Question 3: Film Questionnaire Results

1. Do you feel that the special effects used to portray the feelings are effective?

- 2 out of 6 said YES
- 4 out of 6 said NO

2. If not, what do you think we should do to improve?

- more effects
- funky colours
- more shots
- blurred effects
- split screens
- screen overlaps

3. Do you feel that the genre we have used is relevant to our target audience?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

4. Do you think the film represents today's teenage life?

- 2 out of 6 said YES
- 4 out of 6 said NO

5. Do you think that the story line of the film is relevant and realistic?

- 3 out of 6 said YES
- 3 out of 6 said NO

6. Do you think the film is long enough for the 'short film' category?

- 4 out of 6 said YES
- 2 out of 6 said NO

7. What type of genre/type of music do you think will compliment the film or would you associate with the film?

- spaced out music
- techno music
- fast
- big beats
- tension music
- different genres merged together e.g. rock and opera

8. What would you rate the film at this point?

- 3 out of 6 people rated 2 STARS
- 3 out of 6 people rated 3 STARS

9. What is the reason behind your rating?

- storyline isn't all that
- needs to be more effective
- make the teenagers experience reach out to the audience
- need a good piece of supporting music

10. Do you think we used a wide range of camera shots and special effects?

- 5 out of 6 said YES
- 1 out of 6 said NO

11. Do you feel that the camera shots complimented the film and storyline?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

12. Overall, what do you think we should do to improve?

- improve storyline
- use more special effects
- use a music track
- use shorter clips
- use shorter cuts


We used the results from the first questionnaire and took into account all the negative points. We focused on those points and improved our film. After showing the final draft of the film to our audience, we conducted another survey using similar questions. We did this to see if our film improved the way the audience wanted it to improve.

1. Do you feel that the special effects used to portray the feelings are effective?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

2. Do you feel that the genre we have used is relevant to our target audience?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

3. Do you think the film represents today's teenage life?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

4. Do you think the film is long enough for the 'short film' category?

- 5 out of 6 said YES
- 1 out of 6 said NO

5. Do you think that the story line of the film is relevant and realistic?

- 5 out of 6 said YES
- 1 out of 6 said NO

6. Does the music compliment the film?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

8. What would you rate the film at this point?

- 3 out of 6 people rated 4 STARS
- 3 out of 6 people rated 5 STARS

9. What is the reason behind your rating?

- realisitc of the genre
- love the music
- realistic
- good use of special effects

10. Do you think we used a wide range of camera shots and special effects?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

11. Do you feel that the camera shots complimented the film and storyline?

- 6 out of 6 said YES

The results of the second questionnaire shows us that we took into account the answers from the first questionnaire and improved our film based on an audiences opinion.

Question 3: Film Questionnaire

We carried out a questionnaire before we completed the editing for the film. This questionnaire was carried out to see how we could improve the video using feedback from people other than the media teachers and ourselves.

Here is the video:




Here is the questionnaire we used (click to enlarge) :



















Here is the final draft of the film:




Here is the questionnaire we used (click to enlarge) :

Trailer FINAL

Here is the final trailer which will be added to the website to compliment the main product which is the short film.

Trailer Research

In order to make the website more interactive and make it more authentic I decided to make a teaser trialer for the short film to add to the website.

A teaser trailer is a film advertisment used to promote or advertise an up and coming new film, game, television series etc. They are usually very short and contain only a few clips from the actual film. It sets out to give the audience just a taste of what the film is like.

I a teaser trailer to see what it consisted of and what elements are needed to make one. Also to see how much of the storyline it gives away, what kind of shots are used and how long the cuts are.




Shots
The main types of shots used are medium shots, eye level shots, over the shoulder shots and high/low angle shots. Quite a lot of panning was used to establish the setting and the activities going on in the trailer. Most of the shots were very distorted and scrambled. This added to the tension the teaser was creating.

Cuts
The cuts of the shots in the teaser trailer were extremely short. The longest cut was about one and a half to two seconds at the most. The short cuts were very quick and sharp, this emphasised the genre of the film being an sction filled film.

Music
The music had a range of volumes and did not have a lot of beats. However the music complimented the shots and cut speed and created a lot of tension. It leaves the audience wondering what is really going on.

These three aspects are very important and should always be considered when putting together a teaser trailer. They work together to make a teaser trailer work for the reason it is produced in the first place.

I will be considering all of these aspects when putting together my trailer.

Film Development: Draft Three, with new music, all editing

MONISHA CHOWDHURY

Film Development: Draft Two, with music, some effects, some transitions.

MONISHA CHOWDHURY

Film Development: Draft One, no music, some effects and transitions.

MONISHA CHOWDHURY



The second draft shows the film from beiginning to end however with no music and only one or two effects and transitions.

Film development: Narrative Theory for the rest of the film

MONISHA CHOWDHURY

For the rest of the film, we decided to use the 'Todorov' narrative theory. This is when the story of the film begins with an equilibrium. Where all characters are balanced and equal. Something in the middle of the story will happen which will dictate the rest of the story. In this case, the intake of the magic mushrooms will have a different effect on each character, some positive, some negative. The 'Todorov' theory states that the story should solve the problems by the end of the film and return to an equilibrium, however, we have decided to leave it on a cliffhanger. This will create suspense within the audience. It will let the audience try and figure out what happened in the end.

Film Development: Opening Sequence, no music, no effects

MONISHA CHOWDHURY



We decided to use a few clips at the beginning of the film which would allow the audience to work out who the main characters were and what the location was like. The clips just show the characters walking up a hill and then walking on into the forest. It will let the audience make up their own mind about how the want to stereotype the characters.
The use of body language, costume, make up and location should be considered by the audience as they play a big part in how the characters come across.

Video Treatment

MONISHA CHOWDHURY
After all our mind changing and researching, we have finally decided on a final concept and storyline. We have decided to do what we are doing as we felt it is current and something which a lot of people can relate to. It is a perfect fit for our chosen audience and we really hope we can pull it off.

Amy, Arron, Daisy, Tifani and Harry. A group of close friends. The Forest jetty is their hangout, they go there after school, on the weekends, and sometimes even bunk school to go there. A typical day at the jetty would be just, having a smoke, throwing things into the jetty, climbing trees...
They do things that maye ten year old do, maybe it's time to step up the game. Harry finds some 'shrooms' and hands them round. Everyone is excited to try them, all except one, Amy. However, Arron pursuades her to try some. And now the real fun begins...

Video Outline

MONISHA CHOWDHURY

Title: Effects

Single line concept: A group of friends are at 'The Forest'. They seem to be seeing things differently to normal everyday people. All because they ate a few 'Shrooms'.

Running time: 2 minutes

Genre: Drama

Audience: Older teenagers/ young adults

Objective: Informing the audience about the effects of drug use.

Research: Genre & Audience

In order for our video to be a success, we need to find our target audience and find out what they like and what they prefer to watch. We have chosen our target audience to be the teenage market. A market which is worth millions of pounds. It is a market which is always being used to determine the life time of many certain products. Whether it be clothes, video games, magazines, films or videos of any kind.
Our first approach was to conduct a survey within our media class. We asked thirty random people in our class two questions. We chose our class as everyone is either seventeen or eighteen. A teenage which is in the process of transistion into adulthood.

We asked:

What genre of film do you prefer to watch?
Horror - 6
Drama - 8
Action - 5
Comedy - 4
Romance - 7

What do you think are popular current issuses related to your age?
Driving - 4
Drugs & Alcohol - 12
Anto social behaviour - 5
Education - 9

How often do you watch short films?

Never - 8

Rarely - 12

Sometimes - 6

Regularly - 4

Would you be interested in seeing a short film consisting of Drugs and Alcohol?

Yes - 19

No - 11

Would you see this film as being effective towards the younger generation?

Yes - 17

No - 13

What type of advertising attracts you to a film?

Trailer - 10

Poster - 14

TV campaigns - 6

Do you like to see lots of effects in films?

Yes - 22

No - 8

Drama was the most popular genre and the most popular current issue was drugs and alcohol. We have found that people like to have lots of effects when they watch films, and their favourite advertisement is a poster which is what we will do. We have decided to go with the response and come up with a video concept which relates to our target audience.

Research: Music

MONISHA CHOWDHURY
Music plays a crucial part in a video and it is needed to make sense and relate to the storyline. In order for the video to be suitable to watch and to generally be interesting, there needs to be a good piece of music to accompany it.

I have seen that in most drug related videos, the music is either techno or chill.
Here are a few pieces of music I have found which I think should be considered to be used in our video.

1. Tiny Little Flickering (number one on the list)

2. Dragonfly - Universal Hall Pass

3.

Research; SKINS

MONISHA CHOWDHURY
...continued

This is a tilt shot. This type of shot normally either tils up and down or side to side. In this case, it tilts down. It tilts down. Starting from the characters face,then slowly as she looks down, the camera also tilts down to finally show what she is looking at. This type of shot is normally used to generally give the audience a clearer idea of the characters in the video.

This is a high angle shot showing the group of friends in the forest. This shot was used here to show the audience how many of the characters there are in the forest together. High anle shots are used to show vulnerability of the characters. Even though the angle of the shot is not very high, it still gives off a message that maybe the characters are unsafe?

This shot uses special effects. The blurring effect used in this part of the video emphasises the effects of drug use. It shows how the character under the influence is feeling and how out of control it makes them. It enables the audience to feel like the character, with the distorted vision.

This is an over-the-shoulder shot. The shot normally shows conversation between two characters. It shows one characters emotions and how they feel from the speakers point of view (over their shoulder). The shoulder alternates as the characters take turns to speak. During this shot, a medium shot is used to show the top half of the character, including facial emotions as well as body language.

This shot is a low angle shot. The shot shows power and dominance. It is taken by having the camera close to the ground and then by tilting the camera up slightly to create this effect.