Target Audience

This post will stare what the age rating for our short film will be, why and evidence that we have watched to support our decision.

The target audience for our short film, Life Of Hermit will be 15 - 45 year olds. As our short film includes elements of the 15 age rating category  stated by the BBFC.



'The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984.'

So, what is included in the 15 age classification category?



Being as our film is a 15 this means that know person under the age of 15 will be able to watch it.

Here is a list of entities that you may see in a film with the 15 classification:

• Strong violence
• Strong language (f***)
• Portrayal of sexual activity
• Strong verbal references to sex
• Nudity
• Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• Discriminatory language or behaviour
• Drug taking

We have chosen this rating as our short film will include strong language and the characters in our film will be teenagers so with our audience been teenagers from the age of 15 and upwards the audience should be able to relate with what the characters are doing and experiencing. in addition to this, our group felt that anyone under the age of 15 may not understand the purpose of the film so it would be pointless in them watching it because of their age.

Real Media Ratings 

Cheaper By The Dozen 

• BBFC Rating- PG
• Genre- Comedy
• Produced- 2004

I've chosen to analyse this film as the cast includes numerous teenage actors. This is useful as our groups film only includes a teenage cast. I am curious to see what age range this film is most popular with as this could be the same with our short film.

From the image above, you can see what age range this particular film is most popular with. It is clear to see that mostly 15-24 year olds prefer the film as 45% are from this category. This is useful as this ties in with the age range of our short film which is 15 - 45 year olds. 

Frank 

• BBFC Rating- 12A
• Genre- Comedy, Drama
• Produced- 2014

The only reason I have chosen to analyse the film Frank is because the main character always wears a mask, and I was curious to see how the audience reacted to this and what age audience preferred the film the most. 

As you can see, 15-24 year olds preferred the film the most out of any other age as they got the highest percentage of 35%. It was useful to research this film as it is clear to see that 15 - 25 year olds liked the idea with the masked character. This is good for our group as our target audience is 15 - 45 year old and our film does included Trestle masks. So this suggests that our age range is perfect for our film.

To conclude, it is clear to see from the research I have done that 15 to 45 year olds is the correct audience range for our film as from the two real media products that I have looked at both have the highest audience percentage for this category. Also our film includes masks and has a full teenage cast, so it should be popular with our target audience. 

Film Pitch Commissioned Interview

This post will show two of our groups film pitches, one that had to many risks and wasn't commissioned and an other one that luckily didn't have to many risks and therefore was commissioned.

First Pitch

 This is our first pitch, unfortunately our group wasn't as prepared as we would have liked to have been going into this pitch as we only came up with the idea a matter of days before we had to pitch it to Mr Hood. From watching the pitch you shall see where major problems occurred that Mr Hood had identified.



Positives:

• Ambitious
• Achievable scenes
• Original idea

Negatives:

• Too ambitious for what its worth (marks wise)
• We would have had to buy certain costumes to make sure the mise en scene was appropriate and authentic.
• The setting would have had to of been perfect to make it look professional with the mise en scene factor.
• Complicated story for a short film.
• Would have to rely heavily on the quality of acting.

Evaluation:

Despite the idea being original and ambitious we felt that after listening to what Mr Hood had to say it was worth doing as there was just to many things that could have gone wrong that would have had a big affect on our final marks. So with the film appropriately not being commissioned rather that risking a lot of marks on trying to improve scenes we decided that we should just get a whole new idea.

I personally think that the idea was good because of how original it was, but it wasn't worth trying to do it as we can get a new idea with less risks that can still achieve the highest marks. So even though it was disappointing being the only group that didn't get commissioned I believe that it will be worth it in the long run for our final grade.

Second Pitch

Compared to our previous pitch, heading in to this one we was definitely more prepared and confident because of the idea. Also after not getting commissioned for our fist idea this motivated much more to get commissioned this time. Here is our second and final pitch:


Positives:

• Achievable idea.
• Interesting plot.
• Easy settings to access, group members homes and different locations around the school.
• Original idea to use masks, will be effective.
• Easy to access costumes because the actors will be teenagers so they will have 'teenage' looking clothes.
• We already have actors who are willing to participate in our film.

Negatives:

• There has got to be a appropriate ending to support the purpose of the film.
• there may be problems with the swimming pool scene as the camera screen could condense up because of the steam, not allowing us to shoot.
• Big idea, can we fit it all into 5 minutes?
• The actors would have to wear clothes whilst shooting the swimming pool scenes because they exam board don't like seen people exposed. We would also have to make consent forms for the actors to make sure that them and their parents are okay with what they'll be doing.

Evaluation of film pitch:

Overall I am proud to say that I am pleased with how our group pitched our second idea after our unconvincing previous pitch. I think that we pitched the idea in a clear manner and pitched it confidently to Mr Hood. Also when Mr Hood did identify some issues I feel that we answered them in a confident and reassuring style.  Am I pleased to say that this idea did get commissioned by Mr Hood.

R&P Schedule

It is imperative that throughout this year our group keeps meeting different deadlines as otherwise there will be too much work to do in to little time. So our group decided to make a schedule to keep to so that we stay organised and stay up to date with the work.

The work schedule will include dates for:

• Filming- the start date and end date .
• Work that needs to be done by each team member.
• Editing period- start date and end date.

Here is our groups R&P schedule for this year's course:

 

This will help our group stay on track with the work that should be complete for different parts of the year. Our group knows that most of these blog posts will not be complete during school time as we will be more than likely be filming or editing. So our group communicate frequently on social media sites such a Facebook where we keep each other up to date on the work that needs to be complete by each member of our group. 

Production Team Name & Logo

It did take our group quite a long time to think of a suitable and appropriate team name. We had many ideas however, we felt that none of them had any real meaning or purpose to them. For example, a name which we liked a lot was 'Checked Productions' we was keen of this name as we thought that it sounded professional and we had great ideas for an ident to match this name. But after been reminded endlessly by Mr Hood that the production team name must have a meaning we had to disregard this name. It taken an adequate amount of time, but finally we created our team name.

Our production team name for this year will will be:

So how did we come up with this name?

We started off by thinking about what we are creating which is a short film. We then started to think of synonyms for the word 'short'; whilst we were doing this the word laconic appeared. Immediately all of the members of our group warmed to this name as we believed that it sounded professional and also that it was relevant and suitable as it means 'short'. In addition to this; we all thought that the name laconic is unusual as it is rarely used in day to day conversations  so we thought that this name would stand out to audiences. 

Just because the members of our group liked the name we was curious to see wether or not potential audiences would like the name. So we produced primary research on Survey Monkey to gather feedback from the public to see what they thought. 

Here is the first question that we asked:

As you can see 83.33% of the public generally seemed to like our production name however 16.67% didn't like it. 

This is their reasons to why they don't like the name:

As you can see most of these responses generally back up what our group members believed in that thinking the name Laconic sounds professional. On the other hand, some people didn't understand why Laconic means so they didn't like it. 

However we decided not to listen so much to this as most people wouldn't understand what Paramount means but that is one of the most successful production companies currently in the world.

The next question asks how appropriate the name is for a production team:

As you can see 100% of the public believe that Laconic Productions is an appropriate production team name. 

This is their reasons why:

The majority of these comments suggest that the name is appropriate for what we are aiming to achieve and that it sounds professional. So because of the influence from this survey; it is sure to say that we will be called Laconic Productions.

Production Team Introductions & Evaluation Of Members Film Pitches

My production team this year includes the following members: Tilly Whitehouse, Dan Vidmar and Tina Vidmar. I am pleased to say that I very happy with my team as we all get along very well, also each individual has their own strength's and area's where they can improve. I believe that we will work well throughout the year as a group as this is the same team that produced the documentary on litter which was awarded the highest level. This reflects how well we work as a team.

Here is a picture of our Production team:

(Far left is Dan, middle left is Tilly, middle right is Tina and far right is myself)

Myself (Robbie Gale)

 

 

Strength's:

 

I think that the one of my main features is resilience, I think that this will come in handy if our team is stuck on one particular thing as I will encourage and motivate the team to keep on going and to overcome any problem. I think that I also give valid input into my group. Also, I hope to achieve a good grade in this subject this year so I will make sure that everything to do with our film is as good as it possibly can be in order to achieve the highest marks possible. I don't think that this will be annoy the team either as I know that they also want to do the best they possibly can throughout the course also! 

 

Areas for improvement: 

 

I think the main area in which I could improve is my creative side, as unfortunately I don't come up with a lot of effective creative ideas. However I will try my best to create useful ideas for the filming process. Another area in which I need to improve is my time management, as I do frequently turn up late to lesion by a couple of minutes. I will do my utmost to try and turn up on time for lesion in the future. 

 

My Film Pitch: Was It Worth It?

 

 

Positives:

 

I believe that my film has a clear and simple plot, this is useful as the audience for my film would be able to understand exactly what is going on throughout the film. The main reason being as the audience would be around the same age as the characters so they would be able to relate with them and maybe could understand what they are going through. Also, my film only requires a small cast so it wouldn't be to hard to find actors to work in my film. Lastly, I believe that the message of my film 'was it worth it?' would make the audience reflect on their own lives and make them think about decisions which they have made so they can look back at them and ask their selves the same question. This may also influence their decision making in the future.

 

Negatives:

 

I think that the main negative about my film would be the location, which would be set up the Cannock Chase, as we would have to film it in the winter when it would be dark at four o'clock most nights and it would also be very cold. This is a problem as you aren't allowed to film when its dark so we would have to film it early in the day and then edit it to make it look as if it was shot at night time. Colour corrector, the software that allows you to try and accomplish this effect can be tricky to use and is hard to get every shot the exact same colour. Also if the weather conditions kept changing e.g. snow & rain then this would be a problem as the weather conditions would have to be the same throughout the film to avoid any continuity errors.

 

Evaluation:

 

Overall I like my idea as it is simple and effective and could very easily be done but it also has its issues as I have mentioned above. But I think that their are better ideas from the rest of the members in our group,

 

Dan Vidmar

Strength's:

 

I believe that Dan is a creative person whom comes up with useful and effective ideas. He also gives strong input into conversations regarding our film which is very much appreciated. Dan is also a very hard worker, for example he is the person who found the non dietetic sound for the documentary task. So he is the man to go to for backing sound and music. 

 

Areas for improvement:

 

Dan is a very strong media student, however sometimes I feel that he lacks confidence, for example if he has an idea he will hold back and not say it regardless of the quality of it. I think that if Dan is more confident with his own ideas himself and our group will benefit from this. 

 

Dan's film pitch:

 

 

Positives:

 

One of the main things that I liked about Dan's film idea was the variety of shots in which we could use. This is mainly because of the location that he has chosen for his film, being in a theatre and at someones home. For example Dan wanted to include a graphic match of a girl dancing swaying to her left but when she goes to her left the shot cuts back to a flash back of when she used to get bullied at school and get pushed into lockers. I really liked the sound of this idea as if it was executed correctly it could be extremely effective. The locations would also be easy to access as we could use the school theatre and shot the home scenes at some ones home. Dan's idea is also effective and original.

 

Negatives:

 

Dan mentioned having some music playing in the background for the film, this would be effective but I believe that the music would have to be appropriate otherwise it could take the edge off the film. It can also take a long time searching for the right music, so this would be time consuming. Furthermore, although we could shoot scenes in the theatre at school there could be a problem with the theatre changing how it looks due to school shows and out of school productions. If this was to happen then we would get marked down because it would be a continuity error.

 

Evaluation:

 

I like Dan's idea as it is original and we could use a wide range of shots, however if we did use Dan's idea and the theatre did change how it looks whilst we were filming in their this could severely affect our marks. So I feel that this would be to big a risk to take.

 

Tilly Whitehouse

 

 

Strength's:

 

Tilly is a confident girl who isn't afraid to say what she thinks which is great for the team as if she spots a weakness which the rest of the team have missed she will point it out and make everyone aware of it. Tilly also has a strong creative side which is good as she inputs effective creative ideas. 

 

Areas for improvement:

 

Similar to Dan, Tilly can also hold back some of her own ideas, so if she can overcome this and say more of them I believe that this could benefit our group. 

 

Tilly's film idea: Behind The Curtain

 

 

Positives:

 

The main feature I liked about Tilly's film is the dance drama, I think that this idea is very original and would look effective if it was done correctly. Also as Tilly is part of an out of school acting group she has friends who can act and dance and she said that they would be willing to act in her film. So if we do use Tills the cast will be perfect for what we need. On top of this, the locations that Tilly's film require would be easy to access as we could shoot in school for the theatre scenes and at one of our group members house's for the house scene.

 

Negatives:

 

Like Dan's idea, even though we could get access to the school theatre there is always the risk that it could change how it looks because of school shows and out of school productions. If this did happen then this would lead to being marked down due to continuity errors. Also putting the right routine together for the dance drama could prove a challenge as if it wasn't done right then it could make the film look amateur and unprofessional. This could also be time consuming to put together an appropriate routine. 

 

Evaluation:

 

I am very fond of Tilly's idea as it is original and would be fun to do, but if the theatre did change then know matter how good the final film was we would get marked down a lot for continuity errors. Plus if we couldn't think of a good dance routine to do then we would be faced with a huge problem.

 

Tina Vidmar

 

Strength's

 

I feel that Tina is a very strong team member as she is extremely creative as she is always coming up with lots of ideas. Tina is also a confident individual who isn't afraid to say her ideas and to say when she thinks something could be done better. Tina is also extremely hard working. 

 

Areas for improvement:

 

One main problem with Tina is when there is a problem she will begin to panic immediately if she can't solve it. I think Tina needs to relax more and when a problem occurs she should ask her team members or Mr Hood for help rather than just panicking.

 

Tina's film idea: When Is Play Time Over?

 

Positives:

I think that Tina's film idea is the most original and could be the most effective out of our group's ideas if it was executed to perfection. The reason why it is the most original is because of how ambitious the idea is and if we did do it perfect it would be highly rewarding. Also, Tina's film only needs a small cast and Tina has already asked people if they would act in her film and they said yes so finding actors wouldn't be a problem.

Negatives:

The film idea is ambitious and if we did pull it off we would get high marks, but if at any point we failed to make it look realistic and professional we would lose a high number of marks. Also if we were to do Tina's film we would have to get lots of different costume's and prop's for the different time periods which could be hard to get and expensive to buy. Moreover, finding the right location would be hard for each time period, as if the exam board didn't believe a scene looked authentic then we would lose marks due to lack of attention to mise en scene aspects.

Evaluation:

I do really like Tina's idea and I know that if we pulled it off we would achieve the highest marks but it is also really risky because if we failed on one aspect of the film then we would lose a lot of marks. despite how ambitious it is I feel that the film is to big a risk to try and accomplish.

FCP X Training

This year we will be using a new and improved software to edit our short films, this will be Final Cut Pro X, last year we used Final Cut Pro Express, the new version does differ from the old version in many ways. So being as we will be using a new software this year, Mr Hood gave us a sheet that will help us figure out how to use the new and improved version of Final cut.

 

The image above was a sheet given to us by Mr Hood that basically guides us and tells us how to use this new software. As there are lots of new and improved gadgets compared to the old software that we used last year, for example on the new software certain keys act as shortcuts to do things:

 

Here is what some keys do on the new software:

 

J key- to play on a clip

K key- to go backwards on a clip

L key- to go forwards on a clip

I key - to mark the in point on a clip (the same as the old software)

0 key - to mark the out point on a clip ( the same as the old software)

E key - to add a clip at the end of a video

 



So to begin with, once we had uploaded our shots onto Final Cut Pro X we then had to create a folder to organise each of our shots. So for example, all of the B-roll shots would go into the B-roll folder. This is useful as it makes it easy for us to access our desired shots rather than having to scroll through each and every shot which would be time consuming.

The shots with the Blue line on the top of them are the shots that we put into folders, and the shots with the read line on them are the shots that we wasn't going to use due to poor quality shooting. 

 

Once we had organised all of our shots into the appropriate folders, we then began to edit some of our shots. The shots that we started to edit first off was some B-roll clips around the school. When we had edited these clips, we then included overhead narration by David on top of the clips.

 

 

I personally believe that the new software is better than the previous one that we used even though to begin with it was a quite tricky to understand and use. But know I have more of an understanding on how to use FCP X I prefer it as it allows you to do more with your shots whilst editing and it seems simpler to use than the old software.

Filming with the Canon 600d DSLR

For this years filming, our class will be filming with a new camera which is the DSLR, the DSLR has many different features compared to the cameras that we used to film with last year. For instance, the DSLR has two different modes, automatic and manual.

When filming in automatic, the DSLR automatically sorts out the exposure, brightness and depth of field. For manual however you have to take control of all of these elements yourself to get the right shot.

These videos will help us when filming with the Canon 600d





Also the Canon 600d differs to other cameras as you have to adjust the focus yourself. This is different to most cameras as normally when you film with most cameras and the subject in your shot is a person the camera automatically focuses on the persons face. With the Canon 600d you have to set the focus on the your subject yourself.

Here is a video that will help us understand how to focus with the Cnon 600d



Also when shooting with the Canon 600d, the use of different lenses can give you a better shot depending on what your shooting. This video will give you an insight on the effects of using different lenses.



So, after research and learning how to use the Canon 600D me and my group had to produce a documentary during school time, the topic for our documentary was litter. So here is our first time filming with the Canon 600D:



So what do you think?

Overall I am pleased with my groups efforts in this documentary as I believe that the shots we have used work well, for example the first shot that appears in our documentary at 0.00s is an establishing shot of where we are, this makes it clear to the viewer exactly where this documentary is being filmed. Also just after the establishing shot at 0.01s you can hear the ringing of a bell, I feel that this works well as it is appropriate because bells are associated with schools to alert students when lesions are about to begin and when they are ending. We also got feedback from our class that the non diegetic sound used throughout the documentary works well, as constant non diegetic sound is a usual convention of documentaries. In addition to this, our class also commented that the shot at 0.06s is effective as it makes the viewer feel like they are in the school walking with theses students. This shot was filmed with handheld cam, this is what gives the effect of the viewer feeling as if they are in the corridor with the students.

Also the title of litter at 00.28s was popular with our class as they believed it worked well because it is a usual convention of documentaries to have the title of the subject appears through out documentaries. Shortly after this, at 00.32s our class and teacher pointed out that it was great use of lower thirds titles used as a connected clip. After the title disappears, our class appreciated how smooth the tracking shot of the narrator walking was.

Furthermore, our teacher was pleased with the split edit that takes place at 00.41s, as it shows Mr Frost doing his daily routine but the at 00.42s it splits and changes to a formal interview with the narrator. I personally liked the shot-reverse-shot at 00.54s as it shows the reactions of David, the narrator, when he is listening to Mr Frost answer his questions.

So as you can see our documentary has lots of good and positive points, but some negative points were also noticed. For example, at 00.51 there is some background laughter, this makes the documentary seem unprofessional and amateur. Also it was made to our attention that throughout the interview Mr Frost looks slightly blurred, our class mentioned that if he was more in focus it would be more effective. Moreover, at 00.22s our class said it was unfortunate that Mr Leech was looking slightly to the left. Our group agreed with this, in fact we did tell Mr Leech about this but unfortunately he carried on.

But overall, our documentary achieved a level 4 which I am very pleased about.

What is a Short film?

So, what is a short film? a short film according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is 'an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits'. Now we know what a short film is, here are a few examples of short films:

The Black Hole, by Sansom and Williams 2008


What's good about this short?

The overall idea of the film is original and I believe very clever, as I think that the film has a message about greed. This is shown by the protagonist in the film crawling all the way into the safe to see if he has left any money behind even though he had already taken an proficient amount. This shows that greed does not pay off as if he would have just taken the money that he had initially grabbed and walked away he would of reeked the benefits, but instead his greed led to him being locked in the safe.

What could be improved in this short?

Although I like the overall idea of the film, I think that the last scene where the man crawls into the safe lets the film down slightly as in reality if you have all that money by your side you wouldn't put yourself in jeopardy just to see if you had collected everything. Instead you would just take what you had and leave.

Spin, by Jamin Winans 2005



What's good about this short?

The idea of this short is very original and interesting, also I think that the non digetic sound used adds a degree of suspense and tension to the short. Also I believe its clever how this short shows that one small event can trigger several bigger events.

What could be improved in this short?

I think that the title of this short does not suit the concept of the film, I think that if the font colour was not red it would be applicable as the colour red has connotations of murder, passion & love. I think that if the colour was lighter it would improve the film by making it look more effective.

The God, by Konstantin Bronzit 2004



What's good about this short?

I think that this film is comical as the idea of a God being taunted by a little insect is amusing. Also this short is original.

What could be improved in this short?

Although the idea of this short is amusing, I think that after a minute or so the idea becomes slightly tedious.

The purpose of this post is to grasp an understanding of exactly what short films are, as we have to individually come up with our own short film idea to present to the class to see whether or not our idea could be achieved.