Saturday, 16 March 2013
End Note.
Okay, so here is the end of my A2 Media Portfolio! I felt it appropriate to put in a small afterword, just saying that the long year has come to an end! It's been a difficult journey, that has involved lots of time and effort, but overall I feel I've learnt a lot about Media on the whole and how a film would be constructed! As I've said, I'm happy with everything that has been done and I'm looking forward to applying everything I've learnt in the exam and continuing to gain knowledge about Media institutions and audiences!
Friday, 15 March 2013
What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?
Just a short video of myself evaluating the question!
In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?
This is the first question asked to evaluate! Now, it's an interesting question and one that is best answered by simply writing about it! There's not really much else I can do, other than reference parts of my media and evaluate them!
This question is a good question for me, as the whole point of my film was to challenge the conventions of narrative in a film. That's what my film does, it's about the challenged life of a disabled person and shows some pretty awful things happen to him. Not an average film, a very unconventional story line. However, it is quite 'developed' as there is a lot of conventional narrative in it. There's a Protagonist, Antagonist and even a love interest! Very basic, essential parts to a film. So, it's quite an interesting way of using forms and conventions, by partly sticking to the conventions so it attracts a modern audience, but also straying away in some form, so that it makes people think and it's different. By being different, it means people remember it, which is exactly what I wanted!
As for what I did in regards to filming, camera shots, etc, I stuck mainly to conventions! There's no extreme angles, no ridiculous cuts, etc... Everything is very conventional, as the story is so unconventional, that by making everything else the same, it would simply be too confusing! So, that's why I stayed fundamentally conventional.
In regards to my ancillary tasks (poster and website) I stayed very conventional in the design and effects on them. They're basic, eye catching and put across the feeling of the film! Both the website and the poster do this. They stay conventional, as if they're confusing and different, then an audience aren't going to know what they're looking at. Conventions are there because they generally work best, so sticking to them in the advertising is best. If not, they don't advertise properly, so people don't know what they're looking at.
So, there's my answer to how my media product uses, develops and challenges conventions!
This question is a good question for me, as the whole point of my film was to challenge the conventions of narrative in a film. That's what my film does, it's about the challenged life of a disabled person and shows some pretty awful things happen to him. Not an average film, a very unconventional story line. However, it is quite 'developed' as there is a lot of conventional narrative in it. There's a Protagonist, Antagonist and even a love interest! Very basic, essential parts to a film. So, it's quite an interesting way of using forms and conventions, by partly sticking to the conventions so it attracts a modern audience, but also straying away in some form, so that it makes people think and it's different. By being different, it means people remember it, which is exactly what I wanted!
As for what I did in regards to filming, camera shots, etc, I stuck mainly to conventions! There's no extreme angles, no ridiculous cuts, etc... Everything is very conventional, as the story is so unconventional, that by making everything else the same, it would simply be too confusing! So, that's why I stayed fundamentally conventional.
In regards to my ancillary tasks (poster and website) I stayed very conventional in the design and effects on them. They're basic, eye catching and put across the feeling of the film! Both the website and the poster do this. They stay conventional, as if they're confusing and different, then an audience aren't going to know what they're looking at. Conventions are there because they generally work best, so sticking to them in the advertising is best. If not, they don't advertise properly, so people don't know what they're looking at.
So, there's my answer to how my media product uses, develops and challenges conventions!
Thursday, 14 March 2013
How Effective Is The Combination Of Your Main Product And Ancillary Texts?
The combination of my two ancillary tasks is difficult to evaluate, as both of them aren't that interlinked and I decided to create them as separate projects. I did this for a number of reasons, but the problem it gives me is that it's difficult to measure how effective they are together.
To do this, I think it's best to link them as pure 'advertisements'. Their link is that they are both just standard adverts, that is pretty much free! Whilst they don't 'link' together, I think the both of them combine in creating a certain enigma surrounding the main task. They revolve around it and create a feeling of professionalism that is needed, so that people feel comfortable in spending their money in order to see the film.
It's very difficult to comment on this with there being little to comment on, however I think what I'm trying to say is that they are effective in pulling in an audience, but outside of that they really have little use together. This is not a bad thing, they were made for a purpose and they fill that purpose quite well!
To do this, I think it's best to link them as pure 'advertisements'. Their link is that they are both just standard adverts, that is pretty much free! Whilst they don't 'link' together, I think the both of them combine in creating a certain enigma surrounding the main task. They revolve around it and create a feeling of professionalism that is needed, so that people feel comfortable in spending their money in order to see the film.
It's very difficult to comment on this with there being little to comment on, however I think what I'm trying to say is that they are effective in pulling in an audience, but outside of that they really have little use together. This is not a bad thing, they were made for a purpose and they fill that purpose quite well!
Comments On Trailer.
So, what I've got here are a few comments on my Facebook page and the people involved didn't mind their names being featured in the blog. Unfortunately, I got very few responses, so there isn't a great deal to choose from. However, the comments I do have are pretty positive! I think Luke's comment is the most constructive, with it showing positives and negatives! The YouTube comments on the trailer are very similar too. With comments such as 'It's good'. They're not particularly constructive, however they are positive, meaning it can't be all bad! 
Changes From Planning To Production!
In the planning stage of my Portfolio, there were lots of things I said I wanted to do in my film trailer that I either haven't done, or have done very differently. Granted, there is a lot I've stuck to and the overall idea is the same, but there are a lot of differences. I think it's important to note this as it shows how my ideas transitioned from the start to end.
Some of the changes are that there are much more basketball scenes in the trailer now than I had originally storyboarded and generally, I made the whole thing flow better with more black outs, better cuts, etc!
From the very start, a little bit of the 'story' has changed, but not a great deal! The feel is the same, but now in the trailer, you see less character motive and such, than had been originally planned!
I don't have much to say on this, but it shows how ideas change over time. This isn't a bad thing, but is interesting. If anything, it's good, as we create our piece off far more than just our original plan!
Some of the changes are that there are much more basketball scenes in the trailer now than I had originally storyboarded and generally, I made the whole thing flow better with more black outs, better cuts, etc!
From the very start, a little bit of the 'story' has changed, but not a great deal! The feel is the same, but now in the trailer, you see less character motive and such, than had been originally planned!
I don't have much to say on this, but it shows how ideas change over time. This isn't a bad thing, but is interesting. If anything, it's good, as we create our piece off far more than just our original plan!
Evaluation Questions.
To evaluate my media package, not only will I be evaluating my stuff individually, but also I'll be answering these questions in their own separate posts!
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
What I Wanted To 'Achieve'?
I think it goes without saying that with all of this, I wanted to 'achieve' something. Now, the basic answer is an A grade! However, that's not all I was going for.
Whilst yes this is just an A Level project, it all turned into a lot more than that throughout the process. This Media Package became a way of expressing myself, in a much different way than people would usually do so! What I mean is, I actually set out to create something with genuine 'meaning' not just a blank piece of media. Everything I have in my video is there for a reason, it's all there to express my feelings about society in general and the way I feel about the life of those in struggles. As I've shown in my evaluation, there's elements that reflect on my life and elements that reflect on what people see as 'conventional'.
Now, the reason I've stuck to conventions, is that this isn't just for me. I really wanted other people to see what I was trying to express. I didn't just want to have something there for myself to look back on, I wanted to let other people tap into my thoughts and the 'achievement' was that people would understand exactly what is happening in modern life, according to someone who sees it from a different perspective. Now, I'm not going for world peace or anything, but if it just gives one person a little bit of understanding, then I feel like my media has done it's job. It's not just a piece of work, it's a piece of art in its own form. It's a visual expression of everything I know. And that, is what I wanted to achieve.
Whilst yes this is just an A Level project, it all turned into a lot more than that throughout the process. This Media Package became a way of expressing myself, in a much different way than people would usually do so! What I mean is, I actually set out to create something with genuine 'meaning' not just a blank piece of media. Everything I have in my video is there for a reason, it's all there to express my feelings about society in general and the way I feel about the life of those in struggles. As I've shown in my evaluation, there's elements that reflect on my life and elements that reflect on what people see as 'conventional'.
Now, the reason I've stuck to conventions, is that this isn't just for me. I really wanted other people to see what I was trying to express. I didn't just want to have something there for myself to look back on, I wanted to let other people tap into my thoughts and the 'achievement' was that people would understand exactly what is happening in modern life, according to someone who sees it from a different perspective. Now, I'm not going for world peace or anything, but if it just gives one person a little bit of understanding, then I feel like my media has done it's job. It's not just a piece of work, it's a piece of art in its own form. It's a visual expression of everything I know. And that, is what I wanted to achieve.
Am I 'Happy' With Everything?
From my full product, I feel I need to evaluate my overall 'happiness' with the media package. This is so I can just reflect on everything and work out for myself exactly what I do fully like about everything and really start to see what I don't like about it and what I'd do differently, should I ever do it again!
Overall, I am pretty happy with everything and everything has gone better than I imagined it would do! This does not mean to say it is perfect, but overall it's all very good and professional. There are no huge errors in my package which is always a plus and any minor errors are quite well covered up. Most of these are hard to see and not really 'errors' but more blemishes. So, because of there being no glaring errors it's hard to be unhappy with the majority of it.
Whilst saying this, I can also say that I know my package is far from perfect. I know that personally, no matter how happy I would be with my package, I would never be fully satisified. This is because I could just carry on editing everything to my heart's content and always thinking I could do something better, or different, when really it has the same effect, just in a different format.
I think what I'm most happy about, is that even though my film had no budget, no equipment and no real actors, it still manages to have an effect on an audience. I got this through asking people about everything, and seeing their response. One woman was quoted as saying "It made my heart race". Now, being an independent film maker, making people 'feel' is my highest priority, as that's the way to get noticed. If people talk about my film, then I get noticed. Or, that's the theory anyway! So, if I can say that I've made people 'feel' then I'm happy!
As I've been saying, I am generally happy with my work! However, I'm not fully satisfied with my website. The problem I think came from a lack of research and generally not knowing how to fully construct one. Luckily, the website does its job of just being a source of information about the film, so there's no glaring fault with it! Always a plus.
Even though there's no glaring fault, I do know it could be better and should I do it again I'd take a lot more care with it and do far more research into it, so I could make it a lot better! However, it's not a huge problem! I like the overall look and feel of it and it incorporates everything I have done, so it's hard not to be satisfied!
Again, overall I'm quite happy! I don't think there's much else to be said!
Overall, I am pretty happy with everything and everything has gone better than I imagined it would do! This does not mean to say it is perfect, but overall it's all very good and professional. There are no huge errors in my package which is always a plus and any minor errors are quite well covered up. Most of these are hard to see and not really 'errors' but more blemishes. So, because of there being no glaring errors it's hard to be unhappy with the majority of it.
Whilst saying this, I can also say that I know my package is far from perfect. I know that personally, no matter how happy I would be with my package, I would never be fully satisified. This is because I could just carry on editing everything to my heart's content and always thinking I could do something better, or different, when really it has the same effect, just in a different format.
I think what I'm most happy about, is that even though my film had no budget, no equipment and no real actors, it still manages to have an effect on an audience. I got this through asking people about everything, and seeing their response. One woman was quoted as saying "It made my heart race". Now, being an independent film maker, making people 'feel' is my highest priority, as that's the way to get noticed. If people talk about my film, then I get noticed. Or, that's the theory anyway! So, if I can say that I've made people 'feel' then I'm happy!
As I've been saying, I am generally happy with my work! However, I'm not fully satisfied with my website. The problem I think came from a lack of research and generally not knowing how to fully construct one. Luckily, the website does its job of just being a source of information about the film, so there's no glaring fault with it! Always a plus.
Even though there's no glaring fault, I do know it could be better and should I do it again I'd take a lot more care with it and do far more research into it, so I could make it a lot better! However, it's not a huge problem! I like the overall look and feel of it and it incorporates everything I have done, so it's hard not to be satisfied!
Again, overall I'm quite happy! I don't think there's much else to be said!
Written Evaluation Of Trailer.
I decided that it would be reasonably difficult to express my feelings on my trailer in words, I felt it was something that really had to be 'spoken' about, whilst you could see what was happening! So, as you can see, I went on a fully 'ramblomatic' review of it, as that's the ONLY way I could properly express how I felt about it. However, that was very in depth and I feel I should summarise my nearly 20 minute long rant!
In my rant, I said that I overall liked the feel of everything and that the whole thing was designed to be 'powerful' and spark different thoughts in people's minds.
That's the main aim of my trailer, controversy!
I don't want to go into detail here, as it's all in my spoken evaluation... However, as you see, I wanted to achieve a real sense of stress in an audience, so that they want to see my film! Really make an audience wonder... And that's what I've got! It's plain to see that lots of people feel this way about my trailer. Many people almost feel scared and that's perfect!
Overall, I'm happy with my trailer. After a full run down of it, I can honestly say I really like how it turned out. Refer to my spoken evaluation to hear all about the in depth parts of it! But from here, yes... I really liked the whole thing! And I'm proud of it!
In my rant, I said that I overall liked the feel of everything and that the whole thing was designed to be 'powerful' and spark different thoughts in people's minds.
That's the main aim of my trailer, controversy!
I don't want to go into detail here, as it's all in my spoken evaluation... However, as you see, I wanted to achieve a real sense of stress in an audience, so that they want to see my film! Really make an audience wonder... And that's what I've got! It's plain to see that lots of people feel this way about my trailer. Many people almost feel scared and that's perfect!
Overall, I'm happy with my trailer. After a full run down of it, I can honestly say I really like how it turned out. Refer to my spoken evaluation to hear all about the in depth parts of it! But from here, yes... I really liked the whole thing! And I'm proud of it!
Ancillary Task Two: Website.
Here is the link to my finished website:
http://waring51.wix.com/takingastand
I will evaluate in later posts!
http://waring51.wix.com/takingastand
I will evaluate in later posts!
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Facebook Comments On Poster
Although, what is to be noted is that some of the posts are less than helpful. Some of them are friends simply trying to be funny. However, I kept these in as besides them just being a joke, they do offer some value. If people feel comfortable enough around the poster to make these jokes, then the poster can't be bad. If it was truly a bad poster, they would not post those things, for fear of it being taken seriously. So, the jokes show me that people are comfortable with my poster, which is always a good thing to know. If people are comfortable, they are not feeling uneasy, therefore want to see my film. There's always something you can take out of ANY comment. Plus, they are pretty funny.
Overall, these comments give me some clear cut feedback, which I can use to fully evaluate my entire product!
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Preferred, Negotiated And Oppositional Reading Of My Media Package.
When creating my trailer, there were certain ideologies I had, that I wanted to put across. In all media, directors want to put across their own message. This may refer to their political stance, feelings about certain issues, or simply how they view the world. There's endless possibilites as to what a director wants to address when they create a piece of media, whether that be a film, a poster, website, maagazine, etc!
This in mind, I had my own ideologies that I wanted to put across when creating all of my media. The ideologies are all very similar, if not the same. They all address the same film, so naturally they're all going to give off the same message. This being said, my ideologies are likely to not be the same to everyone else, so people may read the media pieces differently to how I wanted to put them across. This is known as 'Negotiated' or possibly 'Oppositional' readings, depending on how different their thoughts are to mine. If a person saw my point, but perhaps saw things a little different, then that is negotiated, but if someone saw it completely different, that is oppositional.
So, onto my preferred reading!
In my trailer, poster and website, there was some definite issues that I wanted to put across. These are political and just plain issues. Without being too harsh, my piece does have quite an 'anti-conservative' feel to it, due to the issues involved with it. Due to the film looking at problems in working class life, it kind of takes an indirect stab at the upper classes, for not having to deal with this kind of thing. In fact, the conecept of a disabled person getting beaten up is completely alien to upper classes. But, in a small town full of lower and working classes, the idea is not so far from what happens, but maybe a little extreme. This is only a small ideology in the film, though. With me coming from a very working class background, I obviously have Labour/Liberal views, so an opportunity to expose neglect of Conservatives was a chance I couldn't not take, however this is not about my political viewpoint, it's merely a small ideology, embedded deep in codes that could be put forward very indirectly, as to not alienate audience.
There's much more of a meaning embedded into my media package. Perhaps the main message in my film, is the exposition of a certain type of Youth Culture in Britain. As everyone knows, there are certain youths in the country that you don't want to aggravate, as the consequences can be harmful, whether that be on a physical or emotional scale. So, this was a way to really exaggerate that, in a powerful way, under rather extreme conditions. However, the truthfulness in it is not far from the truth. I base this on personal experience. Whilst this is a very biased thing to do, if it's happened to one person, then the issue is very real. I doubt I am the only person that could experience an event such as is in the film trailer. Yes, it's an extreme case, but it highlights a lot of Youth Culture in Britain. Also, the part where they are actually beating the main character up, shows a struggle between those law abiding citizens and those that choose to disobey the law and have lack of respect for anyone. I put this in, as I feel that in modern day society, there is a constant struggle between good and evil.
Underlying this, is the ascension from underdog to hero. Whilst we don't see the 'hero' phase in the trailer, so nothing is given away, it's implied, so this shows how in society, there are those few that rise above everything and follow their hopes and dreams. Often, these are the people we least expect.
So, these are my ideologies behind my film package! Hopefully, this gives a lot of insight into why I did everything that I did, and everything that would be planned for if I ever made a full film!
However, in media, everything is not always as simple as this. As my film is quite controversial in the grand scheme of things, it leaves it open to a lot of negotiated and even oppositional reading...
With these, there are endless possibilities into how people could read my media, but for example, a negotiated reading of my piece would be that it simply shows how society is bad, there's no hope, etc. This is slightly what I was going for, but not completely, making it negotiated. However, there could be many slightly changed meanings of what I was going for, this is based on the audiences ideologies, to how they read my piece.
There's also some really harsh possibilities for how people could read my film, show they follow oppositional reading. If their ideologies are a certain way, then it could really open my film up to a lot of criticism and really spark a lot of controversy. This in a way could be good, or very bad.
The controversy would come from someone saying I'm glorifying disabled people being beaten up, or something like that. Saying how all we need in life is to have something bad happen to us before we can be any good, etc.
There's lots that can be said to put my film in a bad light. However, this is not what I was going for and it would be a minority that felt this way, I would hope.
So, there is it. Preferred, Negotiated and Oppositional reading of my film. It's good to show this, as it gives insight into everything about my media package!
This in mind, I had my own ideologies that I wanted to put across when creating all of my media. The ideologies are all very similar, if not the same. They all address the same film, so naturally they're all going to give off the same message. This being said, my ideologies are likely to not be the same to everyone else, so people may read the media pieces differently to how I wanted to put them across. This is known as 'Negotiated' or possibly 'Oppositional' readings, depending on how different their thoughts are to mine. If a person saw my point, but perhaps saw things a little different, then that is negotiated, but if someone saw it completely different, that is oppositional.
So, onto my preferred reading!
In my trailer, poster and website, there was some definite issues that I wanted to put across. These are political and just plain issues. Without being too harsh, my piece does have quite an 'anti-conservative' feel to it, due to the issues involved with it. Due to the film looking at problems in working class life, it kind of takes an indirect stab at the upper classes, for not having to deal with this kind of thing. In fact, the conecept of a disabled person getting beaten up is completely alien to upper classes. But, in a small town full of lower and working classes, the idea is not so far from what happens, but maybe a little extreme. This is only a small ideology in the film, though. With me coming from a very working class background, I obviously have Labour/Liberal views, so an opportunity to expose neglect of Conservatives was a chance I couldn't not take, however this is not about my political viewpoint, it's merely a small ideology, embedded deep in codes that could be put forward very indirectly, as to not alienate audience.
There's much more of a meaning embedded into my media package. Perhaps the main message in my film, is the exposition of a certain type of Youth Culture in Britain. As everyone knows, there are certain youths in the country that you don't want to aggravate, as the consequences can be harmful, whether that be on a physical or emotional scale. So, this was a way to really exaggerate that, in a powerful way, under rather extreme conditions. However, the truthfulness in it is not far from the truth. I base this on personal experience. Whilst this is a very biased thing to do, if it's happened to one person, then the issue is very real. I doubt I am the only person that could experience an event such as is in the film trailer. Yes, it's an extreme case, but it highlights a lot of Youth Culture in Britain. Also, the part where they are actually beating the main character up, shows a struggle between those law abiding citizens and those that choose to disobey the law and have lack of respect for anyone. I put this in, as I feel that in modern day society, there is a constant struggle between good and evil.
Underlying this, is the ascension from underdog to hero. Whilst we don't see the 'hero' phase in the trailer, so nothing is given away, it's implied, so this shows how in society, there are those few that rise above everything and follow their hopes and dreams. Often, these are the people we least expect.
So, these are my ideologies behind my film package! Hopefully, this gives a lot of insight into why I did everything that I did, and everything that would be planned for if I ever made a full film!
However, in media, everything is not always as simple as this. As my film is quite controversial in the grand scheme of things, it leaves it open to a lot of negotiated and even oppositional reading...
With these, there are endless possibilities into how people could read my media, but for example, a negotiated reading of my piece would be that it simply shows how society is bad, there's no hope, etc. This is slightly what I was going for, but not completely, making it negotiated. However, there could be many slightly changed meanings of what I was going for, this is based on the audiences ideologies, to how they read my piece.
There's also some really harsh possibilities for how people could read my film, show they follow oppositional reading. If their ideologies are a certain way, then it could really open my film up to a lot of criticism and really spark a lot of controversy. This in a way could be good, or very bad.
The controversy would come from someone saying I'm glorifying disabled people being beaten up, or something like that. Saying how all we need in life is to have something bad happen to us before we can be any good, etc.
There's lots that can be said to put my film in a bad light. However, this is not what I was going for and it would be a minority that felt this way, I would hope.
So, there is it. Preferred, Negotiated and Oppositional reading of my film. It's good to show this, as it gives insight into everything about my media package!
Monday, 4 March 2013
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Visual Evaluation Of My Film Poster.
In this post, we see the short, visual evaluation of my film poster.
It really is quite short, only looking at a few of the things... But, there will be a much larger evaluation soon to follow, explaining thought processes and not just looking at a few basic ideas on the poster.
It really is quite short, only looking at a few of the things... But, there will be a much larger evaluation soon to follow, explaining thought processes and not just looking at a few basic ideas on the poster.
This small evaluation gives a good little 'description' of everything, but is obviously far from detailed enough! Hopefully, the full evaluation should give much more insight, but this is a good reference for myself, more than anything. I can get my ideas together on recalling everything I have done. Also, people reading can see in basic everything that was created, before trying to read EVERYTHING.
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Main Task: Film Trailer.
Attached is my finished A2 Media Film Trailer! First, there is a link to the YouTube clip of it, also there is the version in full 1080!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmDcG6eQBUQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmDcG6eQBUQ
Monday, 25 February 2013
How I'm Going To Evaluate My Poster.
When evaluating my poster, I'm going to do it in a couple of parts. First of all, I want to do a visual evaluation, that will be reasonably short and just outlining a few features of the poster. It's purely to help you see exactly what is where and give a little information on what I personally like about it. Show the best features, basically.
After that, I want to do a more in depth evaluation. I want to show people why things are where they are and try and give some knowledge into my thought processes behind everything. This won't be easy to do, but I'll give it a try. If nothing, there will be a good in depth evaluation of my poster!
This shouldn't take too long, but it needs doing!
After that, I want to do a more in depth evaluation. I want to show people why things are where they are and try and give some knowledge into my thought processes behind everything. This won't be easy to do, but I'll give it a try. If nothing, there will be a good in depth evaluation of my poster!
This shouldn't take too long, but it needs doing!
Saturday, 23 February 2013
Camera Issues.
So, another problem that's occurred is with my camera. The camera I bigged up so much is having an issue. It seems that when I look back over a lot of the footage I have, it's very static. Despite me sorting out all the Light Balance, ISO, etc, the camera is just not taking footage properly.
This is huge, as it has potential to ruin the professional look of my trailer.
It's not going to be easy to sort this out, but I have some ideas. I may possibly redo my ideas on the trailer, really darken it out and possibly even go to black and white for the trailer. This is different to the original plans, but this is a possible thing I may have to consider if the trailer really doesn't look professional.
When I think about the idea, I actually think it could look very good. Very unconventional for modern trailers, so it may attract a lot of attention, due to it being different.
I think it would have to be done right, though. It can't be that way for the sake of it... It has to be done well, or it would look terrible. I'll look at this soon, but for now I just need to finish getting all my footage.
This is huge, as it has potential to ruin the professional look of my trailer.
It's not going to be easy to sort this out, but I have some ideas. I may possibly redo my ideas on the trailer, really darken it out and possibly even go to black and white for the trailer. This is different to the original plans, but this is a possible thing I may have to consider if the trailer really doesn't look professional.
When I think about the idea, I actually think it could look very good. Very unconventional for modern trailers, so it may attract a lot of attention, due to it being different.
I think it would have to be done right, though. It can't be that way for the sake of it... It has to be done well, or it would look terrible. I'll look at this soon, but for now I just need to finish getting all my footage.
Wanting To Upload The Website.
My second ancillary, the film website, is pretty much done. But, there is a huge problem.
I want to include my film trailer on the homepage, but this can't be done as there's no finished trailer. Meaning I can't put up my site and evaluate it, until everything else is complete.
This affects my time planning, meaning I now have to have everything done earlier, to make sure everything can go on my site fine. The problem here is that this is time I don't have.
Problems like these seem to always happen in the media industry and are unfortunately something people have to work around. I'll be doing my best to work around it and find a way to make sure I get everything done on time. It's just a struggle.
This is helpful in a way, to my knowledge of media institution. It gives me some insight into the huge problems of media, so I can see exactly what people in the media institution face quite regularly. Time limits, deadlines, etc. I can see how it's not easy to meet these deadlines, but it's also helping me to quickly realise there has to be ways around it, or else things just won't get done.
I want to include my film trailer on the homepage, but this can't be done as there's no finished trailer. Meaning I can't put up my site and evaluate it, until everything else is complete.
This affects my time planning, meaning I now have to have everything done earlier, to make sure everything can go on my site fine. The problem here is that this is time I don't have.
Problems like these seem to always happen in the media industry and are unfortunately something people have to work around. I'll be doing my best to work around it and find a way to make sure I get everything done on time. It's just a struggle.
This is helpful in a way, to my knowledge of media institution. It gives me some insight into the huge problems of media, so I can see exactly what people in the media institution face quite regularly. Time limits, deadlines, etc. I can see how it's not easy to meet these deadlines, but it's also helping me to quickly realise there has to be ways around it, or else things just won't get done.
Friday, 22 February 2013
Finished Advertisements.
After my post about potential advertisements, I decided to put up a post with a lot of online advertisements I created, to show knowledge into how companies use the web to market products. Below I have an advertisement on YouTube, Google and Facebook.
The first advertisement we can see is a YouTube Advert. The advertisement works well, as YouTube is an extremely popular website, with millions of viewers everyday. So, an advertisement on the homepage of the site would potentially attract millions of viewers. On YouTube, where my advert is placed is exactly where the adverts are usually placed, so the idea is not just a hope, but rather a very real way to advertise, should I have the money to cover such a large advertisement. Luckily, these advertisements are in theory and so no money had to be spent! The advertisement design was taken from a draft of my film poster and simply shrunk down and cropped even further, with very little added. The simplistic design works. There's not too much going on and so people learn very bluntly what is being advertised. Also, the colour of the font stands out well, so people notice the advertisement and want to click on it. Or that's the idea, anyway.
The advert here is on a Google search. The actual search isn't that relevant, although Google Ads do target specific searches, so a search for 'disability films' would therefore bring up something like my film, on the side. As for the advert, it fits in with the typical Google style of adverts, with it being on the side, reasonably small. Although this was fully created by myself, it looks reasonably real. This would be a very real possibility, especially with this being a lot cheaper than a YouTube advert. The advert is basically just the last one, shrunk down even further. Nothing too exciting and it doesn't need to be. The advert stands out fine with no problems and overall looks pretty good! I was pleased with it and it shows the film off as it's supposed to!
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Social Media.
A huge thing at the moment, is the use of social media to promote different things. This can be films, food, software, porn, games and even bands. It's the cool, hip thing at the moment, that everyone in the media industry uses. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Myspace, etc! There are infinite ways to advertise using social media... This is usually done by creating pages on the websites dedicated to the product, but as we see in one of my posts on advertising, this can be done by simple sideline adverts.
For the purpose of this post though, I have attached a presentation full of different Social Media pages I have actually created, that feature my film poster and eventually my full trailer and website!
Here, I have a real Facebook page for my film, featuring the finished film poster and an info box that in time could feature a link to the website!
As you can see, it's gone pretty well! The page looks normal, the actual profile picture looks better than the thumbnail. And best of all from this, we have an example of a Facebook AD on the side, so we can see what that would look like, should I advertise there!
Here, I made a Twitter page as well! The page looks a little more unsuccessful at first glance, but the potential of a Twitter page is huge! They can have Thousands of 'Followers', meaning thousands of people will potentially see it in a short space of time!
This means lots of FREE advertising!
The Twitter page and Facebook page do look great and there's options to stretch out and use all kinds of social media, such as Tumblr, Google+, etc! There's infinite ways! But, for the sake of my product, a couple of examples are more than enough to show the possibilities of using social media to freely promote my product!
From this we have gained an idea on how to advertise and make use of the products already made! Knowing how to use the products is more important than them themselves. You can have something brilliant, but if you have no idea where to put it, then it's useless. This is why I'm spending such a long time on this kind of thing. As, the products are essentially irrelevant. It's how you reach the audience that's the main thing!
For the purpose of this post though, I have attached a presentation full of different Social Media pages I have actually created, that feature my film poster and eventually my full trailer and website!
Here, I have a real Facebook page for my film, featuring the finished film poster and an info box that in time could feature a link to the website!
As you can see, it's gone pretty well! The page looks normal, the actual profile picture looks better than the thumbnail. And best of all from this, we have an example of a Facebook AD on the side, so we can see what that would look like, should I advertise there!
Here, I made a Twitter page as well! The page looks a little more unsuccessful at first glance, but the potential of a Twitter page is huge! They can have Thousands of 'Followers', meaning thousands of people will potentially see it in a short space of time!
This means lots of FREE advertising!
The Twitter page and Facebook page do look great and there's options to stretch out and use all kinds of social media, such as Tumblr, Google+, etc! There's infinite ways! But, for the sake of my product, a couple of examples are more than enough to show the possibilities of using social media to freely promote my product!
From this we have gained an idea on how to advertise and make use of the products already made! Knowing how to use the products is more important than them themselves. You can have something brilliant, but if you have no idea where to put it, then it's useless. This is why I'm spending such a long time on this kind of thing. As, the products are essentially irrelevant. It's how you reach the audience that's the main thing!
Friday, 15 February 2013
Important Note.
It's important to note that the software I'm using to make my website (Wix) is still only fresh out of Beta, so it's still not a hugely working software. Similarly, there are many restrictions to it, such as font styles and such! Now, this is not an excuse for a bad website, however it's certainly affecting the overall look and feel of my site.
Ancillary Task One: Film Poster.
On this post is the first of my productions! The film poster! The poster I feel looks good, but I'll be fully evaluating it at a later date! This is the absolute finished poster that will be going everywhere! My poster fits in to my advertising, website, etc!
At first glance, the poster looks good! It looks very professional and printed out it looks very similar! But, evaluation will take place after the other productions have been finalised!
At first glance, the poster looks good! It looks very professional and printed out it looks very similar! But, evaluation will take place after the other productions have been finalised!
Friday, 25 January 2013
Film Website Plan Draft.
The website of the film is one of my ancillary tasks and as with everything, a certain amount of care is needed to create it as the film trailer and film poster. For this reason, I've done a very very rough draft of what it will look like on Photoshop. What needs to be taken into account is that it is a rough copy, nothing on it but the layout will stick, either, but it's a great reference for when I create my website. Here is the plan:
So, there's my plan for my website, rough yes, but effective for myself, as I know I'll want to change things around when I get see fit, so a rigid plan would not fit my working style!
What I've planned is quite simple and that's the way I want to keep it. From seeing different websites, it's easy to see that they are relatively simple, anyway. There's not a lot to them and generally they serve as a point of information and possible sales. So, that's how I want to keep mine. There will be the main things on there, but it's relatively small, with only having a few things on it. The links are important to give the illusion of more leading on from the website, as I'm only making the homepage. Similarly, the bottom illusions it to be more professional, with having all the copyright stuff there.
The background I feel is going to be the most important part. Whilst I've currently got a burnt orange colour, what I really want to go for is a picture background with an orange tint to it... Currently, that's not possible due to having no images to go on... But, for now this is an accurate plan that helps me greatly.
Overall, I'm happy with the plan, I just need to get started on the real thing!
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Film Storyboard.
Story board from Waring22
Here is a presentation that has scans of my drawings, that put together my entire storyboard! The storyboard is in order and the only issue is that the scanner cut a few of them slightly, but all the writing on them has been put at the top of them!
Here is a presentation that has scans of my drawings, that put together my entire storyboard! The storyboard is in order and the only issue is that the scanner cut a few of them slightly, but all the writing on them has been put at the top of them!
Saturday, 19 January 2013
Film Poster Planning.
When making a film poster, you need to have a reasonably good idea as to what you want it to look like... For this reason, I set about creating a number of plans and potential ideas for how I'd want mine to look. Instead of doing this through a computer program, I decided to do them by hand. I felt this would be easier, as it meant I could go through ideas quickly and roughly, as I didn't feel the plans needed to be works of art in themselves. Essentially, they're just very rough and quick drawings that I'll turn into something great and established, but finding the one I think would be easiest and most pragmatic will be the trouble. For this reason, I uploaded all of my sketches and set about thinking which one would be best...
So, here are my 3 plans! I decided to go with the second one in the end, as I felt it was simply the best looking. I have no doubt that this will change slightly in the actual production, but for now this is what I will be trying to recreate, in a more artistic and professional looking fashion!
Friday, 18 January 2013
Advertising.
So, for advertising my film, to go along with all my productions, I'll have to think of many different things, as I'll be the one advertising. The perks of being independent!
Later on, I will show advertising in action, but for now it's just important to have an idea on how I would advertise!
In this modern age, there are countless ways to advertise, many of them cost next to nothing or are completely free! Now, it's simple to say I could purchase billboards for a number of months to advertise, or simply put the finished trailer on TV adverts, but this seems too old school and simple. Of course, with it being a trailer, the trailer would be shown on TV and such, but there are other ways to advertise! As I'm making the film poster, this needs to go everywhere where it could be noticed. A normal thing to do is to put them up in a Cinema. There, they can be seen by movie goers and the general public. Also, these can be put up in any film clubs, etc. It would be silly to put them everywhere, as it's a waste of resources, they need to be tactically placed to maximise profit. For this reason, I would use film posters as a major advertising tool, due to it being relatively cheap and effective, dependent on how much the Cinema would charge to place them.
Similarly, just because billboards seem old, doesn't mean it isn't effective. However, they are expensive, so I would not purchase many and only purchase them in places where I feel I could target a big audience, and as silly as it seems, a place to target would be near a hospital, as my film is about disability. People with disabilities would want to see it, so targeting them is a good idea, if not a little controversial.
As for using the internet, there are many many ways to do this. One of my favourite ideas is to use Google advertising. Google run YouTube, Blogger and many other different services that are accessible to the general public. The only problem with advertising this way, is that it can be quite expensive. It's a choice between whether or not it's worth the expense or would benefit my film. Something to think about is that my film is independent and relatively small, so would advertising to a large audience really help all that much? It's debateable. The thing with Google advertising though, is that adverts show up dependent on what people have searched for. So, if you search for lots of stuff to do with Football, it's more than likely that you'll get Football related advertisements. That's the theory, anyway. So, actually, the thought of using Google adverts becomes a lot more viable, as the advertisements would hopefully show up to people who would appreciate it. Still, it's a big investment and one that would need to be thought through once seen.
The good thing about my package, is that it's essentially an advertisement package, so advertising 'could' take care of itself, but it's always good to have other advertisements in place for marketing. There are lots of ins and outs of advertising, such as putting the website on the film trailer and such, but it'll all be put into future posts, along with a post showing how some different advertising would look, to see which would be worth paying for and investing in!
Another definitely worthwhile way of advertising is Social Networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. This technique has been done many times and for good reason! Creating a page is cheap and easy to reach the masses! Later on I will be putting up a post showing all my Social Networking pages for the film, but this will most likely have to be after I have made my film poster, so I can at least have an image to it and not merely a name. Similarly, the page will get better when I have more done, so more can go on it and be engaging for an audience.
Later on, I will show advertising in action, but for now it's just important to have an idea on how I would advertise!
In this modern age, there are countless ways to advertise, many of them cost next to nothing or are completely free! Now, it's simple to say I could purchase billboards for a number of months to advertise, or simply put the finished trailer on TV adverts, but this seems too old school and simple. Of course, with it being a trailer, the trailer would be shown on TV and such, but there are other ways to advertise! As I'm making the film poster, this needs to go everywhere where it could be noticed. A normal thing to do is to put them up in a Cinema. There, they can be seen by movie goers and the general public. Also, these can be put up in any film clubs, etc. It would be silly to put them everywhere, as it's a waste of resources, they need to be tactically placed to maximise profit. For this reason, I would use film posters as a major advertising tool, due to it being relatively cheap and effective, dependent on how much the Cinema would charge to place them.
Similarly, just because billboards seem old, doesn't mean it isn't effective. However, they are expensive, so I would not purchase many and only purchase them in places where I feel I could target a big audience, and as silly as it seems, a place to target would be near a hospital, as my film is about disability. People with disabilities would want to see it, so targeting them is a good idea, if not a little controversial.
As for using the internet, there are many many ways to do this. One of my favourite ideas is to use Google advertising. Google run YouTube, Blogger and many other different services that are accessible to the general public. The only problem with advertising this way, is that it can be quite expensive. It's a choice between whether or not it's worth the expense or would benefit my film. Something to think about is that my film is independent and relatively small, so would advertising to a large audience really help all that much? It's debateable. The thing with Google advertising though, is that adverts show up dependent on what people have searched for. So, if you search for lots of stuff to do with Football, it's more than likely that you'll get Football related advertisements. That's the theory, anyway. So, actually, the thought of using Google adverts becomes a lot more viable, as the advertisements would hopefully show up to people who would appreciate it. Still, it's a big investment and one that would need to be thought through once seen.
The good thing about my package, is that it's essentially an advertisement package, so advertising 'could' take care of itself, but it's always good to have other advertisements in place for marketing. There are lots of ins and outs of advertising, such as putting the website on the film trailer and such, but it'll all be put into future posts, along with a post showing how some different advertising would look, to see which would be worth paying for and investing in!
Another definitely worthwhile way of advertising is Social Networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. This technique has been done many times and for good reason! Creating a page is cheap and easy to reach the masses! Later on I will be putting up a post showing all my Social Networking pages for the film, but this will most likely have to be after I have made my film poster, so I can at least have an image to it and not merely a name. Similarly, the page will get better when I have more done, so more can go on it and be engaging for an audience.
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Key Directors.
Here I have a presentation dedicated to some key directors I thought would prove useful in my own work... The theory is that by knowing the ins and outs of directors, I'll take ideas for my own and develop my own directing style! So, knowing some directors helps to shape this and by making them sport based, it rubs off into my sport movie! Their directing style is also similar to how I want my film to be, meaning knowing how they do things is very important! Overall, I expect this to help in the underlying qualities of my production...
My Company.
I felt it was important to come up with a company on a theoretical basis, as I have somewhere to work to and everything feels much more professional! The professional feel to everything makes me driven to be more professional in everything else, too... So, the theoretical company has a lot more use to it than at first glance!
Staff.
There's going to be a few members of staff hired to help with the production of my film trailer, poster and website. Mainly to help with filming and photographing, as I can't work a camera, boom mic and direct at the same time! For this reason, I have decided to hire a few people to help with the production and luckily these people have volunteered.
Something to realise though, is that these people have little to no experience with this kind of equipment and so don't really know what they're doing. This does not mean to say though that they will be bad, just that it won't be completely professional. Although this isn't ideal, with my budget, it's the best I can do and hope that they are not awful. I don't think they will be bad, just inexperienced, but their job isn't too hard, so hopefully it will go well!
The people who I've hired to help with my production are as follows:
Emma Hancock: Boom Mic Operator
Tom Denman: Cameraman
Luke Thomas: Assistant Director (Whilst also being the lead role. We're taking advantage of his knowledge of film)
Lucy Norton: Costume Helper
Jack Waring (Myself): Basketball Coach (To help with the small parts of the sport that will be needed)
Mick Waring: Mechanic (In case Wheelchairs get damaged)
Luckily, I won't really need many more staff, as it's such a small time production... These people will be brilliantly helpful and all I'll need, really... Some won't even need to be on site!
So, here are my staff! Sorted!
Something to realise though, is that these people have little to no experience with this kind of equipment and so don't really know what they're doing. This does not mean to say though that they will be bad, just that it won't be completely professional. Although this isn't ideal, with my budget, it's the best I can do and hope that they are not awful. I don't think they will be bad, just inexperienced, but their job isn't too hard, so hopefully it will go well!
The people who I've hired to help with my production are as follows:
Emma Hancock: Boom Mic Operator
Tom Denman: Cameraman
Luke Thomas: Assistant Director (Whilst also being the lead role. We're taking advantage of his knowledge of film)
Lucy Norton: Costume Helper
Jack Waring (Myself): Basketball Coach (To help with the small parts of the sport that will be needed)
Mick Waring: Mechanic (In case Wheelchairs get damaged)
Luckily, I won't really need many more staff, as it's such a small time production... These people will be brilliantly helpful and all I'll need, really... Some won't even need to be on site!
So, here are my staff! Sorted!
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Extras.
In my film, I'm gonna need a fair few 'extras' and for good reason. In my film, I have plans for there to be a 'mugging', so on top of the main characters, there needs to be people who can just fill in for a scene. Luckily, I have access to a broad variety of people that would be willing to do me a favour, so this shouldn't be much of an issue. But, I do want the best volunteer actors I can get! No point in having them if they're not very good!
Below, are some pictures of the extras starring and their names!
And this is Joe Hamer. Or "Mugger 2"
There isn't much information here about them, as that will all be done later. But, for now... It's good to see I have people dedicated to helping with the filming!
Antagonist.
So, we have the main two characters sorted, but we also need the Antagonist, Sebastien.
Now, we didn't feel that the actors who showed up for the auditions really fit the part of Sebastien, so we needed to stretch out a little further and approach those we felt may be right for the part. We found a guy called Reece Kite who we found in a small time school production. His acting was mediocre, but the way he acted just felt right to us. It's hard to explain what it was about him due to having limited knowledge of Drama, but I definitely felt as if he'd be good for the part. Also, since I'm only creating a film trailer, there's going to be very limited acting as such, so his inexperience shouldn't matter too much! The guy is below:
The actors name is Reece Kite and is an good guy to work with, despite his inexperience. Also, the bulky figure of him really works for an anarchist. Yes, he is smiling and doesn't look very intimidating, but the picture wasn't designed to achieve that. Instead, this is just him.
On camera, it's easy to make him look scary, even though there will be limited shots of him.
So, there you have it! The antagonist.
Now, we didn't feel that the actors who showed up for the auditions really fit the part of Sebastien, so we needed to stretch out a little further and approach those we felt may be right for the part. We found a guy called Reece Kite who we found in a small time school production. His acting was mediocre, but the way he acted just felt right to us. It's hard to explain what it was about him due to having limited knowledge of Drama, but I definitely felt as if he'd be good for the part. Also, since I'm only creating a film trailer, there's going to be very limited acting as such, so his inexperience shouldn't matter too much! The guy is below:
The actors name is Reece Kite and is an good guy to work with, despite his inexperience. Also, the bulky figure of him really works for an anarchist. Yes, he is smiling and doesn't look very intimidating, but the picture wasn't designed to achieve that. Instead, this is just him.
On camera, it's easy to make him look scary, even though there will be limited shots of him.
So, there you have it! The antagonist.
Tuesday, 15 January 2013
Finalised Actors.
After deciding my main characters, I decided to make a post with all my finalised actors on it. Main characters and others! Attached will be pictures of the actors and a little bit about their role in the production.
Deciding The Two Lead Roles
To decide the lead two roles on my film, I decided to utilise Prezi.
With Prezi, I was able to come up with an easy, stylish and smooth way to show my thought processes when picking actors.
As you will see, there were four potential actors who auditioned, but in this you will see the reasons for those that got the roles in the end!
With Prezi, I was able to come up with an easy, stylish and smooth way to show my thought processes when picking actors.
As you will see, there were four potential actors who auditioned, but in this you will see the reasons for those that got the roles in the end!
Monday, 14 January 2013
Colour Scheme.
For my overall product, I'd like a loose 'colour scheme' that fits in line with the title, poster colour, website colour, etc!
I'd like this to give the whole thing a bit more of a professional feel to it... But, I don't want it to be too strict, so I can avoid being restricted when creating everything...
I want my product to have a serious, yet warm feel to it, that mixes in with the theme of the film. For this reason, I think it's important to stick with the 'basketball' feel to everything, so for this reason I'm going to put some orange into the scheme, but not a bright one, more of a serious, burned orange... To keep a professional look, I want to keep black on the colour scheme, as it's simple yet effective, especially over the orange. As for other colours, I don't think there's too much to change, as it risks making the whole thing too complicated, or too colour strict. I think what will happen is there will be different variations of orange with more colours mixed in for effect, but mainly I want to keep it to that kind of colour scheme, with obvious exceptions for the images and such!
I'd like this to give the whole thing a bit more of a professional feel to it... But, I don't want it to be too strict, so I can avoid being restricted when creating everything...
I want my product to have a serious, yet warm feel to it, that mixes in with the theme of the film. For this reason, I think it's important to stick with the 'basketball' feel to everything, so for this reason I'm going to put some orange into the scheme, but not a bright one, more of a serious, burned orange... To keep a professional look, I want to keep black on the colour scheme, as it's simple yet effective, especially over the orange. As for other colours, I don't think there's too much to change, as it risks making the whole thing too complicated, or too colour strict. I think what will happen is there will be different variations of orange with more colours mixed in for effect, but mainly I want to keep it to that kind of colour scheme, with obvious exceptions for the images and such!
Nikon D90
So, before I begin
to talk about this brilliant piece of equipment, I’ll explain exactly why I
feel the need to! The D90 will be the camera I will use for most of my
production, from photographing to videoing. It seems slightly strange that I
would use just one camera for everything, yet I do have my reasons.
Unfortunately, the main reason I can only use a camera to this specification is because I simply do not have access to any better cameras. The other cameras I have are flat image cameras and so cannot be used to achieve focus effects, as this DSLR can. So, this being said, it does not mean this is not a good camera. In fact, the Nikon D90 is indeed an extremely good piece of equipment. The camera Is 12 Megapixels when taking still shots and the video function on it registers 24 frames per second, which although isn’t amazing, is more than enough for the film I will be creating, as what it lacks in FPS, it makes up for in other features, such as free reign over most aspects, such as light balance, contrast, etc.
So, it will be able to shoot in the best possible way, depending on where the scene is shot, amongst other reasons. This also means I don’t have to worry too much about what weather I shoot in, as I will be able to tweak the camera, in order to get the best output possible. The specification of the camera is reasonably impressive and to go through it would take a long time, so I refer you to here - http://www.cameras.co.uk/specs/nikon-d90.cfm - to read up on all the specification. As you’ll be able to see, it’s quite impressive and more than good enough for shooting a film trailer.
Another reason for choosing it, is quite basically the ease of getting to it. As the camera isn’t rented and is owned by myself, I can access it whenever I need it without trouble. This is a huge help and factor, as the budget for this film package is essentially nothing, so ease of access to equipment that is free is essential.
If the budget was high, then I would definitely have invested in more expensive equipment, but this is not the case, making this camera ideal.
Something else that is ideal about this camera, is that I own a number of different lenses that can be used with it, to help bring about a more professional feel to the trailer and following media products.
Overall, I feel this is a good choice in camera and one that is going to serve me well over the course of my media creations! There’s no real catch to using this camera, as it will fit the purpose perfectly!
Below is an image from the web of the camera, as it would be difficult to take a picture of my camera with my camera...
Tagline.
With great film, comes great responsibility...
Or, so a spoof of a tagline would say. Taglines! A really important part of a movie package and something that can make or break a film. A memorable tagline can stick in a consumer's head and they will always remember it when the film is mentioned. Often, things like this start trending on Social Networking sites and a younger generation can quote it often as a 'craze'. But, that happens very rarely and mostly only with big budget films. Regardless, I need a good one that is clever, sums up the film, yet stays very mysterious about it. As is with my spoof, the quote 'With great power, comes great responsibility' is a very iconic tagline from 'Spiderman' which is said by Uncle Ben in the film. A tagline like this is short, snappy and very shrouded in mystery, so it doesn't give much of the film away, but it still says a lot about it. Whilst confusing, it does make sense. Similarly, Coach Carter has the tagline 'It ends in the streets and begins in the GYM'. Again, this gives a lot of mystery, yet says something about the film. What is very good about this tagline is that is uses capitalisation well, the emphasis on 'GYM' makes us associate the film with a gym, which associates it with sport, so even from the tagline, we essentially know what the film is about, which is a great thing to have. If people can recognise what your film is about from the tagline, they're likely to go and watch it if they're your target audience.
In 2008, www.taglineguru.com voted the film 'Alien' to have the best tagline... The tagline was 'In space, no one can hear you scream' due to its originality, creativity, suitability and memorability. Personally, I think the tagline works well, yet doesn't say much about the film. In the case of Alien, this works, as the whole idea of the film is that you don't really know what's happening.
This in mind, I need to come up with my own! It's never easy coming up with something short and catchy, but I have some ideas. Bearing in mind the name and theme of the film, something fitting in with the controversy of it all would work well, but also showing that the film is essentially about someone making something of themself in a bad situtation. So, something like 'The beginning is down, the future is up' would work quite well, but I'm not so sure on if it's 'catchy' enough, or really fits in with the controversy too well, as the 'down' and 'up' seem too subtle to get, if people don't really look into it. Something a little more in your face is needed, I think. Something more along the lines of 'In the beginning, we're all on the ground, it's our choice to stand'. This is much more out there and fits in with the title slightly. Although most taglines don't involve the title, I think it's important in this film, especially as I'm only making a few parts of it, as the audience really needs to understand what it's all about! However, that's more of a 'draft' tagline and it could do with some editing.
'In The Beginning, We're All On The Ground, It's Our Choice To Stand' is what we're starting with and I think it could do with shortening. 'All On The Ground' can be shorted to 'All Grounded' which also seems slightly more relative. Also, 'Stand' seems way too close to the name of the film, so replacing the word with 'Rise' also seems more in tune with 'Grounded' and makes for better effect. So what we have now is 'In The Beginning, We're All Grounded, It's Our Choice To Rise'. Overall, I like it and can't really think of anything to change about it. It still seems a little long, but many Taglines are, so I think I'll stick with this! There we go, a finished Tagline ready for Typography and editing!
Or, so a spoof of a tagline would say. Taglines! A really important part of a movie package and something that can make or break a film. A memorable tagline can stick in a consumer's head and they will always remember it when the film is mentioned. Often, things like this start trending on Social Networking sites and a younger generation can quote it often as a 'craze'. But, that happens very rarely and mostly only with big budget films. Regardless, I need a good one that is clever, sums up the film, yet stays very mysterious about it. As is with my spoof, the quote 'With great power, comes great responsibility' is a very iconic tagline from 'Spiderman' which is said by Uncle Ben in the film. A tagline like this is short, snappy and very shrouded in mystery, so it doesn't give much of the film away, but it still says a lot about it. Whilst confusing, it does make sense. Similarly, Coach Carter has the tagline 'It ends in the streets and begins in the GYM'. Again, this gives a lot of mystery, yet says something about the film. What is very good about this tagline is that is uses capitalisation well, the emphasis on 'GYM' makes us associate the film with a gym, which associates it with sport, so even from the tagline, we essentially know what the film is about, which is a great thing to have. If people can recognise what your film is about from the tagline, they're likely to go and watch it if they're your target audience.
In 2008, www.taglineguru.com voted the film 'Alien' to have the best tagline... The tagline was 'In space, no one can hear you scream' due to its originality, creativity, suitability and memorability. Personally, I think the tagline works well, yet doesn't say much about the film. In the case of Alien, this works, as the whole idea of the film is that you don't really know what's happening.
This in mind, I need to come up with my own! It's never easy coming up with something short and catchy, but I have some ideas. Bearing in mind the name and theme of the film, something fitting in with the controversy of it all would work well, but also showing that the film is essentially about someone making something of themself in a bad situtation. So, something like 'The beginning is down, the future is up' would work quite well, but I'm not so sure on if it's 'catchy' enough, or really fits in with the controversy too well, as the 'down' and 'up' seem too subtle to get, if people don't really look into it. Something a little more in your face is needed, I think. Something more along the lines of 'In the beginning, we're all on the ground, it's our choice to stand'. This is much more out there and fits in with the title slightly. Although most taglines don't involve the title, I think it's important in this film, especially as I'm only making a few parts of it, as the audience really needs to understand what it's all about! However, that's more of a 'draft' tagline and it could do with some editing.
'In The Beginning, We're All On The Ground, It's Our Choice To Stand' is what we're starting with and I think it could do with shortening. 'All On The Ground' can be shorted to 'All Grounded' which also seems slightly more relative. Also, 'Stand' seems way too close to the name of the film, so replacing the word with 'Rise' also seems more in tune with 'Grounded' and makes for better effect. So what we have now is 'In The Beginning, We're All Grounded, It's Our Choice To Rise'. Overall, I like it and can't really think of anything to change about it. It still seems a little long, but many Taglines are, so I think I'll stick with this! There we go, a finished Tagline ready for Typography and editing!
"In The Beginning, We're All Grounded, It's Our Choice To Rise"
Typography
One of the things I need to think about is the Typography of the title, and overall how it's going to look. This is important because the title will probably be the most iconic part of the overall package, as it will be a logo and brand title. The title will go everywhere and be on every part of the package, so there needs to be a lot of thought go into it, to make it perfect for my film. Because of this, I decided to write out the title in many different fonts (as shown below) for me to decide on which I would think would look best. What is important to take into account though, is that it may be subject to minor change when on my poster, in regards to colour, size and possibly shape so that it fits the images and looks part of the poster and not a stand alone thing.
To make a good decision, I decided to stray away from built in Windows fonts and instead started looking online for different, maybe slightly abstract fonts to use. I have looked a variety of different fonts as will be shown below, all in the same size, etc. After which, I'll try and decide on which one(s) I want to use!
As can be seen, there are a lot of fonts here! I went through hundreds and hundreds of fonts to find ones that I really liked and here there are many! It's going to be very difficult to choose the right one for the job. What to keep in mind is that I will pick a font for the Title of the film 'Taking A Stand' and one for the tagline, which may be the same or different, dependent on whether or not they would clash...
The fonts are all very different and varied, and none of them look 'bad' and all (If put in the right way), would work for my film! As for picking the 'right' one, it's not so easy!
Also, I think I'm going to have to decide once I have more images to work with and see! So, I'm not gonna pick my Typography here, merely have lots in mind and decide fully when it comes to creating the posters and such!
To make a good decision, I decided to stray away from built in Windows fonts and instead started looking online for different, maybe slightly abstract fonts to use. I have looked a variety of different fonts as will be shown below, all in the same size, etc. After which, I'll try and decide on which one(s) I want to use!
As can be seen, there are a lot of fonts here! I went through hundreds and hundreds of fonts to find ones that I really liked and here there are many! It's going to be very difficult to choose the right one for the job. What to keep in mind is that I will pick a font for the Title of the film 'Taking A Stand' and one for the tagline, which may be the same or different, dependent on whether or not they would clash...
The fonts are all very different and varied, and none of them look 'bad' and all (If put in the right way), would work for my film! As for picking the 'right' one, it's not so easy!
Also, I think I'm going to have to decide once I have more images to work with and see! So, I'm not gonna pick my Typography here, merely have lots in mind and decide fully when it comes to creating the posters and such!
Company Logo.
So, every good, respectable company has a logo. One that can be easily recognised and stands out a bit, often they mean something, yet others are simply an icon. It's completely dependent on the company and some companies have more than one! So, this in mind, I went to create my own logo. Something simple, with a bit of a kick to it. What I will add, is that it isn't perfect. Creativity and art are not my strong point, which is a weakness of mine that I know of. But, it's simple and easy. What I did was make it on Photoshop on an A3 sheet of paper. I did this so that I can shrink it down and not have to size it up, which would pixelate it. Also, this means I only have to do one copy of it, so it's always going to be consistent. The logo is below!
Here is the logo! As we can see, there have been better logos, but it's not awful! It shows the company name, is very simple and overall gets its message across. There's no fancy pictures or very iconic images, but I'm a small independent company and my message is going to come from the films and not how good a logo is. That doesn't mean that the logo is not important, though. On the contrary, it's very important, but I do not see it as the backbone to my company. Instead, I feel that the film side of my company will be the backbone of everything.
But, like I said, the logo isn't awful, the colour scheme is nice and simple, it's not too in your face and works as a logo.
The logo will go on pretty much everything, the trailer, the poster and the website. It would be use in advertisements, etc. As good as the film is, people need to know who produced it. If investors like the film, they'll invest, which means more money for the company, which means more films and so on. So, the logo is pretty important as an advertising tool in itself!
Film Classification.
With any film, comes a rating. Whether it be 'U' or 'PG', '12' and so forth! So, my film will need one, too!
At first thought, I'd say my film (if created) would be a 15, but it can't go simply on what I think it should be, there's a whole 'board' for this kind of thing! For British films, it's quite simple. The classification board is 'The British Board Of Film Classification' or 'BBFC'.
On the official BBFC website, it states:
"In order to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give consumers information they might need about a particular film or video before deciding whether or not to view it, the BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. This independent scrutiny prior to release ensures the highest possible level of protection and empowerment.
We watch films and videos all the way through and award an age rating and insight to each one. We reach an age rating by applying the standards and criteria contained in our Classification Guidelines which can be downloaded below.
Typically, two examiners view a film for theatrical release. In most cases a Senior Examiner will confirm the examiners’ recommendation. But if the Examiners are in any doubt or fail to agree, or if important policy issues are involved, the work may be seen by other members of the Board up to, and including, the Director and Presidential team. Occasionally we need to take specialist advice about the legal acceptability of film content or its potential for harm.
The same process exists for DVDs and Blu-rays though generally these are seen by one Examiner. However, opinions from other Examiners may be required for more difficult works.
We look at issues such as discrimination, drugs, horror, dangerous and easily imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, and violence when making decisions. The theme of the work is also an important consideration. We also consider context, the tone and likely impact of a work on the potential audience.
The release format of a work has an impact on classification. Our decisions on the age rating of DVDs and Blu-rays can occasionally be stricter than at the cinema because there is a higher risk of underage viewing in the home and a greater potential for watching scenes out of context."
Now I have the official classification process, it makes it easier to rate the film... The only problem is that the actual guidelines (also on the website) are extremely complex and it would be very difficult to rate it myself, without professional advice and without it even being made yet... So, whilst I feel that the film will be around a 15, I think it's safe to say I can't classify it fully until the evaluation. However, it's good to know the board that is classifying films, so I have something to refer to, as to not make my film too innapropriate for the rating I want it to have.
The rating is important, as it's all about target audience. If the film is rated a 'U' then it's not going to be teens that go and watch it primarily, as it's not appealing to them. But, if it's rated a 15, then only those with a bit more maturity are going to want to watch it, plus those that just want to watch a 15 for the sake of it being a 15, whilst this is slightly taking advantage of the attitudes of the younger generation, it works. Besides, they're not my main audience, simply a consequence of my target audience, which does help me in the long run! So, the classification is majorly important into reaching an audience, but this will have to be decided once the trailer is nearly made, so I can add the classification into the trailer at the last minute!
At first thought, I'd say my film (if created) would be a 15, but it can't go simply on what I think it should be, there's a whole 'board' for this kind of thing! For British films, it's quite simple. The classification board is 'The British Board Of Film Classification' or 'BBFC'.
On the official BBFC website, it states:
"In order to protect children from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give consumers information they might need about a particular film or video before deciding whether or not to view it, the BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. This independent scrutiny prior to release ensures the highest possible level of protection and empowerment.
We watch films and videos all the way through and award an age rating and insight to each one. We reach an age rating by applying the standards and criteria contained in our Classification Guidelines which can be downloaded below.
Typically, two examiners view a film for theatrical release. In most cases a Senior Examiner will confirm the examiners’ recommendation. But if the Examiners are in any doubt or fail to agree, or if important policy issues are involved, the work may be seen by other members of the Board up to, and including, the Director and Presidential team. Occasionally we need to take specialist advice about the legal acceptability of film content or its potential for harm.
The same process exists for DVDs and Blu-rays though generally these are seen by one Examiner. However, opinions from other Examiners may be required for more difficult works.
We look at issues such as discrimination, drugs, horror, dangerous and easily imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, and violence when making decisions. The theme of the work is also an important consideration. We also consider context, the tone and likely impact of a work on the potential audience.
The release format of a work has an impact on classification. Our decisions on the age rating of DVDs and Blu-rays can occasionally be stricter than at the cinema because there is a higher risk of underage viewing in the home and a greater potential for watching scenes out of context."
Now I have the official classification process, it makes it easier to rate the film... The only problem is that the actual guidelines (also on the website) are extremely complex and it would be very difficult to rate it myself, without professional advice and without it even being made yet... So, whilst I feel that the film will be around a 15, I think it's safe to say I can't classify it fully until the evaluation. However, it's good to know the board that is classifying films, so I have something to refer to, as to not make my film too innapropriate for the rating I want it to have.
The rating is important, as it's all about target audience. If the film is rated a 'U' then it's not going to be teens that go and watch it primarily, as it's not appealing to them. But, if it's rated a 15, then only those with a bit more maturity are going to want to watch it, plus those that just want to watch a 15 for the sake of it being a 15, whilst this is slightly taking advantage of the attitudes of the younger generation, it works. Besides, they're not my main audience, simply a consequence of my target audience, which does help me in the long run! So, the classification is majorly important into reaching an audience, but this will have to be decided once the trailer is nearly made, so I can add the classification into the trailer at the last minute!
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