First attempt at dps

I began to create my double page spread in the style I had drafted, however partway through the process I continued looking at existing magazines and have now decided to make the double page spread more conventional, using conva.com to get my format rather than making the style from scratch. This makes it look more professional and smoother, but does not divert away from the artiness of my film style.

Original attempt (incomplete):

 Second attempt:

Though I have not yet written the article or done the other page, I already prefer this style and format of my double page spread and so I plan to continue with it.

 

First draft of dps

I have made a first draft of the double page spread design to get my ideas down and to help me envisage what I want my double page spread to look like. Now I will recreate it as a final version.

Review pages from the films I was inspired by

As I was so inspired by certain films in the progress of creating my short film, I have continued to look at their review magazine pages so I can see how they are designed to fit the genre and type of film.


First of all I have looked at Amelie, as this was the film that inspired me most. I found a double page spread of a review for it on Google that I think is arty and suits the film and genre- I want to recreate that and apply features to my own review page.

My favourite features from this spread are how the stills are designed as 'snapshots' from the film; they give the potential audience an idea of the film before even reading the article due to the design of the spread.

Here I have made a mockup of the plan for my DPS, based around the Amelie spread. Now I am going to draft it properly.

Feedback from final cut of film

I asked a member of my target audience to watch the final cut of my film and give me feedback on it. The feedback is in note form so I will attach a photo:

Additionally, I have notes of feedback from other people:

VICKY: well put together

KATY:very different and unique

MRS FEARNLEY: I love it! Beautifully shot Charlotte, excellent composition and framing, a clear message, sound in its various forms adds to the film, transitions don't spoil it nor detract, and I really like the reversal at the end. If I was to critique one teeny thing it would be to have Harry appear with the change of tempo in the music around 2:17

SAM: very cute!!! i like it lots it made me happy and fuzzy

JASMINE: cute, i like how it links in with your everyday life, you were able to show clearly what you like and dislike, good camera skills- you can see clearly the development you have made through your video and the improvements

final poster

This is my final draft of my film poster. I have responded to the feedback I got on it and changed a few aspects from my original draft.

TITLE
The title "SONDER" is the biggest part of the poster, in the middle so it is the first thing the audience will see. Each letter is made up of a different character's face, which relates to the film as it is about individual people and I have chosen to show that in the title. There are no spoilers but it does give an indication as to what is included in the film and the iconography of it is shown in the most simple but effective layout- the film is about people, so the poster shows the people individually.

CAPTION
Beneath the title I have put the definition of "SONDER", as it comes up on the film. This gives the potential audience an idea of what to expect from the film without knowing exactly what is in it; they will know that my inspiration has come from the definition but they won't know how I adapted that into the film.

BACKGROUND
I chose to use a plain white background against the images and text to know they stand out and are what the audience needs to see first. The white is a bold but not loud contrast against the title and additional words and shows that the audience needs to look into the middle of the poster.

QUOTES
Looking at existing film posters, I noticed that a common trope in them is to have quotes somewhere on the page from film critics. I have used this technique along the top of the page; it shows the common rating and quotes from highly recognised critics without being the main focus of the poster.

FONT
I used a continuous font across my film and poster. The typewriter font is a big feature of my film for the annotations, so I continued that into the poster to show it was a conscious decision.

Final Film

After credits clips

I have looked at a past student's work on putting a surprise clip after the credits of a short film. In tabithalaya2media.blogspot.co.uk's short film, she has put a clip after her credits to complete it (and for her genre, to give the audience an idea of 'what comes next' in a sequel). I like the idea of having an after credits scene because it is a surprise to the audience that finishes it off neatly and brings them back to the film, rather than having them leave as soon as the credits come on.





This is Tabitha's end scene for after her credits. Watching this has made me want to do an after credits scene as I like the way it doesn't officially end the film for the audience but it gives it an official finish after the traditional ending.



I have filmed a final scene to play after my credits. Rather than follow the style of Tabitha's and play a clip to show a sequel, I am going to use a clip showing the 3 most frequent characters shown in my film and what their natural life is like. There is a canted angle from the camera being handheld to show the natural look to it and the sound is the same volume it was recorded at with no additional non-diagetic sound as it is just a playback from the theme of the film itself. It fits well after the credits because the non-diegetic background song has finished and it plays without edit.

Second cut of film

First cut of film

Target Audience's opinion on my poster drafts

To find out which of my posters is preferred by my target market and so would be the best to work on and use as my ancillary task, I asked 21 people from my target market which of the 3 choices they liked the most.

The first draft of my poster has shown to be the most popular. Now I will refine it and produce it properly as my ancillary task.

Poster Drafts

Here I have drafted 3 poster designs before I make the final version. I have been inspired by my moodboard and taken some ideas from it and combined them with my own ideas. I am going to do a survey on what my target audience thinks is the best and make a final version based on those results.

DRAFT 1

Here I edited the letters from the title to show the multiple people that play a part in the film. It has the effect I intended because it shows the meaning of the film in a basic but understandable form. The white background means it isn't too crowded and there are reviews and ratings at the bottom, as I have noticed in current film posters.

DRAFT 2

The background of this poster is filled with stills from the film showing the aspects of the cast's lives, as the intent of the film shows. There are 5 stars with quotes at the bottom to show its rating plus opinions from critics.

 

DRAFT 3

For the final try at making a poster I have just used a still from the intro of the film showing the title and cast. I had this idea because it shows a real still from the film as the audience would expect to see.

 

 

Now that I have made these drafts of my poster I am going to do a survey on what my target audience would prefer to see and then make my final version from the results.

 

 

 

Moodboard

I have looked through Google Images film posters that I love and think I would be able to use the ideas of for my own film poster. These are made up of indie and avant garde films.

 

 

 

My favourites of these are for "M", 500 Days of Summer, Howl, and Blue is the Warmest Colour. I am going to use some of these techniques to draft my own poster.

Researching film posters

As I have taken a lot of inspiration from avant-garde film Amelie, I have also looked at the film posters used for that film and others of its type. The leading actress,  Audrey Tautou, has been the star of films similar to her most famous Amelie. Following her films, I have noticed a pattern in posters of that type.

Four of her films feature just her as the centrepiece of the poster, with a blurred but colourful background. This shows that she is the main character in each film and draws the audience's focus to her. My favourite of these posters is "Priceless", as it shows Audrey as the protagonist but with others around her that gives clues as to the plot of the film.



Additionally, I have looked at posters that use frames from the film itself to make up the poster. I love this style as it shows the film without adding too many special effects in the poster like major photoshop. Using stills from the film show it naturally and give the audience and idea of what to expect from watching the film, without giving it away.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" is my favourite film poster, as it shows stills of many characters surrounding the centrepoint of the film. It shows no spoilers but the audience aren't left wondering what the film is.

Film Promotion- Ancillary planning

Promotion of film in industry (aka film distribution) is essential to the release and output from the film. It opens up the film to its audience and is done in a variety of ways including press releases, advertisements, merchandise, and interviews with directors and cast.

For my ancillary tasks I am going to produce a movie poster and a magazine film review. These are common and key parts of film promotion as it it released directly to audiences. Posters are shown everywhere when a film is distributed, like on bus stops or walls. I have to make sure my poster stands out against competitors and is a direct interest for my target audience. I will look at trending designs for current film posters to see what is popular and gets the attention of audiences, and draft my poster several times and ask my audience what they prefer so I am confident that it is what my audience prefers.

When I do my film review I will research popular film magazines and take inspiration from them on how to make it. I also have a lot of information already from my AS task, where I made a double page spread for a music magazine. Market research is important for this task as I have to ensure it will interest my readers and make them want to watch my film.

Lighting

In certain scenes of my film I have used lighting to highlight specific areas that I want the audience to see. Examples of this are in the scene where I (as Lottie) am sewing and writing.

For these scenes I used a lamp in a darker setting to light up the areas I wanted the audience specifically to see; mainly where my hands would go. Shadow also illuminates these areas and draws attention to my hands.

I also used natural lighting in a lot of scenes. This is because my film is designed to show natural life, so having natural lighting highlights the fact that my film is designed to look 'real' and not too staged. When filming with natural lighting I made sure to do it in a position and time of day so that it wouldn't be too dark or bright and ruin the effect of the scene.

Likes and dislikes

Here I have made a chart of the likes and dislikes of each character in my film. I have done an uneven amount for each person as no one shares the same and people have different amounts, plus if I were to do the same amount for everyone the film would be either too long, too short, or it would drag on and be boring for the audience.

ASH	LOTTIE	GRANDAD	HARRY	CHRISTEL
Puppies	Yellow flowers	Family	Blue	Talking to friends
Rain	Sewing	Waving goodbye	chess
baking	writing			feet
art			Schoolwork	peas
	The ends of sausages
	Cleaning
	The dark

Editing Progress

All of my filming is complete and organised into the correct order. Now I have begun to add in my annotations alongside each clip, which is quite detailed and takes up a lot of time. Here is a screenshot of some of the annotations I have been doing:

Since completing my filming I have realised that editing takes a very long time to do and is the most important aspect of the aesthetics of my film; I have to concentrate on making sure the detail of it matches my idea and genre and planning so far.

My editing follows the pattern of the Formalist/Structuralist film theory.The audience needs to be able to read my text easily and they have to be able to understand it through my use of film language, which is important to consider in my editing process.

Recce of filming locations

These are stills from my film of areas that I have filmed in. I have filmed in a variety of places as my film revolves around multiple people that will be doing different things at different times and places.

Field

School

Home- bedroom

Camerawork

Camerawork is my favourite aspect of filmmaking. There are many shots I have had a chance to use during the production of my film that give different effects to everything. Examples of shots I have used are:

- Close up

- Mid-shot

- Extreme wide shot

- Medium close-up

- Extreme close up

- Point of View shot

- Weather shot

Extreme close up

Mid-shot

Long Shot

Very long shot/Weather shot

Extreme long shot

Medium close-up

Extreme close-up

Point of View shot

Close up

All of these examples of camera shots that I have used in my film have been vital to the quality of it. As it is avant-garde I have paid a lot of attention to detail and the effect of each shot for the audience to enjoy it; for example, I have used extreme close ups on the eye of my protagonist for a direct address to the audience and detail, which catches the audience's attention. I have used weather shots to show the passage of time as it is based around ordinary life. Point of view shots enable the audience the experience the film as if it were them in it; this is really good for my film idea as it is made for the audience to be able to relate to it.

Looking at how my camerawork affects the film has helped me to direct it a lot better as I know what the audience will want to see.

Annotation

As my short film is avant garde it has qualities that are not commonly seen in films of other genres. When I did textual analysis on short films with a circular narrative, I noticed that one of the films I analysed used a lot of annotation to give the audience extra detail and interest, especially if the clip could have been boring. I think annotation will be really useful to my film as the audience will need additional things to look at aside from the many 5-second clips to give story and some interest, plus detail and context.

I used Final Cut Pro to practice using annotation on a clip. This was really successful as there were many effects I could choose from to annotate the clip and I could personalise it easily. This is definitely a technique I will carry forward into the editing of my short film.

Adding sound to my film

I decided to use Florence & The Machine's 'Dog Days are Over' as background music to my film. I added it using Final Cut Pro:

As you can see I have imported the music I downloaded and dragged it below my film. I tested it out and found it fits the film really well and was easy to apply to it. Additionally I have added a typewriter sound effect from Final Cut Pro's own sound effects to cover the text appearing on screen. This additional sound effect has given variation to my film as otherwise it could be quite boring to not hear any realistic sound effects.

I also kept the original sounds from each clip, but changed the volume on them so they didn't clash with the music or annoy the audience. The reason I kept the sounds was to make the film appear more natural (and also not like a music video). As my film is based around natural life I didn't want to divert it form that by messing around with the sound too much, plus I think it adds enjoyment to the film as viewers can relate to everything still.

Audience Feedback on first cut

Since posting my first cut of my film I have received audience feedback from two members of my target audience on what parts they like and what parts I could improve on before I make my final cut. I made a short questionnaire to get this data:

From this I have been assured that I need to add either annotation, narration, or both to make my film more interesting beside the clips shown. After researching into Amelie I know what style of narration I would use, and from my textual analysis on a short film I have seen how to make narration fit films suitably. Now I can continue making my film by practicing annotation.

First Edit of film

This is the first edit of my short film. So far I have added and organised the majority of my clips, added background music, and begun to add in the other characters' parts. I still need to do my annotations and narrations before it can look like a short film, but I'm very happy with how it has turned out so far. 

I have used a lot of camerawork techniques in filming as I know that attention to detail when filming is crucial due to the type of film it is. I have overhead shots, midshots,  rolling shots, close ups, and slow motion. This detail makes the film more interesting and flows together a lot smoother as it isn't just a bunch of clips put together, it is organised and filmed in an artistic style.

I tested out a lot of different background songs before deciding that this fitted best, especially with the concert scenes linking in as it was a Florence and The Machine concert.

These were my two favourite tracks for the background as both flow smoothly beside the film, however I decided The Dog Days Are Over was best as it has more of a beat to it and is more interesting.

I am yet to sort out the sounds of the clips against the music as I know some of the clips are too loud. However I am still very pleased with the outcome of this first edit and I know what I need to do to progress further with it.

Location Recce

These are the main locations that I have used for filming. As it is predominantly about ordinary life and the normal things each of us do on a day-to-day basis, I made sure that all of my locations were ones I visit regularly in my own life, to provide the best possible look as it was very personal to me already.

         

WOODS: I walk my dog regularly in the woods and with the change of the seasons I thought it would be perfect to film there in the natural surroundings.

     

SCHOOL: As I (and the majority of my cast) go to school every day I chose it to be the perfect setting for a lot of my filming.

Florence and the machine concert

Call Sheet

LGBT Representation in the media

I have chosen to represent a minority in my film. This is because it is about ordinary life, so while I haven't made it the main focus of the film, I am showing that LGBT+ couples exist in ordinary life. This is important and reveals the personal aspect of the film and it relatable for many people in my audience, as LGBT representation is so often overlooked in the film industry and I wanted to show that it exists without making it the whole focus of the film. Additionally, members of my cast are from the LGBT+ community but are not main parts in the film, meaning I have a diverse cast and have included people of all minorities.

The LGBT community are always trying to combat stereotypes in the media, so by avoiding commenting on the fact the main couple are LGBT it removes possible stereotypes and just shows it as a facet of that person.

An example of a famous icon being LGBT in the media is Ellen DeGeneres. While she does a lot for the promotion of safe spaces for LGBT people in the media, she doesn't make it the main focus of her TV show which has inspired me a lot for the casual representation.

Specific Target Audience

Now that I have considered my general wide audience for my film, I need to narrow it down to something more specific. To do this I am going to look at age, gender, psychographics (aspirations), ethnicity, and class (socioeconomic group).

Storyboard

This is my storyboard for my short film. I decided to draw it by hand to get my ideas across easily and how I wanted them to look. This is a very basic outline of my film as it is not easy to get the 5-second clips idea across on paper, which is where the annotations came in useful.

Institutions

The majority of media texts produced are created for organisations and profit. The increase in popularity of use of the internet has enabled users of 'We Media' (YouTube etc.) to create and disseminate their own media texts that they have made- this is known as 'user generated content'. Not many outlets exist for short films so many are created for the purpose of entering short film competitions, which helps them to gain popularity and viewers that they would not ordinarily gain just from releasing them on YouTube.

Ideology

Ideology from charlotte_media

Uses and Gratifications

When watching a film (feature or short), audiences expect to get something out of it that is memorable and they can take away with them; this is called GRATIFICATION. Some examples of gratification that audiences can get out of a film are:

1. Information that people want to gain from the film about the world/society.

2. Models to look up to and find a personal identity from

3. To find out more about the circumstances of other people through integration and social interaction

4. For entertainment, enjoyment, and relaxation.

Most people have scopophilia, meaning they love to look into other people's lives and they can't help but find out more. An example of this is walking past houses and not being able to help but stare into someone's windows. Scopophilia in people is a major part of my film for my target audience; as it is about having an insight into multiple people's lives and their casual and extraordinary interests, this feeds audience's need for finding out more. This gives them many uses and gratifications for my film as it applies directly to a very common need within an audience.

Testing Narration

Here I have experimented with using narration in the style of Jean-Pierre Jeunet for Amelie. I think this worked really well as the full sentences in list form gave the audience something whole to listen to and apply to the clip playing, but is still unconventional enough to follow my genre. This is definitely a technique I plan to carry into my short film as it will be applied perfectly to suit the editing of my film and how the characters are introduced and portrayed.

Narration- Amelie

I am considering using simple narration over the top of some of the clips in my short film. However, there are many ways to do narration, and I need to make it interesting and follow the 1-5 second long clips that will play with it.

I recently watched the film "Amelie", which at the beginning of the film narrates over the scene describing the characters. However, it is not narrated in the traditional and obvious way by telling the audience a kind of prologue to catch them up to where the story begins; instead it describes each character in simple adjectives and a couple of their unconventional likes and dislikes.

I did some research via search engine to find the script from Amelie to see examples of this form of narrating over a film, so this image is from the Amelie script that I found on http://www.scribd.com/doc/249087771/Amelie-Screenplay#scribd. It shows the narrator describing Raphael's likes and dislikes. I love this form of narration as it is unusual yet simple and I think the technique would fit well over my film as I could correspond each part of the narration to the clip playing. 

Here is a clip I found on YouTube displaying Amelie's likes:

At the beginning of the clip it describes Amelie's favourite things to do in basic narration with a corresponding clip. I love this form of editing as it shows basic skills but looks stunning on screen. If I were to use this editing technique in my own film it would fit really well with the rest of my one-second clips going into more detail about the characters' lives away from their favourite/least favourite things, but makes a point about those too to have plot.

Amelie is an avant garde film that inspires me a lot for my own film; I love the various techniques used and would love to take the inspiration forward into my own work.