Thursday 18 March 2010
Evaluation of PROJECT (very VERY long)
My film is called Isolation and tells the story of a man’s life. This basic plot outline would fit my short film into the Genre of Drama, or the subset of a ‘Biopic’. My film does conform to other aspects of the genre of Drama as well. The main plot is quite serious, with the downfall of our protagonist and his eventual death, which is a common feature amongst Drama films like ‘Philadelphia’ in which Tom Hanks is the protagonist and we follow his life until his death at the end. Another aspect of Drama films is characterization or developing the characters identity to create a sense of realism. The audience need a complex and diverse character to develop the character properly in their minds; if the character is undeveloped the audience will not buy into the story and the character will be stereotypical and uninteresting. Getting a strong sense of character is relatively simple in a feature length film (although some still fail) and you can create a connection with the audience and the character. In a short Drama film this is far more difficult as you have to develop your character in a very short time. My has little action as it is just one man going over in his head where his life went wrong, which proved beneficial as it gave me time to develop his character through Flashbacks and also the way he portrayed himself.
I also made the downfall of the man quite believable verging on the stereotypical, for example the affair he has and the alcohol. These themes are synonymous within Drama films, like the film ‘American Beauty’ in which Kevin Spacey’s character Lester delves into drugs and affairs to escape from his boring marriage. Making the films issues similar to other films lets the audience draw parallels between the plots, which add an understanding and a depth; they can relate my characters quick overview to other films and mix them together. The realism of the mans problems would also create an empathy for him if anyone in the audience has experience these troubles as well, which fits into the ‘reception theory’ in which people draw their own meanings into this character based on their own experiences.
Another form and convention of Drama films I have in my film is the way sound and lighting is used. Most of my film is in black and white which may not by an inherent factor within mainstream dramas, but it was an effect used to great effect in older films such as the films of the ‘New Wave’. Films like Billy Liar and Saturday Night Sunday Morning were part of this ‘wave’ in which they focused on real life issues and wanted to show a gritty realism to life in comparison to Hollywood. Despite colour film being around at the time, the directors chose to use black and white perhaps symbolizing the tone of the film and the feelings of the characters. This was an effect I decided to use in my film to show the difference between the present and his past, with the flashbacks. However the use of black and white was for another purpose which challenges the stereotypes of Drama films; I also used black and white to show that when he is in the grave yard he is actually dead. This supernatural aspect to my film goes against forms and conventions of Drama’s and gives the film a twist from what would be just a stereotypical Drama plot.
I used sound and music in my film to both challenge and support the conventions of Drama films. All the way through my film I made sure that you could hear the sounds of the graveyards. I did this by using sound bridges on the transitions slides and overlapping the graveyard sounds with the music. This was to give the realism to the scene and also an eerie tone, an effect that I have seen in the ‘Godfather’ films in which non diajetic soundtrack is mixed with diajetic sounds of either the city or countryside. Without even a character being present the film creates its own realism and tone and I tried to use this idea in my film, especially in the title credits where the screen is just black with the title, whilst the music and the graveyard with the eerie cawing of a crow creates a sombre tone from the outset. In contrast to the realism of the diajetic sounds, the main speaking in the film is a non-diajetic voice over in the mans head. I did this to not only give the film a spooky feeling with the main character just staring at the audience at times but also to give the feeling that the audience is in his head, gaining more empathy to his character. Despite trying to create a sense of the supernatural with the voice overs, it is not totally unheard of to use voice overs in films. Films such as the Shawshank Redemption use Morgan Freeman’s voice over to tell the story a lot like I used my characters voice to tell the story but I feel that I developed this technique slightly, to create this sense of the supernatural.
I nearly all film mise-en-scene is used to create realism especially in Drama films. I used mise-en-scene and camera shots to add to the realism but I also used it to hide the twist in the film. As I have said before I wanted to use pretty stereotypical issues for the man so the audience could fill in the gaps and develop their own views on him, and I added upon this with the mise en scene. For example in the scene with his wife watching TV I filmed it in a very basic room, one that you could find in any house. I positioned the camera in an over shoulder shot behind the characters sofa so we could see the whole room. The man is supposed to be bored so I put on a interior design program, which I expect many of the male audience could relate to and empathise with the character. These little tweaks to the shots were done on purpose to make the situation the man is in more realistic. I also used camera shots to create a realism in the characters. I used lots of close ups and extreme close ups in the graveyard to show the mans emotions and feelings. I also used medium shots to show the relationship between the man and his wife on the sofa, with most of their bodies in the shot showing the awkwardness between them. These camera shots were all to show the realism of the situation the man is in and highlight the feelings he had, supporting the idea of a Drama. However I also used camera shots and mise-en-scene to show hide the supernatural element of the film and also create some of the black humour. In the very first scene the composition of the scene has the protagonist out of the way to the right of the scene. The main focus of the shot is on the pair of legs of a passer by, who ignores him. The fact he is ignored and is positioned out of the way hints at the fact he is isolated and feeling insignificant as do the high angle shots that appear later. Another hint to the twist is the fact that the mans arms are always down by his side or out of shot. This is highlighting he has lost use of them as you would if you had cut your wrist. This idea came from the film supernatural film ‘Constantine’ in which Keanu Reeves kills himself and cannot use his arms. This use of camera shots to hint or hide the final twist challenges the froms and conventions of Drama films.
I also involved a black humour into my film to give the man another layer and the film another dimension and originality. Not only did I use flashbacks in my films but I also used thoughts the man had to show this dark humour. For example the scene with the gun and the hostage, which I used not only to give the film some action but also some humour. I got this idea from films such as ‘Fight Club’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream’ in which the protagonists imagine what they would like to do and the director chooses to show how it would happen. This effect is often quite humorous and added to this dark humour with the close up shot of the main character pointing a gun at the screen. It provides a complete break from the serious theme of the film and the angry, gangster style expression he has is meant to invoke humour. The fact he is imaging killing somebody makes the humour a bit more edgy, and would probably appeal to my most male target audience. So with this humour I am challenging the stereotypes of the seriousness of Drama films and appealing to a totally different audience.
In conclusion to this first question I feel that my film, despite the base plot of the mans life being quite realistic and the empathy I created with the audience towards him pushing it into the drama genre, I feel that this film is dispersed across many other genres and cannot be lumped into Drama genre. The dark humour throughout takes away from the serious tone, summed up by the irony of the Beatles song ‘I’m So Tired’ at the end and the supernatural twist drags it further away from the drama genre. I feel that the whole idea of a short film challenges the Genre categories that have been around since the 1970’s and the fact that short films have to pack so much into a short time results in films that have more of the directors influence on them, then the influence of genre. Short films are a chance for directors not to make an epic but to express themselves in a short time. To further this point I believe that short-film should either be its own genre, so people can judge the ‘greatness’ of the films or short films are more a result of the ‘Auteur system’ whereby films are influenced and rated on the style of the director and not the genre they are in.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Poster:
Before even attempting my poster I did lots of research into other film posters. I looked at films that were of a similar genre or plot to mine, such as ‘The Machinist’, to get ideas on how other film create effective combinations between the film and the poster. I found that with many films especially of a thriller or supernatural genre the poster had little of no clear hints to the plot. For example the ‘Machinist’ most just has the bleeded image of a post it note stuck on a wall. The only writing is that of the title which is in bold, the name of the actor and a quote from the film. I liked the idea of the simplicity of this poster as it left the plot line completely ambiguous which I thought I needed with my film, because I did not want to give the twist or even the plot away. Other posters I looked at were ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Fight Club’. Sweeney Todd use of colour appealed to me because it had definite connotations with the mise en scene of the film. I decided that was another important aspect of combing film and poster. This final influence I got from the all was the simplicity and the focus on one tiny aspect of the film to intrigue the viewer. For example ‘fight club’ used a bar of pink soap as the poster. This is a complete red herring to the film and appears as a tiny sub story yet the poster makes it look as if it is important.
With my poster I chose to use a one image with bleed covering the whole page. This one image idea is in contrast to more mainstream and longer films that have a lot on the poster to entice the viewer with big hints, like the old ‘Star Wars’ posters that had nearly every character in the film on them. I thought of just having the main character on the poster but this seemed to me to be to crude, so I used a statue from the graveyard that proves gives no clue to the film at all on first glimpse. I liked the idea and the simplicity of using one object from the film to represent the film, and as this statue appears for about a second and a half in my film I feel it has the desired effect of ambiguous combination with the film. I change the colour of the statue to red, which further combines it with the film, telling the viewer there is going to be danger, as red connotes danger or even blood. Another feature from my research I added into the poster was the small amount of wording; I just have the title, the director and a quote from the film. The type is in a very basic font and white on a black background, to give nothing away about the film. I like the tagline of the film that stands out in contrast to the black background with white text. The use of a rhetorical question also draws in the audience.
I feel that my post fits in well with the conventions of that films of a similar plot have used and also draws they eye. However unlike ‘the Sweeney Todd’ poster I did not involve any of the characters as I wanted to keep the plot ambiguous.
If I were to do it again I would perhaps experiment with other forms of posters and see if I could challenge the conventions that similar films have stuck too. The main point in a film poster is to link to the film and draw an audience in without giving too much away. I feel I have to this with subtle links to the danger in the plot and the graveyard statue hinting at a location, but you could not really deduce any great plot hints from this poster. I used some digital computer editing on the poster; just changed the colour to red. The simplicity of the poster is to entice the audience to be inquisitive as to what it means, and then hook them into watching the film.
Article:
I looked at many article review pages, especially from the magazine Empire. For my article I wanted to make it genuine, as if it were in a mainstream magazine yet I also wanted a link between the film and the article which I feel aside from the picture does not appear that much in film magazine, in comparison to music magazines in which pages are wholly influenced by bands.
Firstly to fit to the forms and conventions of a film review magazine I started off with a simple border, that holds the page together. I used a plain white background, a feature key within Empire magazine. I also had a balance between pictures and texts hopefully achieving a 50/50 split. I used two stills from the film, one used as the focus of the whole page, bleeding to two edges. I also used a large bold header of the name of the film, telling readers immediately what the article is about. Another similar factor I used was a movie quote almost as a slogan from the film, on top of the main picture to entice the readers interest. I also used call outs in the writing, which is a factor more involved with music magazine and perhaps a place were I challenged the conventions of film magazines. However I did come up with a brand name and fit it to the bottom of each page, giving the article exclusivity to that magazine. All of these similarities are meant to root the article firmly into a film magazine.
However I did challenge the conventions slightly, to get more of a link to my film. Firstly I used the same font for my poster and my film to provide a sort of ‘brand’ link for the film. I also used the same movie quote from the poster in my article, giving the two great effectiveness in linking to the film. More subtly I tried to keep the simplicity of the poster and the black and white of the film and fit it into the article. I did with the two tone colour scheme, which contrast to the conventional 3 tone colour scheme that film magazines normally have. This use of black writing on white background just creates a small link to the film, but a link that I feel that film magazines are missing. Music magazines are far more flexible and so get across the bands ideology better and I think this is an idea that movie magazines could pick up on.
If I was to do the article again I feel I may have challenged the conventions a bit more and experimented with what could be achieved. I would also probably have look at less mainstream film magazines as stereotypically short films would not feature in a mainstream movie magazine like Empire. I may also have used some behind the scenes shot to create a sense of exclusivity with the film and the magazine, as they got behind the scenes.
Overall however I feel the combination of my ancillary texts with my film has worked well. I especially like how my poster sort of creates a brand identity for the film, as people would immediately link the two together with the quote and the statue. This ‘branding’ was what I tried to pick up on in my article, which I feel I could have done to a greater extent with more time, yet I feel on the whole the article goes well with conventions of a film review page.
What have you learned from audience feedback?
on the whole I was pleased with my audience feedback. The film got mostly positive remarks and scored an average of 4/5. the main positive points drawn from the feedback our that people said the film flows and they did not see the twist coming. Also the filming was smooth and we achieved an artistic feel to the film. Some people said there needed to be a bit more focus on his childhood, which I can understand as I had to cut some due to timing. I feel that trying to do a plot based Drama in such a short times harms the characterization and this is why people have said this. One or two said there needed to be more flashbacks, which further adds to the thoughts of creating a character in such a short time is difficult. Maybe the plotline could have advantages with being a feature length movie in which the character could be delved into.
I found this feed back to be helpful and made me think more into what a short film actually is and can you have a regimented structure to a short film. On the whole the reviews were positive and have given me great pride in my film, also helping me to determine its success’s and gave me some scope for improvement.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and the research, planning and evaluation stages?
Unlike the music magazine last year, in which most of the work was done inside on the computer, this year I had to get used to using a film camera. At first I had no idea how to work them, but after the preliminary practice filming for a couple of lessons, I soon got the hang of it. I started with simple camera shots at first the messed around with the tri pods and hand held to see what I could achieve. I now much prefer working with medium rather than still cameras, as you can give the art far more life. The only difficulty was doing a tracking shot for which you need either a professional camera of a very still hand. This is probably why there are not too many in my film!
Another new technology I used was Movie Maker. At first I thought this would be a simple matter of shoving the film together and bada boom! A Film! But no. uploading was the easy part and the editing was pretty simple. The hardships came with the voice over. I couldn’t acquire a Dictaphone or a microphone so the voice over had to be done on the camera. We then had to upload it and split the sound and film. That was difficult. Then, while hold 22 buttons at once you have to drag and drop the sound clip where you want it. It took half an hour to do one clip! After that hurdle though the rest of the program was very helpful, with transitions, sound adjusting and being able to post straight to Youtube.
The final technology I used was Microsoft publisher for my poster and article. Due to doing a magazine last year this proved very simple, and was able to get my ideas onto the screen with very little hassle. It is far more easy to create an article on publisher than word and also can be uploaded onto the blogs. Oh and finally blog were a technology used, but that was the same as last year aswell and apart from filtering my page for two months because of one swear word the blogs where very easy to use.
final magazine review
I stuck with the pretty main stream codes and conventions of film magazines like 'Empire' to achieve an authentic style and also to challenge what people see as a short film, which is usually specialist, by putting it in a more mainstream type of article so more people could access this short film. I stuck to conventions like using the pictures to dominate the pages, with bleeds to at least two edges. I also used add in’s like side boxes describing the pictures and also call outs articles to draw the readers interest to the page. Another feature I noticed in mainstream magazines is a movie quote incorporated into the page, which I tried to emulate in my by taking the films sort of slogan and putting it onto the image. The slogan in a question and this directly involves the reader, giving a sense of a bond by asking a question. I also used rhetorical questions in the articles and some well-used clichés, which I saw, were features of film review articles. Another added aspect with the link to the website at the end of the article creating another dimension to the review of the film, and people who are interested could gain a type of intertextuality and look into the world of short films. The page is a pretty stereotypical layout with a page header that is the movies title, immediately telling the reader what the article is about.
To challenge conventions I put the genre of short films, which usually leans towards niche audiences, into a mainstream format. However I also challenged a few magazine conventions like not using a 3-colour pallet, as I wanted the article to link to the films dual tone black and white.
Overall I feel this page works really well and looks as if it could be in a mainstream movie magazine. Its even has its own brand name 'Movie-Book'! The use of codes and conventions I have seen in other mainstream texts has helped me achieve the same effect, yet this review has subtle challenges to stereotypes of genre and colour use, to create cohesion between the film and the article which is surprisingly uncommon, aside from the images, in movie magazines.
magazine base
This is the base outline of my magazine article. I gave it a pretty generic name of 'the movie book' just to highlight it as a movie magazine. I have also used larged bleeds of stills from the film and also text boxes with added information on the,which are both factors I saw in my research into magazines.Wednesday 17 March 2010
Audience feed back results
I handed my questionnaire out to 16 people who watched the film. The results were interesting and helped to measure the successes in the film and also a few not so strong parts.
The results of the first question with the rating was a great and well-appreciated result with 13 people giving it 4/5. There was even one 5!! This was surprising to me but I hope it truly represents people’s thoughts on the film. Other successful result was that every single participant agreed the film flowed and said the editing was smooth. This technical side was a main goal of my film, as I wanted to achieve an artistic edge to the film, as well as the plotline.
Most of the participants understood the twist and did not see it coming. However some of the participants said that the film could do with more flashbacks, hinting that some of the graveyard scenes were too long. Despite this on the whole I think that the film had more successes than failures according to the questionnaire. All of the participants said that they would recommend the film to other people and the film kept them hooked. I also got some constructive criticism with the last question with people saying there could have been added focus on his childhood and family life. This was included in the film originally but had to be cut for time. However this does tell me this story could be fitted into a feature length film, because of the strong plot line.
These results proved helpful and receiving this recognition gave me as a director confidence in the film. These questionnaires will help greatly with my evaluation, so thank you people.
final poster
This is the final poster design. I decided upon the red statue picture and used it to 'bleed' to the edges of the page, because I feel it not only looks the most eye catching but also has many pragmatic links to the short film. Red connotes many things, the foremost being red connoting blood and death and also hinting at the danger in the film. The poster also leaves the main plot line ambiguous which is a factor I took from the Machinist poster I evaluated. The title font is in white in contrast to the black to make it stark and stand out. I composed the picture with the title not at the head of the page as is often done with more formal posters, this was to give a more arty style and also it is a feature I have seen in other poster of the same genre. I put in a tagline from the film to use as a sort of slogan that would interest people and give a small idea to the plot line. At first I had put in stars as a review under the title but I believe it did not work and put too much on the poster, which I wanted to be quite basic and focused on the bleeded image. Overall I believe the poster has come out well and fits in well with the film project. It does need some finer points like the credits at the bottom of the poster that give an authentic look to the poster. However I feel the poster and picture would be associated well with the film and is quite striking.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
magazine article analysis
These magazine articles are all taken from film magazines and all of them have startling differences compared to the music magazines we looked at last year. The music articles were packed full of information and pictures with lots of subtexts and exta information. These pages are heavily dependant on a couple of large pictures and just texts put around them. The pictures are bleeds to at least one side of the page and in one case the whole page is a bleed image. The images and texts are on white backgrounds, a feature that I have found is prevalent in many film magazine. There are also bold titles so when you are flicking through the magazine your eye is hooked by the pictures and the films you want to read about. The actual reviews are in very small writing and often just chunks of texts, revealing that people read the reviews for more information then entertainment. I will try and incorperate these aspects into my magazine article by using large pictures and titles and an informative review of the film.
poster effects
this effect was grayscale. it fits perfectly in with the film as the film is in black and white. it also has the more depressing tone of the film. however i dont know if it would be eye catching enough to be a movie poster, and might have the adverse effect in putting people off of the film.
For this poster I changed the saturation of the picture giving it this red tint. I like this because it gives a more edgy feel to the picture and also could be seen to link to the blood in the film, pragmatically saying that there is something dangourous that will happen in this film.
For this picture I boosted up the contrast and brightness. This gives the statue an almost golden tint. It looks quite artistic and is more striking then the grayscale picture. However it is quite postive which could be good or bad for the film; on the one hand the positivity links to the sunshine at the end of the film and would confuse the viewer into thinking the film is quite happy on the other it could be seen to be to far away from the film and is not linked enough. At this moment i am split between this picture and the red picture.
picture for my poster
I have decided on using this picture to be the base of my poster.I think that it is intriguing to the eye and looks interesting in portrait position. The statue gives away some aspects of the film like the graveyard and it is infact in the film. I also like the fact that it is a solitary statue that links in with the film of isolation. The man is like this statue stuck in the graveyard for ever which creates a feeling of empathy towards them both. Another minor element of the mans character is also shown with in this statue as he studied art at university and this statue is greatly detailed and quite impressive from an artistic view point.On these grounds I feel that this picture will provide a thought provoking poster for my film and links in with the intrinsic ideas within the film.
intial poster ideas
These are some of the pictures I took for the poster ideas. I wanted to take pictures from around the graveyard that would intrigue people but not give the film away.
These pictures of the statues are my favourite as they not only look impressive and interesting but give no hint to the film. They also link to the film as this statue appears at the very start of the film to set the scene and establish the film in the graveyard.
filming and editing the final scene
The final scene is the most vital of the film. This is the twist and whole point of the film is revealed. The scene opens with a long shot of the man and he has gone back to his original topic of why he is being ignored. The music has changed from the energetic music from the last scenes flashbacks to the calm of the track that features in most of the film. This is to create calmness at the start of this scene that lulls the audience into a false sense of security so the twist is more of a shock. As the man delves into why he is at the graveyard he is getting more and more agitated and this is shown with the camera shots.
The scene starts of with a long shot and goes on to end with almost an extreme close up. Before this there are about 6 camera shots and lots of fast cuts around the man, showing his confusion. There is an over shoulder shot of the entire graveyard as the man looks around in confusion. He then goes into talking about this dream he keeps having. The confusion and tension is added upon by the music getting louder and changing to a more emotional song that builds up. The flashback follows the mans gaze as he looks into this bathroom. The camera pans from a close up of a door and then too the open door of the bathroom with 'a man' propped against the bath. This is the audience begin to release and so does the man. I emphasize the blood and the knife with a fast cut to close up of his wrists. The music continues to get louder creating a tension in the film. As the shot cuts back to the graveyard the music continues but his non-diegetic thoughts are interrupted by his diajetic voice. Here overlapped the two voices but faded the voice of quieter to try and give this effect of interruption. As the man realizes he turns to the gravestone. There is a fade to black for a few seconds and the film goes quiet. This was to delay time for the effect of the final shot and song.
The end credits of the film the come from the fade to black. They are over a long shot of the man, sitting dead on his grave with slits on his wrists. The scene is shot in colour to show the reality that the man is dead. I added to the eerie black humor of the film with the Beatles song 'I'm so Tired' with is quite ironic, giving I think a mysteriously relaxed end to the film.
I feel that this last scene is the strongest scene because of the effect of the simple fast cuts has on creating tension in the audience. And despite the tomato sauce blood I believe that as an audieince the film creates a sense of realism despite the man being a ghost. I feel that audience have some kind of link with the man, good or bad which I hopes leads them to be effected with the twist in the film
filming and editing of scene 3
This scene much like scene 2 can be split into almost two scenes, despite how I wrote it on the original script. The scene opens with a medium shot of the man sitting on his grave. He is positioned to the right of the shot and the rest is looking along at the other graves and the person who has come to look at a grave. The man is looking away from the camera making the audience focus on the action of the other person. I did this to highlight the isolation and ignorance the man is feeling. This shot also anchors the film in the reality of the graveyard, which makes the audience think that nothing fantasy about the plot is going to happen; he’s just a drunk washed up man moaning about his life. The start of this scene is meant to add to his life story and the almost autobiographical feel the film has. There is also a small satirical joke when the man is talking about doing a Jackson Pollock at the age of 4. This is another piece of humour that this man has, that only people with knowledge of who Jackson Pollock is would find funny, adding another layer of depth to the man.
When the man is talking about graduating and getting married I wanted pictures to flash up of those events to give the viewers visual stimulation of what he was talking about. However we decided against because staging a wedding and a graduation was well beyond the limits of the film. However I did want to add to the humour of the character when he calls his sister Einstein. Again in the same vein as Fight Club I got a picture of Einstein and cut the split the scene, with the picture fitting in between. This was difficult technically as we had to record a sound bridge over the picture of just one phrase 'for a sister'. We had to get the timing right again and it proved difficult to get the voice coherent with the original. Despite the difficulty I believe we pulled this off with the help of the musical score and by adjusting the volume of his voice. It’s not perfect but it achieves the desired effect.
The scene then follows along the parallel lines with the second scene with a series of flashbacks referring to what his life ended up like. The flashback starts with an over shoulder shot of the married couple sitting on the sofa watching daytime TV. This flashback is signaled by the change in music. This music builds up throughout the flashback highlighting how his life dived into depravity. I used artificial light in the 'family scene' to make everything positive, this is to contrast the next flashback of him drunk and alone, in which the scene a dark. We used a small bedside lamp for the only light in the 'drunk alone shot' in contrast with the room lights and 3 other lamps being on in the living room shot. I also gave another parallel with the sound of the TVs, the first just day time TV mumbling along much like his life, then in the other the horror movie and the screaming symbolizing the idea that his life has been shattered. The music combined with the screaming of the film culminates at the end of this flashback showing how disastrous his life was. There is then a fade back to the present with the scene ending with a close up of him talking. These close ups were used to keep cohesion in the film.
I feel that this scene was on the whole successful, and the flash back scene was more finished then the one in scene two. I feel this was due to the contrast between the shots of him with his wife and the shots of him alone. This portrayed how the mans life had gone from light to dark. I think the weakness was the flash to Einstein, yet it shows attempts at learning and fitting new techniques into my film trying to add other dimensions. If I were making the film again I would have squeezed in a few more pictures flashes, to add more interesting shots and comedy into the film.
filming and editing of scene 2
This scene is cut into two parts opening with the man talking in the grave yard and then a series of flashback showing what he has done wrong. The scene opens with a mid shot of the man and he is centre of the shot. This gave a sort of formal beginning to the scene. There is a transition in this shot from the non-diajetic voice over to the man talking out loud showing his emotion to the audience. This is a feature I used throughout the film to engage the audience. The plotline is in the mans head whilst he interjects with diegetic interruptions of his thought highlighting the key points. There are two more shots after this and I played around with the compostioning of the shot, to add to the interest of the viewing otherwise the audience would be staring at the man straight on and get very bored. I used the Sam mid shot and just moved it the left and then to the right in the next shot. I feel this not only looks good but also helps the film flow.
The scene then moves to the flashbacks going over what the man did wrong. At first there were 5 or six different flashback in this scene, some with the man working in an office, then talking to his secretary and another of his family. He also did have a baby with his wife in the original script. The extra scenes had to be cut for timing, highlighting the difficulty to get across a dramatic plot based film into the conventions of a 5-minute short film. Also on the note of the couple having a family in the first script, that had to be cut because when it came to the final edit there wasn’t really a need or any relevance to having a baby in the script, and in the end was cut too make sure we didn’t procrastinate and complicate the already heavy plotline.
I thought we could show the issue of him having an affair very briefly in one shot, so decided to use a leg in stockings appearing in an almost clichéd way, allowing the audience to bring their own thoughts from other films into this film; basically we didn’t have time for an elaborate romance so left the pretty standard affair story up to the audience. This I feel are factor most short films had to contend with and often rely on comparisons with other mainstream films to fit them into certain genres and aid with the back ground to the story.
This scene had a circulatory structure, ending with the same shot that we opened the scene with. This time however the man is talking and sums up his thoughts on the whole affair; basically he'd do it again. This part of the plot was to give the man quite a difficult personality; I wanted this in the plot because I didn’t want people to feel totally sorry for him as at times he is arrogant and people can also draw certain moral issues with society if they so wish. His controversial character is supposed to divide your feelings so in the end you don’t know if you support him because he lost his way or think he deserved all that happened to him because of his actions.
filming and editing of scene 1
We stuck straight to the shooting script with the first scene as I feel it sets the whole mood of the film. We decided to give the film a very unassuming title of Isolation as this is very ambiguous and the film could have splattered off in any direction from this first scene. We also used the very basic font and placed it at the bottom hand of the title slide. We used white font on a black background to give the opening coherence with the fade to black transitions we used all the way through the film. This gives our film a certain mood, adding to the effect of calm and eeriness. The transitions not only give the film its personality but also give the film a certain smoothness and finesse to the editing, as I wanted this film to be to a great extent artistic as well as drama based; its dual purpose was to get across the story entertainingly and also to get across a good looking, flowing film.
For the opening music I used the band Massive Attack as most of their songs have mysterious and eerie tone. I also put in the sound of the graveyard, with the crows and wind over the top of the title slides because I wanted the sounds of the graveyard to be heard before you saw anything. The song also starts of low a quite. For the first couple of shots I used an establishing 180-degree pan of the graveyard to set the scene. This was followed by a fade to black transition and a close up shot of an interesting sculpture in the graveyard, just to give a detail and beauty to the film. All of the shot in the graveyard where shot in black and white giving the viewer a hint that something isn’t right, whereas the flashbacks and thoughts are in colour. This is one of the minor clues in the film, hinting that this man is actually dead. The black and white also gave the film this more artistic look and gave a good comparison between the flashbacks and the present.
After the shot of the statue there was a fade to black and then we have the first shot of the man sitting by his gravestone. It is medium/ slash long shot with the man to the right of the screen. This is to give the legs of the passer by in the shot the emphasis, using the composition to show the insignificance that the dead man is feeling. The song is quiet at this point with just eerie notes from a piano, but as the passer by exits the shot the bass kicks in highlighting the importance of him being ignored. There is then a fade to black with just the music the it cuts of and the shot changes to the first close up shot of the film. I then changed the song to another massive attack song 'Butterfly Caught' a very apt theme song name; this song has a 30 second quiet intro with no base and lots of tiny weird sounds. It was perfect for the backing track to most of the film.
As most of the talking in the film is done in the mans head and we are hearing his thoughts most of the film has a voice over. We found this difficult and thought at first as we could just record straight the computer, but had to the read the script out in perfect harmony with the acting. This also led to some scenes being cut, as we just didn’t feel they worked. Putting the sound bytes onto the film was far easier as we just had to plug the camera in and separate the sound from the clip (this resulted in many clips of same shot of a chair and jack talking). On the whole I believe that the voice over came out well after we had leveled the sound off and I think we achieved to a great extent the effect we wanted.
The first scene has two flash backs; one is very minor just the man walking down the streets alone and the other far more interesting with him about to kill someone. This first flashback was to show the audience how average the mans life was, he was just a normal guy. This shot is also meant to contrast with the other flash back, which is a thought he is speaking about in his head. The second flash back has two shots, one of the man holding a gun to the screen and one of him holding someone hostage. I got this idea from films such as Fight Club and Requiem For A Dream were the thoughts of the characters are shown in a violent and darkly humorous alternate world. This scene was to give the film a darkly comic side and also to liven it up, which I aided with the use of loud high-octane music and the faster cut to the shot.
For the whole film I wanted the audience to get into the mind of this man, as his autobiography is the plot line, so I wanted them to feel as he does and in doing so blind them to the twist at the end. They are supposed to realize the truth when he does; no soliloquies or skipping to the last page here. I reinforced this idea with the camera shots as well as the gaze of the man. His eyes are almost always looking at the camera in the first few scenes. He follows the cameras position in some shots, like the left high angled shot after the 2cd flashback or the camera follows his gaze in the shot with the cigarette. This was all done on purpose to create a link between the man and the audience.
The first scene end with the man saying he sits around doing nothing then he gazes of shot in thought, followed by the inevitable fade to black to round the scene off. I am very pleased with the first scene and it came off almost to how I envisaged it. The only negative part was the shot straight after the shooting flashbacks were Jacks face is just staring emotionless at the camera. I had a fear that it might make the audience lose interest so cut some of the length of the speech, and now the dead stare is only a short incident in the film.
filming
conclusions on target audience and implications on film
I feel that the film, if it were to be rated, would be a 15 due to some of the subject matter. I also believe that the film is targeted towards a more defined audience and not at the mainstream, as it doesn't really fit in with the big action movies and has a complicated plot. This is of course subject to genre and it being a short film, which mainly people associated with the media and films would watch. The film is also not a feel good film and has touchy issues that some mainstream viewers may not want to see. The viewers also need to be able to relate to the character to believe his story, so this leans the film towards an older audience as well, because the man is at least 25 and had a career. The film could also be seen to be targeted at males as the plotline follows a mans life, and some of the humour and flashbacks have echoes of films like fight club, adding a bit of action and humour into the film.
Choosing this target audience puts an empathsis on the filming and issues involved. The camera shots would have to be varied to keep interest in parts in the graveyard which are similiar. Also the issues the man is involved in have to be realistic and situations in life the adult target audience could find themselves in.
Music ideas
For the music we wanted to achieve a sound that confuses and disorientates the audience at times yet there also need to be times of calm. We will use music to symbolize the mans feelings and confused thoughts. We also will use music to give a contrast in the flashbacks.
For the main theme we want a weird song to create this confusion. I thought of looking for a band that fits into different genres, as this would hopefully create this mixed up feel. I decided to look at a mix of drum and bass and other music types. I used my ipod and the Internet to research artists. I came across a British Indian musician, composer and producer called Nit in Sawnhey. However when I tried to fit his music into the film it just did not fit. The songs I wanted had an Asian influence and it just sounded incoherent. So instead I looked into a similar vein of music and decided to use Massive Attack. They have very emotive songs that build, which is a key factor I wanted in my film.
Thursday 11 March 2010
Questionnaire – A2 media film
I am an A2 Media Student and made a short film for my coursework. I would appreciate it greatly if you could watch this 5 minute film and answer these simple questions, so I can evaluate the success of my film.
1) Give the film a rating out of 5________
2) What was your favorite part? __________________________________________________
3) Did the film flow?_________
4) If no why?__________________________________________
5) Was the plotline: obvious surprising boring
6) Did you understand the twist?______________
7) If YES was it: surprising predictable
8) Did the plotline keep you hooked?______________
9) If not, why?_________________________________________
10) Was the editing: smooth jolty
11) Would the film have benefited from more flashbacks?_______
12) Did the music add to the somber tone of the film?_______
13) Would you recommend it to others?________________
14) What could I do to improve my film?_____________________________________________
Thank you for your time.