Final Product - Short Film

This is the final draft for my short film (running time: 05:00), however I am also submitting my Director's Cut, which is 07:08 minutes long. 

Final Ancillary Text 1 - Poster

Final Ancillary Text 2 - Film Review Magazine Double-Page Spread

Evaluation Question 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Conventions of Real Media Texts?

This is some of the genre and form research I did at the beginning of my project. For evaluation question one I am going to use this to see if my product conformed to or challenged conventions of real media products, with reference to examples. 

For example, because one of the purposes of my film is to raise awareness of dementia and because the target audience includes people who care for people with dementia, my film could be distributed online through charities such as The Alzheimer's Society and Dementia UK, or on Facebook support groups and forums where people might seek advice about dementia, as this would mean my video would reach the desired target market. 

HOW MY VIDEO MIGHT LOOK ON THE DEMENTIA UK FACEBOOK PAGE

I have also used cinematography and editing which are conventional to short films. These include: 

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Shot reverse shot is a type of continuity editing conventionally used to portray conversations on screen. I used them for conversations in all scenes as they make the narrative easier to follow for the audience and make the scene flow nicer. 

Continuity refers to a way of editing which makes action in a scene continuous. It gives consistency to a story and is more interesting that just using one single shot. For example, here I have used a mid shot of Emily staring at the boxes, followed by an over the shoulder shot of her going to pick them up, then a close up of her picking it up, then a high angle shot of her turning back ground. The makes a shot that is only a few seconds long a lot more professional and nicer to watch. Continuity editing is a convention of film and television. 

I used fade transitions to transport the narrative from the present to the past. These are conventional of short films, however are not so conventional for the drama/social realism genre as they could be argued to take away from the realism of the piece. A lot of mainstream drama TV and Film only uses cuts and jump cuts as these are seen as more conventional to the drama genre. Therefore using this type of editing challenges the conventions of the drama genre in order to distinguish between the past and the present. 

The final scene of my film was intended to be the one with the most drama and pace as Emily is rushing through the house not being able to find her Grandad, and becoming more concerned for his safety with every passing second. I used a tracking shot so that the audience is taken on this journey with Emily to build the tension within the scene. I also used a tracking shot of Henry's shuffling feet to empathise his slow and unsteady movements which also foreshadows what is to come. I created this shot of Henry by putting the DSLR camera on a slider and pushing it alongside the actor's feet. I created smooth tracking shots of Emily by using the shoulder rig which I have used throughout the film to partially stabilise shots. I didn't want to use a tripod or a slider as this would make the shots completely still/smooth and I wanted some shake to the camera to create realism. Also in this part of the film I used some shots of Henry which were close-ups but did not show his face, I did this to connote that dementia can happen to anyone, not just Henry.

Over the shoulder shots are conventional in short film and usually used in short reverse shots to show a conversation. However in my short film one way in which I used them was in the bathroom scene. I used an over the shoulder shot of Emily looking in the mirror and then faded this into an over the shoulder shot of Henry to show the start of the flashback. I used the same over the shoulder shot for both characters to show that looking in the mirror triggered the memory for Emily. (This is the scene that I cut from the 5 minute version of my film - however I used an over the shoulder shot in the kitchen scene to show the conversation between Gen and Emily. This was used after a long shot of the kitchen and this combination of conventional film syntax helps to place the characters within the setting and develop the narrative). 

Here, I have used a close up shot to give the audience a closer look at the object that Emily and Henry are talking about. In the background of the shot a TV and more ornaments can be seen, this is stereotypical mise-en-scene of an older person's house and creates verisimilitude for the audience. 

I used a close-up shot of Henry's face as Emily diverts her attention back to the ornament because I wanted to show how he lets his true emotions out when no one is watching. When Emily says 'You called me Gen', Henry tries to backtrack and say that he didn't mean it and makes a joke about her hair colour. However, when Emily turns away he looks distan and worried. Then I cut to a close up of present day Emily showing her looking from the chair back to the ornament to show her thought process. 

SCENE 4

Following on from the close-up I used an editing technique called an eye-line match. This is a type of continuity editing and I used it to show Emily looking back at the ornament which was part of her flashback. I used an eye-line match to show that the ornament holds a lot of significance to her, but it also holds this painful memory of the start of her Grandad's dementia because she looks at it and then quickly looks away and walks out of the room. Using this eyeline match shows the audience what Emily is seeing and brings them into the narrative and makes them sympathise with Emily's situation. 

In the eyline match I used an extreme close-up of the ornament because the audience hasn't seen it in detail yet. This is another conventional shot used in film. In this shot the camera shakes to empathise Emily's sadness and shock at reliving the flashback. 

High angle shots are conventionally used in film and TV. I used this one of Henry in the bathroom to convey the vulnerability that his condition leaves him in. This shot being from a high angle means that a lot of the background is visible to add depth to the scene and create verisimilitude, but Henry is still framed in a medium close-up which draws attention to and empathises how his hand shakes as he brushes his hair - shakiness and loss of coordination is a symptom of dementia. Furthermore, the fact this shot is quite wide means that when Emily runs in she can be seen lingering in the background and the whole scene doesn't consist of separate shots of them, they exist in the same shot which places the characters in the setting and the narrative together. 

I have used a two shot here so that Emily can be in the scene, but as she isn't that involved in the scene and it is predominantly about Henry and Gen, she can just be in the background so the audience can still see her reactions to the way her Grandad is acting. She is on her phone which is a stereotypical behaviour of teenagers. The use of Emily and Henry in a two shot and Gen on her own connotes the divide in the family because Emily is aware of her Grandad's condition a lot more than her mum is, who is more in the dark because she isn't around as much as Emily is. 

Medium close-ups are also conventional shots and used a lot during conversational sequences such as the conservatory scene. I have used it in a shot reverse shot between Gen and Henry because the frame is wide enough to convey body language whilst also being close up enough to convery facial expression and emotion of the characters. 

Camera movements such as pans and titles are used in film. Here the shot began on the 'for sale' sign and then titled down slightly before panning to a long shot of the house. I used this shot to first indicate to the audience that a house is for sale and then to establish the setting to the audience. Beginning with a close up of the sign challenged conventional film syntax as usually an establishing shot would be used first to begin a film/scene. I placed my shots in this way to disorientate the viewer as this is not what they would expect to see as an opening shot and this will confuse them, reflecting the confusion that Henry is in due to his dementia. Also, starting with this shot is interesting and engages the audience from the beginning as they want to know more about the narrative. 

Depth of field is used to create meaning within a text. Here I used a shallow depth of field with Gen is focus, because she is speaking, and Emily not in focus because she herself is dazed out and not paying attention to her mum as she is preoccupied by thoughts about her Grandad and his house. I wanted to use this shot so that Emily was kept in the frame to show that Emily and Gen are in this together and to establish Emily's presence in Emily's home as someone who would visit often and was/is a big part of Henry's life. 

This long shot faded up from black to indicate that we are now in a different time frame - still in the past but more present than the flashback. I used a long shot to establish the setting so that the gate can be seen which was seen in the first scene to show the audience that this is at the same house. However, the use of a different long shot indicates that something is different/wrong. This was followed by a continuity sequence of Emily closing the gate, however looking back I wish I had used the same shots as the first scene for the continuity part to mirror Gen opening the gate in the first scene as I think this would've been a nice link back to the beginning of the narrative.  

Like a medium close-up, a mid shot is used to show movement, body language and facial expression and emotion of a character. I used one here to show Emily's journey through the house and metaphorically her journey of coping with Henry's dementia. 

I used a low angle shot to infer that Henry is on the ground after falling outside. It also connotes that Emily is now the character with power and the responsibility to help her Grandad, because Henry is now in crisis, is vulnerable and needs help for his condition. However the fact that Henry isn't seen leaves the end of the story open to interpretation and also leaves the story on a cliffhanger with the audience wondering what happens next. Another short film that is left on a cliffhanger is 'The Silent Child' (2017, dir. Chris Overton), as the film ends with the social worker walking away from the school gates visibility upset leaving the audience not knowing what happens to the deaf girl and whether her parents eventually accept that sign language is the most effective way of communicating with her. 

Overall, my short film conformed to conventions of existing media texts. However it also challenged them in some areas too.

Do My Ancillary Texts Conform? 

(I have taken these slides from the Prezi from my second evaluation question as I feel I have covered the conventions of the products in these slides. However there are more slides about the effectiveness of these products in evaluation question 2.) 

Overall my ancillary texts conformed to the conventions of existing media texts.

Evaluation Question 2 - How Effective is the Combination of your Main Production and Ancillary Texts?

To assess whether my ancillary texts were effective when combined with my main product, first I am going to explain the choices I when producing my ancillary texts and say why I made these choices. Then I am going to compare my ancillary texts to existing media texts to see whether they are similar and whether they have conformed to the same conventions or if they have challenged them. 

(Slide 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11 are also featured in Evaluation Question 1)

I conducted a survey using Google Forms to see if the combination of my ancillary productions were effective when used alongside my main product. 

My results found that 

• The audience felt that the products worked both on their own and together
• They felt there was a synergy between the two ancillary products
• They said seeing the poster would make them want to see the film, therefore making the poster effective
• They said seeing the double-page spread would make them want to see the film, therefore making the double-page spread effective
• Audience members thought that there was a synergy between all three products and that they all effectively worked well together, which is what I intended when constructing them - meaning overall my ancillary texts were very effective together

Distribution

An example of how my ancillary texts successfully work together is through the distribution of my main product. For example, I used the poster to advertise my short film on social media. 

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

Evaluation Question 3 - What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

MY TARGET AUDIENCE

Audience Feedback During Pre-Production

During the initial ideas process of my film I received feedback from different people. One of them being my friend Lauren who studies television at university. She is part of my target audience because she is a media student and she also enjoys watching programmes of the drama genre. I asked her for feedback because as a student of television she has knowledge of what makes a media text conventional and what makes a good narrative. Also she is a fan of television shows which are in the drama genre meaning she had her own pre-existing knowledge and expectations of what a media text of this genre should be like and how it can be successful, meaning she had loads of ideas when it came to changing ways I could make the narrative shorter or more interesting. For example, she suggested I could infer parts of the narrative through certain camera shots instead of adding an extra scene which would drag out the story. 

LAUREN'S FEEDBACK

Even though she suggested this for my very first idea, it is still a piece of advice I used when it came to my final narrative idea. For the end scene of my film (scene 14) I was going to have a montage edit of the house with a voiceover of a doctor speaking to Gen over the phone about Henry's condition, however I decided to not do this as I realised that it would be unrealistic for a doctor to give out confidential information like that over the phone, even to a family member. Instead I used a low angle shot of Emily stood in the garden looking down at the floor after shouting "Grandad!" to infer that he had fallen in the garden and she was looking down at him, followed my statistics about the rate of dementia in the UK. 

SCENE 14

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What did I learn from this and how did this help me with the production of my film?

• The feedback helped me to simplify what was initially a very complex idea which would have been very difficult to achieve within the constraints of a short film which had no budget and only a limited amount of time to complete it in. 
• Another friend (also called Lauren) gave me feedback on how to adapt my idea from being a generic look at the symptoms of dementia to adding the unique perspective of what it is like for the family members who have to care for the person with dementia and watch their loved one fade away. She is part of my target audience because her Grandma has dementia and my film is aimed at people who have experience of caring for people with dementia (as well as those who don't). 
• The feedback from my teacher help me to structure my narrative in a way that would lead me to still include all of the conventional elements of short films and the drama genre. 

Audience Feedback During Post-Production

Audience Feedback of Final Products

This is the audience feedback that I collected for my short film, poster and double-page spread. I got feedback through a variety of different mediums, to ensure that I covered all of the sections within my target audience because my target audience (described in the image above) is quite large. For example, I screened my viewed with my Grandparents and got them to tell me their feedback face-to-face because they don't use social media, whereas the younger end of my target audience do use social media so I got their feedback via Facebook, Twitter, etc. 

I asked a psychology teacher at my college to watch my film and provide me with some feedback as she will have a unique viewpoint because one of the topics which she teaches is dementia, meaning that she will know a lot about it and therefore be able to give a good judgement as to whether she thinks my film has accurately portrayed dementia, particularly the signs and symptoms of it. 

I also contacted Dementia UK and The Alzheimer's Society for feedback in regards to how well my narrative portrayed the symptoms and effects of dementia, however they did not reply. 

Overall from my audience feedback I have learnt:

• Conforming to codes and conventions of genre and form helps to make a media product successful
• People like short films to be about subjects that they can relate to in their own lives, such as dementia
• Not everyone in your target audience is going to like the work you make
• The audience had a strong emotional response to my film and thought I got straight to the point in raising awareness of dementia
• There was synergy across all three of my products
• The double-page spread and poster helped to promote my short film successfully 

Evaluation Question 4 - How Did You Use Media Technologies in the Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

I also used the clone stamp tool to edit the main image for my double-page spread to make it look more professional. 

Overall

What Went Well?

• I produced a short film which successfully both conformed and challenged the conventions of drama short films with the intended effect on the audience.
• I used media technologies effectively to enhance my production skills and the overall quality of my work.
• I used the internet amongst other sources available to me to construct thorough planning and research, which enabled me to write a believable and relatable narrative
• I was organised and used my time wisely which lead me to meet deadlines on time and have a detailed pre-production portfolio which aided me during filming to make the most of the filming days I had.
• I used non-destruvtive editing software to edit my short film and in this process learnt that although filming is key, it's the way you edit in post-production that really makes the product and determines whether it will engage your target audience or not 
• I created two supporting ancillary texts to go alongside my short film that were not only conventional but also had synergy with my short film, creating an effective promotional package.

What Went Wrong? 

• Some of the scenes I filmed differed from my script. For example, in the kitchen scene Gen spotted that Henry had left the tap on, when originally this was supposed to be a boiling pan on the stove. This was due to the stove not working, and also because eventhough I conducted health and safety assessments when visiting my location prior to filming, I did not check with the home owner whether such things like the stove worked, I just assumed it did which is why it was included in my script as part of the narrative. 
• When I wrote my script I didn't take into account how long the film would be. For example, I didn't do any timed read-throughs with the actors beforehand and the first time they all met was on the first day of filming. This led to my film being two minutes over the allowed length, meaning I had to cut it down for my final draft. During pre-production if I had done a read-through and timed how long it took to go through the script scene-by-scene, I could've edited the narrative down then which would have meant that the filming days could've been cut shorted because we wouldn't have had to film as many scenes. However, having to cut down the film provided me with some constructive audience feedback which has been useful when evaluating my work. 
• Due to how much time I spent editing my video, I didn't spend as much time on my ancillary texts, and I am therefore aware that my doube-page spread isn't as good as my poster and isn't at the standard I would like it to be. For example, I don't like the font I used for the main article on the page.

What Would I Do Differently? 

• I would have timed a reading of my script before I sent the final copies to the cast so that I would know how long it was and been able to cut out scenes which were not needed. (However, over-filming did lead me to have a lot of footage to chose from which was useful in my edit because I could pick the best shots from the scenes I had). 
• I would've spent more time on my double-page spread.
• I would've got audience feedback a lot earlier on in my production process (when my first draft was published) as this would've allowed me to make changes according to their responses.