Evaluation

Here is the brief of what we had to do. “You have decided to enter a competition being run by your local arts cinema, The Little Picture house. This cinema, which is part of a small chain of 12 independent arts cinemas across the country, shows a mixture of independent, foreign language and documentary films. The company prides itself on providing access to non-mainstream cinema and seeks to make independent cinema accessible to ever wider audience groups. The chain is running a national film-making competition and your local cinema will be hosting the regional finals. Entrants to the competition are required to make a short extract from a film they would like to make as well as materials for a promotional booklet. Finalists from your local area will be entered into the national competition. The competition is open to young people and aims to encourage creativity and technical ambition. The competition prize in the regional heats is access to equipment and technical support to enable you to complete a 30-minute narrative film for entry into the national competition. There is also a cash prize to help with production costs. Entrants are asked to ensure that the content and themes of the films are within the BBFC's guidance for a 15 certificate. All entrants to the competition must include a short written overview of the film they want to make, including its title and a brief description of the plot. This should include information on the genre of the film and the target audience.” I decided to create a short film based on urban life. I am also creating a Blog based on the creation of my film and a fan blog of the film. The target audience for my film is young adults to middle age (18-40). I chose this audience because I think they would enjoy films like The Hangover 1, 2 and 3 also films like 21 and 22 jump street. I think my film would appeal to the target audience because as it involves relatable events like going out drinking, getting married and having a good time.

I came up with the title of “The Stag” for my film as I believe that it will intrigue both men and women this is because it is an event or gathering attended by men only and it would attract a male audience as they see it as relatable. It would attract a female audience as they would be intrigued to see what happens on a stag event and what the men get up to. The characters are represented as a group of men reunited by a special event. Jason who is getting married the next day is represented as a typical “lad” who wants to drink and have a good time compared to Nick who is shown as someone who doesn’t want things to get out of hand and doesn’t want anything to go wrong for the next day. Steve is represented as a “chill guy” who wants to embrace the night and have a good time. I think that the location, mise-en-scene and the storyline will appeal to the audience as it has panoramic shots across different locations which introduce the actors into the location giving a bit of the background of where they are.

The post production effects I used were mainly music and transition slides. The music I used was Everyday by A$AP Rocky, Shots by LMFAO, Intoxicated by Martin Solveig and Skyfall by Adele. I also used a car crash sound clip to emphasise the velocity of the crash.

The extract I created from my film is the starting 3 minutes of the film “The Stag” I decided to make this part of the film as I believed it was an easy part of the film to make with a small budget and I believed I could get some good shots and create it really well in the local area.

I think the strengths of my film extract are the wide variety of shots. This includes close ups, medium shots, panorama’s and due to using a range of shots it creates a variety throughout the film. Another strength is the post production effects such as music as I think it complements that moment of the film throughout. Charlie Rudzinski watched the final cut of the film and he thought “Some great shots and I loved the music throughout, however the ending could be clearer with what happened to Jason.” This is good feedback as it can be unclear but what happens to him is what is revealed later on in the film after the car crash. Rhys Meredith also viewed the film and said “the music suits the shots and situations and I enjoyed the panoramic shots as they gave a nice shot of the location before it got into the dialogue.

I think I could improve my film by making the ending of the 3 minute extract clearer to what happened to Jason. The reason for doing this is so the audience has a better understanding of what is going on. Also I’d like to improve the quality of some of the scenes as some are shaky and breathing on the microphone and small details like that.

Also there is a blog available showing the creation of my film and a fan blog showing what others think about it as well. The target audience for my blog is similar to my film aiming for young adults to middle aged people (18-40). I think the blog would appeal to this audience as they are of an age that would be interested in looking for blogs and reviews of the film before they go to see it and watching sneak peaks and trailers. The strengths of my blogs are my colour scheme and content. This is because the colour scheme is aesthetically appealing to the audience and therefore they will find it easier and want to read the blog if the page looks good. The content on the blogs is at a really good standard and that if the content on a blog is good more people will want to read it if they find it interesting or entertaining.

I think the main weakness of my blog is how interactive it is because there isn’t many navigation bar options as there are only bars for links to the fan blog and getting to the top of the page. I think if I made it more interactive more people would be interested as technology is a major part of our life and how quick it can be to get to something. So if it was improved more people can get to my post quicker.

Rhys Meredith also analysed my blog and said that “The blog has a good colour scheme and has good content but I found myself struggling getting to the posts I wanted to get too.” and Charlie Rudzinski said “I really enjoyed looking at some of the posts on the blog but I found that there wasn’t many pictures of your location or the treatment of the film.”

If I decided to create a film poster I would include the title at the bottom with each of the three characters with Jason in the middle as a medium shot looking into eyes of the audience. I would make the poster quite dark and mysterious as they don’t know what has happened to Jason. This would help advertise as I would have links to my blogs on the poster so that the audience would be able to find the locations props and rough cuts of the film along with the script so they can find out more about it.

Social Realism Research In Preparation

Social Realism is an international genre, which is practically popular in British and French cinema. The genre is based on real life, the story’s are fiction but the story of the film are a reflection of the world. The characters, dialogue and settings are all made up but are inspired by the real world. It has shown us to ourselves, pushing the boundaries in the effort to put the experiences of people on the screen.

Social Realism can also been seen as auto-biography’s, they are not portrayed in the same way but they show as the lives of a person or a group of people. Showing us what they have to deal with in their lives and how it affects them and the people around them. 

Examples Of Social Realism:

This Is England 

Green Street 

Slumdog Millionaire

Fish Tank

Billy Elliot

Final Cut of "The Stag"

Script for "The Stag"

Fade In:

1. Introduction – characters and setting

It’s the day before the wedding and its Jason’s last night of freedom and what a way to spend it that with his closest friends, Steve and Nick. As they are returning to their pace of upbringing they decide to end their freedom in the same way it started, with a pub crawl.

Jason

11 down 1 to go.

Nick

I don’t think I can take another.

Jason

What you on about mate! I could take another 3 rounds of this me.

Steve

Come on Nick one more won’t do you any harm.

Jason

Yeah Nick! Stop being such a pussy.

Nick

Fine! Last One!

Jason

Nice one! Let’s go get mortal.

FAST FORWARD – NEXT PUB

Steve

We fucking did it lads.

Jason

I shouldn’t have that whiskey. I’m not feeling so good

Nick

I haven’t felt good all night!

Steve

You don’t look so good Jason.

Jason

I think I ne-

Jason falls to the floor

                       

Nick

Come on! Grab him!

Steve

Hurry! Let’s Go!

BLACKOUT – in a car driving away laughing and joking about what they have done to Jason.

Steve  

OMG that is so funny!

Nick

I wonder what his reaction will be like when he wakes up

Steve

Same I wish we could be there to see it.

Meanwhile Jason opens his eyes to a very dark and confined space with minimal lighting. It takes him a few seconds to realise that he is in a man shaped box. It was a coffin. He’s scared. Emotions rushing through his head if he was being buried alive. He screams for help knowing someone may never come to his rescue.

Jason

HELP! HELP! (Screamed)

Meanwhile

Steve

WATCH OUT!

Massive beep and crash. Ambulance Sirens with blackout screen.

Jason

Can anyone hear me! (Banging on the coffin)

Jason

*bang* *bang* (door opens) with and old man peering down on Jason.

The End

Making It Happen

Its Time! Im finally creating the short extract of my film, "The Stag". Im going to be giving you sneak peaks of the script, pictures of locations that have been featured in the film, actors and some props that have also been featured. 

Actors and Crew:
Nick - Rhys Meredith - Best Friend
White English Male, 6ft 1i
Wardrobe - smart clothing - white shirt, black trousers, black jumper, brown shoes and a black coat.

Jason - Louis Hargreaves - The Stag
White English Male, 6ft 1i
Wardrobe - Smart Clothing - white shirt, black trousers, black shoes and a navy Parker coat.

Steve - Alex Carbert  (me) - Best Friend
White English Male, 5ft 10i
Wardrobe - Smart Clothing - white shirt, black trousers, black blazer, brown shoes and a grey coat.

Charlie Rudzinski - Cameraman
White English Male, 6ft

Location:


There are many different locations throughout the scenes, from a scene coming out of a pub and a car scene.

Here are some pictures of the location:

Props:

For the film, I used shot glasses to film the pre-drinks section of my film. Also when we were leaving the house we were carrying beer bottles. These props were used to foreshadow the drinking later on in the film and to show that the actors would be intoxicated.




Summary
In the short extract of my film, its the day before Jason's big day as he gets married the day after so what better way to celebrate than with a bar crawl that he did with his friends when they were in school. Well that's what Jason thinks but Nick and Steve have better ideas. After the bar crawl, Steve and Nick decide to play a little prank on Jason by making him think that he has been buried alive and that he is going to miss the wedding the nest day. However Nick decides to drive Steve home after they have buried Jason and because its so late he falls asleep at the wheel and collides with another driver at very high speed and unfortunately they don't make it. But what about Jason? Will he be able to get to the wedding? Will anyone hear his cries for help?

Rough Cut

Linked below is a rough cut of my film "The Stag"

CineVue

I am going to be reviewing the film blog CineVue. CineVue is a review orientated blog that reviews new films that have been released to the viewing of the public.

On the blog, they include content based around films but also have produce interviews with stars of some of the films. These interviews aren't hosted with famous actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp. They target the niche films where they pick actors from these films and talk to them about their films and the role that they have played as an actor or actress.

Also at the top of the blog they include a menu of what the blog has to offer and what is available to the readers. This includes; home, reviews, features, film festivals, interviews, contact us and about. This is definitely a feature I need to use in my blog as it gives a clear section of where everything is and how you find it.

CineVue also have social media which links them to the blog and when they have new posts coming and when interviews will become live on the blog. I think this is a good idea to have on my blog as my readers will be able to interact with me and ask for certain content so that I can appeal to my target audience and produce content that they would like to see and read.

Finally I am going to talk about the aesthetic appeal of the blog. Personally I feel it has a boring colour scheme as it is mainly black and white except for the pictures of the film titles. The layout is good as it shows clearly what each post is with a little insight into what its about. The layout I would think of having something similar to this as it shows clearly what its about and by giving a little bit about the film or interview it may make the reader want to read on.

Live for Films

Live for films is a film blog that talks about new and upcoming films whilst reviewing films both in cinemas and that already out. They post their content based on previous feedback given to them by their readers about what films they like an also they post about the big films which everybody is talking about. for example the new James Bond film Spectre which recently came out in cinemas and the new Star Wars: Force Awakens film which is in cinemas very soon.

Also on Live for Film's blog they post trailers of new and upcoming films if they are big blockbuster films or quite small films which could have more of a message behind the film. They use a very slick and smart design with good complementary colours by not overpowering the page as they are quite subtle.

The design features a drop down menu at the top of the blog from films, art comic and competition with drop downs to categories and genres of these films, art and comics. This is a feature i think works well in blogs as it makes it easy to find things as you can search specifically according to your taste in films. This is a feature i would like to include in my blog in the future as I think it helps the reader to find what they are looking for.

Also they have an animated banner showing new things to the blog. This includes new trailers, reviews and competitions that are available to the readers of the blog. Again i think this is a really good idea and I would definitely like to include this feature in my blog as it shows the reader whats new and they may enjoy it if they have never read or seen something of that genre before.