This is our Final Film
Friday, 22 April 2016
Official Film Poster
Our Official Film Poster
After getting audience feedback on the previous film poster (see blog post Film Teaser Poster) we decide that this poster would be best as a teaser poster and that we would change elements of Hayley's Individual Film Poster. Below is our official film poster.
Evaluation Question 4
Evaluation Question 4: How did you use new media
technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Working as a group, together we
realised the how thorough planning posed a great importance to our media
production. Websites such as YouTube and Vimeo contain a lot of content in
which we was able to view several videos and specifically other short-films
similar to our own intended project. Because of this we took the opportunity to
study these films that have been made by professionals, other students and
other filmmakers, as too assist us with our research into making our film as
good as possible.
Even during the planning of our
film, we would use various technologies to communicate with each other to make
sure we was all on the same page when we finally came together in person.
Constant communication was essential to organisation, using our mobile phones
and the applications on them such as Facebook, Blogger, and Messenger. These
being used at the start before our film idea had even been created, to
collaborate our ideas for the beginning of our film. Once we’d brought our
ideas together, we intended on using simple processing packages such as
Microsoft word as to create a brief storyline to work our script off of.
Other websites also came in handy
during our planning and research of our film. Sites such as BBFC was useful
when researching into film certifications and what certificate our film would
be most ideal for our film. IMDB was also another good website to research off
of, as this allowed us to view similar films in our intended genre, and what
synopsis of these films was compared to ours. Finding these sites was
obtainable by using the Google search engine.
Hardware to create the film had to
be the best as to create our film as good as possible. Using a Canon Legria
camcorder as to film all our scenes with, and to film some of our audience
feedback with. This technology made our filming experience very easy, allowing
use to add effects to our film before the editing stage (using the pull focus
to take away focus from one object to another).
A zoom recorder was also used to record sounds that we couldn’t quite
get using the ordinary camcorder, making sure the sounds were much clearer. The
zoom recorder was also used for our radio trailer as only sound was needed and
no video recordings. Scene photos were taken using an iPhone 6’s camera, as
this was as good a quality as we required.
One of the most important pieces of
hardware we used was the Fujitsu computer, as this is where we essentially put
together and made our film. The software available on the college computers is
what we used to edit our film. Adobe premiere was the key software application
where we edited all our film, created our radio trailer, and edited our video
questionnaire. Other than giving us the ability to simply piece different
scenes and clips together, it gave us access to many effects that allowed for
transfers over scenes, such as a fade in and fade out. Other useful effects
include slow motion, colour correction, other types of fading and cutting, and
the ability to add an opening title sequence and credit scene at the end of the
film. As well as video editing, it allowed for the editing of the diagetic
sound from within the scene, as well as non-diagetic sound added on-top of the
scene. While we used Adobe premiere, other movie editing software such as Final
Cut was readily available to us on other pc.
As well as video editing software,
we also used image editing software in creation of our film poster, film logo
and film title. Previously stated, majority of the pictures taken were taken
using an iPhone 6 and then imported onto the computer to be placed on Blogger,
or placed onto the Adobe Photoshop application. This was used to create the
film poster, the film title, and production logo. All our own images were used
on every image piece. Photoshop helping with any editing that we needed to do
to make it more accurately like movie poster, adding any effects where needed.
Using social media again was important
for gaining client feedback on all drafts of our film. Especially at the
overall completion of our film in which we created a Twitter account to
advertise our film to friends so they can give us feedback, and view our film.
Our film was uploaded onto YouTube, and this is the primary way of viewing our
film. It’s also viewable on our blog as well as the draft versions.
While the technology is greatly
effective in what we wished to accomplish, there was occasionally a delay due
to some issues we experienced. Battery length was a significant contributor,
having to record parts across several days as we was unable to record full
scenes in one day. As well as this, when proceeding to move the recording over
to the computer, it appeared to be missing which resulted in having to spend
more time re-creating the scene. This could’ve partly be done to human error
however, in not checking if our scenes were recording or accidently deleted.
This could’ve been stopped if we backed-up our work and saved it in another
place.
Evaluation Question 1
Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does the media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products
Continuity
was very important for our production, and the impacts on our production if it
had not been achieved successfully. After studying other films on various sites
as well as other students from previous year’s films, we realised that continuity
was an important concepts to place into our film.
An
example of continuity in our film is the scene where Harry sees Hayley from
atop a balcony, and then proceeds to go through a door, down some stairs and
through another door and down to talk to Hayley. The continuity is shown as
Harry’s action of going through the door is matched at the other side, then the
continuity is same while going down the stairs, keeping the continuity in the
scene. Some eliptical editing was used to cut out one part of
going down the staris, as well as missing out on set of doors, to continue the
pace of the film, and to reduce the drag.
Our film is delibarate in subverting
the conventions of a romantic comedy genre, as the central character doesunfortunately
doesn’t end with the girl that he fancies, and in a stereotypical romantic
comedy, it is a conventional theme for the main character to end up with the
girl at the end of the film, and live with a happy ending. Our film however is
clear in showing that the main character is in fact heartbroken at the fact
that he doesn’t end up with the girl, as the central plot to the film is that
he has been trying to get her, and that the girl actually ends up with his best
friend, creating a sense of betrayal. In turn subverting the conventions of the
romantic comedy genre as it contrasts the stereotype of the genre. However, our
film does uphold some of the conventions of the genre through the use of music, design and high key lighting used
throughout.The music in the film is lighthearted and gentle, reflecting the
unrelenting optimism of the main character (Harry), which is another common theme
amongst romantic comedies. Main colours used for the poster,title sequence and
the actual title are purple, white and pink which are colours generally
associated with the genre, as they connote things such as passion, love and
romanticism, as well as connoting that there will be no violence in the film
this advertises the film as very light hearted, and a low certificate rated
film.
The story line for our film can be
seen as fairly common, and similar to other films in the genre, having what would be known as a ‘love triangle’
between three people, where one of the three ends severely disappointed and
without the girl, however we have made this into our own adaptation by subverting
some of the codes of the genre so the the main storyline is focused on the
character who doesn’t get the girl, rather than the one that does, which is a
contrast to that of the general convention of the romantic comedy genre is. We
havent took this any idea from any film particular, but merely used a film
idea and changed it around to suit what we intended for our film.
I am sure our film develops uses
and gratifications, such as entertainment and complies with the entertainment
theory. According to Richard Dyers theory, the film gives a sense of tranparency
due to each of the characters feelings being understood by the audience towards
the end of the film, and the end scene in-particular.
Evaluation Question 4
Evaluation
Question 4
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
At group level, we realised how
important planning is to the production of a film. We used YouTube to post our
production and trailer, as it is a suitable and reliable platform to showcase
our film, along with Blogger. Other websites such as vimeo were used to gain
information about other short films, and to get inspiration for our own. These
websites gave us the opportunity to further our research into the genre, and to
get ideas for different camera shots, as these sites enabled us to watch other
peoples videos, both professional and amateur free of charge.
Social
media was key for our group planning stage, as we had a group chat on Facebook
messenger, which was important as I kept each group member connected and on
task. This being used before our initial storyline was written, and throughout
the whole planning, filming and editing stages, to bring together and
brainstorm our film ideas. Once our ideas were together, we used simple
software such as Microsoft word as to create a brief storyline before using
Celtex to write our script. Again, social media was paramount regarding
audience feedback on all drafts of our film. Once finished, a twitter account
for the media production was created to advertise our film to friends so they
can give us feedback, and view our film.
Other websites also came in handy
during our planning and research of our film. Sites such as BBFC was useful
when researching into film certifications and what certificate our film would
be most ideal for our film. To find similar films, and to help with research
into genre, we used the internet movie database (IMDB), and Google was used to
search for these.
To actually
produce our film, we used a Canon Legria camcorder as to film all our scenes
audience feedback with ease, and fore great ease in difficult shots, especially
when pulling focus which would have been harder to do in editing. A zoom
recorder was also used to record sounds that we couldn’t quite get using the ordinary camcorder, making sure
the sounds were much clearer. The zoom recorder was also used for our radio
trailer as only sound was needed and no video recordings. Scene photos were taken
using an iPhone 6, and the pictures of a good quality.
To edit the film we used a Fujitsu
computer .The software available on the college computers is what we used to
edit our film. Adobe premiere pro was our editing software which we used to
edit our film, radio trailer and feedback. It gave us access to many effects
that allowed for transfers over scenes, such as a fade in and fade out, as well
as simple editing. Other useful effects include slow motion, colour correction,
other types of fading and cutting, and the ability to add an opening title
sequence and credit scene at the end of the film. As well as video editing, it
allowed for the editing of the diegetic sound from within the scene, as well as
non-diegetic sound added on-top of the scene. While we used Adobe premiere,
other movie editing software such as Final Cut was readily available to us on a PC.
As well as video editing software,
we also used image editing software in creation of our film poster, film logo
and film title. Previously stated, majority of the pictures taken were taken
using an iPhone 6 and then imported onto the computer to be placed on Blogger,
or placed onto the Adobe Photoshop application. This was used to create the
film poster, the film title, and production logo. All our own images were used
on every image piece. Photoshop helping with any editing that we needed to do
to make it more accurately like movie poster, adding any effects where needed.
Our only problem regarding the
different technologies was battery life and losing work, which was easily
resolved with a spare battery and backing up files.
Evaluation Question 1
Evaluation
Question 1
In what ways does
the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products
An example of
continuity in our film is the scene where Harry sees Hayley and goes through a
door and down stairs to meet her. Continuity is shown as Harry’s action of
going through the door is matched at the other side, and down the stairs, keeping
the continuity of the scene, as shown in the screenshots from our film. This was edited using
elliptical editing as part of the stairs and another set of doors were cut out
to keep the pace of the film, preventing it from seeming slow and dragged out.
Our film delierately subverts the conventions of a romantic
comedy, as the central character does not end up with the girl he loves, and in
romantic comedy, it is conventional for the main character to end up with the
odds in his favour by the end of the film. Our film clearly shows that the main
character is heartbroken at the fact that he does not end up with the girl he
has been chasing throughout the film, and that he has been betrayed by his best
friend, as shown in the picture, therefore subverting the conventions of the
romantic comedy genre. Conversely, our film upholds the convetions of the genre
through use of music, design and high key lighting. The music throughout the
film is lighthearted and upbeat, reflecting the optimism of the main character,
which is common amongst romantic comedies. Also, the main colours used for the
poster and title sequence are pink, purple and white, which are common colours
used within the genre, as they represent things such as happiness and love,
also connoting that there will be no violence in the film, as advertises the
film as light hearted and family friendly. This is seen in other films such as
‘Love actually’, ‘10 things I hate about you’, and ‘Pretty Woman’. 
The
storyline for our film, Complicated Love, is rather common throughout the
genre, having ‘love triangle’ between
three people, where one of the three is inevitably dissapointed, however we
have made this our own by subverting the codes of the genre so the the main
focus is on the character that does not ‘get the girl’, rather than the one
that does, which is what the general convention of the romantic comedy genre
is. We have not stolen this idea from any particular film, although we have
used a cliché of the genre on which we based our production.
I
am confident that our film does give uses and gratifications, such as
entertainment. Complicated Love gives the audience a sense of transparency,
according to Richard Dyre’s theory of entertainment, as each character’s
feelings become clear, epecially within the closing scene when everything is
revealed.
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