Final Completed Coursework Pieces

FINAL FILM

 

FINAL POSTER

 

FINAL REVIEW

 

 

Analysis of Empire Magazine Reviews

Here are two examples of reviews that were included in issues of Empire Magazine. Most of the reviews have a similar layout; a main picture to show the reader and a few other smaller images, details about the film such as the director, the screen writer, the actors, the running length and plot. A large quote is also included in both of the reviews and also a star rating at the end of the review.

I would like to include almost all of these things in my review to make it look as professional as it can be. I have based my review on the layout of the Paranormal Activity review, as that is the format and colour of most of the reviews from the Empire magazine.

Both of the reviews have the title of the film that is being reviews in bold, large text across the page and a some text, often comical (a pun) or linked to the film in some way. Underneath that, they then have a brief outline of all of the things that makes the film, such as the release date, the certificate of the film, the director, the actors and a brief synopsis of the film. This is often situated in the mid-left hand corner of the page/review. Each review also has a large quote from the review within the review itself; this is always much more visiable than the text of the review. After the review, the reviewer gives the reader his or her verdict and a rating of the film out of five stars. The language used within the review itself is quite colloquial as it is for an everyday audience/reader.

Evaluation - Question 4

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

 After Effects

 The different Media technologies that I used were Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects. I had never really used After Effects to the extent that I had before making this film, so I had to learn a lot. I gained most of my knowledge by messing around on the program, but also through Youtube tutorials and teachers at my school. I found it quite difficult and time consuming at first, but after I was familiar with the program, my confidence grew and it took me a shorter amount of time to make the effects that I wanted within my film. I created my own special effects within After Effects and also created spells effects using pre-made stock footage. The spell effects that you can see in the GIF below was one that I created in After Effects without using stock footage.

 The process of making a spell effect took me a while to do, but after I had done it a few times I was able to experiment with it and change colours as to how I wanted it; I then applied it to my composition and I had a spell. An example of this is shown in the GIF. For a typical spell, I would use a lens flare, a spell I had created or a stock footage spell and then I would layer different compnents such as duct hits and smoke to make it look more magical and to give the effect more depth. I then had to make out certain things, such as the wall and my arm so it looked like the spell was behind me rather than inforn of me. This also gave the spell effect more believability. I am quite happy with how the effetcs turned out in After Effects considering I have never done anything in After Effects before. I also believe that it has made a great impact on my film and has helped the film and genre come to life.


 

 Photoshop

I was quite familiar with Adobe Photoshop before making my film, and I felt quite confident with using it. I made all of my posters (my main theatrical poster and two teaser posters) for my film on Photoshop. I learned how to make my posters look much more cinematic, I did this by using a blur effect called 'motion blur' and this allowed me to make my posters look much more cinematic (although I only used this effect on my teaser poster and not my main poster). I experimented with different designs for the main poster, one of which included a book as the main focus on the poster. The book was central to the poster in a portrait layout. The book had rays of light coming out of the pages to make it look more mmagical, but after a while of designing and altering the poster, I

decided that it didn't look right and decided to take a screenshot from the film and use that for my poster instead. With the final poster, I experimented with how I could make this look magical and how it would link to my film without giving too much away. I finally decided that having the little balls of light coming from the book made the poster feel magical without giving too much of the plot of the film away. I looked at similar posters that were within the same fanatsy genre and they all had some

sort of magical and fantastical element to it. The credits for my film are located in the bottom right hand corner of the film poster. Most cinematic film posters have this central along with the title, but I felt that this wasn't a good place to have my title as it would have covered the book, which is what I wanted the audience to focus on.

 

 

Premiere Pro 

I was very familiar with using Adobe Premiere when I was making my film, so I knew the basics of the program. By making this film, it allowed my to exersize my skills and to be more familiar with the program. When making this film, it also allowed my to understand the different exporting options available to me and what the best exporting option was for my film. Premiere allowed me to figure out where I wanted my clips to be and really helped with how I wanted to structure my film. Having used Premiere before, I knew all the basics, but this time I played around with some of the 'in-house' effects that are within the Premiere program, such as Warp Stabiliser and many other presets, video tansitions, video effects, audio transitions and audio effects. The use of Warp Stabiliser allowed me to correct an unstable shot if it was a little bit wobbly. I didn't use many video transitions within my film as many of the transitions were cut hard/sharp cuts to black, which I thought were very effective for the narrative and plot.

Evaluation - Question 3

What have you learned from audience feedback?

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK #1

Okay, so I’d like to start off by saying I LOVE the film; one of the best student films I’ve ever seen. In fact it’s so polished that there’s very little to say on the negative side. But anything and everything has room to improve slightly so here we go!
The opening is very intriguing. Though the first shot could have more focus on the girl, as the shot makes me want to focus on the chair in the middle of the frame. When the boy sits down to talk, the music is too loud, or the dialogue is too quiet, but everything can be heard so this is a nit-picky issue. The delivery of the dialogue isn’t fully in-keeping with the music, but that’s more of a note for the actors. At 4:07-4:08, the line “Hey give me my book back” should be heard sooner, there is slightly too large a gap between when the girl stops running and says her line. 4:25, music changes too suddenly, this could have been done in a more seamless manner (maybe the big orchestral music could have started sooner at a much lower volume and slowly increased in volume as the scene’s intensity arose). Not all of the attacks blend into each other; it looks like sometimes the wand is used but doesn’t go anywhere. 5:14, music begins to fade out but comes to a sudden stop, this can be a little jarring. 5:17, goes silent for a second, sounds jumpy. 6:10 more sudden silence, 6:45 takes a while to focus. Title “SPARK” doesn’t stay in focus long enough, it fades out very quickly and we never see it very clearly. I assume “Fran Wallace” was added in later? It’s jittery and a different shade of white but not a real issue.
Now I’ve been super nit-picky here, I think SPARK is absolutely fantastic. Special effects are done really well, my favourite scene is the fight between you and Connor as Bruce walks in. The shots and cuts are perfect as is the timing. I’m glad you use simple cuts instead of all the special fades and cross-cuts and pre-rendered transition nonsense that most student films use; they’re barely ever used professionally and when they are, there’s a real purpose for it. To some extent I wish you were allowed a longer duration as it feels a little rushed due to the duration limit in the course requirements. But it is clear that a lot of time and effort has gone into this film and I BEG you to keep doing this, you’re so talented. Even if you choose a different path you have a knack for film making and should continue to do so, even if they’re just short amateur films. I particularly love the lens flares caused by the wands, very well done.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK 2

It's incredibly well shot, brilliant effects! There's not a lot wrong with it apart from perhaps the story? Apart from that it's wonderful! 

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK 3

Good things: Well shot, great effects, the Bruce cameo! Less good bits: The story wasn't obvious until the monologue at the end, some of the shots were over exposed (unless that was the look you were going for???) and the music sometimes over powered peoples voices!

All of the feedback that I have been given has been very useful as it has allowed me to see what other people think of the film that I have created. Some feedback is more useful and analytical than others, but all have proved to be very useful. The main thing that needs improving from the audience feedback is my sound, as some people feel like this needs to be quieter or louder in some parts, and this I agree with.

The feedback that I have had from teachers has also been very useful and has influenced the path and outcome of my film. The feedback from teachers included tips on sound and also some visuals (such as the scene where the Albert Einstein quote is heard; I wasn't planning on using visuals, but my teachers suggested hat the use of he spells would link in with he imagination themes of my film and emphasis the quote).

Evaluation - Question 2

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

I believe that the combination of my film and the ancillary texts are very effective as they have encouraged my audience to read and believe in their imagination more. I have tried to keep all of the products to a similar style, for example, I have used the same font throughout my products so an audience may feel soe sort of familliarity of the brand/film.

 

MAIN PRODUCT - FILM

I believe that my main product (the short film) is very effective of its purpose; which is to entertain and inspire young people. The use of special effects within this film has made me put my message across to the younger generations it captures their attention and imagination.

POSTER

The poster allows me to show what the film is about without giving my away. The little glowing orbs suggest to the audience that some sort of magic is involved within the narrative, and with the main character reading a book, the audience will know that the film has something to do with reading. The fact that the young girl is wearing a school uniform also suggests to the audience that the film will be set in a school. Although this is the main poster, the teaser posters give much more information away as to the narrative and the plot of the film. They include visuals of the spells being used and a text quote that reflects the overall message of the film.

REVIEW

 

I believe the review is very effective as it has been put in a magazine that would cover and feature this kind of film. I have made the title large and have kept it to the same style/font as I have throughout the products, so people might recognise it. I have used the same layout as Empire Magazine has, so this makes my review look very professional and clean. The review holds all of the information a reader would want to know about the film, such as the director, the actors, the running length and the synoposis of the film, also including a review of the film itself.