Planning: Storyboards - Scene 5

Scene 5 - Seductress street encounter, recruitment of seductress

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Planning: Storyboards - Scene 3 + 4

Scene 3 - The Closet night club, recruitment of Master thief

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Scene 4 - Shut-In's Lair, recruitment of the hacker

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Planning: Storyboards - Scene 1 + 2

Scene 1 - Main character introduction, setting the plot

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Scene 2 - Alex introduction, quick planning session

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Planning: Possible Filming Locations

Scene 1:

- House

- Friends House

Scen 2:
- Outside House
- Outside Friends House

Scene 3: Club Scene

- CSG Scout hut

- CCC Hall

Scene 4: Shut-In Scene

- House

- CCC ICT Room, Side Room

Scene 5: Start 

- Street down St.Giles

- Street In St Peter

Scene 5: End

- House

Planning: Short Film Review Layout Plan

This is my first design for the Film review. Writing the text for the review itself would be difficult without the product made so for now I have started planning a good layout for the double page spread magazine. I have attempted to leave as little negative space as possible and also to try to balance out the text and the images. Since the film is aimed at a teenage - young adult audience I decided on using more image than text as thats what appeals more to them as an audience.

Planning: Plot

The story for the short film is as followed:

Malcolm Myers, a completely average man is thrown into a situation from his missing fathers old employer Mr.X. He has been blackmailed by Mr.X who has his fiancé held captive. He had been tasked with performing the heist of the century and must steal a newly discovered jewel from a high security museum. He and his best friend Alex Smith (the supporting character) must gather a crew of trained experts in order to perform this mission.

In this film Alex helps Malcolm recruit other characters: A homosexual master thief, a shut-in hacker and a attractive yet deadly assassin.

This short film will end when the crew is recruited leaving it on a cliff hanger in which a potential sequel could be made.

Planning: Costume Planning

For each of my characters I have decided on not using precise outfits, but rather more open ideas about what the actors can wear. This means that it will not be a challenge for the actors to find outfits suitable for there roles.

Main Character/ Questionable Protagonist (Malcolm Myers)

- Should wear casual clothes at the start, ordinary average middle class man, e.g. Jeans, T-shirt

- During the Club Scene should change to a shirt for smart casual appearance

SideKick/Fool (Alex Smith)

- Will start out dressed similarly to the Main Character, casual clothing

- After initial introduction changes into smart attire or suit for remainder of film

Homosexual/Master Thief (Andrew Davison)

- Flashy Outfits, Brightly Coloured, Pink, in your face

Shut-In/Hacker (Mark)

- Slobbishly dressed, lack of care, Baggy T-shirt, trackies

Seductress (Alice)
- Smart Casual, showing skin

Man in Black (Mr.X)
- Will be mostly blacked out, but parts of suit will be visible.

Planning: Mind Maps

Genre

Plot

Characters

Research Decisions

During my early stages of research I learned about the history of short films, I learned that they are much more varied than their feature-length counter-parts. I learned about all the different types of short films and how different cultures approach them. One of the more practical parts of short films that I have learned was how to maximise the effectiveness of a short time period.

From my survey I have been able to work out the best target audience for my short film. Since the majority of the surveyed were between the ages of 17 and 21 I have decided that thats the target age group.  I have decided against making ethnicity and religion take part in narrowing the target audience, as I feel that featuring these two into the factor will narrow it to much, reducing the audience quite a bit.

Research: Survey Results Conclusions

From the summary I have been able to determine who my target audience may be.

Question 1

Majority of those who filled out my survey where male, however there was still a fair amount of females, this suggests that I could make the short film aimed at the male audience, but could still cater for some of the female interests, giving it minor appeal to them as well.

Question 2

The majority of the results where filled by people aged between 17 and 21, this would mean the large part of the remaining questions would be the opinions of said age group, this would make it easier to find out what would best appeal to them as a target audience.

Question 3

The majority here belonged to the White(British Group) however all the other options still had a few people, this would indicate that it would likely be best to create this film using british style film making, as opposed to Hollywood or Bollywood.

Question 4

The results are balanced between Atheist, Agnostic and Christian, this would suggest to me that featuring any obvious religious content may have negative views or cause unnecessary thoughts which may deter from the actual film.

Question 5

The results have showed that the majority of the people who took the survey where students, whilst some in part and full-time work, this would again indicate the young audience and perhaps the idea of school would build a relation between the audience and the film.

Question 6

Majority of the survey results have shown that most people are likely to have watched a short-film at some point in their lives and would be aware of what they are.

Question 7  

The results have shown that the watching of short films isn't a common thing, however its also not unheard of. With most of the people belonging to either yearly or weekly it seems that there are likely two types of short films being watched, one type that are perhaps made each week with no real connection, and yearly releases or side stories to larger films.

Question 8

From the results here I can conclude that the majority watch short films on the internet, whilst a large amount still watch them on the TV. A smaller amount purchases the Blu-ray/DVD releases. A small amount will download. Judging from the past results showing most of the surveyed being part of a young audience, it would likely be that they don't have the money spare to spend on DVDs and such so the ability to watch them for free on line or on the TV would appeal more to them.

Question 9

 From these results we can find that the 5-10 and 10-20 minute options, whilst the other options have few numbers. This will make things easier as the brief stated the short film had to be approx 5 minutes long, so the audience will likely agree on  the 5 minute mark.

Question 10

The results for this question show that the majority of the surveyed prefer the idea of a clearly identifiable protagonist and antagonist.

Question 11

From these results we can see that the three most popular genres are Comedy, Action and Romance. This would mean that these three genres would most appeal to the majority of the surveyed audience.

Question 12

These results show that the surveyed as a whole value the following as the most important factors of a short film: A good plot, Recognisable actors and Subtle Humour. That means these three factors would be best used carefully in my short film so I can maximise the appeal of the film.

Research: Survey Results Summary

By this point I have collected 50 survey results. Although I wanted to wait for more results on this due to time I have no choice but to use just the results I have.

Results Spread Sheet

Summary

What is your Gender?

Male	34	67%
Female	17	33%

How old are you?

Under 10	0	0%
10 - 16	7	14%
17 - 21	35	69%
21 - 30	7	14%
31+	2	4%

What is your Ethnicity?

White (British)	38	75%
White (Other)	7	14%
Black (British)	2	4%
Black (Other)	0	0%
Indian	2	4%
Chinese	1	2%
Asian (Other)	1	2%
Other	0	0%

What is your Religous Beliefs?

Christian	15	29%
Muslim	0	0%
Jewish	0	0%
Atheist	21	41%
Agnostic	13	25%
Other	2	4%

What is your Working Status?

Student	34	67%
Unemployed	2	4%
Employed Part-Time	11	22%
Employed Full-Time	3	6%
Self-Employed	1	2%
Retired	0	0%

Have you ever watched a short film?

Yes	45	88%
No	6	12%

How often do you watch Short Films

Daily	6	12%
Weekly	22	43%
Yearly	17	33%
Never	4	8%

Where do you watch short films?

TV	31	61%
Internet (Youtube etc)	41	80%
Theatres	3	6%
DVD / Blue Ray Releases	19	37%
Downloads	10	20%
Other	1	2%

How long do you think a Short Film Should be?

Under 5 Minutes	4	8%
5 - 10 Minutes	18	35%
11 - 20 Minutes	20	39%
21+ Minutes	9	18%

Do you feel a Short Film should have a Clearly recognisable Protagonist(Hero) and Antagonist(Villain)?

Yes	33	65%
No	18	35%

What is your preferred genre of film?

Action	27	53%
Adventure	12	24%
Sci-Fi	11	22%
Horror	16	31%
Psychological	21	41%
Fantasy	12	24%
Romance	24	47%
Comedy	30	59%
Other	0	0%

What is more important to you in a film?

A Good Plot	35	69%
Special Effects	23	45%
Recognisable Actors/Actresses	35	69%
Subtle Humour	32	63%
Dialogue	27	53%
Other	0	0%

Media Theory: Pastiche and Parody [WIP]

During our Theory lessons I had learned about the use of Pastiche and Parody.

Although I already knew what parody meant, finding the actual definition gave me a much better understanding of the idea.

Both terms can be considered part of post-modernism as they both take the idea of re-using and recycling old ideas.

Pastiche: Making reference to a previous piece of literature or media in celebration

Parody: Making reference to a previous piece of literature or media in criticism, ridicule or humour.

Short Film Research: Distribution

Short films are extremely varied in length, making it difficult to show them on a standard TV schedule, although longer, half hour shorts films can fit in nicely. It's become increasingly common for animated films to produce short film spin-offs based on the feature film, an example of this was Dream Works film 'Kung-Fu Panda' which has a shirt film released on DVD a while after the main films release.

A common way of distributing short films is in the form of Film Festivals, where short film directors will share their film with a large audience in a theatre. These often have various competitions between the different short films for various awards.

With the internet becoming increasingly accessible, some short film directors start off by sharing their  short films online, on sites such as Youtube, Vimeo, etc. These can be watched by anyone making it easy for people to watch, discuss and get feedback on short films. When studios are looking for fresh new directors, it's becoming increasingly common to find them on youtube and contact them through their.

Poster Analysis: The Usual Suspects(1995)

	Technique	Effect (Analysis)
Layout	·       Credits at Bottom ·       Characters Take up majority of the poster ·       Actor Names at Top ·       Credits at bottom ·       Main Title + Slogan just above credits pushed to the right.	·       Credits are at bottom, shows lack of importance ·       Characters are shown to be on equal standing, Bright clothing against dark background. ·       Actor names at top, presumed semi-famous actors which will attract attention ·       Title is pushed to the right, stands out from dark corner, easily readable
Typography	·       Capitilised Slogan + Main Titles ·       Main Title Bright Red ·       Credits Grey font ·       Slogan+Actor names white	·  Use of capitilisation adds importance to the text, makes it stand out more.  ·  Red font on the black background allows the title to stand out, even though its been pushed to the side. ·  Use of grey fonts means the credits are not considered important and won't be a distraction from the more important parts of the poster.

Poster Analysis: Tower Heist

	Technique	Effect (Analysis)
Layout	·       Credits below Main Title ·       Ben Stiller’s+ Eddie Murphy’s names at top (Main characters) ·       Main Title Below Characters ·       Slogan above characters ·       Characters Lined up, main characters in front, secondary behind ·       Majority of content is slanted ·       Characters are standing on skyscraper	·       The Credits are seen to be of little importance, they are made grey so they don’t stand out much compared to the rest of the poster, but are still readable ·       Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy are easily recognisable actors, people will be attracted to movies with these actors. ·       Main Title is below actors, allowing both to be seen clearly and recognisably. ·       The Slogan is placed above the characters in an area with plenty of space, easily readable, slogans are designed to be memorable. ·       Characters are aligned so that all of them can be seen, whilst keeping the main two characters in front, showing their importance. ·       By slanting a large part of the content, people will have to pay more attention to the poster to understand it, making them have greater interest into the film. ·       The use of the skyscraper relates to the title of the film, giving it an image which is easily memorable.
Typography	·       Capitiliesed actor names + Main Title ·       Black + Blue Font Colours, Black Blue/ Gradient. ·       Credits are Light grey ·       Release date Blue	·       The use of capilisation attracts attention to the text, people will focus and remember the actors and title. ·       Black and Blue stands out on the white and light blue background ·       The use of a gradient on the main title makes it seem more aesthetically pleasing ·       Light Grey Credits don’t stand out much, doesn’t take away attention from more important details. ·       Blue on the release date shows that it is important, but not as important as the rest.