Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation 1

Audience Research Survey

Create your own user feedback survey

Distort - Final Production

Production Diary - Week 27

I finally managed to get all my filming completed for my production, which allowed me to move on to the editing process of my film. Using Adobe Premiere Pro wasn't as difficult after I had already completed the editing process with my camera test. However, for my actual film it became much harder as I had to try and edit out the small errors to make it flow better. In addition, with the camera test there was hardly any editing as it each clip wasn't an issue as it was only showing the different camera techniques and shots. By the end of next week, I am hoping for the editing process to be complete, so I can upload it onto my blog.

Camera Test

https://youtu.be/ADdlcwa_Q1I

Production Diary - Week 26

This week, I have created my Camera Test, which I will be using as my preliminary task for my coursework. The camera test involved multiple angles by which I will have used/been using in my film, such as zooming, cut and mid-shot. This was a useful task to carry out, as it helped me learn how to use the camera as well as learn how to use the software that I will use for my film, Premiere Pro.

I also created a powerpoint, which shows how I created the camera test, including importing clips and placing in an audio track. 

How I created my Camera Test?

Production Diary - Week 25

I have finally uploaded my Article and Poster onto my blog, as I produced what I have planned. Making the Poster and Article was the easiest part of the coursework, as you can quite easily follow your ideas, whereas actually creating the film to how you imagined is more difficult.

I had no problems with my Film Review, as I knew exactly what I wanted my article to look like and I had already picked my inspired film review magazine which was going to help me produce the design and concept of my review. I had previously written the text to my article, which meant I didn't have to waste time and could easily copy my created text onto the computer. However, I had to ensure that it was equally spaced out, with each column being the same width and height, otherwise it would look scrambled and unprofessional. This process continued throughout the design, which included the two smaller images being the same size and the lines creates. This would ensure my article was clear and professional. I wanted my film review to look like an old newspaper article; this idea was taken from a Little White Lies magazine. However, I am not overly keen with my background colour of the pale yellow and would of much preferred it to be the same pink tint as that in the film review magazine. Although, I feel that it led me to having a unique article opposed to following all the design used in the magazine, and instead produced and altered it to become my own. Overall, I do not have much to complain about my article and feel that it is how I had planned it to look. 

My poster however, had a few more problems which I struggled with; I used a picture of the same female, who is a main character in my film and tried to show her in two different lights. I aimed to create one half of the face to look like a normal woman who is seen in an innocent light and the other half of the face showing a darker side to the same woman. I feel that this gets across the message that I planned, about everyone having a dark side within them, as well as the audience will believe that due to how she is represented on the poster, that she is going to be the bad person in the film, however, the plot has a twist, which is unknown to the audience (Unless they read this beforehand!). I have followed the conventions of my genre and tried to produce a dark poster which creates a thrilling feeling for the audience. Overall, I feel that my poster follows the conventions of a film poster and represents the ideas of my film clearly and I am happy with the poster I have produced. 

Review

Poster

Review Draft 1

This was going to be my original Review for my production; at first, while using Little White Lies film magazine, I created this design and layout for my Review, which I thought was a good idea. After having time thinking about my final draft, I felt differently to the way it looks. Overall, I liked the layout as I felt it was very orginised, especially where the basic information of the film (director, starring and release date), as well as the top half of the review. However, I started to notice that the colours had no uniform to them, which don't represent the true genre of the movie. I wanted to create a uniform throughout, from my film, to the poster and to the article; this way it would be more conventional and represent my movie better. This is why my main change was the colours of the review, as they were more feminine colours which may not attract a wider demographic as they're pastel colours. After changing the colours, to which my new review is posted in a newer post, I also decided to change the two smaller images on the header. The reason I done this, is because I felt they didn't fit well on the review, so I changed them to my slogan to the movie 'Goodbye Sanity' to which is shown on both sides of the header. I feel that after the changes I have made has meant that my article is more conventional and more uniform to the genre and to my other coursework pieces.

Production Diary - Week 24

In today's Lesson, we have paused production due to a Mock Exam we have for media on Tuesday, which will be a full run-through of how the real exam will be like. This would also mean that during Tuesday's lesson there will be no coursework being done and won't start until Wednesday's Lesson.

This week, I have uploaded a lengthy blog post, which includes all the details of how far I have reached my coursework at the current time. It has details on all three pieces of my coursework (Poster, Article and Film), which have included any setbacks that have prevented my production and created barriers. 

Production So Far

At this stage through the course, I am currently completing my Article and Poster; the film however has been taken longer than hoped to obtain the remaining footage - setbacks have occurred which I will mention later on.

The Article I feel is very well laid out with a good design and clearly readable for the readers; the target audience for my film article surrounds the audience I have targeted for my actual film, who are a younger audience of 15 year olds and over. I used 'Little White Lies' film magazine to give me ideas for my layout and design of my film article, as I feel this magazine is very creative and uses a variety of unique designs for each article they write about. I took my article design from Little White Lies - The Carlos Issue from 2010; this issue included an article which looked like an old Newspaper, with the old pink printed paper and the old black and white text; this was the basis of how I would design my article as it is realistic, creative and follows the needed conventions of a article, for example, the paragraphing. My film article is nearly finished, with all the text needed written up; the final parts I need to do for my article is add the images I would like to include. The setback that is preventing me from finishing my article, is that for the images I wanted was going to be screen shots from selected film scenes of my film and use them as the images, to give readers a little insight to the film. However, I cannot complete this as yet, as I have not finished the film yet, but hopefully I will still be able to obtain images from the scenes I have already shot. The image shows the draft and the current state of my article; it clearly shows that as mentioned all thats needed to do is add the images in. By looking at the drafted article, I feel that it clearly demonstrates the audience I am aiming for, because the colours used are most likely to attract a younger aged audience as they're more interesting than the plain film articles, which are unlikely to attract my targeted demographic. As my main characters are mainly female, I feel this will automatically attract a female-based audience; this is also reflected in my article where I have used pale colours, such as pink and a light yellow. 

The poster to my film has got the images that I planned to add onto it, as well as already has all the text required, such as the billing block and the title of my film. I could say that I am finished with my poster however, I feel uncertain to whether it is complete or not. For the time being I am going to edit the images a little more using photoshop, which I can complete by the end of the week. I used the poster for the movie Annabelle as a way to find a idea for the poster, where it is simple yet shows the story or some inkling about the plot. The poster, I feel is creative with the way I have planned the idea and tried to produce it with the picture of the same woman used twice, but viewed in different lights; this gives as drastic effect as it confuses the audience to make them see the good side of the character before the twist, which is not at first what the audience believes. The posters image is conventional for a psychological thriller as it shows a dark image, with the main colours used being either white, black or red. The poster reaches out to the target audience, as I find many young people enjoy scary movies, and even though it is not a horror film, they will still be attracted to psychological thrillers, which are very similar. In addition, a female audience, as mentioned previously, will be more drawn to the film, due to the use of two main female characters; as well as being drawn to the movie through the use of the images on the poster, as it shows one of the main female characters in the film. The poster is effective as it portrays to the audience the story I want them to see, as well as the ideas that will enter their head, such as "the girl on the poster is crazy", as they will be shocked when they find out the twisted plot in the end, which makes it a good storyline for a psychological thriller. The image shows my draft of my poster, which after a little minor edits will be complete; comparing the poster and the movie of the film, they reflect the film in different lights, which I believe to be a effective way to reach different audiences. 

The production of my film however, is a different story; I have found it very challenging overall with this coursework, not necessarily with the poster and article, but to create the film has been a tough task. As mentioned on previous posts, when I struggled to view and edit the footage that I shot over the Christmas holidays, this set me back a few weeks, especially without knowing what scenes I would have to re-do, due to the sound being too low or problems with the lighting that has caused the scene to be unusable. I have edited and placed the footage that I am going to use in the file (Premiere Pro), however, I cannot complete anymore than this until I have gained all my footage. It become difficult when working with other people to find a suitable time to suit everybody, as people's schedules are usually filled with their current plans, for example if they work or if they're sick. These little problems can cause production to pause and gaining the footage for the film becomes very difficult. These problems that I am experiencing is tough to overcome, especially as you cannot determine or know any problems that will occur, as well as trying to find a way around them to come to some solution. I am currently talking with my other actors to find a suitable time to which they will be available to film; realistically, it is difficult to get people to film with you and ensure all the factors, such as the actors, having the equipment and the location being free, are available in one time slot to get the filming complete. It is not excuses that are made and although it is my responsibility to get the filming done, it is not always an easy scenario to complete this and does take time; however, I am hoping to get the filming does as soon as possible. 

Production Diary - Week 23

With no progress with being able to edit my film due to technical faults, I have had to continue with the production of my poster and my film. I have heard from the technician that within the next week he will be able to get access to a file converter which will be accepted on the computer I am currently using; due to the security placed in the school, many converters aren't accessible as they're blocked, as well as most downloads. The technician is hoping to install the converter onto the desktop to which the files can be converter to be editable via the needed software, Adobe Premiere Pro.

Production Diary - Week 22

This week, as shown from my recent post on tuesday, I have been continuing with the production of my poster. I feel uncertain as to leave my poster the way it currently is as I feel it could be more conventional with the change of colours and layout of the needed features. If I can alter some features of the poster, hopefully it will be more uniform again and more conventional.

Poster Progress Part 2

After adding the image to my poster, I started to question the colour usage, as I felt there wasn't as much flow to the poster that there was previously. This made me think about the uniform for the poster and whether it met with the image. Looking at the poster below, I didn't like the use of the white for the title, as well as the placement of the other features. I have chosen to think about the poster and start my film review, as maybe this will make me decide the uniform of the two.

Production Diary - Week 21

This week, with the problems with my editing process, I have to decided to continue with the production of my poster and review. I have uploaded a post this week showing the progress of my poster, which is coming along well. Hopefully within the next week it will be completed and ready to upload, where I can move on to my review.

Progress on Poster

This is the progress I have made so far with my poster, I have decided to do it on a black background, using both white and red text. I am beginning to like the way my poster looks with the font types used and colours; this is beginning to show a uniform with the font types and the conventions needed to present a psychological thriller. All what is left to do with my poster is to add the picture I wish to use in.

Production Diary - Week 20

These past weeks after carry out my filming have been very difficult, especially with the huge setback of the scenes I filmed for my film unable to play back or be edited. For the past few weeks I have spent time focused on my other coursework pieces, the review and poster, which will be finished over the next few weeks. Now I have access to the file converter, hopefully now I can continue with my filming and catch up with the missed time.

Production Diary - Week 19

This week I wrote a post relating to the setbacks I have been experiencing so far through my production. During this week, I have managed to sort some of this issues out, including the issue that I mentioned regarding the problem with opening and editing my film footage due to the film format. I have began using the converting software to change the film file formats to be able to use for editing. I have also, began to edit my film and camera test footage, which I will continue into the next week.

Production Setbacks

Editing:
In these past few weeks post-production, I have been determined to begin to edit my footage, using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.  Unbeknown to me, the camera's format coding was incompatible with this specific software; I was struggling trying to view the files on the Apple Mac - the only way I could view the footage was by opening them up in VLC software. This created more stress and bigger setbacks for my production, as VLC's format is still incompatible with Adobe Premiere Pro. I instigated searching the Internet for an answer to find a way of changing the file formats to be compatible with the editing software. With no succession, I started to believe I would have to rerecord my film using a alternative camera - this would waste time and possible set me back a few weeks, as I would have to wait for the Actors to become available again. This has also not allowed me to complete my camera test, which was my preliminary task for the coursework, but will be my first task once I have got the converters.  After addressing the problem with my Media teacher and the school’s technicians, we found a possible solution, which is to download converter software that allows files to be converted into their format they need, obtaining the codecs for the files to work in the software. Currently, I have been waiting over a week for the software to become available. Fortunately, the technician arrived today with the file converter software and installed them onto the Mac I am using. The converter software is called "Handbrakes", using a simple method, it allows files to be selected and converted to change the files format, making it compatible with Premiere Pro, and thus I can start my editing. 

This has been a real setback, as my footage has been waiting to be edited since the end of December, showing a lot of time has been wasted. Although, I look at it as a positive occurrence, as I have been able to experience a realistic setback that can occur if I was working in the film industry that causes production to pause.

Images:
It has been difficult trying to complete the final edits of my poster and review, as the actor that I need for the photographs has been unavailable. This has caused a setback, as I could have finished my poster and review, as well as posted the on my blog to show some of my production. This is another realistic situation, however, if I was to do this again in the future, I would produce a time-table to show actors and actresses availability. Also, to create another call sheet, for a production day a few weeks later after some editing, in case of reacting scenes again if the sequence wasn't to the standard is should be.

Production Diary - Week 18

This week, I have continued to focus on finishing my Poster and Film Review; these are both nearly completed with only two images needed to be added to them of the main character. The reason this has not been completed yet, is due to the actor being unavailable; this is a setback as this is a realistic struggle in the film industry, which hopefully can be solved within the next week. Next week, I can hopefully begin the editing of my film footage, the reason I haven't done this sooner, is due to technical issues that I have been experiencing, which I will explain in a post next week.

Slogan for my film

I have chosen the font type 'Mother-In-Law' font type for my slogan - this font type is shown in my font chart. I feel this was a good font type to use as it follows the similar conventions of the title, with it appearing distort, due the 'scratches' affect. I didn't want the two font types to be too different from each other, as it wouldn't fit with the conventions of a film poster; I chose two font types that are similar, yet in their own way distinct from each other. The title is different with the text having a 'drooping' effect, which makes it stand out more, yet having them both using a scratching effect, lets them be similar, meeting conventions.
I chose the slogan 'Goodbye Sanity', as it gives the audience an insight to the film, however, it doesn't give too much away, such as mentioning "She", giving away the story. By having the slogan this way, the audience are drawn in, linking closely with the definition of 'Distort'. It tells the audience that the stability of a characters mental state, will leave them without their sanity, causing the story to begin, yet the audience will not know this until the very end of the film, keeping the audience waiting, creating anticipation and the feelings created by a psychological thriller.
I have decided on red font, as it differs from the title, allowing it to stand out, as well as red being a representation of danger and strength, which are two feelings obtained from the film. The use of making the red quite dark, associates it with anger and rage, which are also represented in the film.

Production Diary - Week 17

This was the first week after returning from the Christmas break (2 weeks), which as posted I have been filming for my production. I have spent the first week back focusing on the addition parts of my coursework, which is to create a Review and Poster for my short film. I have focused on drafting up the text in my review, before I began designing the pages of the review; for my review I have decided to be a critical reviewer, as I feel it will make me be less biased, as well as be a true representation of what a review for my film would be like.  I also began creating my poster for my film; I have mainly been focusing on colours that I will use and the fonts - I have produced two font charts, showing potential fonts that I will use. I later chose on using 'CARACURA' as the font type for my title(shown in a blog post); I have noted the reasons why I feel this font type is the best option in connection with the conventions of the genre.

Font Chosen?

With the use from the font charts I produced, I decided on 'Caracura' font (shown above). I selected this font type, as it represents the visual definition of 'Distort', which is defined as pull or twisted out of shape or when the form of something has changed. This is represented in the font type, as the letters are being pulled out of shape and appear as though the ink has been smudged and scratched. As well as, I feel as though this is the right font type for my title, as it reaches the target audience, as the font conforms with the conventions of the genre, a psychological thriller; the text is out of shape and obscure, which can be viewed as chilling, a feeling gained by the audience when watching psychological thrillers. However, my idea for my poster is to alter the text colour to white, placing the text on top of a black background, as this will represent more of a psychological thriller. The colour White has the connotation of representing safety, however, by using is for a psychological thriller, will contradict this meaning, as well as the film not being as simple as first though of by the audience. 

Font Chart

                                   
FONT TYPES SHOWN ABOVE (TOP-BOTTOM):
Distorted and Scratchy, I Still Know, Broken Glass (OT1), Bad Coma, Come With Us and Caracura



                                   
FONT TYPES SHOWN ABOVE (TOP-BOTTOM):
Ghosts Everywhere, Marsh Things, Marsh Things 3D, Mother In Laws, Reasons to See Evil and Insomnia.

All font times @ dafonts

Production Diary - Week 16

Fortunately, I have been able to fulfill the goal to carry out my filming!! This means, next week I am able to go back to my media class and begin to conduct the processing stage, as well as look at the other pieces of the coursework: Review and Poster. I can hopefully review my filming and work out if I have to reshoot certain scenes.