Link to finished product

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEeWSb7_5xM

EVALUATION

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

“Run” is a short comedy film that also has the conventions of a silent movie. The whole of the film uses the forms and conventions of a silent movie, apart from the beginning and end where I challenge the silent film conventions as there is dialogue to start and end the film.

Comedy is a big part of our film so we used the basic forms and conventions of a typical comedy, in particular, slapstick comedy; slapstick works better in silent films due to no sound being produced, so jokes and sound effects wouldn’t work. This would include the character doing “stupid” and “silly” things that would never really happen in the everyday world, something extraordinary and out of this world to make the audience laugh along. The film had to be quick and energetic along with the acting in the film, this would make the film become a lot funnier, even though at the beginning of the film you think something is wrong with the leading character's Nana. Just like most comedies, the film seems serious, but funny and humorous things happen along the way to uplift the mood of the audience. Because the film was silent the actor had to use elaborate movements and over exaggerated facial expressions to add humour and comedy, which I feel worked very well throughout our film. When watching past silent films, all of the actors do this, and to get the same effect; a laugh from the audience.

If we hadn’t of stuck to the codes and conventions, the film wouldn’t have been as funny as it was, and the audience could have become bored and confused. The film seems like a real media product due to the different camera angles and editing, which makes the film quick and professional looking. Also due to the choice of actor, the film seems highly rated due to the pure talent of the actor and how he worked with the script. He also as an actor stuck to the forms and conventions, to create a performance that is very comedic.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Ancillary texts are equally as important as the film itself. These products draw the audience into the cinema to watch the film advertised and it gives the audience a first opinion on what they are about to see. The poster that we created had to match the film, so we wanted it to look quite serious but still funny at the same time. We created a poster layout on paper which we then created on Adobe Photoshop, once we had created this we needed to select a photo. We had a bunch of photos of Andrew so all we had to do was choose a few and add them, one by one, to the layout to see which one worked well.

The first one we chose was of Andrew pulling a humourous pose, we liked this photo, but it wasn’t the right one for the poster, as it didn't go with the title and tag line. We tried another photo and the pose that Andrew was doing worked really well with everything else on the poster. However there was a problem, he wasn’t wearing the tracksuit that he was wearing in the film, he was wearing a shirt. Another dilemma was if we would use the photo in Black and White or in colour. We decided that colour made the poster seem a little less serious, so we went with colour but we needed to add something else to add comedic effect. We took another photo of Andrew, this time with him wearing a tracksuit style top, and to add comedy we added a sweatband around his head on Adobe Photoshop. This made the poster looking comical yet serious, just like the film itself. Therefore the poster matches the film.

For the radio advert, we wanted to create a funny advert that people would laugh at whilst listening. It had to be a different type of comedy, as there is no visuals and only sound. So we decided to start the advert as if it was a cheesy thriller and then go into the details of our film. We decided to use Andrew again to do this, as his use of accents and voices is exceptional and he could change his voice quickly to another. We wrote out the script and then recorded it on GarageBand, it took one take to record and then we added some sound effects to make the advert seem professional and real.

All of the ancillary texts have to be a comedy so that the audience realise the film is a comedy before they go and see it. Some people don’t like this genre and if they think the film is a thriller or a drama from the adverts then when they buy a ticket to see it and it is comedy then a bad rating will be given.
So I feel that the combination of the final product and our ancillary products is effective, and if I was the audience I would go and see the film advertised on both the radio and through poster. 80% of the people asked said they would go and see the film after seeing the poster, so as a whole I feel that the poster does work well with the film. When we played the radio advert to a few people they all agreed that they would also go and see the short film, as the advert was "memorable" and "funny". The combination is strong and effective and all together work brilliant with the short film.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

(Above- Feedback from the Premier)

When we premiered our short film, we gave out a number of questionnaires so we could get some feedback on how our film was. The feedback we got back was better than expected, with all the people who filled in the questionnaire saying that they fully understood the storyline and that the film worked well.  From this result we were so proud of our film and we didn’t think most people would get the idea of the film due to the many scenes and scenarios. The rating of our film was a PG, so the film relates to everyone (with parental guidance) so we tried to get a range of people in the audience so that the feedback would be wide spread and fair.
One of the questions on the questionnaire was "If you could would you change anything and what would it be", 67% of people said they wouldn't change anything, however 33% said they would and the only thing they would change would be the stunt double, as they didn't think it was as realistic as it could be. If we were to film the footage again, we would take this on board, and from this we would probably get 100% of the people questioned saying that they wouldn't change anything. I feel that people wouldn't change anything due to us sticking to forms and conventions and doing something that, we as a group, do well.
From reading through our feedback, we realise that our short film works well and that people would go and see the film from what they see/hear when advertised. We also had a few people over the age of 51 within the audience, and they also said that they would go and see the film and that it worked really well. Because our film has been likened by people of all ages, I feel this is more of an achievement because for a film to be liked by all generations is a triumph and most films cannot reach this fantastic goal. If I was to premier the film again I would hand out questionnaires to more people to get a larger amount of feedback, from different ages, styles and media groups. This would give me and Hollie more knowledge into our final product.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the production of “Run!” we have used many media technologies to help complete the film to the full. The most important piece of equipment we used was the video camera and the use of a computer, without these we wouldn’t of been able to catch footage and use these files to then edit and create the final product. The cameras we used weren't top quality, professional cameras but they had a good specification and they were also HD. This would ensure that we got good quality footage that would be good enough to edit. We decided to do a silent film due to the fact that the microphones on these camera's didn't produce  great sound and because of this we didn't want our production to seem unprofessional, so we kept sound to a minimum. Whilst filming, we used two cameras so we could experiment with different angles this would make sure our film looked as professional as possible. The use of a computer also helped as this is what we used to edit our final film and also create our ancillary products too.

The internet and a computer played a big part in the production of the film too; we used the internet to research the specific genre that we chose (comedy) and how other people have created a successful short film. “We Media” was used to go onto YouTube and watch other student’s short films and get ideas of what camera angles work, when the equipment you have isn’t 100% professional. We also watched for different storylines and the ways in which people acted within Silent movies so that we could spread this knowledge to the people that acted in our film. We could also use this research to plan our filming and editing, as we could see how many clips go together and how they all need to be stitched together to make a free flowing and quick short film. Without the use of the internet we wouldn't have been able to have done the in-depth research that we did and the final product wouldn't have been as successful.
Overall the use of media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages has been crucial. Without any of the technologies, we wouldn't have a final product and the whole build up to the final product wouldn't have been as strong and successful.

Thursday 26th April 2012

Today was the day that we premiered the film, in the school auditorium. So we had to make sure the film was edited completely and the poster was also completed. We got the photo for the poster and we added it to the final template. We changed the photos brightness and contrast and cleared up his skin, we then added the sweatband and the poster was done...(see poster below)

After this we went through the film and added the final clips to finally complete the film. After completing this we created a questionnaire so that a number of the audience could complete this so we got the feedback we needed. We asked questions like: "Do you think the film worked well?"; "Do you think the poster would make you come and see the film"; "What was your favourite part of the film"; and more.

PREMIER TIME!!!

We had a good number of people that turned up to the showing of the film. We had the three trailers first that were created by the other students in my class and then our film was shown. All of the audience understood the storyline and we had lots of laughs, which is EXACTLY what you want in a comedy genre.

After the film was shown we collected the questionnaires and read them through. 

We also enjoyed the compliments! :)

Thursday 19th April 2012

(The reason there is such a gap from the last post was because I had an operation on the 21st March and we also broke up for the Easter Holidays on the 30th March till the 16th April)
Today me and Hollie focused on the Radio Advert, we had already wrote the script so all we had to do was record Andrew reading out the script. We went to the iMac suite in school, and we chose to use the software GarageBand due to me and Hollie being able to use this as we used it a lot in our Performing Arts course. First of all we recorded Andrew's voice, and with him being so good, it only took him one take and it was done. We then searched the GarageBand library to find sound effects that could go in the back ground to make it sound more cinematic and professional. The finished product sounded like this....

While Andrew was with us, we decided to film the scene that needed to be re-shot as it didn't flow enough in the original. So, we went to the front of school and drove about in Hollie's car to get the shots we needed.

Thursday 15th March 2012

In this lesson, we focused on our movie poster, and created a few drafts by adding different styles of photos, such as comedy and serious to see which worked the best. We had a photo of Andrew laying on a bench and pulling a stupid face. This had comedy, and instantly you could tell that the film would be a comedy, but it didn't match the title and caption, so we decided that we couldn't use this. (See the poster below)

So as we decided, we had to get another photo of Andrew to appear in the poster, we had a photo of Andrew that seemed serious, but as it was Andrew, it appeared funny at the same time; which is kind of what the film is about. We decided to go with Black and White again to add effect, but we also did it in colour to see which we preferred the most. Again we used the same layout as we thought this worked well... (see poster below)

Me and Hollie, felt this photo worked well. However, he is wearing his school lanyard and shirt, so there is no continuity from the film itself, so we would have to retake the photo. Also when Mrs Williams looked at the poster she liked the style of photo, but they layout wasn't good, the producers (etc.) needed to be really small at the bottom like you would see on a real movie poster. She also commented on why it was Black and White and that we should try the photo in colour. So with the photo (above) we did another draft, but in colour, we changed the layout and we added a sweatband to create a bit more humour, to produce a poster that we all agreed looked a lot better... (See poster below)

The poster was starting to get somewhere, and we feel like the template and the basic idea was good enough for the poster, as it was humourous but didn't give away any of the plot. All we had to do was get the new photo.

Thursday 8th March 2012

Today we focused on our poster, and wrote the script for our radio advert. We set a basic template on Adobe Photoshop, so when we got the final photo for this poster, we could just simply add it onto the template and it would save us a lot of time. We decided that, like most posters, the title of the film would have to be the biggest and boldest piece of text on the whole poster, followed by the slogan. We also needed to add who produced, directed, edited and filmed the whole of the film, this would be put in a small font near the bottom of the page.
After this we created the radio advert script, deciding that we wanted this to become a comedy just like the film. We would have Andrew (who starred in the film) to do the voice over due to his pure talent in accents and voices, we would start the advert with Andrew pretending he is in a horror and not a comedy, then it would suddenly change to the actual advert of "Run!". This would add comedy to the advert, and hopefully make people laugh when listening. This would be recorded on GarageBand.

Thursday 1st March 2012

In today's lesson we went outside to film the rest of our footage, however just as we was about to film the camera went dead (which shows bad planning) so we had to postpone this for another day. So when we got back in to school, we all watched each others trailers and commented on what we liked and what we didn't understand and gave them constructive criticism. Our film is completely different to the other people's portfolios in the class as everyone is doing a trailer either horror/thriller and we are doing a comedy. So to watch a different genre was interesting, and to give criticism helped us understand the codes and conventions.

Thursday 23rd February 2012

After looking at our short film, over and over again, we decided there was still come fixes to be made, and one of the scenes wasn't correct and didn't link together. Because of this me and Hollie planned to do another day when we would get the clips we needed. Because the weather wasn't great this day, we couldn't film so we would film the week after. So for today's lesson we decided to script our radio advert, that is also required for our Advanced Portfolio. As our film is a comedy, we decided that we would add a little bit of humour so people understood that the film would be this genre. Andrew, who starred in the film, will also do the voice over for this radio ad.

Thursday 9th February 2012

Because we had thought we had finished the editing process, we decided to let Mrs Williams have a look and see what she thought. The feedback she gave was really positive and we only had to change a few little things. We decided to change these straight away and get them out of the way, after this we decided to have a look at drafting our film poster, we decided we wanted the film poster to be as simple as possible, and not give too much away. This would then make the audience wonder what was going to happen, which a film poster should do.

Thursday 2nd February 2012

Within this lesson, we finished off the trimming process of editing. After this we added the "Mission Impossible Theme" to the rest of the clips, before doing this we had to mute a majority of the clips as our short film is mainly a silent film, using slapstick comedy. The theme tune wasn't long enough for the whole film so we had to copy and clip some of the theme to make it long enough for the whole of the film. We had to make sure it linked well and that the audience wouldn't know that it had been edited and that it flowed. After we had edited the sound we added credits to the film, again playing "Keep on Running" just to add effect.

Thursday 26th January 2012

Before today's lesson came, I had managed to download the music needed for the short film. I downloaded "Keep on Running" by the Spencer Davis Group and "Mission Impossible Theme Tune", to make sure we used these songs legally, I emailed the producers and recording labels to get the right to use them. However they did not reply to my emails. Because we had already started editing the short film, we could add the song "keep on running"  to the beginning, and over the top of the clips we could use text to show who was in the film and what the film was called, making the film look even more professional. We then continued to edit the clips which then made us close to finishing the trimming process.

Thursday 19th January 2012

Today was the first day that we started to edit our short film. The first thing we did was upload the chosen clips to my laptop and then upload them to Windows Movie Maker. When they had uploaded, we decided to put them all in order first before starting to trim each clip to the desired length, because then we knew where things should be and made it easier in the long run. After putting it in order we decided to start trimming and clipping the clips so that they fitted together and we got rid of the bits that weren't needed because it had nothing to do with the story line.

Thursday 5th January 2012

Today was our first lesson back after the Christmas Holidays, so as a class we all watched what we had managed to catch on camera over the holidays. This allowed Mrs Williams to check over the footage and make sure we had everything ready to start editing. As we had all our footage, we were ready to edit straight away. So we went through the footage on the cameras and wrote down which clips we wanted to use, this would make it easier when we uploaded the clips to the computer.

20th December 2011

To begin the day we made sure Andrew was in the correct attire so that the film would all link together. After this we traveled to Hatfield Woodhouse to film the Little Girl (Maisie Marsh) on the bike scene. We met up with Maisie and her mum and started filming. Before we filmed, we also got a costume photo just in case we had to film her again at a later stage...

We got shots from all sides of the street to make sure we had enough footage to play around with when it came to editing. After this we traveled to Branton to an Equestrian Centre to film the scenes where Andrew's stunt double (me) rides off on a horse and then falls off. We got plenty of shots and I had to fall off of the pony a few times just to make sure we had the correct shot and that it would link with Andrew's shot. After this we did the scene which comes after the horse scene, which is the scene where he gets in his friends car. For this I used my dog in my car to show that Andrew was getting attacked by a dog, and then we used Hollie's car to actually drive.

After we got all the shots we needed in Branton, we went to my house to film the final scenes of the film. Therefore making us complete our filming process.

19th December 2011

During the holidays we decided to get all our filming done. On this day we filmed the scenes with the Old Lady (Gill Kincell) using different angles and distances to get the best possible shot. Before we started filming we got the actors in their costumes, after this we took photos for continuity so that if we had to come back and film another day, we knew what they looked like and it wouldn't ruin our film...

After we filmed these shots, we traveled to Andrew's house to film the opening scenes of the film. The opening shot is the establishing shot, showing where the next shot will be, the shot is an Extreme Establishing Shot of Andrew's house, the next shot was the camera panning through his house, upstairs and to the toilet where the film starts. Whilst we pan through the house we are going to have the titles and actors names showing. After this we decided to wrap for the day and do the rest the day after.

Thursday 8th December 2011

In this lesson me and Hollie, created a filming plan, so we knew when and where we would be filming. Also it would include who we would be filming with and what props and costume we needed. This would make sure we wasn't going off task and that everything would be completed in time. Below is my filming plan....

Who is involved?

o   Andrew Hindson

o   Gill Kincell

o   Maisie Marsh

o   Penny the cat

o   Louis and Maisie the dogs

What’s their role?

o   Andrew- Main role, man on a mission

o   Gill- Old Lady

o   Maisie – Little girl on bike

o   Penny – the cat

o   Louis and Maisie – savage dogs

Where will filming take place?

o   Andrew’s house

o   Gatewood Grange Farm

o   Gill Kincell’s house and road

o   Tom’s house

o   Bus stop – cemetery road

When will you film? – MUST MAKE SURE ANDREW’S COAT IS MUCKY (if it is when falling off the horse) AFTER THE HORSE SCENE

19^th December 2011

·         Little girl on bike – bus stop

·         Old lady and cat scene

20^th December 2011

·         Inside Andrew’s house

·         Horse scene

·         Lane scene (cars) – breaking down facial expressions too

·         Bacon Sandwich scene

21^st December 2011

·         Anything else if needed

What other factors need to be considered?

·         Continuity

o   Clothing

o   Extras

o   Background movement

·         Props

o   Bike – girly and pink

o   Fat suit and short blonde wig – Andy look- a- like

o   Hollie’s car

o   Tom’s car

o   Stuffed toy cat (white)

o   Bacon Sandwich

o   Old Lady clothing – head scarf, walking stick etc.

o   Toilet sign

o   Bag of crisps

o   Doll to represent Maisie

Thursday 1st December 2011

Today, as a class we looked at grade criteria for our coursework, we did this so we knew what we would have to achieve whilst we were creating our portfolio. I am aiming for a high grade as I feel that the video will be a strong part of my portfolio, as I have some past knowledge on techniques and have worked on film sets. So I am looking at a Grade 5, to be able to reach this grade I must....

Thursday 24th November 2011

Today we mainly focused on different social backgrounds and how they are represented to an audience. In our little groups we were given a character that we had to annotate on how we thought they are represented in Camera Angles, Mise-en-scene, Sound and Editing. Me and Hollie had a "Gay Man" and when it comes to Mise-en-scene we spoke of how they wear very womanly clothes and how they spoke and walked. Other people said how they disagreed with our representations and said that they can see a clean shaven man who wears tight clothing and really looks after themselves. For sound we said that their voice would be very feminine and for non-diegetic artists such as Madonna and Lady Gaga would be played as these are gay icons. For camera shots you would see close ups of the person and the things they are wearing so you get an idea of the person's sexuality. From doing this we can use use the different sections in our own piece so that people know who our character is, where he is from and what he going to do.

Thursday 17th November 2011

Today me and Hollie, did our focus group, we got all of the class around a laptop and created a podcast using GarageBand. By doing this we could listen back to the research we found out so that we could bring in the ideas of the focus group people. The questions we asked were...

1. Our genre is comedy, would this be a genre that you would go and see?
2. Why does this appeal to you?
3. [SHOW THE STORY BOARD AND SCRIPT] So from what you can see, what do you think about our short film?
4. Our short film is mainly silent, do you think this makes it more comical?
5. Silent movies were popular in the early 20th century, do you think it is something that could be added to present day?
6. Do you think the tension built at the beginning of the film makes the rest of the film more comical?
7. What do you like best about our film?
8. If there is anything that you would change, what it be and why?
9. From what you can see would you come and see this film? Would you find it funny?
10. Thanks! You've been wonderful.

On top of this, we went over camera angles and movements again and also looked at mise-en-scene and how to use it effectively. In the second part of the lesson we looked at different media theorists and theories such as the two step flow theory, the hypodermic needle theory, the uses and gratifications theory and the reception theory. We looked at how each theory explores the ways in which people take in the media and how they interpret it.

Thursday 10th November 2011

In this lesson, Mrs Williams wanted us to do another presentation on an example of our genre. She gave us some tips on how to do a proper presentation, and how they can look professional. So taking this on board me and Hollie attempted to create a proper PowerPoint presentation. For the presentation we focused on silent films and Charlie Chaplin, one of the most iconic silent movie actors in the world. And we showed how it converted and subverted to our production.

This is our presentation...

Thursday 3rd November 2011

In this lesson, each group from the class presented a PowerPoint presentation on the genre that we had chosen to do. This was a task we had to complete for this lesson, we did this to show our understanding of the genre and how we can interpret the codes and conventions into our productions. Each group presented their presentations in front of the class and we gave them negative and positive feedback. A piece of feedback that most of us got was that we were adding too much information onto each slide and that we should add one or two words to a bullet point and then speak more with our voices, instead of reading.

This was our presentation....

Thursday 13th October 2012

Today we continued with our focus group research and made sure we had enough questions to ask, so that we would get enough evidence to make our production the best it could be. We also went over our storyboard and made any appropriate changes, so that the focus group would see clearly what was happening and there was no complications. I also took part in Katie and Alice's focus group which gave me some experience on how focus groups would work.

Thursday 6th October 2011

Today we continued to plan our focus group, we wanted to do a focus group so we could see what people thought of our production and to see if they had any other ideas to make the piece funnier and more effective. We thought up 10 questions that the group would be asked openly and they could answer with whatever they wanted. We chose to use qualitative data as you can get the true feelings and opinions of the people being asked, which is the opposite of quantitative data where you just get a simple answer.

Thursday 29th September 2011

In this lesson, we continued to draw up our storyboards, and made sure all our ideas and plans were wrote down on the piece of paper so we wouldn't forget anything whilst filming. After this we decided to create some simple questions that we would ask a focus group, to see how they would feel about our production and if they would watch it etc. Our storyboard would come into this focus group so they could all see a visual of how we wanted to present the final short film.

Thursday 22nd September 2011

Today we began to plan our storyboard for our short film, so when we started to film, we knew what shots to take and how long they should be for. We drew out a basic template and started drawing out the scenes, prior to this we created a script, as the short film is silent, the script just basically contained camera angles and motions, so when it came to creating the storyboard it was much simpler. We drew a simple drawing on how the camera angle would look and then underneath wrote what was happening in the shot. This is done for filming reasons. We tried to put in many different shots to show our understanding and knowledge, and also to create different feels, like Point of View (POV) shots, to show what the character is actually looking at.

Thursday 15th September 2011

In this lesson we continued on planning our trailers, such as planning out a storyline of what our trailers would look like and what we would want it to contain. As me and Hollie went through this, we realised that we didn't have a passion for the chosen subject and we were told to do something that we are good at and would find interesting. So as a result of this advice we chose to do a short film, that would be a comedy. We would make most of the film silent, to add suspension and drama. Our new production would be called "Run!"  and our slogan would be "One mans race against time". We thought that this was short and snappy and people would remember it easily. After this we went and revised previous short films that have been created by other students and also looked on youtube for any professional and amateur productions.

8th September 2011

The first decision in A2 media was to decide if we was going to work in a team or as an individual, and from this I decided to work with Hollie Smith. After this Mrs Williams showed us what types of portfolio we could do, there was Trailers, Short films and more. Me and Hollie decided to do a Horror trailer, as we thought that we could produce a pretty good outcome. We also had to produce a film poster and a front cover of a magazine to go along side the trailer itself. We then started to look at possible story lines, target audience, characters and any titles of the film, and together me and Hollie got a bunch of ideas together that we would test and then come up with a final outcome. We decided that it would be a 15+ as most horror films are this age range as more can be shown within the film, such as gore, blood and violence. The name we liked the most for our film was "The Lumberjack" and we would base the story about a mad axed murderer and we'd make sure we would follow the codes and conventions of a typical horror trailer.