Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sounds

Diegetic and non diegetic sounds from mlevesley

Royalty Free Music

 The introduction sound is called 'The Machine Stops'.



Another song which I will include in my media is from Bensound. It is called 'Rumble', the sound represents a sense of anarchy and builds the mood with a powerful drum introduction.



Under the Creative Commons License, I am allowed to use the music in a multimedia project as long as I credit Bensound, for example stating 'Royalty Free Music by Bensound'.

Reflective Comment

The layout of this post is interactive with the help of Soundcloud. The viewer can easily listen to the songs on the blog page.

Creating Visual Text Message Effects

After watching a tutorial on YouTube, there is a plug-in for Final Cut Pro called mMessage, it costs $69 but there is a free demo version on motionVFX. To use this plug-in I need authorisation from the administrator; if this is not possible, another student who has a Macbook could download this plug-in to use and allow me to use it.

I have previously done a blog post talking about the visual effects.

Upcoming Deadline and My Targets

The deadline for my practical work to be completed is Monday 20th February 2017.

As myself and other members of the Sixth Form have mock exams until the 20th January, it will be hard for us to all get together and film with our busy schedule.

My plan is to have the filming completed by the end of the month and to have started my ancillary tasks, the film poster and homepage of the website. This will allow me three weeks to complete my editing and ancillary tasks; with 5 hours of media lessons, free periods and free time at home, this should be completed in time.

Artificial Lighting Tutorials

Credit to mediacollege.com, which includes tutorials for different aspects. I will refer to this website during the production of the film as it is very helpful.

Light is the "raw material" for creating visual images. Everything related to vision is related to light. Whether the medium is still photography, motion film, video or computer-generated images, light forms the basis of everything you see. The information 

Three Point Lighting

This uses three lights, the key light, fill light and back light.
The key light is the main light; it is the strongest and has the biggest impact. The light is placed to one side.




The Fill Light is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key light. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. 




The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting, its is used to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the focus from the background and provide more of a three-dimensional look. 

Storyboard

Reflective Comment
This storyboard allows an understanding and a plan for the production and filming stage of the teaser trailer. This is, however, not fully developed to the best of the ability as further description could be added, as a reflection.

Gender Stereotypes

Reflective Comment
The exploration has allowed me to collect an understanding for my media products. To improve upon this, I should link the representations to my characters to fully take the most of the research for gender representation.

Representation of Colours

For my use of semiotics, I have been exploring representations; on Colour Wheel Pro I have found what different colours typically represent with the psychology behind them.

The Big Eight Brand Colours-

Red
Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love. 
Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
Brown suggests stability and denotes masculine qualities.
Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.

Orange
Dark orange can mean deceit and distrust.
Red-orange corresponds to desire, sexual passion, pleasure, domination, aggression, and thirst for action.
Gold evokes the feeling of prestige. The meaning of gold is illumination, wisdom, and wealth. Gold often symbolises high quality.

Yellow
Dull (dingy) yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy. 
Light yellow is associated with intellect, freshness, and joy.

Green
Dark green is associated with ambition, greed, and jealousy.
Yellow-green can indicate sickness, cowardice, discord, and jealousy.
Aqua is associated with emotional healing and protection.
Olive green is the traditional colour of peace.

Blue
Light blue is associated with health, healing, tranquility, understanding, and softness.
Dark blue represents knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness.

Purple
Light purple evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.
Dark purple evokes gloom and sad feelings. It can cause frustration.

In relation to my product, dominant colours will be basic colours-especially white, grey, black, red. 

The main character will be wearing white as a symbolisation of innocence, which will be tainted.

Black will be used to foreshadow their certain early death.

Red will be used as a representation of love, but also danger.

Textual Analysis of Ancillary Task - Film Websites

Avatar

This is an example of a film website, Avatar is one of the largest grossing film so my website will obviously not be as interactive. Videos, images, purchasing of the film, downloads, and news are all available on this website alongside the soundtrack and the film's social media pages.

Arrival

This is a website for a film of the future (from the time of this post), it has links to the social media sites Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Three of the main actors are shown above the large title 'ARRIVAL', the release date is then displayed. All this website allows you to do is view the trailer. As my film will be a future production, it will be a good idea to base my website like this one.

The Lobster

This film website has very basic colours, cream and black. The page allows you to view the trailer, soundtrack (on iTunes),  a digital download version of the film, and websites to purchase.
This independent film is about single people, who fill out a survey to discover what animal they'd be, have to find someone or they become their animal.  The website allows you to do the survey and discover the animal you would become; I would be a cat. This website is basic, but very interactive and allows you to share the results on Twitter with the hashtag #TheLobster. It would be a good idea to include something like this, which relates to the narrative of my film.

Ancillary Tasks - Textual Analysis of Posters

http://voguesugar.com/movie-posters/
I will be gaining an inspiration for my ancillary tasks from previous films, below are some examples of film posters.

Submarine

This poster for the independent film contains the colours black, yellow, blue, red and white. The main focus is the main character who is photographed with a close up and a blue filter is given over half of the  poster. This is a very basic poster with a large title at the top and small credit-like text at the bottom.

This Is England

This is another independent film with a long shot of the main cast, it contains relevant colours to the theme of the film with red, white and blue text. However, the text in white below 'A film by Shane Meadows' is very hard to read, in my poster I will ensure that all text is clearly visible. The purpose is to display the characters within the film; there is a suggestion of gang culture and 'skinhead' culture with the Doc Marten boots, chequered shirts and braces along with the shaved head.
In the background of this poster, there is a metal wall and two blocks of flats; this displays a sense of 'rough' and 'urban' setting, where the working class live as well as the unemployed, with more chance of violence and crime.
The font of 'This is England' is bold and represents strength; the colours symbolises pride and the slight fade allows it to fit in with tatty surroundings and create some authenticity.

Previous A2 Media Teaser Poster

This poster is from a former student who also did a teaser trailer. This is a basic concept to a poster and is really 'teasing' the film to the audience. The poster contains conventional aspects with a large title, the Director's name, a rating and also, as seen in modern films, a hashtag for Twitter.

New Movie Planning Website Celtx

Thanks to a fellow student, a new website has been discovered called Celtx.
This website is known as an 'all-in-one system for video and movie planning', it allows all production members to share work so the entire crew are involved.

Here is the layout of the planning website:

Research and Planning Assessment Criteria

Throughout my research and planning stage, I need to refer to the assessment criteria:

Level 4:

• Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed
• There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience
• There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props
• There is excellent work on shot-lists, layouts, drafting, scripting or story-boarding
• There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning
• Time management is excellent

It is crucial, to succeed, to meet all of the criteria with some degree of success.

Text Message Visual Effects

To modernise my production, I am going to try to replicate exterior phone notifications as seen on other productions such as Hollyoaks and Sherlock.

Here is a video tutorial produced by the animator at Hollyoaks on how it is done:



Although it will be a struggle to replicate something like this, it will benefit my production by making it appear to a higher quality and modernised. A teacher has stated that it will only be possible to complete this on the 'After Effects' by Adobe; however, it may be possible to do on iMovie or Final Cut Pro through superimposition. I will definitely need to allow myself time to experiment this.

Teaser Trailers Textual analysis

Fences
In this trailer, which is just under 2 minutes, it begins with all the studio idents lasting for approximately 10 seconds. There is then a 10 second clip from the film then information about the film, the previous clip then continues until 45 seconds in when the top actor (Denzel Washington) is stated. Multiple short clips are played for 10 seconds and then another actor is named. Short, but dramatic segments of the film are played and it ends with the title of the film, the director and then finally the release date.



Voicemail
This is another trailer, produced by an A2 Media Studies student. This is produced to a high quality, clearly with a good quality camera; it is impressive and I probably will not be able to produce something to this level due to the fact that my camera will be borrowed from the school and it is merely a basic handheld one.

It would appear that teaser trailers are shorter in length than these trailers, typically a minute and no longer than 2 minutes.



Unknown
This is a teaser trailer by a former student, it is only 39 seconds in length and really plays on the idea of 'teasing' the film to audiences. In this trailer there are many short takes with the first two scenes lasting 3 seconds together. The trailer reveals a short, brief synopsis for the film but does not go into depth with the characters; this is a mystery thriller film which is presented firstly ten seconds in when the camera pans to a female character in the background who then exits, text on the screen 'secrets can ruin lives' also plays on the idea of enigmas.




Dunkirk
This official teaser trailer, lasting 1 minute and 6 second, has music representing the tone of the film, many shots from multiple scenes. Between each shot, there is text (approximately every 5 seconds) where it uses the director and his other work he has done. There is then a long take, to draw tension and suspense due to a bomb about to be dropped onto them. With 15 seconds left, the title is then displayed and followed by the release date.

In this teaser trailer, only the genre (and sub-genre) are introduced to the audience. There is no character introduction, nor is there a synopsis given. This film contains big names such as Tom Hardy, Harry Styles and Cillian Murphy but it is not given to the audience.

It is therefore clear to discover that 'teaser trailers' conventionally give away little about the film. The trainspotting teaser trailer demonstrates this, as seen below:



The Trainspotting teaser trailer, which I would like to replicate with some aspects, contains one scene from the film and, with the title and release date displayed for the last 15 seconds. The camera shots include a POV shot for approximately 7 seconds, followed by a few seconds of an over the shoulder shot, then a close up. The trailer repeats these shots as the character talks to the audience, breaking the fourth wall.

In my trailer, I want to represent teen life, but to an extreme. Skins is a TV show which I would like to take aspects from in my film, with a small amount of simulacra; alongside this, I enjoy the idea of soap operas and the involvement the characters have in ordinary life and I would like to use aspects from that for a film.

Music Ideas

To help me decide upon the music genre and styles, I need to collect an understanding on what my target audiences enjoy. If they enjoy the soundtrack to the trailer (and film) they are more likely to enjoy the trailer and have an interest in it.

The music which I, and many of my year group, enjoy at the minute includes indie music such as Blossoms, The Last Shadow Puppets, and Catfish & The Bottlemen.

Only Catfish & The Bottlemen are on YouGov, people who enjoy this enjoy the film 'The Inbetweeners Movie', although my film is not a comedy, it relates to my product as it is a low budget British film.

I decided to explore the royalty free music industry and found a website with great songs:

It is hard to clearly see in this image, but the problem with this site is that each song costs $80 to download, which is just too much to pay for a track.

After struggling to find a good site for music, I discovered a forum on Vimeo where other film makers had the same issue I had. It is full of great Royalty Free websites.

Pete Buckingham

This is Pete Buckingham's division of cinema audiences. As displayed above, there are seven different groupings:

• Hero Seeker - Don't go out much, plan well in advance
• Impulsive Materialist - Fashion victim, word of mouth is key
• Film Fanatics - Male, pre-plan their trips, 25-44, go in 2s, review-led
• Impressionable Socialites - Under 25. Like blockbusters, led by ads
• Modern Parents - Kids pressuring the parents
• Fun Lovers - Not film literate. Big film and video consumers
• Youth of Today - See films as soon as they come out.

The Impulsive Materialists would possibly be interested in my film as it is an independent film, they will most likely hear about it from other people over a dinner.

As my film will be featured on a magazine and a poster, Impressionable Socialites may have an interest in my film due to the fact that they are led by ads, however, they like blockbusters and my film will be far from that.

Alongside this, the Youth of Today will have an interest in my film and I will target my product to be relatable to the teens; this is a good idea as they watch films as soon as they come, therefore relating my film to the Youth of Today means that I will have an immediate audience and fan base.

Audience Research

Thanks to David Lewis, I have been able to improve my knowledge on audience demographics and psychographics. This is secondary audience research.

Demographics and psychographics from BigDproductions

My audience, which I am focused on appealing, would have the demographic letter code of 'E'. Their job status would be Students/casual workers as described on slide 3.

Psychographics, which divides people by their lifestyle and characteristics, includes:
Aspirers (seek status and materialistic values), Explorers (seek discovery, individualism, values adventure, traditionally a student), Strugglers (seek escape, few resources beyond physical skill. Buys alcohol, junk food, lottery tickets. Lower demographics), Reformers (seek enlightenment, social awareness and independent judgement. Aware of good taster but anti-materialistic).
I will be focusing my product at explorers (as they will want to explore new and indie films), strugglers (as they have low demographics and do things teenagers do - such as eat junk food and buy alcohol) and aspirers (as they are often students or young people at the start of their career).

Audience Primary Research

Create your own user feedback survey

I created a survey for primary research as seen above.
Here are the results that I collected

Target audience survey results from mlevesley

From this, my search points to the ideas that male teens:

• Enjoy Drama, Comedy and Documentaries
• Do not like multi narrative films
• Would watch a teen multi narrative teen film if nothing else was on

Young adult men:

• Enjoy horrors
• Would watch a teen multiple narrative film

Young adult females:

• Enjoy all genres
• Would watch the film

The older generations:

• Enjoy dramas and documentaries
• Would not be interested in my film

Changing Briefs

As stated in my previous blog post, the acting limitation issue means that brief 10, a short film in its entirety, will appear to be really low quality. Because of this, I have decided to change briefs to brief number 2: a promotional package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with a poster for the film and a website homepage for the film (the other option is a film magazine front cover).
Changing to a teaser trailer will allow me more freedom for the narrative, I think I will explore Cameron's modular narrative theories episodic anthologies and/or anachronic. Feel free to explore my narrative theories research post.

Reflective Comment
This post is to the point and allows the reader to see the previous posts leading to the change of brief. To improve on this, I could have added examples of teaser trailers, posters and film websites, but this can be done in my analysis of the media forms.

The Problem - Actors

My plan was to hire actors from a professional site, however, you have to be 18 years of age so that is not possible, I also do not like the idea of having to rely and order complete strangers.

Another possibility is using members of the sixth form drama class, however, they are busy people with high demand therefore it will be hard to arrange meetings and filming; if they are to be used they have to be done within the next months, if there is then any continuity problems then they will not be able to be re-shot.

The approach which I am taking is using friends with basic acting skills, this will seem really low quality in a short film though.

Reflective Comment
I should have bared this in mind from the beginning of the course to allow myself a better approach for the production and planning. This post is simple, allowing the reader to clearly see the problem and the actors I will use (my friends).