What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Paddy and I feel we had executed our ancillary and short film tasks as well as we had wanted, looking back at the end result. However we didn't receive enough feedback as we would like, constricting the variety of views on the texts and, perhaps, the amount that viewers thought should be improved upon. As I look back at this section of research, i feel that i should've been more persistent in gaining more feedback and hence aid the quality of my evaluation.


During the process of making our ancillary pieces, the development would be tracked by our onlooking tutors. Questions would be asked, such as "what components of your posters will magnify the story's style and meaning?". Receiving an outside viewpoint, especially during the editing process, really allowed us to judge our own pieces more efficiently and progressively sculpt the design to deliver the biggest effect, for example, rotating the film's title 90 degress to emphasise how 'atypical' the film is. With respect to our film review, it was recommended by a tutor to study other well-made film reviews such as can be found in 'Empire' and 'Total Film' etc. This influenced certain parts of the content we included, such as big punchy words and a star rating system.

It was far more difficult to receive regular feedback while editing the short film itself, as this process was carried out at home. My parents would have a look and make criticisms whenever they were available, but they didn't tend to pose very big questions, like a tutor would if i were at school. This left me relying more so on the feedback i would receive on our rough cut after a class viewing. This feedback was generally good, including comments such as "really like the story, didn't expect the twist at the end" and "good plot. Well edited.". But certain criticisms, such as "change in aspect ratio noticeable" and "certain shots at the beginning lasted too long" alerted me to clear areas of improvement. So i amended these faults and ultimately used these criticisms constructively to create the final cut.

The audio present in the film was a factor that both my fellow peers and tutors commended and criticised. A highlight of audio usage was, according to audience feedback, the council scene - sound layering was used to make certain key moments feel more natural e.g. The ruckus that occurs wasn't shot with every actor present at one time, but instead moulded from a collection of clips of individual actors. But certain views implied room for improvement e.g. Sound levels within the piece weren't quite as natural as they could've been. I realised that i had purposefully edited audio levels to make actors with quieter voices sound more profound. If i were to execute this task again, i would take more care within the production stage of the film, thinking more of how it will affect post-production.


Another criticism which not only became apparent about my piece, but among many others in the class was that of the picture quality. Due to not testing which output format the camera would produce for the film clips, i found myself trying to contend with a very pesky MTS. format. This simply wouldn't work in conjunction with any of my editing software, and so a file conversion application was used in attempt to salvage the situation. In using a .mov file format (appropriate out of limited selection), i found that the picture came out very pixelated and grainy. If i were to repeat the task, i would either find a way to change the output format on the camera or access a more user-friendly conversion application.


Overall, audience feedback has paid a huge influence on my creative decisions. I am very thankful for all the criticisms i had received as it could only be used constructively, and ultimately contribute towards the improvement of my work.



 

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

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

This blog publishing web service is where it all began. Blogger became the biggest tool in keeping track of progress throughout the pre-production, main production and post production period. It not only allowed me to structure my research and evaluation but, through providing picture and video applications, made my profile as informative as possible through a variety of visual mediums. The online service, alike youtube, allows people to see your profile from practically anywhere in the world, which allows perfect opportunity for a variety of viewpoints. You could be browsing the web in Australia and be watching 'Atypical Superhero Story' within a few clicks of the mouse. Comments are allowed on blogger, so criticisms of my work may be seen and taken constructively to further improve my work. Overall, blogger has been a huge help!

I'm going address both wikipedia and youtube at once, as i rarely utilised one of these web services without using the other at any one time. Youtube and Wikipedia became the most benefitial of tools used in planning and construction. Whether it was to research camera techniques, editing techniques or even to take note from previously made short films ('The Crusader' being a favourite), both contributed to improving my construction. Youtube was used more predominantly during the editing process as step by step tutorials were widely available on useful tips and tricks within 'Final Cut' and 'After Effects', for example- a good couple of hours were spent during the eye animation creation at the end of mine and Paddy's piece, as i would constantly chop and change between the tutorials directions and my editing software.

 

The Canon HF M306 HD camcorder that was used to film my AS level piece, was pulled out of it's box once again to capture some creative imagination. For capturing film at the level I'm at, this piece of kit has proved to be more than adequate. The interchangeable automatic and manual settings on the camera allow you to freely adjust focus, white balance etc. or allow the camera to adjust these factors automatically. This allowed a lot more freedom to capture the shot you want, the way you want. However, one problem which arose was the output file format of the video clips- The MTS. format which became noticeable among all the other students in my class was very difficult to import into certain editing software. For the Files to actaully be accepted by Final Cut, I had to convert them to .MOV files, using the file conversion software 'Prism'. The quality of footage after conversion was hardly HD and rather grainy, but i did the best i could to make the video files usable.

The 'Photoshop' editing software was used in creating our ancillary tasks (Two posters and film review). Paddy and I relied entirely on this software during the creation of the posters, as it allowed us the most freedom. From importing the raw images of Ram (played John) and Josh (played Neville), we progressed in applying an appropriate background as we cropped around the face etc. and layered in the colour black. Then the 'black and white' effect was applied to the faces themselves. After which we focused on the key element-the eyes. Changing the hue the eyes was a highlight of the two designs. We then simply had to add the title (tilted to the side) and production company to finish. Although photoshop was needed in creating the background and 'pelican man' picture for our review, the majority of the spread was created within 'InDesign'. This software allowed far more potential when creating a combination of documentation and graphics. Margin tools, extensive text formats etc. became very handy when structuring the design. This user-friendly application put far less pressure on the production of the review and gave enough freedom to present the film's unique style the way we wanted to. Overall, We were very pleased with the outcome of our ancillary tasks

Both 'Final Cut Express' and 'After Effects CS5' were used in the editing process. To begin with, Final cut was utilised for it's user friendly tool pallet and clip maneuverability. This is where the main bulk of editing was done, as the piece was sculpted to become a 7 minute, 4 second film. Once this process was completed, I progressed onto using After Effects. As implied by the name, this software became very handy in adding special touches and additional effects. I took advantage of colour correction, filtering indoor shots with a warmer feel and colour-burning a shade of blue onto outdoor shots for a colder feel. The vignette effect was also applied to draw more attention to the focal point within each clip, making certain on-screen factors more significant e.g. Neville, the action figure. The most tasking job within the After Effects process had to be animating. Both the opening film title sequence and green eye animation were made from scratch, using multiple solid layers, null layers, a few tweaks here and there, plus a whole lot of patience. This advantage taking of new software allowed a great deal of improvement from my foundation portfolio, giving my advanced portfolio an animation induced edge over previous work.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Finished Short Film- Atypical Superhero Story

Audience feedback for ancillary response - year 13 class

Our feedback was generally very positive. The blog post of the two images next to each other has been interpreted wrongly in some cases- saying that the images don't quite match up...they are two seperate posters so, wouldn't be seen next to each other when shown in the ad-campaign.

A small negative cristicism which we will take into account, is the comment on the absence of a comapny tag. We will take this as constructive criticism and add a company name to our poster designs.

Many liked the Black & White effect, contrasting with the brightly coloured eyes-this was meant to catch attention so has proved to be effective.

FINISHED TWO-PART POSTER

FINISHED FILM REVIEW

Review page (rough)

what style of magazine review will we use?

 Both Paddy and I have been very interested in the concept of making a picture, or pictures, a significant part of the layout of our review page. As you can see to the right, the review of the film 'Watchmen' has been dominated by a picture of two main characters within the film. This idea puts greater emphasis on the visual aspect of this film; it's appropriate, being a comic book inspired film. The most popular attraction of the superhero concept, is the visual aspect. It requires less reading, and more watching.

So, now that we have come to the decision that our pictures will chew up a rather large proportion of the page, we just need to take more photos on set and off, and go from there.







The very influential 'star rating' has caught our attention. For the readers who would rather have the review's rating of a given film showed to them in a very simplistic way, it allows for less reading. Plus it adds a little more variety to the layout of the review.





Although, our story isn't entirely mainstream superhero based, we still want the page to have some POW! And so we believe that the best colours to utilise, are your basic blues, reds, greens and yellows. Now these can be incorporated into the review's title, subtitle, picture caption, prose etc. We just want certain aspects of the page to be prominent and so you can expect to see one or two of these colours floating around.

more Photoshop practise...

Our task for today's lesson was to bring in a screen shot from a film, as well as pictures of other elements, to incorporate and edit into one design. So, being a fan of the film 'Snatch', i thought i'd collect a picture of Mickey (the gypsie), a burning caravan, and an original 'Snatch' poster (used for the title). And my make-shift, custom poster ended up as shown below...

Despite being a 'behind the scenes' shot of Brad Pitt (Mickey), i thought it would suit the concept quite well. Little bit of comedy never did any harm.

photoshop training task

 We were given two basic images to play around with- one of the world and the other of media mogul, Rupert Murdoch.

The aim was to merge the two images together, so that it appeared that Mr Murdock was grasping the world. We were taught the process of how to complete this task, involving different layers, masks and painting techniques.


As you can see below, the two images have been merged. It's a very rough piece of editing, but the most important thing was acquiring new editing skills!

thinking about those little details...

i recently picked up a couple of superhero posters online, namely 'Silver Surfer' and 'Batman' posters:

These will be making a very short, but sweet appearance at the beginning of the piece.

Definitely had to go all out with the superhero thing.

The mysterious item of clothing beneath John's overalls...

Paddy and i wanted a garment, showing a particular logo that represents John's secret superhero identity. Now, we didn't want to rip off or try to replicate any existing superhero logos, so we brainstormed various logos that would fit the role of John. Now, considering the contradiction the audience will see at the end of the film, we prefered a more comical logo. We knew we wanted an animal of somekind, progressing more specifically onto birds e.g. blue tit, raven, chicken, Pelican...

We finally came to the decision of using a Pelican.

As you can see, we used the very basic colour of white to place the design on. The design itself is very simplistic, which we believe makes it more effective. It's quite a funny and odd design, but then again so is the story's plot. And so, with the help of Paddy's artistic capabilities, the garment came to fruition.

I give you, PELICAN MAN!

little bit of stop-motion

Last wekend, Paddy and I indulged in a little bit of stop-motion. We originally planned to shoot the sequences within Paddy's bedroom, but the lighting and room setup didn't look so good on camera. so we looked at two other possible rooms- Paddy's brother's and his sister's.

Turns out that his sisters room was ideal- the room was smaller (makes John look bigger) and the desk set up, with lighting, all allowed for easier animation.

The model isn't built to move itself from one point to another naturally, so the desk had no need to be large.

We wanted the model to appear as simplistic as possible, yet hold hold the symbolism of a true superhero; so we fitted our little wooden man out with a makeshift cape. If you're wondering what the material comes from...........my dads socks. Cheers dad!

Taking steps in gathering potential actors

We have the actors to play John, Neville, and one of the council members, but we need three more actors between the ages of 30 and 60 to play the other council members. We need two men and one women. We wanted to find actors who were enthusiastic about acting, could do a job, and are of the right age and look for our characters. We have contacted an amateur acting group in Wymondham called Wymondham Players who perform productions in Wymondham. http://www.wymondhamplayers.org.uk/



Firstly, we called the group then exchanged email addresses to discuss the details in further detail.

Hi Alan, Patrick and Jack here. We spoke on the phone earlier about the possibility of using 3 of your actors for our A2 short film piece. Ideally we would like two men and one woman to play the parts. We're shooting Sunday 11th November at Tacolneston village hall. Flexibility could be a possibility, but that date is best for us and our other actors. Let us know whether you can help us.

Kind regards, Patrick and Jack

Alan's response to our email was encouraging as he seems keen to know as much about the production as possible. We exchanged a few more emails, and have talked a few times on the phone to better explain exactly what we want from each actor.

Hello Patrick and Jack

I assume you mean December!

As it’s a Sunday, I think we need to know the time commitment for the day – are we looking at an hour, two, four…?

And what time of the day please?

Are there scripts available in advance, and what about dress requirements?

Any more information you can let us have would be helpful.

Thanks

Alan Carpenter

Wymondham Players

a teaser, and a pleaser.....our teaser poster!

We've used a very eye-catching, yet mysterious image of the character 'John'. As you can see, I've cut half of his face out from the photo- it's a subtle incentive for the audience to see more (watch our film).

The red eye is the most striking factor in this poster (thanks to photoshop), as i've contrasted it from the grayscaled surrounding facial features and jet black background. This is an implication of an oddity in the story's setting (film's title printed sideways up the poster specifies the oddity). Plus we thought that tinting the eye red would be far more effective than any other colour- It screams pain, passion and power!

The film's title positioning isn't placed horizontally as you would generally see on most film posters. The vertical positioning requires you to tilt your head (not a very conventional design) but, in saying that, this isn't going to be a very conventional film! Out of a selection of font types, we liked the style seen above in the poster the most. It's obviously not a standard 'Times New Roman' font, but it's not a very arty font either e.g. 'Edwardian Script IT'.  Instead it's a very bold and funky 'Arnprior' style. Very superhero if you ask me.

As a whole, we think it's a very effective teaser poster, considering its simplicity!

PES

PES is a stopmotion animation producer, who's YouTube channel is fairly popular, considering it's mere selection of 28 uploads. Probably down to the fact that he makes commercials for a living...

he has produced multiple highly renowned and respected short films, and i too respect these significant shorts. But, at the end of the day, i won't be able to produce clips at the same level. But PES has also uploaded these simplistic, short clips that i believe i can respond to...

Now these clips are obviously a lot shorter than your average stop-motion short, which is great for us! Paddy and I aim to produce a short with a couple, if not a few stop-motion clips, meaning that nothing too intricate is to be produced, but it needs to be effective.

These clips involve very basic objects, but have been used in a wonderfully quirky way, as you can see. We aim to produce stop-motion integrals involving a wooden model (little more human than the above), which may involve more fiddling with, but we hope to create a similar effect with what we have!

Hello John!

We wanted the character of John to be the bait in this story, in that the audience buys into the implications of him being 'super' (very deceiving).  Ram Dunne fits the profile of your classic superhero e.g. muscular build, good looks.

This is why we have chosen him to play John!

THE FILM'S NAME

we thought carefully aboutwhich of the four names would suit the film's story the greates, and we'vedecided to go with 'Atypical Superhero Story'. The story is all in the name, and the play on words should arouse interest!