Final Film: Misguided

After recieving all of our audience feedback we edited it and went over the film various times in order to perfect it. This is our final film.

Evaluation Part 1

Good continuity is vital when making a film run smoothly and making it look professional. We made sure we didn't change any costumes or props when shooting the same scene on different days and tried to ensure our hair and make-up was done the same. We had to make sure continuity in our film was perfect by making sure we followed the 180 degree rule, as well as this we used match on action in certain shots like when Fiona knocks on the door and is greeted. Also during the getting ready scene we used jump cuts and cross cuts when Fiona is walking down the steps, which shows her getting ready at the same time, after each step she went down we had to ensure that when it cut back to walking down the stairs after a cut of her getting ready it was the correct step as well as making sure it fit the beat of the music, we got inspiration for this idea from the film 'Wild Child' which also see's a transformation from a geek look into a party look. We used a lot of cross cuts throughout the film particularly in the getting ready scene, however we made sure we included some longer shots to improve continuity.

We stereotypically stuck to the genre of our film throughout which was a teen drama. We included elements such as friendships and peer pressure to try and make our of the film which implies the main character has been raped. We have very stereotypical characters in o

ur film, the main two are very different; Fiona who is very geeky and Alice who is a typical popular girl. The props and costumes we used in the film helped us communicate to the audience what they were like, for example at the beginning Fiona has lots

of teddies on her bed and is studying, on the other hand Alice seems very controlling at the party, always has an alcohol drink in her hand as well as that the party is at her house. target audience relate to, as well as dramatic scenes to make our film more exciting such as the end scene.

Stereotypical geek Our geek

We wanted to create a film that had a strong meaning to it and that our target audience could relate to and could send a message to our audience. After brainstorming all of our ideas together we created our story line which involved social groups and fitting in with the crowd which as teenagers ourselves we could relate to so therefore our target audience would. This then lead to peer pleasure by the use of alcohol and drugs, we wanted to put across to our audience that ‘fitting in with the crowd’ is not always the best thing to do, and that alcohol and drugs can lead to bad consequences and therefore our main character gets raped in the scene. I believe that our films meaning works for our film in that teenagers will be able to relate to it very well, and that the shocking story line fits well with the responses we received from our audience feedback as it was mentioned that the shock factor makes a good teen drama. Richard Dyer's theory of utopian solutions fitted with our film very well as it gives great audience pleasure with educating them on peer pressure, drugs and alcohol as well as entertaining them.

Evaluation Part 2

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Evaluation part 3

Evaluation part 4

Throughout the making of our project I have used the internet to post my work onto blogger as well as to research and plan the film. In particular I used youtube for looking at title sequences, radio trailers and other short films as well as using google as the main search engine throughout. A problem we came across was the server in college as the ban width weren't big enough for us to upload our film. iMDB was helpful for me too when researchin
g into film genres, I used BBFC to look into film certificates also. Communication in the group was done through mobile phones and facebook, which was convenient for all of us as we could all get in touch with each other easily. I had few problems during using the internet however when trying to put pictures on my posts as they often wouldn't go where I wanted them to which I overcome by editing the html.

Our film 'Misguided' was created using Sony HD1000 cameras which are good quality cameras where you can get good quality filming in any location, the camera was generally easy to use and I feel like my filming skills have improved greatly. Another strength with the camera was the sound quality which was very clear. A problem we had with the camera was the focus rim on the camera, and therefore we struggled with a pulling focus shot as the camera has a spinning

focus rim (we

didn't end up using the shot in the final film.) A HD1000 tripod was also used, which was used to take sure shots were not shaky and to ensure they ran smoothly, some shots however we created to look shaky where we didn't use a tripod such as when Fiona is running down the stairs at the end, this works very well as we see things from her point of view insinuating worry and that everything is a blur to her. We also used a hand held camera to create a video diary which was very easy to use.

To edit our film we used final cut express which is widely used on

apple mac computers, I believe this programme has improved my creativity greatly. Final cut enabled us to cut out the shots that weren't needed and creating continuity. It also allowed us to alter the sound for example some conversation parts in the film weren't quite loud enough. We used different effects in the film such as fades, changing the colour, using cuts and flashes of light as well as speeding up shots such as in the party scene where everyone is stood around Fiona in a circle laughing. We didn't have any major problems the the mac's or the editing

software however sometime it was time consuming such as rendering the film when adding in new shots as well as when transferring our footage onto the computer. We also used a zoom recorder to record voice-overs for our film in a quiet room which we then put on the mac and edited and added to our film in final cut express.

To create our poster we all created individual designs and then as a group decided on a final poster design. The final poster was made on Photoshop, we used a photography studio to take pictures on a SLR camera to put on the poster. For our radio trailer we used final cut express which worked in our favour as we were very familiar with it. We recorded voice overs on a zoom recorder, took some sound from our film and used some copyright free music which works very well with the sound from the film, we also added in fades and sound bridges to make the trailer sound the best we could make it.

In conclusion I feel like the media technologies I have used has helped me improved my overall media skills such as editing, researching, sound recording and blogging, as well as boost my creativity. I think that any problems that occurred throughout the project I have able to overcome resulting in a successful project.

Final Group Radio Trailer

This is our final radio trailer. We considered a format that would mix appropriate music, sound snippets from our film and a voiceover that would make the audience think about what our film entails. We believe that our trailer is effective as it all blends well together and sounds authentic, but it also intrigues the audience as it poses a question to the audience without giving any of our film's premise away other than the issue of how far a person will go to fit in. 

Video Diary

During the filming of our short film we were asked to create a video diary. Due to the number of people within our group that were also acting, producing a video diary for every scene we shot wasn't easy, so we chose the more difficult scenes to use within our video diary.

Audience Screening Feedback

We organised to go to Wombwell high school, into a media class to screen our film, in order to get some feedback from the audience age group we are hoping to aim our film at, we created a questionnaire for them to fill out, and we also asked some students to give us feedback on film.

Here is a film of the students watching the film, and some of their reactions.

Filmed by: Robyn and Amy

Questions by: Robyn and Amy

Edited by: Bethany Vaines

Second Photoshoot for Poster

During this photoshoot we took the time to take the pictures we'd previously taken and also thought of new poses and shots we could do. We were happy with our outcomes so we will now work from the images we have to create a film poster.

Photoshoot for Poster

After all thinking about ideas for a film poster, we all got together and went to the photography studio in college to try and take some appropriate pictures for our poster. Here are some of them:







Although we got some good shots in terms of poses, most of the shots we did get were blurry so we decided to delete the blurry pictures, keep the good ones and reshoot another day using another camera in the hope of achieving better quality photos.

Poster Idea

Radio Trailer Research

Radio trailers for films are extremely hard to find on the internet, but are however used a lot in advertisement for films. Radio trailers are usually around 30 seconds long but can last for around a minute too and sound very different due to the genre of the film. They often try and pack in lots of information about the film such as the name of the film, release date or if it is in cinemas already, a bit about the plot (without giving too much away) and the main actors in the film.

UNFINISHED

Final Film Distributor

We have decided that studio canal (formerly optimum releasing) would be an appropriate distributor for our film. The UK and Ireland company established in 2004 has become one of the leading distributors in the U.K and has recently being ranked in the top ten from growing its market share year on year from its very successful new releases to its classic library titles.

Attack The Block, the teen horror/comedy/thriller/sci-fi brought huge success to studio canal creating £1,133,859 at the box office in its opening weekend from its fairly low budget . The BAFTA nominated film is set in South London it features a teen gang defending themselves and there 'block' from an alien invasion. The film challenges issues such as representation as

well as friendships/relationships giving the audience something to relate to, which is very similar to our film. Certain thriller/drama elements are used throughout such as elements of shock, a twist in the storyline, dramatic music and mysterious characters. The fact that this huge profit making film is similar to ours makes us think that using this distribution company is the right one for our film. Studio canal have released a very large amount of drama films such as 'The Last Exorcism' creating a massive 20,366,613 in its opening weekend as well as a more low budget films which have created great success as well, this is another positive reason for it to be our film distributor as the film that we have created is a teen/drama.

Overall I think this distribution company would be appropriate for our film as it has shown to be successful when creating a low budget film to be a hit! Also the fact that studio canal also distributes high budget films intended to create massive hype results in the distribution company being very well known, which would mean our film being more popular.

Rough Cut

we uploaded this rough cut video onto various social networking sites with a note that as of yet, the credits and titles still needed adding; we wanted people to give us ideas on how we could improve our final cut, and this was our respone: 

these comments show the things we need to adapt to our rough cut to make our final cut as good as it can possibly be.

Poster Research

A film poster is used to advertise the film. Studios often print posters in different sizes

and often contain an image which mostly is the main actors and various text. The text on film posters usually contain the name of the film in larger letters, with the names of the main actors Its purpose is to create awareness, and should be eye-catching, which should draw people's attention. I have kept to researching film posters which are the same film genre as our film which is teen dramas.

This film poster for 'Prom' is quite unusual and not your typical film poster. The bright colours make it very eye-catching, drawing your attention towards it. The collage style background includes the characters as well as other pictures which are to do with the film, gives you an insight into what the film is about, without giving anything major away. The main picture in the centre of the poster is quite plain which is probably best due to the busy looking background, which i presume is the main character. This poster could very much suit our film and i could create something similar by taking screen shots from the film for the background, and adding a picture of fiona or something to do with drugs for the main picture.

The poster for 'John Tucker Must Die' has the main characters on the poster like most film posters usually do. The bright colours and large bold font stand out very well against the black and white background. The way the characters are stood in the background make them look dominant, and the fact they are bigger than the other character gives the impression that they are in control over him. This could work very well for our film as the other main characters have control over the main character- Fiona.

IMPORTANT CHANGES

Due to work commitments and illness, we had to work around things in order to make sure we got filming done with plenty of time to edit.

We have changed Holly and Robyn's roles around. Robyn is now Fiona and Holly is Emily. 

Viral Advert Research

Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives like product sales. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the internet. Viramarketing may take the form of video clips, interactive flash games, e books, brandable software, images, or text messages.

- An example of a viral advert is for the film 'Inception'. A mind crime game was released online which kept most of the film unknown and produced a series of real interviews with scientists who specialize in dreams, which made fans even more interested for the films release.

- 'Paranormal Activity' film makers encouraged fans on twitter to tweet their screams and write reviews on the film which was hugely popular creating even more success for the film.

- Another example of a successful viral advert was for the film 'The Blair Witch Project' the low-budget horror film created massive hype for the film by posting found footage and police records from the film before the film was released.

Chosen Title

We chose to call our film 'Misguided'.

We decided upon this name as the word suggests that something will happen to the main character within the film that will corrupt her and steal her innocence unintentionally, and this reflects our storyline as Fiona is corrupted unknowingly, yet it doesn't give the storyline away because there are many ways a person can be misguided.

Possible 'Misguided' Titles.

Risk Assessment

Audience Research- Video

We asked students of Barnsley College the following questions:
1. Have you ever watched a short film?
2. If yes, what did you think of it?
3. What do you think the key elements within a short film are?
4. Have you ever watched any teen dramas, e.g. Skins or Hollyoaks?
5. If yes, what do you think makes them interesting?
6. What do you think the key elements within a teen drama are?
7. If you're not a fan of the teen drama genre, what elements could be added to it to make it appeal to you?

And this was their response:

Questions made up by: Robyn Makings, Bethany Vaines, Holly Johnson, Amy Thompson
Questions asked by: Robyn Makings
Filmed by: Bethany Vaines
Edited by: Bethany Vaines