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

Evaluation Question 4 on Prezi

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Question 3 on Prezi

Evaluation Question 2 -How effective is the combination of your main task and ancillary tasks?

Evaluation Question 2 on Prezi

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

Final Cuts of Products

FILM MAGAZINE COVER.

FILM POSTER.

Film Magazine Cover Construction

I then made some slight final adjustments of moving things to be properly in line with eachother (the barcode and sell lines) I also moved the masthead across a little bit so that there was more of a border round the edge and made the gap between the sell lines on the left smaller so that the text looks linked together. I'm quite proud of what I've made; I think it looks different and fairly cool, and I still think it is inkeeping with the tone of the other products I have made, whilst being a fairly appealing magazine cover.

I added a strip of text across the bottom of the page and more sell lines, to make it look more authentic, which was suggested to me after showing what I had made so far to people who could fit in with my target audience. I also changes the wording of "The Rise Edition" to "The Rise Issue", because I thought this fit in more with the typical institutional language seen on magazine covers.

I turned the barcode round and added a price to the cover. I also began to play around with using different sizes of text and adding other sell lines and a date. The only problem is that all the text on the cover is in the same font, so there isn't really any differentiation between the masthead and sell lines, which isn't typical of a normal magazine. It is also very hard to position this particular font, as the background can fill the gaps where the letters are, making the text unreadable. However, I think the font fits really well, so I will just have to position it where it is readable, rather than where I ideally want it to be. The problem of all the text being in the same font, which is I hadn't originally intended to do, I don't think looks too bad. I think because of the text in the background, the black behind the letters really works and it has a kind of vintage feel, as it's mimicking old sticker machines of past decades, fitting in again with the themes and focuses of the trailer itself. The barcode doesn't really seem to be at ease with the rest of the cover yet as well, which I think I will have to alter. I obviously also need to add more sell lines and features that the magazine will contain, or it might look a bit dull. I don't want to make it too loud and exciting however, because I would still like it to reflect the feelings of the trailer itself. Due to this I don't think I will include any secondary pictures for secondary articles.

Then I began to insert text and a barcode. I couldn't find a font that was bold enough to fit in with the background, but not too much to overcomplicate the so far quite simple look of the cover. I really like the font I chose in the end, which was downloaded from http://www.dafont.com/, and I liked the way it kept in with the handmade look of the whole page. I like the way that the pages in the background create a kind of border with their own borders around the edge of the cover, which I think I could use as a kind of guide for the sell lines. Some of the pages are upside down, and not so neatly aligned, because I thought it would look dull if they were all correct and accurate, whereas now it has a slight edge and difference about it, which is the look I wanted it to have.

I then stuck the plastic over the book pages with masking tape, and scanned what I had made in, to add text and maybe other images to it in photoshop. I made the cover to the dimensions of 24.4cm to 19.6cm, which was what I originally intended to do. I found the process of scanning in what I had manually made to then electronically process much easier and more practical for what I wanted to do instead of making the whole cover in photoshop. Also, in this way the process contributes to the mise-en-scene/genre of an independent, past referencing film magazine; and edition of which is featuring a film centered around the same subjects. However, instead of choosing one image, I put one over the other which I thought looked quite good, and when you moved one piece slightly, I really liked the outcome of all the different lines lying different ways over eachother. I suppose if you wanted to read a meaning into the image, as though you were studying the mise-en-scene of the cover, you could link it to the dullness and plainness that the main character experiences, without having anything to fill the gaps he feels mentally and emotionally. I liked the look of this and I couldn't decide whether or not it looked better with less or more detail, or with or without his glasses blocked in as they seemed to be a bold focal point in both the poster and the trailer. So, I drew out both of these on seperate bits of ripped up wallet to see which looked best. I then began experimenting with different materials. I tore up a plastic wallet and used the transparent plastic to trace the outline of the subject in the photograph. I thought this looked quite cool and "graphicy". This also fulfilled the intention of wanting the magazine cover to look arty and unconventional and I thought it would look more subtly striking and attractive to trendies, who are attracted to exclusively cool things. I then thought about a background, and so referred back to my original flatplan, on which the background consisted of old book pages. I ripped some out of an old penguin book and placed them behind the photograph. I thought it looked good because the yellowing pages added a different dimension to the greyscale image. Also, because they were yellowing, they referenced the past, which I wanted my character to do in the film trailer. The book pages furthered in their use, as they subtly hinted at the influences of the character and the obsession with cult/old/vintage items/music/books.

I began by looking at the images I had taken on location and deciding which would look best on an arty film magazine cover. I desaturated the image to make it greyscale (keeping the theme threading through all three products) and printed it off so that I could work manually to give it an authentic DIY look. I cut round the image in straight lines using a scalpol and ruler.

Film Poster Construction

This is the final cut of my film poster. I went back to the original design, which I thought was really simple and effective and just made the background a little brighter than it was before, so that it wasn't too dark and gloomy and made the person pictured stand out more than it did before. I'm happy with the outcome I've made, and I think it could pass as a real indie poster.

To try and make something a bit different, I made the image much larger and placed the image over the text (done by cutting and copying). However, this made the white credits barely visible, so I changed them to white, and made them smaller, so that they would all be visible on the white of the subject's collar. This took quite a long time, but after I had made all of these alterations, I decided that I liked it much better how it originally was, when the image was not so close-up and there was more in it. So, I went back to the copy before this was done and I moved the credits around so that they looked sharper and more well-placed. But because it isn't a product made for just me, I asked people who could be part of my target audience which they preferred before I changed back - everyone said they preferred the original one, because it was "more spacious and isolated... more imposing because it looks like it's looking down more... the title fits in better as well".

The next thing I did was cut away my subject from the background, so that I could leave the face very pale and drawn out, whilst making the background darker so that the text can stand out. When I did this, and edited the image to how I wanted it, because I had used the magnetic lassoo tool to cut out my subject's head, it looked as though the image of him had been taken in a different location to the background and pasted on top. At first, I wasn't pleased with this and wanted to change it, but then I looked at it differently and found that I quite liked the "D.I.Y" and rough look that it gave the poster and I decided to keep it.

I also added credits to the bottom of the trailer. I began writing them in the same font as the trailer included, and the same as the title of the poster, however, it didn't look very professional; it looked too bulky and clumsy and not at all like the type on the credits of a traditional film poster. To solve this, I scrolled through the fonts on Photoshop and found one that was a bit more compact and taller, so that the letters looked thinner, making the whole section look a bit more professional. I made the different roles that I was crediting be in a smaller font just like real film posters have, and I placed the institutional logos around the credits, again like a professional film poster. However, it still seemed like there wasn't enough to the poster - like there was something missing.

I made my film poster in Photoshop to A3 dimensions and inserted the title, (in the same font that was included in my trailer), logos and the image I wanted to use. In the flatplans I made, and which I am currently working from, the title was intended to be in black. However, as the two above screenshots show, a black title would have been very hard to read, and this was before I had edited the image to increase the contrast levels, which would have probably made the readability worse. I also asked 10 people from college which colour title they preferred and 8 out of 10 agreed that the white looked much more punchy and effective. So, I decided to use a white title, as it stood out from the background, and I don't think it looks as gloomy as the black, as white could hold connotations of hope, innocence, difference and bleakness; all concepts and ideas related literally to the title of "RISE.", or, if not, they do relate to the concepts in and behind my trailer. When I asked members of my target audience what they initially thought of my poster, I recieved comments such as "the fact that it is in greyscale is very effective... it makes it look sad and intense... it looks bold", which all seemed like I was making a positive start.

Trailer Construction

Above is the fourth cut of my trailer. I corrected the mistake with the "S" in the last sequence. To add something extra and more edgy, I tried increasing the contrasts of the shots, but that didn't really seemed to work and it lost the look that it had before, so I reverted back to the previous settings. I invited people who could be in my target audience to comment it on youtube, to give me some audience feedback. I have gained some feedback that it is still a bit long and that there is a shot near the end (1:47) that features the subject talking, but there is no audible dialogue. I don't think this is a negative point, as there is a dialogue over the top, and it could be read as him not being paid attention to/ being ignored, which would again echo the purpose/ idea behind the film. Below are some comments that I received in response to this cut of the trailer and nobody seemed to have any criticisms of the trailer when I showed it to them.

Below is a short clip of one person in my target audience who I asked their opinion of regarding my trailer. The clip isn't very long, but they didn't have any criticisms and their feedback was very positive. They understood the message and meaning of the trailer straight away - also commenting that it appealed to trendies and indie scenesters and explaining why. I also had other chats like this one with other people who could be in my target audience to find out the strengths and weaknesses of my work, but sadly I didn't film them.

This is the third rough cut of my trailer. I have gotten rid of the soundtrack that I made in Garageband, and imported some sound files that I recorded myself; one on an acoustic guitar and one on an electric using a "FuzzBrite" and "Danelectro" pedal. These pedals gave quite a good 60s/garage sound, which sadly became slightly distorted when I recorded it through an amplifier using a microphone. Below is a picture of the guitar and equipment I used, recording the sound into a laptop.

Despite this fact, I still think it sounds much better than the Garageband soundtracks and I think it fits in with the tone of the trailer much better, giving a more gritty and home-made sound. I used one acoustic and one electric track to reflect the variation of emotions that would be in the film really; low feelings like sadness and despair, and more edgier, hard-hitting feelings like anger or happiness. I also managed to cut down 27 seconds of the trailer, making it more the length of a real trailer. I got rid of a few shots which I thought could be irrelevant and hinder the audience understanding it, such as the shot of the sky turning round and this also helped me to make the trailer more like a real trailer length. I lost the rest of the time by cutting shots down to the bare minimum that they needed to be seen. I think I have improved it a lot from the last rough cut and I'm pleased with the outcome.

However, after asking my peers what they thought of it, a couple of people pointed out that they aren't sure what the story-line actually is. This could be a problem, because the point or the idea of the film was that there was no story-line; it is just about a young boy growing up but not identifying with anything and trying to find a way through that - it's meant to be like real life. So, I think this problem could be solved by creating or inserting some text to create a bit of a narrative thread throughout the trailer. I could possibly add another voiceover, with a different speaker to give the audience an idea of some kind of narrative, but I don't want to over-complicate things, I want to keep a kind of simplicity that mirrors the life of the character in the trailer. Also, I don't want there to be too many sounds; when there was no soundtrack, the trailer seemed dull, but it seemed acceptable and I liked the background noise in everything, but if I add too many sounds, I don't want to lose that feel. I have also noticed that the in the end sequence of letters and short shots, the "S" is too big for the area it is in, so is cut off and then fades out, which I will need to go back to and correct.

This is the second rough cut of my trailer. I corrected the colour issue that was present in the first rough cut, and added a soundtrack. I created the soundtrack using Garageband, but I'm not really very happy with it. Below is a screenshot of me using the software to create a trailer song.

It sounds really dull and I'm not very competent at using the software at all, so I ended up looping the same instrumental sections over and over, which I don't think sounds great. There also weren't any sounds that I could find that sounded especially 60s or nostalgic. I think that to overcome this I will try recording myself playing the songs that I originally wanted to use on the guitar and see what they sound like in the trailer. I also added a shot saying "presents" after someone commented that it would enhance the trailer and make it look more professional. However, after seeing in the trailer after uploading it into my blog, I have to say that I disagree and I don't think it really fits as I had to use the font Arial to have continuation with the text at the end of the trailer, and it just looks dull and unnecessary. In addition to this the trailers that I used in my textual analysis did not contain this feature, so I think I will cut this out of my trailer.

This is the first rough cut of my trailer. Basically, so far I've captured/imported the footage and institutional logos, putting them in order in coordance with my storyboards and uploaded it to see what it looks like so far. I used the "desaturate" tool in Final Cut Express to make the footage greyscale, but as you can see I missed out one shot by mistake. There also isn't any soundtrack, so it looks a bit dull and boring, which I will try to change. It's quite long at the moment, at 2 minutes 32 seconds, so I may have to shorten some shots as trailers aren't really that long normally. I think there are some good shots in my trailer however, and I am pleased with the voice-overs/monologues and how they fit with the footage. I need to alter the sequence of shots towards the end of the trailer, which I can't do until I have a soundtrack, because I intended them to be fast-paced and in time to some 60s sounding music. I like that the look of the trailer is quite rough and plain and I think it fits in well with the narrative.

This is a screengrab of using Final Cut Express, which I am using to create my trailer. I'm suprised at how quick and easy the process of getting used to the software has been and I enjoy using the programme. However, there are still alot of features that I have not used, or featured in my trailer. I plan to do so during the process of making the trailer.

Soundtrack Problem

Today our media class was told that our teachers have been informed by OCR that we aren't allowed to use a copyrighted soundtrack, regardless of whether or not we had been granted permission from the artist to do so. This means that I will have to create a soundtrack myself, which will be a problem as I am not very competent at using Garageband, as I have previously found out. The soundtrack was what I was hoping would thread my trailer together, as the lyrics and nostalgic sound contributed to the narrative. However, I will nevertheless have to spend some time using the music software and getting to grips with how it works. This will probably eat into my production time as it will now be the largest chunk of production taking up the most time.

Shooting

11 September - 12 September

I really like this image as well. Pete isn't positioned the same as in the flatplans, but I think it still looks good for either the film poster or film magazine cover. I took all of the photos on location at the car park, instead of out in the open as I intended to for the magazine cover image. I did this because I thought it was a great atmospheric location, that helped to reflect a lot of the sentiment that I wanted to be in the film trailer.

I would have liked the above image for the film poster, if it wasn't for the fact that you can see myself reflected in Pete's glasses. However, I could use this image for the film magazine cover and collage over this reflection, which I think would look really good, but it may be abit too close to/similar to the image I want to use for the film poster.

I really like the above image and I think it would look great with text over for the film poster. Below is the image in greyscale, not heavilly edited, but just to give a rough idea of what it would look like, which I think looks pretty good. It was a lot harder to take photos from this position, which was the one I had planned to take it from, than I intended. This was partially because I'm not as tall as Pete, and partially because the sun kept reflecting in his glasses, or casting my shadow onto him. So, there is still some light being reflected, which I couldn't really help. I also like the "UP" written on the floor in the background as it matches the film title "Rise.":

These are some photos taken during filming, showing me capturing shots of Carol leaving the house as shown in the storyboard.

Shooting Schedules

This is a scanned in shooting schedule that I used for the stills camera on the days of shooting. I didn't actually stick precisely to it however, and I just took as many shots as I could.

Below are scannings of the photoshoot plans that I used during the course of filming. I used them to record when each shot was taken, and what each shot was of, which will be useful and make the footage easy to navigate my way around when it comes to the editing stage. I wasn't really sure about editing decisions as of yet, so I made some notes about what I think would work with each shot, but they aren't anything definite, as I think it would be very hard to tell how to edit the footage without watching it properly yet.

During the filming, I decided to get rid of the shots where passers-by in the street were shouting "Oi wanker" at the main character. This was partly due to not being able to get all my models together at the same convenient time, and it was also partly due to the fact that I had quite a lot of footage and I thought for the purpose of the trailer that it wasn't needed and it would save time, leaving more chance to get other good shots.

Alterations to Plans

On the Tuesday before shooting, my main actor (John) dropped out of my project because of an important enagement. I asked my friend Pete to step in for me, which he agreed to, and below is the model release form and call sheet for him.

This change also meant changing the main character's name, of which he now has none. I thought that as there are no names mentioned, this wouldn't matter and also adds an absence/sense of removal that could reflect isolation. Also, other films that I like have the feature of nameless characters, such as "Withnail And I" and "Is Anybody There?" - a name adds identity and a past which I don't want my character to have because I want him to be purely relateable.

Risk Assessment and Hazard Evaluation

For every location I want to shoot in, I have filled in risk assessments and hazard evaluations to try and identify and minimise the risks/hazards in each. Below are the sheets for

The sheets below assess the dangers in the South Park.

These are the sheets assessing the risks in the house I want to shoot in.

The sheets below correspond to Feethams disused football ground.

The sheets below are for the Cornmill Shopping Centre car-park.

The sheets below are for the back lane I want to shoot in.