In terms of our product being a short film, there are established forms and conventions which most films of this kind will tend to follow. In terms of purpose, they are often educational or experimental; or a means for showcasing new talent or promoting ideas for a feature-length film. Our film, however, was intended as a means of entertainment but with a serious message about society incorporated within it. So, to a certain extent, we are following the norm here in that there is a message to be learned from our film, but with there being no overall aim for a full feature length film, or any desire to further our acting careers, our film would be a bit of an anomaly.
In terms of style, short films often play upon elements of surrealism, though using a realistic situation. In the case of our film, the way in which the final scenes are edited makes it feel somewhat surreal. However, the film, on the whole, tells a believable story.
Short films are often gritty with kinetic movements used. Our film, through our choice of camera, but also the way in which certain shots were filmed, demonstrates this. Dialogue, as typically, is kept to a minimum in our film, and it follows only the one main character. The narrative structure is linear and circular with a three part structure - a beginning, a middle and an end. Additionally, the titles are left to the end. With regard to these stylistic elements, our film hasn’t strayed too far from the ‘norm.’
Our film can be considered as being pretty standard as it uses most of the forms and conventions of a short film in terms of style, but it isn’t typical as far as purpose is concerned. We have developed the standard purpose of ‘education’ but have made entertainment the sole purpose while maintaining the overall moral message. Considering whether we have challenged any forms and conventions of short film, I think it would be difficult to justify saying that we had.
When looking at film posters, even the most avant-garde examples still follow the most basic forms and conventions. They will usually contain images of the main star(s), along with their name(s), then other secondary/background images. Then, of course, there will be the title, tagline, and billing block.
Our poster, though using less conventional images, still has the aforementioned elements. Though the main actor (me) isn’t of Hollywood calibre, it wouldn’t make sense not to include my name on the poster, given the fact that I appear on it several times!
Given audience expectations, we decided that the ‘standard’ elements of a film poster should remain so as not to make it unclear as to what it was trying to portray/advertise, therefore we didn’t develop or challenge forms and conventions here.
Our magazine article neither develops nor challenges forms and conventions as it sticks mostly to what you would expect to find on a range of film magazines from Sight and Sound to Empire. There is a main image, a subsidiary image, a main body of text divided into columns, a breakout box, and the layout is from left to right. We made this decision based on the fact that no other magazine layout seems logical and that all magazines are laid out in this way for a good reason.
Overall, we stuck mostly to generally recognised forms and conventions to ensure a sense of familiarity among our target audience. With it being a short film, we wanted to attract as large an audience as is possible for a short film by treating it as a full length film in terms of the way it is portrayed in the film poster, as well as how it is sold via the film magazine review. We also modified the purpose of our film to make it appear more ‘mainstream,’ and therefore more accessible to a wider audience.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When looking at genre, what we aimed to convey through the three texts was the humour; rather than the multicultural element. I would consider that humour features heavily throughout the film and is conveyed to a certain extent in the article and the poster. We have pastiched, to a certain the degree, the cover of the Help! album by The Beatles, but also Here You Come Again by Dolly Parton. Anyone who can recognise this will be able to notice the humorous intentions.
The facial expressions which are such a key part of the film are seen again in the film poster. In the magazine review, however, the communication of genre is less strong, apart from in the main text. With it supposedly being from a third party, it uses its own format rather than adopting and incorporating ideas from what the film company have produced.
We feel that the narrative of the film can be understood without having to have any prior knowledge of the film, although, with regard to the film poster, we feel that it’s unable to provide an absolutely clear idea to the target audience as to what the film is about. What is clear is that the main character is involved in art, but there is absolutely no indication as to any of the struggle he has to encounter, nor the eventual outcome. This was a conscious decision on our part as we felt that the idea of a film poster was to provide an insight and leave the viewer wanting to find out more, rather than giving everything away. You could say that the poster was more misleading than the article as the poster was left to the viewer’s own interpretation, without the ‘facts’ laid out for the reader.
While my film and film poster are targeting the same audience, the fact that the magazine review is an independent, third party endorsement means that it will be brought to an even wider audience. My film and poster are both targeted at 15-25 year olds whereas the film magazine in its advertising profile aims to target the ‘Average Joe’ - your general ‘film buff’. This widens the audience slightly in terms of age, though focuses slightly more on males. However, on the whole, my wider target audience is reached by all three products. It is necessary to target different audiences across different products as all of the targets will intersect and therefore attract a larger, more varied audience. The audience will use the film poster for judging whether or not they want to see the film, or at least know more about it. The magazine review, as produced by a third party, will be where our audience goes for an impartial second opinion before making a judgement as to whether they will see it.
This is why the poster and magazine review are an important part of a film’s marketing and distribution. They both spread awareness about the film itself, but also alert the reader to where it can be accessed. From a film company’s point of view, a good review in a film magazine is very important. It is an endorsement from a third party, something not produced by the film company itself, so therefore of greater value.
The three products worked extremely well together on a production level too. Photos were taken during the filming to produce the poster, and a screenshot was used of the film to provide the main image for the magazine article. The main image from the poster is also incorporated into the article.
3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
When creating media products, audience feedback is vitally important in ensuring that you reach your target audience. It helps to identify any faults before it goes on general release. Although a film may make perfect sense to the people who created it, it’s the target audience that has to respond positively to it.
We presented the first draft of our short film to the class and the general feedback was that it was on the long side, and that the ending was a little unclear. In response to this, we added extra shots of applause at the end to make the conclusion a lot more explicit. On the whole, we took the advice on board, shortening some scenes and removing a number of shots.
"The ending could be more clear."
Another criticism was that the sound levels were quite inconsistent, and that the score was quite repetitive, and to a certain extent, irritating. So using headphones, we paid close attention to sound, editing it where necessary. We also rearranged the score, finding more suitable copyright-free sounds to add variety.
"The music annoyed me!"
In creating the film poster, we acted upon audience feedback during the creative process. We had options available to us, such as the choice between coloured faces and ordinary faces. Audience feedback dictated that we shouldn’t adopt the coloured faces as it was unclear what, if any, suggested meaning there was.
One the poster was finalised, we experimented with a red background but audience feedback also dictated that the white background was much more effective.
As we mostly stuck to convention with regard to the film poster and magazine review, the end results were found to be, on the whole, aesthetically pleasing. There were few objections as they took the basic format of products already seen. Having used Photoshop and Pages, it was agreed that the look was professional overall.
4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout this project, we used a broad range of new technologies to reach the final outcome. Throughout research and planning, the internet was very important. We used the web to conduct research into background information and existing products, using sites such as Youtube, but also Google Search. Through the use of a blog, this allowed research and all other progress to be recorded, as well as for planning shooting schedules.
During production, we used D.V. cameras as that was all that was available to us. iMovie HD was the editing software we used as it is the easiest non-linear editing software, where you can freely edit in any order; developing your final film in the editing suite. This helped us to improve upon the original storyboard idea and to react upon the feedback we received. This software was designed for D.V. cameras, so provides ease with regards to importing and storing footage, in comparison to celluloid film.
D.V. cameras tend to be more gritty and realistic, compared to the more artificial look of film. For us, this was a limitation as a more vibrant and artificial feeling may have suited our film better and enhanced it as a spectacle.
The fact that we didn’t have microphones to use has directly influenced our film. Because of the fact that sound is difficult to clearly pick up when outdoors, our film uses only a few lines of dialogue. However, the consequent reliance on animated and expressive facial expressions to convey meaning has been considered one of the strongest creative decisions of our film; despite being influenced by sound limitations.
Lighting was also an issue, but we overcame this by ensuring that all indoor lights were turned on, and that all outside shots were scheduled during daylight hours. These were both limiting factors but having considered them beforehand, we were able to avoid any potential difficulties.
For our score, we had to seek out copyright free music and so used websites such as freeplaymusic. For a length of film such as this, this was preferable to using programmes such as Garageband to create our own score. Extra sounds effects such as the squeaky door were found on iMovie.
In making the poster, we used a digital camera to capture the images which has the advantage of easy upload. Photoshop was then used to manipulate the images with relative ease. The image manipulation and ‘layering’ capabilities influenced the design and eventual construction of the poster, resulting in a ‘collage’ of images, rather than limiting us to staging one single image.
To form the magazine layout, we used Pages which is a simple way of laying out documents no matter what type. It is a less sophisticated programme than QuarkXpress, for example, which is used in the magazine/newspaper industry, but for our level of design skills, was apt enough for the task.
The evaluation has also been enhanced by the use of the Internet, allowing for images and links to be incorporated, while the whole project is kept together and in order.
Our clip was given exposure as a result of both Youtube (film can be found here) and Facebook but these websites were also useful for viewing and using existing clips. We must acknowledge the size of the role that the Internet plays in projects such as these. You can see that at all stages, it has played a role. Short film in itself has experienced a comeback of sorts as a direct consequence of the video/file sharing capabilities of the Internet.
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