Final Poster

I am happy with the final edition of my poster, as it resembles the dark comedy genre and conforms to a filmic style.

Final Article

I am pleased with this final edition of my article, and the feedback I have received on it.

Final Product

Below is my final cut of Ratchet, having being influenced by feedback, coloured etc. I am pleased with this end product. 

Question 4

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

For my response to this question I have assembled a video that systematically explains how each technology I have used in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages was used, and how they have enabled/impacted my final product.

Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For this question I created a video, exploring all the ways in which audience feedback has influenced my project, and the things I have learnt from said feedback. 

Question 2

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

For my response to this question I have created a slide show, using slides. com. Link to this response below. 

http://slides.com/amyspence/deck

Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

For my answer to this question I have created a video, that directly compares my product to others in the dark comedy genre; specifically determining how my film has used, developed, and challenged the conventions within them. 

Ident

My ident will be similar to the  Working Title ident. This ident is relatively simple, has a limited colour scheme and the animation is central to a black back ground. It has a sketch like feel in the early stages, before resolving to a clear, bold title. I will make mine in a similar style, following a limited colour scheme of white, red and blue on black. 

The ident will be around 5 seconds, typical of most.

For my ident I will have a simple illustrative character shoot an arrow from a bow and arrow. This will be suggested with sound not entirely shown. The arrow will then spike a circular target which will form the "o" in the title Tobbolly.

I have had to simplify my original idea, because I underestimated the amount of time that would take, so I will remove the character from the composition.

I started by creating a simple target vector on Illustrator; I grouped three coloured circles, and imposed a sketch like border effect on each.

I then created the text (Tobbolly) in after effects. I key framing the position of the text it so it moved across the screen passing under the target. I used a black square to hide half of the screen, creating the illusion the text is emerging from the target.

I then assembled a simple arrow illustration; drawing one half of the fletching and arrowhead, duplicating them and flipping each.

I used key framing to give the illusion of flying, framing both the position and rotation. I then went back to the first few seconds and had the target move onto screen, as it being approached by the arrow.

Once the arrow hits the target, a small red rectangle appears covering the tip, this is invisible on the red target background, but helps give the impression the arrow is stuck in the board.

I wanted the arrow, square and arrow to move together from here on, so used pre compose to group them as one unit (tas).

I copied/pasted the contents of tas for the final stage. To make all three components rotate in unison around the same central point I  made the target parent of the arrow and box layers, before keying a rotation.

I created a sense of perspective by altering the initial size of the arrow so that as it flies it becomes smaller.


Here is the final ident.

Rough cuts

First rough cut - 

The first cut is around 8 minutes - I will cut down some shots to make the film marginally more fast paced and engaging.

Some issues around colour correction and sound (timing wise). 

The soundtrack for the final cut will be different, but this cut does have a temporary track. 

Second rough cut -

I received feedback from some of the actors and classmates on my first cut in order to improve for the second. The actors liked the product, but raised three points; The searching for the lizard scene is too long, it is not obvious that Halliam is stealing a bike, and it is not clear the 'homeless man' has the lizard. I will address these by, cutting down the searching scene, incorporating a shout in the stolen bike scene, and an extreme close up shot of 'spikey' on the man.

Main progressions -

• Incorporated an ident. 
• Cut down some scenes further. 
• Worked of feedback from my first cut to make the narrative more clear, so although still enigmatic, the synopsis is better explained. 

Feedback from classmate on first cut and second cut below.

Third rough cut -

To improve on the second cut I took feedback from 10 fellow students, having watched the film in a group. The following points were raised; They liked the long shots in the Chinese scene, the overall pace of the film, the searching scene and the sound, there was confusion over time continuity as two scenes next to one another have drastically different lighting.

Main progressions - 

• I edited the ident slightly so that the arrow starts entirely out of shot.
• I have now reduced blue tones, increased the exposure, and reduced shadows in the Chinese scene shots to create better time continuity.
• I have also removed a filler shot in the early stages of the film because it didn’t make sense to the audience sample. 

Feedback from class discussion on second cut and third cut below.

Sound

I sourced the following songs for my film from legal music website, jamendo

• Searching - Skulastic
• Violin Sonata No.3 in C Minor - E.Grieg
• Chinese Road - Lunar Cape

I one scene Halliam plays the violin badly irritating his neighbour, the song he attempts to play is the Violin Sonata No.3 in C Minor, a proper recording of which is then used again in scenes where Halliam continues to annoy his neighbour. The idea behind this was, that as the song quality progress the neighbours anger intensifies. 

Sound effects/ foley

• Some sound effects I recorded myself, using the rode microphone, this included some of the insect calls. 
• The shouting man was recorded partly using an iPhone, with one shout deriving from free sound.org
• The police siren was downloaded within Final Cut Pro
• Sound effects used in the ident were sourced from freesfx.co.uk (these were the sound of an arrow flying and hitting a target).

During editing I needed to change the volume multiple times without cutting the audio, so I used a keying tool (below). This also allows gradual change between volumes, necessary so that changes in volume do not distract the viewer from the narrative.

Age rating

I will note an appropriate age rating within in my article. If my film were to be released it would need an age rating, and this would be incorporated into the other marketing products. 

I would rate my film a 12A. A 12A BBFC rating must be the following - 

"No promotion of potentially dangerous behaviour which children are likely to copy. No glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons such as knives. No endorsement of anti-social behaviour."

Although my film contains a knife, the behaviour of the knife welder is not glamourised or endorsed. Conforming to a villain archetype, children will preserve the 'homeless' man's behaviour negatively. 

"There may be moderate physical and psychological threat and horror sequences. Although some scenes may be disturbing, the overall tone should not be. Horror sequences should not be frequent or sustained."

The 'scary' parts of Ratchet are infrequent, and the overall tone, although middle sinister, is not disturbing. 

"Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Moderate sex references are permitted, but frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable."
"Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned."
"There may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and its depiction must be justified by context."

My film also conforms to all the BBFC's restrictions on 12A works. Rating my film at this level would provide adequate guidance to gatekeepers and consumers. 

Filming 14/02/18

Today I headed out with Billy, fairly spontaneously, to gather some final shots of hi falling of his bike. Because of the spontaneity there was little planning, I was able to shoot on such short notice in this case because there was only one cast member needed, and all the equipment (DSLR, Tripod etc) was prepped/charged and ready to go. The shoot went well, however due to the bright conditions I will need to darken this footage in editing.

Here is a promotional shot I took between takes for my FaceBook page


Below is a picture of the equipment on set

Filming 12/02/18

Toady we filmed a few scenes with the protagonist Halliam. In these scenes Halliam steals a bike - this was not scripted, but for the sake of continuity we had to write it in. The bike that Halliam rides in all the other scenes was broken during the last shoot ... so we adapted the narrative - Halliam now falls off and breaks his bike, and then steals a new one.

I created a table to asses any risks the shoot may pose, and how I intend to deal with them, some remain the same from other shoots.

Whilst planning this shoot I checked the weather forecast, thankfully it was forecast to be dry.

We also filmed Halliam buying a Chinese. I spoke to the owner of the Chinese (below) in advance, and we were granted permission to film.

The Chinese opened at 5, so the takes were darker, and bluer than in the scenes that chronologically follow. Therefore I will taint the colour of previously shot scenes to match.

Looking over the footage, I'm happy with how it went.

Titles

Few times I have being struck by a title sequence and the BBC's rendition of The Three Musketeers was one of these times. The designers responsible are Miki Kato and Nic Benns. Below are some extracts from their website.





On a simplistic level, I want my titles to be fairly illustrative (In cohesion with my poster), below are some initial sketches. Like Kato and Beans, I will follow a limited colour scheme.
police car

Bearded dragon

I have decided to name the cast solely in the closing credits.

The title sequence I created in after effects with illustrations I had made in Adobe draw. I exported the single drawn vector layer though photoshop.



I used the same font in my title as for my article and poster - creating continuity between my three products. By repeating recognisable icons (such as fonts) within the compositions, a recognisable 'brand' can be created: the poster and article become more effective when used in cohesion.

Each component is a different band in the screen shot below, with each I created a fade effect by key framing the opacity. I also timed them intermittently. With the text and 4th layers, applied the roughen edges effect to varying degrees.

Article - Research and Creation

Below are some extracts from BFI magazine articles similar to my film.

In the Sightseers article above, columned text has being places of a two page spread image. Text has being incorporated into the image; by removing the bottom of the text in conjunction with the hill side, a sense of perspective and depth has being created. As a result of placement and colour, the viewers focus is drawn to the two protagonists. White text over the picture background creates a clean finish.

Below is another article featuring on Sightseers from Empire Magazine.

I have also looked at digital articles (below) - these are formatted in a way accessible for smart phones and tablets, so whilst the content will remain the applicable to my work, the format of these reviews will vary to the two page spread I have in mind.



Content wise I could include interviews with the cast, a description/suggest the narrative.

For inspiration I read interviews with the cast of various Inside No.9 episodes on the British Comedy Guide website

Text content

Below is the first draft of the text in the article, I will edit the text further within InDesign.

Recently released zero budget short, Ratchet, explores the gritty, scaly interactions of bad neighbours. 
Below is an Interview with the protagonist William Spence who plays Halliam in Ratchet.

We interviewed with the protagonist William Spence who plays Halliam in Ratchet.

Hi Billy, how would you describe the character you're playing?

He's a bad egg. Bad bad egg. Not bad as in criminal, but bad as in he's super lame. He's every aspect of an 'annoying neighbour' but in teenage form. 

The character you play is apathetic, egotistic... how much can you relate to the character you were playing?

Haha! Well, I wouldn’t go that far! I didn’t really like the character to be honest, I’ve known people like him, and would hope the character wasn’t moulded on me. I do have a bearded dragon so there is actor - character crossover there but so far, touch wood, she hasn’t being stolen by a knife wielding pensioner. I did enjoy playing the character though. 

We spoke just before the interview and you said you were genuinely scared at some points during the shoot..

Mate. So would you be. It’s a no budget piece so no cash for fancy props, so cameras or no cameras, having a flick knife thrusted towards you is an unerring experience in any setting. Sorry, that sounds like a threat haha.

Well Billy, it's being a pleasure, anything you’d like to mention before we wrap up?

Not that I can think of, watch you reptiles I guess!

Ratchet will be released on the 30th March, and is a 12A.

Creating the article

I am using Adobe Indesign to format my article, below are screenshots from the process of making my article. Working in InDesign as a suppose to Illustrator, you can type into text coulombs that flow into one another, so if you make an edit in text, the whole text is adjusted.

My final article will span a two page spread.

I experimented arranging my text over different shots from the film.

Below is the screenshot I have decided to use; the picture provides natural borders for the text, the bench below a sinister burgundy tone, the protagonist's monotone costume contrasts well with the sickly yellow/pale blue wall.

I used a shape affected by text wrap to shape the content around the portrait. I matched the colour of the text on the upper half of the article to the wall below, and vice versa.

The blue line is a temporary ruler I used to ensure my bold text lined up exactly. As I was creating the article I frequently previewed the project to get a clear idea of the final image.

Which produced a preview such as:

Finer details included the use of spellcheck within InDesign, on a basic level the viewer should not be distracted by typos.

At this point in designing my article I accumulated feedback from my primary target audience, who said;

• They liked the positioning, use of and size of the protagonist profile.
• Furthermore, liked how the interview text wraps around the protagonist's head. 
• "Jeopradous" is not a word. 
• No point in having the date printed twice. 

Having acted on this feedback this was my final article; 

I returned to my article having received feedback; although visually appealing, people found the content of my article did not entirely conform with wider product conventions.

In response to this feedback I have;

• Removed the date, production company, and slogan.
• Re-arranged text and existing content.
•  Additionally created a breakaway box with an image and small mount of text. 
• I have also written about the film in a journalistic way, with reviewing elements, and reference to genre and narrative. 
• Added a director's quote. 

This is the transcript for my final product; 

Inspired by the dark comedy series Inside No.9, (curtsey of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith), director Amy Spence has developed an idiosyncratic short, that leaves the viewer in a state of ambiguity. Comparable to cinema verity; raw, amateur performances create a sense of reality. 

The naturalistic nature of this piece leave you searching for meaning where there may simply be none. Is this a comedy? Or  an insight into provincial Britain? Is there a political bias? The genre and meaning are somewhat ambiguous, we were left curious as to the Director’s true intentions.

I like the bitter truth and honesty that such a low budget film provides. Most of the cast know each other well, in-fact some are family, so there’s an awkwardness to their interactions, this plays entirely in the films favour. It’s quirky, and obscure - a first within it’s genre.

Below - We interviewed William Eyre who plays the protagonist; Halliam. 

Hi Billy, what can you tell us about the narrative and meaning of this short?

Well, it’s certainly unpredictable, plenty of narrative enigma if that’s what you’re in to. As for meaning; it’s how you interpret it I guess. I know that’s a terrible answer, but how I took the meaning, and who I empathised with in the short, was drastically different from Amy’s outlook and the focus groups! So really, I don’t know, work it out for yourself. 

How would you describe Hallaim?

He’s a bad egg. Bad, bad egg. Not bad as in criminal, but bad as in he’s a super lame guy ya know? He’s every aspect of an ‘annoying neighbour’ but in teenage form. Saying that, there is some heart to him, his perseverance to play music  despite a horrendous lack of talent is marginally admirable. 

The character you play is apathetic, egotistic... can you relate to him? 

Haha! Well, I wouldn’t go that far! I didn’t really like the character to be honest, I’ve known people like him, and would hope the character wasn’t moulded on me. I do have a bearded dragon, so there is actor, character crossover there but so far, touch wood, she hasn’t being stolen by a knife wielding pensioner. I did enjoy playing the character though. 

We spoke just before the interview and you said you were genuinely scared at some points during the shoot..

Mate. So would you be. It’s a no budget piece so no cash for fancy props. Cameras or no cameras, having a flick knife thrust towards you is an unnerving experience in any setting. Sorry, that sounds like a threat haha.

Well Billy, it’s being a pleasure, is there anything you’d like to mention before we wrap up?

Not that I can think of, watch your reptiles!

The updated final product is below. 

Editing

I am using Final Cut Pro to edit the film footage.


General editing 

I'll piece together conversation shots without audio, then choose one takes audio to layer over all the
shots. I have applied warp stabiliser to some handheld shots to improve stability.

I have sped up and slowed down shots of Halliam riding his bike so that they match at a higher speed than was recorded - in order to create a sense of urgency around this scene.

Gutted to realise today (25/02/18), that in one of two takes, of the confrontation scene, a character is wearing a hat, and in the other he is not. This deems a painful amount of my footage useless, but thankfully I have enough footage to not have to re shoot.

To foreshadow Halliam confronting the homeless man I layered an opaque shot over one of the search shots. This is for a very short time, in order to create narrative enigma.

To reinforce the characters confusion I used fade transitions of various lengths between jumps cuts.
This also created a sense of time passing.


Colour

Colour is manipulated in film for a variety of reasons, examples include;

• Resolve issues with white balance
• Resolve exposure issues
• Help repair excessive noise from poor ISO settings

I have used both colour grading and colour correction in editing my film. Colour grading, referring to the manipulation of colour for cinematic, or stylistic effect. Colour correction referring specifically to correcting problems in the 'normal' colour from shot to shot.

Below is an example of using colour correction to improve continuity. The grass in these to juxtaposed shots was widely different colours (as shown in the screen shot). At first I tried letting the program balance the colour, but that created an unnervingly orange tone to the grass. So I tampered with manual colour adjustments and achieved some improvement, however it still retains and artificial glow, and the quality of the shot is poor, so I may remove it.


Here is an example of where I have used colour grading, in this shot and the shots that follow I have imposed darker, blue tones, to create a tense, cold, atmosphere.

To grade the films colour as a whole I selected a single clip, adjusted the colour wheels to enhance the blue in shadows and highlights, and yellow in the midtones, saved this as a preset, selected all clips (bar titles) and applied the saved colour setting. I did this to create a "filmick" look.