In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Camera
In our short film, we stuck to the conventions when using the camera. We used traditional camera movement and shots such as: a zoom out of a photo of the couple Joe and Scarlett on a previous date. A pan and tilt directed at clothes, over the shoulder shot during the phone conversation that was present in our short film. We also used a hand-held walking shots when Joe was approaching Scarlett's house, each one getting shorter in time to reflect the panic of Scarlett. We also used a variety of low and high angle shots, these were present during the search, when Scarlett was finding the lost bracelet.
Narrative Structure
When producing our short film we decided to follow the five part narrative structure which consists of the exposition, development, complication, climax and resolution. The exposition of our short film was the introduction of the characters, Joe and Scarlett getting ready. The development was the phone conversation that took place between the two main characters which would make the audience aware they were in a relationship with one another. The complication then arises when Scarlett realises the bracelet she received as a gift has gone missing. The climax is present whilst Scarlett searches frantically for the bracelet and Joe is slowly approaching her house. The climax is resolved when the bracelet is finally found without Joe acknowledging that Scarlet had lost it. The challenge of doing a full story is the given time period, 5 minutes. It leaves the audience feeling satisfied and familiar to bigger films. However, we challenged the typical conventional of a short film as the majority of short films have an open ending that results in leaving the audience to interpret an ending for themselves. We’ve successfully made a fully story within 5 minutes which therefore makes it easier to watch and to keep the audience familiar with films they are used to.
Sound
When focusing on the use of sound within our short film we decided to use a soundtrack that we felt successfully suited the genre/mood of the short film itself. The song title “Friday I’m in love” by "The Cure" reinforces the idea of a relationship between the two main characters, Joe and Scarlett. The use of this 1980s song also reflects the style of the lead characters with the theme being black and white. This soundtrack is present during the open of our short film. The soundtrack which is present throughout the whole of our short film is “Old Habits Die Hard.” I believed that this is successfully used when the tension is increased in this sort film, to show the dramatic increase the music and beats get louder and faster, this therefore reflects the frantic search being carried out by Scarlett. During the used of these soundtracks diegetic sound is silenced out. We developed on the conventional use of sound within a film, there is minimal use of diegetic sound and the main dialogue that is present is the phone conversation at the start of the short film.
Mise en scene
When focusing on the mise en scene for our short film we went into great detail with the costume, setting props. Our main idea was to create a modern day black and white film, to make this successful it was shown through the use of costume and settings. The majority of the characters costume is black and white; also the exterior of Scarlett’s house is white whereas Joe’s was black. This theme is consistent throughout the whole film. However we decided that the bracelet needed to be a different colour we therefore chose to use a silver bracelet so it would stand out once again reinforcing the importance of the gift. Natural light is used throughout the short film we added no extra lighting when editing.
Editing
When editing our short film we found several faults in the continuity of our short film. We then had to go back and re shoot several scenes. Still being conscious of continuity the main characters avoided changes to themselves such as clothing, hair cuts etc. When editing our film we used cuts, several fades in and out and several fades to either black or white as we felt this effectively showed change of time, so the audience could acknowledge a gift being recieved and the significance of the bracelet itself. These cuts effectively show a bond between the two characters, as each shot would flow into the other. The way we produced this short film was different to the way bigger films are produced. We shot our film in sequence where as most high budget films fail to do so. This therefore made it easier for continuity editing.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Our ancillary text that consists of our film poster and film review reflect our short film effectively. Our film poster is a final creative, media product which concludes the whole film. The combination of both the short film and the ancillary text reinforce the idea of love and relationships that is being presented constantly throughout our productions of our media products. The narrative within the film reflects the language which is used in both our film poster and review as it’s welcoming and easier for the target audience to relate to. The combination of the short film and review works effectively as the lack of dialogue present in the film is made up when identified in the very chatty, friendly, welcoming review that was produced. In our film review we mainly focused on using language which was conventional of a film review in Company magazine and this involves mostly informal language such as referring to “the norm of doom and gloom endings”. This was used as the simplistic chosen language will appeal to both the audience of Company magazine and the younger target audience of our film, being around the ages of 15-25. The positioning of the objects in our film poster shows that the bracelet is in the middle which emphasises the importance of it as it will be the main focus and what the audience will be drawn to first when analysing our film poster. We also chose to create our film poster in black and white to which automatically reflects the black and white theme present in our short film. The use of this constant black and white theme via props and costume within our short film create a modern day 80s sense which is then reinforced by the use of the song “The Cure - Friday I’m in love.” To keep this theme consistent we had to plan carefully therefore we had to choose appropriate filming locations and costumes. However, when choosing a bracelet we decided to choose a silver one which did not follow the black and white theme as we wanted something that would stand out. In the opening sequence of our short film we find Joe writing a note to Scarlett to go with her present. We decided to use the theme of a handwritten font throughout our media products to reflect the title “From Joe with Love” to reinforce the idea of someone giving something away, which in our short film is a gift. The handwritten font style is consistent throughout our main product and ancillary text as it appears in both. We however decided to go with this type of font to create a personal sense, and how the gift is personal between the two main characters, Joe and Scarlett.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout our construction, research, planning and evaluation stages we used a variety of media technologies which consisted of using the internet, using original Microsoft office programs, photo editing programs and adobe premiere in which our short film was created and edited in. When researching suitable conventions of a film poster and film review we were constantly searching around on the internet to see example of film posters and film reviews that were produced by specific magazines. This type of media technology was very simple as everyone is familiar with the way the internet works therefore it meant we did not come across any difficulties. Once we put together all the research found on the internet we then realised out product lacked the “professional look” and therefore decided we needed to produce a production logo. To produce this production logo we used the photo editing program Photoscape; the reason why we did this is because programs such as paint are very limited in editing wise therefore by using a specific program meant we could expand on our editing abilities and also create a professional looking production logo at the same time, as it has a variety of editing options in which we could experiment with until we were entirely satisfied. These editing options include maniuplating specific pictures so it could reflect the genre of our film. It allowed us to create a professional logo with fonts outside of the given set in Microsoft office, therefore it made it looked creativity as we managed to produce a specific style for our film. When in planning stages of our ancillary text we used original Microsoft office programs. An advantage of using this was that us as a team were all familiar with the way it work therefore we could crack on straight away with the production stages instead of spending time learning how things had to be done. When producing our film poster and film review we created both of them in Microsoft Publisher as we believed it was a suitable program to use, because we were all familiar with the program itself therefore we did not spend time learning how to use it would get straight on with the product. Using this program meant that we could easily create several layers on our picture. Using layers on pictures meant it was easier to edit stuff as if we were ever unsatsified with our work we could easily go back and erase something without wasting our time and having to start all over again. However we did come across a few difficulties, when in the construction stages of our short film we used a program called Adobe Premiere in which we were all unfamiliar with therefore we had to take time out and learn how things were used. Therefore by spending time getting use to the program meant that the time in which we had to edit our short film was getting shorter and shorter as we didn’t stop away. To overcome this problem we spent a few of our own hours in teaching ourselves how it was to be properly used. But, eventually, we got use to it, experimenting new effects we could add to our short film. By using Adobe Premiere meant we could edit the film to our own given expectations and experiment with new aspects of the program to create different effects in which would decrease or increase suspense within our film. However at times, the program itself would have faults in and broke down which therefore effected our editing times and delayed the final products of each of the media products we produced.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
When collecting our audience feedback from numerous set of audiences from both genders and a varity of ages. We collected our audience feedback through the forms of questionnaires and interviews. We found that there was mixed reactions, however we took both our negative and postive feedback on board. When analysing these audience feedback we found that the questions answered from the female audience were more indepth then those of the male audience this was due to the genre of our film which was a romantic comedy. This response was as expected. We asked several questions to get a valid image of how successful or unsuccessful our short film was. We were interested in whether we felt we represented the characters, location, props and the storyline itself effectively. From our audience feedback we learnt that our storyline came across as simple and easy to understand, although it showed us that our short film lacked a moral story within the 5 minutes. The feedback also showed us how the audience believed how effectively we used the camera within specific scenes to increase or decrease tension to reflect the mood of that scene.
