Our Poster

This is the poster for our film. We have taken in all of our research to complete it and make it look as professional as possible, and as eye catching but simple as we could. With the white background it brings out the one simple picture and the writing we have on it. The writing is minimalistic so it doesn't bore the viewer.

Poster research- Writing

The writing on posters is very important, as this is the thing that grabs the onlooker along with any pictures that are on the poster.

The Film Title

The title of the film is usually in the biggest font and the important words in bold. When researching we have found that most film posters change their font, boldness and colour for different words. For example in ‘The Proposal’ the word ‘The’ is in a black, thin normal font, as it is not seen as being as important as the word ‘Proposal’ which is in a bright red, bold and bigger font as this tells the viewer the main story line of the film even though it is just one word. The positioning of this title is in the middle on the right side of the frame and this gives it even more importance, as it is eye-catching and so draws your attention into the poster. In ’50 First Dates’ the same style of writing is used with the difference in boldness and colour in order of importance to the film. ‘50’ is in black and is bold so the viewer sees this first and because it has been written in number form it’s easier to read and so more people will look at it. ‘First’ is in red which could symbolize danger or love as red is associated with these things. Having ‘Dates’ last in white shows purity and also that this word isn't as shocking as the first two. Having only three words for a title brings people in as it is easy on the eyes and people don’t have to think about it much. This title has been positioned differently to the other poster as it is at the bottom middle of the frame; but because it is still bright and bold people can still see it and understand that this is the title to the film they want to watch.

Credits.

On the poster for ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ there is only one main name above the film title as Reese Witherspoon is the main character and, at the time the film came out, the most successful and known actor in the film. The names and jobs of the rest of the crew are at the bottom of the poster in what is known as a Billing Block, in a different colour to show that these people are different from the actors. It is also hard to read the names mainly because viewers don’t know the names listed. These names don’t influence whether they watch the film or not whereas the names of famous actors and actresses do. In ‘The Break-up’ the writing is much more simple, as the two main characters’ names are in white at the top of the poster in not a big font so they don’t stand out at you as much as some other film actors’ names do on their posters. The other peoples’ names are the same as the other poster and all the different posters we have looked at; they are at the bottom in a small font in a different colour to the rest of the writing, in an Industry-standard Billing Block.

Other Text.

Most film posters have other additional text, such as what other successful, well known films the director has made. However we can’t do this on our film poster as this is our first film. Also they have a sentence or just a couple of words for the viewer to read and think about either when they watch the film or in their own life. This is known as a ‘Tag Line.’ For example in ‘No Strings Attached’ there is a tag line between the two characters in white, and in a font that is smaller than the rest, which reads “Friendship has it’s benefits” so it give more clues to the film but doesn't give too much away. Another thing we have found that most film posters have quotes and comments that viewers of important industries have given. On the ‘Love Actually’ poster these are very big in just two colours, black and red to keep in with the Christmas theme and memorable colours to link with this film. Some of the more important words like “Unmissable” are in bold and some of the really important writing has been made bigger and is in red like “10/10”. We will have to put a couple of quotes on our poster to draw more peoples’ attention but we have to keep it neat and in theme. Finally, at the bottom of every film poster it says when the film is coming out to the cinemas so we can watch it or that it is coming out soon in a different colour or just simply in a bold font; we shall have this on our poster as well..

Poster research

On most romantic film posters there is normally a male and female character so even from looking at the cover we can assume that there will be a romantic theme or at least know that they are the main characters. For example in ‘What Happens in Vegas’ there is only a picture of the two main characters on a plain white background. This has your focus only on the couple. It also helps that the picture fills the whole of the poster to show the story will be following their actions. The white background looks nice and simple and because of this we are going to have a plain background to show the simple characteristics and pureness of the male, as he’s still so young. Also in ‘Titanic’ there’s a photo of the protagonists with a slight fade as they’re at the top of the poster with a picture of the boat filling up the rest. This tells the viewer what is important in the film and from the expression on the actors’ faces, plus the fact that they are facing away from each other, the events aren’t all happy. We shall take the emotion on the faces to our poster as well as it will show that our film won’t always be happy.

Some of the romantic posters just have one actor, as they’re alone and the storylines are about how alone they are and how they deal with it. ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ has a photo of the main male character, filling most of the page, looking sad. He is holding a cartoon love heart that is broken and has cracks in it. This symbolizes how big his love was for the girl and how broken his heart is now. By having just him on the cover, we know he’s going to be a sad character, perhaps comically so. ’27 Dresses’ the female fills the screen again with a cartoon dress. By having the cartoons it also brings a lighter feel to the film and shows it could be comedic yet still dealing with heavy topics of feelings and emotions. Both of these posters have the picture placed on a white background so they stand out and show the simplistic theme of love. We are going to have our male character on a white background on his own to show these things.

comments from the public

We put our film opening on a social networking site- Facebook. Asked anyone to watch our film and write comments on what they think. All of the feedback we collected was positive and they all said that they loved it and wanted to see more. These are just some of the comments:
"The music has great effect on this film clip."
"I like how the guy and the girl fade in and out..."
"A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! .... Helps to leave it on a cliff hanger"
"... I want to see the whole film now!"
Heres some print screens from facebook of some of the comments as well; We had to clear any names from them for identity protection:

Feedback From The Public

Here is feedback from a number of people who have watched and assessed our final project:

Sarah Legg: I find this film very interesting, and intriguing, the fact that you don’t know if the girl is alive makes me want to watch it further, the blurred flashbacks are very effective in making the audience understand it’s a memory, I like the over the shoulder shot at the end as he is walking because it makes me feel like I’m following him into the film not knowing what’s going to happen.

Caitlin O’Shea: Genius, I like the fades they’re a nice touch. Yes very emotion provoking. I would love to see the rest. Yes lovely film opening. Well done.

Lewis Peak: very good film opening and it has a lot of potential to be an actual film. A wide range of shots that helps brings closeness to the character. Very awesome plot. And music fits perfectly with it. Hope there is a part 2.

Main Project - Senseless Memory

Directors Commentary

7. Looking back at the preliminary task, what do you think you have learnt from the progression from it to the full task?

From the production of our preliminary task we have learnt that planning out exactly what we need in a paper format first helps keep the structure of our plan going. We also added what type of genre our production is which is a romantic.

As a team we all decided that filming in Manchester city centre was the best location to film. In the first attempt of the final task we had a number of different location all of which, save one, was unsuccessful in producing a good, professional sequence. We found that the best key location to use was the canal located near Piccadilly train station. This location was perfect as not many people travel there and the scene looks isolated, a prime location for our romantic genre.

The fact we had footage from a previous attempt of a main task meant that we could use that footage in certain sections of a final attempt. For example the first flash back of both of the protagonists in a park was actually an outtake from the first attempt. This piece of footage was used as a very positive memory and became a core section of our opening.

Both the preliminary task and main task share the same type of genre, as the preliminary task had a romantic feel as is it based on a typical ‘brake up’ story line, our main task is more complex as it is after the mishap (which the audience is unaware of how it has occurred yet) and our male protagonist is drifting in and out of the real world and the ‘memory world’ thinking back to a better time.

As the progression from the preliminary task to the main task, we have learnt a great deal more about editing and adding excited and interesting effects; including playing a separate piece of footage over another to look like a memory. That was the most interesting effect that was placed into the sequence as it looks like a film studio effect rather then As level standards.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the construction of our media product our group has learnt about multiple different technologies such as the camera and editing software. We learnt about the 180-degree rule and the different types of shots such as close up, panning shot and establishing shot. Knowing how to use the editing and filming equipment meant we could be more adventurous with the shots and special effects such as transitions, for example when the main protagonists (Matthew and Samantha) are walking down the canal there is a echo effect to make it look like this is a memory and maybe even dreaming about it. We have also added the four-point garbage matte so that a second piece of footage can be played over the first piece as if it’s a memory being recalled while walking through Manchester.

Another device that we used is the sound track we used for our film. We used a media sound track of the song called Aftermash by the band Thirteen Floors, which is perfect for the dream like atmosphere of our opening sequence.
For the camera we learned how to use a rig steady cam in order to take the tracking shot of the male protagonist walking through the isolated section of Manchester.

The more we used file cut pro the more we realized about the number of effects could be added to our shots, for example we learned that we could deepen the contrast of color in the ‘present time’ shots of Matthew in the city by himself. It was here that we realized the sunny weather was very important in our shots, as the deepened contrast mixed when the brightness of the sun made everything have a dark and gloomy atmosphere that, we felt, reflected the emotions of our male character. This made it difficult for us as we had to film on two different days so making sure that it was the right weather was crucial. The contrast effects also made it look more like a professional film rather then a low budget video that we feel has a higher chance of grabbing the audience’s attention.
In conclusion, the experience that we have learned about how editing technology can be used to create unique effects that we choose such as the echo effect of the memory and the second footage played over the tracking shot. Using the camera technology helped us greatly in creating a unique line of shot for the construction of our final project. It has also taught us about the errors that can be caused through editing or camera work, which helped realize what we need to do in case we use the software or equipment again.

5. How did you attract/ address your audience?

Tall buildings, cars charging through the streets, different types of people walking, talking, shopping. A lonely boy sat on a cold bench with vast emptiness surrounding him. The news of the day is the only thing to keep him from reminding him of his past, of his loss, of his love…

This is how we grab the viewer’s attention in the opening of our first scenes in our film. The audience for our film is females ages 12-30 with the certificate of 12A; even though it’s a large range 12 year olds will love this new modern chick flick and so it will become a classic and older women will still love and watch it. It also appeals to the younger generations of girls because we have an attractive male main character that they can feel sorry for, as he’s lost his first love and thinks it’s the end of the world. Many teenage girls go through bad break ups and get upset and down about them so even though our character is male they can relate to him and see how he gets over his loss or just stays captured in his depression.

The music we have playing in our opening sequence has a vintage feel to it and yet it still sounds contemporary. This will make the viewers’ ears tune into it and yet still make them involved in the action that is taken place on the screen. The parallel music helps enforce the sadness and loneliness the boy is feeling.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product would be categorized ‘12A’ for generally the female audience. As the genre would be a romantic it would appeal to the female audience rather than the men, therefore the film could be released at the same time as a male targeted film this way more money could be made as there is no other female targeted films available. The film contains a mature theme, with the use of strong language and sexual reference could be implied later in the film, this would be unsuitable for children under the age of 12 years old, however it is a 12A therefore the parents can decide whether they want their child to watch the film.

for more information on what consists in a 12A film click on the hyperlink below:

http://www.cbbfc.co.uk/guidelines12-12a.asp

3. What kind of media institution would distribute your media product and why?

‘500 hundred days of summer’ and ‘P.S. I love you’ are some films that our similar to ours. ‘500 hundred days of summer’ has the production company Fox which is large popular company and was nominated for 2 golden globes which are best motion picture (musical or comedy) and best performance while ‘P.S. I love you’ is produced by Alcon entertainment which is a smaller company despite this small company the film won the audience award for best actress in the Irish film and television awards and was nominated for golden trailer for best romance and best romance poster in the golden trailer awards. These production and distribution companies wouldn’t produce or distribute our film as it is of a low budget, but some low budget British companies that may are working title films which produced films in the romantic genre such as ‘Sliding Doors’ and ‘Notting hill’ which also did very good in the cinema for example ‘Notting hill’ was nominated for 3 golden globes. So it is possible that they might produces our media project and the popularity of previous films of the same genre and production company would make the audience want to see the it more. Our project could be marketed by having posters on buses so the maximum amount of people will see it or even be advertised in schools so the targeted audience will be attracted.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our media product focuses on a young boy who has lost a girl but it is unknown to the viewer to how and why she isn’t with him any more. We have made the boy fit the stereotype that males deal with sad times on their own and don’t want anyone else’s interference; they have to control their feelings in front of people and put on a face but when their on their own they can let it all out and be sad, remember happy memories, think that he can still see his female friend and not have to worry about anyone else but how he feels and how he plans to get over his loss.

The fact that the male is still young and the flashbacks seem to be not too long ago shows that this could have been his first love and/or his first loss. It seems quite deep and that he has fallen hard because of how upset he his and how he walks around all gloomy, but this shows how fragile he is and how much he isn’t used to the change and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen to him next as he’s never felt this way before and it’s a new experience for him and he has to learn how to move on with his life.

In films you would normally find the female sad and depressed of the loss of someone she loves so we have gone against this norm and presented a man with these feelings and confusion; that the girl can quickly and happily leave but he’s still hung up on her and is struggling to let go. Which can be seen as quite unusual as the stereotype of young males is that they can forget a girl easily and go after a new one, our film shows that if u really love that person it’s hard to forget and move on. Some of the films that do have a male griever are older gentlemen e.g. ‘Notting hill’. But in ‘500 days of summer’ the male is more the age that we have chosen, this film also shows how long it takes for a man to get over a girl he loves but then when he feels a new girl could change his life and make it happy again he quickly moves on. This film is very much like our own with the memory flashbacks and the ages of the cast; however, it tells us from the beginning why she’s left and how he feels about it.

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

The genre of our film can be categorized as romantic with the story about a man trying to get over the love of his life. Other films such as 'P.S I love you' share this theme as the women protagonist who is trying to get over the recent death of her husband, but in our opening scene it is not clear whether the female character is a girlfriend or wife and if she left the male or the male left her or if the female died this will make the viewer intrigued to know what the story is about. Our story is different from most other films since in the opening scene we focus mostly on the male character where as in other films they introduce numerous characters from the start.

During the movie ‘Eternal sunshine’ the protagonist is alone on a beach, whereas in our film our protagonist is in Manchester town centre yet is still alone which shows contrast.

To reinforce the genre of our film we showed happy memories of the two people together while the male character is walking down a road all alone towards a canal, showing these memories can help the audience sympathies with the protagonist.

At the end of our film we show a memory of the characters holding hands, the female goes to sit on a wall near some daffodils, as the male is turning round, the film goes back to real time and looks back at the same scenery and the female isn’t there.

Eternal Sunshine

This is the poster for the film Eternal Sunshine, with Jim Carrey. It is about a man, Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend Clementine underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, he decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realizes that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
This relates to our film because Jim Carrey's character is on his own and wonders around like our character is doing, we have taken the lonely and depressing theme and feel from this film into our own; by using calm and soft music to portray a man living without the girl he loves. However in our story we have our man in a busy place to show how alone he is that he is the only person on his own, but we have him walking through quiet diluded places as if he has found empty spaces to dwell on his past and memories, Whereas in 'Eternal Sunshine' he finds the most deserted place to morn.

Notting Hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyvwB8slwvk&feature=related

Here is a clip from Notting Hill where Julia Roberts has to walk through the paparatzi and in fairness walk out of Hugh Grants life. It leaves him to be quite depressed and all he can think about is her. Start the film from 4 minutes 30 seconds.

This is like our film because when Hugh Grants character is sad that his loved one has left him he walks, just like our boy walks around town. However, in 'Notting Hill' it shows the different seasons we just have one time and flashbacks to show the past. In the film you can see him making progression and becoming happier and trying to get on with his life whereas our opening has the boy dwellin on happy times and stays upset throughout the clips. At the end of 'Notting Hill' he reunites with her again, but the outcome of the people in our story is unknown.

new anamatic

This is our new storyboard and is the one we are useing for our final piece of an opening to a film.

New Shot list

Establishing Shot of the locations to show that the lonely character is in a busy place which is unusual when he's sad; you would expect an upset person to be in a quiet place to reflect on his past but we have put him in a urban location to show the contrast of loneliness and other peoples' happiness.



Low angle Shot on Boy to show his expression of dull and sadness with hardely any real, obvious emotion on his face.


Over The Shoulder of Boy to show what he is reading in the newspaper to show that he wants to take his mind off the events that have happened to him so he's reading other peoples problems.



Medium Long Shot, reading the paper to walking away from his sitting place quite slowely as he's sad and by walkin he believes if he keeps moving and keeps busy he can forget. but all it does is make him remember past times and memories of him and his girlfriend.



Medium 2 shot (memory of laughter). This will be edited to a slow pace with a texture as if he's dreaming to define the difference between real life and the flashbacks.



Tracking over the shoulder shot walking down the path so the veiwer can see where the boy is taking them and to show his journey on his own.



Long shot (memory) walking on path with his girl. This is the same place as the last shot but because it's a flashback it shows he's not alone and he's having a nice, fun time.



Medium shot of Boy turning to the place the girl was sitting, but she has gone as we are now in current time and she isn't with him for an unknown reason. He realises and is sad again as before he smile as he thought she was back, but it was just a memory.



Long shot into extreme long shot of Boy walking off still upset and alone as he was at the begining.

new story line

As we had to change our story line due to bad camera work and not enough shot angles as we were just panning for the photo scenes. So in this story it’s based on a depressed boy as he’s lost his girlfriend; he is walking through the streets of Manchester recalling different memories of their happy times together.

In the flashbacks we used some old footage from the first film opening we were going to do for the flashbacks as the camera and composition was good in some of them.

This is one of our attempts to film in the old version of our main project. In this shot the camera zooms out of the bed and then pans over a pile of photos, then onto a table. This was unacceptable to use as the camera was shaky and positioned incorrectly and due to the zoom work on the camera being unusable, subject to poor quality. Also the camera pan doesn't finnish on the table where the next scane start so the film doesn't flow.

an origional clip (flashback) 180degrees

story change

We have had to change our story because the camera was shaky and scenery wasn’t of good quality, so we have changed the location to Manchester town central and filmed again changing the story to someone who has broken up with his wife/ girlfriend or she has died.

'Shutter'

This is a clip from the Japanese version of 'Shutter'. The way the photographs have been done with the ghostley figures are what we are hoping to achieve when we put the ghost in out photos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teJ3tq4vrhM&feature=related

our pitch

First it will open on a photo album and some one flicking through it. The camera will then change to a medium close up to show two of the photos then have a close up of one photo. With that photo showing it will then match cut to a live scene the same as the photo. In the acting scene the young couple are laughing a naturally talking and having fun; this is as a flash back. The shot then flashes to an array of photographs lying on he floor and the camera pans them to show them to the viewer. The photos then look as though their floating on water so the screen then merges into water to change the location to a canal or lake. The next flashback is of the couple sat on a bench near the water, again talking and having a good time. These flashbacks show how much fun the couple is having when they spend time together. A camera flash takes us as viewers back into the home with different photos on a fridge how people would normally place photos, the camera guides us from photo to photo to shows different places the couple have been or photos of them being happy. It then cuts to panning on a table showing pictures there as of someone had been searching through them for something, panning photos on a bed will be the next shot so the viewers can see the story of the couples lives. Finally the camera cuts to a desk with a pile or collection of photos but these are different and the camera moves slower to show that there is something wrong with them and to make sure the viewer takes notice of the detail as hiding inside the photographs there are ghostly figures and paranormal signs as if they have been followed by a phenomenon.

Original Shot list

Shot list

1. Flicking through the photo album- CU

2. 2 photos- zoom to ECU (match cut to actual area)

3. Laughing- 2 shot/CU

4. Take a picture- match cut back to photo in room

5. Photos spread throughout the room - pan shot of all the room

6. Transition of photos being turned into water to resemble a lake – transition

7. 2 shot of people sitting on a bench looking at the water – long shot/zoom slightly towards the people

8. Shot is then filled with a flash bang to show a camera shot – flash shot that fills the entire screen

9. Pans on the fridge which shows more photos some of which will contain unusual images/ transitions to the next shot – medium shot/pan/fade

10. Pictures on a table and on the floor around of the table – medium long shot/ pan shot to the next shot.

old anamatic

This is our origional storyboard in the style of an anamatic.

filming

We have been filming over the past 2 - 3 weeks and have almost finished. we have went to different locations such as: Stretford canal, Longford park, Chorlton water park and Jacobs house.

Main task - change

we have decided to change the main story line in the main task. samantha has again designed another storyborad with short list of shots. further development will have to take place through half term.

Main task - storyboard

we have developed a story board with the camera, lighting, sound and mise-en-scene. Samantha has drawn the pictures for the story board with detail on each shot. we will make the animatic storyboard next lesson

ghost disappearing ideas:

Here's a few ideas on how ghosts can disappear :...:... Click to view the youtube video from 'Ghost whisperer'..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U16UG1lta_Y

Preliminary task evaluation part 2

3) Give a detailed, specific example of how you have used a shot/ reverse shot combination in your film.

When the two students were sat down and were talking we switched the camera to see each of their faces for reactions or speech.

4) Give a detailed, specific example of how you achieved match cuts during the editing process.

Unfortunately we ran out of time to shoot this shot, so we know for the next main task to have plenty of time before editing to check that we have all the shots we need to maximize the shot list and to have verity in out shots.

5] How did you make sure that you didn’t break the 180-degree rule? Or if you broke it, what have you learnt from this?

We had a wall at the either side of the table so we couldn’t physically break the 180-degree rule. We used a clear 180-degree swipe on the side of the table to make sure we didn’t break the rule.

Preliminary task evaluation.

1) What did you learn about the cameras and editing software during the preliminary task?
We learnt how to cut and rearranged the sound but keep the film in the same position. We have also learned how to add effects such as transitions at the end of the film to fade it out.
2) In the filming and editing of your project, what worked well and what could have been improved?
The things that worked well are we shared the camera duties and all filmed parts of the task. This helped us to be able to come up with a good idea and work quickly and well together.
Things that didn't work too well was the fact that we didnt communicate well enough to let everyone know when the scene was actually supposed to end; this caused problems in the editing as we then had our voices shouting "end" when the actors were either talking or needed to act abit more. Next time we will freeze to let the cameraman know that we are finnishing the scene this will help in editing as we will have more to work with aswell.

Preliminary task - completed

This is the finished version of the preliminary task.

Preliminary task - editing completed

Task is now editied with the shots in order and a transition (fade) was added at the end. After comverting to a mpeg-4 file we can now begin planning the main task.

Preliminary task - editing

filming and sorting of the preliminary task has been completed and now starting editing. Within two hours Jacob was able to complete most of the task however was unable to complete it and will finish next lesson

Preliminary task has begun

we have started to make our preliminary task of a thirty second scene. unable to complete today however created shots list, miner dialogue script and 2/3rd of the task itself.

preliminary task - shot list

shot reverse shot - switching of camera angle between student A and student B.

2 shot - shot of student A and student B

over the shoulder shot - off student A looking at the other student when entered room

close up shot - of students B face

establishing shot - of the room with the studentA walking across the room, meeting student B.

high angle shot - student A walking down the hall into the room of the student B

tracking shot - links with the high angle shot where the student A walks down the hall

long shot - of the student A walking down the hall

jump cut - of the student walking A down the hall (links to the long shot as the student is showing the passing and tempo of speed and time)