By Michael O’Hare

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Narrative Structure Narrative structure in a 5 minute film is always rushed when

compared to other, longer films in my genre. When compared to films the same genre as mine, for instance,

in Freeway the narrative moves slowly at the start of the film but gathers momentum towards the end.

This is because Freeway has a longer running time and so can pace the narrative accordingly, with highs and lows in the plot.

My film only has a small part of this time and so the plot has to be much more rushed and to the point.

Therefore I can’t have any lows, it all has to be highs and straight into telling the story.

However the flow of the narrative is also important. Freeway’s plot flows quite nicely from mundane life into thriller and suspense.

My short’s plot also flows quite nicely and this was in fact commented upon in my questionnaire.

Characterization Characterization is very important in a short film, just as much as in a full

length movie. Films in my genre also place much more emphasis in characterization as they are based off of fairy tales and so the characters are integral to the story.

A comparable feature film in this is Pan’s Labyrinth. In this film it has many fully developed characters. Each one is a integral part of the plot and so they each have their own traits to separate them from each other.

My short film has a much smaller cast and so each character much be even more unique. I feel I have achieved this.

A good comparison would be between the two main characters. In pan’s labyrinth the main character is a young Spanish girl. She is characterized very well through her circumstances and actions.

For instance; she has only a mother (indicates troubled), she believes in mythical creatures (shows disconnection from real world), and she also is very weak and quiet (shows she is vulnerable).

The main character in my film is a young man. He is well characterized through mise-en-scene, actions, and dialogue.

For instance; he wears a leather jacket and jeans (shows rebellious, foreshadows later insolence), he is well spoken (shows how he is very confident and can be nice), he is quite violent in his actions (shows how he believes in himself, foreshadows his later actions).

Camera work Camera work in this genre is generally the same as in any normal

genre and so follows most forms and conventions. This is the same regardless of length or budget.

My short film conforms to these conventions and follows the forms used by other films of my genre.

For instance; When two characters talk, the camera is in one of four positions. The over the shoulder shot (OSS) from each point of view (the opposite of who is talking), or the medium shot from either left or right depending on who is talking.

A good example of this is during the scene in the sons bedroom in which Death explains how the son will be a great doctor.

This scene switches from an OSS from Son to OSS from Death then a medium shot on the left side then on right. This follows the forms and conventions set by films such as Romeo and Juliet, another film similar to mine.

It also follows forms and conventions in other ways, for instance; when the son walks down the alleyway the camera follows and has CU of his feet, Mid-shots of him walking, and shots where he walks toward the camera, and away from.

Other: Sound, Mise-en-scene. My film both challenges and conforms to conventions when it comes to

sound and mise-en-scene. Sound-wise my film mostly conforms to conventions and forms of my

genre. For instance, at the end I decided to have a slow and dark orchestral track dominated by low key piano. This is very typical of the fantasy genre and also of the thriller genre which I also use.

I also have sound effects such as a heartbeat, and echoing footsteps. This is however atypical of the genre I am aiming for. These are more commonly used in the drama films and so I chose to use these to try and make my short more dramatic.

In regards to mise-en-scene my film mostly challenges forms and conventions.

Mainly I refuse to foreshadow future plot events using mise-en-scene. For instance; in most fantasy or drama films, future plot events are shown in small ways using mise-en-scene. My film does not use this at all.

However a small way I conform to the forms of the fantasy genre is the idea of each life being a candle, and Death’s home being old and stone.

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?

Joining the three texts. One way in which my two texts are connected is through the

use of a logo. This is used in both my film and poster as well as the review page. This helps create a sense of continuity between the three texts and so make a form of bond between them.

Another use of similar items is the old wood effect

on the poster. This goes well with the old fashioned

view of Death in a robe and candles on old stone. The use of similar language is also important in

creating continuity between the poster and the film. Overall I think this helps make the combination of my texts

very effective and so helps create a strong brand.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

My questionnaire. The first thing I had to do in gaining audience feedback was

to create a questionnaire for my audience to answer after seeing my finished texts.

I decided to have 10 questions as this is a nice round number that is neither too long or too brief.

This is my questionnaire:

The results. I decided to ask ten people as it gave me enough answers to

get a sense of the general opinion. I also decided to show and ask a diverse selection of

collective groups. I asked people from the age range of 8-45. I asked both males and females, although slightly more males. I asked people with a wide selection of tastes in film, not just fantasy.

The results cont. These results have some clear results and also some not so clear

ones. First of all the average out of 10 for the film as a whole is 7.3. This

shows that the film was generally well received. It also shows that there is room for improvement.

Secondly the most common emotions my film elicited were sombre, intrigued, and nothing. This shows that my film partly works in making you feel what I want, but also it fails. I wanted to give audiences a sense of darkness and death and the consequences of their actions. While I think the sombre results show this a success, the nothing results and intriguing also show how this is not the case.

Thirdly the average out of 10 for the plot was 7. This shows how the plot was also generally good, yet not anything exceptional. This may be because it was slightly rushed and so may not have been too clear.

Fourthly the average out of 10 for the camera work was 7.1. This is quite positive and surprised me as I personally thought that the camera work was not actually that good.

The results cont. Another result is the most common weak points of the film. These were very

clear as many people said the same problems. The two most common ones were sound quality and picture quality. Unfortunately this is something I could not help as my equipment was simply not that good, and i had no budget to upgrade it.

The next result is the highlights of the film. This also had some very common results. These were the plot and how it flows and is sequenced. This contrasts with the numbers people gave the plot out of ten but is nether the less positive.

The results of how it could be improved were also dominated by the same results again and again. The most common one was a upgrade in quality and budget. However as I said I could not manage this unfortunately.

The poster had a average of 7.2 out of 10. This is slightly lower than my expectations and while it is still positive it gives me reason to think I could of made this poster much better.

This goes well with the next result as there are a couple of results that were very common. The most common one was making it more clear. After asking people to explain this I discovered that many people thought the font was too small and not very obvious. Therefore if I could change the poster I would make the font much larger and more obvious. A lot of people also said that the poster was quite bland and empty.

The results cont. I also asked people if they had any other comments and this

is where a lot of the most interesting comments came from. Quite a few people said that the film was quite good and

praised the flow of the plot and the general flow of the film. A lot of people also noticed some flaws in my editing such as

random jumps in time, and some jumpy cuts. I agree with these comments and only wish I had better software to edit with, such as final cut pro.

A few people also commented on the terrible acting and I agree that good actors would have made this film much better, but I just didn’t have access to the resources.

Lots of people also used this point to emphasize the bad sound quality which seems to have been a major downside to my short.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Construction I used many new media technologies in this stage of my

project. I used Windows Moviemaker for editing the film. This is a

free program that has basic functions for editing such as audio levels, split tool, and colour correction.

I used Audacity for audio editing and creation. This is also a free program and is widely used by industry professionals as it is that good. It features all the tools you can need from a audio editing suite and is also very good at creating audio. I used it to record and edit the dialogue for Death, and also for editing the sound FX and music.

Research In my research I made heavy use of new media technology

in many ways. I used the internet for things such as IMDB and Google. This

helped me have a wide range of sources from which to draw my research.

I also used the new media technology of streaming video to watch and search for movies of my genre. To do this I used Netflix, zune videos and other such programs and websites.

Another new media technology I used was the social networking I used to do audience research and gain peoples opinion on choices I made.

Planning In the planning phase I used slightly less new media

technologies. I used programs such as Publisher and Gimpshop to plan

documents before I made the final product. These are two very different programs yet they work very well together.

I used Gimpshop to create the images and shapes needed to give an outline of the plan. I then used Publisher to put these together on a A4 piece of paper in the format it would be in the final product.

Evaluation In my evaluation I hardly used new technology at all,

however I did use it once or twice. To actually write and present the evaluation I used

PowerPoint. This is because it enables me to give small precise points in a clear and readable format. It also enables me to present pictures and links with the text without cluttering the evaluation.

I also used a scanner to scan in my questionnaire results. This meant I didn’t have to take time to write up all the results and could just put pictures of the actual results of the slideshow.

It also enables me to present the evaluation in a easy to digest format and one which is good for me to show my presenting skills and good for easily evaluating.

Conclusion In conclusion I think that overall my project turned out pretty

well and I can safely say I am proud of it. I realise that some parts could be improved and I know what these are. I could have improved the quality of different things, and also improved the editing of the film. I could of improved the poster by making it more clear, and the review by making it more engaging.

I feel that i also know the things that I did well and so can replicate these next time. I brought all three texts together through the use of a logo. I used good camera work and mise-en-scene in the film. I managed to scale back the plot and make it flow well even in the short amount of time I had. I also used new media technologies effectively and often which strengthened my products and my planning.