Post 38: Final Short Film

Post 37a: Short Film - Second Draft + Feedback

After my group member Mollie Bugg asked for Feedback from our media teacher, we were left with some big decisions and a lot of alterations were suggested, of which we have fully taken into account, but were not able to change and follow all of the feedback. Below is a list of changes she felt would make our film stronger. 

• To add more shorts of Josh and Amy in their montage, such as in different locations

Although we thought this was a good idea, we no longer had any time to re-film some shots. This however is something that we would do if we could re-film or had more time as it would give the effect of a more developed relationship as they have spent more time together, rather than just being on one date.

• To get rid of the panning shot at the very beginning of our film

This is because it is not a very smooth pan. Again, it is something we would re-film if we had time. We did try to edit out this pan by using a cut-away shot, however, we could not make this work so it gave a good effect.

• When Josh walks out of the room, have him get up off of the bed straight away instead of showing him sitting for a few seconds before

This is something we did managed to change and he now stands up off the bed immediately.

• To add the sound effect of a TV when Josh and his mother are watching TV in the living room, as this would make it more clear what was happening

We also managed to do this. We added a clip of the BBC news soundtrack over the top of the scene. If we could re-film we would also use a close up of the TV to add even more clarity tot he situation. 

• To cut down some of the shots of the montage of the gang in order to make it tighter, such as the shot of them walking down the street and also their handshake.

We did do this, we halved the length of the shot of the gang walking down the street, as this still gave the same effect but make the montage have more fast paced editing. We also cut off the end of the shot of the handshake as again, it still give the same effect without it and made the montage tighter. 

• Cut the shot of Amy walking over to sit next to Josh in the corridor, so that Amy comes into shot sooner

We cut a lot off of the beginning of the shot so now Amy is seen to walk into shot almost straight away.

• Add in a close up of the teacher shouting at Josh, as this would show more of his anger

-We had filmed a close-up of this already. However, because the actor was constantly moving throughout the shot, there was no time that we was able to add the close up in without causing a jump cut which didn't look nice.

• Add more shots of Josh's bedroom after he has destroyed it

Although we already had one shot of this, when Josh walks out of the bedroom, it would be good to focus on different specific elements of the room as this would focus more on it.

• To cut down the short of Josh walking over to the gang to give back the knife, as it showed too much of the walk over which was unnecessary.

We also cut down this shot and only showed half of what was in the first second draft, this makes the short shorter and more dramatic.

Post 37: Short Film - First Draft + Feedback

Here is a rough cut of our short film Dead End.

I asked two students for there opinions and feedback on my groups short film after they watched our first rough cut of the piece. There overall suggestions were that we needed to consider match on action more carefully and need to enhance the sound, so that can hear every character speaking clearly. As a group we have taken these suggestions into consideration and are going to develop on these ideas, making our piece as effective as possible. 

Post 36: Feedback on Magazine Article

Here I have used sound cloud to record feedback on my magazine spread. Overall the Feedback was positive, highlighting key conventions within my magazine spread, after receiving this feedback, I feel as though the comments made were effective and that if I had more time I would have acted upon more of these comments. 

Post 35: Magazine Article

Below is my Finished Double page Magazine spread. I have included main components from typical magazines such as a five star system and a verdict. I have also taken key photos from the short film that don't give to much away about the film, showing three of the key characters from the plot. In my review I have spoken about the characters and the actors who have played them, I have gone into depth and criticized whats happens within the piece, without giving to much away. 

Post 34a: Magazine Review

My Magazine Film Review  

The director brings yet another remarkable short film to the screens, Dead End. This prominent drama film, influenced by crime, conflict and romance, is filled with exhilarating action, which draws the audience in.  Starring faces, including Ben Howard and Liam McGuigan who are revealed within the short, the actor Liam McGuigan as constable Mike, although only on screen for a short period of time, overpowered the main protagonist and took center stage. The actor was well suited to his role and accurately portrayed his character. The relation and link between the police officer and the teen is unexpected and discreetly revealed in the end of the film, by a short significant shot of a photograph, exposing the harsh and dramatic reality of the story.

This unexpected film about the troubled teenager, Josh Miller, faces difficult dilemmas and situations throughout this five minute short film. The twist that his father is killed due to knife crime and Josh’s behavior mirroring the crime that took his fathers life, dramatizes the events within the short. As the Director follows the grieving process that the distressed teenager goes through, the audience is made aware of the rebellious behavior. Also significant to note that the character was once an influential figure, with awards and trophies which are established in the opening sequence of the short. Ben Howard as Josh Miller, although relatively new to our screens didn’t let the complex story overshadow his outstanding portrayal of a troubled, rebellious teenager and an emotional fatherless son.

The theme of knife crime is evident, but it is never really noted what the teen does with the knife to win the gangs respect, which creates a tense, secretive occurrence as the audience will never know. The dangers of knife crime are made evident and could be seen to educate the audience in some matters of speech.  But the sense of resolution is portrayed at the end which develops the characters background and growth, It could also be suggested that resolution is found through the influence and connection between the female character Amy played by Fiona Aldwin who is portrayed to develop more than a friendship with the protagonist Josh, which the director has shown through a short montage. 

It is impressive how the director has managed to fit such a diverse and busy story line into such a short amount of time, using effective film techniques, such as montages to portray the story and develop the characters friendships. The story takes you on an emotional roller coaster, with the dramatic climax revealed to the audience at the end of the short film.  It would be argued that the film is filled with Intensity and drama but just lacks individuality. Others would say that the short film is over rated as most would be able to take an evaluated guess of what happens in the end, But the twist is revealed in the end through a significant photograph, which is effective, original and unexpected, which makes the short film Dead End successful. 

Post 34: Magazine Ideas/ Development

Below shows how my magazine design developed and progressed as I gained and came up with new ideas, I have tried to document my progress and the build up to my final piece, through images and screen shots. 

Above is the development of my first initial magazine spread design, but I found this layout to bland and not effective which is why I then developed my Magazine spread further and used different images from the short film to produce an different layout.

Here is some screen shots of the new Magazine Spread Idea developing. I feel this layout and design is more effective and more eye catching, drawing the reader in to the article. To make the piece more effective I could have picked out key quotes from the article and highlighted them so the reader had something else other than the photo drawing them in.  

Post 33: Branding

After researching on Google into branding I came across the meaning of Brands. The definition I found was that "A brand is the name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers".
The Branding of products is an important element to making a product successful as it gives the audience/buyer something to recognize, such as a logo for example. The term branding is usually associated with a product that is well recognized and consistent so that people are able to know if the product is trustworthy or not. For example food and drink brands such as Coco Cola and Cadburys, are well know to the consumer which draws their buyers in and forms a trust between the consumer, where as in film institutions such as Warner Bros, Disney and Universal, which are big conglomerate organisations are all integrated with well recognized logos and well created brands for themselves, which targets particular audiences. A brand normally has a logo or trade mark of which it is recognized by, which viewers or consumers are able to easily identify.

Products are branded so that consumers are able to identify individual products. Bright colours, unique designs and interesting shapes are all essential elements needed to successful brand a product, as companies what something that people are not going to forget easily. Each companies brands have separate names which may compete against other brands form the same company, for example Persil, Surf and Lynx are all owned by Unilever.  

In relation to my film genre 'Drama' the branding for products and films is quite versatile and has no real limitations. The only Idea to follow is that what ever I chose to use, will need to be consistent, being used for all my final products so that the brand is recognized. On this note I am going to use the same style title font in all of my products as my groups own individual type of branding so that audiences are able to relate and recognize that all of my three products are integrated not only through the short film, but also through a title font. 

Post 32: Conventions of Film Magazines

Post 31: Empire Magazine Research

Post 30: Film Magazine Research

Demographics and Psychographics

DEMOGRAPHICS

Demographic information is used in media marketing to classify an audience into age, gender, race and other categories. Demographics are broken into six groups and bands depending on peoples jobs or status. The groups are broken down into the following. 

A - Upper Middle Class e.g Higher Management, Lawyers and Doctors 

B - Middle Class e.g Middle Management and Teachers 

C1 - Lower Middle Class e.g Office Supervisors and White collar jobs 

C2 - Lower Middle Class e.g Skilled Manual Workers, Builders and Plumbers - blue collar jobs

D - Manual/Semi Skilled Workers 

E - Unemployed e.g Students and Pensioners 

There are many advantages and disadvantages of Demographics, for instance they are important as enable media to indicate peoples life styles, suggesting peoples stereotypical choices regarding products and media. Making it simpler for the media to target specific audiences based on jobs and status, allowing media to appeal to certain groups of people in specific locations. Main Advantages are that the categorisation is easy creating simple and distinct groups and that information is accessible easily. Main disadvantages are that some classes overlap and not all new current jobs fit into specific groups. 

PSYCHOGRAPHICS 

Psychographics divides the media into groups based on social class and personality characteristics. It is highly based on the assumption that products and brands are individual purchases, reflecting what and who a person is and their characteristics and patterns of living. 

Psychographics are split into 7 criteria's, consisting of...

Mainstreams - seeks security, domestic and conventional, favor value. 

Aspirers - Materialistic, care about image, typically younger people.

Succeeders - seek control, typically professionals or high management. 

Resigned - Interested in past and tradition, typically older people. 

Explorers - seek discovery and value adventure, typically low demographics.

Strugglers - seen as disorganized and Alienated.

Reformers - have independent decisions and judgments, freedom of restrictions.

It is made evident that Psychographics influences the media media more than the Demographics as relates more to the individuals, peoples personalities and choices rather than peoples status or location Which is more effective information when trying to target specific audience in media. Main Advantages are that can create individual groups and that there is more variety. Main Disadvantages are that people have various personality's which will overlap with the main categories. 

Summary

After researching Psychographics and Demographics I would argue that my short film in the media world would be targeted at group E from Demographics, as addresses students. Similarly  my specific audience would be classed as Aspirers and or Strugglers from the Psychographics criteria, Aspires are typically seen as younger people. Both groups are very similar and target the same audience.