Researching Film Posters

To allow me to create a conventional and convincing short film poster I need to research how others have made theirs. This may be difficult due to the various short film posters out there made by students such as myself. To make sure that these film posters are genuine I will search movie titles on IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base). 

I know I want my short film to be in the genre of adventure, showing my creativity through each second. YouTuber is a vast community filled with creative creators, along with some amazing short film creators that don't get the full credit they deserve. I have watched many short films, but when thinking of creativity and adventure short films my mind immediately turns to PJ Liguori YouTube short film director and animator. His films, although random and wild, contain the flare of creativity and adventure that I wish to portray through my film and poster. 

COLOUR BANDITS

PJ Liguori's short film 'Colour Bandits' is based on a creative idea of people called Colour Bandits who suck all colour from their path, craving the next day when they can absorb more colour, until this one bandit bites more than he can chew, too much colour is thrown at this bandit and therefore killing him by the overwhelming amount of colour and dye. The poster for this short film is simple, although I couldn't find this poster that wasn't a gif. I can analyse this poster. This poster is conventional with an unconventional twist. The twist being that it's a moving image, but along with this you also cannot see the main and only characters face. This is unconventional due to the fact the audience wants to be able to connect and recognise this character. This does however leave a little bit of mystery to the poster. The conventional side to this poster is the billing block, title, house style and actors name's. The billing block is the most important part of making a poster look like a real film poster as it tells the audience who made it, who's acting within the play, the editor etc. This allows the audience to see who created the movie and might then be more inclined to watch it. The house style of the font is very simple and bland which is in major contrast to the colour expanding behind the text. This allows all writing to be visible clearly but give a relaxing change to the intensity of colour. The conventional shape of the poster is portrait to fit the main character(s) in full view to the audience. 

Bridge to Terabithia

This feature film is about two children who become friends through their imagination, escaping the real world for the imaginary. I want to analyse this movie's poster as I want to create a short film that's filled with imagination and adventure.
This poster has the conventional billing block along the bottom below the title, the main characters in the image, the poster used portrait and a tag line. Firstly, the title fits the theme of the movie and the house style of the rest of the poster. When creating my poster I need to think about how I can link the theme of the movie to the title, with this poster the theme of the movie is mystical and magical which fits with the golden effect on the title. The colour scheme of the poster uses complementing colours to create a contrasting effect and therefor drawing the eyes of the target market towards the poster. I hope to have this effect with my poster to be able to get as much publicity as possible. CGI (computer generated images) was used for the effects of the fireflies and the moon, also layering different effects and items such as the tree, house, river and car. This image was most probably taken in front of a green screen and then each image layered over the top in an application. I wouldn't be able to do this myself as I don't have the training or the equipment, however I can edit the lighting, layering and colour of my poster to adjust it right and make it look more like a real movie poster.

 The Tea Chronicles

This short film, although not about imagination, uses imagination in the creating process. This idea is extremely original and work brilliantly as an overall concept. This short film is a psychological horror comedy about a new room mate who offers to make his new colleagues some tea but is unable to find any new sugar, but soon stumbles upon some very old granulated sugar. This out of date sugar soon turns Charlie, the main character, into paranoia about cups of tea. This, I believe, is an extremely imaginative way to look at a normal situation, turning a simple cup of tea into a comedic horror. This will help me to expand my thought on possible ideas on a short film and makes me understand that it can be the most simplest of situations, for instance a cup of tea or a daydream, into something completely out of the ordinary.
The conventions used within this poster are the title, house style, tag line and billing block. What isn't conventional from this is that the main characters aren't in this poster, but instead what the entire short film revolves around, the mouldy sugar. The sugar itself can't be classed as a character but can be said that it plays a very important role within this short film and is what makes this situation start in the first place. This would be good to make a poster a little different from the rest, just a little unconventional to make it different from the rest.

what I have learnt from studying all these posters is that they can all vary but the majority follow conventions which in turn make a poster look professional. These conventions include, a billing block, actor/talent names, title, tag line and main image of characters. All of this will be considered when making a poster for my short film to make it appear as professional as possible.

Director and Editor Darren S Cook

Darren S Cook is the founder of Scruffy Bear Pictures and has had vast experience in editing, directing and much more. Originally he worked in graphic design for CD and DVD cases but wished to learn more about what and how film and music was put onto these CDs and DVDs. He worked his way up by becoming a runner on set then slowly working his way up through cinematography, production, and then finally becoming his own director. What I didn't realise is that the director themselves don't do much apart from telling people what they want filmed and how they want it to look. It's the production crew who then have to make this idea a reality but adjusting lighting, camera angles, colour correction for the cameras etc.

 

He then went on to show us some of his own short films and short films he has worked on which included 'Wisdom', 'Three' and 'Little Angles'. He spoke about how not all short films need a budget and that he has worked on many short films that have had no budget at all. The camera I have been currently been using for filming my short film was used for filming 'Wisdom' and proves that you don't need expensive cameras to create a good looking short film. Another thing I learnt was that good sound is crucial. If the footage looks good, that's brilliant! But if the sound is poor or you can't understand what they are saying your mind distorts the image making it appear a poorer quality than it actually is, which could mean the difference between an investment from a company or nothing at all.

My favourite short film of his is 'Wisdom' due to the fact of the unusual story line and use of camera angles and hit of humour. The main woman within this short film owes a debt to the 'tooth fairy' and is reminded that she has nothing in life, everyone and everything running away from her. The spliced humour and horror in this makes it a brilliant short film. The humour was also written well, which will always remind me, that the genre I write about must be written well, and to only have actors speaking if they can act, otherwise it can make my short film look unprofessional.
 

Next he told us about tips and tricks with cameras. He told us that a brilliant short film can even be made with the camera on your iPhone or tablet and that there are many applications that are free that can help with the production of your short film. For example, Darren uses an app on his phone which tells you where the sun will be during the day, this can tell you where the shadows will fall and whether you will need extra lighting for the time of day you want to film. Another is Celtx which helps you create and plot out a storyboard and add images to get a clear idea of what you want for your short film. A trick he told us for smooth panning is instead of using a track, which is what people use on set to move a camera with gliding movements, use a penny board or skate board along with a piece of material or something to keep the ground smooth and flat.

All of this will aid any more filming I will need to do and is invaluable to my work. I will take what he told us and use it throughout my work from editing to camera work.
 

Prop Making

Filming Experience?

I have previously been editing videos for YouTube for quite some time and so I have built up skills in which angles look better than others, natural lighting, rule of thirds etc. All of these skills will help me with my short film and the two videos here are ones I believe have helped me develop skill in slow motion, music, lighting, editing techniques, FinalCut Pro and colour editing. Although these videos have been created originally for other subjects they still apply with what I am trying to achieve, a professional looking short film with a diverse range of transitions and techniques.

Stuart Fischoff - Media Psychology

Previous research shows that what genre of film a person favours is a good indication to what their favourite films will be. There are genres that are considers to be more 'women's films' and there are genres that are to be considered as 'men's films'. Films such as Rom-coms are usually told from the woman's point of view and therefore the target audience can relate to the protagonist more so. 'Men's films' tend to focus more on action and competition and less on romance. These expectation are consistent with Social Identity Theory which identifies people to seek out particular messages which support which support their social identity. So if a member of the target audience has gone through a similar experience or wants a similar experience to happen, they will actively seek out these films or relate to them more easily. 

The Fischoff study indicated that the most popular film genres were Drama, Comedy, Action, Action-Adventure, Romance and the combined category of Science Fiction/Fantasy. This study was taken back in 1994 and during that time Science Fiction and Fantasy films couldn't really compete due to the lack of special effects that could tell the story well. If you look on the list of highest grossing films however, the top 3 contain 2 Fantasy genre films. These two films where made in the last 5 years, and the further you go down the list the more Fantasy, Action and Sci-Fi films you get, all made in recent years. So although this theory by Fischer can still apply to the majority of the population, the most popular genres are starting to change as new technology comes into practice within films.

Fischer's study does still apply a little to age and gender. It is still true that younger men tend to watch films that are in the genres of Action-Adventure, Drama and Horror which is stereotypical for this gender. Women however did mention a number of Action-Adventure, Science Fiction and Drama films in their top list of 25, which may be considered either within the male domain of genre preference or simply as films which star men or art shot from the male point of view. Clearly women are less restrictive in their gender cross-over behaviour than are men whose preferences ten to be male gender exclusive.

Textual Analysis of Students Short Film

This short film made by a student shows a diverse range of camera shots, editing techniques, sound and mise en scene. All of this I should take into account when creating my short film. Small signifiers could be used in mise en scene to represent a theory, or a certain type of shot could be used to portray a character. I need to analyse a students work to see what the minimum expectations are when creating my own short film and to see if I like any effects used and try them for myself.

The first camera shot shown is a long establishing shot of London. This is good to give the audience a sense of where they are and what they should expect from other shots, such as taxis', red letter boxes etc. It then quickly cuts to the two main characters of the story, the man being the main character and the woman who's importance comes later on the short film. These two are first established by a long shot and then we are brought to a close up. This gives the audience a good look at who the characters are of this short film and who they need to follow. In my own short film I need to do this otherwise the audience will not have anyone to focus on during the short film. A racking shot is then used when the main character is notified of 'The Suspect'. This signifies that the main character was unaware of this man until he walks past and then his motive becomes clear as does the focus. The tracking shot used shortly on gives a sudden urgency to the small chase scene that is about to take place. The camera flips from behind 'H's' legs to the front of 'The Suspects' legs to show the different points of views. An over shoulder shot is used also in this short space of time to show both the facial expressions of 'H' and 'The Suspect'. Both remain blank but slightly determined, especially when 'H' tries to stay within close proximity of The Suspect. A lot of hand held camera work is also used once the chase scene speeds up and the two men start running. This brings more urgency as the shots start to become shorter to bring more tension to this scene. Also, a whip pan is used which is traditionally used in films of a Japanese or Chinese style. I'm hoping to have a similar style to these films with the action used and certain camera shots and so I should try and fit this into my short film some how, especially if I am to have a fight scene.

Editing at this point really starts to show as the pace of different clips start to speed up. A vignette has been added on top of all the clips to enhance the shadows in this short film. This short film isn't on the lightest of subjects and so the darkness around the edges gives this short film a look that fits with the genre of this action shot film. Earlier in the film a shot reverse shot was used within the conversation between 'H' and the woman. I could possibly use this myself during a conversation or another point in my short film when action is happening. Later on a fade to black is used when 'H' is hit with the brief case to show him passing out. I could do this when fading in and out of a day dream.

Diegetic sound is used as soon as the establishing shot appears. Car sounds can be heard along with everyday city ambience. When creating my short film I need to think about how I'm going to apply my own sound such as feet walking on leaves or people talking. I could record each sound separately which would give my work the best sound quality or I could record it from the camera whilst filming. If I do that however I would loose some sounds and background noises might be enhanced. Because I'm planning to have a slightly bigger cast that a usual I may pick up sounds from them talking or someone coughing, so my best bet would be to record everything my self separately. A voice over is used at about 00:33 in this short film to deliver vital information to not only the character but to the audience to make them aware that The Suspect is the one to look out for. I could use a voice over in my own work to give the audience information that my character doesn't say herself. Within my short film I'm not planning to use a lot of speech as if the actors aren't very good, the quality of my short film and plummet immediately. Music also kicks in at this point. This music fits the short film well as it contains a little suspense but also seems a little sinister. The music soon picks up in pace as the two characters starting running, and therefore following the pace of the short film.

Narrative Theory

There are many theories behind the making of film and how film should be made, so I have taken this chance to investigate on a few of these theorists to add more character and knowledge behind my short film.

Vladimir Propp

Propp was a Russian critic and literary theorist.  During his time he analysed over 100 Russian fairy tales in the 1920's and created the theory that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions. Some of these characters are: The Hero (Seeks something), The Villain (opposes the hero), The Donor (helps the hero by providing a magic object), The Dispatcher (sends the hero on his way) etc. I can compare my characters to this even though my short film isn't a fairytale. There is indeed a main character who seeks something, and a villain that wises to obstruct this. My main character seeks to destroy her inner demons by creating an army of drawings, and the villains (shadow selves) seek to obstruct this, wanting to haunt this girl for the rest of her life. They confront each others, which is what usually happens within these fairy tales and my story follows the narrative of this theorist.

Tzvetan Todorov

Todorov is a Bulgarian theorist who created the theory that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is 'normal'. This state or normality is disrupted by the main danger of the story which must be fought against to regain the original equilibrium. This can easily be applied to a wide range of films and can be used in my short film. My short film does consist of an equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium but will contain a second twist at the end to leave the audience hanging. This leaves my short film with typical conventions but then a non-conventional twist. I hope this will keep my audience interested throughout, even till the end of the credits.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Strauss was a social anthropologist who studied myths of tribal cultures. He examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are usually expressed in the form of binary oppositions. His research has been adapted by media theorists to reveal underlying themes and symbolic oppositions in media texts. Binary oppositions are a conflict between two qualities or terms, for example: Male, Female. Hero, Villain, Garden, Wilderness. My short film contains some of these binary oppositions such as hero and villain. This makes my short film come across more professional as it follows theorists work but also gives my short film more meaning and depth as I have put time and thought behind this short film.

Target Audience

Before making a short film I need to think about my target audience as they are who I am making this for, without them there wouldn't be any point in creating this film if it wasn't going to be viewed by the public in some way.
Different short films are made for different people depending on the genre. For example, horror would appeal more to a younger audience of 18 onwards, but teen short films would attract people from the age of 14 onwards.
My idea involves creativity but also death. I wish to use the style of Hitchcock for my deaths so it doesn't get over complicated with blood as it can sometimes look unprofessional but also these deaths are theoretical, the villains of this short film are technically the embodiment of this girls imagination, and so blood wont need to be used as the whole death of each character isn't real. Because of this I should hopefully be able to reach the younger part of my target audience, where as the higher members of my target audience will hopefully have a more deeper understanding on why this girl is doing what she does throughout the film.
I hope to reach a large target audience, but to keep it simple I will start with my target audience to be 14-20 year olds. Although this audience has dramatic changes in age and preferences, I feel my short film will fit nicely in this group due to the fact I'm 17 and when making it I will probably automatically fit into this category.

 

Also, due to the art related side to this short film it should automatically attract artists or people who are creative or do creative things. The genre will also help towards this due to the fact it's a fantasy adventure short film and the fantasy aspect is what should attract a creative audience. The reason why I chose these genres of film in the first place was because I believe there is a gap in the market for something like this and hopefully this too will attract a larger audience. Zombie and horror films, I feel, are over produced and can be difficult to produce something unique in these genres of film, and so this is why I have stuck to this idea and will keep adding to the first original idea to keep it interesting but at the same time easy to follow to keep my target audience interested.

The socio-economic group I hope to aim my short film at are the ABC1 category but also a little towards the C2DE. ABC1 tend to be more knowledgeable, but also have more money to buy films and explore different genres. Knowing this, this socio-economic group should therefore watch more obscure and less known Indie films but also short films. Aiming my short film at this group would boost views and coverage, and therefore spread advertisement of my film through word of mouth and social websites. I also need to take this into account when creating a film poster as this will be the main advertisement to get knowledge of this film out there.

My Philosophy

When creating a film I need to think about other director's philosophies but also my own. Will I follow my own guidelines? What do I like in short films? Am I basing my work on any directors? All of this I need to take into account when editing or filming. Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Hitchcock, Brian De Palma and Speilburge all have their own philosophies towards film. Speilburge produces very serious and very dramatic films with little to no CGI, where as on the opposite side of the spectrum we have Brian De Palma using kaleidoscope, and slow motion effects and Lars von Trier & Thomas Vinterberg with their rules referred to as the "Vow of Chastity".

• All filming must be done on location, any props must be found on location and not brought in.
• Sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot)
• The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted.
• The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera)
• Optical work and filters are forbidden
• The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc.)
• Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (The film must take place in the here and the now)
• Genre movies are not acceptable
• The film format must be Academy 35mm
• The director must not be credited

After looking through these different techniques I feel that this style isn't for me, though I do wish to work in colour as that is the style i'm going for. I hope to follow a more traditional method of filming, one that flows more and uses effects to achieve the best out of the clips of film. Directors like Speilburge and Hitchcock use the methods I hope to use, such as graphic matches and the typical equilibrium, disequilibrium, equilibrium. One technique I am most interested in trying is how Hitchcock  doesn't show any wounds in the movie 'Psycho'. I feel that if not done properly the use of blood or wounds can look amateur, which isn't what I want to achieve with this short film. Instead, If I just imply that the person has been wounded then I could give my film a unique style like 'Psycho'.

Uses and Gratifications

Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what does media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do people do with media" - Wikipedia

Films are used by audiences to fulfil certain needs that an audience have. John Fiske once said 'a genre defines a moral and social world', which means that by looking to movies now and the past we can look into the needs of the audience of that time. For instance, in the 1950's 'monster movies' had a similar plot line of something strange and supernatural would be created from a nuclear source. The hegemonic values of that society of that time was the fear of a nuclear war as this was a new thing at the time. What I want to answer is how does my short film use this to represent ideas and social issues within this day of age. My short film's main focus is the problems and insecurities of teenagers and how they can go about not listening to modern day media and fight their inner insecurities. 

Films tend to have physical and emotional effects on the viewer, which leads to people liking certain genres more than others. For example, people when watching Zombie films tend to identify with the hero of the story and want to be them. My short film does this as I am aiming at a teenage/young adult audience and the main protagonist is a 17 year old girl. Within Rom-com's for example gives an emotional effect of escapism. This happens within my short film as the girl is taken from the real world into a daydream, something the members of my audience might do daily or from time to time. Also, Rom-coms have a 'wish-fulfillment' idea to them, that people wish something/someone was like something/someone in the short film. For example in mine they might wish that defeating your inner insecurities was this easy, or that life was more like the daydream with adventure and outrageous costumes and weapons.

The physical side to a movie would be the crying or laughter that comes from a tragedy or comedy. Mine doesn't really use this as mine is neither a comedy or has upsetting moments within it but does build up tension within the film, so could have the physical effect of tension on my audience.

My film falls into many different genres and doesn't fall into a single category. My film falls into the genres of Action, Adventure and Fantasy. Stereotypically my short film should thrill my audience and make them want to become the protagonist of the film.
Applying 'Uses and Gratifications' to the internet will play a large part with my short film and my audience. The internet allows us to identify more products and people, due to search websites like Google or Bing and enables the audience to come closer to their role models. Short films have benefitted from websites like Vimeo and YouTube as there is a global archive of short films at your fingertips with a diverse range of genres. I hope to upload my short film to YouTube to get the best coverage and to remain global for as long as it can be.

Textual Analysis of 'Smokey Saloon'

Smokey Saloon

PJ Ligouri is an award winning short film director and actor who originated from YouTube. His short films are buzzing with creative and original ideas which I hope to show through my own short film. One of his short films 'Smokey Saloon' shows PJ on a miniature adventure through a wardrobe (a little like mine) and having to destroy the mysterious beings inside. My textual analysis of this short film should help me discover angles, shots, special fx and camera tricks that I could use in my short film.

Firstly, the plot. The plot starts as a normal equilibrium, something happens (disequilibrium) and then is left to a new equilibrium, this process of film making was brought along by Todorov. This is the easiest way to create a plot as it hits all the elements of a conventional film. PJ here however finishes this film on a cliff hanger, another disequilibrium. This leaves the audience wanting more and wanting to know what adventure he may go on next. This is how I want to end my short film, people wanting more and wondering whats going to happen next and not just giving them all the information of the story. Although this short film is based on my imagination I want the audience to use their imagination to create an ending.

Secondly, sound. Even from the beginning we have diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Within my short film I need to have something playing in the background, whether it's the sound of birds or woodland sounds or background music that fits the theme and mood of the short film. I need to make a small list of possible sound effects I need to re-record as sound that is filmed on the camera wont be very good. I need to record foley with either a boom mic or possibly my phone. I also need to think about theme music for my short film. I'm personally not the best at creating music but layering maybe two or 3 pieces over one another would be a good way to get some interesting sounds.

Thirdly, lighting. Something I've learnt from Darren S Cook is that you should always use as much light as possible, especially natural light. He told us that it's easier to make the room look darker and still professional than lighter. By pulling up the light in editing you start to get grainy footage and wont have the clear professional look I'm after. Pj also has a great use of shadows in his lighting. By using a large white light for a 'natural light look' he can move this to produce shadows in certain places, the main place the small cupboard. My character does a similar thing of the wardrobe being the main portal into another land, or in my case daydream. I need to somehow make my green sheet that I put in my wardrobe black, which should be able to be done with Chroma keying.

Special effects and costume are what makes this short film special and hopefully mine too. The 'beings' in the bar were created from sheets of black material and LED lights underneath. My costumes will hopefully be made by me as I've looked at tutorials on how to create a jetpack and fake sword. I hope to create a 'stunt flute' from an old piece of piping with drilled holes into it. I also hope to use smoke emitters within my short film for the Shadow Selves. It will just give a bit of movement when they stand there and give the sense, like in this film, that there is a danger lurking there.

Next, camera shots. There is a variation of shots within this short film. Long shots, mid shots, close ups, low angle and high angle shots were all used within this short film and give and interesting variation through out the film, keeping the viewers interested. I need this to keep members of my audience interested but to also add variation. I like the use of the 50mm lens he used to get a shallow focus as I feel it gives a more professional look but also more depth to the footage. I can also add a racking focus to my work if I wanted with the use of a 50mm.

Simple editing was used within this film, but techniques such as eye line matches, shot reverse shot, fade to black and fade to white were also used for the effect of sudden darkness and sudden light. I can use these fades when the girl walks to the wardrobe suggesting the flow between real life and the day dream.

Mise en Scene was used creatively through this short film. The house they used was an everyday home, suggesting that this doesn't happen on a regular basis and is a new adventure for this character. The clothing also suggests this and the prop of PJ eating the crisps also suggests that this was an unexpected turn of events.



Textual Analyse of 'Arcade Domination'

'Arcade Domination' matches the ideas I want to portray in my short film but also has special effects that I would like to incorporate in my own short film. One of these ideas is that the characters that are destroyed don't show any wounds or blood, which is something Hitchcock used within his film 'Physco' but is also used within classic comic style films such as 'Scott Pilgrim vs the world'. I hope to incorprate this somehow into my short film with fighting techniques and special effects but maybe also intentional signifiers such as posters to show my connection to the comic style of short films such as this one and Pj Ligouri's film 'Smokey Saloon'.

Firstly, camera shots and editing are used excellently within this short film with the range of high and low angles and a diverse range of mid, long and close up shots. The short film first jumps straight into the scenario of the film with a mid shot, establishing all the main characters within the first 15 seconds of the film. We then come across a quick close up of the toy the main character is trying to win, which signifies the hero's intention of the overall film, to play some arcade games. For editing a shot reverse shot is used to establish the hero and the villains he has to defeat, the 'Fun Police'. A slight low angle shot is used for the main villain here to show his dominance over the hero and vice versa with a slight high angle shot for the hero to suggest he has got his work cut out for him and that this battle will not be easy. Although the rate of which the shots are cut are long, the camera is being held and therefor giving a shaky effect which immediately gives a sense of urgency but also gets all the action within one shot. Whip pans are also used which are typically used within old Chinese/Japanese style films to 'whip' from one part of the action to another. Slow motion is also used for characters who want to make an impressive entrance. At 4:00 within the short film the hero marches up to the last of the villains, ready for the final battle. The hero is feeling epic at this point after defeating 2 out of the 3 villains and so the slow motion adds to this feeling.

The use of special effects is professionally done within this short film and I hope to add special effects within my short film for a possible laser gun or jetpack. Possible ways to create special effects without the use of Adobe would be to use either dry ice, smoke emitters or a portable smoke machine. All of this is possible and could make my job with filming this short film a lot easier and save time in the editing process. If I am to add special effects I need to think about exactly what I want to add so I can let the actor know before hand. For example, within this short film when the hero gains the powers of the game inFamous: Second Son, he is electrocuted and therefor his body needs to react to that. If I want a laser gun effect the actor will need to allow the gun to bounce back a little from the power of each shot, so I need to know exactly what effects I want to put in before my filming.

Characteristics of each character is clearly shown from the first couple of shots of each character. This acting isn't natural and slightly over the top but that is the style I might go for if I chose to go for a comic style of filming like this short film. The main hero is slightly cocky, a guy who always wins within a virtual reality but in real life it's not so easy and looses this characteristic quickly. The villains are shown to have no remorse, almost robotic not in movement but in personality, set out to do one thing and one thing only, to control the fun within the arcade. 

Choreographing a fight scene doesn't look to be the easiest thing in the world but my short film contains a pretty long fight scene where every character gets their own part. 'Arcade Domination' shows one to one battles between the hero and each individual villain and so this could be a good way for my short film to get all the characters in, by filming individual fight scenes between them all. This fight scene within 'Arcade Domination' looks like it have taken time and uses actors who have skills in acting but also gymnastics for front and back flips. To keep a fight scene interesting the hero must take a few hits, although I don't plan to have hand to hand combat within my short film I can always add something along the lines of a villain coming back from the dead or one ducking and diving out the way of a hero.

Sound is used throughout this short film. Diegetic sound is used immediately within the arcade, such as arcade sounds and a small amount of speech, but there is over enhanced diegetic sound throughout this film which include punches and 'whoosh' sounds when people are pulled or swing at one another. Non-diegetic sound starts at 0:33 which gives the sense of danger as the hero has just met the villain for the first time. Also, non-diegetic sound effects are given for the 'fun police' with the sound of a police siren and game sounds when people get hit from 'Pinball'. All these sound effects fit in with the overall theme of this short film and I will take into account what this short film as taught me to help develop my skills for my short film.

Film analysis on 'The Life and Death of Tommy Chaos and Stacey Danger'

The Life and Death of Tommy Chaos and Stacey Danger from Michael Lukk Litwak on Vimeo.

The story of this short film is a tale of how Tommy Chaos and Stacey Danger meet and travel on wonderful adventures around and outside Earth. The reason why I love this short film is because of it's creativity and its amazing use of special effects and sound. This short film jumps straight into its creative story line and you can immediately see the imagination behind this short film through the use of costume, ideas and  lighting. I hope to gain ideas from this short film to improve my own and then use to improve my short film ideas along with music and special effects.

The first camera shot that is used is a panning shot then followed by a mid shot of Tommy laying in bed, his inner monologue running through his head. This is an excellent way to start off the short film as it establishes one of the two main characters and there for gives the audience someone to focus on. The panning shot leaves the audience is a slight suspense for a moment as it rises to his face, and therefore keeps the audience interested. I like the use of the panning shot and hope to recreate something similar in my own short film to establish my own characters. It then swiftly moves onto a tracking shot of Tommy running through the battle grounds. This smooth transition was taken in one shot. This was done by placing the bed upright so when Tommy needed to run into the battle grounds he could do so with ease. This could represent the flow between sleep and fighting, that each day is the same for this character. I could use a similar method for my short film but instead of it representing this event happening every day, it would represent  unknowing of when the character goes from her room into the daydream, therefore making the audience, too, unaware of when she makes her way into a daydream. A tracking shot is used for when he runs into the battle grounds. This is different from the still shots that can become overused in short films. I want to use a tracking shot of my main character walking or running to have a difference in camera shots and keep the audience interested. This can easily be done by having a flat surface, putting a camera on a skateboard and then rolling the skateboard at the same speed of the person walking/running. If I want to film someone running through the woods, a good technique is just having them run in a circle around the camera man, therefore you don't have to try and keep up with the actor. A slow zoom in to the characters or objects can give a little movement to otherwise still shots. Movement is key to a shot film, otherwise the audience would soon grow bored of the same shots. Slow zooms could be used just to establish a room first and then work it's way to the character or it could be a fast zoom to show panic.

Editing is a key part for any film or short film as it's what glues all the videos together. Without editing you would be left with a very raw looking short film with lack of colour. no special effects and no title. This short film is an excellent example for editing as it uses special effects, which is something I hope to use in my short film, a mixture of hue and colour change and also lighting. In the beginning the contrast is heightened to produce stronger black shadows and the colour changed so there is a warmth in the colour of the clip. Chroma Keying can be done on the majority of film editing software and is used in this short film. What they did here was take an image, here is it a circle cut out to represent the telescope, and then 'cut out' the coloured section you don't want so you can later on layer the video you do want in this section. I may have to use this for my short film when my jet

pack spaceman needs to fly. I could film him in front of a green screen and chroma key out the green. 3D animation was used for the two characters sitting on top of the wild bear with the glowing blue eyes. This can be done on a film set with a green screen. A similar effect was used in 'The Golden Compass' when the girl rides upon a polar bear. What the actors sit upon is a shape similar to the animals back which is the same colour as the green screen. That way the animators can layer the animation over the top of the green colour. I am not planning to do something that requires this much skill as I don't have the time to learn the skills and wouldn't have the time to create something like this. The lighting in this part has been tuned so it looks more like night time, and to do this you turn up the blues and greens in colour, heighten the contrast and bring down the highlights.
The title is what the audience will remember most about your film. The audience will come away knowing the name of your film and an opinion about it so creating an interesting title sequence is a must for any film or short film. The title to this short film uses layering, imagery, and a small spin into the title. This title describes the entire film perfectly as the majority of the film takes part in space, which is where the title is shown. When creating my own title I need to think about how I'm going to sum up my whole movie into a title sequence. A fade to black is used to indicate afterwards that the main story of this film is about to begin. The majority of todays films use this after the title to give the audience the sense that they are unaware of what is to happen next, that they have been put in the dark.

Mise en scene is best seen when the two characters are swapping stories of the adventures they have been on. The first story told is about how Tommy accidentally destroyed a Russian submarine and how he once built one. His costume is of a stereotypical Russian man with a large fluffy hat and moustache. Stacey then goes on to tell him how she once escaped from North Korea using two celery sticks and some peanut butter. For this she is wearing a military uniform to suggest that she had to escape from somewhere heavily guarded. The hairstyles change when they talk about others stories to a more formal style, but when they return to just laughing in some bed sheets their hair returns to slightly scruffy, to suggest that they are back to reality. When talking about other peoples stories their hair changes again, most noticeable with Stacey where her hair changes from scruffy to plated.

The hair styles also represents the stable or the unstable parts of their relationship. When they first get married, Tommy's hair is neat, symbolising the fact that everything is calm for them and that they're happy. Later on when they start to fight and to not enjoy each others company hi hair grows more scruffy, like the time before he met Stacey.

Finally, this film has both diegetic and non-diegetic sound which is used to create atmosphere and tension in areas of this short film. Non-diegetic sound is used for the theme tune and for sound effects such as swoops and unnatural sound effects. For the theme tune it is used in moments of adventure which I could use in some points in my own short film, so finding a good piece or creating a good piece of music will be vital. Also, in this short film a voice over of a mans voice is used to help the story along and to help the audience understand why and how things have happened. Because my short film is SO short, I feel doing this could benefit my target audience as they will be able to enjoy the film and understand it, especially if my target audience is a younger market. For diegetic sound I can record my own sound effects from my phone or with a boom mic, or search online for possible foley sounds such as foot steps and sounds of sketching/drawing.

A Name

Every Short Film has a name. The name given to a film/short film will describe briefly the entire film in just a few words. After looking at a range of short films the majority of names are just 1 word. This not only fits the whole idea that this film is short like the title, but also keeps it simple, like shorts films are also. After briefly telling my members of my audience what my short film is about, I gave them a few names for this short film and asked which they felt suited this short film the best. The tally worked out to be:

Behind Closed Doors - 2

Sketch - 6

The Book - 0

Brought to Life - 1

Imagine - 1

Daydream - 1

Overall, Sketch had the most votes and I did prefer this name and Imagine but wanted to test a range of titles to see how the audience thought it would fit with my short film. The name Sketch fits with the idea that this girl sketches her characters to life, and without sketching these characters there would never be anyway for the characters to help her, so its the biggest turning point within the short film. Sketch also fits in with other short film titles as many have 1 word title. Later on I will experiment with different fonts and styles that could match the theme of my short film and get feedback from my peers and audience on their opinion.

Storyboard

Storyboarding & Planning

Creating a storyboard is ESSENTIAL when making a short film. It allows not just the director to understand their own film but allows others what they are doing when being filmed and allows them to be prepared on what they are doing. To make this as easiest as possible for people to follow I will create a photo story board which will allow me to see what angles, shot and location I want to film instead of writing it out in a long list. It also allows an easy flow of images and therefore more flow within my short film. Being an avid artist I will also add details to this storyboard and images to also make this easy to follow.

After creating my storyboard I need to assign roles to the different talents I want to be within my short film. I have already done both of these along with filming and this was the hardest part through the entire process so far. Trying to find dates for filming where EVERYONE could be filmed was frustrating, a few talents in the end ended up not even being able to make the day and therefore freeing up more dates to film. The dates I had booked out for filming where the 19th and 20th of August, everyone meeting at my house before walking to the film location within the middle of the woods. I had previously been to this location and narrowed the location down to 3 possible ones before settling on the final. As it turned out, on the day of filming two more cast members didn't turn up, leaving a cast of 11, 6 for the Shadow Selves and 5 for The Sketches.

My character list is:

The Mechanic - George Hersant

Weapon - Sword

Kill - Kezia + Jess

The Adventurer - Ben Sturland

Weapon - Jetpack + Laser Gun

Kill - Zoe

The Musician - Kayleigh Dunkley

Weapon - Flute (Lulls her enemy into a false sense of security before hitting them with the flute)

Kill - Jo + David (David ducks out of the way)

The Chief - Katherine Payne

Weapon - Bow + Arrows

Kill - David

The Girl - (Myself as the original character dropped out)

Weapon - Sword

Kill - Will

Shadow Selves:

Kezia

Jess

Jo

Zoe

David

Will

A Rough Idea

After repeatedly thinking about an idea for my short film and how I wanted to portray my creativity through this short film, I settled on a daydream as this is something that happens to me quiet often. However, I wanted to give this average scenario a twist and throw in my love of drawing into the film too. The idea in fact originally came from a dream about how all my drawings came to life one day. The conventional storyline of any film or short film is an equilibrium, disequilibrium and then back to an equilibrium. This is how I wish to show my short film as it is the simplest way to create a basic storyline for my short film. After applying this to my original idea I needed to think of an disequilibrium that would be enough danger to cause my drawings to come to life within the daydream. Why would they come to life? What would they do? Do they have weapons? I kept asking and got members of my target audience to ask all these questions to help me build a strong idea to build up my idea with depth, meaning and creativity for an original short film idea...and this is what I've got.

Every teenager nowadays has problems about something, inner demons they need to defeat, shadows of their self... but not many know how to defeat these 'Shadow Selves' within their minds. The Girl (main character) is sitting at her desk one day looking at articles on the internet about something that troubles her (look up the most common problem for teenagers). These shots fade in and out, making it difficult for the audience to decipher when she goes into a daydream until suddenly her wardrobe door swings wide open. The girl isn't startled though as when in a daydream you are in control, nothing seems to surprise you within a day dream... she starts to walk towards the open door, and just before she reaches it she closes her eyes. The screen goes black before she appears in a forrest. She stumbles upon a book where it tells her to draw to defeat her Shadow Selves once and for all. She experiments first by drawing out a shoe, it comes to life, she then draws out her characters one by one before the final battle. After killing the last of the Shadow Selves it suddenly cuts back to her at her desk, confused as to what had happened but knowing that she is free. The book from her day dream is in front of her, "Save the others' ('others' meaning other teenagers with Shadow Selves).