Post 17: Ancillary Task 2 - Film Reviews Part 1

Following the professional industry we have been asked to create a film review analyzing our short films. To get a good idea of what conventions are present in a film review, I have looked at many different examples. Traditionally film reviews are used as a way to assess or criticize new releases, which in turn helps the public, decided whether they want to go and see the film.


Industrial magazines

The first industrial magazine I have looked at it called Sight and Sound; this is a British film magazine that is released monthly. Typically you would find reviews analyzing long feature films and not short film such as the ones we have created, however you can find reviews on short films as part of special selection dedicated to short films. After looking through the magazine I have come across an article review called Frozen directed by Juliet McKoen. After reading and evaluating the article I have noticed many conventions, for example the structure

• Introduction
• Introduce the characters
• Location of where filming took place
• Over view of the film
• How they filmed and what type of equipment they used
• Comparing the film to previous work by the Actors and Director
• What the generalist doesn’t like about the film but then moves on to good points

Over all the layout of the review is also very important, they have used a picture of Juliet McKoen to draw in the audience. They have used very formal professional language which is reflected throughout the whole review. The choice of language is also important to think about and try to promote the film for example; they have mentioned the film is prize winning reinforcing to the audience that the film is worth seeing. They have also mentioned the use of state of the art high definition equipment which reinforces the quality of the film is very high.

This is an example of a film review taken from Empire Magazine. That is designed more for the general public rather than individuals in the professional industry. 

Newspapers

As well as industrial magazines we can also look at reviews from newspapers such as The Independent and Guardian. I have noticed that both newspapers have recently reviewed ‘The Kings Speech’; this has been very helpful as I can compare and contrast both newspapers against each other. In contrast to Sight and Sound the Independent takes a completely different spin on it, the language they have used is much more relaxed and they don’t use as much technical language which in turn makes its much easier to read. This works well with the type of audience that will be reading the article for example, readers of Sight and Sound are most likely to be in the professional industry and will have a better understanding of the technical language used in the review. On the other hand readers of The Independent and Guardian are more interested in the story and plot rather than what goes into making the film and equipment used.

Looking at The Independent review I have again noticed many conventions such as

• They focus on how the film reflects British culture.
• They give an over all positive feel of the film.
• Reinforces heritage which is represented in the film.
• Plays upon the story line.
• Rather than looking at parts of the story line it tells the reader the whole story.
• Picks up on the good quality acting and how they should be awarded.
• Use of picture taken from the film.

The Independant Film Review

However looking at The Guardian review, even though still coming from a newspaper it again looks at the film from another angle and uses a different style to analyze. The conventions that I have picked up on are

• The uses of modern language much makes it much easier to read for the audience.
• Use of picture taken from the film.
• Focuses on the good plot and praise it.
• Has a comical light hearted feel when reading the review.
• Again focuses on how good the film was and how it should be rewarded with awards.
• It has a small element of technical analyze however isn’t in a much depth as Sight and Sound so does intimidates the reader

Online Review

We can also look at film reviews from online websites such as those from Filmguru. Net. These are short online reviews that get straight to the point and use relaxed language of any audience. The conventions I have noticed are

• Outline of plot and storyline
• Camera work they have used
• Acting being inspirational
• How the director planned the locations for rating certificate

http://www.filmguru.net/shorts/2008/080601.html Here is the link to have a look at the online review by Filmguru.net.

Short Film Reviews

After looking at film reviews for long feature films it was interesting to see the difference for short films. Even though my own film review could feature in an Industry magazine such as Sight and Sound and be part of a ‘Short film Special’ I was interested in seeing if short film reviews followed the same conventions as film reviews for feature films. This lead to me doing research on the internet and I came across the website FIlmGuru here they have a range of different reviews from a range of years and all from different genres. I have noticed from looking at a range of reviews that they have the following conventions. They quickly introduce the film and the Director and give a short synopsis of features actors and the genre. In addition they mention work previously produced by the Director and how it compares to their previous works. Finally they explore any effects that have been used as well as lighting and camera work. After looking at these reviews it has helped me to gain a better understanding of the different conventions that I will have to use when writing my own film review and how they differ from feature to short films.

Example of Short film review from FilmGuru
Another example of a Short film Review

My film Review
After looking at many different type of review and the different conventions they have used I have decided that I would like to follow in the footsteps of Sight and Sounds. I would like my film review to follow the same conventions and consist of a Synopsis and a short film over view, who is playing the main character, who directed and produced the film, the positive and negatives of certain scene that could have been improved.  As well I would also like to include a cast list, lighting, camera and creative director.  I would like the language to be professional and have some technical elements which would appeal to both those in the professional industry but also the general public, I would also like a picture either taken from the film or an additional photo which will help draw in the audience.

My Film Review:

Karma, being the first show case film of Director Emily Downer, consistently reflects the time, dedication and creativeness that went into producing this short film. Shot in and around Kings Langley, a small friendly village in Hertfordshire ‘Karma’ explores the daily routine of LucieAnne , a mischievous and troubled teenager. From first impressions it appears LucieAnne gets pleasure and reward from causing pain and unhappiness to others, but it soon becomes apparent it is not all as it seems.  During an interview with Emily, she explained how she hoped the film would explore what happens behind closed doors and the true reasons behind LucieAnne’s hard exterior.  After production it is clear that this is not represented as clearly as Emily had hoped.  From the first scene we get a small insight into LucieAnne’s home life of living with her verbally abusive father however, this issue is not further explored or developed throughout  the film.

Emily wastes no time in getting straight to the plot.  It is clear from the beginning that living conditions for LucieAnne are far from normal, which instantly creates a sense of empathy towards her character.  But, it soon becomes obvious that it is not as simple as you are first led to believe as Emily’s twisting story lines soon brings you to the wrong conclusion.  Your first impressions of the sad, lonely and unhappy LucieAnne are soon changed to a more suitable and stereotypical image.  This leads me to ask is the age and costume of the main character LucieAnne appropriate?  From a director and production designer’s point of view I would have preferred to have seen LucieAnne as a younger student dressed in school uniform which would help to reflect the stereotypical bullying that tends to occur at a younger age.  

Frequent clips of a more brutal, intimidating and spiteful LucieAnne raises questions as to the reasons behind her disruptive and unpleasant behaviour.  Could it be her home life?  Damaging past events that have shaped her as she grows up? Her personality? Or just nature versus nurture?   It soon becomes apparent that the only form of escape for LucieAnne is the director’s clever use of the music which represents the changing genres of the film along with her changing moods and emotions.  This is cleverly developed through the sound design and the choice of music in the opening scenes where this motif has been created.

Her loneliness is intensified through the location of the alleyway.  `the long and narrow alleyway shown when LucieAnne is walking to and from school could be implying and reinforcing her loneliness and lack of companionship.  Throughout the film we see quick sharp camera work with a good range of frames and movement.  However, l feel the film the third scene located in a science classroom could be improved letting the film down the third scene. This scene does not flow with the rest of the film.  The use of close ups on LucieAnne and her classmates could have easily enhanced and recovered this scene. 

Even though filmed on a low budget and with some amateur skills, Emily has successfully created an attention grabbing and motivating plot that leaves the audience asking many questions.  The overall final message behind the plot, depending upon your point of view, is open to many interpretations.  Could it be suggesting ,‘Do unto others as they do unto you!’ or more simply, ‘What goes around comes around!” and therefore, we all get what we deserve in life!

Audience Feedback 

After completing my film review I wanted to receive Audience Feedback to see if i had followed convention and to ask for their opinion on positive and negative. For this audience back I used Alice, she isn’t a media student however we had a discussion and I informed her of what are typical conventions you would expect to see in a postcard. Even though she is part of the school environment and isn’t my target audience, she has an interest in short films and her views are still appreciated.  To make her feel more comfortable she has written down her ideas previously to being filmed.  

Post 16: Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards Part 1

One of the most important aspects of any film is the promotion and distribution. One of the most common ways of promotion is the use of Film Posters and Postcards. When looking at a film poster there are many different conventions that audiences will expect to see. An example of the conventions are,

• Name and title of the film.
• Picture, either a frame from production or an additional photo that has relevance. The picture normally dominates the poster.
• When the film is being released, this is very important in large scale films that people have been waiting a long time to see creating a big build up. An example of this would be new Harry Potter films and Avatar.
• The name of the Director or Actors.
• Quotes from reviews also called endorsements. These are very important for smaller budget films to try and attract people into watch the film. 
• Different style of designs also knows as typography. Each film will have its own unique selling points, such as is the director the main emphasis or the actors.
• Log lines or tag lines, which are designed to capture the audience attention.
• The film company name and logo. Being an independent film producer this is very important as another film director might see it and like your work, meaning they could want you to write a new script or direct a new film.

 As we can see there are many different conventions to what goes into a film poster however, one big difference that we can notice is the big contrast between large budget and low budget films.  This is due to the fact that the production of posters are on a large budget, as they are placed around in as many different areas as possible such as billboards, bus stops on the sides of buses, by placing them in as many different locations as possible it in turn is promoting the film to the biggest audience possible.  

A good example of the difference in poster from a small and large budget film is Harry Potter and Lock Stock and Two Smoking barrels. We can instantly see the difference between the two posters. For the Harry Potter poster the picture is the most dominate feature and catches the audience’s attention, in addition to hardly any writing. Harry Potter is a massive million pound production even though they are filmed in the UK they are joined with Warner brother in America, this means that they can distribute their posters on a large scale production universally, another advantage they have is the film is part of a sequence and is very well know meaning they don’t need many words or annotations to help promote it as its already a global success and audiences know what to expect when they go to watch the film.  On the other hand looking at Lock Stock, this was a small British scale production meaning they didn’t have as big of a budget. It was also a new film out, so endorsements where needed on the poster to help show the audience that It would be worth going to see. Similar to Harry Potter, the picture is also a dominant feature of the poster.  

Even though a poster is the most common way of promoting a new film, for short films like the ones we are producing a Postcard is a much cheaper and effective way of promoting our film. Poster are generally used by big budget films meaning its not possible for smaller budget and independent film producer to produce posters, leaving them to produce Postcards instead. The Postcards tend to have less information on them; however, the lack of information draws in the attention of the audience to wanting to know more about the film. Similarly to posters, a picture is still the dominant focus.  The main difference between a poster and a postcard is the fact that on a post card you can personalize the back of the picture. This space can be used when trying to promote your short films at festivals; you can you hand out the postcards with times of viewings and screening.  It’s important that on the postcard it has the director and who it’s written by, as through your short film your aim is to show off your skills and promote yourself.  In addition it’s also very important that somewhere on your postcard is an email address for your short film, here people interested in you can read about you and see other projects that you have done. It should also show different times and places for screening if they couldn’t see your film at the festive.

Above is two different postcard designs produced for short films. Divine is a short film produced by Becky who helped us with our scripts in the pre-production stage. From this post card we can see that they have used just one picture that dominates the whole page and is drawing in the audience, this could either be a shot from the film or additional photo taken after or during production. The name of the film is also clearly shown at the top of the postcard in addition to a small saying or quote at the bottom. On the back of the post card is information about the director, who is starring in the film, producer, costume designer, edited by and sound, as well as an email address for any further information you may want to enquire about further. They have creatively used the email address of the post card designer to split the card into to half likes a traditional post card.  However On a Life's Edge is designed very differently to Divine, it again has a dominate image of a block of flats but has 3 additional smaller images running down the side of the post card, this could help give away for information to what you are most likely to see in the film itself. It also has a date on it which could be the year it was produced or the year the film is set in, it also has a logo in the top left hand corner which could be their production logo. The back of the post card is very different to Divine, its has a lot less  information but does include a short description or synopsis of what the film is about. It also has the cast, credits and duration of the film. The logo appears again on the back as well as 2 other logos which could be from companies that helped fund the production of the film.

After looking and comparing the two different post card i can see that through the designs they have created and theme which is present on the front and back of the post card so they are linked together. I think this is an important aspect that i should try to achieve in my own post card designs and final production. I also think that my post card information should be showing the producer, director, lighting, camera, production designer and cast. I would like the company logo to also be on the postcard somewhere to promote the companies for any further work.  

My own Post Card Designs 
After looking at the different conventions of Postcard I have created 3 of my own possible designs for my own short film.


Postcard design one

In this Postcard design I have chosen to have a close up picture of our main character LucieAnn. This we be an additional picture taken during production when shooting the scenes up the Alleyway. In this picture I hope LucieAnn expression will show elements of worry, startled and anxious. I would like the expression to draw the audience in and question what and why is causing this expression on her face.  I would then like to edit the photo adding in the name of the film and then a short tag line at the top of the Postcard. I have also designed what i would like the back of the Postcard to look like, showing all the important information. When editing i would like to make the picture have an edgy and dark feel to the atmopshere.














Postcard design Two

For my second Postcard I would like it to be taken during production when we are filming up the Alleyway. This would be a picture of the back of LucieAnn as she is walking away. I am hoping that the image of her walking away will make the audience wonder and question what she is walking away from. I would then edit the photo adding in the name of the short film and a shot tag line at the bottom. In addition I would also like to have the production logo in the bottom right hand corner.
I have again designed the back of the Postcard showing the key information.














Postcard design Three

This is my third design that I have created. For this design i have chosen to have it showing the Alleyway where we will be filming, I have chosen to edit the photo and add in a sign post showing the name of our short film and then make it look like someone bas spray painted the words "It never goes away". Again i have designed the back of the Postcard showing all the key important information.


For all of my designs i have tried to think about images and tag lines that will catch the audiences attention and make then become intrigued as to what our short film is actually about.  I have tried not to give away the story line to the audience as this could lead to the audience guessing and assuming what our short film will be about and feel they don't want to go and see it themselves. For the back of my Postcards i have made each design different. I would like to get feedback on my designs and ask and audience which design they find most eye catching and draws them into watch the film, I will also ask which back of the Postcard they prefer and use that on for my final design.

Below is an example of some of my audience feedback. In this clip I have used Ryan and Liam who are media students, because of this they already have a good idea of what a short film postcard should look like. Due to the fact we have discussed this previously and they have written down the answers, it means I’m not receiving their initial responses to my designs. This means their answers as effective as they could have been.   

My final three postcard designs 
For all four of my postcard designs including the back I have used the programme Photoshop. This was a programme that i had never used before so I meant it took me much longer than I first planned when it came to editing my photos.  For the first few attempts I spent a lot of time experimenting and finding different effects that I felt where effective.


Postcard 1

For this postcard I have used a number of different editing techniques. Firstly I have changed the settings to Black and white, in this setting it allows you to add in hints of colour. I decided that adding a red hint into the Black and White was most effective. After choosing red in then allowed me to choose the intensity of the red, I didn't want it to be to intrusive or take the audiences attention away from the main focus.  After choosing to change the image to black and white and add in the red I the decided to change the levels, using the level tool i could change the intensity of the black and white. I decided to to make the level lighter as it made the red more noticeable. In addition to this i also decided to change the effects on the writing, here I have decided to add in a glow around the outside, i chose to have a white and red glow as i wanted it to match the red tint I added to the photo. I feel by adding the glow it draws in the audiences attention to the name of the film as its bolder and stand out against the black and white.

This Screne shot is showing how I used effects on my Text and how I added the red and white glow around the writing.
Postcard 2

For this design I have used the Highlight and Shadow tool, using this it allowed me to change the intensity of the shadows on her face as well as the ones on the ground from the bush. I have decided to lighten the shadows as I felt it didn't make her face and ground as dark, this mean the shadows weren't as noticeable in the image. I also decided to add Highlights to her face to increase the look of the sun shinning down and lighting up her face, which draws in the focus to her face and emotion. In addition to this i also used the selective colour tool, this gives you all the base colours used in your photo and give you the opportunity to adjust them. I chose to increase the Cyan levels and decrease the Yellow levels. Over all with the highlight and shadows and colour adjustments made the picture look much brighter and gave the image a more eye catching effect. 

This Screne shot shows how I added the different layers to my postcard to make it easier to edit. It also shows how I changed the colour levels.

Postcard 3

For this image I have used the tool Channel Mixer, here I have changed and enhanced the yellow and red colours by 100%. I have chosen to do this as I feel it gives the photo a warm and rich feeling like you would get using an 85 filter. I did have the option of using and 85 Filter however I felt changing the Channel Mixer had a better outcome. In addition I have added a red filter to the image and changed the density to 25% this again added a warmer feeling to the photo. I think that making these changes enhances her facial features such as her lips and checks and emphasises her emotion. 

Back design

For this image I decided to use a different photo to the front but one that was still relevant and would match the design on the front and make it flow. I first created lots of different layers to make it easier for me edit. I first added the annotation using the Text box tool, I used the same front as the front of the postcard and decided to have the same writing on both the front and back. I then added in a small synopsis to give the audience a quick over view of what the film was about. I think added the cast and the main characters, followed by all my group members and the role within the group.  To separate the two sides I decided to used a website address for the film for anyone interested in getting more information on either the film or the producer and her previous works. I also left 5 lines for an address and the finally i used our production logo in the top right hand corner as a place to stick the stamp. Finally i added in the picture to the background, I edited the photo using Highlight and Shadow to try and create an image that looked like a water mark, meaning it wasn't intrusive but was only seen lightly in the background and didn't overtake the writing and annotations.  

Below is a video showing some of my audience feedback on my final three designs.

For my audience feedback on my final design I have used two different samples. Firstly I have used Anton, Gemma and Tim, both Anton and Tim are media students but Gemma is not. Gemma not being a media student wasn’t a big problem as I was asking for their opinions on designs which weren’t specific to media. For this feedback I recorded their initial responses meaning it was very effective and helpful for me when picking my final design. For the second video I asked Ryan and Liam for their opinion on my final designs, both being media students they had previous knowledge of existing postcard products. We discussed their answers previously and they wrote down their answers to make them confident when being recorded.