Chosen Image for Ancillary Texts

I have chosen IMG_3305 for my poster because I like how the John, who plays the Grandad, is center framed which connotes that he is at the center of the storyline. I also like how Angela and Melissa are looking at each other which connotes that both of them together are worried about John's character. I think this is quite a dramatic shot.

I have chosen IMG_334 for the main image for my double-page spread. I am going to have secondary images too. 

Images for Ancillary Texts

I chose to take images from the conservatory scene for a number of reasons, the first being that there was a lot of natural light and therefore the pictures were good quality. Also, this is the point in the narrative where the drama is at it's peak so therefore I thought this would be a good, memorable frame to use for the poster because it is one which will stick in the audience's mind. In order to get natural shots I got the actor's to act out the scene multiple times while I took photos from different angles.

Codes and Conventions of My Chosen Ancillary Texts

As of yet I haven't decided which of the two ancillary texts I want to make. Therefore I have done conventions research into them all so that I can chose at a later date. The ancillary texts are:

- film poster
- a film review page
- radio trailer

As seen in both of these posters, the main protagonist is the main focus of the poster to show the audience who the film is about. Furthermore, both of these film posters maintain a certain house style which fits in with the house style of the film. For example, the Dunkirk poster is quite dark and gloomy, which reflects the cinematography of the film. When I make my film poster, it is important that I use colours that are similar to the ones used in my film so that there is consistency between the two texts. In order to achieve this I may use a still from my short film as the image for my poster. Otherwise, I will take images of my protagonists for my poster in the location the film is set, in the same costumes and in the same lighting so that the atmosphere of both texts is the same. 

UPDATE (01/12/17) - For my ancillary texts I have chosen to make a short film poster and a double-page spread magazine review. 

Short Film Final Draft

Short Film - Director's Cut

Cutting my Short Film Down (and Audience Feedback)

The brief for my main product is to make a short film which is up to 5 minutes long. However, my final edit is 7 minutes long so I needed to cut it down.

I did this by getting a media class to watch my film and tell me which section/room they felt added the least to the narrative and could therefore be cut. These are the responses I got:

From this feedback, and talking to my teacher who helped me conduct the screening of my film, I decided to cut the bathroom scene entirely. After doing this, my film was still over five minutes long, so I also went through each scene and cut some dialogue from each one. For my final draft I also speeded up the end text and took out the credits completely. I am going to submit both this version and the full version for marking.

Opening Titles and Closing Credits

It is conventional with short films to have the name of the production company in the opening titles so the audience knows who made the film.

The credits then faded into the starring actors and actresses as these are also conventional to opening titles. I put Melissa's name first because she plays Emily and her character is featured the most in the film (she is the main protagonist). She is also the first character to appear in the film.

I put Angela's name next (who plays Gen), because although she features the least in the film, she in the second character to be on screen so I put her second. 

Then the text faded to John's name - who plays Henry. He doesn't appear in the film until scene 4 so I put his name last. The text faded out after a few seconds.

At the end of the first scene the title of the film was finally revealed. I chose to not include it at the beginning because having a scene first that doesn't say much about what the film is about builds suspense for the audience. Then when the title of the film is revealed the audience can use the connotations of the word to help them develop a narrative in their head of what they think the film is about. I decided to use a serif font (Times New Roman) as these are seen as more traditional than sans serif fonts which reflects the fact the narrative is about an older person. 

I chose to end my film with statistics about dementia to for one last time get the message across that the film is about dementia and that society doesn't talk about it enough. It is quite a shocking number so this will catch the audiences attention. This graphic faded in from the end of the film and there was a sound bridge of the music soundtrack to signal to the audience that they should carry on watching because the film isn't over yet.

The text then faded into another shocking statistic. I put 'one million' in bold as I wanted it to stand out to the audience. I chose this stat off the Dementia UK website because 2025 isn't that far away, showing the audience that the problem is only going to get worse. 

I included the phrase ‘Yet we are still afraid to talk about it’ because dementia is a taboo subject in society. For example in the conservatory scene, Emily says to her mum “I told you there was something wrong”, hinting at the fact that after seeing her Grandad’s memory get worse, she tried to talk to her mum about it but perhaps she dismissed her claims or was too scared to broach the subject with her dad – showing people’s reluctance to speak about dementia.

Then my film fades to ‘Join the conversation’ and a hashtag because in Henry’s case it was left too late to try and discuss it as a family. The audience may see Henry’s situation and it may encourage them to speak to a family member they are worried about before they end up in the same situation as Henry, Emily and Gen. Furthermore I included the hashtag because the films main form of distribution will be online through social media and a hashtag will encourage a conversation about the film and dementia on social media and help spread the word. I used a fade transition between these four text graphics and edited them to fade to the beat of the music to show continuity from the end of the film into this. Then 'Join the conversation' faded out first so that the hashtag lingered on its own for a bit longer to draw the audiences attention to it even more. After this the screen faded to black.

After the screen faded to black, the credits rolled showing the names of first the cast and then the crew. I also included the music used in the film and a 'Special Thanks' section for everyone who has helped me in the process of making this film. 

Finally, the last frame of my film was the logo of the production company to infroce a brand identity for the production company. I also included a Copyright symbol and my name to show that the material in the film (apart from the music) belonged to me. The screen then faded to black for a final time. 

Draft 6 (with credits)

Draft 6 (without credits)

Draft 5

• I have started to add the opening titles for my film, as this is a convention of short films

Draft 4

• I have taken out a shot so there are less cuts in the kitchen scene
• I have taken out a shot so there are less cuts in the bathroom scene
• Sound - I have added an 'echo' type effect to the dialogue to link the past and present scenes together

Draft 3 Teacher Feedback

• Add an ending 
• Re-record the sound from exterior scenes and kitchen scene
• Less cuts - kitchen scene
• Sound - add echo filters to sound to signal its the end of the flashback and to sound bridge into the next scene maybe, to make it flow better
• Title sequence - 'presents' 
• End credits 
• Statement at the start of the credits e.g. facts/stats about dementia

Draft 3

To end my film I have added scene 11 and 12, set in the more recent past, where Emily comes back to the house to see her Grandad and can't find him. I wanted the sequence of her walking through the house looking for him to interweave with the series of events which lead to her Grandad's fall in the garden. At first I tried to double expose the two clips together, however because of the difference in lighting and because I didn't use exactly the same framing for each shot, it was hard to do this and it didn't look right. Therefore I decided to use a fade transition to fade the clips into each other and I think this worked nicely as a way to end my film. However I still think it ends a bit too abruptly so I might add some text/statistics at the end to highlight the prevalence of dementia.