Matthew Atkinson

Codes and conventions Before making my film I researched the conventions a short films to help make the film more look more professional. I researched narrative for short films to give me an idea of how short films are set out and how the story is told in a short period of time. This helped me understand how important narrative is to the film, as the storyline is what engages the audience along with the genre. Researching genre and cinematography helped me gain a greater understanding and knowledge of the film industry, before going on to make my own short film. Short films we looked at where Spike Jones How Did it Get There, George Lucas in Love, I'm Here and Across the Hall. I also looked at different theorists, such as Todorov who suggested that narrative starts with a state of equilibrium, then there is the disruption and then at the end there is a new equilibrium. Other theorists we looked at where Levi-Strauss, Barthes Codes, which gave us the idea to use enigma codes in our film and Propps character roles, which we also used in our film as we had the villain and the victims. When researching genre, we looked at trailers for films such as Paul, Super 8 and Cowboys and Aliens, which helped me to recognise that although they all have the same genre of SCI-FI, they also have subgenres and hybrid genres, such as comedy and action. Genre helps the audience to decide weather they want to see this film, as different genres have different target audiences. I also looked at mise-en-scene and how props, costume and acting can enhance a films and make it more believable and watchable. Films that we took inspiration from and thought had similar aspects to our own idea for a film where American Psycho, Halloween and a Drink Driving advert. When making our short film, we took all of these aspects into consideration to make our film look more professional. We decided to make the genre a hybrid genre, Psychological/Thriller. The target audience for our film is in the age range of 15-25. We planned where we would film and what props we needed to make the film more realistic. In the editing process, using final cut pro, we used match on action cuts and short cuts to give our films pace. We also added sound effects and music, which complimented the scenes and the genre of the film.

Title

Actors Names Tag Line

Central Image

Review s

Production Company Release Date

Age Certificate

Heading Introducti on

Main Image

Article/interview with cast Quotes

These films follow the codes and conventions of a film poster, like the ones I have labelled on my poster.

Hollywood Version

Short Film Version

These are drafts of my film poster and double page spread, while making them I changed things and improves things to make them look more professional and to fit the codes and conventions.

I think that the combination of my short film and my ancillary tasks work well together, as the designs of all products compliment each other by the colour scheme, images and font. This ties the products together and makes them look more professional. When designing and making these products, I incorporated aspects of the genre of my short film to engage the audience, as they are attracted to a film by the genre. The tagline on my film poster, The Fine Line Between Fiction and Reality, relates to the storyline of my film. Using the codes and conventions of real media products, has give my products a more professional look. I would consider all of my products to be strong pieces of work, as they have followed the conventions of real media products and have been edited well. However if I had to change anything, I would maybe add more to my double page spread to fill in any empty space. Also I think I would have put more of an effort in with the costumes and maybe added more dialogue to the film to make the narrative more clear. All the members of my group are proud of the film we have made and agree that it is of a good standard. My ancillary tasks publicise the short film, the film poster promotes and advertises the film and the double page spread and article about the personal lives of the cast appeals to the audience and draws them in.

Marketing and Advertising a film is important, therefore I wanted to make my ancillary tasks, poster and article, look professional by following the conventions and by using Photoshop. I added features such as the name of the actors to attract the audience, I added positive reviews so that the audience knew the standard of the film and that it was good. I used a tagline to entice the audience and to give a small insight to what the film is about. The release date and the age certificate are important as they inform the audience of when the film is available and who it is available to. For my double page spread article, I decided to do an interview that gave an insight into the lives of the actors, which I thought would intrigue the audience with a little behind the scenes gossip. I thought this would help with promoting the stars of the film, giving them a fan base which is promotion for the film.

Audience feedback is very important when making as film, as it informs you on if the film has appealed to its target audience and improvements can be made from any criticisms. Audience feedback helps you to understand what the audience wants and if you have met their needs. To gain audience feedback, we posted our film on the social networking site, Facebook. We got positive feedback from the audience while also incorporated Web 2.0 into our research. We showed our feedback by making a short video using post it notes and we also posted an image of the comments left by the audience. As the film received positive feedback, it shows that the film was a success.

 I have used convergence many times during my coursework. I have used different ways to present my work, such as PowerPoint, glogster, windows movie maker, scribd, vimeo and prezi. To make my ancillary tasks I used cameras to take still pictures and used Photoshop to edit the images onto my poster and double page spread. To film we used digital cameras, which has enhanced my knowledge of cinematography and my knowledge of editing was enhanced by using Final Cut Pro. We used music and sound effects from garage Band and we also got permission to download a song from a website that makes music especially for short films.

By using websites like blogger, scribd and vimeo, my work can be shared with people around the world. The internet is a great way to connect with people on a global scale and because our film has been put onto YouTube, our film can be distributed globally and watched by people all around the world. Web 2.0 has created a new way for people to communicate and connect with each other. YouTube, skype and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have enabled people to commutate instantly and freely with people around the world from the comfort of their own home. There are many ways to access the internet through many different media devices, from laptops, mobile phones to IPods and tablets. It is so quick and easy to watch a video, listen to music or look at pictures and also to upload your own so that other people can view them. The internet helped me to research many different aspects of my coursework, from watching trailers, researching codes and conventions and looking at movie posters and other images, and uploading work that I have done to my blog. My skills have definitely improved from AS, as I have been able to work with more advanced technology and use different ways of producing work. The use of digital cameras has progressed my knowledge of cinematography and camera work. I was able to work on the Macs and use software like Final Cut Pro and Garage Band, which I had not used prior to making this film. Using the Macs was a new experience which I had to get used to. Although some aspects where difficult, we worked as a team and figured them out. This also helped me work better within a group. Without the use of new technology, the work I have produces would not be of high standard and would not look as professional. It has helped us a great deal in making a