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, Question 1: In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product has a typical, convincing opening that is found in many modern films as it features a montage of events that our opening titles roll over. This montage helps to introduce our main character, Fiona, to the audience by showing her morning routine and portraying her as a geek who works hard and just gets on with life. We observed the language of media within this opening montage through editing the titles and certain shots to the offbeat of the music so it had a smooth, consistent feel to it. We also made good use of jump cuts so we could show a passage of time throughout her daily morning routine in a way that looked convincing but was time efficient as we only had 5 minutes to fit our entire film into and so couldn’t waste too much time on our opening montage. However, to avoid the film looking too jumpy, we made sure to include longer shots and make use of continuity in between all of our jump cut sequences, for example, when Fiona leaves the house and gets into her car we obey the 180 degree line rule and make use of match on action.

I believe that our film fits into the ‘Teen Drama’ genre as it has a storyline that reflects that of daily teenage life, however it is dramatised and so makes the story more interesting and have impact. The characters help to add to the believability of our film as they are all based on existing stereotypes, see left: in particular, Fiona, a typical geek who’s quite timid and unpopular, and Alice, a typical popular girl who is pretty, fashionable, has a lot of friends and can be quite nasty. All of our characters are deliberately meant to conform to modern day stereotypes so a sense of social hierarchy can be made apparent to our viewers and so that our characters stay close to representing real life teenagers, and our stereotypes are created through the use of carefully selected costume, make up and personality. The settings within our film also add to believability as houses parties among college students aren’t uncommon, meaning our storyline isn’t too far-fetched.

We include intertextuality within our film while Fiona is getting ready. In our film, there are cross cuts between Fiona applying make up and her walking down the stairs, and in the teen drama 'Wild Child' you're shown a similar sequence of cross cuts of a group of girls getting ready and then walking down some stairs. We believed this scene would be good to reference within our own film as we wanted to create an upbeat, flowing sequence that presented how a girl can go from geek to glamorous in a time efficient manner.  

Our film also makes reference to the short film I analysed, 'New Boy'. However, it makes reference to it in terms of themes as 'New Boy' presents an African boy's struggle with fitting in at a new school and our film presents a geeky girl's struggle with fitting in within her everyday life. Our film could be considered the opposite of 'New Boy' as 'New Boy' has a sinister underlying story and ends positively, and our story appears to have a positive underlying story (Fiona finally fitting in) but at the end there's a twist and the story ends on a negative note, showing the sinister intent of the film throughout. I believe that this twist to our story helps us achieve the audience pleasure we set out to evoke as the audience is lulled into a false positive emotion as things are going well, but are then suddenly shocked by the story's unexpected tragic outcome, which falls into Richard Dyer's theory of Entertainment and Utopia as these highs and lows of emotion help to cure an audience of boredom. As well as to shock and somewhat entertain, our film intends to educate teenagers on the dangers of alcohol, drugs and peer pressure, and I believe that this unnerving ending achieves this.

Evaluation, Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and its ancillary texts?

Reads:
Throughout the production of our film and its ancillary texts, our intention as a group was to send out a warning about peer pressure and the consequences that surround it. I believe that our film sends out this message effectively as we use a combination of believable characters and settings that our audience can relate to and a dramatic event to shock and educate our audience through the reception of our message.

Our radio trailer was created in Final Cut Express and features music, a narrative voiceover and sound snippets from our film. I believe that they all blend together well to create an authentic sounding radio trailer that will impress and interest an audience. As well as making our trailer sound authentic, we focused on getting across the message that a character in our film has to make some decisions surrounding fitting in by using snippets such as "It's a laugh, you won't regret it" and "Don't be a spoil sport" to present how others can encourage a person's decision. To relate this to our listener and get them to think, we ask them, "But how far would you go to fit in?" to make them consider potential consequences of succumbing to peer pressure, and therefore suggesting that there's a dark twist in our story and thus it can be dangerous attempting to fit in.

Our film poster, which was created in Photoshop using an image we took in a photography studio, also features the same rhetorical question as our radio trailer, "How far would you go to fit in?" which once again makes our audience consider whether fitting in is worth it. The colours used within our poster are mainly reds and blacks and therefore create a sinister feel within our poster. The main image is of the two main characters in our film, Alice and Fiona. I believe that this image is very important and portrays the meaning of our film excellently as it shows the power one person can hold over another, and thus how they can mislead them, as Alice has a grip of Fiona's shoulder and is shown to look very smug while Fiona looks innocent and unknowing.

I believe that our ancillary texts are very effective in selling our main production as there is a sense of synergy between them all and they intrigue our audience in a dark, sinister manner through posing a question to them which will ultimately make them curious about our film's story and thus want to see it. Our ancillary texts comply with Steve Neale's theory of genre as they send out a sinister feel and could potentially make an audience expect a thriller, however our genre is different to what our ancillary texts suggest, and so the shock value of our film will be even greater when the audience realises that they predicted the film incorrectly. This could also potentially make our film more memorable as it wasn't just another typical genre film that most people could predict the ending to.

Evaluation, Question 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation, Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

The Internet played a big part in the research, planning and evaluation stages throughout the construction of our media product. In the research stages, we used websites such as Wikipedia and IMDB to gather together information relating to genre and conventions, however, we had to ensure that any information we gathered was reliable as Wikipedia is open for anybody to contribute to. We also made good use of YouTube throughout the researching process so we could observe other films similar to the genre we wanted to work within. Throughout the planning of our film, we recorded all of our ideas and findings in the form of a blog on the website Blogger. We were able to construct our blog exactly how we liked, and so we decided upon a housestyle that related to our production company, Green Apple Productions, ensuring that the colours, texts and layout all complimented our logo well. During the evaluation stage, the internet proved to be very helpful as we uploaded all of our finished products (film and radio trailer) onto YouTube (we faced a problem relating to bandwidth at one point due to college server issues, but it was soon overcome) and then straight onto the social networking site, Facebook, where we were then able to share our video with an online community and gather feedback instantly from our target audience and others, which made gathering audience feedback very easy.

Throughout our planning stage we also took advantage of our access to handheld cameras by videoing some of our peers’ answers to a questionnaire we created. After collecting the footage, we then seized the opportunity to develop our video editing skills through using Final Cut Express. While editing, we played around with titles and split screens where there was a title displayed over 4 video frames as one got larger and began playing, shortly followed by other answers to the same question that faded in and out of one another. I believe that this was helpful at this stage as it eased us steadily back into using the software and gave us a bit of practice before we were to start editing our final film. 

I believe that the creation of our media product itself was the most insightful experience for us all as we once again used a HDV1000 camera and a tripod, however this time we were shooting in HD and also got the chance to use a zoom recorder to record the voiceovers within our film, something we hadn’t considered in last year’s production. We found that when using the zoom recorder it was easy to get too close to the microphone and cause unwanted bumping noises, meaning we had to redo our voiceovers until we were happy with them. We also encountered problems when using the HD Camera as on our first filming session we struggled with the white balance and focus as we’d set the camera to the automatic setting rather than manual, meaning the colours were off and the focus bounced from one place to another rather than staying focused on a point, meaning we then had to rearrange filming. The practice editing video to the right shows these problems. Another problem we had with the camera was its spinning ring. This setting made it very difficult to pull focus which came as an inconvenience to us as we’d planned to have a pulling focus shot in our film that we then edited out later as it didn’t look as we’d expected it to because of the camera’s limitations. 

Once we'd overcome all problems with the camera, we were able to finalise filming and begin editing our film. I think we learnt a lot throughout editing as we attempted things that we hadn't last year, for example, we keyframed some of the text on our titles to position them exactly, we edited cuts to fit in with the beat of the music used to give a sense of consistency, we played around with audio levels to lower or higher voices and music wherever necessary (we filmed without music playing and edited it in afterwards) and we took advantage of effects such ‘flashback’ to give our film a gripping edge. Examples of what I believe to be our best editing are at the end of the film where there is the use of several sound snippets from the film to create an eerie, haunting flashback for Fiona, and the scene where Fiona is getting ready as shots are edited to the beat and we use cross-cutting between her getting ready and walking down the stairs. 

As well as creating a film, we had to consider a radio trailer and poster. As a graphics student, I found creating the poster to be an exciting task and took advantage of the skills I posses by using Photoshop to mock up poster designs. When creating our final poster we also took advantage of our access to a photography studio and took photos using an SLR style digital camera to give us high quality photos that we could then use within our final poster. When creating our radio trailer, we decided to compose it using a combination of Garageband and Final Cut Express. It is made up of sound snippets from our film, copyright free music we found on college CDs and voiceovers that we recorded using a zoom recorder. I believe that creating a radio trailer has helped to enhance my creativity as I had to consider telling a story verbally without giving it away; something which is easy to achieve when using images as they tend to speak for themselves. Although this task was difficult, I believe we overcame it successfully and managed to blend a mysterious narrative alongside film snippets to create a wonder-inducing radio trailer that will hopefully intrigue people enough to watch our film. 

Altogether, I believe that the production of our film, radio trailer and poster have helped me develop creatively as the experience has offered me the opportunity to think about a storyline, consider editing in terms of both video and sound and, finally, how to represent a motion picture through both images and sound alone, showing that I’ve been able to think of how pictures can accumulate to give an overall picture, how one single image can give an insight into a whole story, and also how words can be used cleverly to tell a story's outline but not its whole content.

Final Group Poster

We all decided to use the design featuring Alice and Fiona for our final poster. To perfect the initial design, we changed the date on the poster and added certificate, production and distribution information to it.

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

Final Poster Design #1

Photo Edits

After looking through the photos we'd taken, I decided to make some edits of them that could potentially then be used in our poster. Here's what I came up with:

Radio Trailer Idea

• Sound of car turning on
• "An invite to Alice's party, I can't believe it" fade out
• VO: A film by Green Apple productions, from the makers of 'Ebony'
• Knocking on door, "Hiya, come in" 
• VO: We all want to be part of the popular crew
• "Here, Fiona, I've saved you some"
• "Well, if you're sure"
• "Yeah, it'll be fun"
• VO: But how far would you go to fit in?
• "It's a laugh, you won't regret it"
• "Come on!"
• VO: Misguided: The Daily Mail's teen drama of the year
• Mix of laughs and voices
• "Don't be a spoil sport"
• VO: In cinemas from the 1st of May

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.

Existing Radio Trailers

Frogs (First 55 seconds): Background frog croaking, fact about frogs and a menacing proposal, overriding croaking to 'take over', presentation of film and statement to summarise film, sound snippets from film, alliteration and metaphors used to narrate story dramatically and rhythmically, repetition of sentence styles, starring, repetition of name and film info, end on a dramatic sentence and croaking.

to be completed

Final Film Feedback: Questionnaire

Myself and Amy will be attending our local high school to receive feedback from some students about our final film. We decided it would be a good idea to ask the Year 11 students for their feedback as they will be between the ages of 15 - 16 and will therefore be the bottom end of our target audience. From their feedback, we will be able to determine whether our film appeals to this age range successfully or not.

Here is the questionairre I have compiled:

We will be able to use this questionnaire to gather feedback from all other ages within our target audience, too. From our audiences' feedback we will be able to determine whether our film displays its genre well, is easy to understand and believable to view, whether it's a fluent motion picture that blends images and sound well and whether we delivered our message successfully to our audience, meaning that we will then be able to evaluate our film on various relevant levels.

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.

Film title font

when considering titles for our film, we wanted it to stand out and go with the theme of the film, however we didn't want it to look over decorative so that it looked out of place, we researched further fonts on dafont.com to find a suitable one. these are some of the title fonts we thought would be suitable:

1) this font along with the one below are the more decorative of the six, its bold, rounded and the letters are all the same size therefore wouldn't stand out too much, and distract from anything else on screen, this font is nice, but we don't think it's the most suitable out of the 6 for our title sequence. 

2) this font along with the one above are the more decorative of the six, however we think this title is a bold and teenage like, which would fit with the theme of our film but is a bit too decorative, a would take away the seriousness of the subject behind the film. 

3) we like this font design because it is bold, and the patchy design could signify the harsh reality of the rape within our film, however we don't believe that it would film well in our title sequence, it would stand out, but not in a good way. 

4) this is one of our favourite fonts of the 6 designs we chose, it is simple yet effective, the font isn't full of decorative design, and would fit well on our title sequence, however we thought that the smudges on the design look a little bit too creepy and would be more suitable for a horror film rather than a teen drama.

5) we liked this font because of the deign of the font, it would stand out and is distorted enough to make a statement about the film, but isn't too decorative, the letters are all the same size, therefore wouldn't be too distracting from everything else on screen; although the letters aren't in line, we don't think its the most suitable of the 6.

6) we think that this font is the most suitable for our  film because it will stand out, is teenage like and would film well with the theme of our film, it wouldn't take away the seriousness of the subject behind the film, but isn't as spooky as 4th design.

we've decided that design number 6 is the best font for our title sequence and is the one we'll be using within in and also on our posters and any other advertising materials we may design. 

Film Poster Idea

When designing this poster I considered a main image that would hint at the storyline without giving it away, and so I decided to use the image of a drink being spiked as it is an occurrence within our film. As well as this I considered superimposing two of the main characters into the poster beneath the actor credits at the top. The images I've chosen of the characters reflect how we would like the characters to be represented as Robyn, who is Fiona, looks quite timid and quiet, whereas Beth, who is Alice, looks quite confident and smug, which instantly creates an obvious contrast in the characters' personalities. As well as considering image use, I made sure that the colour palette complimented and worked well with the colours of the main image to give the poster an overall look of fluency.