My Short Film Review

: Final Short Film Review

 



Evaluation

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

 

I noticed when watching this short film that it uses lots of close up shots, especially of the man's face. I liked this idea as it creates a relationship between the character and the audience, and the audience gets to know what the character is feeling. I have used some close ups when showing the money. I did this to show that my main character doesn't have a lot of money, and I used it at the start to introduce what the character was like. The mid shots in my film I use to show the main character's every day life and her routine during the day.

 Memories:

  Also in my short film, I have used non-diagetic sound to introduce the film along with the title sequence. The music builds up suspense, as the film is light-hearted, but also has a fairly serious message. When looking at other short films, I found that a lot of them have background music to reflect the mood of the film. I didn't want to use too much sound in my film because I didn't think too much was needed. So for most of my film, there is just diagetic sound. The short film Strangers follows a similar convention of having minimal dialogue. This is an unusual convention but in this case, we are able to understand the characters just by watching what happens to them. This is something that I wanted to do in my own short film as I wanted to challenge the conventions. My film follows a narrative structure with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning being her every day life and how she struggles with everything, the middle buying the lottery ticket and spending lots of money, and the end being where she realise she has gone wrong and wants to go back to her previous life. I think that my short film supports forms and conventions of real media products by the use of camera,the non-diagetic sound, and the narrative structure and the ways the character is presented. It challenges these forms and conventions by not using lots of sound. The props used in the film are used to reflect the main character. The envelope with the rent money is meant to show just how much she is struggling in life. The shots of the small handfulls of money are meant to reinforce this and show that something in her life needs to change. Another key prop is the lottery ticket which is the thing that changes everything in the film.

The length of my short film is around 4 minutes long. This supports another convention of short films as most of them are no longer than 10 minutes, with some sometimes being more than that. My short film carries one simple idea throughout. Normal films often have multiple storylines going on, but short films normally don't as this would over-complicate them. I have gone with this idea and had one idea, with one main character to follow.

 

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

 

I think the nature of my ancillary products works well with the way my film works. I think the short film works with the poster as I have used a lottery ticket that has been ripped in half to reflect the two different lives shown in the film. I think that the audience will be able to understand the nature of the film from the poster and so it gives them a clue as to what my film is about. I decided on the name of my film when designing my poster. - "Reality Cheque". The colours used on my poster are a mixture. At the bottom of the background, it is plain white to show that the character's normal life is plain and nothing exciting happens. At the top of the background, it is a dark blue colour which is reflecting her new life to show that things are now happening but they take a turn for the worst. I have used brighter colours like pink, orange and purple to appeal to the audience of young teenage girls. Similarly, I have used these colours in my short film review. I think the review describes well how my film works. I have included a summary of the plot to introduce the film, and some opinions from people who have seen the film and what they liked about it. I have used what I have researched on other short film reviews in order to do this.

One image that is used throughout all 3 parts of the coursework, is the use of the lottery ticket. In the film it is used as the main turning point in the film, or the disequillibrium. As it is the most important feature, I have used an image of a lottery ticket on my review to show this. I have also used it on my poster but I have edited it so it is ripped in half, to give the audience a clue as to what could happen in the film. It encourages the audience to guess what might happen. This is the main concept which links all 3 products together.

 

 

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 

I found it useful to see what the feedback of the audience would be, as I had asked them about my ideas before I had made the products, and I wanted to see if their opinions had changed or stayed the same. During the early stages in audience feedback, I proposed 3 simple ideas where I got the audience to vote which one they liked best. The most popular choice was idea number 3 where I then went on to develop further ideas for it. I then asked the same people about my further ideas where I asked for people's opinions, and asked whether there were any points I could add or develop further. This was useful as audience is one of the most important factors in the making of the film, and so I needed to ask them the kind of thing they would want to see. As well as this, I conducted a questionnaire just to get a general idea of the kind of short films people would want to see. This was useful as it helped me to start constructing my original ideas.

I posted my short film on Twitter to see what people thought of it. A lot of people said they liked the idea behind it and that it was something they would probably want to watch. People said they liked the way the main character was presented and how they acted out the life of having no money and being on their own with their problems. Others said that they would liked to have seen more of the life of the main character winning the lottery to see just how much it had changed her as a person, and that they didn't think there was enough content. The main thing I learnt from posting the film on Twitter was that I should have included more content so that people could properly understand what was going on.

I also showed my short film to the same people I gave my ideas questionnaire to. Some people said the main thing that they liked about it was the actual story behind it. They also said that I should have included more so that they could follow the story easily without having to try and guess what was happening. They said they liked my use of camera work and that the variety of camera shots and angles worked well with what I was trying to show in my film. I also showed the same people my poster and review. Good points about my review were that I used a good range of colours that would appeal well to the audience. They also said I described the plot well and that the description I used fitted well. One thing they said I should improve was the way I presented it, that I should use a different layout because they didn't think the one I had used worked very well. They liked the design of my poster because of the 'split in the lottery ticket' idea. They also liked the idea behind my colour scheme. One thing they said would be better, would be to have some still images of the main character from the film in both the review and the poster.

 

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

Planning stage: I used Youtube in order to carry out research into music videos, trailers and short films. I did this so that I could see how other media products had been designed so that I could use these ideas for my own products. Youtube was useful to use as it helped me to find products to compare with each other, and to see the differences in genre and conventions of real media products. I used Google images to search for different designs of short film reviews and posters. This was a quick and easy way of finding what I needed to and I was able to write about what I had found. These sites made the planning stage much easier. While finding out what the audience thought of my ideas, I used Google Maps so that I could use pictures of my locations to support my explanations of my locations.

Construction stage: I used again Google images for pictures that I nearly included in my short film. This wasn't something that I used in the end while making my film as I already had some footage that I could use instead. I used Photoshop in order to make my poster. This was good as it didn't take very long for me to make, and there are lots of tools that can be used which are more advanced, and make what you are trying to do look more professional. I used Publisher to design my review. I found this quite straight forward as it's something that I've used lots in the past. To make my actual film, I used Final Cut Pro. We used this as it is a more advanced programme for making films or any other video.  I found this harder to use as I had never used it before. I was able to use the basics of it well to put my clips together, although I did need some help in order to use it properly.

Evaluation: For my evaluation, I used social networking sites like Twitter in order to gain audience feedback. I used Twitter because it has now become a lot more popular, and I didn't want to restrict who saw the film. This was a straight forward way of gaining feedback as it is something that I use on a daily basis.

 

My Short Film Poster

I designed my short film poster on Photoshop. For the background, I have used a plain white colour towards the bottom, and a murky, dark blue colour towards the top of the poster. I have done this to represent the two seperate lives of the main character. The white showing how her life was in the beginning of not having a lot of money and being on her own. The dark blue represents her life of winning the lottery, but then it all going wrong and her changing who she is as a person.
The main focus point of the poster is the lottery ticket which has been ripped in half. This represents the point in which she realises that things in her life are getting worse because of her winning the money, and when she decides that she wants to go back to how her life was before. I thought doing this was a good idea as it gives the audience an idea of what kind of genre the film is and whether what happens is good or bad.
I decided on the name 'Reality Cheque' for my film. The word cheque meaning the £1 million that Sarah has won and the word reality showing how she realised how much things have gone wrong and that she wants her 'real' life back.

 

 

I have used pink fonts for the title and the date as my target audience is for girls around the age of 14 and 15. I think that these brighter colours would appeal more to them instead of darker colours.

 

This is one of the idea's I came up with for my poster. I decided not to go with this idea as I thought that my final idea worked better along with my film.

 

 

I designed it to show the two seperate lives of my main character which contrast each other. In the first half she is alone and carrying a bag of shopping. In the second half she is being showered with money. I added the caption " Living 2 seperate lives" to give the audience an idea as to what the film is about. At the bottom is the date of which the film is released.

 

 : My final Short Film Poster

 



 

 



Characters In My Film

In my short film, there is one main character Sarah, her friend, and the homeless person.
Sarah is an 18 year old girl. She is a very quiet person and spends most of her time alone in her flat. She doesn't have many friends and tries to deal with problems on her own, even though sometimes it can be hard. She has a lot of money problems and finds it hard to keep up with her rent, and often can't afford to buy clothes or food, only some at a time.She decides that she's had enough and buys a lottery ticket; something that she wouldn't normally do. During the film she changes character and decides she doesn't want to be that person anymore. The money has changed her and how she see's her life. She ends up not really caring about other people and spends all her time thinking about what she's going to do with the money. She ends up falling out with the friends she does have and so realises that she wants to go back to her old self again.
Sarah's friends in the film are the one's who make her realise where she's gone wrong. They are always phoning her up and asking for money. They are only there for her and not her money.
Sarah also see's a homeless person and decides to give them money. Later on she receives a letter from them which also makes her realise what she's done wrong. The homeless person acts as the helper in the film, as they help her to decide what she really wants. Eventually, Sarah listens to what the homeless person and her friends have said, and goes back to how she was before.

  

 

http://www.thelondonfilmreview.com/short-films/short-film-review-the-guest/

This is a review of a short film called The Guest. While looking into short film reviews I've found that when describing the films, they use lots of words like "ambitious" "mystifying" "surreal" "thought-provoking". These are used to draw the audience into the film. These words are exaggerating what the film is like to make it sound appealing to the audience. Film reviews also include the names of the characters as well as a summary of the plot and why they like the film themselves. This review was found on a website that is especially for short films. This means that the people reading the review understand the concepts used in short films and the language used in the review is directed at them.

Short Film Poster Analysis

 : Waiting Room

The design of this poster is quite simple. It has the main character as the main focus point on the poster. He looks quite vulnerable and scared, maybe suggesting that he is the victim in the film. He is looking at the clock in the background. The clock and the title of the film "Waiting Room" suggests that the film could have a drama or thriller genre, and is about solving something or finding something and only having a short amount of time to do it. I think that the film is mainly aimed at young males probably around the age of 13-16. The main character looks like he could be a similar age. The font used for the title and the date is quite simple and it is white on a black background. The black makes it seem more threatening and it makes the title stand out so people will notice it. The poster also includes the names of the actors featuring in the film. This is something that is found on most film posters and it makes it look more professional. There is also a star rating from The Times, showing that the film has been seen and reviewed by others. It suggests that they want people to know how successful the film has been, for example, "Excellent". At the bottom of the poster are the company logo's used in the film. This is also something you would expect to see on film posters and it makes it look more professional. Posters tend to use enigma codes to try and encourage the audience to guess what might happen in a film. In this case, the code would be the clock and the title of the film. The audience will be left wondering who is waiting? What are they waiting for? What is going to happen to them? They give big clues as to what might happen.

I have looked at another example of a short film poster to see what kind of things people use to create their posters. This one is a simple design but it gets the message across to the audience of what the film is about and to appeal to the audience.

Short Film Poster Focus Group

I showed a group of 11-17 boys and girls 2 posters advertising short films. All the people who took part had knowledge of the media-related concepts. I asked them what they liked and didn't like about each one and asked them to come to a decision on which one they preferred.

 Poster 1:Terminated

For this poster, the girls liked the special effects that were used to create the background. They said that it looked very professional and like something they would expect to see for films. The boys liked the colours that were used and it made it look more scary and threatening. They liked how the crosword idea had been used for the film title. They also liked how the character was facing the otherway as it reflected the mood of the film. The thing that the girls didn't like so much was that they thought it appealed more to a male audience because of the colour and the main character being a male, and that they probably wouldn't go and watch it because they didn't find it very exciting.

  Poster 2: Beating Hearts

The girls said that this poster appealed more to them as there is a girl on the poster. They said they could relate more to a character if they were the same gender as them. The colour red they said they liked as it stood out to them and has connotations of love and friendship. The boys said that the poster didn't really appeal to them. They said that they preferred something with a bit of action and excitement and  that this poster didn't have that. They said that it looked like it was an emotional film and that it appealed more to girls.

In conclusion, the boys chose the Terminated and the girls chose the Beating Hearts poster, so there was a divided opinion among the group. This shows that people tend to vote for the one that appeals to their own gender,with the main character being the same gender as them. My own short film is targeted mainly for females so I will use colours such purple, pink and blue so it appeals to them more.

 

I have looked what people think of these 2 posters in order to get an idea of the kind of thing I should include in my own poster. I will use colours that appeal to my target audience and also a picture that represents what my film is about.