Evaluation Question 3

Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I asked some of my peers, teachers and target audiences, these questions about my film;
- How did you enjoy the film?
- What message did you receive from the film?
- What would you change about the film?
- What was good about the film?

Overall, they all enjoyed my film, complimenting on the plot line, the acting and the setting, but they did have mixed views about the message. Some had it tight by saying what goes around comes around, but other felt that the message was just about why people bully. They also had varied idea about what to change about our film. Some felt that the scenes needed to be longer, some felt that the ending needed to be changed, and some felt the dialogue needed to be changed. Many felt that the story line was good as it hasn't been shown on that angle before, and some complimented that the whole piece felt really real in the setting, clothing and people.

I also asked them similar questions including the following about my postcard;
- How well is my postcard presented?
- What do you understand about my postcard?
- What would you change about my postcard?
- What was good about my postcard?

All the people I asked felt that my postcard was well presented, and those who knew about the conventions of a postcard felt that mine shadowed this well, with a good few twists on it. They liked my postcard and felt that it reflected the genre and storyline well, and praised my editing skills within this. They also liked how I had continued the theme of purple throughout the front and back of my postcard. They understood the message of the postcard, and knew that it would have something to do with the alley way, and the colours and edits on the postcard showed this well. However some said that it was a bit plain, and would like to have seen a person in the image, and some said that they thought the birds in the sky were a bit pointless.


Finally I asked them questions about my review;
- How well written and presented was my review?
- What do you understand about how I felt in my review?
- What would you change about my review?
- What was good about my review?

From the feedback that I received, I can see that this was my weakest subject matter. Many said that the layout page was well presented, and followed the conventions of a film review, but the content was not any better. They felt that my opinions kept changing and felt that I was 'wishy-washy' in some areas of the review. They would change quite a bit of my review, but only the words, as they were the weakest point. But visually it was well done, and liked how I had copied well the designs of a normal sight and sound article.

From these questions I feel that overall I have produced some very well pieces of work, and think I have been able to do what I planned to do in the first place, other than the review, which I felt is my weaker  but I knew this in advance, as I know I am not great at writing reviews, and could tell this when writing my review.

Here are some reviews on videa from my peers and a teacher;







From the feedback we received, I learned that it was harder to get across what I wanted, as others perceive some aspects different to others. I found this evident with the review back from Jan Wright. I can see what she means, and I should have covered every aspect of each scene to check that everyday would have understood this.

This feedback was from the final pieces I had, and therefore could not change anything, but along the way, I was constantly asking other's opinions to make sure I as heading down the right track, and made changes where necessary. For example, I had much change on my postcard, as my original idea didn't fit with the theme and the edits I had made on photo shop didn't match with the film.

I think, if I was to redo this project, I would change the storyline within our short film, as I felt that there could have been a bigger impact on the story if there was some changes, and would have put another scene at the end to show her in the future. This would have also made the film longer, and more like a short film that has an actual ending.

If I had the choice I would have had different group members, but this was a decision not up to me, and was unavoidable, and unchangeable.

I would have also maybe changed the costume of the main character, as looking back, it doesn't seem like she has a bad background form the clothes she is wearing. But other than these few minor elements, I wouldn't have changed all that much.
This image shows how we used Photoshop in our projects, in many ways; for our postcard, for our film review and used this programme to insert images so it will be able to go onto our blogger.

Here on youtube we were able to upload our films and other bits and pieces. This is useful as people from all over the world can acess this and we can upload our videos on our blogger.

Through the use of Google we have been able to research manny aspects around our filming and conventions and job roles etc, and this has helped us as it gives us another angle on what to do and how aspects in filming are.

 With the aid of an edit suite we were able to create and piece together our film, put them into the correct sequence and to add titles to the film. This is helpfull to us as we can make our film look as proffessional as we could. This also gave us the chance to improve the level of sound in our film that may have been lost or damaged when filming and were ableto put music over the top of our film to create a mood.

Evaluation Question 4

Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
New media has played a major role while making our short film. While constructing our film in the beginning, we used many medias to create them, mainly including the computer. Using Microsoft word and Microsoft excel with the pre production. Before creating our film though, we also used some technology that we needed to use in the film to practice and make sure that we knew how to use the equipment well. Through the Internet and first hand experience we were able to achieve this.

There was also the use of the Internet to help us with the research in order to find much knowledge and help around certain areas while preparing for our film. We also was able to watch a number of short films to gain the understanding first hand about the conventions of short films. Through the use of YouTube as well, we were about to watch a variety of other short films from all over the world to then further our understanding and knowledge of conventions of a short film.

With our evaluation, media has become very use full. Through the use of YouTube we were able to upload our short films, along with other documentations and gain feedback from those who watched our short film. This then enables other people from all ages and from around the world to watch our film. This is an essential piece of media for the short film industry, as they will be able to upload their film and show off their skills to the whole world; otherwise they would have to make their film good enough to be accepted to be in a short film prize show, and even if they are good enough, they may not get accepted or recognised. By the Internet, everyone gets a fair chance to show off their work.

We are also also able to upload these websites and videos onto our Blogger and add links to other sights as well, and this is will help widen out our understanding and help those who look into our blogs.

There is another factor that we used to help with our production, and that was Photo shop. This was used to mainly help create our postcards. This was helpful as we were able to use our imagination, and have the ability to have a wider range of tools to make a better postcard.



If there was none of the technology available today, then we would have to make the film with old fashioned cameras instead of the newer hand held cameras. As with the photoshopping aspect of it all, we would not have the option to change the images we would have wanted on the postcard, and would have had to use a single image from the film. We would then have to multi-print the images on an old printing press to how much we would need. But this would have been very time consuming and would cost much more money.

We would not have the use of the Internet either and this would mean that it would be harder to advertise our short film to a wider range of people, as you can let people from all over the world see your film if it uploaded onto the Internet. Thus we would have to have shown our short films at festivals or on a cinema screen to show people.

We would also not have the edit suites, so we would have to make each shot count, as well as the acting. We would need minimal mistakes and would have to create the images in the dark room. This would also be very time consuming, and would not be able to make edits to the film or be able to add titles in the film.

Post 20: Final Products

Final Video



Unfortunatly during the export of our video the compression has made the sound out of synch with the images and YouTube has decided to screen the film in 4:3 when it was shot 16:9 as per film industry conventions.

Finished Postcard

Front

Back

Film Review

Here is my finished film review and I did this on Photoshop. As the writing is too small, here is my review in writing.

The first word that I thought of when I saw the title of this short film was ‘predictable’. The name ‘Karma’ was clear that the message would be along the lines of what goes around comes around, and was curious as to how they would be able to not show this in armature way. But after studying the four and a half minute short film, directed by the fresh upcoming director Emily Downer, it was clear to me that her complex innovative spin on the simple form of bullying was a new light that shone on me. But was this purely a one off chance or is this actually the formation of a great director in the making?

Parading around the school like she’s the queen, Lucieanne is the school bully. But when she is faced up to her demons down the torturous alley, she isn’t the big guy then. Looking into her home life is an indication as to why she may behave this way around school.

 However, this normally delicate subject that is clearly evident in every childhood school, now and way back, was attacked right on the head in this short film. The great set design, the average acting skills of newly starting Bryony Seletes and the fine narrative along with the social realism aspect of the overall feel of the film jumped out when you watched the film. I felt however this could have been improved a little in these areas.

It was unusual to see how the director used the alley way as the main subject when in the film. As the main character walks up the hill it is clear that she is terrified about that hill, and the way the music was ingeniously placed over the visual images was nothing short of genius. Although the audience could not see what was happening, this made it obvious to the audience that there was something bothering her.

After watching the main character’s (Lucieanne) behaviour, it is obvious that she is a troubled girl. Twisting plot lines was evident in this short film; you get a glimpse of the home life of a person that is a cruel bully, which is rare to get caught on camera in such an emotional effective way. But why don’t you get to see what happens to her in the end? Is this a lack of effort and care on the director’s part? Is this simply a cliff-hanger that makes you want to watch more? Or is this an actual mistake? That I don’t know, but this aspect was a shock to me.

Although I felt that there was much to praise about this film, there was a few aspects that I just cannot get off my mind. While it was nice to find a female playing the main role of a bully which is uncommon, the fact that the message I gained from this short film was entirely negative. I felt that by showing how her home life was, it was a way of making an excuse for her behaviour, and this is not right.

I felt overall that this was a technically good short film, but that was all it was, good. I do recommend this short film, as it was a miscellaneous style film through the content, the acting and the dialogue. But this film was the type of short film you will love it while you watch it, and after a week or two will forget it.

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Within our film 'Karma' we have stuck to many conventions from real media texts. For example, we used a real life setting that everyone can relate to; a school as well as using the main body of a subject in which everybody can relate to, weather or not this was from the victim's point of view or the bully itself.

We found that filming on a location that was familiar to the audience helped us follow conventions of a short film in that the audience needs to be able to recognise or relate to the surroundings quicker as there is less time. In this way, we followed the conventions but in areas such as the main character however, challenged the conventions. As the main character was played by a woman, and she was a bully, this is uncommon as in most films or even television programmes, the bully is seen as a male.

I think within the film, we developed the aspect of the relationship between Lucienne and her father had. I have not seen other short films that target this angle of her home life. With a wider understanding of the background behind why she is bullying is seen by the audience, this deepens the ideas about why some people may bully in school.

Also I feel that we have challenged the conventions, as there was no happy ending, unlike most short films. With our short film, our ending was more of a cliffhanger.


Here are 15 frames from our film that illustrate these above points;

Within this scene, although for a short time is not seen, you can hear what is going on in the house, and the audience begin to understand the extent that her and her father do not get along. This also challenges the aspect of the life around the bully that does not get shown very offen in films. Also, the idea about acknowledging the reasons behind the bullying is evident and this then develops the character, as the audience gain a better understanding about the main character and their private home lives that not many people see, and by addressing this aspect, develops and challenges the conventions.

These above images are proof that we have kept to the conventions of a short film, by having slides that give the audience information about the Producers, who helped make the film and the title of the film. This is needed so that the audience have an understanding of who made the film and exactly what film they are watching. The colours of a black background and white writing makes the information stand out and the darkness of the colours reflect the feel of the film. These are also typical colours for this aspect of the film.

Here is an establishing shot of the main character. This is needed as the audience can then understand the character, and through the dialogue in the previous few seconds, can understand a little bit about her. I think that the way we have shown her challenges the development of the character, as the usual convention does not involve first introducing the character by voice over.  Also, by using a female actor as a bully, this also furthers the challenging of conventions, as this is not common to see a female in the role of a bully in a film.  

 

From this screen grab, we have followed the conventions of a thriller, as she is worried about something behind her, when there is nothing there. This is also seen through out the film in various places.

In these scenes where the main character is bullying others, her 'friends' behind her slowly don't agree with what she is doing, and shows to the audience that this behaviour is frowned upon, and even her friends are starting to see that what she is doing is wrong, until they finally leave her, and walk straight past her at the end of the film. This shows another side to bullying, and reinforces the idea of social realism within my film, but then challenges the idea around the relationships with those of a bully and how they react around her.

 

With this scene where the main character is getting told off, this follows conventions of a short film narrative, as the audience would expect her to get into trouble as this is a social realism film.

Towards the end of the film, it becomes evident that the main character is quite alone. This scene where she walks all alone shows the audience how alone she is and that her friends have ditched her and challenges the usual conventions in a social realism film.

Finally, here are the credits which are conventional to a short film. They inform the audience on a larger scale who was involved with the film, who was in the film and also where the music was from. As this is only a short film, the credits are more important to the viewer as this is a way of showing talent to others around the world, and this information can advertise a certain aspect of the film to others watching.

Here is my finished postcard;

I think there are many aspects of my postcard that follow conventions as well as challenging them. Some of the main ways that I have kept the conventions the same include the use of a title, a tag line, a logo, a picture that reflects the film and the layout. The factors that do not follow conventions include the fact that I have manipulated the image through Photo shop. Here I enhanced the colours and made them sepia toned to add a feel for the film. This then showed the audience that the film had a slight horror feel to it, around this particular scene. Not only this, but I was able to add in some birds in the background. I felt that this fitted with the scene and the edits I had made. This also went against the normal conventions of a postcard.   

• Task 3: Insert an image of your final magazine film review page and annotate again illustrating your above thoughts.