Monday, 16 May 2011
Monday, 14 February 2011
Evaluation
In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our use of camera in our short film followed conventions by using the same kind of shots you would usually see in other short films. A few of these being, tracking shots, POV shots, over the shoulder shots and a few more. An example of a tracking shot is when Jack H is arriving at the house and the camera follows as him as he walks up to the door and then goes inside. We decided to do it in one shot when Jack H was arriving but when Jack S arrived we used a number of cuts to show him turning up. We thought this would be a more mischievous way to show his arrival.
We decided to stick to conventions of narrative structure for the majority of our film. We followed a five step method. This was, exposition wa the players getting ready for their poker game, development was the start of the game with four players. the complication occurred when two of the players lost their chips leaving only two left for the final round. The climax was Jack H winning the poker game. This was followed by our twist where Jack H received his, hopefully, unexpected small amounts of winnings. By us adding in a twist we completed the whole film which is not usually what a short film aims to do. Usually a short film will leave the ending open to the audiences imagination.
Usually in short films there is very little or no dialouge. Most sounds are diagetic sounds. Our film follows conventions of very little dialouge, we chose to do this because we felt it creates tension between our players. We thought that if our players were constantly talking throughout the film it may give the impression the game isn't worth big money. We also started the film off with an American rat pack style song. We used this because we thought it gave an illegal feel and links well with our poker enviroment.
When it come to mise en scene we come up with 3 components that we felt were the most important for our film. These were, costume, props and lighting. We felt we had to get these three right in order to make our film seem realistic. Starting off with costume, we decided that our players would dress smartly, wearing shirts, ties, blazers, ect. We felt this would help the atmosphere seem more illegal and underground. Also it helps the audience assume the game is worth big money. Next in our list was props, we thought that the only props we would need in order to make our poker game believable was poker chips and cards. A prop i personally liked the use of was the glass of whiskey that Jack H drank in his preparation for the poker game. I feel this prop, that was only on screen for about 10-20 seconds, builds Jack's character, it shows him to be nervous. Also it creates the sense of the game being worth something, why would he want to settle his nerves for a friendly game? Finally we come to the lighting which was the hardest part of mise en scene to get right. We wanted the room to be dimly lit because that is how we felt an underground game of poker should look. In the room we used we only had a few lamps and a camera that did not pick up light very well. In the end we decided that we would a few of the lamps on and when it come to editing the film we could add some simple colour correction in order to make it seem darker.
There are many ways to create an effective main product and ancillary text. We created a brand identity for our film through colour scheme, design, vocabulary and images. We thought that our main product and ancillary text together was successful because it is easy to notice that they are linked. For example we used a cigar instead on an exclamation mark in our poster. This represented the illegality of the game. In the film itself at the start we had Jack S arriving at the door looking mischievious, while Jack H was drinking alcohol before the game.
Design was used to create brand identity through the poster and our review. An example of this was the colour scheme, green, red and black, these are stereotypical colours of a poker game. We did not want to give away much of our story through our poster so we concentrated on the illegal aspect of the game. As you can see below for the 'A' in All In we used an ace playing card with a half naked lady on there. We felt this would add to the illegal feel and also show that it is a mans game that will be played. Also the ace playing card, together with the title suggests that gambling will be involved.
We used language to create brand identity through such things as the title and the tagline. Our tagline, 'your face lies, the cards don't' helps the audience understand gambling is involved. We felt this tagline was a good one because the whole point of poker is to not give anything away with facial expressions, hence the part 'your face lies'. The title 'All In' suggests gambling is a main part of the film and that going 'all in' will be worth alot of money, this adds to our twist at the end.
The way in which our poster/review of our film has been designed enables the audience to get a firm understanding of our film but it does not give anything away that we wouldn't want to. Our use of images shows clearly what our film will be about. None of our characters are shown in our poster this creates suspense as when the audience watches the film this will be the first time seeing the characters.
Media technologies we used within the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages were, firstly a computer with access to the internet. This was our main tool of research. We researched target audiences, other film posters/reviews and the vocabulary used in them, layouts used in film posters and we also researched other short films. In researching these topics we were able to gain inspiration and ideas that we could develop and use in our own film to our advantage.
Our editing program, Adobe Premiere caused us some issues, it randomly malfunctioned for around four lessons which caused us to lose some time. Fortunate for us the positives of Adobe Premiere outweighed the fact that it malfunctioned. Because it was so simple and easy to use we were able to catch up fairly quickly. As i have edited some stuff before using Sony Vegas i found Adobe Premiere easy to get used to and was able to show my group how to do specific things. After that we were able to take it in turns to edit our film to avoid it becoming to tedius for one person.
Because the editing program was so basic and simple we were not able to film our original idea of a car crash as it would of been to hard to edit together, this resulted in a change in our story which personally i think was for the best. I think because our story was a simple concept we were able to put more time into filming and other things such as our poster and review whereas with a more complex story alot more time would have been used editing it together.
Using the 'blogger' website (http://www.blogger.com/) we were able to record our creative proccess by making several different posts as we went along in the making of our film. I think this helped us in several ways because when it come to the later posts we were able to look back at our older ones and reflect on them for our new posts. Also blogger makes it easier to show other people our progress in the making of our film.
Our use of camera in our short film followed conventions by using the same kind of shots you would usually see in other short films. A few of these being, tracking shots, POV shots, over the shoulder shots and a few more. An example of a tracking shot is when Jack H is arriving at the house and the camera follows as him as he walks up to the door and then goes inside. We decided to do it in one shot when Jack H was arriving but when Jack S arrived we used a number of cuts to show him turning up. We thought this would be a more mischievous way to show his arrival.
We decided to stick to conventions of narrative structure for the majority of our film. We followed a five step method. This was, exposition wa the players getting ready for their poker game, development was the start of the game with four players. the complication occurred when two of the players lost their chips leaving only two left for the final round. The climax was Jack H winning the poker game. This was followed by our twist where Jack H received his, hopefully, unexpected small amounts of winnings. By us adding in a twist we completed the whole film which is not usually what a short film aims to do. Usually a short film will leave the ending open to the audiences imagination.
Usually in short films there is very little or no dialouge. Most sounds are diagetic sounds. Our film follows conventions of very little dialouge, we chose to do this because we felt it creates tension between our players. We thought that if our players were constantly talking throughout the film it may give the impression the game isn't worth big money. We also started the film off with an American rat pack style song. We used this because we thought it gave an illegal feel and links well with our poker enviroment.
When it come to mise en scene we come up with 3 components that we felt were the most important for our film. These were, costume, props and lighting. We felt we had to get these three right in order to make our film seem realistic. Starting off with costume, we decided that our players would dress smartly, wearing shirts, ties, blazers, ect. We felt this would help the atmosphere seem more illegal and underground. Also it helps the audience assume the game is worth big money. Next in our list was props, we thought that the only props we would need in order to make our poker game believable was poker chips and cards. A prop i personally liked the use of was the glass of whiskey that Jack H drank in his preparation for the poker game. I feel this prop, that was only on screen for about 10-20 seconds, builds Jack's character, it shows him to be nervous. Also it creates the sense of the game being worth something, why would he want to settle his nerves for a friendly game? Finally we come to the lighting which was the hardest part of mise en scene to get right. We wanted the room to be dimly lit because that is how we felt an underground game of poker should look. In the room we used we only had a few lamps and a camera that did not pick up light very well. In the end we decided that we would a few of the lamps on and when it come to editing the film we could add some simple colour correction in order to make it seem darker.
This is a scene of our film before colour correction was added.
Here is the same scene after colour correction was added,
as you can see it is a bit darker.
Editing our film together was the most time consuming part of making our film mostly because when we came around to editing we would find mistakes we had made such as paper being left in the background, because of this we would have to go back and re-shoot them scenes again. We conventionally used mainly cuts and fades, fades being used to show when time was passing and cuts anywhere else. After our first time of editing we watched it back and realised that there were too many fades. We decided to swap some fades for a cut where it would be suitable. Sometimes in our film we unconventionally broke the 180 degree rule. We did this because we felt it would create a feeling of confusion and helped the audience believe this game was not legitimate. Most of our editing was done using Adobe Premiere.
Below is a link to a video of our first time using the camera.
As you can see it is not very good, but with practise we were able to improve for our film.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?
There are many ways to create an effective main product and ancillary text. We created a brand identity for our film through colour scheme, design, vocabulary and images. We thought that our main product and ancillary text together was successful because it is easy to notice that they are linked. For example we used a cigar instead on an exclamation mark in our poster. This represented the illegality of the game. In the film itself at the start we had Jack S arriving at the door looking mischievious, while Jack H was drinking alcohol before the game.
Design was used to create brand identity through the poster and our review. An example of this was the colour scheme, green, red and black, these are stereotypical colours of a poker game. We did not want to give away much of our story through our poster so we concentrated on the illegal aspect of the game. As you can see below for the 'A' in All In we used an ace playing card with a half naked lady on there. We felt this would add to the illegal feel and also show that it is a mans game that will be played. Also the ace playing card, together with the title suggests that gambling will be involved.
We used language to create brand identity through such things as the title and the tagline. Our tagline, 'your face lies, the cards don't' helps the audience understand gambling is involved. We felt this tagline was a good one because the whole point of poker is to not give anything away with facial expressions, hence the part 'your face lies'. The title 'All In' suggests gambling is a main part of the film and that going 'all in' will be worth alot of money, this adds to our twist at the end.
The way in which our poster/review of our film has been designed enables the audience to get a firm understanding of our film but it does not give anything away that we wouldn't want to. Our use of images shows clearly what our film will be about. None of our characters are shown in our poster this creates suspense as when the audience watches the film this will be the first time seeing the characters.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media technologies we used within the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages were, firstly a computer with access to the internet. This was our main tool of research. We researched target audiences, other film posters/reviews and the vocabulary used in them, layouts used in film posters and we also researched other short films. In researching these topics we were able to gain inspiration and ideas that we could develop and use in our own film to our advantage.
Our editing program, Adobe Premiere caused us some issues, it randomly malfunctioned for around four lessons which caused us to lose some time. Fortunate for us the positives of Adobe Premiere outweighed the fact that it malfunctioned. Because it was so simple and easy to use we were able to catch up fairly quickly. As i have edited some stuff before using Sony Vegas i found Adobe Premiere easy to get used to and was able to show my group how to do specific things. After that we were able to take it in turns to edit our film to avoid it becoming to tedius for one person.
Because the editing program was so basic and simple we were not able to film our original idea of a car crash as it would of been to hard to edit together, this resulted in a change in our story which personally i think was for the best. I think because our story was a simple concept we were able to put more time into filming and other things such as our poster and review whereas with a more complex story alot more time would have been used editing it together.
Using the 'blogger' website (http://www.blogger.com/) we were able to record our creative proccess by making several different posts as we went along in the making of our film. I think this helped us in several ways because when it come to the later posts we were able to look back at our older ones and reflect on them for our new posts. Also blogger makes it easier to show other people our progress in the making of our film.
Monday, 18 October 2010
POSTER: Sketching possible images/fonts
We wanted to keep our font plain and simple to read. We firstly chose a font that was slanted with the picture of the ace which looked like the lady was leaning against the 'L'.
After looking at our choice a few times we decided that it looked too pixelated, we tried to resize it to make it look better but in the end we decided to just change it completely to a more simple font (below).
After looking at our choice a few times we decided that it looked too pixelated, we tried to resize it to make it look better but in the end we decided to just change it completely to a more simple font (below).
REVIEW: Editing final product
When editing our review page we had to keep in mind several different things for example the colour scheme. We decided that the conventional colour scheme of a poker game would be green, red and black. We thought it would be best for us to stick to these conventions as it would be easier for the audience to understand. We wanted to keep the pictures at the top of the page around the title again this is conventional of reviews but we decided it was best to keep it simple for the audience to follow. We made Jack H the biggest image and wanted him to be the main image, you could argue this is conventional and unconventional, it is conventional because he is the largest image on the page, It's also unconventional because the image is not in the center of the other images. We wanted Jack H's image to be the main focus point because it can be seen in different ways because of the alcohol in his hand, he could be calming himself down or he could be celebrating, by himself.
REVIEW: Drafting layout
Our review page started off as a double page spread. It was filled with about 75% writing. We decided that as it was a short film the amount of writing we had wasn't neccassary. Also towards the end of the second page we had a section where the was alot of space, we tried to add things in such as cinema dates to cover the space but it was too obvious it was there just to cover space. We decided to change it to just a single page with shortened down writing. In our first draft we also included things like 'in association with MTV' then we realised that our film wouldn't be that significant so in our final draft we changed it to our youtube page. This way it would be easier for the audience to access and find out more.
Below is the image of our first draft.
This is the image of our final draft.
Below is the image of our first draft.
This is the image of our final draft.
REVIEW: Choosing most appropriate images from film
On our review page we only included 3 pictures from our film. We decided carefully what 3 images we would use because we wanted the audience to be able to find out enough from these images in order to make them want to find out more.
Our first image was a picture of Jack H in his suit pouring out a glass of whiskey. We chose this image because we believe with this image alone the audience is able to percieve an image of what this character is likely to be like.With him pouring a glass of whiskey it gives the audience the idea that he is trying to relax himself before a tense game of poker.
Our third and final image was a picture of all 3 characters, Myself (dealer) Jack H (winner) Jack S (loser), sitting at the poker table. We decided to use this image because as our film is a poker film we wanted to include a poker related picture. This one seemed perfect because it had Jack S pulling in some chips as he just won a hand. We thought this image would help us to lure the audience in to find out more.
Our first image was a picture of Jack H in his suit pouring out a glass of whiskey. We chose this image because we believe with this image alone the audience is able to percieve an image of what this character is likely to be like.With him pouring a glass of whiskey it gives the audience the idea that he is trying to relax himself before a tense game of poker.
Our second picture we used was of Jack S knocking at a door. From looking at this picture is may be unclear to some of the audience where he is arriving but this wasnt out main objective of this picture. Our main aim was the way he is acting, he seems to be looking over his shoulder and standing very close the door which makes him seem eager to get inside before someone sees him. This is how we wanted to portray jack, as a shady mysterious character.
Our third and final image was a picture of all 3 characters, Myself (dealer) Jack H (winner) Jack S (loser), sitting at the poker table. We decided to use this image because as our film is a poker film we wanted to include a poker related picture. This one seemed perfect because it had Jack S pulling in some chips as he just won a hand. We thought this image would help us to lure the audience in to find out more.
REVIEW: Drafting text
Drafting text turned out a very useful process for us. This was because after our original text had been made we were able to read back over it and find out that it was far too long. We had enough time to shorten down our final text for it to tightly fit on to one page rather than being spread out over 2 pages. Below is our draft text after it had been shortened down to fit onto one page.
DRAFT TEXT
Enthusiastic and captivating it is clear that feature film newbie Scott Griffiths has put All In to hit the bright lights. Exciting and ambitious the film radiates in drive and integrity as it follows the protagonist’s, Jack Shaw and Hindley on their search for financial gain through illegal means. Cleverly Griffiths has penetrated the film industry by entering into a niche genre with its only competition being films with momentary flashes of poker; such as the nauseating Casino Royale which helped to establish Daniel Craig as, ahem, an average interpretation of a so-called suave and sophisticated James Bond. However although brimming with potential and eagerness it is obvious that Scott’s lack of reputation has cost him the ability to higher the Tom Cruises, the Will Smiths and the Johnny Depps, but has instead been provided with the likes of George Remins and Craig Presley. Who? I hear you say. Exactly.
So does this poker/gangster tie-in fold under the pressure? Or does it persevere, wait for the perfect card and seize the opportunity? The initial answer is the latter but All In is not without its faults, as you’ll read later. The audience is taken on an intriguing journey of twists, turns, and sublime suspense watching the two main characters as they develop throughout. It is this that sets Griffiths story apart from others; his creative contrasting of characterisation with a juxtapose of confidence with nervousness and apprehensiveness. From the outset it seems the two characters are big money players but with high praise to unconventional director Griffiths, not everything is at it seems – particularly the stand out twist at the end. Keeping with Griffith’s early established un-conventionalism he turns what should be a slow paced and sophisticated game of poker into a fast paced and at times frantic perception on what a poker flick should be. And it works. Particularly as the game unfolds, the quick cuts integrated make for a seat clenching and mental thrill ride as the match comes to the final card flip. Also the setting of All In can only be described as perfect for the semi-legal theme that’s meant to be portrayed; by introducing working class houses as the venue for the film it is established that this would be a film of grit rather than glamour as the poker players stake their money for further gain. In contrast from a large casino to a suburban working class house it is evident that perhaps this film is aimed at those closer to the protagonists own situation, but however the classy apparel worn may appeal to those of a higher class. Coincidentally this film should appeal to all.
However, like most films, along with positives come negatives; which are mainly due to the director’s inexperience and lack of ‘materials’ i.e. acting, time and equipment. Often at times the acting seems unintentionally awkward. This is most evident when player 2 or Jack Hindley wins and clearly the director has asked the actor to portray happiness but instead receives a look of mild relief from constipation. Griffiths has clearly been dealt a bad hand in terms of actors, and the film almost suffers because of it. If it wasn’t for the clever subtleties of character design earlier mentioned then decisively the opinions of this film would have dropped considerably. A final hindrance of the film is the random changes in lighting which many critics have interpreted in several ways, ‘its his [Griffiths] inexperience’ or alternatively ‘it’s his way to again show the contrasts in characters’, either way it doesn’t affect the film greatly – unless you’re a nit-picking movie critic, (not pointing any fingers) ‘it’s his inexperience’, please?
DRAFT TEXT
Enthusiastic and captivating it is clear that feature film newbie Scott Griffiths has put All In to hit the bright lights. Exciting and ambitious the film radiates in drive and integrity as it follows the protagonist’s, Jack Shaw and Hindley on their search for financial gain through illegal means. Cleverly Griffiths has penetrated the film industry by entering into a niche genre with its only competition being films with momentary flashes of poker; such as the nauseating Casino Royale which helped to establish Daniel Craig as, ahem, an average interpretation of a so-called suave and sophisticated James Bond. However although brimming with potential and eagerness it is obvious that Scott’s lack of reputation has cost him the ability to higher the Tom Cruises, the Will Smiths and the Johnny Depps, but has instead been provided with the likes of George Remins and Craig Presley. Who? I hear you say. Exactly.
So does this poker/gangster tie-in fold under the pressure? Or does it persevere, wait for the perfect card and seize the opportunity? The initial answer is the latter but All In is not without its faults, as you’ll read later. The audience is taken on an intriguing journey of twists, turns, and sublime suspense watching the two main characters as they develop throughout. It is this that sets Griffiths story apart from others; his creative contrasting of characterisation with a juxtapose of confidence with nervousness and apprehensiveness. From the outset it seems the two characters are big money players but with high praise to unconventional director Griffiths, not everything is at it seems – particularly the stand out twist at the end. Keeping with Griffith’s early established un-conventionalism he turns what should be a slow paced and sophisticated game of poker into a fast paced and at times frantic perception on what a poker flick should be. And it works. Particularly as the game unfolds, the quick cuts integrated make for a seat clenching and mental thrill ride as the match comes to the final card flip. Also the setting of All In can only be described as perfect for the semi-legal theme that’s meant to be portrayed; by introducing working class houses as the venue for the film it is established that this would be a film of grit rather than glamour as the poker players stake their money for further gain. In contrast from a large casino to a suburban working class house it is evident that perhaps this film is aimed at those closer to the protagonists own situation, but however the classy apparel worn may appeal to those of a higher class. Coincidentally this film should appeal to all.
However, like most films, along with positives come negatives; which are mainly due to the director’s inexperience and lack of ‘materials’ i.e. acting, time and equipment. Often at times the acting seems unintentionally awkward. This is most evident when player 2 or Jack Hindley wins and clearly the director has asked the actor to portray happiness but instead receives a look of mild relief from constipation. Griffiths has clearly been dealt a bad hand in terms of actors, and the film almost suffers because of it. If it wasn’t for the clever subtleties of character design earlier mentioned then decisively the opinions of this film would have dropped considerably. A final hindrance of the film is the random changes in lighting which many critics have interpreted in several ways, ‘its his [Griffiths] inexperience’ or alternatively ‘it’s his way to again show the contrasts in characters’, either way it doesn’t affect the film greatly – unless you’re a nit-picking movie critic, (not pointing any fingers) ‘it’s his inexperience’, please?
Verdict – An extremely imaginative twist on a niche genre with little room for much character development – but this pulls it off. Thumbs up. Small little faults hinder overall quality. 4/5
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