I created this interactive interview using xtranormal.com. I found this very interesting to make as it was new and exciting, and very effective in illustrating my information.I believe that my media product is successful as it uses real media conventions although it slightly subverts. I have achieved this through market research and careful planning. It is successful at meeting the research that I did as it illustrates youth of today. And it also refers to films that I have watched in my media class, for example, 'This Is England' and 'Shank'. My product also works with the idea that youth can very often be portrayed in a negative light and this brings in the idea of moral panic and shows youth to dominate society.
My product works with the conventions of Drama with the camera angles and shots, for example, a close up showing anxiety or fear. My partner and I subverted conventions by the use of flashbacks which aren't usually seen in short films.
In summary, my media product used many conventions from real products to aid in me creating a fluid plot with good camera shots and angles.
We tried to embody verisimilitude by shooting it at a school, and the audience will be able to relate to it as everybody goes to school.

Below is a voice note adding to my evaluation:

Q2:How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts

From audience feedback I was told that the combination of my main product and ancillary texts worked quite well together. The most common thing I was told was that 'The use of the same music in the film and in the trailer is very effective as it makes it memorable.'
This is key as the repetition of the song creates familiarisation with the audience and will entice them to want to watch my product. This was also the case with the font in the title sequence in the film and the font in the magazine article. The use of this repetition can create a brand for my film and this will further its popularity. With the theme of 'The struggle for Identity' as my basis, I feel that the picture in my article was quite effective. This is because only showing half of the face connotes that she doesn't have an identity and also implies some sort of struggle.
Overall, I feel that all three products complimented each other and linked quite well into my research and planning.


Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Through this audience feedback I learnt ways in which I could improve the production. After interviewing a sample from my target audience, I learnt that many found the plot confusing, some even said that a better actress was needed.
This has lead me to think of ways that I would change my production if I were to do it again, and I thought that I would be better if:
-I had a range of actors/actresses
-Had a more vibrant location
- Thought more about props

I also thought of some additional ideas, such as:
-A variety of ethnicities to be displayed in my production to really show the theme of identity
-I would also add a voice over and sound bridges into the film as it is a way of showing the plot in a different light

I believe that the audience feedback has been very useful for me as it allowed me to see what I could have done differently and showed me what was effective in my product.

Theories

Theories that are incorporated in my product
These theories enabled to me to look at my product from a different angle and see if they linked in with audience theories.

Over the shoulder shot
Establishing shot

I believe that my product was effective in using various shot types and conventional ones such as the establishing shot which serves to set the scene and show the audience where it is going to be set. The use of this was effective as it added realism and shows vital information before the disequilibrium starts. I think that watching films like 'West 10 LDN' helped me learn the conventions, although many of the shots were arial shots and I couldn't fulfill these as I didn't have the equipment.

Time Management

Time management was an issue that my partner and I could definitely work on. We strayed from the SMART targets that we made previously and this was quite bad as it interfered with editing time. In hindsight I would have had a time management meeting where my partner and I discussed how much time we would spend on each aspect of the production pieces. Our time management was also affected by the delay of the equipment being delivered to our college and other technological problems such as the apple mac computer network being down. In future, I will leave time for problems like this to prevent them affecting my work.

Here is the radio trailer we produced using Final Cut Pro Ignore the images, they aren't supposed to be there!!!


Below are the two trailers I analysed:

Pariah Edited

Pariah (ORIGINAL)

(Starts with music from the film)


Voice: Sometimes saying nothing is the best thing to do.

Starring Best Newcomer: Debbie Adedeji
From the makers of ‘The Highlife’ comes ‘Pariah’

Reviewer 1: It was a very moving film.

Fade into music and fade out

Reviewer 2: The twist at the end was really unexpected and made the film a must see.

Fade into music and fade out

Reviewer 3: The characters were so realistic and really showed the issue well.

(With music in the background)
-‘Groundbreaking short film of the year’ says The Sun
-‘Manages to portray serious issues in a way that entices the viewer’ says The Independent
-‘A fascinating and captivating tale that compliments the British Film Industry’ says Time Out


















Ancillary Task 1



To create the magazine article I used Adobe In Design. I didn't have any problems with this task as I have used it previously to create a magazine.
The image used is of our main character, Debbie. I thought it was effective that it only shows part of her face as it plays with the idea of the struggle for identity.
The colour scheme used is black, white and red and the layout is similar to a 'fact file' (below).

As we didn't use an original track, I sent a message to the creator of the music to ask if i had permission to include it in my film. They agreed and said that they would love to see the finished product.

Below is a print screen.
[Click to enlarge]



We chose this as we felt that it fitted in very well with the themes of our film and worked very well with the plot and location.

As the genre of our film is drama, we thought that it would be best that we keep within the genre and find some music to suit this.
When beginning this process, I thought of drama films that I had already seen and the type of music that was used in them. For example, 'Adulthood' had quite dramatic harsh music to portray how the character felt and to show the themes (see below).

The genre of grime music was used in the 'Adulthood' film and it acted as a link to the themes of youth in the film and it linked with the characters and storyline very well. This is what I aim to do with my music choice.
The other genre that I looked at was R&B. This is quite effective as well as the lyrics are meaningful compared to genres such as rap, and the beat can also make a difference and add character to the film. However, as we wanted to use the track in the background of our film, we felt that it would be best if we chose a song without lyrics.

Here is another example of music from a drama film:

Above are some shots from our editing session where we discussed the organisation of clips and the way our montage will look at the end of production. We realised that the current order that it was in didn’t shape the plot properly. We also found that some parts of the film were long and drawn out and that we could cut it to prevent our audience from losing interest. We also found some shots that we could use to create suspense and drama and they were quite shadowy, this would link in with the Neo-Noir movement.



Maslow's heirachy of needs is important when creating a production piece as each member of our target audience has needs. We have chosen to cater for the younger demographic as we believe our
theme (the struggle for identity) is something that young people can relate to and is something that we would be able to portray effectively.
Our target audience ranged from 16-24 as we believed this was the average range that our piece would appeal to.

We have chosen to rate our film as a 15 as it doesn't involve any violence, vulgar language or sex, however, it does involve suicidal references.

The fact that our pice incorporates slang into it serves as an audience pleasure as it is something that they are able to relate to.

Fonts

We wanted our whole production to have good continuity so we thought that it would be good to have one strong font in the title sequence of the film and in the magazine article.

We chose the American Typewriter Font as we thought that it was quite edgy and related to the theme of identity.
Other fonts we used weren't as effective and were harder to read.

Magazine Research

At our second meeting we planned dates for filming, as we couldn’t upload our current footage onto the Apple Macs because our college was having some technical difficulties with the computer network.

We also looked at the storyboard and separated it over a course over 3 weeks so we had sufficient time to film each scene.

Equipment List

Various pieces of equipment to film at our chosen locations.
We will need:
This is the equipment that I will need to use for my production and the Blackberry Smartphone serves as a research tool as well as a prop in the film. Before using the cameras

Symbolism & Motifs

Throughout the media course, our teacher has been building up our knowledge of films, genres and directors. We have watched films from
'This Is England' to 'Fish Tank'. When watching all of these films, I noticed that each and every film had hidden connotations and symbols to represent things.
My partner and I decided to use a Swan in our film to symbolise hope and freedom.

Storyboard

The concept of a storyboard is imperative to production as it acts as the basis of the film and aids in the filming process.

‘Storyboards are graphic organisers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in a sequence for the purpose of pre-visualising a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence including website interactivity.' - Wikipedia

The common storyboarding used today was pioneered at the Walt Disney Studio in the 1930s. Gone with the Wind was one of the first live action films to be completely storyboarded.

Below is the storyboard I created.







[Click image to enlarge]

I have used Final Cut Pro before but I need to improve my skills to ensure that the finished product is successful. The first thing I did was refresh my mind with some basic skills:

And then proceeded to search for specific things I wanted to learn such as fading out and adding a title sequence.

After filming this, we realised that the quality was quite poor and that it wouldn't look very good as part of our film. As we are incorporating elements of Neo-Noir into our film, we thought of the different technologies we could use to present out characters written thoughts.

Some of our ideas were:

  • Computer/Laptop
  • Sand on a beach
  • Texting on a mobile phone
We asked some members in our class and this is what they thought:


New Cameras

We FINALLY recieved the new Professional Sony HD cameras! This is quite exciting as we will be able to proceed with our production AT LAST! This will improve the quality of our film significantly and allow us to experiment and try things to give our film a professional look.


UPDATE! :We decided to use a BlackBerry Smartphone to show our character's feelings.


The work done so far will aid us into starting the storyboarding process. It will also help us structure our work to give us time to create an effective film. It will also guide us into more research such as:

-Final Cut Pro
-Storyboarding
-Equipment needed
-Fonts

Film Directors

I feel that it is important that I research into past and present film directors to get a feel of what film production will be like.

The first film director I am going to look at is Sir Alfred Hitchcock.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock – Born 13th August 1899 and died 29th April 1980

He was an English director and producer and he pioneered many techniques in the thriller genre. He directed more than 50 feature films in an astonishing career spanning six decades. He also pioneered the use of a camera made to mimic a person’s gaze and his shots maximized anxiety and drama which was highly effective in film. His films also embodied psychoanalysis and strong sexual undertones. Through cameo appearances in his own films and through interviews and his own programme ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’, he became a cultural icon.

Noel Clarke – Born 6th December 1975

He is an English actor, director and screenwriter from London. He is well known for starring in ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ and ‘Doctor Who’. He studied media at the University of North London. He most notably appeared in and wrote the screenplay for ‘Kidulthood’ and wrote, directed and starred in the sequel ‘Adulthood’, which grossed £1,209,319 on the opening weekend of its release. Clarke has worked with the BBC Blast project for young teenagers and it aims to inspire young people to be creative. He began writing in 2005 .and is still writing today.

His other writing credits include ‘West 10 LDN’ a pilot for BBC Three that is about kids on a rough housing estate. This is significant as our product ‘Pariah’ is also intended to be a pilot for channel 4.

[Below is a clip from 'West 10 LDN']

Shot Types

Below are some of the shot types that we used in our film. They consisted of close ups, shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shot and establishing shots to name a few. These enabled us to have a variety of shots and portray the plot in various ways. It also shows a good use of the equipment we used and in addition shows the fluid continuity and enables the audience to engage with the plot.





Shooting Script

We tested out the idea of writing in a journal and we decided that it would look better if we did it on a mobile phone. We also decided that we would change the theme to bullying instead of self harming as it could be very effective without looking amateurish. We also changed the idea of the thoughts coming to life as we didn't think it was within our ability to do this.




A short film should be between 1 and 5 minutes long consisting of a straightforward plot that the audience can follow. A successful short film uses a range of shots that will enable the audience to feel involved in the narrative. They are usually centered around a protagonist and involve a surprising twist at the end.

When undergoing market research we came across this website with a list of the top 10 short films of 2010:


Here is the film that reached number 1:

We were inspired by the film 'The Lovely Bones' as we liked the story:
A girl was murdered and it follows her as she watches over her family and killer from heaven.
We are going to use that fantasy element in our production but instead use it to create enigma, so the audience do not realise the death until the end.

We also took inspiration from a music video: Princess Nyah - Butterflies.
We are going to emulate the idea of writing thoughts in a book and then they come to life. We thought that this would be effective at the start of our film and during the film we could have cutaways showing different thoughts.

Another text that inspired us was Citizen Kane, a 1941 Drama film that uses the concept of flashback to fuel the narrative.

Me and my partner believe that if we bring these three ideas together, we could produce something very interesting.

Meeting 1

During this meeting, me and my partner Asher evaluated all of our research and feedback and started to think more deeply on what our production would consist of. We already had our firm ideas – Title of film, Actress, and Genre. The next thing we had to do was think of a storyline and the ways in which we could achieve this storyline.

Brief synopsis of the film

Debbie is having trouble fitting in at school and is later on bullied which makes her a social outcast. She later cracks and commits suicide.

When casting characters for our film, me and my partner Asher, thought that it was essential that our actor/actress was versatile and would be able to be applied to any scenario. We felt that Debbie (above) fitted the stereotype of a fashionable teenage girl; she achieves this by the clothes she is wearing and portrays herself as a fun easy going person.

However, in our short film she will have to take on the persona of a young girl battling with school work and problems at home and with her peers and give an effective portrayal of an emotional teen. We decided to choose her as we felt that the image of a young black girl going through hard times could be something that people may be able to relate to in the diverse culture we live in.

We could also compare Debbie to ‘Emily James’ in Waterloo Road as she had trouble at home and was struggling with family life and school life. She can also be compared to ‘Alicia’ in Kidulthood.

Location Shots

To incorporate a sense of verisimilitude we decided to film in and around school. This could be effective as it could show the character’s surroundings and it could also be quite easy for our actress to adapt to her surroundings. It is also a good location because school is like a second home for teenagers, and is a place where they learn values and learn what is right and wrong in society and they have the freedom to explore and challenge these ideas away from their parents.

To the left are some location shots.


Audience Profile

[Click image to enlarge]

Dominique is a 17 year old student currently taking A Levels a Croydon College. She enjoys going out with friends and spending time with her family. She leads the typical life of a teenager and her prized possession is her Blackberry Smartphone. She listens to Grime, Bashment and R&B music and always downloads the latest music.

Whilst creating the audience profile, I realised that I had my niche market and that the previous planning I had done would tie in with the demographic that I wanted to reach.


Our chosen name for our film is 'Pariah'

[Click image to enlarge]

Above in the centre of the 3 images, is a Digital moodboard we created. It includes the type of things we wish to embody in our production. It will incorporate issues of the struggle for identity, the deterioration of relationships along with modern technology and social networking devices - the technology aspect links with the Neo-noir movement, and an example is given below.

Here is an example of an existing product:

Callous - A Short Neo-Noir Film
- This is an example of a low budget film which gives us insight on what we may be able to achieve with a very low budget.
- Neo-Noir films are aware of modern circumstances and technology.
- They also have some other noir elements such as shadows and darkness.
- By incorporating technology into our production, it will appeal to our target audience and add a new twist to our film.



Misfits
-Misfits is an example of a high budget drama series that embodies the themes we may want to express within our piece (the idea of a social outcast).