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

In my short film, I have only used one character that the audience will be able to see properly as a character in the film. This challenges the forms of other short films, which usually rely on other characters to help the story and the protagonist’s character development. I chose to do this for a number of reasons: To get the audience’s involvement of the film solely on the main character and to reinforce the idea of the faceless over lording government.

I use an internal monologue which is fairly commonplace in short films as it’s a great way to have the protagonist speak directly to the audience about their thoughts and feelings, some of which they might not be able to say out loud. This works well in the short film as it’s a world where saying things about the government will have you arrested or worse. By having an internal monologue the protagonist has a way of explaining the situation he’s in to the audience, which in turn makes the audience empathise with him.

Usually short films are set in one general location, sometimes the whole film will be set in one place or room. I challenge this by having a range of different locations, each with a different atmosphere. I have done this as it brings out an emotive journey for the audience and doesn’t let them relax whilst watching, keeping the audience constantly interacting with the film.

Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For my film I created a small questionnaire that I handed out to a number of people to answer to get some feedback on the effectiveness of the film, and what the audience thought of it as a real product.

Question 1 – Did you enjoy the film?

All the results I got back from this said that they enjoyed the film which shows that the film was interesting enough to watch and it worked as a piece of media in getting an audience to consume it.

Question 2 – What was your favourite part of the film?

I asked this question because I wanted to know which parts of the film the audience enjoyed the most as I can use it for future reference, either as marketing for the film (by showing the favourite scenes in a trailer or on a poster) or by using the same general ideas for a future work, as I would know that the audience would enjoy those parts in that film.

A few people said that they enjoyed the beginning, which I assume is the first scene that has the narration throughout. This shows me that the audience enjoyed getting to know the character and the situation that he is in. In the future I shall remember to have a major point of showing the character and the plot to promote the film/in a new project.

The scene in the hospital was also enjoyed, due to the tension that was built up by not showing everything that was happening and leaving images unseen. I shall remember this technique for any future productions.

Question 3 – Did you understand the film?

As the idea for the films plot was of my creation, as well as the storyboard, I understood what was happening throughout the film. I knew that I was trying to fit a lot of information in a very short piece of work so I wasn’t too sure if an outsider would fully understand what was going on and get confused by the story, protagonist’s role and dream/reality scene switching around. This worry was not needed as each of the people who filled in the questionnaire answered that they did understand the film.

Question 4 – What parts did you think worked well?

Like Question 2, I can use the results from this question for future reference.

Most people have said that the narration was one of the key things that worked for the film, so I know that communication that is had with the protagonist and the audience works in involving them into the film.

The variety of camera angles that were used in the film also worked well, one shot that was particularly noted was the shot through the bicycle spokes. For a film to work well a range of creative shots should be used to keep the audience’s attention and not let them lose concentration.

Question 5 – What parts didn’t work well?

I can use the results of these in a future project, or if I were to redo this film to make it a better experience for the audience.

One point which was made was a concern for me throughout the process of creating the film and it was getting across the dream state and when a scene is taking place there. I think many people understood it from the effects I added, the white border and the brighter colours but I think if I had to redo the film I would add a shot of the protagonist literally going to sleep so there would be no doubt in the viewer’s mind when the dream scene is happening.

Another point that someone made was that the special effects didn’t work well, unfortunately they did not go into specific detail on which effects, but if I were to make the film again I would take the time to optimise each shot in terms of visual effects.

Question 6 – How much money would you pay for this?

I asked this question for a couple of reasons, first, to see how much the film was worth for the people watching and secondly to see if it would sell well if this was a real media product (that was being released for money). The feedback I received was much higher than I expected, with the lowest being the price of a film at a cinema (around £4.50) to the highest of £10. With this knowledge I would be able to show it for around £5 and people would generally think it would be a good film for that price.

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

Question 4 - What did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Music (Soundtrack)

For the soundtrack I had my dad play the piano as I feel it would fit the short films style, and the use of minor and major keys will be useful for changing the mood of the contrasting scenes, minor chords for the reality scenes and major chords for the dream sequences. I decided not to use more than one instrument as I didn’t want to over complicate the film for the audience by having them have to focus on many different points and missing key details. I got parts of inspiration for the soundtrack from these songs:

And Dream of Sleep Film Article

And Dream of Sleep Poster and Analysis

And Dream of Sleep (Completed)

Font

The font I decided to use for my short film was ‘Red October’, a font designed in the style of the fonts used in Soviet Russia’s propaganda. The reason why I chose this was to remind the audience of the system that is in the place between the people and the government (as the font has connotations of the USSR).

Poster Analysis

Poster Idea One:
My first idea for a poster was to use one of my propaganda type posters with a burned edge, showing off the grass
and nature beneath it. This will show a clear image of what the film's about - A government controlling everything
and stopping people being free. I will most likely not use it as to get the point of the poster across I will have
to keep the original writing plus the actual information for the film which could get very confusing for the audience.

Poster Idea Two:
For the second idea I took inspiration from the fascist government of Hitler and the way they present their swasticka,
bold against a bright red background. As this simple imagery has conotations of fascism I thought of putting the Union
Jack over it will effectively show the viewer what state society is in. The small silloet of the protagonist against
the red background walking on the dullen grass draws the viewer's attention to it, showing how small and insignificant
the person is, yet the powerful image of the boy will make the viewer interested into his character and will want to
see the film. The font I want to use will have blatent of the Russian Soviet, another time where people were being controlled.

Film Article (Draft Layout)

I have created a rough layout of my film magazine article will look like:

 The top of the page has a filmstrip across it, as it is a key image that is connoted with Films, which is what
the magazine is about.

The title of the film is in a large font as it is what the feature is about, so it's the first thing people see
when they go onto the page.

A list of key information is in a strip underneath the title, so that the reader can see if the film will appeal to
them (i.e. if it is directed by their favourite Director or if it's their favourite genre).

The introduction is separated so people can read it separately and choose if they are interested in reading more about the film.

 The review is split into sections, as the audience that will read this will be interested into the details of the
films creation and how it all fits together.

The magazine score is done in a simple way, out of 10 stars, so the reader can pick up on how good the film is without reading the review.

Short Film Poster Analysis - Connected

I like this poster as it conveys the mood of the short film whilst explaining the audience what the story is about, two people being connected and struggling to survive. Unfortuantly it is a bit too Sci-fi for my film so I will take inspiration from it and settle down for a poster using ideas from this.

Short Film Poster Analysis - Purge

Many short film posters solely contain a close up image of the protagonist's face, as the character and getting the audience to empathise with the main character is vital for the audience's consumption of the film. Whilst it works for most short films, as mine also has a deeper story in terms of plot I do not think a simple image of the protagonist conveying emotion will work as I want it too. 

Editing effects I have used in my film

Dream world:

For the dream world I wanted to create a happy atmosphere, as well as keeping it obvious to the audience that these scenes are in a dream. To do this I have increased the brightness, keeping it very distinct from the real world as well as increasing the vividness of the greens of the grass, a key point to this scene as it connotes nature, a complete contrast to the gritty real world. I have also created a soft border of white around the shots, which has connotations of innocence which in turn has connotations of youth. I want the audience to be fully aware that this is where the protagonist feels actually happy in his life. 

(All pictures have the original view on the left and the edited view on the right.)

Reality:

For the reality scenes I wanted to create a gritty atmosphere, so I turned the brightness and saturation down, and added a sharpen effect onto the edges in the clips, so it had very defined lines and looked structured (especially against the wall, giving a subtle sense of imprisonment to the audience).