Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main products and your ancillary tasks?

The video below is about how the film is marketed through the poster.

The video below is about how the film is marketed through the Little White Lies (LWL) review.

Evaluation Question 1

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

Part A - Main Task - The Short Film

Before even thinking up ideas for our short film I researched multiple short films in order to gain inspiration as well as see various camera, editing and sound affects which I could possibly implement and improve on in my own film. In order to do this I used various websites such as YouTube, thesmalls.com and shortoftheweek.com. Doing this gave me an opportunity to see how different film organisations went about to create short films. For example in the top 10 short films on a website I found, there were three or four that were made from low budgets and had been executed in a way in which you wouldn't realise was done with not nearly as much money as some other high end professional movie makers.

The most affective short films I watched were the ones which actually were short, under 6 minutes. Doing this means that what ever goes into the film has to be constantly interesting and engaging. Which makes films such as a short film called Perfectly Normal, which like our film is a love story with a twist. Below is a picture of the opening title, the title reflects on it self how simple it is being a standard font and standard background to say as it the titling is also 'perfectly normal' however it is in yellow which isn't that conventional which could again be mirroring what later happens in the story.

In this film I believe that the usual kind of stereotype has been challenged and changed within this film. When I first watched it I believed that the main male character who is the Psychiatrist was going to be attracted to the female client and try to engage and create an external relationship with her. However he is the one acting extremely professionally and strictly treats her as a client however we quickly find out that it is in fact her that wants to have more than just a Psychiatrist. 

We first see the women infatuation with the man through her body language and through her picturing him naked when he asks her what she's thinking about right now. There are several moments throughout the short film where an editing technique is put in place to let us know that she is day dreaming or fantasising about the man but it isn't really happening. An obvious colour filter and change is added as well as music to show this. 

This technique is similar to one used in our short film where in order to make our flashback obvious we create change the video to black and white as well as fading to black as you can see below. A flashback is a good narrative convention because its a good and easy way of showing the audience to much for too long. 

Changing the affects of the images helps the audience know whats occurring as without it, people may become confused. In the room which is one of the beginning means in Perfectly Normal there is a shot reverse shot sequence where the two main characters are talking and some shots are from a point of view shot such as the one pictured below as then man is sitting in the chair. 

This is again similar to one of our shots in our film where we have a point of view shot from the waiter to the main female character so the audience feel as if they are that person in the film, this is a very good camera angle because it makes the audience feel more engaged and gets their attention. Our point go view shot is pictured below.

In addition to this some of the themes are similar as well as Mise En Scene, for example the two main characters in Perfectly Normal appear to be upper middle class people who are very well spoken and dress very well as we can see pictured below. Things like the way people dress make a big difference in short films like this because it immediately gives the audience a sense of what the person is like as it is very easy to judge somebody by what their wearing and by there general appearance. From what we can see they come from an affluent background which is what we aimed for in our short film. Ofcourse this is highly stereotypical and there are always exceptions of different people but for the purpose of comparing short films that is what my conclusion is. 

As well as this, in mise en scene we can see that the main female character cares a great deal about her appearance for example she is wearing red lipstick which could be suggested as being seductive, her makeup is also done very well and her hair looks as if she's just been to the beauty salon, her teeth are very white and looked after as well as the rest of her. All of this combined gives her a very attractive appearance which is what the film maker wanted to do as she is trying her best to impress the man she desires. 

Our film uses some similar techniques and communicates a vaguely similar meaning as 

Perfectly Normal. The people are roughly of the same age range and social class as well as the genre of the film itself. Perfectly Normal came in a category of love with comedic themes. It is like ours in the fact that it is a hybrid genre. It is important that short films like these include different genres because it makes the plot and story more exciting and does not foreshadow in such an obvious way.

Another short film I researched was called Never Forget.

The short film is consisted of 35 cuts and jump cuts. When getting ideas for our film we based and improved upon some of them in this film, for example this opening shot is similar to the one we made  where the main male character is doing up his tie (instead of bow tie) but is roughly from the same angle. We liked how the film maker had done this scene for Never Forget and it also had a surprising love story twist with flashbacks similar to ours. I feel this short film was most helpful and influential out of all the ones I looked at. We decided to go with a shot from the reflection of the mirror instead of the front on shot that was used in Never Forget.

Steve Neales theory of Repetition and Variation is a good example for application it to Never Forget, this is because despite the women (protagonist) cheating on her husband we still feel sorry for her when he kills himself. This of course being a very drastic measure to take for somebody having an affair but I feel that thats the point the film maker was trying to get across. It was so sudden and unexpected that everybody who watched it including myself did not suspect it at all. this is because the storyline miss leads you into thinking something else which throws you completely off course.

Never Forget and our film Drop are alike in the theory of Repetition and Variation because we have some typical love and romantic scenes within the film for example the couple going out to drinks/dinner as well as taking about future plans and holidays together. Little do you know that there  is an affair going on in Drop. We tried to make it a surprise in the film because in Never Forget we see straight off the bat when the Protagonist goes out with her friends and cheats on her husband but what was so clever is the fact that in the flash back in that story we see how the man knew. Which makes it very significant. 

We also tried to replicate they way in which the phone is shown. It is highly debated the best way to show on screen text messages or emails in general due to the fact that it can become easily boring as well as hard to see for the audience especially if they have to read of a phone screen from a low angle. What we decided to do was in our short film at the part where we used a phone we had an on screen text which moved with the phone in order for the viewers to keep their interest. 

Todorovs theory can be applied in multiple ways to the plot in Drop because we didn't follow a strict narrative theory. The Equilibrium - Due to the characters appearing simply getting ready for a night out there is nothing out of the ordinary. The disruption - This could be at the point that we find out the women is having an affair. Finally the confrontation which is when the waiter kills the main male character and the women realises in a way she is responsible for her boyfriends death. Omniscient narration could be applied hear due to the fact that there is dramatic irony with the fact that the main male character is obvious to the fact he is being cheated on unlike the case with Never Forget where he knew the whole time. 

Within our short film we used a variety of locations as you can see below.

The Royal Automobile Club

 The Royal Automobile Club is a private members only Country Club. Once we had decided on our story plot we looked at several places similar to this to see which fitted best. Due to the ease of use with me being a member and it having all the necessary things such as a long drive, restaurant we could use and nice views it was our first choice, despite the distance.

Car Park

The Car Park was filmed at the same place, the RAC in the members golf car park, this is because the continuity had to be matched as to where the car drove from the beginning scene when the car was driven into the carpark and we couldn't use somewhere else because the surroundings did not match. We had to film it all in one go because of the placement of the cars.

In Car

 Inside the car, I thought it would be a good idea to get dialogue from inside the car in addition to the shots of the car driving down the Captains Drive driveway to make it less boring and more engaging. We used my iPhone attached to a mount and swapped it over to create a shot reverse sequence.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 1 was filmed inside a friends house, this was because the dressing table was what we were looking for to match a more mature type of women and relate to the social class and status.

                                                                                       

Lounge

  The lounge was in my house as well as the bedroom 2. It was easy to find time to film because we did not need anybody's permission. Also the space in the lounge with the light allowed us to create shots we wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

Bedroom 2

The Cock Inn

 The Cock Inn was used due to an error on behalf of our sound recordist. We were due to film the inside drinks/meal part of the short film also at the RAC but due to this error and the distance from the RAC we decided to used the Cock Inn pub.                                                                                







Sound work in Drop

Within Drop, the first piece of music heard is a non-diegetic song from incompetech.com which is a royalty free music website, we used this because it is illegal to use well known big songs due to copyright. The song we picked was sure to the fact that it was calm and just suited the pattern of our film and the actions that were taking place such as spraying aftershave or brushing hair. Short films usually use parallel sound which fitted the conventions of ours.

The second piece of music was taken from BBC's Radio 1 Live Lounge, the two songs played are 'Hideaway' as well as 'Stay With Me' we picked these songs because we though it matched with the kind of music people of that age groups and social class would be listening to. Also the music creates meaning with the lyrics conveying a hidden message of 'Hideaway' which mirrors the hidden affair. Aswell as the 'Stay With Me' track which could show how the main male character feels and wants the relationship to last.

In order to get good quality dialogue we used lapel microphones in every scene with dialogue apart from the phone calls and the in car dialogue. This is because the camera microphone in a small room where we did the phone calls could pick it up well however when outside there was too much background noise and we were unable to hear the dialogue. We did experiment with the boom microphone but found the lapel mics to work best. When inside the car, although there was engine noise, we could still hear the dialogue very well through the iPhone.

The lapel microphones were connected to a big other microphone which was either clipped on or put in a pocket, it was sometimes hard to make the wires and microphone not appear on camera.


Part B - Ancillary Task One - The Film Poster

Traditional things you'd find on a high end media film poster would be things such as...

1. The main title - The biggest thing that appears on the poster to grab the attention and make it stick in the audiences mind. Usually written in a fancy special font.
2. The billing board - This is situated at the bottom of the poster usually in very small writing, it is a legal requirement containing copyright information.
3. Main back ground picture - The picture that grabs the attention of the audience, usually a separate still taken, an image not from the actual film.
4. Any other external pictures - Separate images added either onto of the main image or blended in with the main image.
5. Slogan - Something to give a little insight into the film, often a catchy little fraise you'll see in the advert however not used all the time.
6. Release date - Simply the day and date the film will first come out, sometimes showing local cinemas.
7. Certificate - This is the age range the film is given. They vary on the themes, violence, language and scenes in the film. It can be U, PG, 12A, 15 OR 18
8. Reviews/quotes - Most film posters will show a few quotes or mini reviews in the film, usually a very short sentence of a few words that sum up what they think of the film.
9. Star rating - Usually newspapers or separate review companies will give a star rating out of 5.
10. Actors/directors - Actors names can be a big part of the poster as if there is a big star in the film they will want to sell them as much as they can. 
11. Social networks - Social networks can he a big help when trying to advertise a film, so putting for example the films Facebook page on the poster allows people to find it and then share it to friends and family therefore growing the audience.
12. Justification - This is how professional film posters are made perfectly, the writing, pictures and text are all completely centred  and in line with no overlay making it look the best. 

A film poster I have studied and looked at in depth is Layer Cake 

Layer Cake is an English film starring Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller. 

In this version of the poster we see Sienna Miller half naked wearing an outfit which she wears during a scene in the film however it isn't taken from the film it is a different still photo taken specifically for the poster. The yellow/gold background resembles what I think to be luxury and money, in the film one of the main characters owns a bright yellow Range Rover which i feel has some relevance I also think this because the title itself uses two numbers in them to make it look like letters which I believe to resemble a private numberplate on the Range Rover. 

The poster design is actually quite simple, one big title, one attracting picture. One quote and one five star rating. Even though the film stars Daniel Craig and multiple other very famous and successful actors, none of them are mentioned on the poster. I think this is due to the fact that they wanted a simplistic but serious look. 

The next film poster I looked at is Johnny English Reborn

This is a very high budget film however from the poster doesn't look like it was made at an extreme cost. The photoshop has been done well with the fire in the background and Rowan Atkinson has been made to appear younger and fitter than he actually is. this poster does follow some normal conventions in the fact that the main character has a smart but almost cocky facial expression. He is dressed very formally. His body position and setting both back this up as well as having the gun for a prop which lets you know he's meant to be a James Bond type character. The title itself isn't massive, it takes up less than a quarter of the screen and isn't centred at all. The poster however does have a slogan. This version of the poster was released before the film was announced so it simply says the year in which it will be coming out but not the month or day. 

Rick Altman Semantic Codes 

1. Colour (background, text, pictures)
2. Costumes
3. Body Position
4. Facial Expressions
5. Setting

Another film poster I looked at was Jack Reacher, again this has a big main star in the film and in the case of this poster they have taken advantage of this and written his name above the main title which is situated at the bottom half of the page in a pretty bland font and isn't that big but it gets the point across. The poster also has a slogan as well as a large billing blog, this shows that it follows some regular conventions but for example does not have any ratings of a certificate. As we can see from the image, he is a tough guy holding a gun and wearing a leather jacket and has a cut on his face which are all stereotypical for someone like that.  His facial expression is also very serious and intimidating.

If we now look at our poster for the film Drop, which was made as a combination of all three of our ideas, we tried to include as many conventions as we could so we have a billing board, a big main title, a great photo still which we took many versions off and came to the conclusion this was the best due to things such as the facial expression this can allow us to compare it to Altmans theories. The main female character looking away shows how she could be bored with the relationship and is looking for other things which is true considering she's having an affair. The main male character however looks happy as ever and completely oblivious as to whats going on behind his back.

We edited the poster in such a way that it would look dark and gloomy to create a pathetic fallacy. Due to the title being so short we spaced the wording far apart and and put a motion blur like affect on the letters. Also we decided to put all the actors names underneath the title with very good justification, this makes it look like as if the writing is an underlining but it isn't. We have a 4 star rating and quote from the Little White Lies review in order to let people see that if LWL think its good then they will aswell. We made subtle but big changed such as the font being black. But it gave the poster a more eery feel like it was a horror.

Part B - Ancillary Task Three - LWL Review

Little White Lies is a high end magazine in which movies are reviewed, members of the public subscribe either monthly or annually to get a subscription copy of the box/magazine. It is very well made and exquisitely finished.

The format of little white lies reviews are always the same the layout conventions are things such as the image is always at the top in its own specific measurements, this is to keep it always the same and keep it organised. The page number is always three digits and the three main columns are always justified. Another important thing about the little white lies style is that at the start of the first paragraph there is a drop capital three lines down. The title is centred at the bottom of the page and is in bold. The language conventions used are unique because it is meant for mature readers and is extremely descriptive and detailed.

The kind of people that subscribe to little white lies are big movie and poster fans who want to see specific types of new films that they wouldn't usually see on tv or hear about on the radio. This is because a lot of unique one off films are made and reviewed by little white lies. Especially ones done on a small budget like ours. Also they tend to be aged mainly between 25-35 with exceptions of course. A lot of people who work in the media world and especially university students taking film or media or even photography would be subscribers.

As you can see from our review below we made sure we stuck to the typical conventions. To create the best look alike to a real little white lies review we used a programme called InDesign.

The text in the three columns is featured below

This film is ambiguous on a number of levels  The title 'Drop' cleverly refers to the death of a character and the action of spiking a drink. . In addition, this is no ordinary 'who dun it' film because of the unexpected antagonist.

The short film genre is usually characterised by a minority of settings. However Drop manages to overcome this sometimes simplistic limitation and includes a plethora of contrasting locations which adds to the complexity of the story line. One location, the R.A.C Country Club in Epsom, mirrors the motif of the film perfectly: the upper middle class characters display opulence, affluence and wealth which is also denoted in the ‘Downtonesque’ setting. The crime committed in this setting at the country club may surprise audiences as this social class is not usually associated with 'crimes of passion'. On the other hand, more in sync with the short film genre, the cast is limited which allows for the creation of the character’s death in such a short running time. All three characters are executed superbly by Ettie Greenwood, Joe Willmott and James Garbis (up and coming actors that could really make their mark in the film world during the next few years).

The plot revolves around a complicated and secretive 'love-triangle', in which Rachel (Ettie Greenwood), is extremely guilty, doubtful and inevitably miserable leading to the films unexpected finale. This is skilfully handled by director Rosie Lincoln (also director of the inspiring ‘Life as we know’) who places the plot reveal at the end with the clichéd technique - a flashback, which literally 'makes the penny drop'.

Female director, Rosie Lincoln, is known for her feminist views that are especially reflected in her recent film shorts. Once again, Lincoln creates a strong lead female character, Rachel, who appears to dominate in the crucial love triangle. So, what are the feminist credentials: Rachel is a wealthy, powerful young woman. She emits signs of dominance and control, never being submissive to her man. She is far from the typical dependant female character of the past.  

However, there are alternative interpretations of her character which suggest that 'Drop' instead does not communicate the feminist ideology that others suggest: Come the end, Rachel is seen in a very vulnerable light, as she panics over then death she had subconsciously caused. There is a great debate over whether these feminist values are consciously displayed or not, of which readers can discover more on the 'twitter-sphere' where the heated debate continues to rage.

Evaluation Q2 - Rosie Lincoln

Here is my video answer for Question 2 of the evaluation: 

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

Evaluation Q1 - Rosie Lincoln

Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A) The Main Task

The dominant characteristic within short films, is that it is actually short. From previous analysis of several short films, the plot and story line are cleverly shown within the short space allowed, still with the enigma being able to be raised. This is often done through stereotypes/or stereotype challenging, and characterization. 

'Never Forget' is a film that attempts to flip the common stereotype of men being the 'sleezy' gender and the ones to be in the wrong with relationships. The connection between the two characters is shown quickly through the use of parallel cutting(to show that they are happening simultaneously), a convention used in short films - as opposed to a feature length film, that would take more of a build up to allow the viewer to make a relation. 

'Never Forget' shows a man figuring out that his partner has cheated on him and done wrong; she tries to cover it up even though he already knows, which I think challenges the gender stereotype. 

We as the audience know she has cheated through the flashback used, to show her with another man and her removing her ring. 

Narrative Organisation: 

A narrative convention of a flashback in a short film, is a simple way to be able to easily show important information. Sometimes this is needed for the audience to understand what is occurring in the story without it being too long. This can then create an omniscient narrative, whereby the audience know more than the characters, which can cause a feeling of suspense. 'Never Forget' uses this to connote to the audience previous events that have taken place in order for the viewer to be on par with the characters. It is often used to allow a deeper understanding of the plot.  

We are able to tell if it is a flashback often by effects or certain camera movements used. In 'Never Forget' a slightly blurred and darkened edge (suggesting something abnormal) allows us to realise that it is a flashback as this is common within the film industry. The two different shots of the women (featured below) further suggest it is a flashback as she is appearing in two different scenes.

 








Steve Neale's Theory of Repetition and Variation can be applied to 'Never Forget'.The Romantic Drama genre (a Hybrid) of this short film is connoted through the presence of a couple and preparing for a date, and the drama being the affair we see through the flashback. This is however then abruptly followed by the man taking his own life by jumping from the building. This can be seen as the 'variation' of typical romances as it is such an extreme and irrational action to take following the news of an affair. This plot twist causes sympathy to be felt for the protagonist. 

In terms of our own short film, I think that we followed current conventions quite well. Examples would include narrative, and post production editing.

Because we included a flashback within our film, it doesn't rigidly follow any of the narrative theories.Our story was linear so Todorov's theory can be applied however not the plot: 

1. Equilibrium - The two characters getting ready to see each other would be seen as the normality here.
2. Disruption - This is seen when the audience discover that the women is seeing somebody else (the text she receives from Dylan) 
3. Confrontation - When her partner collapses, she realises who is to blame for the incident.

It could also be said it is omniscient narration, as the audience know more than one of the characters (James). This occurs when Rachel attends the bar and leaves her partner at the table insisting she goes to the he drinks so that she can see her new lover. 

Although 'Never Forget' uses simple cut transitions to show the flashbacks, we used a fade to black to show the step in time. This worked better for ours as it was only one flashback however 'Never Forget' used several cuts to go back and fourth. 

3 frames showing the fade to black transition.

Steve Neale's Theory applied to 'Drop':
We tried to follow themes and conventions of a Romantic Drama in our short film. 

• An obvious couple
• Going out for a meal together
• A dramatic ending of murder

The variation to this would be how Rachel is unaware of the events that have been happening despite her being involved in the affair with the murderer, creating a unique twist to current films of this Hybrid genre. 

Within the short film 'Lovefield' Roland Barthes theory of Narrative can be applied:
There are several action and enigma codes, which are things that cause active engagment for the audience and make them question and answer queries - or something that allows us to try and predict the plot by something telling us action will take place.

One of the first enigma codes seen is the black bird; which are symbolically associated with mystery and the unknown, and also darkness.  

The knife stabbing into the ground is an example of an action code as it can help to predict the plot - it could connote violence to come ahead. the bloody material may mislead somebody to think that rape or violence has occurred.

Enigma and Action codes included within our short film 'Drop':

Here are some of the action codes within our film

This action code allows the audience to know that there may be something to follow in relation to these to characters and that he has some significance to later events. 

The titling of 'Drop' foreshadows upcoming events and allows questioning over the rest of the film due to the pill, therefore building enigma.

This medium close up (with the wine glasses in focus) puts significance onto the particular frame meaning the viewer may be able to predict future action. 



Levi Strauss' theory of Binary Oppositions in Narrative:

An existing short film that I have analysed was 'Olive'. The female is shown as the antagonist, and the evil of the two, as she doesn't show emotion (through medium close ups) over the fact her partner almost died and was only concerned over the money prospect. On the other hand, we see the disheartened man as the close up shows his look of love and sadness. 

A POV shot to show the personal relationship.

This is similar in 'Drop' in the fact Rachel shows a concern over the death of her partner, however she could also be viewed as evil as she had an affair. Joe's character Dylan is the evil character within our film. We tried to not make it obvious that he was the antagonist. We tried to make it subtle i.e. the location happened to be where he worked, the eye contact over the bar, point of view shots. 



The camerawork we used in 'Drop' shows some typical conventions:

• pans of long shot to show the location
• a varying distance of shots to show emotions

Camerawork:

The films that I researched all used long or extreme long shots, to connote the location of the film to the audience. Within the films, other shot distances are used to communicate meaning. For example, close ups help to portray certain emotions - as shown in 'Brando-ing', 'Olive' and 'The Dinner Party'. 

Many films include a long distance shot to establish a location or setting. We used this within our film, to show where they have traveled to and to help connote their wealth. 

This panning movement shot of the location, shows the characters arriving and demonstrates their social class. 



'Brando-ing' and 'Silent Things' were two of the films that I studied showing this convention:

An establishing shot from Brando-ing showing the location.

Silent Things follows the convention with an extreme long shot.

Lighting:
Typical of thriller genre films, low key and fill lighting is often used to create a darker look or a shadowy feel. 

This Video shows how high and low key lighting can be used to create different effects:

We used quite minimal additional lighting within our film. A lot of the time the weather was unpredictable i.e. a lot of the time it was raining,  meaning that we had to make do. 
For the beginning cross cut shots of the two characters getting ready, we used a room that already had quite bright ambient lighting with some experiments with a handheld LED light, to show that the male character (James) was still oblivious to what was happening and was continuing with his day (Pathetic fallacy). 
With Rachel's character we required no extra lighting; we kept the room she was in quite dull. The props used in the room where all of the same colour shades too which helped to create the atmosphere i.e. no colour, dull shades conveying her darker side. 

The contrast between the two locations portrays the characters persona' in different ways. James' room being brightly lit with colour, and Rachel' being dull.  

As the film progresses as we get to the interior of the restaurant, we used an LED light and stand to give better low key light due to this being the point in which things take a turn. 

Low key lighting used within the restaurant scene.

The low key lighting also helped to put significance on Joe's character Dylan; the white shirt is prominant amongst the rest of the setting and he is central in the composition which contributes to his importance.

A short film that I studied that uses both varieties of lighting was 'The Dinner Party'. 
Withing this particular shot, you can see that the lighting used has created a numerous amount of soft shadows. The predominant type of lighting within this frame looks to be low key lighting as the table cloth, and props on the table, appear very white in comparison to the shadows on the side of the table cloth and the rest of the surrounding props i.e. the chairs.

This creates a very dramatic atmosphere. The exaggerated shapes of the props in the room help to emphasise that he is alone as they become more prominent. 

Sound:

In our short film 'Drop' we used a range of different music. In the beginning shots of the film, an equilibrium state is present so we wanted the music to fit parallel with this. Therefore we chose a non-diegetic sound track that kept its tones and rhythms fairly neutral i.e. no huge diminuendos or crescendos. This therefore fits with typical conventions of short films as the majority attempt to use parallel sound. 

Further soundtracks that we used we diegetic (click here to know the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound) sound. An example would be the track covered by Ben Howard on the BBC Radio1 Live Lounge. We wanted to use something that would fit with the character - something somebody of that age group would listen to, so we went with this radio station as there demographic states "It should reflect the lives and interests of 15-29 year olds but also embrace others who share similar tastes" ... The songs lyrical content also foreshadows upcoming events i.e. "...hide away with me some more...". 

Foleys:
These were something we felt were needed within some of our footage to enhance and emphasis certain actions. One of the most important ones was the restaurant scene. In reality, a restaurant would have a bit of buzz to it and an atmosphere. We were unable to achieve this due to the times we were allowed access to the location. To overcome this we recorded several different conversations with the sound recorder, and lowered the volume levels on Final Cut to have some background noise. This was then accompanied by a non-diegetic soundtrack from the royalty-free music website 'Incompetech'. 

Short films that I have studied that would inlcude the use of foley's would be 'Shortcut' and 'A Favour' 

Due to 'Shortcut' using an outside location, there are a lot of props that would need sound to be created for, as external factors e.g. the wind, would cause them to make noise. 
One of the most significant props would be the bottle that rolls across. Because the prop is seen to be rolling across paving, it could have easily been created the same way in which we did ours - gathering props to give the correct sound and record the noise using a sound recorder i.e. rolling or pushing the bottle across the ground. This object inparticular would've needed a foley due to other items such as litter making extra ambient noise in the background. The high volume level for the bottle sound helps emphasis the derelict area he is in and his loneliness. 

'A Favour' uses two settings to show chaotic family life in their opening. To create the atmosphere of chaos and rushing, the sounds of cutlery and talking is heard. 
Plates and cutlery knocking besides each other could be recorded and turned up meaning emphasis on the environment can be conveyed. 
A further foley that would've been created is where the man is seen stuck in traffic in his car. As the man turns the radio up, he listens to a current news affair; this would have been created specifically for the film so would therefore would be recorded and then used as diegetic sound on his radio. 

Due to the manic environment within 'A Favour', lapel microphones would have been a good option. These are small microphones that clip onto a piece of clothing for example which can be hidden. They have the advantage of recording sound close by i.e. somebody speaking, which can then be turned up over-top of any other sound layers. Separate conversations within the opening shots of 'A Favour' could be recorded then the ones desired to be heard could be altered.


We used lapel microphones whilst filming 'Drop' as there was a lot of existing ambient sound. The bar scene was where we were sure to use these as we had members of the public there and we wanted to make sure our conversations could be heard. An advantage to using them means we also have a backup in case of any faulty sound issues on the camera. The sound produced is also a lot clearer using a lapel mic, however we needed to make sure we pressed the record button hard enough as sometimes it would need pressing twice, a mistake we had made previously when using the boom mic, so therefore tried out the lapel microphones where the actors where in charge of making sure it was recording. 


B) Ancillary Task One

i) Film posters you have analysed

Typical conventions I have noticed within film posters:

• Billing Block -  a legal requirement containing any such copyright information
• Justification - both text and imagery are lined up to give a clean and professional look t the finished poster.
• Awards and Ratings - shown to promote the film and attract an audience as it gives positive reviews. 
• Slogan - not always used, but often to give an insight into the film. 
• A release date - to advertise, inform and create excitement about the film.
• Actors/Directors - if big names are involved, it entices a wider audience as they are recognised for doing well in other films. 
• Imagery - to connote any information about the characters or film itself, including genre and content. 
• Titling - often the largest part of text to appear on the poster and to draw in attention so that it is memorable. 

Layout:

Most of the posters I have studied, include the film title being centered within the composition. There is an exception however if the image is significant enough to need more space, for example the 'Brighton Rock' poster. 

The billing block mostly appears beneath the title, or beneath anything infact - often at the bottom strip of the poster, whether that be portrait or landscape. 

Billing Block shown at the bottom

Title to the left of composition

The 'Slumdog Millionaire' poster doesn't include the feature of actors names. This is because of the low budget film meaning the actors are most probably upcoming and not terribly well known, hence taking up unneeded space. 
With IMBD referring to this film as a Romantic Drama (similar to our short film 'Drop') the poster include certain semantic codes (Rick Altman's theory of Genre) that allow the audience to denote this:

• Couple shown next to the title
• Body language of the two characters - they appear close together with happy facial expressions showing their bond and the romance part to the hybrid. 
• The drama aspect isn't given away through the poster as to surprise. 

Other semantic codes within the poster include:

• females costume demonstrate ethnicity and background.
• bright colours denote happiness and excitement. 

ii) Your own Film poster

We made the reviews and awards a reasonable size in comparison to the rest of the poster to still keep a professional look. The quote is shown to be from 'Little White Lies' to link it with our review.

• We tried to include as many of the typical conventions you would commonly see on a film poster, trying not to make it too crowded. Using the ruler tool on Photoshop we were able to get even space between features. 
• For the title of our film, it became difficult to place, in the sense that it is only four characters long, in comparison to many of the short films studied.
• Taking 'Brighton Rock' as an example, the title is quite lengthy meaning it could be experimented with more. With 'Drop' we had to get the spacing just right so that it didn't look too sparse. 
• Within the two images here you can see that we had decided to go for a white font over black. This was because we felt that the white ultimately captured attention better as the majority of the poster uses dim colour.

A draft using black coloured font.

As with 'Brighton Rock' our title has been place to one side of the poster. This is because it was where we had the most appropriate blank space. The only difficulty was the length; four characters wasn't a lot to work with. We did attempt enlarging the spacing between characters, however it didn't look right, hence we created shadows and a motion blur effect on the title to try and lengthen it, but still being appropriate.

• The reasoning behind the blurred effect on the title was to create a longer looking font to fill the space more appropriately seen in film posters, and to foreshadow future events. 

A response from our survey about our poster titling.

The billing block was another feature that we included in our poster. This meant that it had a more professional look to it and all of the directors and actors etc were credited. 

Applying Rick Altman to our poster:

1. The couple pictured on the poster suggest the romantic genre.
2. The females body language i.e. looking away from her partner, suggests she is not engaged with the relationship.
3. The location appears grand with the fountain and golf buggies suggesting their upper class.
4. The costume demonstrates their wealthy status.
5. Grey/dark cloudy sky is relevant to the dark story line and the plot to come. 

C) Ancillary Task Two - LWL Review

Target Audience: Click the image to view my previous post on Little White Lies Target Audience

Layout Conventions:

• Image always presented in the same place - the top
• The main article type is all justified and of equal distance to the sides
• Page number is 3 digits
• Three part rating placed in bottom right hand corner
• Drop capital is used for the opening letter of the article
• The title is centered and in bold form
• The writers name is placed at the end of the review (in capitals)
• Review presented in 3 columns

Language Conventions:

• Very descriptive and rich articles
• The plot is touched on, but not too much is given away
• In-depth reviews that often raise discussion over issues of the particular film

How we followed these conventions in our review:

Before beginning our review, we decided to split the task into three separate parts so that all of us had a part to take care of... however, when we came together with each other we realised we have repeated ourselves quite a lot. 
With this is mind we decided it best for Ettie to continue with the review (trying to combine all of our parts we had each written), as she had begun the opening paragraph. With guidance from our subject teachers and referring to example reviews from the magazine, we were able to write a successful review. 

• I experimented with several pieces of footage to use as our main image but eventually we settled on a still image as it didn't give too much away about the film, something Little White Lies attempts.
• Along with this, we all created layouts of the magazine to make sure that we got it correct. 

Language and Layout Conventions within our review:

• We incorporated media vocabulary i.e. genre, plot, flashback and setting.
• Formal language complies with the typical magazine conventions, for example, ideology and opulence.
• We kept the original measurements and guidelines as the magazine.
• Three columns with the correct word limit.
• A ratings system included at the end. 
• Same font size and typeface.