Evaluation - Nick

Introduction

This is the evaluation of our Advanced portfolio where i will be taking a look back at the previous work that my group and I have created which has all lead to the final product and the ancillary tasks. The original idea for our short film came from a group discussion. All of us in the group wanted to create a horror and we tried to think of ways that we could present it. When Amy mentioned the video game Slender she was at first joking. However the idea became more and more of a reality and soon enough this was the game that our short film would be based on.

This also gave us a challenge as it allowed us to experiment with the narrative which the game did not really have. In the end we felt that the game worked generally well as a horror narrative and was a good experimentation of the genre and its conventions. All these aspects have been examined and observed and are covered in this evaluation.

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

Main Product

For the evaluation of our short film I will use the conventions of real media products to overview the work that we have done as a group.

1. Narrative

2. Characterization

3. Mise En Scene

4. Genre

5. Editing

1. Narrative

Our short film contains a linear narrative. Which means the film is presented in a chronological order event wise. We felt that this would be more effective than a non-linear narrative as it could allow us to build suspense in our short film. Our film only is five minutes long also left little from for character development and we felt that a non-linear narrative wouldn’t help with this. The Narrative is relatively simple. It shows three teenagers going into the woods trying to find out whether the internet phenomenon the “Slender man” is real. It involves these teenagers going into the woods at night to look for him. When they are one by one picked off by the Slender Man. We didn’t want to use the exact plot from the game as we wanted to have some difference between the two in terms of narrative. The game didn’t have much of a narrative either as it was more of an objective; we wanted to expand on that by adding a bit of story into it. 

2. Characterization 

To allow viewers (who we expected to be in their teens) to relate to the film, we decided to make the main characters all teenagers. We chose teenagers also for their vulnerability at that stage of their life, and that this would work well with the genre of the film which is in fact horror. I feel that we gave Max the most characterization out of most of the characters. I think this was because we wanted a moment where the other characters were killed off so that the main character felt more isolated and afraid making the audience so as well. I do feel that perhaps we could've given the other characters a bit more time in the story as well but as it is a 5 minute film I do look back on it and think that we wouldn't of been able to fit it in. 

3. Mise en Scene

As this was a horror film we decided to film in the woods at night for a number of different reasons. Firstly was that we were able to use the lighting creatively and it made for some interesting compositions. With the lighting we were able to highlight certain objects and make them more important then any other object or piece of scenery on the screen. For example the scene where our main character (Max Hilbourne) holds the match up to the camera, we are given an eery light which creates certain shadows onto Max's face. Being in the middle of a pitch black forest we had to control the lighting carefully as well so that we didn't make anything too bright or too dark, but just about right so that the audience could see the scenery but not that its obvious that we are using lights to do it. Another reason we chose to shoot in the woods at night was because it give the viewer a sense of isolation that it wouldn't have during a horror film perhaps set in the middle of the day. Lastly our reason to shoot during the woods at night was that the game was set in that area. We didn't want to make an exact replica of the game on film but we did want to have some references to it and we thought that this was one of the best ways to do so. 

Costume was also an important part of our short film as well especially for the Slender Man. For the slender man we gave him the costume that he was wearing in the game so that viewers would recognize who he was. The Costume was quite easy to acquire. Our actor for the Slender Man (Tom Folkes) had a suit that was perfect for what we needed. The mask however was incredibly difficult to get a hold of. Reason being is that we had just passed Halloween and a very popular costume at the time was the Slender Man, so you couldn't find a single mask on the internet. What we instead managed to do was buy a shirt from a charity shop which we cut up and sewed into a mask for the character to wear. This was unfortunately really a final option and because of it's quality the mask had creases on it. However these sort of worked to our advantage as they created some interesting shadows in the final film. The costumes for the teenagers where rather generic teenager clothes. As the film was set in the middle of the night the actors provided costumes that looked warm and were suited for that time of night. 

We also had a number of props for the film as well. The story had the characters using cameras to track down Slender Man's movements. So we used some of the cameras that we used for filming for those, as they did look like the kind of cameras that you would find in the average household.

4. Genre

We chose Horror for our short film as that was what was most suited for it. The game in itself was a horror and we thought that if we wanted it to be based on the video game then that would be the direction that we would take it. 

Its the main antagonist (Slender Man) who provides most of the scares for the film, and we obviously had to make him as scary as we possibly could. To do this we decided not to show the Slender Man as much as any of the other characters as we felt this would give a sense of anonymity to him, as its not exactly clear who or what it is that's hunting the Characters down. In total the actual Slender Man himself only appears for around 5 seconds overall in the short film. To make the film more scary as well we chose to film in the woods at night. The woods can sometimes be a very big and lonely place and can often provide a sense of isolation that is absent from more populous places.  

5. Editing

Amy was our lead editor on this project and I feel that she did a very good job at presenting some of the scenes in the film. She made very good use of quick cuts at the fast paced scenes including the chase sequence. I also helped by creating the establishing shots for the film. me, Amy and Andrew felt that the audience need to get an idea of how far out and how big we wanted this place to be, so we used long establishing shots to demonstrate this. What I also found interesting about the editing of our film was how the non-diegetic sound really had an impact on the film overall. I felt that it made the film much more dramatic and it wouldn't of made the film have the effect it has had it not been there. Especially in the chase sequence when the music is suddenly raised so that the suspense is raised at the same time also.

For the next part of this question i will analyze 4 shots from my film  which is inspired by the film website "Art of the title"

Shot 1 - This shot is one of the opening shots to the film. I like this shot the most out of all of them because of the lighting in it. The way the light gradually turns on reveals most of the setting an thus becomes an establishing shot. For that reason I thought the lighting was very effective

Shot 2 - This shot was also a good establishing shot. We put the tent in this position in the middle to show how big the forest is in comparison. I thought this was clever as it does show almost how lonely they really are in these woods. 

Shot 3 - This is really the first shot of all the actors (with the exception of Slender Man) all together. I thought showing this shot would be a good way of showing the characters relationship on camera and how they interact with each other. 

Shot 4 - This is an example of one of our Night Vision shots that i talked about earlier. I found these useful as it made it look as if it was the characters camera. It allowed us to differentiate between shots also.

Shot 5 - This was a shot with one of our major props. The note I created using paper and water colours, but i wanted it to look exactly like how it appears in the game as i felt this would make a good reference to it. 

Shot 6 - This shot was worked very well as a fast paced shot. We put the camera on the floor and we let Max jump over it whilst running. We felt this gave a certain sense of urgency and panic to the scene.

Shot 7 -  This next shot was edited heavily in post production. As we couldn't get the torch to flicker on its own. We gave the illusion of it flickering in post production. We flashed the screen to black and then back to the shot continuously

Shot 8 - The second to last shot I'll be looking at is the one with the match. The match exceeded our expectations in terms of lighting as we didn't think it would provide enough light to light up the scene, But it provided more than enough and some excellent shadow as well.

Shot 9 - The last shot I'm looking is also the last shot of the film. This mirrored the games ending which we thought was good reference and it was also good editing on Amy's part. The way the static came up at the end was achieved in final cut pro with extensive work

Ancillary tasks

Iron Man 3 – Theatrical Poster

- Audience
The Audience of this film would most likely appeal to the average teen of around 12-20. The film being of the superhero genre could also be enjoyed by children and adults as although the character does appear to have some minor cuts and sights of blood in the poster, the bright colours of the suits and background give it a lighter balance.

In addition, the top font reads “from the studio that brought you ‘Marvel’s Avengers Assemble’”. This is obviously directed at the audience of the movie ‘Marvel’s Avengers Assemble’ and is giving us the message that the people who enjoyed that movie will enjoy this movie. Also the having the title ‘Iron Man 3’ also tells us that this is the 3^rd in the series and those who also enjoyed the previous iron man films are likely to see this one.

- Representation and Genre
From what we can see on the poster, the poster can be assumed to be an action. The explosions in the background offer us a big hint as most action films are often associated with some form of explosions. In addition the pose in which the main character ‘Iron Man/Tony Stark is in with his fist clenched and in the position which shows he is ready to attack could also be pointed towards action.

The Poster could also be depicted to be that of the Sci-fi genre also. The suit that the main character is wearing is mechanical and has a futuristic look to it. The suits flying to the sky in the background can also support this. The suits could also lead us to believe that this is a superhero movie. Flying without help or support is often considered to be a super heroic trait.

- Narrative
The poster doesn’t give too much away in terms of narrative but it does show a number of things that can hint towards the story. Iron Man from the look of his armour has obviously been in some sort of confrontation due to the damage sustained on his suit. The house in flames in the back ground could also support this. We can also see that there is more than one iron man suit in the poster and that they are in use. This could mean that iron man now has an army at his command or that these are in fact antagonists and that they are the cause of the confrontation.

- Media Language
The title’s font although not too big in comparison to the poster itself, is the biggest text on the page. The title is red with a small yellow outline, which resembles the Iron Man armour, the font is also blocky, and has been made to look like a form of metal. This contrasts with both the title and the suit itself.

There is no tagline on the page apart from the studio mention at the top. There is no billing block either, this could mean two things. That the poster is an international poster or that it is a teaser poster and most teaser posters tend not to include a billing block. The company logos do appear at both of the bottom sides of the poster, they are grey in colour and small but they are easily visible. The release date is also given at the very bottom as well

Django Unchained – Final Theatrical Poster

- Audience
I would say although that not too much information is given away that Django Unchained should be for the adults 17+. The blood splatters behind Django (the main character) and in front of the other supporting characters can point towards the fact that there will be some form of blood/gore in this picture.

In addition in the middle of the poster the text reads “The New film by Quentin Tarantino”. Tarantino is a very famous film director and is known for his excessive use of violence. This can also support that this film is strictly for adults. This along with the list of actors on the poster says that those who do enjoy Tarantino’s and any of these other actors’ movies will most likely enjoy this one.

- Representation and Genre
The poster shows us that the film can be looked at as an action movie. Firstly the tagline at the top reads “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Vengeance”; Vengeance is often a goal of an action movie character; this could also be the case for liberty as well. The blood splatters on the page coupled with two of the characters holding guns also supports this idea that this is an action movie.

However this could also be deemed as a spaghetti Western. The clothing of the characters mostly supports this. The Stetsons worn by the characters are commonly used in Western movies. Plus the clothing of the character on the left of the poster points towards that of an 1800’s origin. The guns are also not modern weapons in their appearance; these types of guns and the holster on Django’s belt are stereotypically used in western movies.

- Narrative
Not much at all is given away from the poster in terms of narrative. However the main tagline does give us sort of an insight. “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of vengeance” could point to us that this is a tale about a man’s life, a man’s life that has either been freed or has freed someone else and that the vengeance part could be his payback from his earlier imprisonment.

- Media Language

The Title of the poster is only a little bit bigger than the text about the director. The title along with the director's contribution, and the release date is in red. This is to probably match with the blood in the background. The characters are also in black and white as well which makes the red stand out that much more. The blood is obviously an important part of the poster and the advertiser wants the viewer to see that.

In additon to the title fonts you also have the billing block and the company names down below the bottom of the poster. There you also have two website adresses. One of the Actual website of the Movie and the other for the facebook page, so its obvious that they want to get people on social networking sites to see the movie in the cinemas as well.

 

 

Dredd Review - By Little White Lies

The Review for Dredd in Issue 43 of Little White Lies is presented in the Standerd format for most LWL issues. The main image at the top is the centre piece of the review covering a little under half of the page. The Article itself is laid out in 3 collumns and also includes the final summary of the review as a whole to the right of the page. The Title is presented in bold letters in the middle of the page with the cast and crew credits just underneath it. They name both the director and the main cast members as well as the release date for the film itself. The Review is written in a way which challenges media conventions and continously alludes to film references. It is obvious that the magazine and this review is not aimed at the casual film viewers but the avid movie-goers.

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

 

 

 Poster

- Audience

feel that I created the audience for this poster for the target audience of the film which is for 12-18 year olds. I feel as though I have created this primarily because of the main characters image taking up most of the poster. Seeing as the main character is a teenager this would attract that target audience. I have also included the list of actor’s names at the top of the page, so that if this were a real film poster, the audience would be targeted at those who have seen their other films for instance. I have also included in the billing block of the poster “based on the video game ‘Slender’”. This and the film’s title would attract the players of that game. 

- Representation and Genre

The way the image is drawn with the cross hatching gives the poster a gritty look which i felt pointed towards the horror genre. I also thought that having the poster black and white would also add to the gloomy feel of it which stereotypically is a horror trait.

The font of the title has white splatters going across it. I thought this would be a good way of relating to blood which is also commonly seen in horror movies. 

- Narrative

I felt that I didn't want to give really much away in this poster as I wanted it to be minimalistic as possible to give a sense of mystery to it, just as the way the Slender Man is in the film to the characters. You can pick up on the fact that the Slender Man is behind him and that it gives the impression that he is stalking him. Also fans of the game which is who the film is aimed at as well as teenagers would be able to see that this is a movie based on the game, and would get a fairly good idea of the plot.

- Media Language

The Image i wanted to be the center piece of the poster, so I made it cover most of it as i wanted it to be the thing that the viewers would see first. I also included the actors names on the top of the poster equally spaced apart from each other so that they look symmetrical and neat. The Title I created on Photoshop using the Impact font. For the title i applied a layer of an image of paint splatters and i upped the exposure to make the splatters white rather than the original red. I also included a billing block with the names of everyone and the mentions. I included a release date as well I the poster. 

 

 Review

 

The review itself we wanted to have an exact resemblance to what you would find in a Little White Lies magazine. Everything about the review is exactly the same to a Little White Lies review in terms of dimensions and fonts, including the style as well. The only real difference is the text and the picture. The picture I chose as it showed the slender man in a very creepy pose. I felt that this image led to a number of different questions such as who the character is. Also i felt the lighting in the image and the darkness in the background showed that this is not a light hearted movie and that its more of a horror instead. For the review I was tasked with writing the original draft for which i tried to stylize my writing to that of a Little White Lies journalist. In it i tried to use references here and there to other video games and films such as "perhaps it’s this that may yet prove there is a light at the end of that 32bit tunnel for video game movies" and  tried to use as many sophisticated words as possible.

The reason we chose that picture for the review was to give an overall first impression of the film. The film being described in writing isnt the same as a visual representation of it. You can describe the tone of the film all you like in text but it can never capture the real feel that visual imagry has on the overall feel of the film. This particular image was taken on the first day that principal photography started on the film. I was trying to take photo's for the poster when I captured this great image of Tom as the Slender-man. I felt the minimal lighting on the image gave it a dark tone with the monster being the centrepiece of attention. This is why I felt as a first impression it would work well for our review. 

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Our Audience feedback came mostly from the social networking site “Facebook”, however we did gain feedback from a few more sites namely “Blogger” and “YouTube”. We posted some of the drafts and some final products onto the site to gain feedback from our friends to see what they thought of the film and any other products in general. The First piece of our blog that we put onto Facebook was the film itself. We asked for feedback on our film in the comments section and we received 7 likes from people on our film, plus we had a comment expressing how they enjoyed the film. The link to the Short film (which was posted on YouTube) was shared by a few more people, prompting other people to view the film also. The Actual Link to the film on YouTube showed the Statistics of the film and how many people viewed it. The film itself got 88 views in addition to two thumbs up. We also learned from the YouTube Statistics that the top demographic who watched the film were 13-17 year old males and females. This supports our decision to aim for a teenage audience. Two of my poster designs were also put on Facebook. Each poster received 10 likes including one person making the images of our poster their profile picture on the site. 

We have also looked on the feedback on the blogger site and we have seen that we record many page views on our blog every month with a total of 765 page views, with the most popular month being December with 228 page views. We have also discovered that most of our audience originates from both the UK and from the USA with each having page views of 616 and 102 respectively. This tells me that perhaps the internet is most popular in these countries than in anywhere else, it also tells me that perhaps that the video game is played most in these areas as well. Another Demographic to look at would be the way that users access the blogger site.
 The Browser that people most use for the site is Firefox, whilst internet explorer and Safari follows closely behind. Interestingly enough though, the operating system that is used to access these sites is Windows with 549 page views, and the iPhone's Operating system in second with 112 page views. This tells me that not only are people using computers now but smartphones are also becoming increasingly popular and that short films such as these could see them distributed on such platforms. 

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

The Final question was answered using a website called Prezi that allows for the creation of presentations. To View the Prezi please click the link below:

http://prezi.com/j36_j9vq24p-/media-evaluation-question-4/