Audience Feedback update

While in the process of editing my film, I asked members of my school to give their opinion on my short film - here is a list of the responses that I received:

- "introductions were really good"
- "excellent introductions for characters. maybe improve the transitions between scenes"
- "great use of camera technique and fast speed, especially at the start"
- "music fits well with the scenes"
- "great use of natural setting, fits perfectly with the tone of the film"

After receiving these responses it is clear to me that I have a clear introduction, and that I need to work on the transitions and focus on the middle and ending of my film too. Audience feedback is important in the production of any media text, especially film, because this is how producers connect with and find out what their potential consumers want from the media text, and a good method to discover whether or not they would be satisfied.

Marxist Film Theory

'Marxist film theory is one of the oldest forms of film theory. Sergei Eisenstien and many other soviet film makers in the 1920's expressed forms of Marxism through film. In fact the Hegelian dialectic was considered best displayed in film editing through the Kuleshov experiment and the development of montage.'
This theory focuses on the ideas of capitalism and society. Although my short film refrains from bringing politics to topic, it does however underpin the attitudes of society. A positive, open minded attitude in relation to culture is arguably one of the most important messages that my film could contain. It focuses on equity of a variety of cultures as well as ethnic and perhaps religious values too. Another interpretation of my film could be the idea that it disagrees with the theory in terms of individual control and power, in more detail the influence of one person or culture, whereas my film aims to emphasise the alikeness of importance of any ethical values of cultures.

Location // Filming

 Sikh Temple -

In order to create a great short film I need to consider location for filming. Therefore I have decided to shoot some scenes at the Sikh temple for emphasis on religion in relation to the Asian side of my short film. The same way for the British culture I will be filming Georgia in a Christian Church.

I will be uploading photos throughout my filming process with images of the location too.

Since Raveena is Sikh, I felt that it was completely necessary to use this as part of my filming location. The image on the left is a photo of the main Prayer Hall at a local 'Gurdwara'.
I visited this temple on the day of Diwali (an Indian celebration) and took a few photos for my blog. When I make my film, I will be focusing the religious scenes in this room, so I feel that it is important that the significance of this room is clear, and that the location I am filming in is understood too.

Mood Board - Collage of Inspirational images

Here is a collage of inspirational images that I took from my visit to the Middle East. I have included elements from various parts of my visit; including the journey on arrival, food, scenery, the Jimmy Choo store at the Dubai mall, (and the words 'Jimmy Choo' in Arabic), images from 'The one and Only Royal Mirage' as well as time at Madinat Dubai. When I create my short film I will be keeping in mind my favourite aspects of my visit in regards to the culture of the city, so that I can highlight key variations in the two cultures that I will be comparing.

Looking at cultures - The Middle East // Further Inspiration

Visiting Dubai, the United Arab Emirates:

Earlier this year my sister immigrated to Dubai (UAE). 

After visiting the UAE I was fascinated by its vast culture and bright scenery. When I started making my short film I considered including elements of my visit in my final film. I am still to come to a conclusion on whether or not I will actually do this, due to the fact that it needs to fit with my film and I am not sure how I will place my visit clips into my film. However, here are some of the clips from the things I got up to: 

Above is a video I took of the Dubai Marina. This is one of the central elements of the city. It is surrounded by yachts and apartments making it a fun place to be. Everything is new, nothing is old. 

This is a clip I took of Dubai from the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. As you can see Dubai was built on desert, however this is the only view that the desert is visible from as when you are on the ground, you cannot tell the difference!

This is inside the marina, the view from Elle's (my sisters) apartment. I took this to show the cleanliness and busy atmosphere of the city. The city is still under constant construction, and the traffic is very similar to that of India.

Here is a shot of Dubai from above. This is an image used to show the intensity of the bright lighted city which is visible through the aeroplane. 

This is a clip I took from the 'Yacht Club' Dubai's prosperity had never been more noticeable than this moment. In this moment I was completely mesmerized.  

Here is a photo of the view from the Burj Khalifa, allowing the world built by Emirates to be increasingly clear. 

Although Dubai is a new place and has little historic platform, after observing the Arabic culture, I was motivated to base my film on way of life. This is how I came to a decision to do a culture comparison as it is interesting and I learnt something new. 

I hope this post makes my filming inspiration clear, as this is a little insight into my influence.

Research into film posters

What are film posters? 

A film posters is used to advertise or promote a film. Studios often print many posters, in various forms and sizes with content tailored to suit a specific group of people (audience). More often than not they will contain one main image as the central focus of attention, which will be surrounded by text. Today, most of the posters will feature the famous actor or actress that will be starring in the movie being promoted.

When film posters first came around, they were not used as they are today. They were produced exclusively for the use of theatres that the film would be distributed in. Once the film had been shown, the posters had to be returned to the distributor. In the USA, film posters were often returned to a nationwide organisation called the NSS or the National Screen Service. This organisation is significant because they printed and distributed the majority of film posters for studios between the years of 1940 to 1984. Films at this time could however stay in motion for several years.

Some notable film poster artists include: 

- John Alvin: e.g. Blade Runner, The Lion King

- Richard Amsel: e.g Raiders Of The Lost Arc, The Sting 

- Saul Bass: e.g Vertigo, The Shining, Love in the Afternoon 

- Reynold Brown: e.g Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman, Creature From The Black Lagoon 

- Robert McGinnis: e.g. Casino Royal, Breakfast at Tiffany's 

When I make my own film poster, I will be considering the focal point, the background colour, the size and the text that will be on the page. After doing some research, I have come to a conclusion that I think it would be best to have the characters in my film on the cover. Therefore I will take lots of images using various camera angles, mise en scene and editing techniques to achieve a product that I am pleased with and will be successful in advertising my film. I have realised that on my poster I will need to make it clear what my film is about as using posters is a huge marketing technique in order to promote my short film.

STORYBOARD - Ideas for my short film

Here is a rough storyboard plan of  the scenes that I would like to include in my film. I have included the comparisons of the actions of my two key characters & details from each scene. This storyboard may change over time, as I may change my scene ideas if some of them don't work or if I come up with better scenes. So far there are six scenes which have been separated into grids to make each different scene clear.

I chose to include six scenes because this is how many steps are involved in the explanation of my short film.

Inspiration - Looking at other cultural texts

For my Cultural short film, I decided to do some research into current cultural themes and ideas. On YouTube I found a channel by a lady who refers to herself as 'Superwoman'. I found that her videos reflect similar attitudes towards the Asain culture that I would like my short film to reflect. She approaches every video from a light hearted perspective always ensuring that her videos are funny and not offensive. She successfully makes all of her videos comedic, especially the ones associated with the Indian culture in particular. Her name is Lilly Singh.

Here are the links to some of her videos, where I have got a small element of my own inspiration:


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More music ideas

Choosing music for my short film is really important because this will be a key convention in separating the two cultures that I will be portraying. For the footage filmed reflecting the life of Raveena, I have brainstormed some more potential song choices:

- 'Amplifier' By Imran Khan
- 'Akiyhan'  By PBN
- 'Beware of the boys' By Punjabi MC & Jay-Z

I will be experimenting with all three of these song choices in order to decide which one works best with particular scenes from my short film.

As I continue my filming process, I will be considering what music I shall be using for the scenes that I will be filming Georgia and her life. At the moment I am thinking on the lines of 'One Direction' or some type of young boy group. However, I am very indecisive and I my actual music may slightly be different from my theory.

Research - Analysing Film Posters

Here is an analysis of three movies: The Great Gatsby, The Twilight Saga New Moon and The Devil wears Prada

When I make my own film poster I will be comparing real and current film posters to that of my own. In order to make my posters look pragmatic and authentic I need to follow some of the stereotypical codes and conventions of posters today.

Here is what I have found so far

Film Poster Analysis from Avigill123

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Film magazine review

I like many things about the layout of this article. To start with, I like how there is only one image that is central to attention - this focuses audience attention on the text as well as the image without causing any confusion. Basic font has been used to keep the article plain and follow the concept of 'less is more' and the colour contrast helps both the image and text to compliment each other.The text has been separated into four columns following the typical magazine style conventions which is another positive aspect. The image that has been used is a close up of the couple Edward and Bella, portraying them as deeply in love, not even looking at the camera. I like the image used because its subtle and the camera acts as an observer, drawing the audience in, making us feel inclusive. A double page spread has been used here allowing enough room for the text. Finally, I am also pleased with the fact that all of the text has been placed neatly on one page, rather than scattered over the two pages. This allows the text and the image to be clear.
                                                                                                               

Here is another film magazine article. This article is different because of the layout. Although the text has been placed into columns, they have been put around the sides and underneath the key image in the centre of the article. This gives the impression that the image is central to audience attention and the information around the image is less important. Again, I like how the text contrasts with the plain background that has been used. However I think that a different image could have been used. I say this because the image has deliberately been placed in the centre of the page, but I fear that audiecnces may not be engaged and sustained with the article entirely due to the lack of emotional connection to the article. The fact that the little boy is not looking at the camera creates a sense of exclusiveness, because he is alone. I think that this image does not have the same positive impact on an audience as the article above. This may also be partially to do with the camera angle used. As an audience we seem to be gazing up at the child, perhaps placing us on a lower level on the hierarchy to the person being represented 

When I make my poster I will take camera angle and eye contact into consideration to ensure that I do not make my audience feel excluded in any way.

Other Cultural Short Films

As I was browsing around looking at other short films to do with culture, I found this..
This is a short film that was uploaded to YouTube by 'TFOEM' (The Freedom of Expression Movement), Its called Culture Aangan - Eco cultural tourism India -The freedom of expression movement. I found this interesting because of the positive associations it makes with India and the calming holiday experience that an individual would have, visiting this peaceful destination and helping others. It is described as 'a responsible holiday, a sustainable holiday'.
I found this relevant to my short film, because similarly to this, I will be exploring the Indian culture in a new way, different to the arguably negative ways that this diverse society is usually represented by the media...

http://youtu.be/rzEsOkFw_HY

Editing Schedule

Here is an Editing Schedule that I have created. Schedules are important for many reasons, especially in the making of films. Not only do they help with planning and organisation, but most importantly they make it much easier to meet deadlines. As my deadline is fast approaching, I thought it would be a good idea to create an editing schedule so that I meet my deadline and get my editing done to the best that it can possibly be... I have simply included what I want to achieve in relation to editing and the date that I want to have in finished by:

Editing schedule from Avigill123

Further Ideas

For my short film I was originally planning to do a cultural video giving an insight into lives of some Asians today. However, as I started planning and constructing I felt as though the film that I had planned to do was not exactly what I wanted. I want my short film to be light hearted and I want the stereotypes of Indians to be clear. However, with the idea that I had in mind, the key themes and topics that I wanted to highlight were not obvious and this became increasingly clear during my filming process. So, I decided to alter my idea for a short film slightly and do a comparison of two cultures instead. This way, I can approach stereotypes of Asian people in a light hearted way as I originally intended.
Doing a comparison of westernised culture and Asians allows the key differences to be clear to the audience and is much more effective to construct. I feel that my slightly new idea will be better for audiences as it will now be easier to relate to, regardless of what culture or ethic background an individual may be from.

Organising my actors

After taking a look at other short films in relation to culture, I decided that I would conform to the typical conventions of a short film in relation to the number of characters. Many short films such as the previously observed 'SLINKY' I found that due to the short duration of time available, the characters are kept to a minimum so that they can be established quickly, and to avoid making the plot of the film itself too complex.

 My characters: (talent)
- Georgia Dempster (18) as Georgia
- Raveena Kaur (17) as Raveena

Both characters will be established quickly in my short film, they are the only characters that will take part - the film will focus solely on these two individuals 

Choosing a name

Film titles are significant because they often represent what the film is going to be about. I think that choosing an appropriate name for my short film is vital as this will immediately indicate the message of the film as well as act as a form of recollection for any potential viewers. As my short film is going to be highly cultural, I wanted to chose a title for the film that will make this clear to an audience.

Here are some of my ideas so far:

- Guide to being Indian
- Things Indians do
- Stereotypes of Asians
- Cultural Differences

When I first started brainstorming ideas for a film title, I really liked the name 'Guide to being Indian'. Its simple, catchy and instantly tells the audience what the film is going to be about. However, I started to change my idea slightly and as I did this my title no longer worked. Originally I was going to film stereotypes of Indian people from an outsider's perspective. On the other hand, as I began planning out the construction for this, I realised that despite loving the film idea, it simply wasn't practical. Although, I have already got some wedding footage that I was going to include in my short film already (as posted on my blog previously) and I decided that I did not want to waste the filming that I had already done, especially with a fast approaching deadline. Therefore, I have come to a conclusion that I am going to do a comparison of the life of a 'typical' Indian and the life of a 'typical' Brit. This way I can film each stereotype//scenario effectively as well as use the filming that I have already got in one of my Asian scenario scenes.

Since my minor idea change, I decided that I would like to call my short film 'Cultural Differences'. This is short, straightforward and easy to remember, as well as effective in relation to explaining the overall brief content of the film without going into too much detail. I wanted to remain with a unrevealing title for my film so that it is intriguing rather than predictable.

Feminist Film Theory

'Feminist film theory is a theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analysed and their theoretical underpinnings' 

• How does gender impact my production?

In my short film I have used to main protagonist characters, both of which are teenage females between the ages of 16-18. Despite the fact that they are different in terms of race, age, ethnicity and religion, they both live in one society and are equal in terms of 'importance' or 'status'. As the main aim of my film is to portray equality amongst all cultures, it was essential that my entirely teenage, female target audience were able to relate and identify with my characters, hence they are both female.
After giving this some deeper thought and consideration, I have come to a conclusion that I would like my short film to be something that will appeal and be relate-able to both genders. although I am fully aware that due to the very fact that my chosen talent is female, this may be an issue as the typical audience reaction is likely to show none to little male concern as boys may not feel that they can relate.
Having said this, the reason that I used girls is because I go to a girls school, which as you can imagine is dominated, by girls. Therefore it is suited that my TA is female and my central focus and attention was to meet the needs of this group of people, without much thought given to any other opinions and audiences that may evolve.
However, in my opinion of course I hope that both girls and boys will be able to enjoy, understand and relate to the short film as culture is such a diverse topic.

Music soundtrack ideas for my 5 minute film

This song is by an Asian music group called 'Punjabi MC' with a remix with rapper Jay-Z. The song is called 'Beware of the boys' and I think it would be appropriate because it incorporates both the Indian music with the American English rap music. This is ideal for my 5 minute documentary as I will be doing a  direct comparison of the stereotypes of Indian culture and what it is actually like from one perspective. Therefore I think that this song will provide the best of both worlds and emphasise the overall division and juxtaposition between expectation and reality.


http://youtu.be/nddBIxPl78Q

Visiting Film Producer - Darren S Cook

Last lesson, we had a film producer called Darren Cook visit our A2 Media class to give us all an indepth insight into the life of the production of film and the media-film industry itself.

 Darren is the founder of Scruffy Bear Pictures and worked his way up to become his own film director. Darren emphasised that a film cannot be made single handedly and it requires a whole team of people to make it happen. The film directors do not do everything on their own, and they usually say what they want the film/setting to look like and it is up to the production crew to make these wants come to reality.

Next Darren showed us some of the short films that he had directed. All of the films that he has produced are on a video website called 'Vimeo', which is a great tool allowing short films to be promoted and shared. Some of the short films that Darren showed us included 'Little Angels', 'Three' and 'Wisdom'.

Darren clearly communicated that films do not need a high budget to be 'good' films. Some of the work that he was showing us was either made on a very low budget or surprisingly no budget at all.
Darren's visiting and informing was a great experience for me and has boosted my own confidence for my 5 minute short film. This is because, Darren showed us that you do not need expensive equipment to create a high quality short film. 'It is all about the lighting, lighting is everything'

Auter Theory

Short films

A short film is any film that is not long enough to be considered a feature film. Earlier in my coursework I outlined some key variations between both Short films and Feature length films, in which I highlighted differences in duration, amount of characters and types of audiences for each type of film.

Auteur Theory, theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture. A auteur film director is a director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author.

The characteristics of the Auter Theory: The three concentic cirlces

- Outer cirlce: Technique
- Middle cirlce: Personal Stlye
- Inner cirlce: Interior Meaning

The theory the body of a director's work rather than isolated masterpieces

'The greatness of a movie is not jut on its cuts, joints and connections, but in the extensive slowness of its camera movements' 

Filming

Here is some of my Wedding footage prior to editing.  

Over the summer I went to my cousins wedding in Nuneton. I wanted to make a documentary on this as this is something personal to me and I feel that it would appeal to a wider audience with interests in various cultures and traditions. Not only this, but being in this culture myself I had an advantage of having experienced the event first hand and having access to scenes of the wedding that cannot be viewed from outsider's perspective. 

This is at the start of the wedding day where the groom is leaving the house and walking to the wedding car, ready to head to the ceremony at the temple. I wish to feature this at the beggining of my docuentary as this was the first scene that I filmed at was the early stages of the wedding which will lead up to the final climax.

This video was filmed at the wedding reception, where the bride and groom are newly married and take photos with close family and friends. I feel that the ambience in this scene help the audience to receive a better sense of the level of fulfilment felt by those partaking in in the event. 

Technology // Camera and Filming Equipment

Getting the right filming equipment is important, because this is a key element in my film making process. I have decided to use both a digital camera called 'Power Shot' by Canon and the iPad 2 by Apple. Both of these digital equipment are good because they allow me to incorporate different editing techniques that I can combine together to achieve the best result. For example, with the Canon digital camera I could include effects such as slow motion or even increasing the speed of the footage in particular scenes. Although my short film may not include every effect in the finished result, I think its important to test out various special effects as if they are used correctly they can work really well.

Here are some images of my technical filming equipment:

Close up of Canon Camera

This is the Canon 'Power Shot' camera. I like this because of the many effects that the camera enables me to use as well as the high quality of the shots taken. The camera is light weight which is beneficial to me as its easily portable. I like the fact that the lens moves outward whenever I want to zoom, making it easier to grasp each shot. (I took this photo with my iPhone).

Close up of Canon Camera and iPad 2

                                         
 I wanted to use the iPad as part of my equipment because I feel that the quality of each shot is better than the Canon camera itself. However the iPad does not include any of the special effects that I feel are necessary for my film. The only issue I had with the iPad is the heavy mass, as this makes it difficult to carry around when filming.

Close up of iPad 2 and Camera from the front

Readings - Audience & Text

When producing my short film I had to consider the readings that my audience will consider too.


When producing my short film I had to consider the readings that my audience will consider too.

Approaches to audience:
1.) How does the text work on the audience?

My short film will be in a natural setting. I will not be including animation in my film as I want it to come across as real as possible to the audience. I think that choosing a life like setting will be beneficial as the audience may be able to relate to my film, which is part of my aim. I would like my film to inspire people.

2.) How do audience use the text?

In the process of making my film I always had intentions that my audience would be active. I think that audience opinion and response to media texts is vital as this is the only way that media and (more specifically) film producers can reach out to consumers and understand things that people like or dislike, agree or disagree with. I would like my audience to be active because this way I can actually see whether people go with the flow or put forward any critical opinions - this is how we grow. Most importantly, I will be able to evaluate whether or not I was successful in making my text relate to the audience and making people understand the film that I produce

3.) In what ways are the audience involved in the production of the text?

In the production of my film I carried out surveys as a way of reaching out to audiences and seeing what their opinions are on:

- A title for my film
- Gender of characters
- Setting (natural or refined)

Title: Out of the following three options, 'Cultural Variations' is the title that people liked the most...
- Cultural Variations (winner)
- Stereotypes of Asians
- How to be Indie

In terms of gender, my survey results found that ...
- Female
- Male
- Both

'Female' characters would be most appropriate for my short film. This is because the genre of film that I am producing is likely to have greater impact on female audiences. However, my results may be biased because I asked members of my female dominated school. Having said this I did try to avoid making my results unfair by asking male members of the sixth form too.

In relation to the setting of my film, I found that a 'natural' setting would be most effective for making my film something that people can relate to. Even though I have a relatively young target audience I think that making my film animated will attract younger members of my audience exclusively.

Target Audience?

'Audience' is possible the most vital concept throughout media studies. This is because all media texts are produced with some form of audience in mind. More often than not, if a producer is successful in creating text that an audience can understand, they make money from this audience. If something is being planned and there is no audience apparent, then it should be produced no further.
Media producers define their audience by:

- Age
- Gender
- Race
- Religion
- Sexuality
- Occupation
- Education
- Annual income
- Lifestyle

So before I actually make my short film, I need to consider my target audience, as this is who I will be aiming to please the most. Various short  films are made for different groups of people depending mainly on the genre and form of the film itself. A good example of this is is Disney, as it mainly targets young children and their families. Disney attempts to appeal to all types of age ranges, by having animated films and television shows for kids, Disney Channel and  Radio Disney for teenagers as well as films that appeal to adults as well. As well as this, Disney Land is designed to be inclusive for all members of families as opposed to children or teenagers specifically.

My project has an element of humour as well as an inner message. As I will be doing a comparison of two people's lives from separate cultures, I want to emphasise the equivalence of the characters in society today, regardless of any stereotypes that may occur unconsciously throughout the start of the film.
 Aside from the arguably intellectual sense of the film I aim to approach the situation from a light hearted and potentially humorous perspective. If I do this successfully (wish me luck) this will appeal to younger audiences, and older members of society will understand the film and message that it contains. As my film is not aiming at one particular age group I am not trying to appeal to a niche audience or a particular socio-economic group, but rather a wide range of people. By this I mean the cultural, the explorer, the mainstream, the aspirer, the young, the old and everyone in between, regardless of social status or ethnic background. Having said this, my film is for a class project at a secondary school, so I my target audience will be from ages 14-18 years old.
 Even though I am not deliberately going to aim at pleasing a specific gender, I have a gut feeling that this type of film will appeal to females more than males. This is only because the characters that will be acting for me are females themselves and I feel that women and girls in society will be able to relate to my film more intensively.

My philosophy

In my opinion short films are are good way of getting messages across to audiences in a relatively short period of time. I like how characters can be established quickly and audiences are not sitting down, bored in one position, staring at a screen for too long. Short films can be remembered easily and that is the main reason I prefer them to longitudinal|feature length movies.

When I make my short film I will be sticking to some self-imposed rules:

- Hand held camera; any movement or immobility will be permitted.
- The film must be in colour
- The film must not contain superficial action i.e. murders and weapons
- The director may be credited

Susumu Hani - Film Director | His influence

' I am always interested in individual people, in capturing a very truthful image of what is inside them. This is a little different from focusing on society' 

                                                                                                             - Susumu Hani

This approach and outlook on film is significant because it is unique, and sustaining. It not only proposes that film directors have their own form of motivation for creating great films but also implies that Susumu himself refrains from using one singular, strict method of production, but in fact has different strategies for various types of people, and is always creating something individual as a result. 

Deciding my AUDIENCE, GENRE and NARRATIVE

Audience: 

Defining a target audience is important as the content (of the film in this case) can be matched to the audience requirements or expectations. The better matched the audience are to the content or product, the higher the chances of the best results and profit. A target audience is simply the large (or small) group of people that are the most associated or the most relevant to the media product being produced.

A few posts back I listed some of the many ways that audiences can be defined. I also briefly highlighted who my film will appeal to the most and why. So, I am now going to get straight into profiling my audience:

- Gender :
My short film is not going to be aiming at one sex in particular, however I have my suspicions of how this will result in relation to who will be the most attracted to my content. As the characters that will be acting in my film are female, I think that it will be mainly girls and women that will be able to relate to my film. The camera will act as an observer in that it will be watching the girl's every move. Having said this, the film itself will not be viewed from either a male or female point of view and the camera is not taking a specific role in terms of gender. Critics may argue that my film may be gender biased due to personal opinions that develop in association to the 'gender' of the camera. The concept of 'male gaze' may become apparent if some audiences believe that the camera has acted in a certain way viewing the female characters in an objectified manner.

- Culture and Ethnicity :
In terms of racial profiling, this is where I think my film will be audience biased. As the film I am creating is circulated around the concept of two different cultures, I may find that this has an impact on my audience. In other words, people from either a western, British ethnicity or from an Asian background may find it easier to relate to the short film.

-Lifestyle current//desired  :
 In relation to lifestyle, my target audience will be the 'thinkers', As my film will be informative, I think that targeting a specific group of people that have a particularly strong ability to understand inner depth and meaning of content that they are exposed is something that I aim for. I make the assumption that my target audience, with this critical way of thinking are going to be young, ambitious people. Here are some of the characteristics that I expect my target audience to have and who's expectations and desires I will be aiming to underpin more exclusively ... these people are:

- Socially driven
- Socio-economically introverted
- Diversely motivated

As my target audience is so diverse, there will be various financial and social situations that will be considered. I am not going to set a particular socio-economic group in relation to income, however as these people will be relatively young, I am going to make an assumption that many of them will be students like myself. Therefore, excluding family income and basing this on individuals alone, majority of these individuals are going to have low income due to studying and having a part-time or weekend job. This is the only financial classification that I am in a position to make, as my target audience and film content is highly divergent, attracting (hopefully) lots of different people.

Genre:

Here is a quick list of some of the key genres within film: 

-Action films 

-Adventure films  

- Comedy films 

- Crime films 

-Fantasy films

-Faction films

-Historical films

-Horror films

- Mystery films

-Political films

-Romance films

-Satire films

-Science Fiction films

-Urban films

-Animation films

-Thriller films

- Cultural films

For my short film, I will be using the genres of Comedy | Documentary. Comedies are light hearted films designed with a purpose to amuse and provoke laughter by uses of exaggeration. I think that this is fitting for my short film , because I will be approaching the situation of cultural variations from a non-serious light hearted approach. I will be doing this by manipulating each scenario and doing a comparison of the same activities in different ways of life, however remaining with use of emphasis on the alikeness of the characters. 

Representations: 

Media representations are the ways in which the media portrays particular groups, communities, and experiences from one particular perspective. It is almost impossible to portray every single aspect of an individual through a short film, therefore certain features/elements of their personality are underlined and stand out. Representations that I intend to create of the characters are:

- Young 16 year old girls (age)

- Females (gender)

- Indian and English (Ethnicity/race)

- Financially stable 

- Good Job// career 

- Both British 

Who is being represented? 

In my short film two British girls with different ethical and racial identities will be represented as similar despite having clear differences in their daily activities and expectations of themselves both from their own point of view and their environment. 

What are they doing? 

The behaviour and activities of the characters in the film will be typical, however the variations in the activities due to cultural differences will be apparent and so they 'typical' behaviour may seem new to some audiences and may therefore be considered atypical. The actions of the characters will be natural and will therefore be conforming to the genre to some extent.

Why are they present? 

The purpose of the characters Raveena and Georgia, is to portray two cultures and emphasise the distinction of their actions, as well as reinforce the similarity between the individuals. 

Where are they?

The characters will be represented as natural as opposed to being portrayed as artificial, the entire setting will be normal and destinations include places of worship (Sikh temple & Church) and the characters being at home. Everything will be standard. 

Ideas for 5 Minute Short Film - Planning

For my final A2 Media coursework task, I will be creating a short 5 minute film.

Here are some ideas for my film:

- Life of a baby (pregnancy)
- Time traveller
- Life of a teacher
- Visiting Dubai (documentary)
- Visiting Rome (documentary)


After  brainstorming many ideas and considering what would be an interesting and engaging short film I have come to a conclusion that I am going to film an Indian wedding documentary. I decided to film a documentary because they are shorter duration than most films and they constitute a broad category of film.

Most short films have a small number of characters and a basic plot. Therefore filming an Indian wedding is idealistic because the storyline is simple and it will be easy to establish the main characters - The Bride and Groom. 

Research Methods

Audience research is a process that highlights all production that is related to the media and everything that we as audiences have watched has been planned and explored so that it can be the best of its ability in terms of quality and success.

'Research' on the whole is very expensive, however companies do not seem to stop spending so much money on this. Here are some reasons why:

- So that audiences react to the product in the correct way 

- To ensure that the final product can be completed successfully in the given time limit

- Media products are costly produce 

- To ensure that the correct audience is attracted

There are two general types of data; qualitative data is information about qualities - information that cannot actually be measured. e.g.'s include: 'the softness of a cat' or 'the colour of the sky'. On the other hand, quantitative data is data about quantities - information that can be measured and portrayed with the use of numbers. Examples of this include 'your height' and the 'number of pennies in your pocket'.

Primary research -  Primary research is an original research method used to collect information for a specific purpose. This is where there is no data available for you, you have to collect everything from the start of your investigation by yourself. These means designing your questionnaires, collecting the data from people yourself and analysing the data yourself too. Primary sources of research include; surveys, interviews and the analysis of existing texts. In an interview (for example) you could ask quantitative and qualitative questions. Qualitative questions are questions that are open and have no set answer, which results in higher quality answers. On the other hand quantitative questions are closed questions that have multiple choice answers such as yes or no, and these have set answers.

Secondary research - Secondary research is where you already have the necessary data available. When using secondary methods you do not need to start from scratch, you just use the information collected already by other organisations as a basis for your research. Examples of sources for secondary research are; newspapers, books and the internet.

Both methods of research have advantages and disadvantages: 

- Primary research is time consuming and may sometimes be expensive. 

- Secondary research is more time efficient as you are using other people's collection of primary research, although this method of research may not be suitable for everyone's needs. 

In my data collection I will be using primary research to conduct my own surveys. I chose to do this because I think that a survey will be easy to distribute and the data will be easy to collect. I will also be using both qualitative and quantitative questions within my data collection process. I will be doing this because I hope to receive both high quality and honest answers. For example I may ask questions about my short film poster. I want my audience and the rest of the public to tell me their honest opinion on various aspects of my film process so that I can create a result that the public and myself are happy with.  Having said this, something that I will have to consider when conducting a survey is the amount of participants I use to collect my data as it may be challenging to collect the right amount of data. To support this data collection process I may also use qualitative interviews with my target audience. This way I can compare the various data that I will have collected which will then be used for further analysis. A positive aspect of using an interview to collect data is that it is an effective way of collecting, analysing and sharing qualitative data. On the other hand a con of this collection method is that it may be difficult to organise, participants may be difficult to find and interviews are time consuming. 

  

Codes and Conventions of short films

For the creation of my own short film, I decided to take a look at some codes and conventions of short films.

Here is a collection of some of my research so far and what I have found in relation to this.

History of Short Films

A short film is similar to any other film in relation to chronology (beginning, middle and end) however, the only variation being that the duration is significantly longer, usually under 40 minutes.
Short films are also often low budget, and are produced by independent directors. Like many other films, short films can occasionally intend to get a message across seriously, and can just be made stemming from a light hearted approach with aims to simply entertain.
Unlike feature length films, short films are usually shown in film festivals and through video streaming websites, and unfortunately over the recent years short films have decreased in popularity.
Having said this, short films frequently receive awards at festivals such as 'Sundance Festival'.
In the beginning all films were short. The earliest cinema audiences were highly satisfied with witnessing man's latest technological outburst, even if it was just small snippets of daily activities transformed into comedic scenes.. However  as the start of the twentieth century began to prevail, films started to increase in duration.
 The very earliest films were presented to public audiences in the year 1894 via Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, a very immediate viewing designed for individual viewing exclusively. These short and sharp scenes often consisted of points of interest conveying celebrities, royal processions and current affaires of everyday life.

One of the best known films from this era is arguably the 'Lumiere brothers' Arrival of a train at Ls Cioatat in the year 1895. This would have been a significant viewing as from an audience perspective, all that would have been visible was a huge train coming directly toward the individual viewing the film. The short duration of these one-shot films were very appropriate for the Victorian modes of representation at the time. It is argued that 'short films were the norm' because the content of many short films was based on already existing entertainment media such as variety acts and lantern shows.

Short films began in the 1910's, in the United States of  America. The films at the start were either animated or live action and were maid purely to make people laugh and were therefore intensely comical. Although the popularity of these films fell dramatically after 20 years, they started to regain fame in the year 1955.
Many argue that this return in vogue was because of Charlie Chaplin who started making short films, however since this year short films have not been so popular.
Here is Charlie  Chaplin's first ever short film. Charlie himself disliked the film, whereas critics love it.

http://youtu.be/b9o-GIG4RIc


Raindance film festival is an indpendent film festival and film school that operates in major cities across the globe, particualrly in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The highly accredited organisation made a list of seven rules for writing short films:

1.) The shorter the better
2.) Make it visual
3.) Find single moments
4.) Tell a story
5.) Engage the reader
6.) Beware of the cliches
7.) Rules of writing still need to be considere

Classical Hollywood Cinema

Classical Hollywood Cinema is a term by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson. In a study, the authors completed an analysis on a random selection of 100 Hollywood films from 1917 to 1960. They concluded that during this period a distinctive cinematic style developed that they called classical Hollywood style. This style, was a set of unwritten rules which was widely accepted by film makers. These authors also believed that this style has become essential due to the world wide dominance of Hollywood cinema.

Hollywood cinema directors wanted the scenes in films to look both formal and real, despite being shot in a highly controlled environment. This was so that the surroundings looked real to the viewers.

Here are some examples of realistic and formal typical Hollywood scenes. 

IMR - What is it?

The Institutional Mode of Representation is the dominant mode of film construction, which became apparent in 1914. This means that every sector of film production including camera work, editing and sound is formed produced in the same way as many other majority films.
The IMR is characterised by the attempt to make a completely exclusive fictional world on screen, in relation to imagination and how far it can go, an audience is 100% involved with what is occurring on screen.

- Films are constructed by a pattern of shots, with every individual shot providing the viewer with information of some kind.
- The film is perceived as an entire environment around the viewer, by uses of three dimensional effects with the use of lighting and editing
- Character psychology is key - camera techniques, such as close ups on faces of characters help the audience to sum up each characters intentions, involving themselves in the film and its understanding.

Evaluation of 1 minute short film

What could have been improved for this one minute short film?

To start with, I feel as though the equipment that was used to create the short film was causing some problems. The Panasonic camera that I used to film was not the best piece of equipment to use as it was simply not compatible with the Macs that contained the editing software. Therefore for future reference, I will ensure that the equipment I use, including the camera that I film on, is appropriate for my chosen editing software to prevent minor issues like the one I have experienced and save time.
I feel that less issues in the future will prevent loss of time and will be much easier for me to show my innovation to a standard that I am satisfied with. Due to having to re-film I feel as though my short one minute clip was not as high quality as I hoped it would have been, but I am glad I have overcome this minor issue at the start of my Media A2 filming process so that I can continue the rest of the filming with minimal difficulty.

What am I happy with?

I am glad knowing that I can cope with problems that may arise under time pressure, which has given me confidence for my future filming projects, including my short 5 minute film. I am also feeling more optimistic about editing with final cut pro in the near future. I enjoyed choosing appropriate music to go with my footage, deciding what was the right music was a fun experience, because I learnt that music I expect to work does not always work out. I thoroughly enjoyed making a storyboard, it was a positive experience testing all the various scenes that would be entertaining, and although it took time to film and choose the best scenes, it was worth it in the end. All in all despite a few minor technical issues I am happy with my one minute short film and look forward to filming more!

Making a short 1 minute film

For my first A2 Media project I had to make a short one minute clip about ' A day in the life of...' and chose what to make the clip about. This could have been anything at all, a person, a place or even an animal.

After a lot of thinking and heavy discussion  a final conclusion was made, to make a clip about me. The title of the video was called 'A day in the life of Avi'.

I thought that this would make a good one minute film because:

- I could re-film any scenes that I was not completely satisfied with easily, without any complications.
 This is more effective than filming an animal or a place, because I could not guarantee that I can film the exact same scenes again

- People seem to find my views on life and daily activities entertaining

- Eliminates the need to make a booked/slot time to film as this can be done in free time

I created a storyboard which clearly identified all the various scenes that were going to be included in my 1 minute film as well as the camera angles that were going to be manipulated. These included:

• Start of the day (waking up)                                      
• Daily activities
• Direct comparisons of reality and fantasy  

• Close ups 
• Panning shots 
• Worms eye shots 
• Various zooms 
• HA (high angle shots)

Editing was a challenge because final cut pro was not so simple to use. The software was not only demanding but it was not fast at loading which I feel was my greatest complication as this made quick tasks become very time consuming. However after learning all of the various effects and understanding the software, it was definitely something that I am happy that I experienced and I now feel comfortable editing on this software in the future. I used the camera angles that I not only felt were appropriate for the context of the short film but also what I felt was achievable from a regular camera.

Next, I had to think about the sound that I was going to use. Unfortunately the original sound that I had prepared for the short film prior to uploading onto final cut pro did not transfer to the standard that I would have hoped which made the quality of the sound lower than I had wanted. So, in order to overcome this issue, I redownloaded the song 'FLAWLESS' by Beyonce on a mobile phone using the software 'imovie'  and placed the music on top of the footage in order to overcome my problem. 

For the main plot of the clip I thought that it would be best to have two key elements to base the short film on, a fantasy and a reality. In this case, it was my ideal perception of life vs. reality.

As I was working in a group, there were a few minor issues that we had to overcome.
1.) Finding time outside of our media lesson so that we could film the footage for the short film and edit it effectively.
2.) Equipment errors - We faced an issue at the start of the filming process, as the camera that myself and my group and filmed on was not compatible with the new Apple Mac software that we needed to edit the footage on. Therefore we lost the original scenes that we had filmed and lost some editing time, to meet the deadline. Luckily, our first scenes were filmed right away and we noticed the issue in time. Therefore we were able to re-film some scenes and were able to raise them to a better standard than we had hoped, which was a positive outcome from this camera error.

Comparing Short films and Feature Length films

Both short films and feature length films are aspiring to achieve a result of an engaged and sustained audience, however they key difference between the two types of film is the duration. This key variation means that the feature length films produced tend to attract a wider range, and larger audience.

Short films need to get to the climax of the story or plot rapidly as well as establish characters quickly as they have only a limited period of time to fit everything in. However having said this, the storyline or plot will be less than that of a longer film, therefore you could argue that it would be easier to produce a short film because less characters will be required for the film itself. 

The budget for a short film is often low as there is not usually a saved amount of money or funding. This will have a dramatic impact on the quality of the short film as this could result in lack of editing tools and special effects as well as the fact that the film itself could not be produced in a large filming studio as they are highly expensive. Furthermore, short films typically have a niche  targeted audience as short films on the whole are not very popular or mainstream. 

In terms of advertising short films are not in the public eye as much as feature length films as the directors of the short films are less often famous or well known, unfortunately this means that the short films are not in the newspapers and magazines and are not what the majority of people are talking about.

Feature Length films have a much larger budget than the short films. This is highly beneficial for these films as this means that they can afford to have the greatest editing tools and famous actors and directors as well as having the ability to produce the films in the best studios. This larger sum of money also means that the film will be distributed massively allowing heavy publicity, increasing the chances of success by far. A feature length film usually lasts about 120 minutes and are often distributed globally.

Understanding Film Genre

Different style or subject matter in terms of movies is often referred to 'Film Genre'. While a movie my have various elements of more than one genre, it is often classified under a single genre of reference purposes.

Different film genres include:

- Rom/Com (Romantic Comedy)  
- Thriller
- Fantasy
- Horror
- Historical
- Sci-fi
- Book adaption
- Musical
- Western
-Documentary
- Crime
- Bollywood
- Comedy
- Tragedy

A key establishment between movies are the to do with the length of films. These two types are referred to as Short Films and Feature Length films

Short Film stereotypes/assumptions

- Less characters
- Less money
- Less special effects
- More direct
- Shorter duration
- Characters established more quickly
- More appropriate for film festivals
- Usually a 'one off' as opposed to a series/collection
- Less popular
- Less successful/interesting/high quality/good
- Niche audience

Feature Length films stereotypes/assumptions
- More characters
- More money
- Less direct
- Longer duration
- More time to establish characters
- Long/feature length films tend to have more sequels e.g. HP
- More popular
- More successful/interesting/high quality/good
- More mainstream audience

Studying Short films

SLINKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT9B3MMiMo0&noredirect=1


- Established characters via visual representation quickly, which is positive because its a short film with limited duration
- Use of diegetic sound
- Basic use of effects and camera angles, simple credits and title pages used. No overcrowding or busyness, allows audience to understand everything clearly.

UMBILICAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ2zh0kewQc

Interesting animated short film. Consisting of a baby and its mother, conveying the damage that television and other types of technology cause to the younger generation.
- use of enhanced non-diegetic sound
- wide range of effects, highly edited which fits with the overall message about technology.

Introduction to A2 Media

This is my A2 Media Studies Blog.

On here I will be posting all of my coursework, planning and research for my class project. I will be creating a short film, and everything I do in the process will be on display, including the final result.

Hope you enjoy!