Film Evalution

My media film not only uses forms and conventions of real films, but challenges them too. The opening scene allows the audience to see what the film is going to be about and attracts them to watch the rest of the film. The title is bold and ‘in your face’ and immediately grabs the audiences attention. The shot size and angles vary throughout the film, so that the eye is kept moving around looking at what is inside the frame. W wanted to show that we could used a range of angles and shot sizes, and make them work well together at the same time. Close ups were used frequently throughout the film to get shots of the characters facial expressions. Middle shots and long shots were also used regularly, so that the audience can see the characters, what they are doing and the setting. Camera movement was kept smooth throughout the film. In the scene where the drug addict is going in to the bathroom and running down the stairs, we made it seem as thought the audience was the camera, and they were following, or being the characters. The camera movement for this seemed more ‘bumpy’, to give a realistic look.

We looked at different types of lighting from artificial to natural, to see which ones would work best in each shot. The first shot of the film is set quite dark with only a few spots lights on in the background to highlight the characters in the scene. This also makes the title show even brighter when it appears in front of the scene. Inside the bedroom of the anorexic character, the lighting is a little brighter but still quite dull. This represented that the girl was trying to hide away her small frame, while she was talking about herself to the camera, and didn’t want to stand out too much. When it came to the filming of the couple living together, we decided to make the setting as bright as possible. We wanted the audience to see exactly how they were acting around each other and what they were doing. In the shots where the two were talking about one another, again the lighting was dulled down with some lighting to highlight their faces. This helped to make the audience focus on only the characters and listen to what they were saying, and let the background almost fade away from sight. In my parts of the film where the character was suffering with OCD, I tried to make the lighting bright, yet natural. This was because the filming was made to feel like a documentary and therefore needed the lighting to look at realistic as possible. I also wanted the lighting to be bright so that the audience can see clearly how need and orderly everything is in the setting and watch how the character was behaving. The main sound in the film is the Born Slippy-Underground song. The song is drum and bass and very loud. It plays right from the beginning of the film, in the party scenes and at the very end. The sound has a strong bass that you can feel through the speakers when watching the film. This we thought would be a good song for our film as it is ‘rave’ music that is played in the party scenes, and makes the audience feel apart of the party themselves. Other music played in the film is through the TV in the actual film. The music is up to date, letting the audience know the film is set in the present.

We decided that our film would not have so much dialogue as most films do, and we would let the camera work and acting tell the narrative. Through the majority of the party scenes there is no dialogue and just music. Any dialogue that is in the shots are distorted and lowered so that they are not the main focus. The filming of the anorexic girl has the most dialogue as she is simple talking to the camera as if she is creating her own video blogs. The characters who were in love had few lines to say when they described how they felt about each other. The character with OCD also had few lines. This was because it was being as a documentary, so everything is told by how she is acting. There is some dialogue when the interviewer asks her questions about her condition. We decided to have an interviewer talk in certain parts, so that the audience could get more of an understanding about someone with OCD and how they acted around people.

The locations and settings of our film were very easy to find and make them how we wanted when shooting our film. Our parents allowed us to use our own homes for filming. We chose our houses because they gave a more realistic affect to our film, so that the audience would find it more believable. It was also much easier to film in our houses than in a public place, as we do not have to worry about getting permission to film in certain areas, worrying about anybody getting in our shots, or any unwanted background noise. Filming in our homes also gave us an advantage as we knew where would be best to film and what angles would look good. Getting the cast together was also very easy. Our target audience was for people (mainly females) 15-22 years old. Therefore our friends were the perfect age for our film and all had experience in acting as they had taken GCSE drama. For costumes we just let the actors wear what they would normally wear as it made them look like they were people the audience may pass by in real life and could relate to them better. The main characters challenged the normal film forms and conventions as we had four female leads and only one leading boy.

 

After finishing filming, we then had to edit our film. For this we used a programme called ‘Pro 11’. We each had to edit our own parts we filmed by cutting and cropping shots to how we wanted them. We then mixed down each film and linked them together in the sequence we wanted. We used special effects throughout our film. For example, once the character Charlotte had taken the drugs, everything starts to go weird. We changed the colours and made things repeat over and over again. We also slowed down parts of the film to give the audience the feeling that they were on drugs and were hallucinating and seeing everything through the characters eyes. We made our titles and end credits in a bright, bold red so that they stood out from the black background.

Once our film was finalised I then had to make a film poster.  I researched film posters so I knew what usually is on them and tried to replicate them on my poster. Within the billing block, I added my own information about out film and wrote when and where you would be able to watch our film.

Audience feedback is vital information as to whether a film is good or not. After finishing our film we had a small group of 15-22 year olds to watch our film. We then had them each fill out a questionnaire to find out what they thought of the film. All 10 said that the film was interesting to watch and well constructed. The only negative mentioned was that the film seemed too long for a short film. One female who used to suffer with an eating disorder said that the character with anorexia, portrayed the addiction excellently and realistic.

All three combinations of text (film, review and poster) relate to one another. The poster restricts the target audience to what they think the film will be about. The title for instant, clearly describes what the film will be about and this then makes the audience think of what type of addiction the film will be about. Reviews usually do the complete opposite and try to give negative feedback on the film. However, some do applaud the film, which mine has done. I tried not to be biased when writing my review so I did write some negatives, but made sure there was more positives.
New media technology has given us a huge advantage when making our film. We used internet sites such as 'youtube' to research short film, and 'idmb' to look at film posters and reviews. Social networking sites allowed us as a group to keep in touch when planning our film. Mobile phones were used constantly when keeping in contact throughout planning and filming, to see what and has been done. Digital cameras were used when filming, as they are lightweight and easy to use. They also have a good pixel, so the shots look clear. When editing our film we used a programme called Pro 11. This technology allowed us to cut and crop scenes, add special effects and titles.
I think that from last year’s project to this one, I have learnt a lot. I learnt how to plan more efficiently within the time we had been given. There was minor technical problems with the camera, but I was able to resolve them quickly.I was also given new and more roles within my group which I think I coped with well. As the other people in my group were my friends, I found it easy to work with them and we had no problems working as a group. I think our film has been well thought out, planned and produced to the best of all our abilities.

Film Review

All films get a review. A review is when a film critic from a newspaper watches the film before it's released and writes an article about it. To make our film look as if it really would be released, I had to pretend to be a film critic and write a review on our film. I tried to make the article look as realistic as possible, by writing in colums and using little colour. At the top left I put the newpaper title in bold red. Opposite to that in a red rectangle, I wrote some information on the film such as the title, certification, director, plot and what I rated the film myself as a critic. Next to that I put a picture of the film poster for the readers to look at, and see one of the characters. When writing the review I wanted to give praise to Lauren, Jessica and Lorna for their efforts at making the film. I did find some negative points in the film that I mentioned; but I found more positive than negative. I used a vocabulary of words to give the feel that I was a well educated writer for The Sun newspaper. As a critic, I gave our film a 3/5 star rating and recommended the film to anyone who enjoys films such as Trainspotting, or TV shows such as skins.

My Film Poster

Like any new film coming out, it needs to be advertised. Each person in my group is making there own film poster with the character from their section on the front of it. After researching film posters, I knew there was certain codes and conventions I had to include in my poster. I put the title in the same font and colour as it is in the actual film. The main image was placed in the center of the poster, and I coloured the background in all black so the writing and image stood out. The image is of my main character, who is played by Chenice Clarke, looking down towards the floor with her hand behind her back, and in the same oufit she wears in the film. I decided to make her pose like this as it makes her looked ashamed of something by looking down, and that with her hands behind her back she is hiding something. I dressed her in the same outfit she wore in the film so that the audience will recognice her as a a main character when they watch the film. Just above the image and below the title is a strapline which anchors the audience. It says Once you're hooked you can't let go. We came up with this saying as it links with the title and theme of addiction. Below the image is then in smaller writng the production company, directors, editors, storyboard and scriptwriters name. Theres is also the main characters name in order of appearence. At the bottom of the page, in the same font and colour as the title is 'Get a fix on youtube'. 'Getting a fix', is a phrase that is used by addicts who use drugs, and so relates back to the film and title. The bottom writing also lets people know when and where they can watch the film if they want to see it.

Target Review

Once our film had been edited, we then had to show our film to a group of  10 people that fitted our target audience criteria. Once watching the film we then asked them to fill out a questionnaire about what they thought of the film, and if they thought there was any negatives. After reading their answers. I found that all 10 really liked the film and agreed that it had the conventions that appealed to an audience of 15-22 year olds. The only negative that a few mentioned, was that as a short film, it was too long. I think that if we was to recreate our film and found a way to shorten it down, without cutting out important shots, then we would have the perfect film for our target audience.

Editing

After filming, I then had to edit all the shots. I used a programme called 'Movie Pro 11' which has a similar layout to the image on the right. I first had to copy all my edits on to the timeline and put them in order. I then deleted any shots that I did not want in the final take. I used techniques such as a fade to link edits together. It did take a while for me to cut and chop certain shots, and then join them together at exactly the right points. I also had to drop any sound I did not want and carfully place where the voiceover would go, so that it was in time with the film. Once all the edits were how I wanted them to be, I then mixed it all down so it joined together as a mini movie. Once the rest of my group edited their sections, we had to then chop them up again and add all four parts together in the order that we wanted. Finally we added the title and end credits, which included actor names, the director,editor, storyboarder, scriptwriter, etc. We put the titles and credits in a bold red to stand out from the background colours, and attract the audience. One problem I kept experiencing while editing, was that if I did something too fast, then the programme would crash, and all your work would not save. To prevent losing my work, everytime i finished an edit, I had to keep saving as I went along. I personally think editing is the most trickiest part of film making, but it is what makes any film look good and professional.

Special Effects

Special effects in a film can vary from, colours, sounds, imagery, make up, animations etc. For our film, we only really needed special effects in the party/drug scenes. When Charlotte acts out that she has taken the drugs, her vision and hearing become very distorted. To give this effect we changed the colours in the film and blurred it. We also slowed down all the sounds so it became very hard to understand. Another scene is when Charlotte goes to the toilet. Someone is already in there and as Charlotte speaks to apologise, her speach again is very distorted and slowed down. Another special effect we added in this section is the mask shown above. We wanted to make it seem as though the drugs were making Charlotte hallucenate and image things that wern't real. There are no special effects in mine or Jessicas sections. There is one small special effect at the very end. This is in Laurens' scene where the camera becomes very slowed down on the scales and back up to the characters face.

Filming

Laurens' filming went smoothly as she has memorised her dialogue, although a few changes were made to give a more natural affect. Jessica's filming took a bit longer due to the fact that they kept messing up their lines and had to sort out what props to use. Although Lornas' filming was one of the more trickier narratives to film, we did it in quite a reasonably space of time. Even though there was more characters and people to instruct what to do in each frame, filming went really well, everyone acted maturely in the drug scenes.