Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

What have I learned from my Audience Feedback?

Audience feedback is a key part in not only evaluating work but also adapting work if it is necessary. For my short film and ancillary tasks, I had two lots of professional feedback and two lots of audience feedback.

My professional feedback was given to me by two university students, one who is studying Media and the other who is studying English. They watched my short film and looked at my print texts individually and then gave me points of strength within my work and points for improvement that they had seen. This allowed me to feel confident about my work but also be able to change any minor issues that there were.

The first person who gave me professional feedback was called Brendan. He watched my short film and told me that my film had a realistic slow pace which suited the quiet tone of the piece along with some good close-up shots and an original story. I was happy with this feedback as they noted all key things that I had purposely tried to portray in my short film. Brendan also noted that my sound effect of waves throughout my film was at a constant volume and his suggestion was to vary the volume so that the sound effect seemed more realistic. It was good to have his view on this part of my film, however I decided to leave my waves at the volume I had chosen as the reason why I had done this was because my dialogue sounded a little inconsistent I added the ocean waves in as a constant sound to level out the entire sound of the film.

Brendan also gave me feedback on both of my ancillary tasks that I had completed. For my film poster he said discussed that it was professional with a good amount of writing, that I had good shots of both characters and that my poster was simple but effective. This gave me a sense of achievement within my work as the print designs had been the hardest to analyse and come to a clear professional design for my work. Brendan also gave me some great points for improvement within my film poster. He said that in his opinion the title needed to be more prominent that the endorsement on the right hand side was too long and that there could be too many fonts. Again I took Brendan’s points on board and adjusted the title size to increase its visibility. I also shorted the endorsement to stop the poster from looking to busy. As for there being too many points, I understand that it could be viewed in that way however I decided to keep it as it was as this is what I felt looked the most professional in what I had made.

When commenting on my film review page Brendan gave me the most points for improvement on this piece of work. This matched with the fact that I found this the hardest task to complete with realism. The positive comments were for the image, the layout and the conclusion. I was happy for these points of my work to be pointed out but I was also even happier to be given improvements. Having someone independent look at my work gave me a chance to have some advice in how I needed to improve to make it look and read better. So this really helped me and all the improvement points that Brendan gave me for the review I acted on. Being an English student naturally the points he picked up on were English language and the way I had phrased certain things. I adjust my work accordingly as I felt that Brendan was correct.

The second person to give me professional feedback was Rebecca. The amount of positive feedback that she gave me after watching my film gave me great confidence in the film that I had made allowing me to feel happy with my work. The positive comments that she gave were that she liked how there was very little dialogue in my film but yet it was still completely understandable. She was impressed with the wide variety of shots that were included within my film in particular the shot of male character which was darker than all the rest because of the angle that I had filmed it in. She discussed my editing and the use of still images also as positive points. What I learned from Rebecca’s positive feedback was that everyone can have different opinions of something. The shot that was her favourite in the whole film was a shot that I wasn’t particularly happy with so I was quite shocked when she said this to me. It showed me that one thing that someone can dislike can be something that someone else will love. For improvements to my film Rebecca suggested that the second part of the music in short film came in to sharply that perhaps I should fade this in. Whilst I had already faded the music in after re-watching the film again I realised that Rebecca was right so I changed the volume of different parts of the first section of the music to allow a gradual increase in sound volume. This improved the sound of my film greatly.

When Rebecca looked at my film poster it taught me how important conventions are to media products. Within the majority of my positive feedback they were conventions that are usually seen on film posters. She commented on the award that I had placed in the corner and said that it made the poster look realistic. Also that the text and features were very conventional as well as the addition of production credits at the bottom of the poster. This feedback emphasised to me that people are aware if not consciously then sub consciously of the conventions of certain media products such as films and poster and this is how they recognise them, showing how important it is to follow some, not all, of these conventions.

Rebecca when looking at my review gave me the opposite in advice. Being a Media student she gave me the advice of perhaps my image needed some colour alteration to improve the general look of the review page. I understood what she meant but I decided to stick with the way the image was, as I had purposely chose this image because of its darkness on one side and its framing. What was good was that she commented that it looked conventional to a review page in a magazine. Also that it looked realistic.

Even though in some instances I chose not to act on the advice for improvement that was given to me it was fantastic to have two unbiased independent people who knew what they were about and were able to take the time to sit and look at my work.

I also during my project got the feedback of two potential members of my target audience for the short film. However the difference was that I knew these two people and that I had to be aware that sometimes people close can not give accurate honest feedback. On the other hand saying this as I will come to later these two did actually give me some honest improvement feedback.

The two people that I asked were called Zoe and James, once they had watched my short film, they both gave me positive comments such as good mise-en-scene, the music and the characters amongst other things. All of these positive comments taught me that even though I know these people, there are strengths of my short film that can be picked out from it, it also helped me to see my film in a non director way attempting to watch it as an outsider.  The comments on improvement were things like continuity and varying the camera angles. They also commented on my print work acknowledging what they liked and what they didn’t and in one instance also spotting a spelling mistake which I was able to go and correct. Although I didn’t follow some of the improvements mentioned to me as either it was too late or I thought they were not necessary I did with the mistake and also the opinion that perhaps my production credits on my poster were too close together overlapping and on closer inspection they were.

This experience of having four different people viewing my work and discussing it with me showed me just how important audience feedback of all kinds including professional is for many reasons such as noticing small errors that are easily missed, general improvements to remember for next time I do a project like this, positive comments which give confidence and reassurance and also give confirmation that there are good things about my work. All in all this was a valuable opportunity

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2 from Yasmine Rich on Vimeo.

Evaluation Question 1

Final Film - Been There Done That

This is my final film - Been There Done That. All of the previous work on my blog the research, planning and work that has led to this completed piece.


Been There Done That from Yasmine Rich on Vimeo.

Ancillary Task - Film Magazine Review Page



Ancillary task - Film Poster



Professional Audience Feedback

Soon we are going to have two university students coming into our class to give us professional audience feedback on my film and print texts. Thye will be giving me constructive criticisms for my texts and also what is good about my products.

This visit by Brendan  and Rebecca was very useful as it was someone idependant who doesn't know me giving me helpful advice and compliments on my print and film texts. This was helpful because it gave me things that I could improve if I wanted and also things that they thought were good. Having two people gave me a chance to compare both of their answers so that I could decide what I wanted to change and why.

Audience Feedback

 I am going to ask two people to watch my short film and look at my print texts so that they can give me feedback on them. They also will give me compliments and constructive criticisms. This will allow me to see it from an audiences view. I have chosen one girl and one boy.

The feedback was helpful as it did pick up some points and mistakes that I had made and which I needed to rectify, however it is vital to note that as these two people are people I know from school it can be said that this feedback culdbe biased as they would always say good things. On the other hand I do not think that this is the case as they were not shy in helping me with noticeing improvements and they gave me some really good feedback.

music choice

It is important to acknowledge why I chose the song I chose within my film which is why I have created a video stating why I chose this song and why I chose the parts that I did.


Music Choice from Yasmine Rich on Vimeo.

This piece of work has allowed me to clarify why I chose the song I did but also that I had permission from the correct people to use this song in my media project which again is again about being respectful and also within the law by asking permission.

Images location shots

This piece of work is showing why I chose the location I did in setting my film.




Short film - location from Yasmine Rich on Vimeo.

Knowing why I chose my locations is important because it gives a sense of meaning to my short film which I mentioned before in my film textual analysis as being very important. With a location comes meaning and so for the correct meaning to be applied the correct location has to be chosen. Which is why I created this video explaining why I chose where I did.

Editing Process

I have written a simple summary of my editing process for editing my short film. This explains in simplified terms how long editing took and what technique I used to complete it.

Editing Process

• I began editing after my first filming session with Anna and in around five lessons I managed to have edited all my shots for the middle and final part of my film, around 2 minutes long.
• I continued to fine tune this piece of my work until I went out and got my second set of shots.
• After this I edited these new shots I had filmed into my film so that I had a rough draft of my film together, then once I had this I continued to carry on editing  every piece of my film until it was as perfect as I could make it.

The issues tht I overcame whilst editng:

                                                           -I lost some of my footage BUT it was all backed up so I got it back

                                                           -Making sound consistent was extremely hard but I managed to get

                                                            it as consistent as possible

                                                           -Finding an appropriate track for my short film was also difficult but 

                                                           after searching many tracks I found one that fits perfectly

This is a useful document for not just the reader but also for me as it sums up the process and the issues that I over came whilst editing my film. This helps me clarify in my mind the length of time that it took and in what way I completed it.

Filming Process

This is a summary of my two filming sessions that I did to get all the shots for my film. Along with the general order that I filmed in.

Filming Process

25th october 2011 - First filming session

• I had to overcome bad weather at my location where it was extremly rainy and windy, I also had to deal with my original male actor not turning up.
• I decided that I needed to film something so I filmed Anna's (female character) parts that only featured her as best as I could.
• In total we were filming for around 2 hours and this left me with some decent shots that I could start editing with, once I was back in the classroom.

27th November 2011 - Second filming session

• For my second and final filming session at the same location, both my female actor Anna and my new male actor Jonathan confirmed that they would be able to make it and the weather was perfect for filming.
• I decided that to save time I would film all of Jonathans parts first which we did no problem.
• The next thing was to refilm a couple of shots that didnt look great on the computer at school, these were Anna reading her book and her running up the stairs to meet the male character.
• After this I began filming the main part of my film with both the characters.
• All in All this filming took around 3 1/2 hours to film.
• All of my shots were filmed and I re-recorded the sound again on the dictaphone to be safe.

This is useful in explaining what process I used when filming my shots, when I filmed them and in what order. From this I learnt that in total I collected my shots in relatively little time.

Business Card design

I will be showing here the two designs for my business card that I use in my film.

This was the orignal design for the business card which was a prop in my short film. I wanted this business card to be simple so that it culd be grasped quickly in a shot that is not very long. This is why I left the font, colours and layout so simplified. However after playing around with the design for a little longer I came up with another slightly altered design which I ended up using.

This is the final design that I used in my short film for the business card. The layout is the same as the originsl design except that the name of the business "Been There Done That Photography" is larger and has changed the layout so that the "photography" part is underneath the title of what is the film title and the business.

The purpose of this is to explain why I chose this design for my business card and why it looks like it is. Emphasising the link between the film title and the business of the male character.

Costumes and props

This next piece of coursework is to explain the props and costumes that I used within my film, to discuss why I chose them and what significance they have with their meaning in the film.

Props

 The four main props that I used in my short film were the book, the female characters handbag, the camera and the business card. I have discussed the business card seperately. The book which was Wuthering Heights, was a major prop for the film as it was the whole reason why the female character was there. She was there to read. The fact that it was Wuthering Heights is only significant because Wuthering Heights is a twisted love story and although my film is completely different it could be seen as a twisted love story.

The second major prop was again the female characters bright red handbag. This is significant because it was what she was carrying the business card in (within the purse inside). It also was part of the costume which showed part of her personality with the bright colour of the bag representing  her personality.

The camera was also a major prop of the fil as it was wat the male character used to take his potographs with but was also the tool which allowed him to discover the female character again and for the narrative to take place. In which case this prop was pivotal.






Costumes

The costume  for my female character (Anna) was chosen to represent the kind of person that she is within the film. I have already discussed the red bag but not the clothes. The whole outfit was chosen as a casual outfit which someone would wear if they were just out to read a book. However the green shirt adds a smart sense to the outfit allowing the character to have a combination of looks. The outfit also allows the characters personality of being unique come out.



This costume for my male character was chosen again for its casualness. The character is a professional photographer so his smart jeans and shoes, and the un seen shirt underneath give the sense of him being professional in his job.

The emphasis on meaning is so imprtant throughout the short film genre and so is important throughout my short film. This means that I have to explain why I chose the props and the costumes that I did. This allows the reader to understand the personality of the characters and the meaning behind the short film.

Design Work for Print Ideas

The next piece of work that I am going to complete is to give some information into my orginal and final ideas for my short film poster. This will be helpful for me to see the reasons why I dismissed the original idea and why I chose my final one.

This information has allowed me to discover why I chose my final poster design, what is good about it and why it is recognisable as a film poster for a short film.

Textual Analysis for ancillary tasks

As with the textual analysis for the main task it is also as important to have some textual analysis of the ancillary tasks that I have to create alongside my main text. For the same reasons as before this allows me to notice short film print text conventions and to decide which conventions I will follow.

      

             Textual Analysis of a film poster - Paris Je Te'aime

                   Texual Analysis of Film Magazine Review Page - Total Film

This textual analysis of a magazine review page from total film and the Paris Je T'aime film poster has allowed me to dicover what conventions there are for these print texts that go alongside short films. It has allowed me to think about how many of these conventions I will follow for my own versions of these texts.

Actor profiles

 To complete my film successfully I need to have two actors who can play the roles of my characters to the best of the ability but who will look as realistic and convincing.

Anna Salisbury

Playing the part of Anna

 Anna is a 15 year old college student with an ambition to perform. Being an active member of a local amateur theatre group she has played in a number of performances, most recently taking one of the leads as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.  Having seen Anna perform myself and hearing fantastic reviews of her acting, I decided that she would be the perfect person to play the part of Anna in my short film.

Jonathan Brindley
Playing the part of Ben

Jonathan is another keen actor and college student. Being 17, he is currently taking Performance Studies as one of his A Levels. Having seen Jonathan in college productions and knowing him on a personal level I knew that he would have the professionalism and the acting ability to play the part of Ben. Jonathan also has the look of what I wanted from this character with his smart yet casual dressing and ability to put his hand to any role.

Having found two brilliant actors with whom it was a real pleasure working with made the experience all so easier. This piece of of work allows the reader to see that both my actors have credible experience in this field.

Institutional research

Institutional research allows me to have a clearer idea of what kind of company would make my film in reality. This is why I am going to complete a small amount of research relating to an independant film company that I have found.

Coffee Films

Coffee Films is a British independant film company. They started off in 1996 as a short film collective who played around with cameras, now they are an established, succesfful business which still produces short films but they have also diversified into music and wildlife with one of their most successful films being Last of the Scottish Wildcats. Their aim is to produce award winning and critically acclaimed short films and documentaries.

If my film were to be produced in the real world, it is likely that it would be produced by a film company such as Coffee Films who specialise in independant work which mine is. They undertstand that independant artists do not have the access to a huge budget like mainstream feature films do and are able to work within the constraints of this. Short films are not always made for profit, of course some are but being an independant film artist can sometimes just be about getting your work out there in this case usually online. Short film usually start their llife online but depending on success can sometimes be leaped into stardom with film festivals and even sometimes dvd and cinema showings. In the case of my film it would be about taking each individual step with the producers such as coffee films, to make, budget release market the short film.


This research does no more than allow me to widen my knowledge of the wider scope of making films, in the film industry. However it is important for given me a context into which I can create my film.

Storyboard of my Short film

A storyboard is an important part of the making process because without a storyboard the filming will take a lot longer with no actual focus. With a storyboard the filming is much more focused on getting the shots that the creator knows are necesary. This is why I am going to create a storyboard of my short film so that I can take the sheet with me when I begin filming and have a clear idea of what i need to film.


Short Film Storyboard from Yasmine Rich on Vimeo.

This storyboard will help me with a rough idea of how I want my short film to be shot and from what angles. This is extremely helpful to me it will be a constant reminder of my original ideas for the shots, however this does not mean that I cannot change a short once I begin filming. The storyboard is just there as a guide.

Script for my short film

Once the narrative is in place the next stepping stone is the script this is another milestone because once the script and narrative are in place alongside each other the practical work can keep progressing. The script also reiterates what the narrative tells us but in more detail as the detailed dialogue gives us a greater depth into each character.

Male: Hi, I didn’t expect to see you around here again?

 (Female Character goes to speak but male character is too quick and carries on)

Male: I was just up there doing some work getting some pictures of the sea, its really beautiful around here; it’s my favourite place to shoot. I gave up on hearing from you as you never called and I had no way of contacting you. But when I saw you down here I knew that it was you and I knew that I had to come down and speak to you. I don’t know why, I mean if you had wanted to speak to me you would have called me, but you didn’t. I know we barely even know each other but I just felt something when we were together last time, well I though we could give it a try maybe just go out or spend some time together, I dunno whatever you want?

Female: (in confusion) I’m sorry do I know you?

Male: Ben, we met last week, I was working down here taking pictures and you were sat over their reading, and we got chatting and I nearly got caught by the tide. We moved away from the water and watched the sun go down?

Female: (in confusion) I’m sorry I don’t know you and I don’t remember doing any of those things, you must have got the wrong person.

Male: (in shock) Oh ok, mmm sorry for bothering you.

 (Goes to walk away)

Male: If you do remember here’s my card.

Female: I don’t think I will be needing this.

Having now got the final script worked out it is easier for me to visualise my film as a whole product allowing me to think about what shots I am going to use in my film and to begin working on a storyboard before I go out and start filming my film.

Film Synopsis

One of the msot important parts of this process is having the final film synopsis written down so that it is available to refer to all throughout the rest of this process as a firm document that can put me back on track if I lose sight.

The female character walks across the stone way up some steps and leans a wall reading her book; the male character was stood up above the walkway taking pictures of the beautiful scenery out towards the rocks and the sea. He is a photographer. Whilst doing this his camera focuses in onto the female character moving across to the shelter, which he recognises and immediately rushes down to her. When he gets down to the bottom where she is he starts to talk, rambling into a monologue. We can tell that the female character is about to speak but she doesn’t get a chance and he carries on talking about how he feels that there could be something there and he thinks it could work. But he is shocked when the female character replies with ‘who are you?’

The male character is taken aback and shocked that the female character obviously does not recognise who he is when he knows who she is. He tells her how they know each other, and she still does not recognise him, so he gives in, apologises and walks away. Just before he turns to walk away he gives her his business card and tells her to call if she ever remembers. She takes the card and he walks away. After he has just left, the female character stands there for a moment looking at the card until she suddenly remembers something and goes into her bag for her purse. She goes into her purse and pulls out the exact same card as the one that she is holding in her hand.

She chucks the purse back into her bag and runs up to where the male character is still walking away. She walks up beside him hands him back the card and tells him that she doesn’t think she will need it, whilst holding the other card clearly in her other hand for him to see.

Now that this piece of work is completed I am able to start working on actually getting this narrative onto film, finding actors, working out a storyboard and costumes ect. This piece of work is a stepping stone from research and planning into practical making of the final product.

Audience Targeting

Now that I have my audience research results it is time for me to use these results to allow me to conclude who my target audience is. To do this I am going to take all the research results and then discuss what I have to reach a clear conclusion to shrot film audiences.

This piece of work has allowed me clearly to visualise the target audience for short films and most likely my short film. Having a clear target audience allows me to have this in mind when finalising my narrative and creating my film.

Audience Research - results

Once I had published my online survey I was ready to have people fill it in and send me back the results. Once I had waited a decent amount of time I collected all the results together and they are now ready to publish onto here.

Click on images to see larger ones

These results that I collected have clearly allowed me to analyse what general ideas there are about short films. All of this information I will then discuss on my next post where I use this research too work out my target audience.