Post 17: Film Reviews

Before creating my film review, I completed a variety of research activities on different styles of other film reviews both online and on paper. Overall, I have based my film review around Sight and Sound reviews. I have affectively achieved this by adding additional articles on the side of my review to make it look more realistic as well as including photographs from the film. Through research it became apparent that the Sight and Sound reviews always tend to include an analysis of the film as well as a brief synopsis. The review is also visually satisfying and attracts a wide audience, the review analyses films from a professional point of view as well as engaging with readers. I chose to use this style as apposed to examples from Empire Magazine as I felt it was more sufficient for our short film.

The most important aspect I felt for a film review was not only the content, but also the visual structure of the review itself. By drafting a template of my design this enabled me to compare its layout to the reviews of Sight and Sound as well as ensuring me that I remained the sense of continuity, by using images from my film, as well as a theme that would apply to my films audience. I felt that with the Empire articles a lot of the reviews are based upon the verdict of one specific reporter and this of course can in some sense seem bias. Empire reviews also appeared to not pay as much attention to the fine detail used in the film and can base a lot of the review on opinion rather than fact. With regards to this, this supports the reasoning behind my choice of using the basic templates of a Sight and Sound review as apposed to any other.

Even though I knew I wanted to follow the conventions used in the Sight and Sound review and I had analysed the features used in Empire reviews, I still wanted to briefly look at other magazine reviews. I initially wanted to see how their layout differed to those that appeared online and also how the reviews differed when they were published in a general magazine as apposed to a specific film magazine. During my research on reviews I also read a lot of traditional magazine reviews. Through this reading, my basic understanding is that the reviews published in magazines, such as the issue scanned from OK Magazine, overall fail to show a detailed analysis of the film viewed, instead they briefly discus the basic plot line and rate the film in comparison to others similar or distributed by the same production company. This isn’t what I wanted my film review to look like, but after looking into detail at its conventions, it made me realise that the information that is included in my review needs to be of a great detail and good quality in order for it to be on par with the Sight and Sound review like I hope.

The "Sight and Sound" review below is the article I am basing my film review upon. I have also added an additional advertisement to my article, as it was a common factor in other reviews. I personally feel I have overall, conformed to the codes and conventions of film review successfully.

Post 16: Production Company Work and Postcard

Production Compay Logo's

Before we created our post cards, advertising our short film, we had to create a logo and production company name for our group. When designing the logo we couldn’t decide on what colours to use. With this in mind we created three different logos and then finally decided once they were all completed. Out of the following three logos we chose to use the final one, with the red and white stripes. As a group we all came to the conclusion that the specific colours used here look more affective and eye catching. The design shows a sun, which directly links to the name of the company. Before deciding on “Bright Sun” we had a company name of “Green Pad”, we chose to not use this name as we couldn’t create an appropriate logo and we didn’t think it was formal enough. Now we have created the logo and the production company name we will include it in our post cards, film reviews and any other work where it needs to be indicated. The idea of a catchy production company name is so that our company becomes unforgettable, and then furthermore will be successful.

Film Posters

To begin we had to analyse the conventions of a variety of film posters. The examples we specifically focused on were advertisements from the films “The Boat That Rocked”, “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “The Mummy”. The majority of the conventions were common in all three of the posters, but there were some individual conventions that occurred in just one of two of the film posters.

- Bold Writing

- Catch Phrases/ Taglines

- Images and Specific Image Positions (The chosen image domination on the movie poster for the film “The - Boat That Rocked” is very affective. The images draw attention to the poster which furthermore, encourages people to read up on the film. This structure of a movie poster was a ‘risky’ decision for producers, but has proven to, in this case, be successful.)

- Bright Colours

- Endorsements (Short film reviews such as “Amazing”)

- Age Ratings/ Certificates

- Names of Leading Actors/ Cast (USP’s…. Unique Selling Points)

- Company Production Name (In our case, if we were to design a movie poster for our short film we would have to include our company name which is “Bright Sun Films”)

- Copyright Information

- Release Date

- A Website

- Title of the Film

It is also important to understand that the conventions of a poster all connate the films specific genre. Below is an example of a possible design for a film poster for our short movie.

The rough sketch has annotations as to why I have positioned images and text in the way I have. It has been suggested that short films might find it difficult to market their film. This problem mainly occurs from the fact that short films have a lot less funding in comparison to other blockbuster or Hollywood films.

Marketing can be an expensive strategy for short films and with such a specific minimal budget, this can be difficult. With this in mind, it then becomes difficult for short films to be advertised; ultimately then making it harder for them to be successful and make profit. During research in the variety of funding available for short films, this website came to my attention. The website itself encourages short film makers to advertise their films and additonally helps to explain the different possible methods for marketing.

http://www.thebigidea.co.nz/files/Marketing+Your+Short+Film+05[1].pdf

Film Post Cards

Another idea of marketing introduced to us as students in lessons, and also introduced to me through the website regarding the marketing strategies for short films, was film post cards. Film post cards are also another way, similar to film posters, to advertise your film. Surrounding is a variety of examples of film post cards used to as a marketing strategy to advertise different short films. After looking at a selection of post cards I noticed that the conventions of postcards are all diverse.  The postcard “On A Life’s Edge” has a small synopsis of the film, the production companies logo and the time duration of the film. The information is vital for the specific films post card, as it is clear that they have been issued out at a film festival. With this information included it gives distributors and editors a chance to analyse and review the film to the best of their ability. Knowing this information, the production company can justify the exact reason for the films distribution. Post cards are a simple form of advertisement as they can be easily handed out as well as made. The information included is initially up to the producers, and knowing this, this is why I have analysed two very different post cards.  Additionally “On A Life’s Edge” has an image of the films setting, which helps audiences identify the mood and tone of the film and set up additional predications for the film.  

Differing to “On A Life’s Edge” is the post card for the film “Divine”. The most noticeable difference for both post cards is the main image used. The image for this short film is taken of the characters from the short film itself. This idea of using an image of the characters appearing in the short film appealed to me, and is a possibility for my postcard design. I like how the image focuses on all three of the characters, and also fits to the conventions of the film. The image implies the film is about a girl character who isn’t a stereotypical child. The post card also includes, similarly to the majority of the postcards I looked at, the name of the distributors and Production Company as well as the producers email address. With this contact information available it provides an opportunity for the release and success of the short film.  Also on the post card for “Divine” there is a catch line “Let’s go to church”. Personally I think this catch line is very affective and works well with the concept of the post card. Similarly to the images of the characters in the short film, I am also considering using the tagline affect on my postcard. It is important that the tag is catches the attentions of the audiences eyes and are unforgettable. With this in mind, it simply makes the film itself memorable.. Which is ultimately what is wanted for its success. Naming the characters and the actors name encourages the basic form of “star power” this is when the actor of the film will draw their own audience due to being popular through other media work. Marketing strategies like this can also increase the viewing of your film as well as the profit you could in due course gain. On my post card I will be sure to include the names of my characters and actors as well as the production company name and distribution date, I think this information is important for audiences and they should be aware of this before viewing the film.

Below are some designs for my post card for our short film. It took me a lot of time to prepare for my images and I chose to prepare for this after all of our Pre-Production work was complete, with this in mind it gave me a better understanding of all of the characters/actors involved as well as a clear guide line to the plot and ending of the short film. I have explained fully below why I have chosen the specific designs I have and what image design I will use for my final piece. I have also taken on board all of the information and examples I have seen from the previous post card designs. These designs encouraged me to be original, but also follow some of the conventions from post cards in general.

Post Card Designs

Post Card Design 1

My first post card design is set out in the layout of a “Smirnoff” vodka bottle. I chose to use the image of a vodka bottle for my postcard due to the vodka part being a significant prop in our short film. The bottle also gets smashed throughout our short film, and is a symbolism of LUCAS’ broken life. By using a bottle to supply all the information for our film it has both its pro’s and con’s. The pros include the suspicion as to why distributors and producers would use an alcohol bottle for a marketing strategy. This hopefully would encourage audiences to question this technique and then view the film. There also is a huge disadvantage for using alcohol when marketing a short film, when using alcohol there will always people who fail to understand the purpose and would argue against it. With this in mind, I will still choose to risk the situation and use this design. The design is both affective and can be seen as symbol in the film, although this idea could work to my advantage I will not decide what design to use until all of our filming is complete.

The following pictures were taken during our filming schedule... I took two photos of the vodka bottle in order for me to see the variety of angles I could position my post card. With both images, the lighting is important as it enables the text to be clearer and looks more affective.

Post Card Design 2

My second post card design is a rough sketch of some leaflets. The photograph of the leaflets will be taken during filming, where they are scattered on the floor with the message “forgive”. Due to this being such an affective image in filming, I chose to use this for the design of my post card to help market the short film. Ultimately I will also add on a sticker containing the vital information for the distribution of the film. I will add this sticker prior to taking the photograph, and then once the photograph has been captured it will be my final image. With this in mind I can collaborate the images of filming as well as all the information about the films production to make the final picture for my post card. It is also important to have your production company logo visible on the post card, so after taking the photograph I will import the logo to the right hand corner of the post card… With this information present it will help the films distribution and marketing.

As mentioned above I wanted to use the images of the leaflets for a design for my postcard because I think it is an affective image that would work well with the promotion of our short film “Closer”. The images are of the leaflets which were taken during filming, in order to use this design for a post card I would have to edit the photograph sufficiently in order for it to contain the correct and relevant information. 

Post Card Design 3

My final design, which initially is the simplest design, consists of an image of the fridge with fridge magnets spelling out “Closer” the name of our short film. I chose to use the image of the fridge for similar reason as to why my second design was of the leaflets. Throughout the short film a message appears on the fridge and I chose to use this to my advantage and change the text to the name of the film, but use the same camera angle. This will be affective as it creates a mysterious affect, as by using fridge magnets to spell out words or phrases there is a hidden sense of identity. As well as having the short film name, on the fridge I will also include post stick notes with hand written pieces of information regarding the distribution of the film and the length of the production. Similar to my second design, again I will add the production company logo onto my post card design after I have prepared and taken the photograph of the fridge. With this in mind, with this specific design I have met all of the conventions of a film post card and have similarly included all of the vital information needed to advertise a short film. This post card design is my favourite design and would ultimately be the easiest to capture. During filming I will experiment will all three designs and throughout post-production work I will decide which design to use.

Above are two design templates for my final post card. They differ in the sense that one has a synopsis and was does not, similarly they both include the same title and follow the conventions of a post card clearly.

Post 15: Reflecting on Theory

Genre Theory
Genre itself is a means of organising the production and marketing of a film, it allows filmmakers to identify and fulfil audience expectation. Before any pre-production work, as a group we had to identify the specific genre of our short film. When we had in mind that our film was a psychological thriller, we furthermore could then plan our marketing techniques and develop our ideas for lighting and sound whilst filming our production.

When researching genre theory the Robert Smyth School raised an interesting point about genre and the theory behind it, they basically said that for a genre to be established certain conventions need to be followed and become identifiable by the audiences. With this point in mind, there can be a variety of problems… A film may have conventions of one genre as well as another, when this is the case it then ultimately becomes difficult to identity what specific genre is used and followed. The genre of any media text is defined by audiences and usually used in broad terms, with this in mind the idea of genre theory can be said to be irrelevant to contemporary society; it is infrequent for a film produced in today’s society to contain just one single genre. Exploring this point even further, this situation occurred in defining the genre of our short film. The film shows elements of a psychological drama as well as to some extent a film of romance. Eventually as group we came to the conclusion that the film, when produced, will be hopefully a psychological thriller. This does not however, mean it is just this specific genre, it is important to understand that when producing our short film we encourage and establish the other elements of different genres too.

With “Closer”, I personally think the genre is affective and one that isn’t as popular as others. With this in mind, the use of the genre could work to our advantage as audiences should hopefully become more curious to view the production.

Audience Theory
The second theory which is commonly discussed in our preparation for our short film is the Audience Theory. Audience theory is very important for the success and distribution of our short films; it reinforces the fact that texts have many different possible meanings which are interoperated by audiences. Andrew Hart believes that audiences are vital in communication and if it wasn’t for audiences media wouldn’t exist. With this point in mind, I encouraged a significant amount of communication links between potential audiences and us as distributors/ producers.

It could be argued that it is audiences who define the genre of films, and as producers we are affectively part of a variety of audiences, so we are able to elaborate upon the reasons that suggest our film is a specific genre. It is important to keep the link between audiences and distributors as eventually they will encourage the success that comes from your film. During my preproduction work, specifically my post card designs, I used a lot of my feedback received from audiences to determine which post card I should use for the advertisement of my short film. This helped me grasp an understanding of the perspective they see my film from as well as me influencing them on the images and messages we are trying to create from a directors point of view.

Post 14: Pre-Production Work

Shot List Draft 1

Shot List Draft 2

Script

 

Technical Reece

Cast Profiles:

Tuesday 3rd May 2011. (Additonal Post-Production Notes)

To begin we were unsure on who to use to play the character of Lucas as we were all aware the role could be complex and difficult to pull off..... After meeting with Kenny, it became clear that he was the perfect choice of an actor to play Lucas in our short film. Kenny currently studies Drama and Performing Arts at Northampton University and is looking in the future to persue his acting career on stage or on camera. Kenny was more than happy to help support us with our project, and with this in mind we were really thankful for the amount of effort he put in as a whole.

Character Profiles:

Location Reece

Risk Assesment

Story Boards

Call Sheet