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.

FILM: Shooting schedule

Just like if we where really making a film we had to write up a shooting schedule so we new what we had to organise for the day like equipment, props, costumes and what actors we actually needed this way everyone knew what they would be doing and how they should be doing it. It also allowed us to see if we where on task and going in the write direction. It keeps everything organised and stops confusion. Our shooting schedule:

FILM: Researching other short films

We researched into other short films looking at how they use camera, editing, sound and mise en scene. We looked at a short film called 'Letter Service' and almost the entire film was in silence except diagetic noises which as we watched others we noticed is quiet common and I think that it was more effective than if they had been talking the whole time as in 'Letter Service' at the end when he does speak it has a bigger impact, and shows just how important the event that happened before which was him finishing his picture and putting it together truly was.

Props are also used quiet often, there might not be many but the ones that are used are important to the character for example a letter that triggers a memory, drawings in place of words to say what he couldn't or a simple necklace that represents a persons faith. The editing always seems to be quiet naturalistic with cuts, continuity editing and shot reverse shot during conversations. Normally short films are about making a statement or getting a view across so they tend to be realistic and straight to the point as they only have a short time to get what they're trying to show across. Short films are a great way for and up comin writer, actor or director to try and get noticed because it gives them a chance to show their abilities, skills and style instead of trying to write it down and put it into words. That way others can see it and might think that they're just what they need for a job.

POSTER: Analysing conventions of film posters

The basic conventions of a film poster is the:

• Title


• Tag line


• Images


• Release date


• Age certificate


• Web site address.

But a good film poster is creative gives the viewer an idea of the storyline without giving it all away using design thinking making it appealing to the target audience. A good example of design thinking is when we where analysing a film poster called 'Against The Wall' the tag line was 'Art Or Crime?' The designer set the image up someone with a hoodie on and his face covered sitting on the floor back against a brick wall and off to the side is a large image of a spray can with a label on it reading 'hello my name is' then in graffiti style writing 'BRAZE' connecting back to the tag line 'Art Or Crime?'.

We then looked at titles like the devices that they use to make them interesting like a rhetorical question, puns, triple emphasis, contrasts, single words sentence and alliteration. We originally had 'Emotional Effects' as the film is about the effects of the attack on this young girl which are all emotional not really physical accept in her body language the way she moves and the way she dresses. The title later changed as it wasn't very interesting to 'Twisted' which is a lot harsher an grabs peoples attention.

The tag line needs to add a bit extra to the title to the audience a better idea of what the film is going to be about for example the tag line for 'Against The Wall' is 'Art Or Crime' which shows that the film is about graffiti and people's opinion of it, for 'Twisted' our poster we used a rhetorical question 'Is it just her?' to show the audience that not everything is as it seems within the film and almost daring them to watch and see if they can spot if it is.

POSTER: Pitching ideas for posters

We started to think about how we could show the idea of the film through the film poster mostly through the image in a creative and imaginative way. We started thinking about how to show the change in her maybe, so showing the effect but not showing the cause of the effect which you would have to watch the film to find out. So we started thinking about how it would be possible to show it, we thought of using a mirror which the girl would be looking into staring at her own reflection. The version of the girl staring at the mirror would look like her the way that she normally looks all happy, smiling, standing up straight and wearing bright colours. Where as her reflection in the mirror would be what she will become sad, with her face hidden, her body language treating into herself and dressed all in dark cloths. Another idea which we came up with was a close up of her face smiling but half of her face is concealed by a hand which looks like it's about to grab her which suggests what is going to happen but without showing exactly what happens. We thought that she should be smiling as it suggests that not only does she do her attacker but that she doesn't expect what ever it is that happens. So the audience would have to watch to see if she actually does get attacked and if so what happens to her afterwards.

POSTER: Sketching possible images/fonts

Whilst we were pitching ideas to each other we drew sketches to help get the idea of the picture in our minds together we drew both images and sketched the the placement of the writting as well as the style of the fonts that we think would be suitable for the poster keeping them simple so the poster would still look realistic yet still creative at the same time. We had to make sure to put in all of the conventional features of a poster we had to think about their placements when sketching as we didn't wanna block any of the image if we could help it. Here are two that we came up with:

POSTER: Setting up mise en scène

When taking the picture we had to think about how to set things up for example the hand across the face to show the danger that she was heading towards but also the pain that she caused. The hand caused half the face to be in shadow and the other half is smiling and bright showing the change that happens in her starting as this bright happy person and becoming this dark shell of herself. She would be surrounded with darkness because to her that is what her world has become so in the image it's like she is being engulfed with darkness. We really had to think about how we wanted the hand to be across the face if the fingers should be flexed or curled to show aggression as if the person was about to grab her face. Lighting was also really important because of the play of shadow as we only want half the face in shadow and the other half in light, and because we wanted her face to look natural not affected by any artificial light.
so that it looked more professional.

POSTER: Exploring fonts

When we were designing our poster we wanted a font that wasn't to over the top but still connected to our film. We looked at many different styles on dafont until we found one that we think that suited our films plot.



Capture it was the one that we found and that we thought fitted with our story. We thought that number two was the better one as the light white writing represents Lacey or even the attacker and the dark outline which is slowly creeping into the writing and has sepperated parts of the letters shows how they have been changed by what has happened to them and not in a good way.

POSTER: Choosing most appropriate images

First we took pictures the way that we had sketched up to see how it looked:

This image came out way to blurry and too dark so we moved to a different area to try and make it look better.

This picture thou still quiet blurry showed us a general idea of what the image would actually look like and we decided that it probably wouldn't work so we decided to try using the same ideas for the last concept to use half a smiling face and the other half upset face.

This picture was for the the sad side of the face to show what she becomes, the image came out clear and quiet natural, this image would work well for the final image which we would split in half.

This image was for the smiling half of the face showing what she was like at the start. For some reason even thou we stayed in the same area the lighting came out a tinged colour so this image would work as the two images are too different and wouldn't have a very good effect but we tried anyway.

As we started changing the image we found that the colour difference made it so that the image couldn't fit together so we took another picture this one came out a lot clearer and more natural colour but we still didn't get the effect we wanted so we came up with another idea.

This image we took earlier with the others to use as the unhappy side of the face as the hand around the throat shadows what happens to her in the film. We then thought about using the play of light across the side of the similar to the first idea without the hand. So using the blur tool in fireworks we made the darkness eat into the side of her face to show how the attack changed the way she is.

I liked the way this came out as it shows how she has changed and how she has become like the darkness as she is quiet and a mere shadow of herself.

POSTER: Drafting/ Editing

This is our first draft of our poster:

This draft just had the main things that make up the poster. We then played around with the font and added in some more text to make the poster more realistic. We used colours like pink and green because they connect to the image, we also used black, white and grey because at the start e make her look like she was light like the white, then after the attack she becomes dark like the black and finally we show that she isn't as innocent as she seems and people aren't really sure what to think of her so she becomes like the grey.

We took out and repositioned some of the writing the last draft appeared too crowded. Also some of the writing was too big that it drew attention away from the image.

REVIEW: Researching different film magazine audiences

When we were planing our review we researched the different audiences that read film magazines and what it is about them that draws the audience to them so that we create the right type of review to draw our target audience and the people who would like our play. For example a magazine like Nuts wouldn't be a good place to have our review because its more appealing for men who like things like action where our film isn't so the type of audience that would like our film are not likely to read that magazine. Our film would more likely be in magazines such as Empire which is more balanced and different types of people read it so there is a higher chance of a person that would watch our film to read it

REVIEW: Analysing design & language conventions of magazine reviews

We analysed the design and language conventions in magazines to give us an idea what our review should be like to fit our target audience for our film.

Empire's review is mostly image, the writing and the image are clearly separated it has all the usual conventions that are used in the review such as a title and headers. It also uses a pull quote, trivia box a start rating which most reviews use it also has the Verdict written in bold to draw attention to it. It also uses the language conventions like similes, puns, rhetorical questions, adjectives and the use of comic language this type of review is well balanced and suitable for anyone as if you like to skim it then you can just read the parts under the headings that you want to read where as if someone likes to read in detail what the film is like then that choice is also there. This is suitable for both men and woman as the image isn't aimed specifically at either sex.

The FHM's review is more image than text and merge together, the text is simple and to the point. As well as the usual conventions the review also uses clips from the film, puffs and speech bubbles. The language conventions used are triple emphasis, quotes, short sentences, slang/swearing and it's simple/informal. This review is more aimed at older for one thing it's in a men's magazine featuring things like women, cars and action but also because it's simple and to the point .

Finally Sight and Sound's review is the last one we looked at. There was hardly any image and a lot of writing which was all structured and separated. Once again it uses the usual conventions in reviews. Most of the focus is on the text which is divided into columns and that the synapses is seperated. Language conventions such as formal/ complicated language, similies, anilitical and terminology. This review is targeted at both male and female but more towards people who are interested in the techniques of film and the history of film not in the actual film it self.

REVIEW: Drafting text

We started working on how to write our review getting ideas from other reviews. We had to think about ways to make it interesting and still incorporating the usual conventions. This is our first draft that we came up with:

RELEASED: 20th May 2011 CERTIFICATE 15 DIRECTOR Hayley Hyde CAST Hayley Hyde, Sally Huddleston RUNNING TIME 5 mins PLOT Innocent Lacey {Hayley Hyde} is very happy with her life and has lots of friends. But one day takes a turn when the laughter becomes a disaster. Lacey soon realises that life isn't as straight forward as what it seems. It is sometimes a little twisted.

INTRODUCING Hayley Hyde and Sally Huddleston - both involved in the whole creative process as well as starring in their own 'Twisted' film. Their creation gives an insight into the lives of college student, as they dig deep into emotions and contrasts to give viewers a unique perspective of life. The new actresses on the scene unmask these memorable first characters with whom anyone can relate. The drastic change in character shows who one event can 'twist' a person's entire being, both inside and out. In an interview, with the girls we asked "What were you trying to show to people through your film?" They responded with saying that "the film is about showing how the smallest little thing like an argument can have a huge effect on someone and what they might do because some people ignore it as they don't understand how bad it can get".

VERDICT A creative and inspiring piece, these up and coming teens have already left their mark in the industry with an insight to the complex life of a teen in school and a subject that many people have experienced, bullying. But the 'twist' is who is the one that is reasonable for everything that happens? In fact , who is the problem here? ****

This being only a draft had many changes to it before it was used in our review

REVIEW: Choosing most appropriate images from film

We looked at different images that we could take from the film that would work best for our re view these are a few we looked at:



We liked this image because it gives a glimps of what happens to her but we thought that it was too dark and blurry we wanted something that was clearer.



This image thou better is also still too blurry.




This image we thought was much better as the face is still clear but has the darkness that gives it a nice effect of enhancing the danger of the situation she is in. But we didn't want to use just this image to make it more interesting. We thought maybe a picture of the attacker to go along with it.



This picture would be usefal as it gives the viewer a glimpse of the attacker. But then we got this idea that it would be interesting to create an contrast of the character Lacey in one picture she is scene as a victim whereas in the other she deosn't look so innocent.



Which is why we thought this image would be suitable to create the contrast that we want.

REVIEW: Drafting layout

When we started to design our review this is the first layout we started with:

REVIEW: Editing final product

This is the orginal final piece but after deeper research we found that Emipre wasn't suitable for your film as it's target audience was more aimed at men and thou our film is suitable for both men and women its more aimed towards women so we had to do research and find a different magazine for our review.



This is an example of a review from HEAT magazine which we used to help create our review. The use of the image, style of writing and colour scheme matched well with our film.

This is our review in the style as if it was in the HEAT magazine. Adjusting parts that we used in the orginal pieces like what we wrote and the layout of the text.