Storyboards

These are the storyboards for our short film which is called Delusional. The short film begins with him waking up and getting ready for school. To show this to our audience, we use mid shots and close ups. After leaving the house, we show the audience that there is someone following him. She then catches up to Derek and taps him on the shoulder. We use a close up to show how significant the action is. The audience is now introduced to Ava Morgan, Derek's friend. The two then exchange dialogue. During this we use reverse shots and mid shots for each line they say. After this he walks off and walks towards the train station to get to school. However by the end of these storyboards we began to lose the plot therefore, when we started filming we finally established what we wanted to show our audience. Here is our final synopsis:

Derek Waters, an ordinary young adult, finds himself wandering through the streets of London. Lost and confused he follows a young boy who looks exactly like his younger brother, but is he real? 

After filming it all, we use a number of establishing shots, long shots, mid shots, close ups, OTS shots, tracking and point of view shots. We wanted to show our audience that Derek is hallucinating/ imagining his younger brother alive although he is dead. The dialogue between Derek and Ava tells the audience that Eric Waters (the younger brother) had recently died. Many people deal with mourning differently. We, the audience find Derek trying to grasp onto whats left of his younger brother but he doesn't realise that he'll be gone forever.

Poster teaser

This is the poster teaser for our short film. The original and final poster will be coming out soon...

Magazine Article (draft)

Here is the format of our magazine article which I created on Photoshop. This article contains page numbers, article name, title, subheading, columns, quote and images from the film.

This article will be based on mental issues which links in with the short film's main character Derek.

Update! No.5

Underneath is an image of the footage we took yesterday. 

We filmed the morning scene and the last bit of the train scene. Overall, it went well because we used our storyboards to guide us and we didn't mess about and got on with it. 

Forms and conventions of listings magazine review

The magazine that I looked at and used as reference was the RadioTimes (November 2015 issue.)

After looking at several articles based on a film I found that:

1. The title is always bigger than the writing itself

2. The sub heading is slightly smaller than the Heading but its still bigger than the main body.

3. The main body is written in columns and is used in a readable font like Helvetica and Times. 

4. There are cut out images all over the page. Usually its the image of the film poster and its actors.

5. Quotes from the directors or the audience.

The first magazine, The author and the Typewriter,  is about the movie called 'The Lady in the van.' This article has a subheading and columns of writing and paragraphs written on paper in a typewriter font. It includes images of the writer himself and actors from the film. Because most of the context within this article is written in a typewriter, there are many errors and hand written corrections. This gives its readers a few expectations of what the film could be about. On the other hand, the middle article, How we've changed, is about The Peep show and it has a simple format because the background is kept white and the writing is in columns making it look simple and clear to its viewers. In addition, there are only two pictures which both feature the actors. There are three quotes said by the actors and the article talks about how the show started and how it has now come to an end. Lastly, the 'This is my story' has 4 images, all in different sizes but cut out to fit the page. Moreover, the writing is placed in columns just like the other magazines and it includes quotes. 

In relation to our short film, we plan on creating a review about mental issues. This is because our short film is about a paranoid character that doesn't know what's happening to him. He's more aware of his surrounding rather than himself and his well being. The audience never shows the stalker's face therefore when the audience watches it, we wanted them to question the film and make them question whether he's just hallucinating or if what he sees is real. What this article that I'll right about will touch upon people's experiences and how its a main issue that people should be aware of. Personally, I wanted to link our short film with mental issues because it's about a student aged 19 who is about to become part of the society and circulate the economy. There's stress, depression and suffering involved and its tough when they just transitioned from being a teenager to an adult. In the short film we don't know what his housing situation is like or if he's addicted to anything, which makes the audience question if these could affect his mind. 

The role of the internet

The role of the internet, affects the distribution and marketing of a film. The internet in today's society is used so often that it has become an inexpensive way to distribute and market a film. For example, the film 'Ted 2' used the internet and created a marketing campaign called #Legalise Ted on Twitter. Their aim was to reinforce the film's storyline as Ted looks to conceive a child as a human being.This allowed the audience to engage with the film which then created hype even before it was released. Moreover, after launching the trailer on YouTube it had over 20 million views. After all this marketing, when the movie was released in Blue-ray it reached $11 million dollars and overall the movie grossed $81 million.

In my opinion, I think that the internet is essential when distributing and marketing our short film because social media can easily create hype and allow people to know about the film. A trailer can also be easily uploaded onto to YouTube but if its not featured by a bigger company or if you haven't done enough audience research, not a lot of people may watch it or even be interested. For our short film, we could even make a website dedicated to the film itself so that everyone could be redirected to it. It may be inexpensive but its also time consuming and if you don't produce what people want to see then the film might flop. Overall, the internet is useful for distribution and marketing purposes because:

1. Its inexpensive
2. We live in an age where the internet is used 24/7
3. Allows film makers to create a direct relationship with their audience.

Update! No.4

So far we've edited the footage we took last Sunday and we have the first preview of the poster. Because Eddy (person in our group) has experience with Photoshop, he used it to darken the image, use the shallow focus to add the silhouette of the stalker in the background and include a conventional title. This Friday we will be catching up on some blog posts and this weekend we will try to film everything that we have planned.

Altered Perception Poster Analysis

Plot: A BlancBiehn production centered around the idea of a governmentally designed drug created to help correct or strategically alter perceptions gathered during times of trauma or stress. Slated as being a substance that may help solve issues with everything from racial tensions, PTSD, and geopolitic battles, first a focused study is needed to see how people respond to treatment and what dosages might be needed. Four couples are chosen to test this drug, and soon find their memories and sanity challenged.

The image on the left is one of the posters BlancBiehn productions produced for this film. Without having seen the movie and only gaining knowledge about it from the plot, this is definitely a thriller based poster.  I think this because the needle and the hand on the face represents how it was forced onto them. Although these four couple 'agreed' to take part in testing this new drug the eye suggests that everything they see now will change. This links in with the name 'Altered Perception' because the person's opinion on a situation may have changed, therefore their reaction will be different. Knowing its a thriller makes the audience want to know what these characters find out and how they react to it.

In relation to the title, the font for each word is different and there are red cross symbols in between the word 'Altered.' Drugs link in with hospitals and the universal symbol for a hospital is the red cross.  The fonts are kept either white or red. These two colours contradict with each other because the white symbolises innocence and purity but the red colour symbolises danger and also passion. These qualities may be involved in the film.

Moreover, the sentence placed under the eye says 'The truth can be prescribed;' this could suggest that this drug shows everything meaning that no one could hide from it. But in life, some things are worth hiding because it might cause more harm to those who hear or see it. If I had watched this movie I would know what the overall outcome is but in my opinion I think that it'll definitely go wrong because its a trial drug test and its a thriller movie. Overall, this poster is a conventional thriller poster because of the shadows and close up of the eye.

Update! No.3

Yesterday, we filmed some bits of our short film. It went well but it got dark early which didn't help. Here is the amount of footage we took:

The image below is for the poster we're going to make:

By the end of this week, we would've finished filming.

The Woman in Black 2 Poster Anaysis

As a group we have decided to analyse this poster individually. This poster will be similar to our final one. This poster is of a shadowing lurking behind a young boy sat crossed legged, holding a doll. As it is a horror film, it had to create some sort of tension so that it gave the audience a sense of mystery. This poster lists the actors, production and distribution companies at the bottom, the release date and a couple of tag/log lines which describes the film.

In my opinion, I like how they are placed in the centre of the frame as it shows the audience the main characters/ characters within the movie. This image shows a shadow facing the child not behind him and think this could suggest that the antagonist of the film could be this shadow. As the viewer/audience we can slightly see her face and this could add to that mystery/ ambiguity which their target audience are attracted to. What makes this a horror poster is that the wallpaper is dark and the room is dimly lit. This adds to that mystery affect and adds tension. Moreover, the doll that the little boy is holding suggests his innocence and his vulnerability towards the the toy.  On the other hand, the font on this poster is sharp, white and red. This is a horror convention that suggests danger.

In relation to our poster that we're going to make, we plan on putting the main character Derek in the foreground and using one side of his face. We also plan to add a smoke effect which makes him seem like he's disappearing into thin air. Moreover, the space between his head and his shoulder will show the stalker and the alley way. By making him look like he's fading away, suggests that in a way he's losing himself therefore as the audience we don't know who the stalker is or if he's just hallucinating.

Audience Theory

Hegemony - The cultural term refers to process of making, maintaining and reproducing the governing sets of meanings of a given culture.

Gramsci's Theory of Hegemony 
- The media have always had a key role in teaching people to do things in ways that support power structures.
- Thus the media can be seen to support structures such as government, capitalism and patriarchy.

Reception Theory
- It emphasises the reader's/ viewer's reception of a text
- Stuart Hall developed this theory by applying it to media and communications studies.
- Focuses on the scope for 'negotiation' and 'opposition' on the part of the audience in the context of media hegemony.
- The meaning of a text is not inherit within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader. (Not everyone will understand or take it in)
- A 'text' itself is not simply passively accepted by the audience. The reader/ viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on their individual cultural background and life experiences. 

Encoding - Refers to the organisation of signs into codes.
Decoding - refers to the process by which readers generate meaning from them.

Hall's encoding
Decoding model of communication suggests that whatever analysis of textual meaning a critic may undertake, it is far from certain which of the identified meanings, if any, will be activated by actual readers/ audiences/ consumers.

Hall addressed the issue of how people make sense of media texts, presenting three hypothetical methods of decoding:

• Preferred reading
• Negotiated reading
• Oppositional reading

Dominant Hegemonic Position - When an audience interprets the message as it was meant to be understood, they are operating in the dominant code. This results in a 'preferred reading'.

Preferred Reading - The dominant ideology is typically inscribed as the preferred reading. Dominant readings are produced by those whose social situations favours the preferred reading. 

Negotiated Reading - Not all audiences may understand what media producers take for granted. There may be some acknowledgment of differences in understanding.  Negotiation positions are the result of the audience struggling to understand the dominant position or experiencing dissonance (difference) with those views.

Oppositional Reading - The social position of some audiences puts them in direct conflict with the dominant position.  These media consumers understand a text's contextual inflections but decode its messages by oppositional means.

Two step flow 
- How the meaning and messages are absorbed.
- Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet suggested that the information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered through opinion leaders.
- These leaders have influenced us with their opinions.
- In a way the power of media is diminished. Has a limited effect paradigm (people may or may not take in the message.)

The uses and gratifications model
It emphasises what the audience does with the media presented to them here influence the lies with the consumer.
It began with Lasswell (1948) and Wright (1960) They identified 4 basic functions of mass communication

• Surveillance of the environment refers to the medias collection and distribution of information. E.g. Newspaper, documentaries, reality TV
• Correlation of parts of society refers to the media's interpretive or analytical activities. E.g. Current recession on the news. Always tied to something else. 
• Transmission of the social heritage relates to the medias ability to communicate values, norms, and styles across time in between groups.                                   
• Entertainment means the media's ability to entertain or amuse. 

In 1974, Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch make 5 basic assumptions which provides a framework for understanding the correlation between media and audiences.

1. The audience is active.
- An important part of mass media use is goal orientated.
- Patterns of media use are shaped by definite expectations of what certain kinds of content have to offer the audience member.

2. In the mass communication process audience, to a significant degree, use their own initiative when linking their need gratification to the media choices they make.
- This places a strong limitation on theorising about any form of straight-line effect of media content on attitudes and behaviour.

3. The media compete with other sources of need satisfaction.
- The needs served by mass communication constitute only a segment of the wider range of human needs, and the degree to which they can be adequately met through mass media consumption varies.

4. Many of the goals of mass media use can be derived from data supplied by individual audience members themselves.
- People are sufficiently self aware to be able to report their interests and motives in particular cases, or at least to recognise them when confronted with them in an ineligible and familiar verbal formulation.

5. Value judgements about the cultural significance of mass communication should be suspended while audience orientations are explored on their own terms.
- People watch it because they want to.

Blumler and Katz

- The uses and gratifications approach emphasises motives and the self perceived needs of audience members. They concluded that the same communication message for very different purposes.
- Different needs = different individuals
- There are many reasons for using media.
- Basic needs, social situation, and the individual's background, such as experience, interests and education, affect people's ideas about what they want from media and which media best met their needs.

McQuail 

His classification provides the following four groups of reasons for media use:

• Information 
• Personal identity
• Integration and Social interaction 
• Entertainment

Information - Finding out relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world. Seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices. Satisfying curiosity and general interest. Learning/ self education and gaining a sense of security through knowledge. E.g. Reviews on a product; people read reviews on websites or watch videos before buying the product.

Personal identity - Finding reinforcement for personal values. Finding models of behaviour. Identifying with valued others (in the media). Gaining insight into oneself.

Integration and Social interaction - gaining insight into the circumstances of others; social empathy. identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging. Finding a basis for conversation and social interaction. Having a substitute for real life companionship. Helping to carry out social roles. Enabling one to connect with family, friends and society. 

Entertainment - Escaping, or diverted from problems It's relaxing, and you get intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment.

The Audience theory links in with our short film because we decided to look at the thriller genre. Using codes and conventions the audience will be able to pick up on certain representations which could then be taken either in a positive or negative view. For example, if I were to include an shot where the main character is being chased by an unknown figure some of the people in the audience would think that the unknown figure is the victim and he's just chasing the other character to get them to talk it out and understand the situation but other people in the audience would say that the unknown figure is the bad guy and that he wants to kill the main character for himself. This would be part of the reception theory because it allows the audience to question and decode certain things we show on screen. 

Storyboards Update

I wanted our storyboards to look different and elaborate so I used a Huion Tablet and the Paint tool to do so. However, what I found was that this would take too long to do and with the deadlines we have, I wouldn't be able to draw 40+ shots on time. Here are the first two shots of our short film:

Shot 1. Close Up of an alarm beeping

Shot 2. Close up of hand reaching to turn it off

We will be uploading all completed story boards by the end of this week.

Location

For our short film we plan on filming inside/ outside a house, a street, and Streatham Common Station. Here are some images of the locations we'll use:

These locations will be used because the house setting allows our shots to look like our main character Derek actually lives there. All these props help make it look like a home whilst the train station clearly tells the audience that he's going somewhere and that there may be a final destination which helps the plot move on.

The significance of the mise-en-scene in these images is that it looks more natural and follows the story better than if we were to shoot in a secluded/ abandoned location. The bedroom is important because the furniture and small little features/ details can tell the audience what the main character's personality could be. For example, if we decided to put a bunch of pills and make the night stand look messy, the audience will instantly decode that symbol and say that he's dependant on drugs and that he's not taking care of himself properly. On the other hand, the train station location is important because it helps move the story along. It tells that audience that he's on a trip or that he's on a journey towards the school he goes to. Its also important because there are people (extras) that will be there on the day we film and it'll look more natural and that its a common place for people to be at.

 Our group is still story boarding but hopefully we can start filming by the end of this week.

Script (Draft)

Derek Waters wakes up and starts getting ready for the day but something feels different. He goes downstairs grabs his keys and leave the house and heads towards the station for school.
After he leaves his house he feels paranoid and keeps looking around and over his shoulder, out of nowhere a shot of his shoulder shows a hand reach out for him (Build up of a climax). Derek turns around and finds that its just his friend!

Friend : Hey Dezza!
Derek: (In shock) Uh hi!?
Friend: Mate, last night was mad, how is you doing?
Derek: (Still recovering) Yea... Yeah man I'm good (pause) so how was last night?
Friend: Bro, don't you remember, it was crazy...

*Derek looks over his friends shoulder and sees the figure standing at the top of the road and stares in shock, his friend looks to where Derek is looking.*

Friend: Dude you good?Derek: Na, I gotta go man, don't worry about it.

He breaks into a run and makes his way through an alley towards the station. At the station, he checks in with his oyster and goes down stairs. He stands in stillness and shock as he rubs his face. As the train comes in, he shakes himself into life again and hops onto the train, he sits down and looks out the window and sees the figure directly outside the station. He gets up in shock and gets off the train to confront the figure, but the figure has vanished, he looks through the window and sees the figure sitting in his seat, and watches the train leave the platform, out of the corner of his eye he sees the figure and looks back immediately to see the figure standing in front of the stairs towards the exit.

Institutional Research

Genre

How do we identify genre?

Mise en scene (props, costume, lighting,set, character, performance)
Language
Production techniques (editing, camera angles and movement, structure,filters, effects, sound)
Narrative structures (linear, no-linear, abstract, narrative)
Symbolic codes (e.g. cowboy hat)
Action codes (body language, hand gestures)

Why is genre important?

For Producers:

• Gives them a pattern of what they're constructing, a template
• It gives us an established audience which is easy to market
• Certain people can develop their skills working within a particular genre (e.g. horror make up specialists)
• Stars can be associated with particular genre e.g. Will Ferrell known for a certain type of comedy. 
• Fans of a genre know the codes 

For Distributors: 

• Clear channels for marketing and distribution- easily targetable audience
• Concentration of distribution resources 
• Fans of a genre as a whole can easily be persuaded to buy other texts in the same genre e.g. dance music compilation 
• Provides a structure for retail outlets 

Steve Neal said that 'genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations' and 'difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre'

-Counter Argument-

John Hartley argues that 'genres are agents of ideological closure' - they limit the meaning of potential of a given text.  'The same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times.'

John Fiske defines genres as 'attempts to structure some order into the wise range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture fir the convenience of both producers and audiences'

Laura Mulvey 'The male gaze' theory
The camera is masculine. The camera is used to observe women from the perspective of a male. This often results in fragmented shots, close ups, or tracking shots of the female form.

Claude Levi Strauss - Binary Opposition - The contrast between two mutually exclusive concepts of things that creates conflict and drives a narrative e.g. good/ evil

Synopsis ideas

These plot ideas will help us determine what kind of short film we will be doing.

Genre
Thriller

Character profiles 
Protagonist
Name: Derek Waters (Male)
Age: 19
Occupation: Student studying criminology

Antagonist
Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Stalker

Plot ideas

1.  Linear with a Plot Twist: Derek Waters is his own stalker. He has a case of Bipolar and split personality disorder. He doesn't know what the other personality is doing with his body. One's good and one's evil. After being harassed and feeling scared he finds out at the end that he is the stalker.

2. Non linear with a closed structure: Derek Waters finds himself in a dark room tied to a chair. The audience is then introduced to another character (the antagonist) who is secretly the stalker but is disguised as an interrogator. As Derek is being asked about what happened last night, he starts to remember. These memories tell the audience that he was being stalked and was in potential danger. 

3. Shot as a P.O.V in the eyes of the stalker (the audience is encouraged to feel like they're part of the film.)

Update! No.1

So far we've decided what our short film is going to be about. We want to focus on the word 'Stalker' and try to create a story around it. With the knowledge we have on cinematography, we want to create something that builds up tension and makes the audience feel a little scared but intrigued. We could do this by using thriller conventions like: low key lighting, slow music, shadows and silhouettes. In my opinion, I want to use different editing techniques like the cctv camera effect, and set up scenes where the protagonist is surprised by the continuous attacks from the antagonist. What I mean by this is that when the protagonist is trying to run away from the 'stalker' he enters a room filled with computers. On every screen there's a glitch which shows the audience that something's wrong and that the stalker is everywhere he goes. This is just an idea but I feel that it would be effective because it could be part of that disruption in the equilibrium that we're hoping to show and achieve.

Thriller conventions

What is a thriller? 

The thriller genre consists of a protagonist and an antagonist. The story would usually start when there is a disruption in the equilibrium. As the story progresses, a chain of bad events are shown to the audience to build up tension and suspense. In some thrillers they use tension to make the audience feel a little scared but they don't usually show you the antagonist. In thrillers, it can be left on a cliff hanger or it could be left with the protagonist losing against the antagonist.

What are the conventions of a thriller? 

• Low key lighting
• Slow/ minor music
• Quick cuts
• Diegetic sound e.g. breathing
• A hero and a villain
• Build up of tension 

Mise-en-scene is important in a thriller because the use of set, props and costumes add to the build up of tension. A technique used in thrillers would be mirrors. Mirrors reflect the character's emotion or their sudden realisation in things. Another technique would be the use of stairs. The characters can be placed on any step which could then suggest who's winning the battle between them. Other symbolic codes would be street lamps on a dark and empty road, or confined spaces, where the character cannot escape. Low key lighting may be used throughout the thriller because it gives the audience a sense of the unknown, making them feel scared. Moreover, thrillers can be shot in black and white. The limited colours suggest simplicity but it also enhances the shadows and silhouettes. 

In thrillers, they use quick cuts and camera angles to build tension which is an effective way to make your audience feel scared. This is because so many things are happening all at once. An example of this would be 'Psycho' the 1960 movie. Furthermore, the cinematography in thrillers consist of extreme close ups. For example, if there were a shot of the eye or a tear, it instantly tells the audience what the character is feeling. They also use close ups for facial expressions, high angles on the protagonist to show vulnerability and low angles on the antagonist to show that they have power over them.

This research has helped me understand the conventions of a thriller. These conventions can be used in our short film because it can help us achieve that tension build up which we want the audience to feel. 

Narrative

Narrative - How is the story structured?

Theories:

Linear
- Beginning, middle and end (most hollywood movies are like this)
- Open structure = ambiguous, leaves at a cliff hanger (E.g. Inception the movie) This leaves you thinking.
- Closed structure = clear conclusion (certain audiences like knowing what happened in the end)
- Circle Structure = Narrative begins at the end/ repeatition (Doodlebug by Christopher Nolan)

Non linear
- Time line jumps back and forth (E.g. Memento)

Structuralism 
- A way of thinking about the narrative
- The belief that there is structure in all things
- It follows specific patterns
- Has meaning = creates effect
- First theorised by Ferdinand de Saussure

Roland Barthes 
5 codes:
- The action code = meaning of specific words/ actions/ looks
- The enigma code = puzzles set up to be solved by the audience. Helps motivate someone to keep watching.
- The semic code  = the connotations of a character/ object/ place
- The symbolic code = metaphor or figure of representation (E.g. Tombstone means death)
- The cultural code = connections to the world outside the text (E.g Westernised versions of certain cultures) Different cultures/ different understandings. It helps sell the movie abroad if they have certain cultures in it. (E.g. Transformer's climax scene) Different genres = different stereotypes

Binary Opposition 
Focusing on the different side of opposite values which reveal the structure of the media texts.
Claude Levi-Strauss

Equilibrium Theory
Equilibrium: It is the setting established, key characters are introduced and the story is set up.
Disruption: oppositional characters appear and the story takes a particular direction.
Conflict: the lives of the characters and the events are interwoven.
Climax: highest point in tension where things begin to get sorted.
New equilibrium: Matters are sorted out and problems are solved.



'For the birds' Pixar short film (Example)
--> Equilibrium: Smalls birds land on Power line
--> Disruption: Small birds have a go at each other. Big bird appears then laughs at him.
--> Conflict: Big bird lands in the middle of the line of small birds.
--> Climax: Big bird dangles from the power line whilst the small birds try to make him fall. Big bird is left with one toe holding onto the power line then finally lets go.
--> New Equilibrium: All small birds are flown into the air leaving their feathers behind. Small birds are naked and Big bird laughs at them.
                     

Vladimir Propp 
Hero = Traditionally a male protagonist whose role it is to restore normality or equilibrium. He does this by debating the villain(s) and winning the love of the heroine.
Villain = The villain is the cause of the disruption and the enemy of the hero. The villain may also be a threat to the safety and the well being of the heroine.
Dispatcher = They send the hero on their journey to restore the equilibrium. They may also be the father figure of the heroine,sending the hero on a quest to see if he is worthy.
Donor = The donor gives the hero something to help him along his journey. This gift may be a piece of advice a skill or an object such as a weapon.
Helper = Assists the hero in restoring the equilibrium. May be a sidekick, with the hero throughout, or someone he meets along the way.
Heroine = Usually a passive and vulnerable character. Threatened by the villain and needing reusing by the hero.
False Hero = Initially seems to be on the side of the hero but turns against/ deceives him.

Human Form Summary/ Analysis

This short film is 12mins long and is directed by Doyeon Noh. 
In a world where everyone looked the same, a young girl is desperate to go through plastic surgery just to fit in.

This short film begins with a young girl drawing pictures on the floor. When her mum comes in and asks to see the picture, we see that she drew a colourful face. The mum then frames it and adds it on a wall with 7 others. I like this medium shot because the room is backlit creating a silhouette figure of the mum. It makes the audience focus on the pictures because the dark and empty space draws us to the centre. This shot tells the audience that the young girl has wanted to be the same as everyone else at a young age. The shot after this shows the girl smiling which could also suggest that she is waiting for that day or that she likes how her mum appreciates her talent. This beginning bit cuts into the main title of this short film. The title is placed on top of a black background. The colour black usually represents darkness and fear which relates to the overall story.

The narrative began at the start of the story but after the titling shot, we see that the young girl has grew up. This teenager (Inhyung Chung) is found sitting on the ground looking at herself in the mirror. We see that she is wearing a uniform which then tells us that she is a student. The next shot shows us that her friend is running towards her. The dialogue starts and then they walked off to the nurse's office. Once they arrive, we find the two eating lollipops. This object could suggest that they're still a kid inside and they don't know whats best for them. When the friend asks Inhyung Chung for her notebook, she looked keen to find out what kind of face she wants. However, she was called by the nurse and left with the notebook but before leaving she gave her lollipop to her friend. He friend then compares her lollipop to Inhyung Chung's. Because the colours were not the same it could suggest that there is still that they're still different. The friend is left alone and in this shot she remains sitting on the right side. She subtly sighs then looks towards her left with a jealous look. This could suggest that she also wants the surgery.

When Inhyung Chung is in the nurse's office they start to discuss what kind of face she wants. The nurse examines her drawing but tells her that she does not think they can go ahead with the procedure. Inhyung Chung ask 'why not?' and says that its not any different from the nurse's face. The nurse explain's to her that it will cost extra if she wanted to look like that. She then leaves the office looking disappointed and sad. She passes her friend in the hall but never said a word. Her friend looks confused but says 'hey'.

The next scene is set in the house. Again it is not well lit and the only things giving the room light are candles and the light above the table. The family talks about a man who's dog bit him because he wanted to give him plastic surgery. It moves onto a shot where someone pours water into a glass. Because the water is so clear, it could suggest that there is still hope for the girl to fulfil her dreams.

In a society that always tells us to be unique and different, this short film tells us the opposite. Everyone wants to be the same but there is no sense of happiness. In my opinion, what makes this short film a horror would be the sound track. Throughout the film the piano is being played and this usually gives off a calming mood but by the end of it minor sounds are played often. This short film leaves its audience creeped out yet intrigued because they never showed her face after under going the experiment.

Audience Research - Survey

Because our group doesn't necessarily know what kind of short film we want to do, I wanted to create a questionnaire that will give us an idea of what the audience wants. For example, I asked the audience what kind of gender the main role would be and what kind of emotion they would like to feel by the end of the short film. Once we pick a genre/ topic, I will create another questionnaire that's specifically focuses on that. With the help of a website called Survey Monkey, I was able to share this questionnaire on Facebook. Here are my results:



I got 17 responses which were mainly done by females. The majority were in the 12-18 age group and the genre that our audience would like to see is comedy and horror. In addition, the audience would like to leave feeling intrigued and this helped us solidify our story because we were planning to make a short film that consists of horror like conventions. We could add in comedy however, it may  be difficult because people laugh at different things. Our audience would like for us to film in the city or the school and this helped the making of our short film because I feel that it'd be easily accessible and it gives us a wide variety of different and interesting shots to think about that will help the story flow. Overall, I think that this survey has helped us understand our audience more because we can base our story in what they want it to be and we can take into to account what they like so that this short film can turn out to be  success.

Audience profile

Male Audience

Name: James
Age: 17 -24
Occupation: Student, works part time at Starbucks
Likes: Social media, Horror films, Coffee, Death, Pizza
Dislikes: Ladybugs, Broccoli, Clowns, Blind dates
Characteristics:Funny, Friendly, Popular
Financial structure: Earns £7.26 per hour
Regular cinema use: Once a month/ whenever his mates are free

Female Audience

Name: Sara
Age: 17-24
Occupation: Student, works part time at Primark
Likes: Flowers, Baths, Lazy days, Instagram, Thriller films
Dislikes: Crowds, Seagulls, Feet, Mints
Characteristics: Bubbly, Humble, Generous
Financial Structure: Earns £7 per hour
Regular cinema use: Every time an interesting thriller movie comes out

Audience Research

Audience research can be conducted in many different ways and it can help establish what the audience would want in a film. It is also an important part in the production of the film.

Surveys/ Questionnaires are questions in relation to a certain topic. In this case if we were to make a horror film, we would ask questions like 'what would you want to see in this film' or 'what type of soundtrack would you expect.' A survey can be yes or no questions, they can be multiple choice or they can be questions that involve the viewer/ potential audience's opinion. This method is both easy and simple to do, and it might be the most effective way of knowing your audience.

Just like a survey or questionnaire, interviews are more personal and straight forward. Interviewers can witness interviewees body language and facial expressions which can help establish what aspect of a film they're passionate about. Another advantage of having an interview would be that its more in depth compared to a survey or questionnaire. Therefore, whats bad about interviews would be that its time consuming.

Open Forums is online based and is open to the public. It is an open discussion that allows people to debate and express their opinion. Unlike a survey or an interview, an open forum can consist of questions in relation to the main question or it could be a reply to someone's comment. However, forums can tend to go off topic and comments may not be related to what is being asked. depending on the person typing the comment, it may not be in depth, making it harder for the film maker to understand its preferred audience.

Focus Groups is where people come together in a room or place and discuss the film that they're interested about. Here, you can take notes and talk about whats relevant and irrelevant.

Ideas for Short Film

Knowing that we only have the editing and evaluation left for our preliminary task, I have decided to give the final short film a thought. I wrote down some ideas for our final in a mind map format and this is what I came up with:

Our short film can be inspired by other short film makers or we can focus on certain genres like horror or comedy. It doesn't need to be a documentary, as it can be a story revolving around one person or an object. It can be a montage of shots thats ambiguous. It can be anything we want to show our audiences but if we decide to focus on one of these words, we can try to create something bigger and meaningful. Even if some of these words sounds vague, we can use camera and editing techniques to make that one word/ topic look interesting to the audience. We can show not tell. We can create a story that begins at the end. 

After discussing what everyone in my group would like to do, we have decided that we're going to establish and use our strong points to contribute in the production of our short film. Therefore, I am planning to do the screenplay for this project. This will include writing/ producing the script, instructing actors and scene directions. Once we have a solid plan of what our short film is going to be about, my next task would be creating a story then go location scouting and putting up an advert on Starnow for potential actors/ actresses but as a group we will create the storyboards and try to include a wide variety of shots which will tell the story in 5mins. In my group, Harry will be editing and Eddy will be doing the camera shots and audio. 

Preliminary task - Audio

After attempting to add in the sound recordings that we did when we were filming, most of it did not sound right. For example, the background noise in the park was not long enough for the next couple of shots. In addition, the microphone mainly picked up wind and this did not help because you couldn't hear the birds chirping and the kids playing. We will record this when it is less windy and hopefully it'll be long enough for two shots.

Preliminary Task - Editing

For this preliminary task, Harry will be editing the footage we shot yesterday.

So far, he has put everything together in order and has cut down the irrelevant bits of the shot.

Next lesson, I will be adding the audio to these shots. 

Preliminary Task - Update

Today we filmed most of our preliminary task but we had a few problems. For example, the cafe that we were going to film in was closed.

Because of this, we had to use the store next to it which was called Budgens and instead of buying a sandwich we bought a pastry inside a clear plastic bag. This looked good during the filming process and it was very resilient of us to just get things done no matter where it was as long as we had food. However, another problem that we came across was the fan shot. When we were storyboarding, we wanted to have a shot where Harry was about to eat his food whilst the fan would blow his hair and make it seem kind of holy and funny in a way. This didn't work out because the fan was not strong enough to blow his hair. In conclusion, I'm happy with the footage that we made and I think that the content and the shots that we took were varied and were all in focus.

We will be editing this next lesson.

Preliminary Task - Test Shots

Yesterday, our group took some test shots whilst following the storyboards we have made.

We will be filming the final preliminary task this Tuesday.

Preliminary task - Storyboards

These are the storyboards drawn by Connie but overall the group contributed in the making of this short film.  In the first shot you see the main character sitting on a bench. The next shot is a tilt from his stomach to his angry/ hungry face. with the grumbling sound effect which will be added during the editing, the audience will instantly realise what is going on. The third shot is an over the shoulder shot which shows the audience that he's begun his journey to hunt and devour food. The camera zooms out to show a long/ tracking shot of the character. The fifth and sixth shot is an establishing shot that shows the audience that he's entering the cafe.

Next, we show the audience that he's leaving the cafe and we do this by having a close up of his shoes leaving the premises. The next shot is a close up of him opening his food and the ninth shot is an extreme close up of him smiling. Even though there hasn't been any dialogue yet, the audience understands that this short film is about food. The next couple of shots just show the audience that he's on his way back to a place where he can he peacefully and silently. In the eleventh shot he walks in from the right to sit down and in the twelfth shot is a high angle shot to both show his shoulders and the food on the table.

This next shot begins with a fan behind him blowing his hair, making it seem holy and glorious. When he's about to take a bite, he's interrupted by the other character in the background. This is when the fan stops blowing and they exchange dialogue. During the dialogue, we're going to use pull focus. To show the audience that the other character is leaving we have a long shot of him apologising and walking off the frame. The main character then continues to eat and it ends with the 'HAPPINESS' title before it cuts to black.

Preliminary Task - Location

For our preliminary task we considered filming in a cafe nearby the school and of course we would be filming at school. Because our theme is food which links in with the theme of happiness, we decided that an actual cafe would fit the story. We didn't want to stick with using the canteen or the common room canteen because it wouldn't give the audience the specific atmosphere that we wanted the audience would feel. Going to a cafe would be more relatable than a school canteen. For a short film it can widen the target audience because it can relate to anyone at any age.

Cafe De Niro on the left
Graveney School on the right

Preliminary Task - Synopsis

When a man in the street suddenly notices how hungry he is, he begins his journey to the nearest cafe. The journey is brief, but as the man becomes hungrier, his mood declines quickly. However, he eventually gets the food he craves and he feels happy once again.

Preliminary Task

After being told what to do for our preliminary task, we started planning straight away. As we were given the theme of happiness we wanted to focus on food. Yesterday we started discussing what we plan on filming next Tuesday during our double lesson and we also had a list of camera shots that we should include in our short film. For example, we needed to include extreme close up, close up, medium close up, medium shot, mid-long shot, long shot, establishing shot, tilt, and high angle. Whilst we were working on the storyboards would try to include and tick off every shot so that we would have a variety of shots in our short film. Overall, we came up with 15 shots and we hope that this fits the 45 second- 60 second requirement. Moreover, we have two actors and a dialogue scene. We have also included points where we use shallow focus and pull focus.

Because we are filming next Tuesday we also needed to think about what to bring with us. We will need to bring a high quality recording camera, a telephoto lens for the shallow and pull focus, a microphone, a monopod and a tripod. For costume, we plan on sticking with whatever our main characters (Harry and Eddy) are wearing and for props we will need enough money to buy the food on the day and a strong fan for one of the shots.

What makes a 'short film' a short film?

In my opinion, I think that a short film consists of a topic explored and shown to its audience. I think that the shorter the film the better it is. There are many things that you can show to an audience in 4 or 5 minutes and if you are exploring a specific topic, you can easily tell a story. This can be shown by having a beginning, middle and end  to it but the overall narrative might begin when it ends. It can be part of a certain genre and a short film can barely have any dialogue. A short film can also tell its audience that there's a deeper meaning behind what they see because its more 'show' than tell.

Short films can make audiences engage quickly and they could do this through sound. For example, the horror genre focuses on non-diegetic music to create tension and an eerie atmosphere. Without the music, the film won't make the audience feel scared or threatened. In addition, in horror short films they use sound effects like whispers or gasps.

Short films can be featured in short film festivals like Tropfest and TV channels like ShortsTV, however, most short films do end up on YouTube.

'Knock' 2011 Short film Analysis

Knock (2011) Short Horror film Link

For this short film, there were three characters. The first character we're introduced with is a white blonde girl talking to her friend about studying. As you can see in the gif above, the camera pans to the left to show the audience our first/ main character; this gives a creepy atmosphere as if someone is watching her. Although the room is poorly lit, she wears a yellow top that brightens up the room. The colour of the apple logo on her laptop is red and this suggests the danger that's about to happen. It then cuts to a shot of the guy she is talking to. He is placed in the centre of the frame making the audience focus on him and this is when we're introduced to the second character. They exchange dialogue with the guy asking her questions for an upcoming test. Because its a video call, the close up on his face clearly show his facial expressions. Unlike the lighting in the girl's room, his background is white and well lit making it look better as an individual shot.

The last character that we're introduced to is a person/ thing that knocks on the door. This character creates suspense and tension without having to be in the shot. He/ she/ it is the main part of this short film. The camera shot used to create this tension are main horror conventions like a door thats slightly opened and the sounds used would be a phone ringing or something dropping on the floor. The director may have only used two characters that are seen on screen because it doesn't distract the audience from the idea that theres another character that is creating tension/ danger.

The story is constructed in a way where it doesn't follow the narrative theory. The ending is vague and it doesn't explain who has been knocking or what happened to her. At the very end we see an image of the girl but she's lying on the floor with the door open behind her.

The cinematography used in the beginning of this short film are mid shots and close ups. This helps show the audience her reactions through facial expressions. In addition, the lighting was very low key and it did not have back lighting that could help give her a slight glow so that she doesn't look part of the background.

The mise en scene used to convey meaning in this short film was not up to high standards. As she was wearing an ordinary yellow top and a pair of shorts, this helped the audience understand that she was ready for bed, therefore she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth but when she heard the knocking she went on to find the mysterious person/ thing. She dropped her toothbrush out of fear, but then picked up a baseball bat. During this there was a shot where it showed the audience the toothbrush. As you know, the lighting in this short film was already bad enough but this shot shows the only well lit thing which was the toothbrush. The sound used in this short film were minor chords and sting instruments. This is one of the many horror film conventions which helped create slight tension.

There are many areas which could be improved, for example the plot of this short film doesn't explain much and some certain shots don't flow. Another example would be the shots where she's trying to go to sleep and the camera focuses on the time. it begins with a shot of 00:01 on the clock and ends with 4:44 It also then cuts in between each with a close up of her face. This was not done very well because i feel like it was overdone and the certain times almost seem comical e.g. 4:44am They could improve by explaining the story more and take away all those high angle shots. Although it makes her look small and 'vulnerable,' it doesn't look right. They could also improve by having better lighting.

This makes it a short film because it has a beginning, middle and end to the story. Although it wasn't clear, it does introduce the characters and it does have conventions in relation to the chosen genre which is horror.