EVALUATION Q 4

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This is my response to the forth evaluation question.

FINAL PACKAGE

This is our finished film Youth uploaded to youtube.

This is our film review which we made on Photoshop. 

This is our finished film poster, which we made on Photoshop.

EVALUATION QUESTION 3

This is a powerpoint I put together in response to the question: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
https://ennilive-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/ahorner539_c2ken_net/EU2GiLskP2BMuuIyM_lM21kBsOTlmyF6BkfPDW-viqgiDA?e=WaxRSw

EVALUATION QUESTION 2

This is my response to the question: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
https://prezi.com/p/rdubdksmolhq/

EVALUATION QUESTION ONE

https://prezi.com/p/bzwhu_w6-8la/

This is a Prezi I put together answering the question: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

EDITING

We started editing the film the other day, and when we started we felt as if we weren't prepared so we looked up shortcuts and had a look at how to speed up our editing process. These were really helpful. We started by putting all our clips in a continuous order and organising the story that way. This made it a lot easier to start the editing.

FILM POSTER PLANS

 I looked at lots of posters on Pinterest to inspire me and help me in my brainstorming for a poster for our group. I found that I preferred and was more drawn to posters with a headshot on them, they intrigued me because they involve people and stories. I came up with a list of things that I definitely wanted on the poster and made a list.

• For the text, I want the title to contrast with the background and make it very noticeable. This can be seen on the LaLaLand poster I have included.
• I want to access the target audience with a picture of Dawn (a side profile head shot) because a picture of the character is enough to intrigue without giving much away. I found this with posters such as LadyBird and To the Bone. Also, it can be very telling to have a face on the poster because the expression sets the atmosphere of the film. (If they are smiling it may be a comedy, if they are crying it will probably be sad) Dawn's expression is blank, so this is interesting and slightly confusing. 
• I want the layout to be a classic film poster template style, with the title and actors at the top and reviews and all people involved with the film at the bottom. I wanted the picture of Dawn coming from the left hand side and looking towards the right - this is the typical way to have a side profile shot. 
• I want the colour to contrast; and I want pink and bronze tones. The pink will match with the teacup (the main piece of iconography) and the bronze will match our filter and the main colour our film is.
• I want the key image to be Meabh, preferably holding the teacup to interest the viewer. I want natural light shining on Meabh. Often light shining on a subject can have divine undertones, or supernatural ones and it usually means beauty. I want minimal makeup on Meabh and for the photo to be a raw depiction of her
• I want white light coming through a window; white light symbolises a higher self, a change in you. I want to manipulate the setting, bouncing light and to experiment with where it looks best. 

SOUNDTRACK

While we were editing the other day, we realised we needed more sound in the part where Ethan realises that Hugh is undergoing the rejuvenation process. It was too still and we needed to build momentum. We listened to lots of songs and decided we needed one without any words because it would take the audience's attention away from the voice message. This is a pivotal point in the film, it is the climax and the voice message is extremely important. 

We started to look into different pieces of music; and came across Boards of Canada.  Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin.

Their second studio album, Geogaddi, was released in February 2002. Like Music Has the Right to Children, this album consists of longer tracks mixed with song vignettes. It also presents a darker sound than its predecessor. Geogaddi received universal acclaim from music critics.

It was described by Sandison as "a record for some sort of trial-by-fire, a claustrophobic, twisting journey that takes you into some pretty dark experiences before you reach the open air again."

We found a track that we liked, Gyroscope, and we experimented around with it. We downloaded it off Youtube and layered it into FinalCut Pro. It sounded good and we made sure there was no bass in it until the door was opened and Noah was in Hugh's place. Hopefully this works for us.

FILM REVIEW FINISHED

The real Dawn (Meabh Kavanagh) seems to have disappeared into a dystopian daze, causing concern for her companions Mick (Hugh-Kelly Bogue) and Steve (Ethan Yandall). It is up to Mick and Steve to understand what has happened to her, before it catches them too.


'For Christ's sake Steve, we have to do something! This has been going on three days now!' exclaims Mick, worried and upset about the condition he has found his older friend Dawn in. The dialogue between the two of the men is presented in such a way that we can observe both of their personalities and emotions. Steve is less fussed - suggesting that maybe Dawn has had 'some sort of breakdown'. Insisting that they go in and assess the situation, Mick leads Steve into something entirely different from his suggestions.



At the heart of the film lies a question - do we really know as much as we think we do? There are so many unanswered queries, it leaves room for the viewers to find their own answers. The film shows Mick and Steve tapping on the door of the unknown, with safety fraying beneath their feet. Their curiosity goes a little too far when the earpiece is removed from Dawn's ear and she falls to the ground - dead. It is at this point the film turns dark and tense. The cinematography is second to none in capturing these moments through the shot types and camera work.


Mick (Bogue), in a desperate attempt to find answers to all these questions, tries on the earpiece that Dawn (Kavanagh) had originally worn, and what happens next is confusing and disturbing. Capturing the panic and confusion felt by Steve perfectly, Yandall removes himself from the situation to clear his head. When he comes back, a young child resembling Mick, wearing Mick's clothes, is standing there. Hauntingly, the soundtrack from the start of the film begins to play again, and with this comes the symbolism of rejuvenation and rewinding.

 This film shows a conflict between youth and age; the desired effect of the earpiece is to restore youth and it fits fitting with a materialistic view of society which puts youth on a pedestal.

Overall, Youth is well presented and captures the eeriness and sarcasm of the situation and characters; as well as asking us the overarching question - how much do we really know? Putting me in mind of other thought provoking dramas such as Black Mirror, this film is a breath of fresh air and something entirely different.

EQUIPMENT

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For the actual film production process, equipment is the most important part. Without the equipment there would be no film. We had to gather all of this together beforehand and make sure we were prepared for the filming days.

 The equipment we used was 

1. canon 550d, allowed a clean concise image.

2. Put a wiped sd card in the camera to allow us enough memory.

3. Tiffen variable nd filter (controls the light and allows the use of slow shutter speeds, gives full control over depth of field, stops overexposure in highly lit shots)

4.Sigma 18-35mm lens for easy handling

5. ⅛ black pro mist filter (blossoms the highlights and takes away the harsh digital edge)

6. Tripod for a steady shot for the most part of it

7. Zoom handy sound recorder H1 for clear audio

8. Mac to edit it, able to insert the SD card

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REVIEW QUOTES

'Surreal and mind-blowing' - Vulture

'Totally different and genius' - Guardian 

'Will make you wish there are more films like this' - Daily Mail 

'A breath of fresh air' - Total Film 

When looking for snippets of reviews to include on our film poster, I looked to these different film review platforms and I searched for reviews of Black Mirror. Due to the fact our film is of a similar theme to Black Mirror we are going to use some of the same phrasing because it is applicable.
The review sites that I have chosen are ones that are very common for film reviews, they are not tied to a certain genre and are all respected film critics.

FILM REVIEW SAMPLE

WRITING A FILM REVIEW

As part of our coursework this year, we have to write a review of our film to go with our film poster. In preparation for this I will have to research different reviews and styles and ways to review and what to take into account.

https://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Movie-Review

In educating myself on how to write a film review, I will be looking mostly at the Empire magazine's website (www.empireonline.com). I'm going to look at basic structures of reviews and I will purchase a physical copy of the magazine to study the usual format.

I read Empire's review of LadyBird as an example.


Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) is a precocious 17-year-old on the brink of adulthood. She simply needs to survive the bumps of friendships, first loves and her relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf) before she leaves for college and her life really begins.

★★★★★

“I wish I could live through something,” sighs 17-year-old Christine McPherson, frustrated and bored in her Catholic high school in a small town in Sacramento, or as she despairingly calls it, “the Midwest of California”. She dreams of going to an arts college on the East Coast — though her family can only really afford the local college, much to the quiet heartache of her out-of-work dad, Larry (Letts) — and so she taps her heels against the door marked escape while the parental bond continues to fray and thin beneath her feet. She insists that they, everyone, call her ‘Lady Bird’ (her self-declared given name as it was “given to me by me”) and treats her parents, brother, friends and teachers with an only-at-17 sense of spirited narcissism.

The scuffed heart of the film lies not so much in the relationship of Lady Bird and her mother Marion (Metcalf in a career-best performance), but in the space between them. A space that is by turns dark, hilarious, raw, cruel and tender. Few films have so precisely prodded and pared the fragile skin of that specific relationship, while watching how the scars form. The tone is set in the opening scene when, unable to articulate herself during a fight about college, Lady Bird throws herself out of her mother’s moving car instead.

The other usual milestones are set up — losing her virginity (“I was on top! Who the fuck is on top the first time?” she exclaims memorably), breaking up with her first boyfriend (Hedges), crushing on the cool guy (Chalamet), losing her best friend (played beautifully by Beanie Feldstein) — and while all are entirely typical teen rituals, writer-director Greta Gerwig tells them anything but typically.

Gerwig’s singular talent in creating a rich emotional world, particularly for young women, is apparent — she wrote the exceptional Frances Ha and Mistress America — and you can see, feel, hear her in every breath and beat of this, her first solo-credit feature that she’s described as a love letter to her hometown.

It’s painfully hilarious, painfully beautiful, joyful and uncynical, with exquisite hilarity sewn into the details (and by God, this film is funny). It’s the details that make this not your average teenage drama, pivoting on a seminal issue or moral or moment. It’s the tens, hundreds, thousands of moments that sometimes mean everything and sometimes mean nothing and most often, just something. The moments that shape us into our selves — the definition and sharp lines emerging alongside adulthood.

The skill of both Gerwig’s storytelling and Saoirse Ronan’s characterisation is ensuring Lady Bird never loses her likeability. Her affectations and arrogance are tempered by self-deprecation and rivers of charm. You sense she’s still waiting for her life to begin, still choosing who she should be, afraid of being an average middle-class girl, with average grades and an average life. But what she doesn’t realise is she’s already being who she is meant to be. And one day, when the pain, the rituals of being 17 are over, she’ll just be left with warmth, with wonder and with wit. The very things Lady Bird delivers in spades. The rest of it will just be a beautiful memory, utter sweetness remembered on the tip of a tongue.

A coming-of-age story like no other, Lady Bird is smart, emotional, funny and completely original. Rarely has a directorial debut been so assured, so singular and so heartwarmingly affecting.

The review opens with a quick summary of what the film is about. It is general and grabs the readers attention without giving too much away. It is only a few lines long and leaves the reader wondering what actually happens.

Next is the main review where the critic describes what it is they enjoyed about the film and comments on individual aspects of it. The aspects that are mentioned tend to be; writing, acting, cinematography, editing, muse-en-scène and soundtrack. The reader can make their own judgement on whether or not to watch the film based on what the critic has to say. The film is described and so it makes it easy for the viewer to decide if this is something they want to see. 

At the end of the review the critic's conclusive feelings about the film are summarised and sometimes a rating (out of 5 stars) is given.