Final Cut.

Rough Cut

This was my original draft for "A Working Student".
I decided to change the ending because the editing was very dodgy and I think it delivered too much of the narrative to the audience, my second draft (final piece) leaves the audience to figure out the ending for themselves.
I think the performance is much stronger on my final piece and editing is much better also, it also gave me the opportunity to use a tracking shot at the end.

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

I also used social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to gain feedback for "A Working Student", I posted my film onto my wall and asked people to watch and feedback constructively.

Audience Research

Logos..

I decided to create my own label for my review and I have chosen the name "Hot Reviews", mainly because it is a different spin on the popular womens magazine "Heat", copyright restricts me from using their name to create a review, but I imagine that if "A Working Student" was a real production then it would be reviewed in a magazine like Heat.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the Research, Planning and Construction of "A Working Student" I have recieved a lot of feedback from peers and teachers, all of the feedback I have recieved from my audiences I have tried to encorporate into my ancillary tasks and film itself, to make it more appealing to different audiences. My Ancillary Tasks were reviewed first and foremost and the comments I recieved were in response to a short questionaire I conducted by asking 2 boys and 2 girls in my class What do you like? and What would you change? I did this for both my review and poster.

I learned that my audience thought that the image on my poster was very strong and represented my film well, along with the colour scheme.

I learned that my audience thought that the review was "a bit too pink" and that they thought I should have used a broader colour scheme.

Other than this my audience thought that my Ancillary tasks were very strong and represented "A Working Student" really well.

I have learned a lot from my audience feedback, I have recieved a lot of positive comments on the video itself on YouTube, I also posted a link to my film on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook and asked people to feedback, so I could gain more opinions on my "A Working Student":
During the Construction stages, when I did a rough cut of "A Working Student", I showed my teacher and we both agreed that the ending gave too much to the audience, which was why I decided to change the narrative so that the audience have to engage with the film and figure something out for themselves.

YouTube^

Most of my reviews are from Females aged 17-25, as this is my target audience, my audience feedback has shown me that my film also appeals to a Male audience as Steven Hubbard (17) "ihubbz", has referred to me as the female Christopher Nolan, which is a massive compliment.

"Maloopi" - Luke Harkness (17) has also made a positive comment, I am pleased that "A Working Student" applies to a wider audience than I initially thought, this is something I would not have learnt if I had not conducted audience feedback.

I have learned that the twist at the end was very effective, I was worried it would be obvious and not effective at all, and I have learned from my audience feedback that it was.  

Feedback from a semi professional:

 

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary task?

Review^                                                                              Poster^    
 I have circled the most effective parts on my ancillary task, these are the things that I personally feel are the most effective part of my poster and review as they provide a small insight into the story line of "A Working Student" and I also think these would be good for advertising my film as they raise questions such as "Why is she looking down?" this would tell us she is ashamed, and make us want to know why.
The pinky burgundy colour scheme which I have used for my the title "A Working Student" also tells us that it is a film that is for a female audience, these factors combined with the film work well together to provide a potential audience with the information that they would want to make them want to see the film.
I purposely designed my poster after I had made my film, just so I would know where to start, as the purpose of a film poster is to represent the film and be relevent to the themes within the film itself and I feel that my poster represents my film really well, as the main theme of "A Working Student" is how ashamed Amy is that she is a Litter picker, yet I wanted to lead my audience to believe she is a prostitute, and the clothing she is wearing in the poster was used on purpose to lead the audience into this belief before they watch "A Working Student", if I put her in a pair of overalls on the poster with a pair of litter pickers and called the film "A Sweeping Student" then it would automatically give up the punchline, therefore the image I have chosen to use supports the narrative of the film itself.
On my review I have given a brief outline of the storyline and used an image which is from my film itself, and have purposely related it back to the image I have used on my poster. The idea of a film poster is to sew the seed in your mind, and draw your attention to the film, then a review is to help someone decide if they actually want to see it, so the combination of the powerful image that I have used on my poster and the image I have used on my review really would raise the question of why is she so stressed or ashamed? making the audience curious and want to see it.
I think that my Poster and Review fulfil their objectives really well, they support my film and represent it in the way I want them to, they don't lead my audience to believe its an action or a thriller, they lead an audience to believe its an innocent chick flick, which is exactly what I want them to think, therefore I feel the combination of my Ancillary Tasks and "A Working Student" are very effective and successful.

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

“A Working Student” is 3.14 minutes long, this in itself challenges the conventions of a real short film, as is raises the immediate question of whether the narrative can be delivered and the story can be told in this time, and if this was a real media product I think that it would have had to have been longer for it to be taken seriously as a Short film; Although the definition of a short film is anything from 2- 45 minutes, if this were a real production it would have to be much longer so that the audience can connect with Amy, but for the purposes of this project I feel that “A Working Student” is an appropriate length, and that I have effectively delivered my narrative in this time frame.

Short films are becoming more and more popular with the advances of social networking sites and sites like youtube, the audience for short films is becoming larger and larger. People are looking for all sorts and people have become successful over night just by uploading their material online for other people to see and enjoy. Sites like youtube aren’t just for funny material anymore, alongside Vimeo, Blogger and many other means they are becoming the popular space for entrepreneurs to start their career and be noticed.

“A Working Student” addresses many current issues, such as student tuition fees, the debt, the cost of living, the lack of jobs, and the real life issue that people are turning to means of work such as prostitution, I have tried to incorporate humour into this, but there is also the silver lining effect where we say, at least she isn’t a prostitute! The fact is a lot of students will do anything for work, and even though Amy isn’t in this position it makes us spare a thought for the people who are, and reinforces the point that it isn’t an easy ride!

A lot of media material that is based on prostitution fit the stereotypes like for drugs or to pay the rent, like in films such as “Pretty Woman” we see one of the supporting roles, Kit, who has had to turn to prostitution just to make some money. Series such as “The Secret Diaries of a Call Girl” try to portray the glamorous side of prostitution or escorting, but in “A Working Student” we see the shame, and how she doesn’t want to do what she is doing, I have filmed it this way, as I want the audience to engage with the young girl on the screen and consider the difficulties a student goes through from day to day just trying to get by. This in itself challenges the usual conventions of a piece, as I have explained it raises issues of rising tuition fees, grant policies and the system itself.

Breaking the fourth wall is another tool I have used to help the audience attach to Amy, I have such a short space of time for the audience to get an insight into her life, I thought it would be effective for Amy to speak straight to her audience, almost like she is appealing to them, this is something that we see in many professional media products such as secret diaries of a call girl and sex and the city, these both have the same target audience that I am trying to attract which is why I have done this in this way.

I have tried to use shock tactics in my work to put a different spin on the audience’s opinion once they have sat and thought about it, to make them think, “Oh! She’s a litter picker; I thought she was a prostitute!” This is the main element of humour in “A Working Student”, The way I have filmed it is so that the audience have to figure it out for themselves, many short films portray this same sort of dark humour, such as “The Spider” and “Get Off My Land” as it is a good way of entertaining your audience in a short space of time.

I think the story of “A Working Student” itself doesn’t challenge the conventions of a regular media production, but the way I have chosen to deliver it definitely does raise issues that I have designed to make the audience think after they have received the punch line, I did this through the way I filmed and scripted my piece, and I think it effectively portrays the image and delivers the message that I intended.

Filming and Editing..

I got all of my main filming for my main film done in a day, but I cut it all together and it didn't seem right, so I reshot the end of "A Working Student" and I now have a rough cut and an alternate ending, I feel the new ending for "A Working Student" is much stronger because it leaves the audience the figure something out for themselves, whereas before Amy spoon fed the audience the whole storyline but the new ending allows them to work it out for themselves.

I edited "A Working Student" using Adobe Premiere Pro, and this also took me all together about a day to do, and finish, I think it is very effective as it allows you to edit and cut down every scene, and combine the good bits from different scenes and make them flow. I think Adobe Premiere Pro is very effective editing software, and has made my short film of a higher standard than last year.

Location Research and Set Design.

Character Profile

Name: Amy Ellis

Age: 18

Occupation: Full time University Student,

 and  Part Time Maintenance worker.

Amy is a High Maintenance, Maintenance worker. She is very intelligent and studies Law at university, she has lectures and catches up with work all day, whilst working all night to pay for her accomodation, books, and general living expenses. Her relationships with friends are deteriorating as she has little time for herself, let alone anybody else. She is struggling to get by, but it making ends meat, she sees her Law degree as the light at the end of the tunnel.

Why is Amy right for the part?

I asked Amy to play the part in "A Working Student" because she is a very charismatic person, she has a massive personality and is very passionate. She has a very clear voice and achieved an A in GCSE Drama. Whilst we were filming I told her to speak as if she was having a debate with the camera and she was really delivering the performance which I had in my mind. I don't think my piece would have been so strong if I hadn't have had such a strong actress.



Costumes..

Costume is a really important element of Mise en scene, which means everything in the frame. Costume makes the character more believable, if I had Amy dressed as a banana, it would be difficult for anyone to take her seriously as a character therefore she is dressed casually to make her character more believable and effective.


Main Costume-
Casual clothing, which are things that a student would wear, I didn't want her to be too casually dressed so you could see a contrast between the clothes she usually wears and the clothes she wears at work, which is another reason why she finds it so degrading. I showed this costume to one of my audiences and they said it was a good leading costume, especially the tights, as red is a colour that people associate with promiscuity, and someone described the tights as "Whoreish, yet classy" which is good, because that's the image I am going for.






Jacket
This is the jacket Amy wears when shes litter picking, it is dark outside so it does look like she is wearing a uniform, we were going to use a pair of overalls, but they were a very dark colour and you couldn't really see her outside, the jacket is quite sheeny so you can see it well and she still does look like a litter picker! It is also more realistic that she is wearing a jacket as it is cold outside!

Props

Laptop
Was really important to show Amy doing her University work.

Swivvel Chair

This was a suprisingly useful prop, as it allowed me to take continuous shots, of Amy moving from the desk to the mirror.



Books

The books were a useful prop, for when Amy was talking about the price of her books, I made sure that I picked out books which said Law on them, which is what Amy is studying. They are definitely a necessary prop as a university student would have books all over the place.

 Mirror

The mirror was one of the best props I used because it was good to use so I could get some shots from a different perspective.

Use of Sound and Camera Angles

All of the sound in "A Working Student" is diegetic, she speaks directly to the audience as she wants people to feel sorry for her, and understand why she is doing what she is doing, not because she wants to but because she needs to, for the money. I felt that having Amy speak directly to the audience it would engage them more, as in a Short Film you do not have time to build an audience-character relationship, therefore I broke the imaginary "Fourth Wall" between Amy and the audience so she could directly appeal to them.

I used a variety of shots and camera angles whilst filming "A Working Student", shots were very important as I had to be able to see Amy's face all the time so we could see her speaking and her expressions.


Over Shoulder Shot- (0.14s)

Shows that Amy is doing work, this is in the opening sequence, so we know shes doing work, giving us a clue that shes a student.








Mirror Shot- (0.26s)
This is effective because it shows us that Amy is doing her make-up for work, it shows us what she is doing from another point of view, so we arent always staring straight at her, and it is like she is living her life as usual and not on being filmed.






Exreme Close up- (0.29s)
Shows us another angle of her doing her make up, mainly for effect, as if the camera is her mirror.

Close up- (0.34s)

This is the first piece of dialogue, I have used a Close up shot to show Amy talking directly to her audience, as she is the only person in the film, she has to direct what she's saying at someone or we would think she is mad! Also, with a close up we can see all of her facial expressions and she can fully get across what she is saying.



Middle Shot-(1.08s)
I have brought the camera back a fair bit so you can see the books she is holding up and so she can fully illustrate her point. If I hadn't have moved the camera back, we wouldn't have been able to see what was in her hands and then wouldn't have known what she was talking about.





Above Shot- (1.24s)

This shot shows the camera looking down on Amy, I did this on purpose, it is a metaphor for how people would look down on her if they knew what she was doing.






Over Shoulder Shot (2.30s)
So you can see the time, and you know she is going to be late for work.










Long Shot- (3.04s)

As she is walking away, after we realise her actual job, this shot shows her leaving the scene and she is walking away from the audience, because she doesn't want anyone to see what she does for a living, she is ashamed, and doesn't want people to see her.

The DVD case for "A Working Student"

Front Cover

Spine 

Back

Review by "Hot Reviews"

Finished Poster...

Poster Picture!

I used this image for my poster as I think it is very powerful, I took this photo a while ago, before filming, I created the effect of the white background by putting a bedsheet up on the wall (with great difficulty!) 

She is looking down to show that she is ashamed, and I think this adds a great effect because she really is ashamed, I got Amy to wear this outfit because it is very leading, it makes us think that she is actually a prostitute, and this is what I want my audience to think initially before they see my film, so they are suprised at the twist in the ending.

It is important to use a powerful and striking image for your poster because you want it to catch the attention of the audience, and make them wonder what your film is about, it is also very important that the image you use is relevant to the film itself, otherwise you are misleading an audience, and attracting the wrong audience, and they will not enjoy your film, leading to poor reviews!

Choosing the right image for my review..

I wanted to use an image from my film itself to put on my poster, I chose this one as it shows Amy in despair and will make the audience wonder why, it will also give me a good starting off point. Its a really good image and is an allegory for my whole piece, it says despair, sadness, and that shes ashamed.
Choosing the right image for a review is really important as it gives somebody who is interested in it a small insight into the film itself, and as in my short film, I want people to believe that she is a prostitute, this is a good image to illustrate that, as it looks like she cannot bring herself to look at the camera, as she is ashamed.
In my review I will give a brief synopsis of "A Working Student", but obviously I won't reveal the ending, this image opens lots of doors.

Who reads reviews?

Lots of people read film reviews, some people will read informal reviews in gossip magazines or websites like Flixter. Some people will read formal reviews in magazines like Sight and Sound and Empire, people who read reviews from the more serious magazines are usually the ones who take film more seriously, and are usually the type of people who share the opinions of the critics who watch the films initially so they can share their insights before they watch the films themselves and making their own minds up about what they think of the film themselves, and probably so they won't waste their money on something a reviewer says is rubbish!
There is definitely a large audience for film reviews as there are several film review magazines and websites.

Does a bad review ruin a film's chances?

Everyone has different taste in films, what some people think is awful some people will really enjoy. Everyone interprets film in a different way, some people see watching a film as a good way to kill 2 hours, some people will see watching a film as a whole afternoon, or a hobby, even a career. Usually people who write film reviews are passionate about film and have an open mind, although you do read reviews which are always pessimistic, from narrow minded reviewers who are near impossible to impress.

It also depends where you read a review as to whether it will benefit or ruin the reputation of a film, for example if a film is written up as rubbish in “The Times” a broadsheet newspaper with a very high reputation, it would be likely that you would take it seriously as it is a bestselling News Paper.

2 serious film review magazines are Sight & Sound magazine and Empire Magazine. Sight and Sound magazine is produced by the British Film Industry and is a government funded scheme therefore has to take a very sensible view; Whereas Empire Magazine is paid for by film companies to publicise and review their films, so they can write whatever they like.

Magazines like Empire and Sight & Sound take 2 very different approaches in writing up films. Sight & Sound is more likely to be a more genuine review of the film itself as they are government funded so they are more likely to be honest about what they think; whereas Empire are going to make it sound as good as they can and advertise it with a massive double page spread. Sight & Sounds articles are more modestly sized and are based around whether the film is a good watch, with a short synopsis.

Films aren't just reviewed in specialist magazines, they are also reviewed in magazines such as Heat and Zoo. Heat is a well known girly magazine and would be likely to review chick flicks, really well, whereas Zoo is Heat's Male equivilant, and would review any Boy typical Action/ superhero movie well!

Having said this, a film reviewers are always more likely to have higher standards and expectations, and as a viewer you may not, and if you aren't interested in full scale reviews of films giving full details of the ins and outs, you may just be more interested in hearing what other people have to say about the film, Flixters Rotten Tomatoes, is an online film forum where people can say whether they think a film is a "Rotten Tomato" or not, this is a less serious approach to film reviewing!

I think although a film review may influence whether you would like to go and see a film or not, you still have to take taste into account, and people are always going to want to see for themselves and make up their own mind, I for one know that I have been to the cinema plenty of times and really enjoyed something and my friends have thought it was rubbish, or visa versa! Unless there was a mass hatred for a film and every single review for it was poor and telling you not to bother I don't think it would make an overall difference whether some people don't enjoy it or not.

Successful Poster Campaigns..

Some poster campaigns have become more famous than the films themselves, for example, the "Superman: The Movie" poster, Superman the movie was released in 1978, but the superman symbol is still seen everywhere, this is an example of a very successful poster campaign, the well known Superman symbol is still making money over 30 years after the film was released, you will see it on clothing, bedroom posters, and costumes.


This is why it is very important to take your poster seriously and make sure it relates to your film, because it could become an iconic brand like the Superman label.

Influences on "A Working Student"

I always liked the idea of having Amy talk straight to the camera, I got the idea for this from some of the first ever "Sex and The City" episodes where the main character "Carrie Bradshaw" speaks straight into the camera about whats going on, breaking the fourth wall, I think this makes everything a bit more personal. She is also very comical and it makes it very enjoyable, I think they only did it in the first episodes so they could portray the characters across in the way they wanted to, and so they could allow their characters to connect with the audience.



I also got the idea for the storyline of "A Working Student" from "The Secret Diaries of A Call Girl"  The main character, has 2 identities, The first, Hannah, an average London girl, the second being Belle, who is an escort. I really like the way that Hannah speaks straight to the camera in this also, breaking the fourth wall, the way she speaks confidently tells us her story is interesting and comical, in "A Working Student" I have used a lot of these techniques, yet chosen to make it a bit more interesting, unlike Hannah/Belle, Amy is not open about her job, she keeps it to herself until the end when it is revealed that she isn't a prostitute like we are led to believe all the way through the film. I decided to do this as it is an interesting twist on the film and makes it comical and makes the audience think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ThZGOKf6s