Critical Evaluation - Question 4

(The text below is all of the information included in the video)

4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the first few weeks of our project I used the internet to research and plan our film. I visited popular sites including www.google.com and www.youtube.com to investigate the starting points of our project. I also used the website www.blogger.com to make a blog that would show the progression of our film. This has helped to improve my research skills and also my blogging skills. It also allowed me to design and create my own online blog.

Whilst blogging about our film I used my digital camera to take photographs for my work, I took all the photos for our photo storyboard, several for the props and a few for locations. By doing this I have improved my photography skills and also my planning skills as the photographs helped to plan out the shots for our film.

In order to actually create our project I used a Sony HDV camera and tri-pod to film the require scenes. I feel that I have improved my filming skills greatly and now have a better knowledge of the different shots that help make an effective piece, including eye-line match, graphic match and other creative shots. I believe that using the Sony HDV camera has helped improve my skills as it a very easy and simple piece of technology to use, that can be used in many different locations and still provide a professional result. The Sony HDV camera was incredibly easy to use and I didn’t really encounter any serious problems, the only one I can recall is that whilst filming the final scene I had great difficulty in white balancing the camera, after several attempts the shot still seemed to bright and therefore I had to film it and re-edit it on the computer. This took up quite a lot of filming and editing time.
I used the programme Final Cut Express on a Mac computer to edit our project. This programme is very effective and has helped enhance my creativity in order to edit our film into a successful final piece. I have definitely improved my editing skills and now have increased confidence with editing; I understand the different effects and edits that can be used on a film as I have used several different ones on our film. These include cross dissolve, speeding up a shot* and garbage matt. I found the garbage matt to be an incredibly valuable effect and used in twice in our project, I feel that without it our film would not have been as successful. I did not have many problems whilst editing our piece, the most common was that the Mac computer kept crashing and I was at a high risk of losing any unsaved editing. Also when re-arranging and adding in new footage I had to keep rendering our project which took up quite a lot of editing time.

I used the editing programme Photoshop 7.0 to design and construct our films poster. I used the tools available to edit the photo for our poster and to insert text and other features of posters. This has helped to improve my design and editing skills as I have now gained experience is film poster design.
In order to create a radio trailer for our film I used Garage Band to put our sound, which was recorded from a zoom recorder, together and to adjust it in order to make a realistic trailer. I used the programme to edit the volume and to arrange the sounds in the correct order. I feel that now my sound recording and editing skills have been enhanced and improved as I have never made a radio trailer before.
Overall I feel that all of the new media technologies I have used have helped to improve my media skills and on the whole have developed my creativity. I believe that I successfully overcame any problems I encountered with the equipment used and that I have created a successful final piece.

Critical Evaluation - Question 3

CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGES

LINKS

1 -http://redlizardproductions.blogspot.com/2010/10/video-questionnaire.html
2- http://redlizardproductions.blogspot.com/2010/10/film-questionnaire.html

3-http://redlizardproductions.blogspot.com/2011/03/audience-feedback-part-1.html
4-http://redlizardproductions.blogspot.com/2011/03/audience-feedback-part-2.html

5-http://redlizardproductions.blogspot.com/2011/03/music-track-1.html
6-http://redlizardproductions.blogspot.com/2011/03/music-track-2.html

Critical Evaluation - Question 2

Poster Evaluation


NOTES
Link 1 ( Our Radio Trailer):
http://youtu.be/mFlHBuG5hos


Link 2 (Existing Radio Trailer) :
http://youtu.be/NOlq3EVEmlE


CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Critical Evaluation - Question 1

LINKS
-Minor Music: http://youtu.be/dmbAuJmr0_8




Note : CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Final Production - SHADOW

Final Radio Trailer

This is our final radio trailer, we added a few screenshots onto the video in order to make it more appealing to watch/listen to.

Final Poster

Film Poster - Final Idea 1

This is my first design for our film poster. It includes all the basic fundamentals for our film including title, tag-line and information about the cast. However after a group Discussion we feel that it doesn't work as well as it could for our film, therefore we are working on a new design.

Audience Feedback - Results

I have found from the research I have conducted on social sites MSN and Facebook that overall our target audience think that our film is very good and that it matches its set genre. There however a few changes that need to be made, these I will look at in another post.

Here I am going to look at audience and if our film appeals to our target audience effectively.

One of the questions I asked was, 'What age rating do you think our film would be?'

As you can see from the pie-chart, 33% of the people asked correctly though our film was a 12, unfortunately 45% thought that it was a 15, therefore we are going to have to try and make our film seem more like a 12, maybe by cutting any inappropriate language or shots.

Another question I asked was 'What genre do you think our piece is?', above you can see the graph of answers. Most people thought it was a mystery not a thriller- however this is not too worrying as sometimes mystery and thriller films are very similar.

Finally I ask 'Do you feel that the story of the film is easy to follow', gladly only 1 person answered no. This is encouraging as we were worried that the storyline was a little bit too complicated, I'm glad that the audience followed it easily.

Overall I feel that we have attracted our target audience effectively, with a few tweaks and changes I believe that our film would be extremely successful at attracting our audience.

Audience Feedback - Part 2

MSN - Online messaging site

This is the second part of my audience feedback, I sent a link for our film and six questions to my contacts on msn.

Reply 1 - Male 18

Reply 2 - Male 18

Reply 3 - Female 18

Tag-Line

After brainstorming our radio trailer and poster designs, we have created an appropriate tag-line for our film.

"All I ever wanted was to be invisible, But sometimes your deepest wish can become your worst nightmare"

This will be used on our poster and in our radio trailer, but may be used in a shorter version.

Although this is not a direct quote from our film, we feel it works because it gives a general overview of the main characters thoughts and feelings.

Audience Feedback - Part 1

After finishing the rough edit of our film I sent out a mini questionnaire on the social networking site Facebook asking several people within our target audience, to review our film and to answer a few questions about it. This has helped us to see how our target audience reacts to our film and if we have been successful in appealing to them. Also we can now make necessary changes to improve our film.

QUESTIONS

1- What genre category do you think our film is in?
2- Can you relate to the main character, is she realistic?
3- Do you think the music suits the film and the scenes it is on?
4- Is the narrative (story) of the film easy to follow?
5- What age rating do you think our film should be?
6- How do you think we could improve our film? What changes/alterations should we make?

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FEEDBACK

Reply 1 - Male, 18

Reply 2 - Female, 18

Reply 3 - Female 20

Reply 4 - Male, 18

Reply 5 - Male 18

Reply 6 - Female 40

Music Analysis

We have chosen two tracks from the college music collection to be used in our production. We have chosen a track in minor key to be used at the start and end of our film, and a track in major key to be used in the opening scenes.
These two tracks have been chosen for very different, but very specific uses:

Track 1

This music piece is to be used during the first scenes of our film, including the title sequence. This track has been used specifically for the mood that needs to be set in this scene. As our film is a thriller the main music piece has t create a moody and extremely atmospheric feel. As this music is in minor key and has a low, morose and ominous tone it suits the scene well as that is exactly the feel we want to create. This track will be used on on the opening and closing scenes of our film- (see below).

Track 2

Track two has been chosen due to its up-beat, lively and fun feel. It creates a more optimistic atmosphere and will also appeal to the female majority of our target audience as it has a lead female singer. The song lifts the mood of the scene and adds a more entertaining feel to the film.

This track will be used on the first main scene of our film.

Music Track 2

This track will be used during the first scene after the titles, in order to help establish the main character.

Music Track 1

Shadow Rough Edit - Analysis

After finishing our rough edit I am now going to explain which shots I feel we need to improve/change.

1)If possible I feel that we should re-film this shot (below left), as it was filmed earlier in the day, the lighting doesn't really match the atmosphere we were trying to achieve. It should match the shot (below right) filmed in the same scene, but later in the day as the atmosphere in this shot works really well

2) The music in this shot needs to be fixed, I like the idea of making the music change from non-diegetic to diegetic when Ruby removes her earphones. However when the music returns to non-diegetic the transition is too abrupt. I think it needs to be made a more softer and smooth transition maybe with a longer cross dissolve or fade.

3) On this scene Ruby remembers an event that happened to her in the same location, however until the actual flashback this is hard for the audience to understand. Therefore I feel that we need another reference to the 'event', this could be other flashback shots or a collection of voices overlaid from the flashback.

4)I would like to actually re-film this entire scene, I do think the idea of introducing a friend of Ruby's is a good idea as it is another good way to portray her invisibility. However I feel that the way it is written doesn't work as well as it could-having Ruby's mum call seems a weak way to show that Ruby is invisible.

5) Again I would really like to re-do this scene, I believe that it could be filmed so much better and if done so would help enhance the story line. Also I feel that Emma's betrayal of her friend should be something a lot worse than just meeting with the bully seen earlier in the flashback.

Overall I am very happy with our fill so far, I think the majority of our scenes work well within the storyline. We have used a lot of effective shots including an eye-line and graphic matches. However I believe if we make the changes I have suggested above then our film could be even better.

Radio Trailer Script Idea

This is my idea for our Radio trailer, it will last around 30 seconds. Start: Female voice: "All I ever wanted was to be invisible, but sometimes things done't work out how you expect them to" Music begins to fade in Voice-over: "Red Lizard productions presents Shadow..." Voice 1: "Rubbbyyyyy!" Voice 2: "Oi! she's talking to you" Ruby: "Just leave me alone!!" Voice 2: "Dont ever speak to me like that again, you are nothing!" Music drops to minor, becoming slower Voice Over: "Coming soon to your local cinema, Shadow." Music fades out Whipser: All I ever wanted, was to be invisible

Radio Trailer - Analysis

This is a radio trailer for the final episode in BBC1's Doctor who series. It was played on many well known radio stations and helped generate a large audience for the final episode of the series. It lasts 33 seconds and contains several generic elements of radio trailers, these are;

- Quotes from the show

- Show Information (including where its shown, times etc)

- Music

The trailer begins with a male voice over that tells the listeners where the show is being broad casted. "On BBC1", it is straight away advertising the channel and helping pull in an audience as people will watch the show if they recognize the channel.

After this the first quote from the show is played, there is no sound or music played along with it which adds to the blunt effect of the speech. "The Pandorica will open, silence will fall", this will help lure in the audience as they will want to know what the Pandorica is and what happens when it opens. Also the idea that silence will fall could imply an apocalyptic theme which will intrigue sci-fi fans (Doctor who falls into the sci-fi genre). An interesting technique used in this trailer is with the music: as the female voice says "silence will fall", the complete opposite happens and the music starts to build. The music is non-diegetic and in minor tone, it starts low and monotonous and builds, becoming more dramatic as the more vivid quotes are played from the show.

As the music builds there is a collection of voices from the show, their voices are panicked, hysterical and serious. Interestingly the majority of quotes are female which adds to the stereotypical idea of 'damsel's in distress', the voices which seem to be asking for help are all female. The quotes also make a reference to the protagonist of the show, the Doctor. This helps to establish the audience as when they hear 'Doctor' they automatically recognize the show.

The last quote of the collection is from the 'Doctor', he stereotypically plays the calm, collected and brave male. He is brought across as strong as his voice is loud and confident. He also draws in the audience by having the last thing he says 'come on', the listeners will interpret this as he is talking to them.

As with the majority of radio trailers they end with the main information about the show. The same male voice from the opening returns and gives information about where the show can be seen and at what time. The music also reaches its climax and drifts into the easily recognizable 'Doctor who' theme tune, again this will draw in fans of the show.

Radio's can obviously only project sound to their audiences, therefore radio trailers have to involve a lot of interesting and intriguing sounds. This trailer does this effectively as it uses voices, music and sound effects from the show. These make the trailer more interesting and appealing to listen to and will therefore help generate a larger audience.

Radio Trailers- Research

After researching and listening to several different radio trailers I have been able to pin-point the specific features they all include. Even though every radio trailer is different the majority all includes features from a list of fundamentals. These include;
-Quotes from film
These are generally the most memorable lines from a film, and are usually taken from the protagonist and antagonist of the film. They will be the same quotes used in cinema and TV trailers, and may also be used on posters.
-25 word pitch/General Overview
The trailer will probably include a general overview of what the film is about, this could be in the form of the films 25 word pitch. This is not a necessity however, you can keep the films plot a secret and therefore make your film more alluring.
- Director, Actors, Production etc
Usually radio trailers will include the names of people involved with the film. However this will only apply if it they are a big name. Only well known and top rate directors and cast names will be included as a ploy to attract fans.
- Distributor
Similarly to the director etc, if the film has a big name distributor they may be mentioned in the trailer.
-Tag Line
This feature would usually end the trailer, as a way of keeping the listeners interested. Also if it is short and snappy, as taglines usually are, it will be memorable and help attract an audience.

Radio trailers will also involve music and/or sound from the film.


Typically a radio trailer will last for around 30-60 seconds, depending on the type of film. Shorter films, and independent films will most likely have a shorter time slot due to funding and budgets, where-as larger names and hollywood blockbusters will be able to affored a larger slot. However you wouldn't necessarily hear a big blockbuster trailer on a radio, they usually stick to advertising o the internet, TV, and posters etc. Short, independent film which will be shown in local cinema will use local radio stations as a way of contacting the audience.

Poster design ideas:

These are a collection of images that i feel should be included in our film poster: