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What have you learned from your audience feedback?

From our audience research we learned a number of things:

  • The majority of people preferred the genre comedy, however due to the difficulties of making a comedy, such as the risk of the audience not finding the material funny as well as the budget issues we decided to make a film of the drama genre which although wasn't one of the most popular genre for the people, was the easiest due to its grounded realism. This also told us that drama was more of a niche market.

  • Short films aren't necassarily unknown as almost 60% of people have seen a short film, not only this but multiple films are regularly watched by the public which told us that the market for a short film was popular and not necassarily niche.

  • People preferred short films with dialogue and liked short films with a clear and interesting storyline that will captivate the audience, whilst leaving them with a strong message. They also liked short films with characters that you feel invested in, but not too many as the short run time makes it difficult to give a positive portrayal of a large cast, these are all points we took on board and ensured we'd try and include in our own production.

  • When making our own production we ensured we'd try and use our audience feedback and make a film that the audience would like, one of the questions we took a great deal of focus on was the 3 most important aspects of short films, the audience answered: characters, location and music and sound, therefore we took immense care when including these aspects in our own production.

  • The audience would prefer a happy ending in the film but due to our film being a drama we would prefer a more realistic approach which might not necassarily be a happy one. Regardless of this the audience would not be completely against a more darker ending.

 

From our audience feedback on the rough cut we learned a range of things:

  • The location was the best aspect in the audiences opinion, closely followed by costume, from earlier audience research, location was regarded as one of the most important aspects so it was evident we took the audience feedback into account.

  • Music and sound needed vast important which was not too much of a worry as we were well aware of this as the rough cut did not include any non-diegetic sound. However, although sound was a problem, the majority of the dialogue was understood.

  • There was more of a split in how clear the audience found our short which meant that we would look back through our short and try figure out how to make this more understandable for the audience.

  • The walking scenes were considered 'dull' and 'boring' so we would try and edit this in the final cut to make it more interesting. Not only this; the chase sequence needed vast improvement as this was the one scene that the viewers disliked and found confusing, so as a group we would ensure this was fixed and re-filmed as it is important to take audience feedback on board to make our short more successful.

 

From our final cut feedback we took previous criticism on board and therefore gathered more important audience feedback:

  • We improved largely on the sound and music as this was one of the best aspects of our final cut, whereas in our rough cut the music and sound was criticised, therefore we listened to the feedback and thus improved on it. Our acoustic backing track was considered suitable and appropriate for our short film. Location remained the best aspect however.

  • 85% of the audience understood the storyline which vastly improved from the rough cut as there was a close tie to them not understanding, therefore again we improved on our audience feedback which was very successful. Not only this but the audience also felt the story flowed well from one scene to the next.

  • The acting was the main criticism from the audience as well as the script, they found it unconvincing and 'cheesy'. However, due to the tight budget it would be assumed that amateur actors would star in this short and the script evidently did not do them justice which is a fault in the production. To improve this in future perhaps auditions for roles in the cast would ensure better actors as well as more focus on the script which would improve the overall dialogue as one audience member felt that it was unrealistic and not very emotional.

  • Overall the comments regarding the short in the final cut were mostly positive, praising the editing and strong story and moral message.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Film Production and Film Poster – Our short film genre is a drama, to portray this in the poster we changed the contrast of the image to black and white which invoked a sense of tragedy to the audience. The image we used in the poster had our lead playing an acoustic guitar in the underpass which is a key theme throughout our film, from the poster, the audience would immediately know what the film would be about, a homeless busker. In addition, the tagline we used ‘Out on your own, who can you trust?’ would interest the audience, as there is a sense of mystery and suspense which is often found in drama films. This combination is effective as the storyline basis is clearly demonstrated through the poster, there is no sense of false advertising but the ending itself is ambiguous.

 

Film Production and Film Magazine Review – Within our magazine review layout, the colour scheme focused on blues, whites and blacks. Although blue can be seen as a friendly colour, the combination of white and black adds a sense of cold drama which puts the audience on edge. It gives them the impression that not everything is as it seems and that something mysterious may be around the corner which is an element in the short. Also, we used some of the more visually memorable shots from the film in our review to connect the two pieces of media together; this allows the audience to associate the magazine review with the film. The text in the review itself is criticising the film, an audience member who has seen the film would read this opinion and compare it with their own opinions. However, those who have not seen the film would perhaps not consider watching the film due to the negativity in the magazine review. Therefore, these two products are effective together as they allow the audience to take the magazine reviews opinions on board whilst simultaneously forming their own.

 

Film Poster and Film Magazine Review – Both ancillary products highlight the performances of the characters; the poster includes one-line-opinions of the roles played whereas the magazine review goes into further detail for the audience who want more thorough criticisms of the cast. There is also mention in the poster of the camera-mans previous production which is praised in the magazine review, as well as the storyline, giving the products a continuous link. The poster and the magazine review work well as a duo because they can attract the audience’s attention and intrigue them into watching the film. The film poster enhances the positive aspects of the film as its main aim is to entice, in contrast to the magazine review which enables the audience to think more and gives more a more honest and broad opinion on the film as its primary aim is to help the reader choose the films worth watching.

 

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

During the planning process for our short film one of the main pieces of technology we used was Facebook. This social networking site allowed us to communicate with each other and enabled us to track our progress in one place, making it easier when adding to our blog. We used Microsoft Word to type up all of our work, specific features included in the programme allowed us to layout the Risk Assessment and the Script to a professional standard within the industry; last year we didn't layout our Script this way, we only typed it up on Word in a basic format. We used our phone camera to take pictures of potential locations for our film which we then uploaded to our group and discussed our preferences. We used Google to look at the offical BFC website, enabling us to see the specific criteria for each rating and from this we concluded that our film would be rated 12A. We didn't really use any technological devices to get our cast as we already knew the people so we just asked them upfront. Another piece of technology we used was a scanner, which was used when we uploaded our hand-drawn storyboard onto the computer, allowing us to put it on our blog.

 

For the research, more complex programmes such as Prezi enabled the opportunity to be more creative in the presentation of the information that would be put onto the more advanced A2 blog. We used a questionnaire website called Survey Monkey which allowed us to create questionnaires and surveys for our audience that provided crucial audience feedback that we could include in our production. We looked on the official BBFC site that provided us with the official age ratings and restrictions when rating a film. I used useful websites to research key theories for my blogwork which I then expanded on and implimented the theory in my own production. We also used YouTube when researching other short films.

 

In the construction stages Final Cut Pro was used on the Macs to do the editing of our production, we then used YouTube to upload the final product which could then be used on our Wix blog. We chose to make a professional standard film poster and magazine review which were also included in our coursework. My skills when making these two products were newfound as we hadn’t made either ancillary products beforehand, as previously we only worked on blogs and filmmaking. Digital technologies were vital in both pieces. For the poster, we used primarily the Apple Mac and used the basic editing tools available on the programme to change the brightness and contrast of the image to fit the drama genre we were aiming for, for instance we made the image black and white to give it a sense of tragedy. We included other features on the editing kit such as text to include reviews and a tagline to help make our poster look more professional and similar to a standard film poster. My creative skills developed through making this ancillary as this was a new project to us, we were given creative range to make a film poster for our short film, we used the internet to research what the film posters were typically like and the features included. This was also the case with the film magazine review; we looked online with the computer to research the typical film magazines and the style they usually write in. For the review we used primarily Microsoft Word to type up our review text and used Publisher to begin with to make our design. However, our creative skills then developed as we believed the design needed improving, therefore moving onto Notes on the Mac which allowed us more opportunities to be creative, such as including stylistic features such as arrows and bubble boxes to help make our review look more eye-catching and entertaining for the reader.

 

For the evaluation stage, the same media technologies were used, such as the computer or Mac to type up all the essential information and Survey Monkey to create a survey and gather audience feedback which was uploaded on Facebook for our friends and other audiences to see and fill out for us. Informational sites such as Google and Wikipedia allowed us to look up the conventions of standard media products which we could then compare with our own.

 

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

There are typical conventions to a drama film:

  • The drama genre has multiple sub-genres.

  • Tragic events often occur, such as death, affairs, divorce. These are all realistic events that can happen in anyones lives.

  • Exaggerated for audience entertainment but still maintain a sense of realism.

  • Typically features females as protagonists and males as antagonists.

  • Close up camera shots are heavily featured to focus on facial expression.

  • Editing, cuts are often fast paced, adding to creating a dramatic mood.

  • Costume and lighting limited to darker colours to help create mystery.

  • The ending is not necassarily a happy one, they are realistic which means it could be a tragic or depressing ending.

 

Our production challenged these typical conventions, for example we had two male characters where one was a protagonist and the other was an antagonist, typically females are represented as the hero/heroine, however we still wanted the larger and more intimidating actor to portray the villain which is a typical convention in most films.

We featured a tragic event in our film; when Matt is betrayed by Ethan who steals from him, this is typical in drama films however the way in which is occurs in is not necassarily in an everyday situation as our film focussed on homeless characters. Usually in dramas it is set in an everyday world with ordinary charcters where audiences can relate, our film would not been seen by homeless people but audiences can still reflect on the films message.

 

Our lighting was a mixture between dark and light as when the film begins it is in the daytime, typically in short drama films it is set in the evening and features darker lighting to create mystery and suspense. We only featured darker lighting toward the end of our film when it gets darker on the streets, this created the perfect atmosphere for the climax of the film to take place as it would not have as strong an effect if it happened during the daytime. Our costume choice for the characters however did not challenge the conventions as both characters wore darker clothing, there could be an exception with Ethans character as he wears a light cream jacket, although not done on purpose, this may trick the audience as typically the protagonist wear the lighter clothing so they may have assumed that Ethan would be the good character.

 

We featured longer shots and sequences at the beginning of our production to help establish the story and location which could arguably challenge typical codes and conventions of drama as they feature fast paced shots and cuts to create a stronger dramatic mood. We did however feature fast paced shots toward the climax when the chase scene ensues to help create and build tension and drama.

 

Closeups are the most popular camera shots in drama films, as they help convey the actors emotion and facial expression; as drama films are typically focussed on the characters and their emotions. We challenged this with a range of shots of the location as we wanted to show the audience the environment the homeless man is surrounded in, as we learned in our audience feedback, location was one of the more important aspects in film so we wanted to make sure this was established in our short film. However, we did use closeups such as when Matt is busking with his guitar which is a typical convention in a drama film.

 

Our films ending was not a happy one by any means, Ethan is successful in stealing Matt's belongings and Matt is left with literally nothing. We decided this would be our ending as we wanted to maintain the realism of drama films, as they do not always end on a positive note, but more on a realistic one, so we decided to impliment that into our own short film. We feel that although the audience would not be as satisfied, it still made our short serious and realistic as opposed to far fetched and unbelievable.

 

 

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