This is our story board:

We used this as a rough guide for setting up filming days so we knew what and who we needed for the set dates but in the final piece we added more edited scenes such as in the corridor scenes using shots from Lacey's perspective to make the sequence of the scenes more interesting but also because it gave the audience a chance to be in Lacey's position.

FILM: Organising locations actors etc

One of the reasons we chose 'Emotional Effects' is the fact it could mainly be based in the school which was convenient for us as if we wanted to film in some locations we would have had to ask permission to film there, we also know the location well and the different areas that we could use but it's also convenient because we also spend most of our time there already so any free time that we had we could do filming.

Organising the actors was really difficult because where there is only two of us we needed to use other people most of the time so that we both got the chance to film but it's also finding a time that's available for everyone that we needed for the scene because they either have work or college to work around. We didn't need too many characters as short films don't need to many characters as where short films are to the point they don't need back stories to help move the story along like in feature films which they would use the other characters for. For the actors we had to come up with dates in advance so people could book the time off and make sure it was at the end of school so not to clash with lessons or with work hours.

These are some shots of the setting we chose for our scene as we could make easily make the areas darker or lighter depending on what we needed for the scenes also the film is set in a college and a corridor is stands out as part of a school:



During filming we quiet often had to move objects like tables or chairs so not to block the actors or put them in to help show that it was a different day depending on what we needed in each of the scenes.

Another thing we had to organise for the film was costumes that the people wore as colours have alot of meaning in the film. For example at the begining of the film the main character wore bright colours reflecting her feelings of happiness, later on after the attack her clothes become dark because she has become beaten down and a shadow of herself.



With the sound because most of the film was either in silence when we where editing we had to remove all the sound all together and when there was sound we had to balance it so that the sounds flowed together smootly. We also used a song called 'Problem Girl' by Rob Thomas because the song lyrics connected to the plot of the film. For example part of the words is 'you worry all the things they could do to you, you worry about the things they could say' which fits in with the things that happen to her and how people seem to shun her afterwoods, also it sounds asif it's saying that she isn't the problem but it could also mean it's that the attacker isn't the problem beacuse we see that Lacey did something to her as well it's up to the viewer to decide who they think its to if not both.