evaluation question 4

How did you use new media technology in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages ?

For my research and planning I used many different types of media technologies.
My main internet based technologies were google images and tiny pic. I used tinypic to upload my pictures to blogger. I used google images to research different types of images I needed for example when looking for short film posters.
www.google.co.uk/images
http://www.tinypic.co.uk/

Here is an example of how I use Google Images.



I used this video camera to film my whole media short film.

evaluation question three

What have you learned from your audience feedback ?

When I had finished my short film I asked three of my peers who were also in my media class to give me feedback. These are the questions I asked.
What is your first reaction of the film?
Responce A:
I found it really effective and it also gave me an awareness of domestic violence.
Responce B:
I thought it was very powerfull.
Responce C:
It gave me a real insite.
Do you think that this short film campaign will encourage those who have or are being effected by domestic violence to seek help?
Responce A:
I deffinatly think that this could encourage someone to seek help. I think this mainly because of the girl who has been effected talking at the start and end of the film
Responce B:yes i think it will as it showed a story instead of just abuse.
Responce C: It might because it shows how good times can turn to bad.
What I have Learned
These responces showed me that my short film can be very powerful and help reach out to those who have been effected. This is exactly what I was aiming for when I created my short film and storyline. Responce A on question 2 was very pleasing for me because it shows that usually campaigns just show abuse in relationship whereas my short film went through a story process.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts ?
For my short film i used many different types of media to create my final project. I believe that together they all created a very effective short film.

It was very important to me to get the mise en scene of my short film just right. I wanted to have a simple theme when shooting my film. The three main locations for my film were a house,a street and Greenwich pier. I chose these locations because I wanted to show the couple go through different phases in their relationship. For example in the house scenes, these symbolises where the abuse and the fighting happens. I think this is effective because it sets the mood for each scene.
The costumes I used for the male and female characters were both the colour red. The red of their costumes has dual meaning as it represents red for love and romance and then red for blood and fighting.
The editing of my movie was also very important when looking at the effectiveness of my short film. I used the disolve transistion in most cuts that i used as I wanted my short film to lool like it was in a "dream" like state.
My actors also added to the effectiveness of my short film. I used the actor Jason Kennedy who is studying a-level drama. It was important to me to get someone in my film who had a strong intrest in drama to play such an dominating role. He needed to show a tough masculine side however also show a romantic and loving one.
To conclude I think that putting all of these media area's together to create my main project was very effective. I think the most important factor was the actors and the mise en scene of the film.

Evaluation Question One

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

I have used three different types of media whilst making my product. These were a double page review spread,a 5 minuite short film and a poster advertising my short film.
For my short film I decided that I would like to do a campaign. Once i had decided this I brainstormed all of the possible idea's for a campaign.
I thought about the possible idea's of my campaign being about selfharm, homophobia, rasism or sexism. I researched into current campaigns i had seen on the tv or internet. I found that many of these were campainging for a charity.

I decided that I would do my campaign on domestic violence. However my campaign would challenge the norms and values of many campaigns as it would be promoting a helpline rather than asking audience to donate. After analysing many short films about domestic violence it seemed that the most effective were the ones that were very simple yet had a strong message. This is why I decided to try and keep my short film as simple as possible.
Inspiration for my short film mainly came from a campaign starring Keira Knightly.
. This short filmed used action shots showing the fighting scenes. These shots shock the audience and that is exactly what i wanted to do with my short film.
I challenged norms and conventions by showing a story instead of just the actual abuse. When i looked more into domestic violence campaigns I found they were very one sided and only looked at the story from one point of view. This is stereotypically a male beating a female. My short film differs in this way because I start my short film with looking at the two characters as a couple,in love.


Looking at different short film posters i found that many of them signified women not being able to speak. For example the one below. This short film posters symbolises the women not being able to escape from something. My short film poster is very different as I use a picture of the couple in love. This may draw the audience in and want to know what happens to the couple.



With my short film review, i tried to stick with the traditional norms and conventions of a review. I used colums to seperate the texts and also used a rating scale of stars. These too things are both often seen in film reviews to make the writing look tidy and informative. I wanted to do this with my review as it is about a very seriouss subject and wanted the audience to take it seriously.

my two page spread

The Script For My Campaign

What is my main audience.?

First of all the biggest audience that I am trying to reach are the victims of domestic violence and those who know those effected and want to help them.

Some Statistics of Domestic Violence.

"Over 40% of domestic violence victims are male." - The Guardian

- In 2006-2007 there were 407 Thousand victims of domestic abuse.

93thousand of those were male and 312 Thousand were female.

My Short Film Rating.

I have decided to rate my film as a 12 as it does contain some violence and emotional scenes. However I did not want it to be any higher than that because i want my short film to reach a wide audience, teenagers espesically.

My Final Poster

This short film on domestic violence really shows how manipulative domestic violence can be. The short film has no soundtrack only diagetic sounds of the man speaking and the women crying because there is no soundtrack I think this adds to the threatening theme of the film and makes it feel more real.
The mise en scene of the short film is also very powerfull. The fact that there is quite an empty set and all the audience can see in the shot is just the girl,the man and the the black tape around the girls mouth adds to the scary feeling.
The opening shot is a medium shot of just the males face. He looks upset and in pain. At first the audience may feel sorry for the man which lures the audience into a false sence of security.

Anaylsis Domestic Violence Short Film #2

The Non Diagetic Sound Opening to this short film is the sound of a heart beating or a heart machine. This sound automatically symbolises danger to the audience, as if someone is in danger.

Also the arguing voices that the audience can hear in the background of this video shows the domestic violence. Unlike some domestic violence short films, this short film you can only hear the domestic violence taking place. I personally think this is more effective and chilling to an audience.

The short film is very simpilistic.

My Poster. #First Draft

Some of my Idea's Of A Symbol

Against Domestic Violence

Example #3

This is my final campaign symbol i have chosen to look at. In my opinion this is the most powerfull campaign that i have seen as it just shows simply a women in front of the camera who has been a victim. The fact that she also has her hand to her lips also gives the audience some fear of what they are seeing as they can see she has been a victim but is saying it is a secret. Giving the impression their is no escape.

Against Domestic Violence

Example 2#

Some campaign symbols are very simple but put the message across directly. This symbol makes you look directly at what it is saying. It also uses the hand as an O letter which signify's the whole word stop.

Against Domestic Violence

I am going to research different types of symbols and campaigns against domestic violence to get some inspiration for my own. I want the symbol to signify the campaign being against domestic violence but in a simple way.

Example #1

Some campaigns use celebrities to help support their campaign. This makes the public more likely to respond to the campaign because they feel they know and trust the person standing up against domestic abuse.

Analysis-Domestic Violence#1

This is the first domestic violence short film that I have looked, however I am sure from seeing it just once that it is one of the most powerful. It has given me a huge amount of inspiration so far.
The establishing shot starts of with young women in the middle of work because the women is alone in the shot it automatically suggests to the viewer that she is somehow in danger. This adds to the suspense of the short film. Another short in this short film is a low angle shot. This is a shot of the young girl looking up at a shadow of a strong looking man in the flats above in the window. This shot symbolises the girl as being weak and as the “shadow” or man as having power. It also shows fear as she is looking up to him.

TOBECONTIUNED

Analysis CheckList For Short Films.

I need to talk about:

Genre.-what sort of genre is it? How can you tell this?
Theorists- Torodov,Valdimir ect..how do they relate to this short film
Semitotics
Shots
Camera Work
Mise En Scene
Lighting
Sound
Diagetic/Non Diagetic
How they create meaning?

Short Film Example.#1

I love the simplicity of this short film poster. There is not much writing apart from the makers of the film and the film title. At the bottom of the page there is also an email adress for viewers of the poster to contact.

Final Synopsis For My Film

My short film is a campaign for domestic violence. The short film will open with three dead bodies covered up. I am using three different couples to portray different types of domestic violence,in different types of relationships. I will be using a straight couple,a lesbian couple and a gay male couple. This will show that domestic abuse can happen in different types of relationships. I will show that domestic abuse can happen nomatter what your race,sexuality,age or background.I will be showing scenes of the couples in love and happy and showing the domestic violence as a gradual thing.( Does not just happen over night )
The three stories will progress by showing things such as name calling to fights. Eventually three people will end up dead. Two of the victims and one of the abusers. At the end of the short film the scene of the three dead bodies will come back up. Then all the actors will read the helpline numbers.

Straight Couple Location#2

This is a picture of the couple walking down the street. This is the scene where the night all goes wrong and there is some tension between the couple.

#Straight Couple's Location.

Location #1

This is the romantic location,set in greenwich overlooking the river.This picture shows the straight couple in love and enjoying themselves.

My Actor's-#Straight Couple

This is Ieka Walker.She is playing the part of the straight couple. She is the victim.

This is my male actor Jason Kennedy.He is playing the part of the straight couple,male abuser. He is 17years old and is studying drama at college.

My Production Scheduale

Inspiration #1

Allthough this is not a short film. This commercial has given me inspiration for my short film on domestic violence. I like the way this short film is very subtle and only at the end,you see that the girl has been a victim of domestic abuse without them saying this directly.

The short film uses both diagetic and non diagetic sounds. For example the teapot pouring tea. You can hear the sound of the tea coming out which is a normal daily activity. However in this circumstance it is made to seem sinister and odd because the girl character is not reacting to it.

You can also hear the non diagetic sound of a beating sound.This symbolises the domestic abuse.

Analysis #3

This short film is a campaign for girl's self esteem. It is a very effective and powerfull film which is not too dramatic but shows how young girls really feel. It is non fictional which i think adds to the effectiveness of the piece.

The film uses both non diagetic and diagetic sounds. The short film uses slow and sad music very quietly as the background music which adds to the emotion of the film.

The short film also uses lots of close up shots when interviewing/talking to the girls about their self image. These shots are used to see the expression on the girls faces.

The short film also has many action shots where you watch the girls doing their normally daily routine. I think the director of the film choose to do this to make thier lifes more easy to connect and realate with.

From now on I am going to be looking at the different couples in my short film as three seperate mini stories. This is just to make it clearer about what locations i need for each couple and what sets,props ect.

Couple One
This is a gay women couple. I am going to have their romantic scenes based near london bridge at night.

Couple Two

This is a hetrosexual couple. I am going to set their romantic scenes in a park.

Couple 3


This is a homosexual couple . I am going to set their romantic scenes in camden.

Women's Campaign

This is the women's domestic helpline i have chosen to campaign for.
Women's Aid is one of the main womens charity to end domestic violence. There is a helpline for women to ring and talk to someone about what they are going through. It is a free phone which is open 24/7.

Campaign,case study.

This is the men's domestic abuse helpline i have chosen to campaign for.I am going to have a women's and a men's seperate helpline because i have researched and their are not many campaigns that. do helplines

The men's advice line is a confidential helpline for men who have experienced or are experiencing domestic violence. It is a freephone number and it does not come up on bills.This includes hetrosexual and homosexual males. The men's advice line have trained staff who listen and do not rush you and give you time to talk through your experiences.

Analysis #2

Audience Theories

Hypodemic Syringe (Marxist Theory)

-Vance Packard.(1957)

The hidden persuaders. Media can directly inject messages to you.

• Audiences are passive
• homogenous
• like blank pages

Theory was widely known in the 1950's. Academics viewed the media is a negative way.

Media is seen as a syringe that injects idea's and attitudes.

Audience seen as junkies.Powerless to resist.

Synopsis

My short film has now changed and i am now doing just one campaign for just one problem which is going to be domestic violence.My short film is going to start with three dead bodies (covered up).It is then going to flash back into three different scenes.My characters in my film are three different couples,there is going to be a lesbian couple,a straight couple and a gay male couple.Unlike some campaigns for domestic violence i am going to try show as little of the actual fighting with the couples as possible and symbolise the violence more. For example Using one of the girls sitting in her room and just have her hearing the diouloge of the fighting in her head.eg hearing the words fat,ugly said by the abuser. I am also going to also have scenes near the start of the couples being in love and show how the violence has devolped between the couples and where it all went wrong. I am also going to have subtle symbols in the short film all around, for example posters of my campaign in the background of shots. At the end of my short film when the help line number is coming up i am going to show the symbol again and one of the victims saying the number instead of it just being read.

I don't want my characters who are being abused to always seem vunerable and the stereotypical image of a victim. For example, always crying,hunched shoulders and weak.
I am going to do alot of research into domestic violence to make sure i get all the facts exactly right. I am also in the middle of finding a real campaign of domestic voilence and doing a study on it. I could also use this as the number to call at the end of my film.

I am going to look in more depth about my target audience however i think i will have a wide audience. My short film should be sutible for anyone over the age of 15 as domestic violence can effect anyone in any way. Even if the audience aren't victims of domestic violence themselves,they may know someone who has been effected or it may just make them more aware.

New Idea

I am currently in the middle of writing my synopsis for my short film. I have had some new idea's about my short film to make it more like a campain.I have decided to have 4 characters with 4 different problems. My film is now going to start with a split screen of ten different people waking up.It is then going to enlarge on one of those stories and give a fact or statistic. It is then going to show a mini story of their problem.This is going to repeat itself 4times.I am then going to have a charity number (still undecided what charity it might be) come up. I am then thinking about flashing quickly back to thier story and not seeing their problem be fixed but just see them smiling or a bit happier.

Spider Diagram on idea's

Introduction To Narrative Theory

Today we looked at an introduction to narrative theory.
Narrative Theory Is.;
> The way the stories are told.
> Narrative Plot refers to everything audibly or visually present
> Time and space in a compressed form.

The Narative story and The Narative Plot are two very different things.


The narative story is the chronological order of all the events.Or the report of an event.
The narative plot is the way the author presents the story and also the way the events are put together and shown to the audience.

Todorov's study.
Todorov suggests there is one narrative structure for most narrative texts.

• The quest


• Redemtion


• Journey to another world.


• The best transformed by love.


• The solving riddles.


• The bitter bit


• The stranger saviour


• The rise and fail

Vladimir's Study

Vladimir Propp said that there is a maxim of 31 functions in folktales.

Cannes Film Festival Winner

The next short film I looked out was only 52 secounds long but had the biggest impact of the fil ms i have seen so far. It was a campain for a cancer charity. Like the other video's I have seen it only had no dialect however it did have non-diagetic background music. The soundtrack for the short film was very simple but slow and sad.The soundtrack helped to add to the evocative of the emotional nature of the short film.

The mode of address is the audience looking from the outside at the action going on. I think this makes the child seem more vunerable because the audience are not being directly spoken too.This adds to the effectiveness of the campaign.

The Black Hole

The Black Hole

The short film The Black Hole was a Virgin Media Shorts Prize winner in 2008.

From watching this film I can see that it is very cleverly made.

Unlike mainstream films the short film has no introduction and the establishing shot is with just one man in the middle of an office. There is no soundtrack music and there is only diagetic sounds.Eg the sound of him putting his hand in the black hole.

The black hole only uses humour which makes the short film have a bigger impact to it's audience. There is also a message/moral in the film,which is a common thing in short films.

The basic message of the short film is not to be greedy. This has also given me inspiration for my film as i deffinatly want my film to give out a strong message or moral.

Short Film's

Today we had a discussion about short films. Unlike mainstream films, short films have different values and morals that most mainstream films usually have. The short films usually are more about the story than anything else. There are less "rules" and stereotypes about who the characters have to be. I have also found,through looking at some short films, that they usually have no dialect. What I am going to do now,is look at 4 different short films of any genre and analyse them and also look at how they are different to other films.

Media,Start Of A2

Today we were given our A2 coursework,this year I am working on my own. The first thing I am going to do is a brainstorm of all the idea's I have. I am also going to look at other short films,analyse them and also get inspiration from them.This blog will mainly the preproduction of the short film that I will make.

PreProduction

• Demonstrate a clear knowledge of forms and conventions.
• Hyperlinks to atleast 6 short films (any genre)
• Hyperlinks to a further 8 short films ( Of my genre )
• Analysis of the short films should include

Sounds,mise en scene,what the film was about,the characters

location,genre,time,mood,themes developed,colour schemes.