Evaluation Question Four

Media Evaluation - Question Four

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Evaluation Question Three

Media Evaluation - Question Three

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Evaluation Question Two

Media Evaluation - Question Two

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Evaluation Question One

Media Evaluation - Question One

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Ancillary Task - Film Review

Ancillary Task - Poster

Short Film

This is the final edit of my short film "help". There are two reasons I have decided to call my short film "help". The first, most obvious, reason is that the character of Anthea is being assisted throughout the film by the Guide. The character of the Guide was created to act as a form of tour guide showing characters different rooms which have some meaning to their lives, in the case of Anthea in my film, showing her biggest fears which ultimately shaped the way she lived her life. The second reason for this title is a play on the word help and the situation Anthea has found herself which is, basically, Hell. As the Guide says at the beginning of the film, it's Anthea's own personal Hell which she will be guiding her through which is then the reason for this title.

Characters

My film features only two characters which follows the convention of short films having very few characters. The first of my characters is Anthea. At the beginning of the film, Anthea finds herself in an unfamiliar location, the afterlife. The character of Anthea has recently died but the audience are never told the circumstances surrounding her death. The reason the audience never find out how Anthea died is because her character is meant to represent the everyday person which would then suggest that anyone could find themselves in this situation after they have died and that it has also happened in the past. This is also the reason Anthea has a very simple costume. The costune consists of a shirt and jeans as this is a very average and normal this to wear which the audience could relate to, drawing them into the film. In the film itself the audience can learn a bit about her character and life through the rooms she is taken to. All of the rooms show one of Anthea's biggest fears, the first being achieving nothing in her life. The rooms that follow contain two other fears, fear of public speaking and her paranoia, which are therefore suggested to be reasons for her lack of achievement in life.

The second character, who is very different from Anthea, is the Guide. As Anthea is there to represent the normal, the Guide's role is representing the abnormal. The Guide is a mysterious character as the audience never really learn anything about her but it is clear she has a lot of power and control over what happens in purgatory. The Guide represents the abnormaility Anthea finds in the afterlife as she is the one who has control over, and takes Anthea to, all the different rooms featured in the film. As she is the first and only person Anthea meets in purgatory, it highlights the Guide's importance as a character. The Guide also has an almost child like joy while watching Anthea literally face her fears which makes her character somewhat menacing as the audience are never really sure who she is or why she is acting in this way. The Guide's costume is all black as this highlights the dark nature of her character and black is the main colour people of a high status in business would wear so it also represents the Guide's position of power.

Script and Props

Script:

Darkness. A door opens, light floods in. The Guide walks down the steps towards the camera. Cut to dark room. A light turns on. Anthea suddenly sits up from where she has been lying on the floor.

The Guide: You must be Anthea. Come with me.

Anthea: (looking around confused) Why? (gets up) Who are you?

The Guide: I’m your guide.

Anthea: Guide for what?

The Guide: Your own personal Hell. Follow me.

The Guide walks out of the room. Anthea follows, still confused. Cut to the Guide and Anthea walking down steps.

The Guide: Hurry up!

Anthea: Where are we going?

The Guide: You’ll see.

Anthea: But why? Where are we going? I don’t understand.

The Guide leads the way into a room. Anthea spots an open book on a table

Anthea: What’s this?

They walk over to the table.

The Guide: This…this is the book for all your life’s achievements.

Anthea flicks through the pages.

Anthea: But…it’s blank.

The Guide: That’s because you never achieved anything. Come along then.

The Guide walks back out of the room. Anthea follows after turning back to look at the book. They walk back up the stairs.

The Guide: Hurry up.

They walk up another flight of stairs. They walk into a room – the same as before.

The Guide: This room…this room is for all those times you avoided everything. All those times you made everyone else do it for you. Wait there.

The Guide walks over to the other side of the room, picks up a clipboard and goes back to Anthea.

The Guide: This. (hands clipboard to Anthea) I want you to read this now.

Anthea walks to the back of the room. She attempts to read from the clipboard but fails.

The Guide: (laughs) I knew you couldn’t do it. (walks over to Anthea) Give it to me. (takes clipboard back) Come along.

They leave the room and go back down the stairs.

Anthea: Where are we going this time?

The Guide: You’ll see.

Back in the room. Anthea enters, looks into the room and backs up against the wall in shock. Cut to a figure (wearing a long coat, hat and face in shadow) leaning over the body of Anthea. The character turns their head to face Anthea. Cut back to Anthea who is still pressed against the wall, the Guide standing next to her, smiling.

The Guide: So, what do you think?

Anthea runs from the room. The Guide, still smiling, follows. Cut to outside, the Guide leads Anthea who is looking around her. They walk into and back into the room again. This time, it’s empty.

Anthea: So, what now?

The Guide: This is the end of the tour!

The Guide leaves the room, grinning. Anthea stands alone in the middle of the room.

Anthea: What does that mean?

The light goes out.

Props:

One of the props featured in my short film is a blank notebook. This notebook is included in my short film as one of the things the Guide takes Anthea to see in the room. The notebook is there to represent Anthea’s fear of never achieving anything in her life, as stated in the Guide’s line “that’s because you never achieved anything”. The point of it being blank is that it is meant to show how, actually, because of this great fear, she has achieved nothing. It is therefore suggested that, because of this fear, she has missed great opportunities that would have given her a greater sense of achievement. 

Another prop that is featured in my film is the folder that the Guide carries with her throughout. This folder is featured in order to represent the power that the Guide has over Anthea, as she is the one leading her, and it also suggests the fact that prior to this meeting with Anthea, the Guide has "helped" many other people through purgatory. The folder that is used is blue which then stands out against the Guide’s dark clothing which would then highlight the importance of this prop.

Ancillary Task: Poster Ideas

This design is based on the very first shot of my short film. The image shows the character of the Guide in silhouette standing in the doorway as light then floods into the room although nothing else is shown. The background of this poster is black. I have decided to use black for the background as, due to the fact that it fills most of the poster, it creates a sense of fear of the unknown. The information for the film is placed at the bottom of the poster and would be in a small font so that it does not distract from the rest of the poster.

 

The second poster that I have designed is with the image of a notebook on a table. This notebook is featured in the film and is the first room that the Guide takes Anthea to. In the film the notebook is shown to be empty and a representation of Anthea's achievements. The background is simply the room in which the book is found in which is otherwise empty. This is so the audience's attention doesn't detract from the main image of the book on the table. The title is positioned at the top of this poster which is where the eyes would be drawn to first so the audience immediately know the title of the film. 

For this poster, I have used an image of a key as it features in my short film acting as a boundary between the normality and abnormality of the film. This poster design has a plain white background so the key is the audience's main focus. The title of the film is place at the top of the poster in the centre and the film information at the bottom so the audience read the title before anything else.

For this design I decided to use an image of Anthea and behind her are silhouettes which fade more into the background the further back they are. These silhouettes are meant to represent all the people who would have come before Anthea and therefore showing her fate. As with the other posters I have place the films title at the top and the film information at the bottom.

This poster features both characters in the film, Anthea and the Guide. It is a common factor of film posters to contain the images of the main characters as this would intrigue the audience as they would then be interested in the significance of them. For this design I have decided to put the film information above the title so that it won't cover the image. As the text would be quite small for this it won't detract from the image or title.

Ancillary Task: Film Review Layout

After looking through several film magazine I began to notice certain common features within the reviews. Above I have mentioned some of the most important aspects of the layout of a film review so that I know exactly what my own film review will need to include. This scan does not contain some features which other magazine do, I have seen some that also include a synopsis of the film, so this magazine alone does not give me enough details to base my own on. Now that I have researched existing film reviews I know exactly how I plan to set my own out so that it will look professional.

Storyboard

Genre Research

One of the genres that my film could fall under is horror. Horror films tend to take place in an isolated, and often dark, location with few people involved in the narrative, the characters being the protagonist (usually a victim) and an antagonist (some form of evil). This then creates an effect of tension and fear as the characters are completely seperated from the rest of the world which the audience are most comfortable with. The camera shots used within the films also add to the horror effect as quite often they will be handheld which immediately puts the audience on edge as the shot will be quite shakey and they will not completely understand what is happening in the scene.

This is then closely related to another genre my film could be associated with and that is supernatural/paranormal. From my knowledge of this genre it usually contains a distorted or twisted view on reality in some form. The genre tends to feature supernatural beings or other situations that the main character/s find themselves in that breaks away from our knowledge of the world and makes the audience think about the possibilty of these actually existing or happening. A genre like this is there to directly involve the audience as they are drawn in by such abnormal situations and are then completely engrossed in the storyline.  

Locations

Before I begin filming I need to establish exactly where I am planning to set the film. I have considered the types of places I would want my film to be set and also the locations that are available to me to decide where I will film. One of the main locations of my film is the corrridor Anthea meets the Guide in. One location I am considering is one of the corridors in school. This location seems to be the most obvious choice as it is accessible and has as many doors in it that I would need.

Another location I will need is the rooms which the characters enter throughout the film. This room needs to be empty apart from the props that I will be placing into the room. The room I am most likely going to use is one of the rooms in my cellar. This room will be appropriate for my film due to the fact it is already empty and therefore would not require me to remove items from the room, and it is also quite dark, which is something I would want the room to be.

Audience

The audience is a key factor to consider while planning my film. I need to know exactly who I am aiming this film at and what to include that will appeal to them. The audience I will be aiming my film at is teenagers and young adults. I set up a survey online and asked people within this age range (late teens-early twenties) to complete it so that I could see exactly what they would like to see in a short film and also some of their other interests which I could possibly incorporate. 

The first question in my survey was "how old are you?" This then told me whether or not those completing my survey were in the correct age group and, thankfully, most of them were. As the majority of people who completed my survey were within this age range I knew that the results of the rest of the survey would be an accurate study of my intended audience. 

I then asked "what is your gender?" The reason I have asked this question is because it is an important factor to consider when planning a film people of different genders will most likely expect different things from a short film. 

The next question I asked was "what film genre most appeals to you?" This is obviously an important question as I need to make sure that my film appeals to my target audience. I can see from the results of this question that the majority of people who completed my survey are interested in the horror and supernatural elements of films. This then tells me that my idea for a short film will appeal to my target audience as it does contain supernatural features.

I also asked my audience questions about their other interests in both film and television to obtain a greater understanding of what it is that my audience seem drawn to in the media. I received a mixture of films and television shows, as expected, but there was still certain films/shows that appeared more than once in the results. Being Human and The League of Gentlemen appeared a couple of times and they also both link into the idea for my film, Being Human being a supernatural show and The League of Gentlemen being heavily influenced by horror films.

Idea Change

I have decided to change the idea for my short film. My new idea for a short film is based around the character of Anthea who has recently died. The film will be set in Anthea's purgatory where she meets the Guide who shows her various aspects of her life which have had a significant impact. Inside the rooms the Guide takes Anthea to are the fears that have had control over the way she had lived her life and shows how they have stopped her achieving all that she could and missing opportunities because of them. The overall message of my short film is to not let your fears control your life and to overcome them and not be afraid to take all opportunities as they come to you.

Ancillary Task: Poster Research

A Deadly Silence

This poster has been created in a way that successfully conveys the genre to the audience. The fact that the two characters on the poster are silhouettes creates mystery around them which would intrigue the audience making them want to watch the film to find out about them. The image as a whole helps to introduce the horror elements of the film as it quite dark and not showing the characters adds to the uncertainty. This aspect could be quite unsettling to the audience before even watching the film which would attract them to it. The tagline "a dark secret kept hidden for too long is in danger of becoming..." is a clue to the events which will unfold during the short film. It is placed near the top and in the centre of the poster so it grabs peoples attention and also adds to the dark nature of the film. The fact that the title is in red also signifies that it is a horror film and it is most commonly associated with danger, anger and blood, all of which feature in the film.

Chasing Cotards

Chasing Cotards is a short film about an artist's life after the death of his wife. The actors names feature at the top of the poster, as they would on feature film posters, which would interest fans of the cast to the film. The colouring and blank expression of the character in this poster conveys the idea of him believing himself to be dead (Cotard's syndrome) which is the plot of the film. The flower pattern on the poster is used to show the artistic nature of the character and is also the wallpaper in the character's house where a painting of his wife is hanging which is a prominent feature of the film. The tagline "sometimes believing you're dead is easier than knowing you're alive" is an obvious link to the characters feelings within the film as he is dealing with the fact his wife has recently died.