FINAL POSTER

FINAL MAGAZINE COVER

FINAL TRAILER

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning, and evaluation stages?

The development in my use of technologies between AS and A2 level have been significant, as I have incorporated the use of more softwares due to the construction of the poster and magazine cover.  As well as the developed use of software, I have also been allowed to develop my use of equipment, as I further incorporated a Gopro camera as well as a stereo mic, allowing me to have a range of different shots and sounds; the stereo mic proved especially effective for ambient sounds, which could not have been achieved using the directional mic, and the Gopro allowed me to achieve realistic chase sequences due to the harness it provided, allowing me to chase my actor - increasing the verisimilitude of the product, which is essential in terms of achieving an accurate depiction of a social realist film. Incorporating the use of the Gopro camera meant I had to further develop my skills in the Final Cut software as the images the Gopro captured needed to be altered in order to demonstrate continuity with the images captured by the regular camera. This was achieved by removing the natural fisheye effect which the Gopro provides, compressing the footage and matching the colour with images captured by the regular camera in an aesthetically pleasing lighting.

As well as developing my use of different technologies, my skills in softwares such as Final Cut pro and motion, which was used during my AS level, has significantly increased as I found my speed of editing was much more rapid as I developed my use of shortcuts for tools such as the blade, trim and zoom. 

The aesthetics of the trailer was further developed in the use of transitions such as fades to black, flashes of lights and fades to colour, as well as the incorporation of music and sound, as I made efforts to include sound bridges and layered ambient noises producing a far more aesthetically pleasing result than previously achieved. 

The use of key frames when fading the music in and out also proved very useful and effective, especially in terms of sound bridges. As well as building tension in the opening sequence where the music fades in out of nowhere. Key frames were also essential when incorporating dialogue, and the volume of the music had to decrease so that the dialogue would be audible. 

Including graphics from reviews also proved simple due to my previous use of the software, as well as did layering images on top of each other, which needed to be done when including awards and the title of my film. My development in the pace of my editing skills proved especially useful during the construction of evaluation question 3, which was created on Final Cut in a relatively short time space. My abilities in the use of the Motion software increased significantly as I found the use of filters on pictures produced far more professional results than attempting to create images myself using the materials provided. The use of partial generators further built on the aesthetics of my Ident.

Utilising the photoshop software for the construction of my poster and magazine cover proved especially difficult for me as I have not previously used this software before, however I recognised the importance in developing my skills in order to produce a professional result. This was achieved by using tutorials on youtube, which were used when attempting to produce effects such as the raindrop effect - which was achieved and significantly improved the aesthetics of the poster. Photoshop elements was also explored as this software was made available to me outside of school, however I found it difficult to apply my limited knowledge of Photoshop to Photoshop elements therefore it was only used as a template in which I built on during school time on the Photoshop software. Illustrator was also used in order to develop the fonts of my poster, however my limited time space did not allow me to develop my skills in the software to the extent of which it made a significant impact on either of my products.

The use of social media in the development of my production and the research and planning aspect has developed significantly as I learned to exploit websites such as youtube for the tutorials in which they offer. This was especially useful when working on new softwares such as photoshop, as I could now produce work which previously would not be possible for me. Soundcloud also allowed for me to look at different types of music which would work for my production - and the track itself was published on Soundcloud, which later allowed for me to download it onto a computer with the editing software, where it could be applied to my production. The convergence of all these different websites on Google allowed for me to access all social media on a single search engine, which proved to be very useful in terms of time efficiency. Facebook further allowed for me to publish my work and receive audience feedback. Overall the use of social medias in the research and planning of my production proved essential, as it allowed for me to access information regarding all my influences, from the trailers themselves to influences for magazines and posters. 

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3 Poster

Evaluation Question 3 Magazine

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

In order to fully understand whether I have successfully appealed to my target audience and whether the trailer demonstrates real clarity as to who it is directed at and if it is well understood, audience feedback is necessary, as this also allows me to gain a better understanding as to which aspects of the product is most appealing and who this is appealing to. By hosting an audience screening, consisting of a multitude of age groups, I can compare movies the audience have seen, such as Adulthood and Ill Manors, with the extent of which they enjoyed my product in order to witness if audiences can draw links between my product and my influences. The audience was all within my target audience range, therefore should have appealed to everyone viewing it. Questions asked on the questionnaire, given to the 17 participants of the screening are as follows:

How old are you

What is your gender

On average, how many films do you watch per week

Where do you watch the majority of your films

What is your preferred genre of film

How do you usually come across films you would like to watch

How many trailers do you watch per week

Have you seen any of the following films / trailers - circle them

Ill Manors / Kidulthood / Adulthood / Fish Tank

(ANSWER AFTER VIEWING)

What genre would you describe this trailer

What age do you think is targeted

Which part of the trailer did you enjoy most - why?

Which part of the trailer did you least enjoy - why?

How would you describe the plot of the trailer

Did any of the narrative need further clarifying

Would you watch the film after viewing the trailer

Results which have demonstrated my trailers success are as follows:

Comparing the numbers of the audience who have seen the films in which I have based my trailer around with the amount of people who would watch my film after watching my trailer suggests I have successfully reached my target audience, as audiences who have seen any of these films would be unlikely to willingly view a film in which unsuccessfully depicts the qualities of the social realism genre, as they are aware of the qualities of an accurately depicted social realist film based in South London. Therefore the fact that the audiences who have seen these films would be willing to see my film after showing my trailer means I have presented qualities which successfully reflect the social realism aspect which is also depicted in these influences. This further suggests my product is aesthetically pleasing as 95% of audiences said they would watch the full product, meaning the shots and sounds work well with the edits - thus forming a product pleasing to the eye.

The fact that no further clarification was necessary for 95.75% of my audience, all of which were above 15 therefore were part of the target age group, suggests that despite the language used and the relatively ambiguous narrative, the plot of the film is still being understood, as it was successfully summed up in 95% of responses. The variety of aspects which people considered their favourite parts of the trailer suggests the multitude of shots and sequences I used appealed to a wide range of audiences, thus explaining the positive feedback. Although previously believed that the degree of violence in my trailer may deter audiences from watching my film, the fight sequences proved to be the most preferred aspect of the trailer, meaning I am unlikely to cut it shorter as I have been suggested to do. 

The audience feedback, however, does criticise the choice of music, which suggests a different song should have been selected if more time was made available, however the negative feedback regarding the music choice could have been from those outside of the target audience, therefore will have never heard this genre of music before and will not appreciate it like many within my target audience would. However in terms of expanding to a broader audience, a more universally appreciated genre of music should be selected which still represents culture in South London such as a slower paced hip hop. Seeing as this was not available to me, and seeing how some people in the audience screening did enjoy the music, I do still believe the song choice further bolsters the social realistic aspect of the production as the producer is a 17 year old from Brixton, therefore this original piece of music is as accurate a depiction of South London culture as possible.

Feedback on the video itself on Youtube further suggests the products success I have yet to receive any negative feedback, and the comments suggests the trailer appeared to demonstrate professional qualities - which was my aim. 

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

1. GENRE

In order to successfully depict a social realist film regarding gang lifestyle, similar texts must be looked at in order to witness the conventions in which they all follow. Looking at the trailer for Plan B's Ill Manners, we can witness the use of dialogue voiced over images which gives the viewer an indication of the storyline, these storylines generally revolving around drugs and violence, however the drug aspect of the film is generally only hinted on, but not shown to the viewer in fear of deterring them from the real product. I incorporated violence in my text, but only hinted at the drug aspect as the audience is likely to pick up on this due to its resemblance to texts which do incorporate this. Looking at trailers for Adulthood and Kidulthood, the use of establishing shots are common in order to depict the leading protagonists surroundings, thus giving an indication as to how they ended up in such a lifestyle; for my text, I used shots of High Trees estate from the top deck of a bus and a slow pan of South London taken from the highest point I could reach.

These films generally lack funding, so I avoided the use of well furnished areas and generally stuck to using the road and estates in order to keep with the continuity of the film, as these characters are supposed to not be well off. High speed editing and the general sense of aggression is a common convention in these sorts of trailers, therefore I encouraged my actors to demonstrate signs of aggression in terms of facial expression and body language as frequently as possible. The use of transitions is also common in order to maintain a fast pace, therefore I explored with the lens flares and flashes of light to divide shots to quicken the pace. The sense of community is common in these social realist films, however I focussed more on the individual struggle against the gang mentality of snitching, as even his peers do not support his fight against the main protagonist of the film. The text is open to interpretation for the audience as they question the degree of importance of justice over loyalty or vice versa.

2.LOCATION

Social realism films are generally filmed on location as opposed to using a studio, thus encouraging me to explore South London using my camera to achieve shots of typical settings where teenage boys would be present. Graffiti is a good indication of urban settings, therefore I used areas where I knew there would be graffiti, similar to that in Shifty, where graffiti can frequently be witnessed in the film. David Bowie's death brought thousands to Brixton to tribute him, so I used this opportunity to film several shots of my leading protagonist in Brixton, successfully depicting a claustrophobic South London setting - busy streets filled with busy people living their lives. The police present at the Bowie tribute also allowed for filming opportunities which would not have been able to achieve otherwise. I made an effort to film a chase scene through an estate to demonstrate where these boys are likely to live and chill, as well as using establishing shots of bigger estates to intimidate the viewer and give an indication as to what is common is South London.

3.GRAPHICS / TITLE
The use of film awards featured in a low budget trailer such as my own would be vital for the distribution of the product. Not having much funding for distribution, the attention of those who appreciate good film would be drawn to this one as the awards given to the film are relatively obscure, yet are of high esteem. The idea to incorporate the awards in the image came from Fish Tank, another social realist film. The font used in the title of the film was inspired by graffiti, as this depicts an urban setting, therefore will associate the title of my film with such. The title itself - High Trees is the name of the estate where lots of the film will take place, however this is not revealed to the audience in the trailer as I felt that allowing the audience to question the relevance of the title further builds on the effect of the production. High Trees also sounds like a shortened version of High Treason, which is a large aspect of the production as much of the narrative focusses on loyalty and betrayal to a higher social power.

4.CHARACTER / COSTUME

The types of characters used in social realist films are generally intended to depict someone in which the audience can relate to in some way or another. In order to keep with the sense of verisimilitude, I presented our characters with very natural dilemmas, disguised in a more complex text, allowing our audience to envision themselves in a similar situation as they question what they would do. Due to the nature of my text, I only incorporated male actors. Although never given a costume, I encouraged my actors as to what colours to wear and generally how to dress. My leading protagonist was instructed to wear sharp colours to demonstrate him as the alpha in the group, whilst everyone else was encouraged to wear all black, as gang members generally adopt bland colours such as black or grey.

The characters themselves were inspired by similar media texts. For our leading protagonist, I looked at Denzel Washington's depiction of Frank Lucas, a drug kingpin. Although Oscar's character is not quite of equal status, I aimed to influence the audience to show a degree of support for his character as they do for Denzel's, despite him being the bad guy. I also looked at Brad Pitt's depiction of Tyler Durden, also a bad guy, yet the audience loves his character due to his ability to make his insanity sound sane. Much of the dialogue in the opening of the trailer was inspired by Tyler's almost philosophical way of speaking, in an attempt to win over the audience. Emile's character was mostly inspired by Fredo from The Godfather, in the sense that we pity the dilemma in which he has put himself in by ratting out his own, therefore making us unsure as to who to support in the clash, as we again question the value of justice versus loyalty. The character similarities is likely to be aesthetically pleasing to the audience due to Abercrombie's theory in which being aware of these resemblances is all part of the pleasure of viewing a text.

5.EDITING

When looking at similar texts, we can witness certain conventions in which they all follow in terms of editing. The objective of these trailers is to demonstrate a certain lifestyle and to make this lifestyle as exciting as possible. An important convention is the fades to black to build suspense, which was frequently used during the opening sequence of my trailer as I cross cut between scenes . Voicing over multiple images giving an indication of the storyline with dialogue is another convention which can be frequently witnessed in social realist trailers. In this aspect, the edits in my trailer are very similar to the editing in the trailer for Brotherhood, the 3rd film in the Kidulthood / Adulthood franchise, despite having finished my trailer prior to its release. This suggests that I have been largely successful in editing my product, as its resemblance to the Brotherhood trailer despite not having been able to use it as an influence means I have been able to depict my social realist film the same way in which Noel Clarke has depicted his.

6.SOUND
I found that the use of sound varies massively depending how the text aims to be portrayed. The trailer for Ill Manners focussed more on giving an indication of the narrative, whereas the trailer for Kidulthood aimed to depict a high speed film filled with action, almost in the form of a music video, giving a vague idea of the story line. Not wanting to follow either convention too closely, as Neale argues difference is essential to the economy of genre, I aimed to build on the use of music throughout the trailer using keyframes, so the focus shifts from the narrative to the images being presented. I did this by editing the images very closely to the music, so images would change accordingly to the beat of the song, making the trailer pleasing to the eye. My main influence for this was the trailer of Deadpool, which did this very effectively. The use of sound bridges was essential for my trailer as I believed this kept the trailer at a fast pace, constantly moving forward instead of repeating itself. Foley sound was also necessary in the fighting sequences, and really built on the realism of the trailer, as prior to adding the sounds in, the fight failed to appear realistic.

7.NARRATIVE / STRUCTURE

Research into social realism films led me to the conclusion that unlike big budget films, the ambiguity of the film plays a large role in the marketing, therefore I gave an indication of the storyline, however remained relatively vague as to how it would unfold. I still used a 3 part structure, the opening introducing the plot using a montage voiced over by our leading protagonist, drawing to a sharp ending, building tension as act 2 introduced more characters and gave a further indication, using images and dialogue. Acts were generally divided using graphics for reviews, or sound bridges which contrasted the image. Act 3 was a more intense montage of action sequences which I believe was necessary to demonstrate the proposed violence in the 'real' film, making the film a borderline action film, however Abercrombie suggests the boundaries between genres are becoming more permeable, therefore incorporating the action aspect in my text will only serve positive purposes and draw in more audience. 

Poster Production

The original image is strong already and could have been left un-cropped, however I feel the image would be stronger if my character was featured in the middle of the image, as this would appear more bleak and add more emphasis on his character.

In order to ensure the character was in the centre of the screen, the use of grid guides were essential. To further add emphasis to the character and to lessen the surroundings, I significantly lowered to opacity of the paint brush and faded black in the sides of the image, thus centralising the character more and darkening the tone of the poster to emphasise the fact that the film is dark and ominous and this is reflected in the poster

To further build on the dark ominous tone of the poster, I added a red hue to the whole image to reflect my main influence of posters - Old Boy. I felt adding a main colour to the image was also necessary as although the natural orange streetlight reflects the gritty tone of the movie, the red colour is far stronger and would attract more attention than that of the original colour.

To prevent the red hue from darkening the character beyond the extent of which he is visible, I cropped him out of the original photo and pasted him on top of the red layer. Obviously having been cut and pasted, I used the eraser tool on a low opacity to blend the pasted image into the image beneath, which proved to be relatively easy due to the characters dark clothing.

Adding a sharper red hue to the image further builds on the blurred effect which was achieved by slowing the shutter speed on the camera, as now more emphasis is placed on the blurred background images such as the streetlamp and bushes which builds on the overall image.

After a tutorial on youtube, I learned how to add in the effect of raindrops, which I felt was a necessary addition to the poster as it builds on the dark tone of the poster as the audience questions what sort of man would stand in the rain without the use of an umbrella??? 

the rain also allows the poster to further resemble my main poster influence - Old Boy

After exploring different fonts on www.Dafont.com - I made the decision to use the same font as I had used in my trailer as I felt it in terms of font, it accurately depicted the tone in which I was trying to bring to the audience as it similarly resembles that of graffiti like letters which audiences would associate with street culture. To add onto the effect of the letters, using the paintbrush tool I drew light grey lines on the letters to make them appear shiny.

I felt the fonts which were provided on Photoshop were not in suiting with the rest of my poster, thus encouraging me to explore further on Dafont.com, where I found Uncle Typewriter font, which I felt would look fitting on my poster. Cutting out the background of the letters proved more difficult than previously due to the extra bits of letters around the letters themselves.

The final product

The main influence.

Poster ideas

Using a single strong image has been my intention throughout the whole process of the production of my poster. After a photoshoot featuring my main character, I have been allowed to develop multiple ideas

Leaving the sense open for slightly longer than usual allowed for a slightly blurred version of the image, producing an interesting effect as this way more was incorporated. Although the central image is strong, blending multiple images together produced an unprofessional result due to my lack of experience on photoshop, thus bolstering my feeling for the need of one strong image. This idea also fails to reflect the work of my influences, and only features one character, therefore I feel this idea is not the one.

Magazine cover

After approximately an hour of attempted use of Photoshop, I have accepted the fact that I will not be able to manufacture a professional looking magazine using multiple images edited together. This has encouraged me to take one strong image for my magazine cover or two maximum. Editing these on photoshop will be easier if taking the picture in the area in which the background is the way I want it, therefore I will not have to crop the pictures which I feel downgrades the quality.

My inspirations are as such