Developing Skills From AS

I feel that my skills which I have learnt from studying AS Media will greatly help me in my year of A2. Whilst developing my production at AS Level, I learnt numerous things, such as the importance of framing, mise-en-scene, sound, editing and cinematography, and how these factors can connote meaning to the audience. The film which I previously created was of the horror genre, and I researched into the stereotypes and expectations which surround this genre of film. I complied with these expectations to make the film look believable. However, on reflection, I feel that it would have been more effective if I had tried to break some of these expectations. This would have allowed the film to resonate with the audience, and would therefore would have been more effective, due to the fact that they would have been thinking about it after viewing it.

Also, when I looked back at the film - Branded - which I shot for AS, I noticed that there were many objects within the frame that had not significance to the narrative and had no other connotations. This made the film look messy and unprofessional, and took away the sense of realism which I wanted to create. To prevent this from happening at my A2 production, I will carefully analyse the shot which is in frame before I start shooting, to ensure that the footage is of the highest quality. This is essential this year, due to the fact that my film falls into the drama and social realist genre.

Whilst creating my AS film, my group, myself included, tended to focus more heavily on cinematography and mise-en-scene. Editing and sound were treated as an after-thought, which resulted in them not being as effective as it possibly could have been. To combat this issue whilst creating my A2 production, I will ensure that there is both a clear shot list and clear storyboard for my film, which outlines the sound and editing techniques that I will use.

The technology which was used while creating my AS production will also help me at A2. My group used Adobe Premiere on the Mac software to edit the film, and, although we edited it to a high standard, I feel that I will have more of an idea of what to do to create an effective looking film, due to trial and error. I will also use a tri-pod whilst shooting many of the shots for 'Flight'. This is because many of the shots from last year's film were shaky, which, although is effective in some cases (due to the portrayal of distortion), only deducted from the overall professional feel of the film.

Overall, I want 'Flight' to have a much more professional feel to it, to ensure that the appeal to film audiences is maximised. To do this I will plan the footage which is to be shot before filming, and also have a higher amount of consideration for sound and editing which will accompany the clips.

Audience Research

We interviewed two people to gain the views on some questions we had about our short film. This research will greatly help our production as we will take their views nto account, as they are our target audience.


We used the social networking site 'Tumblr' to gain some feedback. We asked people to respond to these questions. Our findings our below.

We found that this type of interviewing was not beneficial to our production. Therefore, we have decided to interview people of an older age group. We feel that they will have more of an in-depth analysis of our questions and will respond with a more academical view-point. 

Closed For Winter Poster Analysis

This poster uses a lot of white and blue for the lower half of the poster. This shows a sense of detachment, as rhese colours are often associated with dreams. The top half of the poster features a lot of greys and browns. This shows more of a sense of reality. The contrast of these two colours on the poster is effective, as it shows a difference in the lives of the two people which the film focuses about. The fact that the woman is the largest feature of  the poster lets the audience know that she is will be the main focus of the film, and that we will follow her, yet the man play a lower part. The man is walking away from the audience, which represents the narrative of the film, and adds to this sense of detachment. The title, 'Closed For Winter', is in black, and is one of the only black things on the whole poster. This immediately draws attention to it. The typography is quite thin, however, so if it wanted to draw more attention itself it could be thicker. However, the thin font allows the audience to focus more on the woman, who will be the central character of the film. The title is not in one continuous line, and they are instead spread out unevenly. This adds even more to the sense of detachment which seems to be a theme throughout the poster. The tagline is much smaller than the title of the film, and is in the top right corner. The tagline itself is a question, which invites the audience into the narrative of the film before they have even seen it. I feel that this is an effective technique, as it gives the audience something to think about.

Storyboard Feedback

We have recieved some comments and constructive criticisms in regards to our hand-drawn storyboard for 'Flight' from our peers and teachers. These comments can be seen below:

• To change Sophie's costume. We will change Sophie's costume from her ballet outfit and shoes to one which appears to be more casual. This will show the audience how she is an aspiring ballet dancer, who one day dreams of dressing in the costume to perform in front of people. Removing this costume allows the character to connect with the audience more effectively as she will now be wearing a costume which is what would be expected of her to wear; being a young female.
  
• Removing shots which do not progress the narrative. Shots like this include the close up of Sophie's mother pressing the radio, and the close up of Sophie herself pressing the light-switch. These shots have no relevance to the narrative and only have the potential to bore audiences. Suggestions were added to show the lights turning on with the sound of a light-switch clicking, as this is a more subtle method of portraying to the audience that the lights in the studio have been turned on through the use of other methods of media.
  
• Removing Sophie's mother, Evanna. Our peers questioned the relevance of Evanna's character within our short film. One of my mentors said that the removal of Evanna would allow the audience to connect more deeply with Sophie. Also, the narrative of Sophie's anguish will be more personal to her, which will arguably be more effective. Because of this, we no longer require the dialogue between the mother and daughter. We have now decided to have no dialogue within the film at all to allow the audience to focus on other meanings and themes.
  
• To remove the scene of Sophie walking to the dance studio. This comment was made due to the fact that Sophie walking to the studio appears to have little relevance to the narrative and progression of the plot. However, we have decided to keep this scene in our first draft and see how it appears when we have filmed it. If it is not affective we will fix this issue in our second or final draft.
  

'Flight' Photographic Storyboard

This is the photographic storyboard for 'Flight'. Doing this we  feel for the kind of production which we wanted to produce. Doing this exercise helped us envision the shots which would be included within our short film.  This was particularly helpful in the scenes in the scenes with the mirrors, as we got to see where the camera would be positioned to avoid it being in shot. We then showed this to several people to gain opinions and views.

Miranda Amess said: "It was really interesting, I like how you focused a lot on the character of Sophie, I felt like I really connected with her and what she was going through."

Edward Stow said: "I really enjoyed looking at this storyboard. The shots you used were really effective in portraying Sophie's emotions. I particularly liked the shots of her walking down the street."

Ben Cockram said: "This was great! The shots you used were effective as they portrayed a direct contrast between Sophie's two lifestyles. It was intruiging and I would certainly like to see how the rest of the narrative pans out."

Chris Johnson said: "I enjoyed watching this photographic storyboard, I think that you have great foundations for your short film. I think that you could have perhaps used some of the sounds you were using to involve the audience even more, but apart from that I thought it was brilliant."

Hand Drawn Storyboard

Above is the hand-drawn storyboard for our film, showing the numerous different shots which will be included within our production.

Cinematographer research - 'The Prince of Darkness'

As I am taking upon the role of the cinematographer in the production of 'Flight', I have decided to undertake some research into the area to ensure that I will produce the highest quality film possible, and to see other techniques which famous cinematographers have used in the past.

Gordon Willis was born May 28th, 1931 in America. He was appropriately nicknamed as 'The Prince of Darkness'. This is due to his frequent use of dark lighting, and multiple blacks and browns showing up in his films. He has famously worked for many directors in what is known as 'The Golden Age of Cinema'. The most famous film for which he was the cinematographer is The Godfather films. He used lighting to portray a gritty, realistic setting, which reflected the mood of the entire film. A critic has suggested that "more than any other director of photography, Willis defined the cinematic look of the 1970s: sophisticated compositions in which bolts of light and black put the decade’s moral ambiguities into stark relief". This shows his popularity amongst film critics, as his use of lighting and colour inspired many cinematographers. He subtley uses gritty colour within his films, and, although he uses a dark colour palette, he uses a wide range of these dark colours. Willis has famously used amber colours to paint a nostalgic shot, particularly when characters within the narrative are reflecting on past events, particularly in The Godfather II.Other popular films include: Manhattan (1979), Zelig (1983), and All the President's Men (1976).

Below you can see some of the shots which The Prince Of Darkness has chosen to use.

 

This Is England Poster Analysis

 

The poster for 'This Is England' shows that the film is socially realistic. It shows a wide range of people which belong in different stereotypes spread across the width of the poster. Showing these characters will intruige people who see it, as many will want to know why such a diverse group of people would be seen together. The title stands out, and holds relevance for the film itself, as the colours of the writing are the same as the Union Jack. This lets the audience know that the film will be typically British and will have many British themes which run throughout. The typography of 'This Is England' is bold and grabs the audience's attention, which is very important for a poster. The review quotation - "Stunning and unforgettable, a work of art" is written in a grafitti-like font. This also gives the audience an idea as to the type of people the film will be targeted at, and the characters which will be involved in the narrative. The poster also shows a very small part of the setting, which appears to be a run down street, and part of an urbzanized skyline. This implies that the setting for the film will be in a lower-end urbanized area, which may intruige the audience. This also may be a location with which the audience can relate to, as it was a film targeted towards the lower class. This is reinforced by the worn-down effect on the title of the film, which represents how repressed the lower/working class were feeling during the 1980's.  The tagline "Summer 1983, a time to stand out from the crowd" is much smaller than the main title, yet it still manages to draw attention to itself. The words themselves are ambigious, and may draw people into seeing the film. The poster successfully captures the culture of the time period, by effectively portraying the famous "skin-head" stereotype.