My film structure analysis based on narrative

The narrative of my film is very important, as there are certain features that I want my audience to pick up, for example the key information which is know as the plot. I also want them to figure events out for themsleves so that the story unfolds indiviudually for them.
I am using an linear structure on my film, as I want there to be a beginning where the characters and story can be introduced, a middle so that the story and events can be unfolded, then an end so that the story can be closed.

Beginning- My two characters can be introduced, the audience can see that the stalker is after that certain girl.

Middle- My audience can see the stroy unfoldimg and the anticapation building through the way he follows and takes the young girl.

End- I then end my film, to let the audience no what happens to her and if she dies or lives.

Treatment

Before we start making the short creating the film, my self and zoe decided to create a treatment to allow us to have a clear insight on what to include into the film. By creating this, it also records all ideas we have so none get forgotten and we can always refer back to it. 

                                                                                                                  

The characters in our short film are PHILIP SWAIN, SOPHIE WAGSTAFF (myself), and HANNAH FEARNLEY. We are shooting the short film in a graveyard located in Kettering. The plot is about a serial killer who stalks a young girl and kills her. We've chosen this story line because we want to create tension, for it to be gripping and exciting for what is about to happen.

Plot
The young girls mother dies before the film so she is now being looked after by her aunty as her father abandoned her and her mother when the young girl, was a baby. A serial killer is on the loose, yet to be caught. The girl goes to visit her mothers grave everyday at 4:00pm after school as she misses her greatly and freels alone. The serial killer spots the girls and realises she visits the grave everyday at the same time. He starts spying on her and eventually captures her and kills her. 

Locations
We want to create an eery/spooky kind of setting we thought it would be a good idea to base our film in a graveyard as they are naturally quite scary. Besides this, there are other factors in a graveyard which can contribute to the scariness. For example these could be the church, shadows, tall trees swaying in the wind, and crunchy leaves to emphasis sound. Also in the setting of a graveyard the killer could disguise himself easier behind trees when spying on the girl. Even though you suspect something bad will happen in the setting of a graveyard, we believe that we can pay more focus on making it scarier and more tense and unexpected. Tension will play a large part in our film. 
The noises of nature will always help the eariness. 



The story begins with a fresh green leaf slowly falling to the ground which will be put on slow motion and played with a voice over.
The story ends with a dead brown leaf slowly falling to the ground with slow motion and a voice over; this life journey of a leaf as well as Sophies.

Digital Technology

Throughout the whole of my project, I will be using technology to help me create my short film, help me with recording my information and thoughts and to evlaute at the end. The main piece of technology that I will be using is Blogger.


I will mainly being using Blogger throughout my projecy because I will be displaying everything on there based around the short film that me and zoe are manking. Blogger is a website that lets you create your own account, allowing you to post comments ands videos, which benefits me when as its shows the progression I will be making all through to the end evaluations. I will be using Blogger to show my progressions mainly because I have used it before and am very knowledged about how to use the website. I will also be using it as it allows me post videos, pictures and other types of presentational programs which allows my blog to be more exciting to read. The only down side to Blogger is that is it very reliant on internet access, which could cause problems for some people.

However to allow me to use programs like Blogger, I need some sort of computer to enable me to access the programs I miss to help me create and plan my short film. I will be using technology like laptops and iMacs very often, as they allow me to reach these sites and have very effiecent and benefical sites and programes.

I could potentially use programes like 'Pages' which is on the iMacs to help me create call sheets for the actors and assistants, because I will be able to set the text out easily and it will be much neater than using a pen and paper; this will avoid mistake and confusion.
Same with programs on a laptop, like 'Microsoft Word' or even 'Powerpoint Presentation', as I can editted the text, change them into color, add pictures and theres plenty of space for big amounts of writing just one slide. This will allow text to be neat and tidily produced to avoid confusion and unwanted mistakes. I could also use 'Paint' on a laptop to allow me to create a story broad, however I think Id much rather draw it by hand, as I've never properly practiced how to draw on a laptop.

 

Brief Notes

After having some time with zoe to discuss ideas that could be the starting point of our short film, we took some very brief notes and anotations to help us remember in aimagery form, on ideas that could be important to note down, otherwise we might forget!

Textual Analysis 2

'Roses are Red'
http://vimeo.com/31029632

Sound is straight away introduced to us at the start of the short film 'Roses are Red', which has purposely been used to create emotion. Having an instrument such as a piano as the main piece of music and only music for this exact, playing a minor key, straight away conveys to me that this film concentrates more on love and emotions, but may have a hint of unhappiness. I also think it builds a great effect to the film as we know the music sounds sad and depressing. The simply sound of the piano being played at this point of the film, suggests and hints there's going to be love involved, as the music is very gentle and I also think it says something about the boy himself, as he is the first to be displayed and it is very much concentrated on him at the start. I think it hints upon on the type off characteristics he has, being loving and gentle, however there is another emotion show when he spots the girl. On top of this, I think the moment the music stops when he approaches the women in car is very important and shows varies ideas about the boy. Firstly, I think it suggests that he is snapped back in reality by the sudden change from a piano playing, to no music at all. I think it also hints that he has to let go of something, as the music has to end at some point, I think fading the music out conveys that the girl he loves also has to fade away at some point as well. Lastly, another very important technique of sound was the voice over which was included at the start of the short film, and towards the end. It was very clever using this structure of including one voice over at the start and the other at the end, as they both linked together with what was said. I also think this was displayed in that specific way to suggest that people may leave us, but the love will never go, and by then including the music back in when he is looking at the picture, it unravels the idea that the music links with his upset of losing the someone he loved.

Mise en scene was also used in this short film, to show the type of location the film was produced in. Having the boy rush into his bedroom, suggests straight away that he may hide away in when seeing this girl and when he's upset, it implies that he feels more comfortable in this enclosed place, but also shows that he feels closer to the girl he loves. However, it obviously reminds him more of the girl, which may then upset him more, by having the radio being played to us, as if he was thinking and reminding himself of the day he heard she had an accident. I think having the location set outside in a place where there was a limited number of people was very important, as we notice the quality changes when being around cars and roads. I also think the weather worked very well to create an emotionally film, as there was overcast in the sky and it was very grey, creating a dull mood and tone straight away. This could then show connotations of the boys mood, especially when he thinks he see's the girl he loves.

Camerawork has also been used very well throughout the exact. Having a close up of the rose I think was important in this film, as it links closely with the title, meaning this particular item is very significant. Obviously its very significant, as it belongs to what he thinks is the girl that he is in love with. Having the rose as prop and making it visual, again shows transition with the title, then concentrating on it for a couple of seconds seems to make it look so important and meaningful to the boy. By including many mid-shots throughout the film also allows the reader to feel more involved, as we see the mans emotions more closely and much more in depth, for example looking shocked when he noticed the girl. Over the head shots have also been used a few times through the film, such as when the girl have her back to the camera and we see the boy looking over at her. This links back to idea of her not actually being there, as she is the one with her back to the camera and the fact she doesn't look back at him has purposely been done to back up her absence.

Lastly, editing has been used in the film especially towards the middle of the exact where there is a point of view shot of the rose, which then dissolves and blurs a tiny bit. I think this is very significant as it could suggest the idea that the boy is tearing up and could be crying whilst looking at the rose that the girl has purposely dropped for him to pick up. There is also slow motion being edited on to create the idea of the flower falling slowly out of the girls hand, instead of suddenly dropping. It gives off a 'love scene' affect and could represent the pain that the boy has been through, as the rose could symbolize his heart dropping when he heard the one he loved has died. Finally, having cuts throughout the film represents the idea of a story being told to us, and including once cross dissolves suggests to us that his pain his continuously there, even though time is moving on. 

Texual Analysis 1

Umbillical

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ2zh0kewQc

 Camera Work

At the start of the short film, there is a mid shot of the title and an a umbilical cord, which sets the scene and hints that the rest of the film could be about a a small child or could suggest that the short film is based within a womb.

This then moves into a pan shot, showing a story-like board of a small child's drawings and colourings, this could suggest the experiences the little child has been through or the most important things he can remember. Having such a short trail of drawings, shows that he doesn't get out a lot or haven't had a lot of experience being a child and exploring different things. These drawings may suggest things the little child want or wishes he cold do more of'ten. However, the camrea shows the little child smiling, suggesting that he's happy and content. After this there's a bird side view of the child drawing, with the camera showing the cat that he has drawn. This represents how inocent the child is, how he's still a little child being fasinated by the smalliesat things.

 There is also a birds eye view of the child drawing, with the camera showing the cat that he has drawn, This represents how inocent the child is, how he's still a little child being fasinated by the smalliesat things. Innocence is also shown when the camera switches to a low angle shot where the child is looking down at the cat that he's just drawn, giggling and repeating the sound that a cat would make. As he's sitting beside the cat, listening to the purring, it suggests how lonely the little boy is, it shows how issolated he is from the outside world, and the other young children his age, considering this could be his only friend; this idea is also linked to when he was sitting stroking the cat as well . A low angle shot is then used to display the window,with light beamng through it. The camera slowly zooms into the window, portraying the idea that the little child should be drawn to it and attracted to it. Following on from this, it conveys the idea that there is a reason why the child should be drawn into this particular thing and whats behind it is significant to him. As he looks towards it like he is intrigued and interested, which portrays the idea that he doesn't know whats behind the window and that he's never been there when really he should.  

After this, there is a high ankle shot of the window looking down at the little child; this signifies that the natural surroundings outside of the window are unreachable and superior. 

Forwards the end of the film, there is a birds eye shot of the little boy and the television; this mainly shows the boy being forced towards the television, which then moves into a close up off him standing of this crayons. This shows the audience that the boy is not interested in anything else when the television is on like he is brainwashed, he has his hand on it like he needs to like a parent and the TV takes everything away from the natural things that a child should be doing. On top of this, he is also connected to it like he cant get away.

I think when it comes to filming my short film, I would want to use a pan shot, as it suggests a story and we have the perfect story which will introduce the film and end using that idea as well. This idea is about a leave fresh and green, falling from the sky and then ending on the floor, crushty and old which signifies life and death.

Sound

A non-diegetic sounds opens the short film, hinting the electrically current  as the title is displayed which sets the scene. This is then followed by a key minor sound, which creates a sad and dark atmosphere. 

This then moves into a subtle high key sound, with digetic natural sounds in the back ground This suggests that the child is peaceful, content and happy while he is drawing pictures. This feeling is later destroyed by an ambient sound when the child gets an electric shock. By including this sound it suggest the pain the child is going through from this shock, the audience gains a feeling of sorry and sympthy, as the poor chid has been hurt.
After this followes, an dialogue sound, when the child has been electrocuted from the cord again whilst looking at the window. This suggests straight away that he shouldn't have been doing this, and the cord is stopping him from growing up and interacting with the other kids outside. However, the child is attracted from the natural sounds from outside the window, which would signifiy that the child wants to hear natural sounds and be around the natural evironment.
 

Mise En scene

The mise en scene of this short film, is mainly based around a closed environment. This creates the feeling straight away that the small child is trapped and surrounded my loneliness. We also see immediately a dark and dull background as the main colours are grey and black; this portrays a sad environment and could possible signify something bad happening in the end. This then changes when the child is attracted to the window, as it is bright and joyful, with childrens toys teasing the small child. This is important at this part of the short film, as it tells the audience that the child is more attracted to the natural surrounds, then being stuck inside. This is then switches when the tv comes on, with bright colours around it, which could be representing a natural structure or surrounding, bu8t hyponotising the child to think it is better than going outside.
However, when the small child is drawing, all of his drawings are brightly displayed, signifying that he is enjoying what he is doing.
The clothing the child is wearing are dungariesd, which represents the usually clothing a small child would wear; this obviously suggests the idea that he is very innocent and naive as he is so young. It is also strange how the small boy is colouring in bright and colourful drawings, but his clothing has no colour to it; this suggests that his life is full of darkness.

Editting
At the start of the short film, the title is opened with a flash like effect. With the electrical current sound in the background, suggests that its the current from the tv, which is connected to the child. On top of this, it signifies that he boy has watched that much tv that the current is starting to break, causing the effect to occur. With this effect on top of the cord, it also looks very spooky like with the black and white background as well.
There is also an editting technique when the window is brightly reflected in the room. The light is slowly moving towards the screen, which gives the effect that the outside is wanting the small child to follow it and attracting him at the same time as it covers the screen; this again suggests that its a good idea, as it signifies a heaven-like light attracting him him to go to the 'good side'. This then is snatched away from him towards the end of the short film as the light is immediately taken away from him when it suddenly shuts down using another editting technique.
Mainly cutes have been used throughout this short film, however they are very long ones making it seem more like a story. Many of the cuts are produced in the same area, however switched about showing different views of the child and what he is doing; this links back to the limited, confined space that he lives in.

As a whole, looking at this film and taking ideas that I would like to use, I think shots and cuts that are used to show different angles of the small child, which is good and I would possible be interested in using as it sets the story and makes it more interesting than just a mid shot of the person the whole way through. I also like that is close eye contract with different items, such as the small boy and the tv or window. I think this would work well with our story plot, when the older man is staring at the younger girl and would really inform the audience to whats happening and going on, without any dialogue.

Film Directors

Specific Target Audience

When considering the main target audience that we are focusing on for our shot film, we had to think of several factors that are listed below;

Age 
We have decided to aim our short film at the age of 12-50, so the certificate age of the film if a PG. We were thinking of making it a 15, however the same sort of film that we are getting ideas (the lovely bones) from is a PG as well. Having discussed the content, we feel that it wont be explicit enough to make the age higher, so we decided to set it at a PG. Making our age range up to 50, we thought that it would be accessible for a wide range of people to be interested in it.

Fischoff created a theory which states "gradual disengagement with the horror genre" which portrays ideas that people like the thought of scaring themselves and to see how much they can push themselves in order to test themselves. It also states that horror and thriller films are mostly aimed for teenagers and young adults as they mainly appeal to these ages. It was also suggested that at his age and through parenting, pedophiliac contents is one of the key areas that scares audiences the most.
For this reason we will be putting the age range quite young so we can get as much interest from the younger audience as possible.

Gender
We are basing our film on both males and females as we both believe that the content of our film will suit both genders. We think that basing our film on one gender would be hard, as it will illuminate half of the population which could possible reduce sales and interest levels. We also think that the content of our short film is a neutral genders genre, meaning it would be hard to focus on just one gender.

Lifestyle 

We believe that the lifestyle of our target audience, would either be based around families and a young generation, for example teenagers and young adults. We have purposely aimed at these two lifestyles as we want to create a message to families and young children and adults, to stay safe and be aware of the dangers that could occur in the real life. 

Interests

Our film doesn't require any interests, as it concentrates on the subject of a serial killers and a pedophile, which I personally think no one should be interested in as it is such a serious matter. 

Social-Economic Group

We think that our short film doesn't fit in a set social economic group, however we think that it will suit lower class to middle class people.

Its difficult to define an audience for a short film, from their social group. Middle class people will most probably be more interested in short film and more aware of them as well.

Key Information

To help form the bases of our short film, we had to decide on the audience, the genre, the narrative and the representations that it will portray. Our thoughts are shown below in more detail.

Audience 

We have decided to base our film on both males and females; this is mainly because both genders have different tastes for different types of films so there is a possibility that the majority of both genders will like it. We have also based our age range on 15-50, as the content that is featured in it wont be that explicit for a thriller/ drama. We decided to put the age range up to 50, as people other this age may not enjoy it or be interested in the plot. 

Genre 

Relating to the ideas and contents we have decided for our short film, the genre will be based on a thriller/drama. The film that we have got our ideas from, has based their genre on a thriller/fantasy. To make our short film individual and different opposed to the ' The Lovely Bones' plot, we are making sure that we make our film much more creepier and scary, in comparison to using ideas for a fantasy, which we don't want to do for that reason. 'The Lovely Bones' has a lot of dream-like actions which represent heaven, a good place and a child's thoughts on the world; this obviously create fantasy, which we don't want to create, we want to replace fantasy with a thriller genre.

Narrative

The young girls mother dies before the film so she is now being looked after by her aunty as her father abandoned her and her mother when Sophie (myself), the young girl, was a baby. A serial killer is on the loose, yet to be caught. Sophie goes to visit her mothers grave everyday at 4:00pm after school as she misses her greatly and feels alone. The serial killer has been stalking the girl for months, plotting and planning his attempt to kill the girl. He realises she visits the grave everyday at the same time and finishes school the same time everyday as well. He eventually approaches her and commits his kill.

Representations

When making our film, we want to convey certain representations that are mainly negative, as bad things happen mostly throughout. However, we do want to present a positive message o audience, which are to be wary of your surroundings and think about your safety first, your actions, where you travel alone and to keep contacting people so they know where you are at a times.  
In relation to the character, we want the main character (myself) to be quite naive and vulnerable to what can happen in real life and not to trust anyone. On top of this, we want to represent the serial killer as dangerous and scary.

Research methods

Below I will be talking about the potential researching methods I will use based on their advantages, and the ones that I want to reject due to their disadvantages. There are four possible methods that I could use throughout my project, which are shown below:

Primary:

Primary research is based on work done by a individual. It can be collected through various ways, such as questionnaires, surveys, observations and interviews. 

Advantages of this method are that the researcher will receive direct feed back from participates that took part in it, and also it is highly controlled, which means that the information is relevant to what you are finding out about, there are no questions that aren't specific to the information needed. i think i will be focusing on using this research for my evaluations, when I will be interacting with other people in order to get their opinions.

Secondary:

This type of method is based on research which someone else has carried out and published, which is mainly accessible for others to use. This kind of data can be found on the internet, in books, in the library and in newspapers. An main advantage for this method is that it isn't expensive, may not even cost to view and it doesn't take much time to find as the work is already done for you, all you need to do is search for it, which should already be ready to find especially on the internet. I will be using a lot of secondary research within my project as it will help me research certain things I will be writing about, such as history of my texts, the brand of my text and the directors that are relevant for my genre. However, I will have to be aware that there could be a  possibility that the information is out of date or not reliable.

Qualitative:

This method is based on work that has a lot of detail and is more in depth in regards of peoples attitudes, behaviors and opinions to certain topics. This information can be found through very elaborative answers from interviews and emails. An advantage of this method is that certain people can be studied in more detail allowing different information to be found about them and there views, this can obviously be used within my evaluation when asking people their opinions on our short film; this could give us ideas for improvements or things we did well

Quantitative

 This method is normally based on numbers and statistics of what your researching. These can be done from closed questions in interviews, surveys and questionnaires. The main advantage for this type of researching method is that it is highly reliably and trustworthy, and the results can be finalised easily.

I can use this for my project, as they can show how many people liked our short film, and maybe how many people also disliked it. I can also use this by finding out reviews and statistics on other short films.

Potential Sounds

Looking through the 'iMacs', we have come across some possible sounds that we could use, from the range on 'imovie Sounds', which could potentially create a eary and spooky feeling for our film. The ones that we liked are listed below:

- Alien Impact

- Borealist

- Bogma

- Farewell

- Mystery Accents

- Suspense Accent

I have also picked up on some other sounds that we could use as ambient sounds that could be going on in the background of the location, which could again create eerie sounds, and maybe hint certain ideas. These are also listed below:

- Cave water drops 

- Dogs Barking

- Door mental Squeak

- Elysium

- Footstep

- Flurry

- Grandfather Clock Strike

- Police Car Siren

- Pursuit

- Radio Station

- Clock Wind-up

Our Thoughts..

For our short film, we have decided to base our genre on a thriller. We will have a number of actors, two being the main actors which is the murder (an oldish man) and the other being a girl that is still at school. We have got some of our ideas from the award winning film, 'The Lovely Bones' which has the same sort of plot we plan to film. This film however, has a lot more ideas and different plots in comparison to ours which will make ours different

What I have decided to do for my MAIN TASK

As our group, we was allowed to pair up in groups and work together to produce either a music video or short film. My group consists of myself, Zoe and Harriet, and I'am pretty certain that we will work well together and share the workload out exactly. As a group, we all chose to do a short film mainly because we have all had practice within making one and had experience with using the technology that is needed. We had already thought of a very strong story line very early before even starting the main task, which we think has the potential to be very successful, that couldn't be used at all in a music video so we all chose to agree on a short film. Having that as a benefit, we can now look deeper within what we want to include in the film, for example the camerawork, the types of sounds, the location we want to film in which will suit very well with the mood and tone of the film and choosing/finding reliable characters that will fit well with the actors we need.

What I have learnt..

Scripting/Story boarding

Before creating my film, myself and my partner had to decide what type of film we will be making and brainstorm the ideas that could potentially be the plot of it. This was difficult as we had to base our film around the idea of ‘the day in the life’ and had to base it around the location of school, so at this point we thought we’d base it around a student, and as you can imagine there are plenty of ideas that came flooding in with this. We chose to plan our film around a storyboard as it was easier to schedule our time, what had to be done or said and how long this may take. So planning our film using a storyboard was very beneficial. We had to think about the mise en scene and location whilst producing the story board, to enable us to think about in detail which areas of the school we’d use, what the actress would wear and with this what impression she’d give the audience through costume and makeup.  Through producing a story board, I also learnt to consider the potential use of editing and the types of shots that could work well, this helped us to try things out first without expecting everything to work out perfectly. This was useful as a lot of things we planned didn’t seem to work out as we wanted them too, as we had to make quick changes that we’ve now learnt from.

Locations

We were limited for the location as we were told that we had to film within the school; this meant that we could only film inside and outside of the school premises. As we chose to film half of our story plot outside, the weather limited us a great deal as a lot of days we planned to film, it rained. This meant that we had to reschedule our plan and make quick decisions on other work we could do to replace film. For example, editing clips that we already had, finding/searching for appropriate sounds we could use, and creating the credits. I learnt that the weather impacts a lot on our progression as it held us back from filming and it also hindered our scheduled plan.

Talent

We had to decide who would be filming and who will be acting between the two of us.  My partner and myself worked well together as I was more confident acting and she preferred filming. I learnt that acting isn’t as easy as it looks and it can be quite nerve racking when having an audience. Because I was nervous and I wasn’t as focused which led me to giggle at times and lose concentration. I also learnt that when working in a team, you can’t always rely on people as they may be off due to illnesses, appointments, as well as lack of motivation. We also had to rely on people who we didn’t know very well to participate in our film as we wanted a class of students. As we didn’t know what their acting skills were like we didn’t know how the end product would turn out, likewise we knew a close friend who was good at acting and had previous acting experiences so we involved her more to speak in the story line.

Organisation

We had to focus on organisation skills within the scripting writing and story boarding to enable us to plan out our time, so that we knew when certain things will be done and give them a time limited to how long they’d take to do, such as the editing and putting the filming together and in action. I found this part of the project was pretty hard as things always seemed to go wrong or prevent us from doing things, such as filming outside due to the weather. This therefore took us backwards, as at one stage filming outside was the only thing we could really do and the weather stopped us from doing it. However, we did try filming outside by covering the camera with an umbrella, but unfortunately the clips could pick up the sound of the rain.

On top of this, we also had to organise a group of people, which acted as the class; this was pretty hard as we had to emphasis the feelings and emotions we wanted to express and get across to the audience. We also had the problem with time slotting and having to rely on whether the majority of the class were free and were willing to do it.  We then had to organise where the class was going to sit and where the camera would be placed, correctly enough for when it was going to be moved, there wasn’t much jultering and it would be smooth.

Teamwork    

As the girl that I worked with was a very good friend of mine, we found it very easy to work together as we were comfortable with sharing both our ideas and we also knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses well. This also meant that we could work together in our spare time and any free time that we had, which made it much easier for the work to get done. I’ve learnt that teamwork is very important when creating a project like this, as you need a lot of communication between the group and within the group you need to feel comfortable with each other in order to achieve your full potential.

Editing

Unfortunately we left it to the last minute, and found it difficult to get all the editing done on time. This was due to the editing stages, as we were unsure on how to produce the ideas we had in our head, onto the film. It was the first time me and my partner even used the type of technology we were given to edit, meaning we didn’t have a clue where to start; this held us back a lot as our time schedule was then messed and changed around. 

The final product

Bringing together the final product was very difficult as we had little time to put it all together for the exact deadline. This meant that we ended up rushing and cramming in a lot of the work and editing, which obviously affected the overall piece of work, as the end product wasn’t as good as what we thought it would be; this was simply because we didn’t get the point across to the audience like we intended and imagined it to come across. I have then realised and learnt how important time management is when going through the processes of filming, and how important testing your ideas out first before thinking they will come perfect and as you would want and expect them to be.