I have researched some general short film reviews to get an idea of how they are set out and what's included in them.
This is a review of the film Due Date.
This review includes an explanation of how the star ratings work, details about the cast and other people involved, the title of the film and certificate, information about other reviews and other films. Also an advert for a magazine subscription, a picture from the film, a short summary of the plot and the review itself. The review refers to the actors/characters, their opinion on what parts of the film they like and sometimes what they don't like. They do this by describing the characters and some of the action in the film, and they also compare it to other films they have seen. I have noticed that film reviews are often found on film websites, and that films that are reviewed are being recommended for an audience that are likely to watch it, or that they have watched similar films. Reviews are kept simple as they shouldn't give too much away about a film, as they need to keep the audience guessing throughout, so that they will actually go and watch it.
I want my short film review to be of a similar layout to this. There isn't too much writing but I would probably include more pictures to make it look more interesting.
Film reviews will normally be found in lots of magazines, the genre of film reviews will depend on the type of magazine it is. They can be found on TV programmes, newspapers, or websites such as IMDB and on Youtube. My short film will be designed to go on a double page/page and a half of a magazine especially for short films. It will target the general audience who are interested in short films.
I want my short film review to include pictures used from my film to show the different camera shots and movements. I will use them as a story board to show the progression of my short film. I also want to include "ratings" from different people and a comment so that people can see what other people think of the film. I will need to outline the storyline as this is something that you would normally find on a review, but I wouldn't go into too much detail as it may put the readers off, so it only needs to be a short description. Another idea is including who I recommend to watch the film and who would enjoy watching it. I would do this by sating what the genre of the film is so it targets that particular audience.
I am going to look at some previous film and short film reviews to see if I can pick up any ideas for my own review.
I carried out some research about short films on some focus groups. I asked a group of girls age 17, a group of boys age 17, and a mixed group of people under 15. I showed them 2 different short films and asked them to say what they thought, and see all together which one was the most popular and why. None of the people I asked had any knowledge in the media about camera work, sound or mise-en-scene. Both of the clips were found on Youtube.
These are the short films I showed to them:
:Tick Tock
:Memories
The film Tick Tock came out as the most popular film.
Group 1 - 17 year old girls: Said they liked how the time was reversed in Tick Tock They said it was a clever way of showing the film and it was something they hadn't seen before. They also liked the music used as it reflected the mood of the film all together. However, some of the group said that they found it hard to make sense of what was happening at times, but overall, they liked the idea of the film.
For Memories, they liked how it was in black and white as it reflected well the mood of the film. They also liked how it was put together with the special effects. However, some of them thought it was too short and it would have been better if it was slightly longer.
Group 2 - 17 year old boys: They said that they liked the idea of Tick Tock and that it worked well how it was put together. They also said that at some points they found it hard to make sense of and that it wasn't very well explained. They said that it was the kind of video that they would normally watch as it was quite unusual.
They said for Memories, that they didn't really like the idea as much although they said it worked well for what it was.
Group 3 - under 15: This group of people found it hard to understand the concept of Tick Tock but they liked the way it was put together with the special effects. They liked the music that was used as it reflected well the mood of the film.
They liked Memories for the message that was shown, and they liked the idea of it being in black and white. They also said that it would be better if it was longer as they liked the idea of it.
The purpose of carrying out research on a focus group was to see if there were any differences in what people liked in terms of age and gender. It was useful to see what ideas and genres worked better with different groups. I found that the majority of people like something simple and different, but not something that confuses them. They also like how sound and special effects are used in different ways.
The main thing that I learned through focus group research was the things that a female audience preferred compared to a male audience. From this I found that a female audience didn't like films that were too complicated to follow, and that they like the use of special effects and music. From what I have learned, I hope that I can use the ideas from the people in my focus group in my own short film.
The target audience for my short film are girls age 13-16. The film sets out to teach them about the value of money, and that there are better ways of spending it, than on things they don't really need. 13-16 girls are the age where they would spend time on Youtube and so this is where my film would end up being seen. It can then be used to educate others on the message within the film.
I think this is good becasue as well as being entertained by watching the film, they can learn something from it as well.
Having a target audience with a close age group means that I can include similar things of what the audience are interested in. These include the type of music, the clothes and their lifestyle in general. I chose this age group for the target audience as I am a similar age to them and have an idea of what they would like.
I think my target audience will work well with the film as it isn't too long and they can learn something from it.
