Editing the poster's pictures

The photographs we used for the film posters had to be manipulated in different ways to create the correct mood for our film. These screen shots that Laura has worked on show some of the ways we altered our images.

Making the Magazine process

During editing the magazine review, we wanted to make sure that the quality was to the highest it could possibly be, to ensure this we made the magazine review first and then looked over it numerous times to decide if there were any changes that needed to be made.
Below are the screen shots that were taken to show the development of our magazine review.

 

Final Posters

 

Here are the final versions of our posters that would be released in the following order

 

 

Final Magazine review



Here is our final version of our magazine review

 

 

 

Poster analysis

Here are the final posters that we would be releasing. These posters would be released in a sequence to build up excitement and interest.










Magazine review sketch

The following image is a sketch that we drew up when we were planning our magazine review. The picture shows the layout we intended to create along with the various sections that we wanted to include in the review.
We found planning it out on paper first easier as when we went to create it on the computer we knew exactly what we wanted to do and how we wanted it to look.

Folk Soundtrack

Due to our film being a Mockumentary style we have decided not to have music throughout our film. We chose not to include music as when we were researching and watching other films of the same type of genre hardly any had music such as underscore etc. playing throughout the film. Therefore we made the decision also not to have music throughout.
We have decided however to have a soundtrack that will be played right at the very end of our film and also have it playing throughout the credits at the end.
The soundtrack will be the folk song that Laura stumbled across when researching the Dover Gaol history. We have decided to do this as we feel it would leave a lasting impression on the audience as the lyrics tell the whole true story of what happened in Dover Gaol.
Here are the lyrics to the song:

We smuggling boys are merry boys

Sometimes here and sometimes there

No rent nor taxes do we pay,

But a man of war is all our fear.

'Twas on the 21 st of May,

As you will understand,

We sailed out of Boulogne Bay,

Bound for the English land. 

But to our sad misfortune,

And to our great surprise,

We were chased by two galleys,

Belonging to the excise.

Oh then my boys for liberty,

Was the cry of one and all,

But soon they overpowered us,

With powder and with ball. 

They dragged us up to Gaol,

In irons bound like thieves,

All for to serve great George our King,

and force us to the seas. 

The wives for their husbands

Were in such sad distress,

For children round the gaol

Were crying fatherless.

And sure the sight was shocking

For any one to see,

But still the cry came from the mob,

For death or liberty. 

 

Oh then a hole all in the wall,

Was everybody's cry.

And Lillburn and McCullock's men

were soon obliged to fly. 

For bricks and tiles flew so fast,

From every point you see,

And these poor men from Dover gaol,

They gained their liberty.

And now they've gained their liberty

The long wide world to range,

Long life to the women,

Likewise to the  men.

Here is my first version of the song:

 https://soundcloud.com/music-for-media-1/michelle-song-rough-copy



Here is the final song recorded at KETV studios:

 

https://soundcloud.com/music-for-media-1/we-smuggling-boys-soundtrack

 

  

I didn't change any of the lyrics of the song as we didn't want to ruin the authenticity of it. I decided to just add a simple tune and to keep it stripped back by just using guitar and vocals. As this is supposed to be a traditional Folk song, I used the chords  Am,C,G,D the chords I used are very common to many traditional Folk songs. I also sang and played the song in a way that gave the song an old sea Shantie feel to retain the theme of the film.
When editing the track we added sound effects that would boost the sea theme. The sound effects we added were a rough sea, sail boat and seagull sound effects throughout the song.
We also added Reverb and Delay to the vocals and the sound effects to make the song sound haunting and keep the mood of the mysterious ghost smugglers  going until the very end of the film.

 



Magazine Review Distribution

Myself and Laura researched into magazines that would normally review our type of 'Independent film' We wanted to find a magazine that had not only a main stream audience but also a more of an underground audience. After looking into various Film Magazines such as 'Empire Film Magazine' 'FILM Magazine' we found the MovieScope Magazine would be a good magazine for our film to be reviewed in as it reviews both mainstream Hollywood films and also independent films. Extract taken from the MovieScope webpage:
'movieScope Magazine offers an unique insider’s point-of-view on the craft, process and business of moviemaking as seen through the eyes of key industry professionals drawn from both sides
of the camera working in Hollywood, the Indie film
scene and other global filmmaking hot spots.
By us choosing this magazine, there is a better chance of our film attracting a larger audience as people may buy the magazine to read about a new Hollywood film and then stumble across our independent film when reading through the magazine.

How we would get our audience to see the review.Due to the massive impact social media and the internet in general has on our lives we would take full advantage of online advertising. We would post links on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc. that would take you to the Magazine's website so the audience could also read the review online.
To encourage people to read the review we could offer things to people by saying things such as 'Share the link to the Magazine review to win a chance to see a free exclusive screening of the film'.

 

Film Distribution that refelcts our genre

After researching into different types of distribution, myself and Laura feel that for our edgy and unique film, ‘Art House’ distributors would be the best company to release and get our film known. Art house distributors often distribute quirky, small budgeted films like ours, at festivals, theatres and on DVD.
I think that this sounds very good for our film as the typical way of distributing a film may not work so well in our case because of how different ‘UNANSWERED’ is. We need a unique, creative way of releasing our film to the public to match the mood of our film and maintain its ‘Mockumentary’ style.
Below is a quote from their website showing what they aim to do with their films.

Revolver Entertainment is one of the UK & Eire's leading 'All Rights' distribution companies, shaking up the industry with a unique approach to managing its enviable and edgy slate of Film and DVD releases.

Handling both large scale and smaller films with equal care and attention, Revolver are specialists in delivering maximum media coverage and awareness via multi-platforms, with Revolver Books and 357 Records also operating under the Revolver umbrella, we are an aggressive all rights brand marketing entity.

Their marketing strategies sound very interesting and sound like they would match our ideas very well

Our Marketing teams continue to win awards for their creativity, originality and guerrilla marketing, with the 'Zombie Walk' making International News with hundreds of Zombies parading through London's Leicester Square to break a world record. Our pioneering spirit is highlighted with our release of the first ever live action Digital 3D movie earlier in the year, and tailed at the end with the first ever entirely eco-friendly film release, indicating our dedication to breaking new ground within our industry.Overall, I think that ‘Art House film’ distributors appear to be a perfect fit to distribute our film and I would feel comfortable with them releasing our film knowing that they would maintain the style of our film and I would feel confident that they would help us achieve a buzz for the movie.

Link to the website: http://arthousefilmsonline.co.uk/about.php

If we had a large budget, below is a step by step list of ideas we formed to release our film:

1.  Two months before release we would start to release our series of posters. First the exit sign one, as it doesn’t release too much information and leaves people with questions. The second poster would be the one with a black figure standing underneath the exit sign and the last would be revealing the main actress peering round the corner, releasing the most information. We would place them in edgy places such as train stations, bus stops, universities, using black tape with #UNANSWERED printed on to it, this would keep the authenticity and appear like a student was in fact releasing her film on a low budget. The hash tag would build a buzz.

2.  A month before the release we would distribute a quick, subliminal advert that fuzzes on to the screen for a split second, revealing a twitter hash tag saying, #UNANSWERED. Some viewers may notice it where others won’t. This would start talk as to what unanswered means and it also gives our audience a social network to discuss #UNANSWERED. Myself and Laura got this idea from the recent BMW advert that uses the same concept. After releasing ‘Subliminal messages’ to their audience they managed to create a buzz leading up to their main advert.  Laura said she was a victim of this dangerously clever advertising campaign, and found herself noticing the quick advert and researching the hash tag to find out more. It then occurred to Laura that not only does it entice their target audience but also brings in a wider audience, as we would not normally be interested in BMW let alone take the time to research into it but with one simple advert they controlled me and made me interested in their product.

We found that subliminal advertising is banned in Australia and Britain but I think the BMW’s advert was allowed as it was noticeable from the conscious mind and the viewer was not completely unaware of what was influencing them. Below is a description of subliminal advertising...

Subliminal messages are words, images, or sounds that might appear in television or radio commercials, TV shows or movies, print ads or recorded music. Usually when subliminal messages are seen or heard, they’re not recognized for what they are. In fact they may be ignored by the conscious brain and be beyond the level of conscious perception.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-subliminal-messages.htm - this website discusses the ideas of subliminal messages and was very interesting.

3.  Eventually we would release the main advert for our film and by then we would already have a wide audience. Our advertising campaign of using twitter and placing posters in universities would already have enticed our target audience of students and placing posters at train stations and bus stops would have also enticed our older target audience of 25-40.

4.  Our next step would be to release our film. We would want to release our film in small town cinemas at first that hold a spooky feel. For these tickets that would give people first access to see the film we would broadcast on twitter, that if people added UNANSWERED on ‘Snapchat’, at midnight a week before the release, a special code would be released that allows just those people to see the film first at their local small town, independent, cinemas before wide release. This unique one week only experience could be further enhanced by merchandise sold at the events. This would make our audience feel special and a part of something unique. The film would then go to larger cinemas for wide release.

The following laptop company inspired my ‘Snapchat’ idea, as they are the first company to use it as a marketing tool.

 

The following link explains how Co-operative electrical, set to use Snapchat for their marketing campaign towards students…

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/08/28/co-operative-electrical-set-use-snapchat-marketing-students-snaptop-campaign

Myself and Laura both think that it is a fantastic idea and an extremely modern way of attracting a target audience. That is why we think it would fit perfectly with our edgy, modern film.  

Film Magazine Conventions/Layout

 

The following review is from the popular film magazine 'Empire' I have annotated the page and noted the layout and conventions of film reviews.

 

 

 

 

I have found that many film reviews are there to advertise the film more then analyse the good and bad points of the film. It is common for magazine reviews to praise films and is used more as an advertising device then anything else. I've found common techniques magazine reviews use include:

• Mentioning films that have been successful by the same Director, producer etc.
• A list that tells the reader some interesting facts about the film.
• They may mention awards the film has received or been nominated for.
• The films website where you can find out more about the film.
• They always leave information about the film out so that the reader is drawn in and leaves them guessing meaning they will want to see the film more.

 

The review above is taken from another popular film magazine 'Total film' As you can see the review almost has exactly the same conventions as the first example. The layout is slightly different but not by very much. This article is once again positive and very little criticism is written about the film.
I feel that these are both two very good and clear examples of professional and interesting film magazine reviews. I think this because they are attractive to look at but also interesting to read by the light-hearted language that is used. The writers of the reviews try to inject some humour into the reviews which I feel is important and also the writers seem to often aim to make the films sound good especially if it has been directed by a recognised director.
I have found in the past reviews often either go two ways. They either praise the film and do everything they can to convince you to go and see it or alternatively they may try to be more controversial and give the film a terrible review and slate it saying it isn't worth watching. This in some cases I feel could come across as reverse phycology as people may want to see it to see how bad the film actually is and to see if the film magazine was exaggerating or not.

Both of the previous examples that I have shown are both quite mature and I would say that they are probably aimed and people 16/17 and up. This is good as it means that it should attract the correct ages to the films.

This example on the other hand taken from 'Unlimited' is a little more light-hearted and could be more related to a younger audience as well as an older adult audience.

This review still has pretty much all of the common film review conventions however the way it is has been drawn out is a little more light-hearted. This kind of review would attracted a younger audience more due to the colours and the fact that the pictures are more relevant and eye catching and the fact that there are more of them in this review.

I feel that our Film review should be more like the first examples as the film relates more to people aged 16 and above. I think this because the themes and plot of the film could be seen as a little complicated and the storyline is quite mature meaning a much younger audience may not like or be interested in the film therefore our film review would be more appropriate for a older audience.

Checking Continuity

Over our two days of filming myself and Laura both put the other subject we study to good use. As I study Drama I was one of the main characters of the film and as Laura studies Photography she took photos throughout filming.
Laura brought her camera along to take pictures of the actors before the scenes. We did this as we know and understand how important continuity is in a film. We first encountered how important it is when we filmed our AS opening scene project. We found that pictures we took came in handy when filing as we could make sure all costumes, props, and items in the mise en scene were the same and were in the correct positions.
We made sure that all actors were also aware of how important continuity was and made it clear to the actors that their facial hair, clothes, hair style etc was the same and didn't change over the two days of filming or any of the few days after until we had checked that all of our footage was correct and that we got what we wanted from filming.
Here are some of the pictures we took of the actors before their scenes.

Michelle- Student filmmaker

The real Mr Arnold- Cinema owner

Rebecca Gliddon- Interviewed local

 Carol Johnson- News reporter

 Mr Arnold- Ghost smuggler























Laura Johnson- Interviewed local

Throughout filming Laura also took pictures for our film posters.

Inital Poster designs

The following are posters that we designed. We want the release of the posters to reflect the type of genre the film is and reflect the mystery around the film. We came up with a 'Trainspotting, Blair Witch Project' inspired idea of releasing more then one poster.
We want to start with a poster that doesn't revile much information at all about the film, we then want to move onto releasing a poster that hints more about the film but still doesn't release too much information and then we finally want to release a poster that is more detailed and tells you more about the film. here are the following ideas that we have come up with so far.

We like this design because we feel that it reflects the film well. It is cryptic as the information is limited. The colours are to the conventions of horror film poster with the Reds, Blacks etc. We thought that the colour Red worked well as it hints that the film could involve some form of danger.

This second design rev a little more information about the film however still is quite simple and cryptic. The Exit sign is still in the poster so the audience would see the connection. We have chosen to use a grainy black and white effect because we wanted to make sure it still looked like a Mockumentary poster would and not make it too glossy and 'Hollywood'. We feel that this poster is also believable and fits well with our themes throughout the film.



The final poster reveals more information about the film. It shows the actress and also gives a short description about what the film is about. This would make a good final poster as it is eye catching however you also have to look at the image to work out what is going on. As mentioned before the poster suits the style and themes of the film. The colours suit the common conventions of horror film/ Mockumentary style posters. We included a caption that sounds factual like what is used in most posters of this genre.

Evaluation of our weekend of filming

After filming myself and Laura took time to reflect on what we feel went well and what didn't go as well during out two days of filming at the Cinema.

Things that went well during filming:

• We had full access to most parts of the cinema, including the Projector room. We didn't have to adapt hardly any parts of our storyboard because of this.
• We had control over the lighting of the cinema from the Projector room. This meant that each shot we could adapt our lighting and create the right mood we wanted to convey. We were very fortunate to have this facility. We decided to make the most of this luxury and icorporated flickering lights in to the scene where the fire alarm rings. It really enhanced the mood and made the scene tenser.
• We managed to film all of the shots we needed and stuck to the time frame we were given by the cinema. Therefore we portrayed a good professional image to the cinema workers who were lovely enough to let us film in there to begin with.

Things that could have gone better during filming:

• One of the main issues we had was that the cinema wasn't completely shut off. We didn't realise that the cinema was attached to a Museum next door and the Museums toilets were connected to the cinema. Therefore some of our shots had to be delayed as we constantly had people walking through to use the toilets and there was nothing we could do about it. Some of the staff in the Museum also found it quite irritating as we had to film some shots near their building. I think to have stopped this situation from happening we could have pre-warned the Museum a few days before our filming so that they could have then prepared themselves for what we would be doing. This means that they would have been more aware of everything that was happening and not felt as confused and irritated as to what two young students were doing with a camera. This would then have stopped their distress but also allowed us to get on with our filming more effectively.
• Another issue we had was that due to a certain circumstance we didn't have an actor to play the real, 'Mr Arnold' therefore we were left with a tight amount of time and no actor. Luckily, we resolved the issue by calling our friends granddad and he was willing to play the small part. It was fortunate that he was available and also a very good actor who seemed to fit the part perfectly. This situation could have been avoided if we had a backup actor already on hold. However, it didn't affect the quality of our film or slow us down that much in any way.

After filming updated plan

Here is the updated plan now.

Date	Task	Completed
8th-12th August	Complete Storyboard	YES
12th-16th August	Complete Script	YES
1st-6th September	Complete Film Poster	IN PROGRESS
9th-13th September	Complete Magazine article	CURRENTLY RESEARCHING
14th-15th September	Complete filming	YES
16th-October	Complete editing	IN PROGRESS
November-onwards	Distribute film and evaluation

As you can see we are slightly behind on schedule for the ancillary tasks however we have ideas of what we want to do and we are constantly researching and coming up with ideas for them therefore we are not too worried at the moment as we know we can both research in a lot of depth about these things and as we are organised we know we will get them done to a good standard.

I feel that Myself and Laura are very well organised. I feel that we are at a good stage and I am extremely happy that we managed to complete filming in such a short space of time. I feel that when filming we were constantly thinking on our feet and solving problems as a team effectively,Whilst filming we also took pictures for the poster so we will now be able to review these and work on creating an effective poster.

Lists to Stay Orgainised

So that Myself and Laura stay organised we created the following props list:

Map of Gaol

Hand held camera for Michelle

Prison sign for Geoff to hold for the photograph of him that appears at the end.

We also created a list of the actors and also a location list:
Character/actors:

Student filmmaker - Michelle Aloe

Cinema worker/ Ghost smuggler - Geoff Arnold 

Real cinema worker - Member of staff who works there

Locals who are interviewed - Becky Gliddon /Laura Johnson 

Locations:

Inside Michelle's bedroom for opening scene

Cinema (Inside and outside)

Forest - closing scene 

These lists are important so that we know exactly what we are doing and also so we don't forget anything.

Filming Tomorrow!

This weekend myself and Laura will be filming at the cinema. We hope to get all of the filming done over the weekend(14th and 15th) and we feel confidant that we will as we are well prepared. We sent the script out to the actors so that they had time to get to know the story and learn their lines.
Myself and Laura have prepared our props and shot lists to help us stay organised.
We have the cameras sorted and myself and Laura have been in contact with the cinema over the phone to make sure everything is still ok.
We ran into a problem today as we couldn't get our hands on a hand held video camera we had previously arranged. However Laura managed to sort this as she found someone that is willing to let us borrow his camera.
Myself and Laura had a final phone convocation with the cinema owner who told us that we could use the cinema from 9.30 until 12. As soon as we found out about the times myself, Laura and the rest of the cast have arranged to meet near the cinema at 9.20 so that we are all prepared to start setting up in the cinema at 9.30.

Updated Plan

Date	Task	Completed
8th-12th August	Complete Storyboard	YES
12th-16th August	Complete Script	YES
1st-6th September	Complete Film Poster	IN PROGRESS
9th-13th September	Complete Magazine article
14th-15th September	Complete filming
16th-October	Complete editing
November-onwards	Distribute film and evaluation

Creating a buzz for our film

My film partner Laura has been working on creating a Buzz for our film.
We have successfully begun creating this buzz as Laura has managed to get an article about our film into our Local paper. This is fantastic because the paper has quite a large demographic meaning it is likely to be seen and read by many people.  We have tried to make the film sound as realistic as possible so that people think the film is a true story.
We have been inspired by creating this type of 'True story buzz' by 'The Blair Witch Project' as this type of advertising was extremely effective for the success of the film

Postmodern Style Filming

We aim to film our short film in a post modern inspired way. We aim to film the majority of the film with a handheld video camera that will be used by one of the main characters (The student filmmaker) We will do this as this style of filming is common to the type of films we are aiming to create. The handheld camera helps to convince the audience that they are watching real footage that a real person has filmed and not just a character in a film. This handheld style of filming is inspired by films such as 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Cloverfield', 'Grave Encounters' to name but a few.
We researched into the Blair Witch Project and how they went about creating the style of filming. This is a feature quote that stuck out for me in the article:
 "We didn't want it shot too slick or anything.In the film, they are supposed to be student filmmakers, and we wanted thefootage to look like student footage."

Here is the link to this website:

http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/dcp/news/behind-blair-witch-project/44043 

The post modern inspired part our filming comes from us wanting to involve a 'Third Party' by this I mean we aim to use a steady cam. The steady cam will film the characters in the film being filmed.The Television series 'Extras' also partly inspired this style of filming due to the idea of the characters being filmed filming. This is meant to have a 'fly on the wall' type effect as the steady cam is watching the events unfold. The steady cam is never acknowledged or shown it is simply there to film the characters already being filmed by the handheld camera.  We have done this for the following reasons:

1. We want to showcase to the examiner our camera skills, including framing, lighting etc and we felt that through a hand-held cam we wouldn't be able to do this as effectively as we would have liked. Therefore using both types of filming, it will be clear that our hand held footage is deliberately shaky, bad composition and lighting to create a tense, uneasy feel in contrast to the steady cam which offers an easy way to watch the film and demonstrates typical, good quality camera shots. It also gives the viewer a break from the constant uneasy hand held footage that could potentially put off our target audience from watching the film. Essentially our film will have the best of both worlds. 
2. We want the steady cam to add to the tension of the film and we feel that most hand-held cam films either stick with that type of filming and never mix the two. After doing some research into different TV series etc one being 'Supernatural' that have experimented with this style, we found that it actually works extremely well and allows the audience an overall view and insight into what is happening. An objective view, looking in on the situation but also a subjective view from the student filmmaker, building an emotional attachment to the character. 

 

Common Conventions!

When researching and looking into different Documentary/Mockumentary films I have found that most of them include the following conventions:

• Hand-held/Shaky Camera is almost always used, shots can sometimes be out of focus and framed badly. It's common for the film to include shots to with different types of camera resolutions e.g. it may look like the footage is from a CCTV camera or a computer webcam etc.
• The lighting is often quite poor and I've found it's common that the scenes are very dark. Torch light is a very common way of lighting very dark scenes that keep the film looking realistic.
• The sound is sometimes also quite poor and sometimes in inaudible resulting in subtitles being used. The actor dialogue doesn't sound like it have been scripted and learnt by the people in the film.

I have also found that the films often have a specific kind of editing. I found that it is common for the editing to be jumpy and disjointed, This makes it look like the person filming is not actually a professional film maker with a big budget. It also makes it look like what they are filming isn't pre planned and makes it look like they have just picked up their camera and catching what they are filming by chance/luck.
It is common for the films to include text, weather it be dates, times etc. or explaining the story line. The text is included to make the film look factual or confirm important information. It's also common for a voiceover to be used to create the same factual type feel.
Another convention that makes the film look factual is interviews with people. The interviews do not look rehearsed and are often uncomfortable and can often include the people saying controversial things (that are made to look like they can't be edited out).
It isn't common for music to be played over the scenes however if music is included it usually comes from a source/prop used within the scene such as a radio, television etc.

I think that these conventions are so common because they make the film more realistic, it makes it look like the person filming doesn't know what is going to happen next and makes it look like the characters had no tie to set up the scene to film properly. I think it is essential that myself and Laura include these conventions to successfully make this sort of film. All of the conventions are important as they help create the factual effect of the entire film.

The following film (Grave Encounters) is a great example of a Found footage/ Mockumentary film as it includes almost all of these common conventions.

The Blair Witch Project example of conventions

The following clip is from The Blair Witch Project. This clip is a great example of a found footage/Mockumentary film. You can tell that this is a Mockumentary film as it features typical conventions of these types of films. The lighting in this clip helps convince the audience that the film is factual as the light is provided by a torch making the scene more realistic as the characters are filming and staying in the woods. There is no music or underscore used in this scene which makes it more convincing that the footage has been found and hasn't been planned or edited.
The camera work in the scene is typical in found footage films. The framing isn't very good as half of the character's face is cut out, it is also filmed from a strange angle that makes it look like the person has just switched the camera on and is holding it up really close to their face. This type of framing makes the scene look realistic and unplanned due to the lack of thought put into it.

Although the scene looks like no effort has been put into creating it this is not the case at all. The conventions used in this clip are perfect for the genre and are extremely effective at convincing the audience the film is a true story. Myself and Laura will have to make sure we used these types of conventions in our film to try to convince the audience the story line is true, resulting in a successful Documentary type film.