Ancillary Tasks: Magazine Review: Final Product: An Analysis

For the magazine article we used the programme ‘Microsoft Word’. A part of this decision was that it was a piece of software available to all of us throughout the holidays. It is also designed to deal with the collaboration of text and images so it would be capable of achieving our aims.

Text

We choose a simple font, because sans-serif styles are easier to read, we wouldn’t want to risk the chance of someone beginning to read then abandoning it because of a detail such as font. We choose the blue colour scheme of writing as it was close to the black and grey colour scheme we originated with. That splash of colour keeps the look alive On the other hand it isn’t outrageous which keeps with our aesthetic to keep sophistication.

For the title and review section, we have the letters either light blue or navy depending on the shade of the picture directly behind it. It will change halfway through some words. Part of this due to necessity for clarity. Secondly it draws emphasis to these words, demanding a reader’s interest. This review must stand out from the possible other reviews in this magazine.

Pull – Out Quotes

The use of pull-out quotes is to take potential sound bites for the reader ski-reading, it should have an appeal that is prima facie and immediate. We chose the quote ‘The film shows the madness of a man in a desperate situation’ because it summarised the film in a way that asks more questions than answers. ‘We subvert suburban images into iconography’ s to give us kudos and credibility as film makers, it shows this to be a valid production. ‘the ending will truly shock people’ is our main draw into reaching viewers , by making it a pull out quote exceedingly emphasises it.

They have been given a larger size and put into bold to signify them as separate from the article.

The Side-Bar

This column is common feature in reviews as research has shown, we believe it give a professional feel to the product, and enabled readers to assess our film within a few seconds if necessary.

Images

The constant layer of images provides detail and shows a preview of our feature.

The main picture on the first page was chosen as digging a grave coincided with the title, so you can get an immediate idea of the films plot. We also liked the contrast between the dark of the mud and the light of the sky. It makes the protagonist almost silhouette like. The deepness of the hole also creates a scale.

The pictures on the second page are used to bookend the top and bottom of the text.

By keeping them in a straight line it creates a uniformity that is essential in magazines. The Images were chosen as they have a emphasise of the side of the page they are on, for example the eyes looking up is centred and the image of John dragging the box from the left hand-side of the screen is on the left hand side of the page.

The picture of John almost in tears was chosen is that it establishes sympathy with the character and shows the gnarled trees of the wood. The shot of him standing with the sun, is iconic and signifies mystery. The shot of him in the fields contrast against the two darker shots and shows the characters discombobulation. The shot of him dragging out the box, emphasises the harsh light of the field scene. The eyes looking up demonstrates the peculiar feel to our film. The shot of John crawling down perched over the paper, symbolising the characters desperation.

On the back of each paragraph is a shot of John holding the Guide. We had the picture locked so it is at the same ratio and not stretched. We think it is an interesting detail but it should not distract the reader form the text. So we increased the contrast to make a cartoon like style of the shot. We then increased the brightness on one shot so that the text was dominant over it as well as the opposite. This is influenced from research.

Layout

The columns are an integral part of magazines, and it is what gives it the distinction between a leaflet and article. We gave it three columns as it seemed the appropriate ratio aesthetically. They are interrupted by the diagonal line of pull out quotes.

One of the flaws of using Microsoft word was that it wouldn't allow columns in a text box. So we had to add unseen text boxes above the first, we found the width of the seen text box, then divided it by three. We then had to manually calculate the capacity of each individual text box and copy and paste the text from another document into the layout.

The pull out quotes in a line again provides order and routine which is important to the presentation of the article. The layout of the first page was influenced by research.

The elements we are most proud of is the use of transparency in the layers which adds a richness and sophistication that readers come into expect in publications.

By Tim McNiven, Peter McLaughlin, Oliver Fitch & Joe Lawrence

Ancillary Tasks: Magazine Review: Final Product

Please click on the enlarge image to scale required.

By Tim McNiven, Peter McLaughlin, Oliver Fitch & Joe Lawrence

Ancillary Tasks: Magazine Preview: First Draft

All analysis of the post shall be displayed in red. This can show the reasoning behind each sentence and paragraph and how it is constructed to covey the overall effect.

Before Spielberg’s creation of the Blockbuster with ‘Jaws’, before Lucas redefined Science fiction with ‘Star Wars’ and Nolan reinvigorated the ‘Batman’ Franchise. Before these pillars in cinema history, they all started their careers with various projects largely forgotten. These lost gems are lost for the same reason – they were short films.

We believe this introduction gives short-films a perspective compared to the feature film extravaganzas of today. It also inadvertently perks the interest of the peoople who have enjoyed these projects (which would include the majority of readers reading a review of films.

This paragraph is designed to build to expectation making it sound like a potential event viewing.

Short films have made little to no impact upon popular culture, the makers of the unusually titled ‘The Quintessential Guide: To Dispose of A Body’ hope this will be a turning point. Considering it’s release being released at the turn of the decade and with the internet making the perfect forum, there has never been a better time.

This paragraph shifts the emphasis unto the film itself, giving a general opinion and a very brief synopsis.

With this heavy expectation upon it this piece holds up rather impressively. It sets up the interesting plot device of an innocent being forced into a situation where they have to dispose of a corpse.

Although never intentionally, our film crosses many genres and this in fact a USP and this paragraph is to push that forward. It would be interesting for a critic as they are often watching films heavily moulded into a particular genre.

As with many a Independent film (now commonly referred to as Indie Films) the genre is hard to pin down. It has elements of a drama, with the story focusing on singular character. Simultaneously it’s dark subject matter of dealing with a human corpse, lends itself to horror elements, specifically in the grave digging sequence. Most prominent of all are the thriller elements as the films builds enigma around various questions culminating in the viewer’s mind.

We believe that as a viewer you would view our project to a very different way you would for the filmmakers or someone who has watched it extensively. The way the view the character's circumstance is often changed by seeing another enact it at the end. For this reason we felt it important to address the issue of how the story deliberately answers some questions definitively whereas leaves others open for debate.

This short film raises some intriguing issues on what is expected of a filmmaker in terms of enigma. In particular, what questions have to be answered? This film, without a word off dialogue, makes the story consistent and offers the viewer enough information to speculate elements left unknown. Questions such as ‘Who is behind this?’ may be pressing on a viewer’s mind but, fortunately, doesn’t make for frustrated viewing.

The central character works much better as a plot device then as a viewpoint character. Though to be fair the protagonist is not allowed character moments, specifically within the time limits and constrains of the plot. That said Peter McLaughlin’s performance at least allows for sympathy for the character, he depicts the madness of a man who is in a desperate situation.

The style works intriguingly well, with the structure of a guide. The cuts, to the step by step instructions, allow for the story to skip any moments of mundaneness and get to the heart of the tale, which is essential for a short film. Additionally it is as if the film is instructing viewers, meaning they are directly addressed, it subtly makes the viewer consider what they would do in that situation.

The paragraph below is influenced by Russell T. Davies (Writer and Executive Producer of 'Casanova') who described that the use of panning wide shots and music can lead to an filmic effect.

The moments this film really shines are in the moments it goes from being standard to ineffably filmic. The shot of the box being dragged over a golden field is stunning and captivating.

It also works on an extremely relatable level, taking images of suburbia and converting them onto iconic images. These include the cardboard box, being used as a coffin. The garage becoming a claustrophobic holding cell. Most of all turning fields and woods into these alien landscapes through cantered angles and a discombobulating editorial style.

We believe it was right to be truthful and honest of niggling doubts of our finished product. Whereas they are subjective, critics will always offer a comment that is personal to their preferences.

The music is a double edged sword; it fights the obvious instinct of being thriller typical with predictable build ups. Alternatively it focuses of the tragedy of death and of the gruelling task laid out. On the other hand it can be a little jarring to have the soundtrack suddenly cease, whilst it shows shock it also makes the viewer very self aware that they are simply watching a fiction.

The conclusion summarises the major tones of the review, it also has a brief reference to the introduction to help the review feel complete and an absolute journey folowing the piece. It also has an alluding reference to the end to work as a hook to lure potential viewers.

This story is told confidently and unapologetically pulling at both the hearts strings and the brain cells. If ‘The Quintessential Guide to: Dispose of a Body’ does become another lost gem, than it should be one that is cherished. With an ending that will truly shock people this is well worth watching.

By Tim McNiven, Peter McLaughlin, Oliver Fitch & Joe Lawrence

Scene One - The Final Version

Previously i showed how we originally envisioned the first scene, I have now taken screenshots from the beginning of each shot and constructed them into a slideshow. I shall then discuss the thought-process behind the additions, removal and alterations of shots.



Tim McNiven

Storyboarding - The Opening Sequence

Whilst we storyboarded various shots for the whole piece. We found from experience that you tend to vary extremely from the storyboard as the location lends itself to certain angles. However, we extensively storyboarded the opening sequence. I have put these drawings of each shot into a slide-show style, to envision how we imagined it. Their will annotation of each shot and the thought process around it.

Concept Provided By - Timothy McNiven,Peter McLaughlin, Oliver Fitch, Joseph Lawrence

Storyboard Drawn By - Timothy McNiven

Video Slideshow By - Timothy McNiven

Narration - Timothy McNiven

Influences/Music: Batman Begins

For the character's journey across the field, carrying on through into the the second Chapter: Disposal we wanted to have a sound bridge score of music, building an emotional and atmospheric tone to the piece keeping the audience fully on board captivating their feelings. As a group we sat and browsed through various films which we believed to have strong musical soundtracks that stand alone. We watched various scenes from different films including, Hitchcock's Topaz, The Brave One, Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Pale Rider, Mongol and Batman Begins. Reviewing the film's we had watched we realised that not all pieces of music can be related to or fit in with any genre accordingly, but one of the soundtracks caught our attention, and that being from Batman Begins, the Christopher Nolan Film.

This piece of music is enchanting and brings a sorrowful feel to the scene it accompanies in Batman Begins being the death of Bruce's parents and the music is used to enhance the sadness of the loss. We browsed a copyright free music website (http://www.freeplaymusic.com/) for various tracks with similar sound tracks, searching under the following catergories:

• 
  
  Atmospheric


• 
  
  Ambient


• 
  
  Downtempo


• 
  
  Cinematic


• 
  
  Classical


• 
  
  Drama


• 
  
  Gothic/Industrial


• 
  
  Operatic

After listening to various pieces of music we found one track that was of high quality composure and gave the same emotional feeling to Batman soundtrack 'Barbastella'. This soundtrack has the ability to gain an emotional interaction with our audience and to further enhance their viewing pleasure.




Peter McLaughlin

Influences/Soundtrack: Atonement directed by Joe Wright (Music By Dario Marianelli)

The musical score of this film inspired the use of the typewriter effect within our title sequence. The sound effect gives authenticity to the piece and brings life to the title sequence making for easy and interactive viewing pleasure.

By Peter McLaughlin & Oliver Fitch

Influences: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Written By Oliver Fitch

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 black comedy film starring Jim Carrey, Billy Connolly and Timothy Spall and is directed by Brad Silberling. The film itself is based on the first three novels of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events book series, which are The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room and The Wide Window. The film follows the story of the Baudelaire orphans who lost their parents. They are continuously being leered into entrapment by Count Olaf: he’s desperate to steal their family fortune which was passed down to them by their deceased parents.

Getting to the point, the part of the film that may have influenced my addition to the story line of our short film production was the way in which throughout the film it is narrated to the audience through speech and constant typing and camera shots of the narrator typing. This is used in an effective way to help explain to the audience about the story and also suggests to the audience that as the film progresses the narrator is continuously typing (writing the story). The narrator is also seen by the audience to be representing Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) the author of the book novels as he narrates the story throughout the film to the audience. I may have unconscientiously been influenced by the film while selecting certain elements within our film.

However, in our Short Film we used this technique of typing but in specific way which put the audience into the frame mind perspective of the protagonist John, so when it was presented on screen the audience could emphasize what John was going through physically and mentally. Also it allowed the audience to follow the instructions of the guide as it explained to them what the protagonist (John) must do in order to complete his journey and dispose of the unwilling burden that was brought into his possession unknowingly. But the main difference in our production to this influence was when editing and trying to place this method in, we finally came to the conclusion where the instructions to the guide would actually be placed on screen itself, allowing the audience to read and follow them while the sound track of typing would be played during this. As well as showing typing errors to suggest that it was actually being written as the film progressed similar to A series of Unfortunate Events. This technique is applies throughout our piece and we think as a group has had a very positive effect on the finished product as well as giving a very clear message to the audience by allowing them to see the film through the frame of mind of the protagonist.

Where as in A Series of Unfortunate Events this method is used to explain to the audience the story line and in our Short Film we have used it to explain to the audience the instructions of the guide and how protagonist must follow this at all costs.

This technique that influenced our film can be seen in the video below within Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events:

The Dilemma of Mystery

The dilemma of mystery is the subtle but vital distinction between enigma and convulsion. Interestingly this is only an issue with high concept story lines. With drama we can accept this, for example 'Queer As Folk' has the issue of Stuart's unrequited love for Vince, yet it isn't explicitly stated until episode 5. This works perfectly well as more perceptive viewers can notice this relationship whilst those that don;t can have that line of dialogue as a revelation.

However with high concept stories we have to take every bit of detail as fact, because we are unused to the concepts. We can except a character lieing about what their car is capable of but if it is a character lieing about their spaceship then we have to take them at face value.

Steven Moffat (Head Writer behind 'Hyde and the upcoming series of 'Doctor Who') it's not just 'what you know' but 'knowing what you should know'. It's important to verify that the audience is allowed to know certain peices of information as they are revealed.

In the first series of True Blood whilst we have hints of who the murderer is, yet it is only with the CU of the photo of Drew Marshall that we know that information is now clarified and substantial.

We have taken these precautions as our story has mysteries that will be solved and mysteries that never will be. What is making our protagonist (and the character after him) carry out these actions are not to be questioned hence they have no on-screen presence. However how he plans to get rid of the body, is extremely emphasised with close ups of all his actions, and the typewriter sequences stating sections of the guide.

Timothy McNiven

Production: The Removal of the Antagonist

Even when into production, major changes can happen to the story. Lines can be rewritten, based on the sudden removal of; characters, locations and production hitches. During the production of 'Doctor Who - The Waters of Mars' when shooting in the National Botanic Gardens of Wales.. The issue of bird song became an issue with dialogue, despite the fact that the Gardens was doubling as a space station on Mars.

Russell T. Davies, co-writer of the episode, was contacted and on the evening reissued rewrites that sated the birds were part of the artificial ecological system. This however is a minor rewrites, whilst bigger one shave occur ed they are rare.

However one of these situations occurring during production (to see other minor changes see the section 'From Script to Screen') included the loss of the antagonist.

This was for varying reasons, firstly the loss of the cafe' scene. It meant a major section of the foreshadowing had been lost. We were left with the character being accused of being deus ex machina.

There was the issue of casting. The truth is we didn't want massive sections of exposition, so As shooting came closer it became apparent that (considering we do not have access to professionals or the world of casting agencies) it would be hard to get the femme fat ale character stereotypes would be needed to defend the credibility of the character. This meant we couldn't use anybody our own age, we needed somebody older, more dominant.r, exactly as how we envisioned.

We went through a hiatus of believing that it as we couldn't find an actor to fit the role, we should find a role to the actor. In the previous year we had played characters wearing masks. As we were already bringing back the protagonist from that year, we considered resurrecting his adversaries also.

The issue with this was, that the mystery of the characters worked in our previous project. As the specification was the opening of a thriller, we cold ask as many questions as we wanted without having to supply answers. Yet now we had to create a complete production and to deal with those characters satisfactorily, it would have been a story on it's own.

So we made the dramatic decision to have no antagonist visible on screen. You can not have glimpses of a villain then rely upon them heavily in the plot. It undermines both the set-up and the pay-off. You either have the antagonist quintessential to the story or you hide them completely. We decided that we could use the camera to suggest the character as being watched. Then the screen to cut to black, and have the sound of the character (the character who has remained in silence for the whole production) screaming. This could then lead to the ending scene as planned.

Tim McNiven

The Structure of a Novel Being Applied to a Film

It is important to see how our films will fit in the broader spectrum of media. In particular narratives. Narratives tend to have a structure that is confined by it's media forms. This is often dictated by their own specific limitations. I will list the various forms of media. I then wish to show that by combining two structures you can play to the strengths of both and subvert expectations. These include;

Television -

• A long term means of expressing drama. It establishes characters slowly, allowing for weeks of to show them in new lights. The only medium in which long-term relationships can literally be shown. If used in the other mediums then huge gaps are given, distancing us from the character.
• It's biggest limitation has been that it has been in the Shadow of other medium throughout it's entire history. Firstly the theatre, shows in the early days of television had to be shot in order, in sets that were being used for shows (meaning they were often designed to be stored away, everything was on wheels). Realism was compromised and they were often dignified theatre productions filmed.
• Secondly the cinema, also as a visual medium, yet film has a much bigger budget and can pull of visual spectacle. television can do this but much more select. C.G.I. shots have to be cleverly selected.

Film

• For the casual eye, this should be the freest art form. This is because it has the highest budget. Which means any kind of story can potentially told. Because of the money it also attracts the best, including writers, directors and actors. Hollywood and Los Angeles are seen as the end of the rainbow for those in the industry. With the best minds working their, many would argue that is where the best stories are being told. However it is restricted by the fact it has to introduce, challenge and resolve the issues of the characters in a strict time limit.
• There is also major pressure from company executives who want the film to be generic enough to appeal to a mass market and make back profit margins. This can include the removal of controversial issues (The new Terminator films are a minor '12a' compared to their much favoured 18 predecessors)

Novels

• Stories hat thrive off getting inside a character's mind to the point you feel you are inside the character's head, seeing things through their eyes. Despite being told in the third person, an obvious example is Rowling's 'Harry Potter' Saga.

Radio

• Action rarely pays off in radio, even in stereo, so dialogue is always the key. It feeds off slow burning drama. By having characters contained in a situation. Such as in Radio 4's Wooden Overcoat where a journalist knows his new lodger is a murderer but decided not to tell his wife. This means each character can have long conversations as events build as opposed to continuously occurring.

Short Film

They are often experimental. Directors feel the freedom to take much more risks hen they would with a blockbuster.

They can tell any sort of story as they are only viewed by those who are in love with idea of film and are willing to watch things outside their comfort zone.

The problem with telling our short story is that whilst we have followed the key steps of story telling. What takes the time is bridging these points. we realised that by using the guide as a structure for the film it directly addresses that we are moving on from one point to another. We no longer have to disguise the stages but highlight them. This is almost Brechtian in it's discombobulating effects making our viewers concentrate on the tragedy of the situation.

Tim McNiven

Dehumanization

The body/corpse/dead girl in our production is used mainly as an aesthetic to evoke a response of sympathy from the viewer. The casting of a girl as the body is significant as it creates symbolism. The symbolism that the body upholds is one of innocence, purity and the protagonists connection to his childhood and in destroying the body he in essence is killing a part of himself being his compassion. The fair hair of the female body is also symbolic as it upholds purity and idealism.

We want to have our vieiwer feel emotionally involved in the piece, joining the protagonist on his journey of torment and in dehumanizing the body, making it an object rather than an induvidual it puts the audience's attention on the protagonist for the entire duration of the piece; this being key to film being a success.

Peter McLaughlin

Deus Ex Machina

Deus Ex Machina (which translates as 'God from the Machine') is a term applied to story-telling. It is the introduction of an unexpected element to advance or support the plot. Whilst having a history in Greek and Medieval Story telling it is viewed harshly and negatively by Modern Critiques.

This is because it suggests a lack of imagination, in that a problem in the plot can not be solved by elements already present. it also undermines the characters and elements of the plot, when they reduced to plot devices to advance the story. It also ignores the eternal logic of the world presented, no situation has any threat as the viewer knows that the (equivalent and often used in fairy tales) 'Fairy Godmother' can solve it.

The most devastating effect it can have is on it's viewer and they can feel disorientated and as if the time invested viewing has been waisted. The most obvious example of this was in 1985 with the hit television show 'Dallas'. Where lead character Pam wakes up to find that her dead husband alive and the events of the whole season were merely a dream.

They way to avoid this is to 'set up' these elemnts seemingly unnoticed then to 'pay off' by them saving the plot. The negative consequence of this can be tha the set up sometimes can be unintresting and slow down the pace of the film. This means ussually the intoorduction must allso be interwoven into the plot. However this must be done both logically (to appear seamless) and quickly, otherwise the scene will loose momentum.

They way we have avoided this is by foreshadowing our antagonist throughout the peice, or antagonist will be seen breiflly and then in full durign the cafe' scene. The truth is that any suspision raiised will bbe forgotte whislt focusing on the plot, before bbeign reminded as the antagoonist reapppears.

Tim McNiven

Alias's

To represent the combined effort of the people in our group in the process of planning, filming and editing our piece, we have chosen to credit only a director and a producer in our title sequence: Timothy Lawrence and Peter Fitch. These aliases combine every group member's name into two "people" that produced the film, showing how everyones contribution to the production was as critical as the others.

- Joe Lawrence, Peter McLaughlin, Oliver Fitch & Tim McNiven

Production Company Title

Although the title of the production company said to have made our piece is not of much significance the group felt that the name of the production company that produces the piece would have to be related in some way to the chosen genre of film. For example Quentin Tarrantino's production company 'A Band Apart' is closely related to Tarrantino's genre of film mainly being independent cinema and of an indie orientation.

Individually we came up with our own production company names such as:

-Touchstone Pictures

-Cinescape

-Epic Entertainment

But none of these production company titles suited the genre of film we would be presenting to our audience and this could possibly disorient them.
Eventually after putting name after name to the table of discussion we came to a mutual decision.

-Prodigious Pictures

The name has an art house feel to it and conveys a sense of sophistication as to what the production company would produce. Also in using 'Pictures' instead of the word 'Production' psychologically it gives the viewer the feeling that the company is well established and prestigious.

We are not however going to design an image or logo to accompany the production company for the film. We feel that it would look more proffessional to have the Title of the Production company appear within the credits, as Short Film's mainly try and market upcoming talent and the work of the individuals involved rather then the company behind the piece.

Peter McLaughlin

Title Sequence

The video below is a remake of the film 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's' credits, a similar style in which our title sequence will be constructed.


As a group we sat down and watched back our title sequence of the piece we had created last year and mutually agreed that we were unsuccessful in constructing it. This gave us the drive to compose a title sequence that was highly relevant to our piece and giving an impression of professionalism.

The title sequence that we came up with was inspired by the one used in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The title Sequence consists of multiple layers of old paper in a stack, being typed onto magically with the sound a typewriter's typing and the ripping of pages injected into the piece to give it that sense of realism.

We tried to foley the sounds of pages ripping and the sound of typing but we were unsuccessful in doing so and did not understand the dificulty in trying to recreate sounds outside of a scene. After realising the difficulties we obtained a cd-rom containing different foley sounds that could be editied to fit in with the title sequence accurately. We managed to cut the sounds down to the milisecond making them tie in with the onscreen action perfectly.

Peter McLaughlin

Influences: French New Wave Cinema

French New Wave cinema first came about in the late 1950's and the genre wouldn't have developed if there wasn't the influence 0f Italian Neosurealism and classical Hollywood cinema . The main theme that tied these New Wave directors was that they self-conscienciously rejected the classical approach to cinematic form and their expression of iconoclasm (image-breaking, usually political or religious icons) and this is an example of European cinema. French New Wave cinema shares the approach to pre and post production of Experimental cinema. the aspects they share are the style in which it is edited and it's visual style. In addition French New Wave cinema has an atheist feel to it.

The reason that we feel our piece has been influenced by French New Wave cinema is because of the approach that our film takes to life being, "nobody will be there in your darkest hour and you only have your own skills and attributes to rely on". This idea of isolation links well with athiest beliefs as nobody, not phyiscally or spiritually will be there in your time of need. The visual style is similar as we use a variety of strange camera shots that create a sense of disequilibrium right from the opening shot of the lights flickering. Colour grading is a huge part of the piece as it gives a surreal atmosphere making the film's setting feel like an alternative reality. However the main difference with our film and a film of French New Wave genre is that we are not upholding hedonisitic ideals.


Peter McLaughlin

Influences: Goddard Art

The poster for our film has to be eye-catching and on first glance the audience should be able to instantaneously relate it to the chosen genre of our film. With our film being Experimental and of the Art house form, Goddart art would suit well and be appropriate in displaying the film's chosen themes.

Our initial ideas have been influenced by various different art forms including Goddard.
Joseph Lawrence specialising in photography has decided that we will conduct a photo shoot for the poster, which will be similar to that of the trainspotting. However we will fragment the poster like that of the french new wave film "400 Blows" to show the character's psychological struggle, loneliness and how he has been shut out of society.

By Peter McLaughlin, Timothy McNiven, Oliver Fitch & Joe Lawrence

Influences: Gladiator

Gladiator is a 2000 American/British and epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, and Richard Harris.


The main aspect that influenced our production from the film Gladiator was the famous scene where the audience follows Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius as he walks through a field of Barley as he puts his hand out through the field.

The field upholds the idea of tranquility in the Film Gladiator and is even seen as the protagonist's heaven through his eyes during his dying moments. In our piece however it signifies something far darker and astray from this idea, being Isolation and how life goes on in the world and it does not care for our protagonists strife and own struggle in life. This location can clearly be a reference to the film due to the location's similarities, the difference is the other side of the coin. With Gladiator using it as a means to show Family and our piece using the location as a symbol of isolation and sorrow.


Written By Oliver Fitch & Peter McLaughlin

Influences: Quentin Tarrantino/Chapters

The idea of chapters came from Quentin Tarrantino’s films, where throughout the two films of Kill Bill it is broken down into the structure of Chapters. Chapters allow the director to change the time, day, mise en scene, setting and iconography as one chapter progresses into another. From this we decided to use this narrative structure as it created enigmas throughout our piece which would keep the audience intrigued and hold their attention throughout the film.



By Oliver Fitch

01/12/09 Production Diary Part 5 (Garage Pickup Shots)

To give us the most freedom and flexibility when editing, we decided to shoot extra footage from the previously shot garage scene. This allowed us to approach the scene from a new angle, as well as to re-shoot any footage we saw as unsuitable for our piece.

We filmed a mix of handheld and steady footage, doing nearly every take from both perspectives to vary the footage we had. We were forced to reshoot one long handheld take after we realised Peter was wearing a ring he hadn't been when the earlier scenes were shot: however, the second take proved to be of a higher quality than the first.

The angles we employed in the scene varied from extreme closeups to high angle, making the most of the ideas we had. This allowed us to fulfill our goal of building up a stockpile of varied and interesting footage to work with.

- Joe Lawrence

Brief/Synopsis

The brief for our project was to produce a 5 minute short film, and then to produce a promotional poster and magazine style review about the film itself. We have chosen to create a film based around enigma and mystery: our protagonist wakes in a garage to find a dead body in a box, with a book titled “The Quintessential Guide to the Disposal of a Body” detailing the various methods with which to dispose of the girl in the box. The film then follows him as he moves the body from the garage to the place of burial, encountering problems and a twist ending.

We have made the decision to remove dialogue from the film, instead subtitling the thoughts of the protagonist on the screen to add to the surreal feel of the piece. The dark subject matter of the film is juxtaposed by the bright imagery, with the majority of our locations using high key lighting: this challenges the conventions of how death is typically represented within cinema, replacing the dark and morbid feel of traditional deaths in films with clear blue skies and scenes shot in a picturesque field. The presence of the guide also adds a subtle element of black humour to the film: the fact that our protagonist is taking orders from a mysterious book he found next to the corpse of a young girl, in a cardboard box, raises questions about his sanity.

The theme of the protagonist’s mental state is called into question several times throughout the film. We have referenced this by including themes of isolation, delusion, dehumanisation and desperation. For example, there are several shots of the protagonist dragging the box through a deserted field: this is representative of him being alone and isolated from the rest of humanity in his disposal of the body.

In regards to cinematography, we have created a combination of tripod based steady shots and handheld work. We felt that reaction shots and footage of the box being moved were best displayed by using handheld close-ups to give a sense of chaos and motion.

- Joe Lawrence

25/11/09 Production Diary (Part 4 Exterior Woods Scene)

With our project relying on daylight for shooting ,time was minimal. We had to shoot around the weather conditions and lighting given and thankfully the 25th of November was a perfect day for filming. We had to re-shoot footage for Chapter 1: Journey, as on the first session of filming we did not gather all the resources necessary to construct this scene successfully.



The footage required consisted of several pans, handheld footage and tilts for the Character’s journey across the field, which would continue through into Chapter 2: Disposal. The shots would show the character’s progression in his task/quest that he has undertaken through no choice of his own.

The trees shown in the picture above metaphorically symbolise a gateway, this could be related to poetical conceit, as the trees become the finish line for the first part of the characters Journey; hence the name of the first chapter.
We wanted to get various long shots/pans and then in post production, chop them up into sections, transforming them into jump cut shots, to create give the audience an insight into the characters fragmented mind.
We then had the idea, of filming a second pan shot and dividing it up in post production , putting the clips in the wrong order, to show the characters struggle and how he is beginning to hallucinate due to the his emotional trauma.

Due to weather conditions as it being winter the temperature and the harshness of the cold made it difficult for Peter McLaughlin acting in our production as he forgot about the main continuity issues that were present in our short film. As we proceed from shot to shot during the filming Peter forgetting about continuity kept putting his jumper on due to it being so cold. This resulted in us filming a certain shots where Peter was wearing his jumper. Oliver Fitch was the first to notice this huge error so we had to reshoot all the footage with this continuity issue present and he had to remind Peter between shots to remove it otherwise the same mistake would be repeated.

After acquiring the footage needed to complete Chapter 1: Journey, we back tracked to the forest location, which was the start of this chapter. As we needed to show the character proceeding through the forest to the field.

We then began to shoot footage for the forest/ dream sequence scene of our film. However due to the time restrictions on our film we realised after obtaining the footage that the camera work used for the dream sequence would not fit within our timescale even after post production. The camera work itself was also not to the standard of which we were hoping, so another shooting day for the forest was needed.

By Oliver Fitch & Peter McLaughlin

Focus Group Discussion Questions/Points

In an analysis of our potential audience we must first establish how short films are distributed and seen by others. Our theory is that short films are rarely watched by anyone other than those with a vested interest in film to begin with, and that the general public will largely not be interested in viewing short films on television due to a lack of production value and the often “arty” themes they are perceived as having.

Have you ever watched a short film outside of school?

If so, what genre or subgenre would it be a part of?

What format did you watch the film in? (Youtube, television, film website etc)

If not, would you have an interest in seeing one?

Would you watch short films if they were broadcast on everyday television channels? If not, why?

Do you think short films are an effective medium of film?

What do you think is the objective of short films?

What do you perceive the target audience for short films to be and why?

Are short films a good medium in which to portray real life situations and events?

Does the idea of producing your own short films intrigue you because of the ease with which they can be made?



-Joe Lawrence & Oliver Fitch

Questionnaire

In an analysis of our potential audience we must first establish how short films are distributed and seen by others. Our theory is that short films are rarely watched by anyone other than those with a vested interest in film to begin with, and that the general public will largely not be interested in viewing short films on television due to a lack of production values and the often “arty” themes they are perceived as having.

Have you ever watched a short film outside of school?

If so, what genre or subgenre would it be a part of?

What format did you watch the film in? Please circle.

Youtube, Vimeo, Myspace etc
Dedicated film website (Indy Mogul, FutureShorts etc)
TV (BBC, C4, Sky Indie)
DVD, Blu-Ray
Gallery/Cinema
Other (please specify) ­­­________________


If not, would you have an interest in seeing one?

Would you watch short films if they were broadcast on mainstream television channels?

If not, is this due to your own perception of the “message” of short films?

Do you think short films are an effective medium of film?

Would you watch a short film in the following genres?

Action/Adventure
Comedy
Horror/Thriller
Biographical

Do you view the target audience of short films as outside of the mainstream?

Are short films a good medium in which to portray real life situations and events due to their ease of production and length?



By Oliver Fitch & Joseph Lawrence

Influences: Trainspotting

Hodge and Boyle’s interpretation of Irvine Welsh’s Novel became a cult classic. It follows the erratic life of ‘Renton’ (Ewan McGregor) and his heroine addiction. It shows how he and his fellow users sacrifice everything for the drug and the depression that life with it entails.
The way it presents urban surroundings as intoxicating us, entrapping – leaving us open to it’s darkest corners. It then has moments out in rural countryside, an escape. This could be argued against by saying Renton only truly escapes in London. However I would state that shots of the train travelling through woodland and glens, showing that process, nature i

s needed to escape.

Within our project, we have a contrast of run down concrete areas, mixed with nature. It shows journey, suggests a quest. With our project it has the additional layer of suggesting the protagonist does not belong there, he does not deserve it. By his actions he is judged.



Renton and John do have a similar approach taken, concernign charcter narrative. In that it was important not to shy away from showing the character’s ruthless streak. Renton will happily steal money from a drug deal for personal gain. John will hide a corpse to protect himself.


(Research taken from 'Cult Movies: in Sixty Seconds' by Soreen McCarthy)

Publicity: Poster Design: Trial Run

A percentage of our marks come from designing a poster to promote our short film. This means combining the skills of designing and technical knowledge.

When designing a poster, it needs to appeal on a prima facie basis, immediately wanting the public to want more. It has to tantalise our interest, whilst give enough information for someone to judge the product on.

The technical knowledge required means we have to understand how to use a piece of software to the point it can pass as professional. The software we choose was ‘Corel Photo Paint’, similar to Photoshop it takes images and edits them. For our trial run we choose to take a photo still from an already existing film and adapt it into a poster.

We choose Trainspotting, already an influence on our work. It’s gritty tone and urban background matched our piece. Techniques employed for this poster can be directly used in our publicity poster.

We shall now discuss the various techniques we used to manipulate the image. Below is the orginal image.

This is the original picture. Usually you wouldn’t use a picture of this resolution as it wouldn’t stretch to the dimensions required for a poster. However we allowed this considering it was only for the purpose of a test-run and that the image of (‘Renton’ - the protagonist of the piece - lying on the floor of a rundown apartment) as striking and embodying of the piece.

We increased the mid-tone of the image, making the shadows darker and longer, by having the character surrounded by darkness it shows the bleak nature of his surroundings and how he can not escape it.

We also added a subtle swirl effect, this is subtle as not to distort the image, but centralises the image round Renton. It again emphasises how this world does not make sense to him so heroine is his salvation.

We then added the spotlight coming down upon him; it is dimmed it to show the nihilistic tone of the story. The spotlight has connotations of heaven, which contrasts him as an outlaw of society. How he feels judged and whether he is justified.

The writing is a quote from the beginning of the piece; it embodies why Renton does what he does, and the themes of isolation and anarchy. We turned the colour of; ‘Heroine’ to orange as it is the trademark colour of the piece. It also marks it out, showing how once you take heroine that is all you care about.


The result of these additions is the poster underneath.



Overall we think this would make an effective poster, but needs further additions to make it appear professional. We would choose a more exciting pose, fear is a more effective emotion then depression and will make a better selling point for our media piece.

By Timothy McNiven, Peter McLaughlin, Oliver Fitch and Joe Lawrence