Thomas Redding A2 Media Coursework: May 2012

Evaluation

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

1. The first shot begins out of focus, this is unlike most short films as they tend to remain in focus throughout.

2. The second image shows the title, the title in our film is shown early on which follows many film conventions, I believe it give the audience a better chance to understand the film if they know what it is called.

3. And 4. Show a jump cut between cereal being poured to the milk then being poured. This is conventional too short film as they attempt to skip out as much unnecessary clips as possible.

5. Is an extreme close up of a kettle, the kettle itself is not important but it shows we used a large variety of shot sizes, angles and techniques in order to create the best viewing experience.

6. This goes against standard conventions of films as this shot focuses solely on the sink and not the surrounding actors, in your typical short film it would have tracked the actors.

7. This is a fade shot of the table, the fade indicates we used a variety of editing techniques from changing scenes as we incorporated fade in’s and out’s and hard cuts.

8. Another convention we followed was that of the nature of an adolescent boy as they can be quite aggressive and often use bad language as a way of expressing there emotions.

9. This looked at how schizophrenia is ever present, even when EDGAR wakes up Ronnie is around. This backs conventions of schizophrenic films such as “fight club” and “Donnie darko”.

10. Shows an establishing shot, many short films use these as they easily set the scene rather than it needing to be explained.

11. This also looks at the conventions of schizophrenia as both boys respond as if they are both real. EDGAR depicts RONNIE as real and not a delusion.

12. This is a shot following conventions of the French New Wave as it has elements of a long distant track.

13. And 14. Show how schizophrenia can affect concentration and how one can lose track of time due to there perception being off.

14.

15. Reverting back to colour is a dangerous thing as most films tend to stick to one or the other, but we justify it as the colour signals true reality and how life can come crashing down on a person in an instant

16. Is a crash zoom, a tough shot to do so you are unlikely to see it in most short films but we feel it was the perfect shot for our ending.

Question 2 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages

1) Blogger - Blogger is classed as a new media technology as it is an online website where you are able to post blogs on a topic of your choice, from media work to a blog about everyday life. Blogger is one most used media technology I have used as it enables me to post all my work in one place. Blogger allows us to import photos, videos, edit, add and delete parts of our work with ease. All of my work displayed on this software has been put onto my blog using these simple and easy techniques. Blogger simplified the task of putting all my work in one place.

2) Canon 550D - This new media technology was crucial when looking at the practical side to my coursework. I used it to take pictures when we were filming, this was to obtain evidence and improve the aesthetic aspects to make my blog via the pre-production, production and post-production. This was used it to take photos for my postcard and my film review. The shots taken were a high quality due to how advanced and new the camera was.

3) Photoshop - Photoshop is the programme where I have edited all of my images I needed within my A2 coursework, the software is a lot to take in at first but we are able to find out any instructions about it on the internet. It didn’t take long before I fully understood how to use due to the detailed tutorials. This software was best used when creating my postcard front and back and my film review.

4) Adobe Premiere Pro - I used this software to capture, create a rough cut, and edit both the visuals and the audio by a series of effects and setting changes. This software was ideal programme for us to use due to its simple nature. Without the use of Adobe Premier Pro the editing process of our project would have been almost impossible. Adobe Premier Pro gives allows the user to create high quality pieces in a short space of time.

5) IMDB – This website allowed me to look at all the films imaginable for research purposes. I was able to find work from Jean-Luc Godard with ease and films that involved schizophrenia. This was ideal as all the information was in one place making the research gaining process much quicker.

6) Internet Explorer - I used this to do my research throughout the process of pre-production, production and post-production. Internet Explorer was paramount when looking at trying to research all elements of the film as all the information once again was stored in the same place. Without this software I would have struggled to find out much if any information as even a library doesn’t have archives on every film and media filming techniques.

Final Products

This is the link to our final film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c7BOGMqoII&feature=youtu.be
This is the feedback we received.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-6Bi2DPiqm4

This is my final post card design, the feed back is to follow.

The feed back I received was very good as a whole but many had contrasting views on the black and white theme.

Film Review:

Film review words:

Black and white comes back into fashion with an almighty bang, directing team of Alex Coles and Thomas Redding has created an inspired film about a boy and his struggle to come to terms with his recently developed mental illness. Throughout the film we see a boys reality come crashing down on him as the past few days he has been living turn out to be a lie. The film gives a clear depiction of the symptoms with subtle hints embedded throughout. The film shows Edgar having to put up with a series of stressful situations, he has no mother, his farther has become distant and his brother Ronnie has become unimaginably present in his everyday life.

Edgar and Ronnie are both your typical adolescents going through a standard couple of days at school and life at home. They share a best friend in Derek and go to all the same lessons, it’s like they are almost the same person. This eventually gets to pair when they have a heated argument in the boys toilets.

With this new found rage Edgar rushes home but as he waits alone he realises Ronnie is missing, he nervously waits for his dad to return. Upon his dad’s return he confronts him with the problem, however what at first seemed like reality may not be as real as Edgar thought. In panic he runs to his room where life itself comes crashing down him as he relives the past few days with a vital element of his life missing and no sign of Ronnie, the film comes hurtling to an end with a bold crash zoom. The zoom itself exposes the powerful message that it is uncontrollable when mental health illnesses can strike but it is clear how to spot the symptoms.

The film shows simple yet effects shots from a variety of angles to ensure audience desire to watch on. The film itself has many references to the style of French New Wave, in particular the work of filming legend Jean-Luc Godard. The film also has characteristics from the dogma 95 another bold style of filming.

Post Production Report

The first step in turning our recorded footage into a short film was to capture the scenes we needed to edit. To do this we plugged the camera into the editing suite and viewed all our footage. We then carefully filtered out the unnecessary takes and was the left with the raw footage we needed to begin editing our piece.

Due to time restraints and demand for the editing suite we was unable to make a logging rush, however this did not hinder our editing as we labeled shots and ensured we knew where they all were.

The first step was to order the footage in the correct order and cut the shots to a more precise length.

We then changed the contrast and made it black and white via a series of visual effects.

This is where we added a fade to the toilet door.

Once we was pleased with the visuals we then adapted the sound levels to ensure it wouldn't go to loud and ruin the viewing experience.

Our final task in filming was to import the music we found on ww.unsignedbands.com and import the credits.

Post 12: Production Report

Most of our film was filmed during weekends, the footage in to school and edit it during the week. Because the actors we used were of a GCSE drama class, it was easy to get them to perform the roles to a high standard, especially with the two main actors, both actors came highly recommended from the drama teacher we asked us to help with casting.

This picture shows me arranging the class room for one of the most important scenes in the film, this was the scene where RONNIE appears to disappear and then reappear in a seat the other side of EDGAR.
Once I had set the scene I then coordinated where I wanted the extras to be and how I wanted them to act. I distributed books to them to help aid the look and feel of a standard day in a class room.

This image shows me setting up the tripod so it was ready to shoot the scene.

This shot shows Alex on the camera filming the scene, but the arm raised was my idea to indicate the start of the bell and signal for the cast to leave for lessons. This meant the cast had an easy signal to follow and there was a reduced chance of an unnecessary noise as he was just raising an arm.

Post 11: The Postcard.

1. Analyse the conventions of film posters using at least 2 examples

2. Discuss why short films might find it hard to market their film using this strategy and introduce the idea of postcards.

Most high budget films use posters as a way of advertising their film, our task is to make a short film on a very low budget meaning it is more suitable to the use of a postcard.

Marketing a film is very expensive meaning that advertising your short film is hard to make it a success. Postcards are cheaper to produce and much easier to distribute.

They can be taken to festivals and the address space on the back means it can be sent to friends. Although posters and postcards do have very similar conventions, I have have chosen to make postcards because the space for the address can be used to target potential employers, funders to support any further work done and and is better suited to a to a short film.

3. Analyse postcards

From looking at these post cards it is clear to see that the majority seem to follow the same trend:

1. Include title

2. Brief synopsis

3. Space for address

4. Slogan

5. Cast, production company and cast involved (major ones)

6. Stamp, I will include a QR code as that can be a direct link to my blog or a website about the film.

4. Postcard Ideas.

Post 10: Pre production documentation

The Risk assessment.

This will allow us to take the appropriate precautions when filming on every scene before we even get there, this will reduce the chance of injury and the chance of damage to equipment.