My Own Poster

I did a drawing of my own idea of what the film's poster could look like, getting inspiration from other posters which carry all similar elements.

However if I did it again I would improve many things:

• I would make it look less happy in general. It looks too much like a light hearted drama or even a comedy film as it shows the friends walking together smiling. 
• I also could have put a shadow on Nathan's character as he is also a real person.
• It looks too childish with all of the bright colours.

Film Poster Analysis

I had to analyze a film poster which reflected what we wanted to do. I chose Somers Town because it's a film about friendship and I like the simplistic style of it. I also had to look at what the elements in the poster say about the film itself, such as why they purposely displayed these characters in front of this particular background. 

Shot List

I made a shot list which is a guide to how we will make our film look great. This shot list included the scenes of the shots and their descriptions. I looked back at the animatic to help me write up the descriptions of the shots. In the descriptions I made them very brief just incase we decide to change anything in the shots if something goes wrong (like if one of the actors cannot turn up). I included the names of the characters and what the shot is in the descriptions. This photo is the first page of the shot list containing the first few shots.

Final Evaluation

What went well?

Many things did go well, such as the audience research as it was very simple to get results and then turn them into a graph. Also, the group were very easy to get along with and the work was fine, although we did have a few problems with the animatic.

If I had to improve anything, I would make my pictures on the storyboard look more like Adeel's so that there would not be any chance that someone viewing animatic would get confused between the characters in mine and Adeel's pictures, even-though they are the same people. Also, although I got quite a few people's results for my audience, I felt that I could have used a few more people of different age ranges so that it would be less biased and I would have a bigger picture of what audiences want.

My individual contributions to the planning and research so far was firstly finding out audience results in the form of a web graph and then also helping Adeel to make a storyboard which was one of the longer tasks in the coursework.

Getting Music

The music we need to get was copyright free music so we looked on helpful websites like freeplaymusic.com. Me and Aidah had the task of choosing the correct songs for the website that we felt suited certain scenes from our short film. 

We got many good songs from our film such as a choral tune for the ending and a happier song for when they are walking through the street together.

Pre-Production Planning

For planning the short film, Adeel and I drew some shots for a storyboard, which will serve as a visual aid for the types of camera angles and shots that we will use for the film. We will use these pictures for an animatic, which is a mock-up of how the film will look. The first thing I did was actually help make the storyboard by drawing some scenes on to bits of paper.

They were then placed in order on Final Cut. We then got the script and narrated the dialogue over the pictures which were in a slideshow, making sure that we timed it right and do not mix up the shots with the wrong lines. The final animatic was then uploaded to YouTube. We cut the length of the pictures if they ran on for too long.

Audience Research

For my audience research, I did a survey involving 20 people of different ages (around 17-30) and interests. I told them a rough idea of what our film was about before asking them their view on it.

"It's about a boy who's asked to a party by a girl, along with his three friends. However we find out at the end of the film that they are imaginary which comes as a surprise."

I then turned the results into a web chart. The survey contained three factors which made it a quick and simple way people could fill out their opinions. These were:

Plot- If they think that the story's narative and events sound interesting
"The boy Alex sits in the cafe with his 3 friends. They spot some girls sitting across the cafe, and his friends pursuade him to approach the girls. One of the girls asks him to a party and he reluctantly says yes. In the street later he sees his friend Tyreece. Talking, he realises he is also going to the party. At home that evening, Alex is trying to get ready for the party. His 3 friends are battering the door to come in, which makes Alex angry. He shouts at the friends fir making his room a mess. His friend Tyreece hears and enquires who he is shouting at. This is where it is revealed that his 3 friends are imaginary."

Theme- If our theme of isolation appeals to the audience
"The isolation in this film is based on the fact that his imagination makes him falsely believe he has these friends when he doesn't. It's isolation because we find that he is more alone than we think due to the end scene."

Relevance- How relevant the film's content is to their lives
"I explained relevance to be something they have possibly imagined or any situation with friends similar to the ones in the film"

This is the chart showing the most average results:
Plot- 10
Relevance- 5
Theme- 8



From the results, it shows that many people thought that the plot was very interesting although it did not really sound relevant to their lifestyles as many people do not live in isolation. Many people did like our theme and thought it worked well with the story. The results are very postitive and everyone seemed to like the idea of our film.

Drama Genre Conventions

 



A Short Film Review

The short film that I have decided to review is New Boy directed by Steph Green. This follows a new boy from Africa as he tries to settle in to an Irish school. After he gets picked on by bullies because of his ethnicity, they finally make friends through the process of getting in trouble together.

The film's narrative structure occasionally switches from the boy's current class to his past moments from Africa using the technique of flashbacks.This is shown as a happier time for him, as he is shown smiling more and a non-diagetic soundtrack is included which makes it more joyful. There are also a few brighter colours such as the teacher's clothing, the walls and the light coming in from outside which is different to the plain colours in his modern school. There is not really any exposition shown in this film as it is never stated how he moved to Ireland. However the film hints that he could've been a refugee as his backdrop depicts a dangerous society; armed men are shown who shoot his dad.

     

I like this film because of it's narrative structure, as it occasionally switches from the boy's past life in Africa to his new class in Ireland. It is an interesting story and many people can relate to what's happening. It's also good the way that the story of the film is built up to the ending. In a way, the ending was quite unpredictable as I didn't expect the boys to make up at the end.

What is a short film?

The term short film used to apply to he majority of films in 1910's America where almost all of them were shorter than a conventional feature film. These films were black & white and were completely silent apart from non-diagetic music. They were surreal in nature and contained a lot of slapstick comedy which was very popular with audiences worldwide.

Currently in Britain it is a term used to describe any film that is between 1 and 15 minutes in length. This is a contrast to the definition in the US, where it is applied to any film in between 20 and 40 minutes in length. Because there isn't a lot of time to explain the story or the characters, these films tend to be very surreal with no background explanation of anything that happens. Short films are usually created on a very low budget compared to main feature length films. They are often the first things that famous directors produce as a way of showcasing their creative abilities. Two examples of short films are below.

On Time


Chop Cup