Square 1

This is the short film that myself and two classmates created for our A2 media Coursework. We were required to encorporate the elements of time and technology into our short films.

Square 1 Evaluation Part 1

This is the first part of our evaluation for our short film Square 1. It follows the question of: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? We answered the question using this video format as we felt doing it this way gave it a professional look and it also tied into the final question of the use of digital technology. This format also gives the viewer a more personal envolvment with the creators of the film as they are able to see them presenting the evaluation to camera.

Evaluation Part 2 (Poster)

How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts? This is the final poster that I have created as part of the ancillary task for the A2 media coursework. My idea for the poster was to take the photograph of the funeral scene of myself and Olly stood holding hands with him in his suit and me in my black dress. I then used a photo of the wedding scene with Lewis and myself holding hands with him in his suit and me in my cream dress. I then merged the two images together so my black dress and cream dress became one and the two images look like they are intentionally taken as one photo. I blurred the edge of Olly to keep with the theme that his character of Jack has died and that through the final part of the film he is a ghost. I decided to keep the majority of my poster white (white space) so it didn't get 'too busy' and so the viewers attention was directed to the main protagonist's and the title, tagline etc. Overall I am happy with how my poster has turned out, however the one point I would like to change, if I could, is how the colouring of my neck has turned out so that is blends in more with the colouring of my face and rest of my skin. Planning for my Final Poster: This was the first stage of the merging of the funeral image with the wedding image. Rather than using the images from screen shots from the film, we set up a mini photo shoot to take the photos that I needed to created my poster. We used the backdrop of a white board in theclass room and the blue screen that meant it was easier for me to remove the background as there wasn't lot of background clutter to remove.

This next image is the first look of what the two

photos merged together would look like. After this I had the process of merging the skin shades of both images and hair

colour as the different lighting in each photo made one image slightly darker than the other. My original idea was to have the wedding photo with me happy and the funeral side with me looking upset. However, after many attempts on photoshop to put the two images together with two different emotions, I realised it would be easier, and would also look better, if I just had the emotion of me being happy.

My poster compares to mainstream and specialised examples because it sticks to the conventions of a mainstream poster with the use of white space and with the way i've set the title section out is typical of mainstream posters. It compares to specialised examples because it is simplistic with the poster concealing the narrative.

The information I have chosen to highlight is who the central protagonists are and the mood in which their character is likely to set.

Overall I feel that my poster and article have worked well to portray the messages of the film through the use of the simple, yet effective, house style (of black and whites/cream) and by engaging the audience immediately into the feel of the film's narrative and genre.

Evaluation Part 2 (Magazine Article)

This is the final draft of my magazine article for my short film. I went with the idea of doing question and answers rather than a review as I believe this is more formal and will appeal to the audience more. Being that the answers are provided by the creators if the film, I feel that this will allow the viewers to be able to engage with the film on a creative level.

The photos used are the iconic scenes from the film and this gives the viewers a feel of what they are to expect when watching it. For example, the photo in the top right hand corner is iconic because it is the first scene in the film in which the audience is able to empathise with the character of Rebecca, the scene of Rebecca in the graveyard does this also with this being the second example in which she is hurting.

Below is my first draft of the article. I was continuing with the house style of the poster with keeping a large amount of white space. However, I came to the conclusion that by cutting out the background of the main image that the overall look of the article didn't look professional but instead it was messy with too much happening.

The article will promote my short film because it helps to

The target audience for my short film is males and females between the ages of 15 and 24, people who enjoy romantic films, thrillers and dramas. Also people who have seen the situations we present in the film, in real life and can relate to these elements in the film. My article will appeal to the target audience because it highlights the dark issues within the film, such as the scene with Rebecca being abused by Chris and and the scene with Rebecca mourning her dead husband Chris at the graveyard. The actors used within the film are aged between 16 and 19 and so the target audience can relat

e to the ages of these characters and the actions they take within the film. For example, the character of Rebecca goes to the pub with her friends on a night out which the audience can relate to as that is what a large percentage of the target audience would do.

The publication that my article would appear in would most likely be something such as 'Company Magazine' in the film section in the magazine or even in a publication such as 'Empire Magazine'. This would be because the double page spread itself is quiet informal in its presentation and the article, with it being in a Question and Answer interview stye is informal as it engages with the filmmakers on a personal and creative level.

My article compares to real examples with the layout similar to the article of "Clash of the Titans" as this double page spread also contains images from the film and the background is part of the iconography from the film.

Evaluation Part 3 (Audience Feedback)

A2 Media Coursework Audience Feedback from Jade Rogers on Vimeo.

This is the audience feedback for the short film "Square 1". After the members of our class had watched our film we presented them with the 5 questions, which feauture within the audience feedback film. They then filled out their answers on sticky notes with each answer to the 5 questions on an individual sheet. We decided to take photos of the answers, with photographs also being taken of the process of moving each sticky note to the other, this including the movement of the hand turning the sheet. We then uploaded the individual photos onto Final Cut Pro, turned the images to the correct orientation and placed them on the timeline ready to be edited down to the necessary duration and to delete the images that hadn't focused correctly. We kept the sticky notes with the focus being on the answers at a duration at 4 seconds and the notes with the movement between each sheet at approximately 2 seconds. Text plates with the questions were then added at a duration of 5 seconds. The movement sticky notes were faster than the questions and answers clips as they act as a mini film with the whole evaluation being in stop frame. We decided to go with the stop frame animation as it is a good way to exhibit the answers to the questions for the audience feedback as well as a method to demonstrate a way in which we used digital technology within the evaluation element of the coursework (this links to question 4 of the evaluation).

I feel the audience feedback has provided us with a good understanding of how the target audience for the short film will recieve the film and if it is suitable for the audience we set out to make it for. The feedback also helped to highlight the elements in which we could improve on in the future and what as individuals we need to work on when creating a short film again. As a group we were happy with audience feedback as on the whole it was very positive, which has given us confidence to create a short film again as well as giving us some useful points in which we could work on in the future.

Evaluation Part 4

Evaluation Part 4 from Jade Rogers on Vimeo. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? This question is answered in the short video evaluation above. We explain how we used media technology in the planning and research elements of creating our short film and ancillary tasks as well as how we used the technology when we actually created the film and magazine article, poster or radio trailer and how we also used the digital technology in the evaluation stages of the coursework.

Todorov's Theory of Narrative

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

1. A state of equilibrium at the outset
2. A disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption
4. An attempt to repair the disruption
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium

This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many 'mainstream' film narratives. We applied this narrative theory to our short film "Square 1" as outlined below.

1. Is when Rebecca meets Chris in the bar and follows through to their marriage and life together
2. The disruption is when Chris is abusing Rebecca
3. The recognition is Rebecca being upset
   
4. An attempt to repair the disruption is Rebecca traveling back in time to the bar
5. The reinstatement of the equilibrium is Rebecca meeting Jack which again follows through to their marriage and life together
6. The disruption is when Jack dies
7. The recognition is Rebecca being upset again but this time also being shown at Jack's grave
   
8. An attempt to repair the disruption is Rebecca going back in time to the original bar scene
9. Finally the reinstatement of the equilibrium is when Rebecca leaves the bar and bumps into Ricky
   

Research

As the outline for the coursework was to create a short film that had the elements of time and technology within it I conducted some research into other films (both short and feature films) to see how these incorporate the elements. Films I looked at for time include: Spin,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP59tQf_njc
A Question of Time, The Butterfly Effect, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5dVQfzjDS4
Time Travellers Wife, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USUDlMBR-dQ
The Social Network, Sin City, 500 Days of Summer, Run Lola Run,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta1Sn6MtC9w
Metropolis, City of God, La Haine, Donnie Darko, Pulp Fiction, Back to the Future and the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqeqaweXBV0

These films use time as a concept through being set in the future or past (eg Metropolis and Back to the Future). The Social Network has the majority of the film working from 2003 up to the end in 2009. However, we often cut to scenes in two different court cases in 2009 when they are discussing parts of the case, we then flash back to when it happened and continue with the elements of the film. The film also uses time because we follow the films narrative in chronological order from 2003 to 2009, form start to finish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4 The Social Network also has the element of technology within the film as it is based around the creation of the online social networking site-Facebook.
Metropolis was made in 1927 however it is set in the year 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvNipWws-so&feature=related
Sin City has three different, yet interlinking, narratives which are all based on the same theme. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKFLrTYKIXk
This is a forked narrative.

Storyboard of Film Scenes

Costumes and Props List

Costumes

Rebecca's Dress'(Wedding & Funeral)
Jacks/Chris' suits
Rebecca's/Jack's/Chris' and extra's bar clothes
Rebecca's house scene, clothes
Chris' work clothes
Various costumes for photo's
Mysterious man's ordinary clothes

Props

Bouquet
Laptop
Mobile Phone
Drinks glasses
Flowers for Grave

Cast List

Cast list

Jade Rogers - Rebecca
Olly Williams - Jack
Lewis Barnard - Chris
Ricky Foster - Mysterious man
Catherine Askew - Rebecca's friend in bar
Danielle Rogers - Rebecca's second friend in bar

Plus extras

Shooting Script

Shooting Script
Date Time Scene description Location

Saturday, 15th January 4:00 Photos for montage/Chris and Rebecca house scenes Jades house
Tuesday, 18th January 2:30 More photos for montage/Rehearsal scenes College
Thursday, 20th January 8:35 Bar scenes Three Fiddles
Saturday, 22nd January 12:00 Photos with Jack and Rebecca's children Lewis's house
Tuesday, 26th January 2:30 Funeral scenes Cemetery
Saturday, 29th January 12:00 Bar scenes part 2 Three Fiddles

These dates and times are subject to change due to weather conditions, availability of each person for filming and any other contributing factors.

Film Script

This is a rough idea of what we could use for our script. As we dont have many scenes with dialogue there is only a small amount on the script, however when filming some lines my be improvised.

Scene 1 - Rebecca and friends – ‘general conversation’
Scene 2 - Friend 1 to Rebecca: “I think that lads trying to get your attention (giggle)”
Scene 3 - Friend 2 to Rebecca: “Go over and talk to him”
Scene 5 – Rebecca: “Oh, your back early, I haven’t done your tea yet, I never expected you to be finished this early”
Chris: “YOU WHAT! GET IN THE KITCHEN AND GET SOMETHING MADE NOW, I’M SICK OF THIS, I GO OUT AND WORK AND YOU DO NOTHING ALL DAY AND YOU CAN’T EVEN DO SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS HAVE MY TEA MADE FOR WHEN I GET HOME”
Scene 7 – repeat dialogue in scene 2 & 3
Scene 13 – Rebecca: “I have to go sorry”
Scene 15 – Rebecca: (sigh) “I’m really sorry, that was my fault, I should watch where I’m going”
Man: “it’s fine honestly” (laugh)

Introduction

For our A2 Media Studies Coursework we have been given the task to create a short film lasting approximately 5 minutes. The film can be of any genre and either live action, animated or a combination of both. I will be creating my short film in a group of 3. As part of the ancillary task we have to create a poster for the film and either a radio trailer or a film magazine review page which will feature a review and analysis of the film.
I will do extensive research into what makes a good short film, and also research into genres as this will give me a better indication into what type of film I am to create, whether it be a single genre or a hybrid of a few genres.
Our film must have the theme of, or make reference to, time and also technology. We must also make use of one or more narrative concepts to help to tell the story. By following Lacey's schema of genre to ensure we follow some of the codes and conventions to select a genre or hybrid for the film.