Big Changes

Now that I've begun work on my filming I have realized that my initial plan was a too much of a push at this stage in media. I wanted to create a fantasy film which I knew from the start would be difficult. However I overestimated how challenging making this genre of film would be without a budget which has therefore led me to other ideas. I don't plan on changing the story but instead adapt it to being in this world rather than a make believe one. The story will still be based around an object which has the ability to stop time however if the person using it decided to do something bad, they will edge closer to insanity. similar films include 'Clock Stoppers', which takes a comedic look on stopping time. This film is aimed at a younger audience but there are definitely parts I can take and apply to my thriller

Progress so far

So far, I have nearly finished the pre-production stage of my coursework. This proved to be a challenging part of the production as there was a lot more to do than I first anticipated. When I first began the pre-production process I assumed the only things I would have to worry about is the producing a story, applying this to a storyboard and then begin to gather all the mise en scene elements needed. However this wasn't the case. The A2 brief is a big step up from AS and therefore involves more effort to gather everything needed. Firstly, the story took a lot longer to come up with than it did at AS. This was mainly because the AS piece only involved a 2 minute opening sequence which left the majority of the story untold. However with a short film the whole story needs to be covered, making it challenging to incorporate everything within the 5 minute period. Getting hold of a costume was also one of the hardest things to do. Usually, a costume would be fairly easy to come across however this was made difficult due to  the genre being fantasy. I still am struggling to find a costume for my main character as the cost of a believable costume is too much. With this all in mind, I will have to make certain changes so that I can keep on track. At the moment, I am slightly behind the approved time as can be seen in the table below. Although I'm behind I still feel I will have enough time to film as I have a good idea of what I have to film.

     

Ancillary Texts: Magazine Review research

As I am doing a short film, one of the ancillary texts i'm doing is a magazine article reviewing the film. As I don't read many magazines I have researched the forms and conventions of making an effective and gripping review article. For this research the best source to use was Empire Magazine. Empire Magazine is a British magazine which focuses on the latest films and giving them reviews. As they're Britain's leading film magazine company they're reviews are good to look at. From the articles I've seen it seems that the image used is important. On the majority of the reviews the image takes up a lot of space on the double page spread, in some cases it takes up 50% of the article. The image tends to either be a direct extract from the film or will be closely associated with the films poster. Along with this picture there needs to be a substantial amount of text reviewing the film. This text has the goal of helping the reader decide on whether they want to see the film or not. Therefore, there needs to be basic information about the film along with the positives and negatives of the film. These image and the substantial text are the main two parts of the review however there are other smaller things which make an effective review stand out from the rest. The image below show some of these features, including important details of the film (release date etc.) and a tagline to summarise the review.

To make an effective magazine review I will have to take all this into account and then apply it to my review. Below are a few examples which I will use as inspiration towards my final magazine review. As my film is a thriller, this will need to be shown through the design such as the colours used and the font chosen.

 

The peasant character

Within my media piece there are a total of three actors. These are the main character (Character 1), this characters girlfriend (character 2) and the deranged character (character 3). On my first day filming I went out with character 3 to film the majority of the shots associated with him. This character needed to look like a stereotypical peasant from the medieval ages so the costume took a lot of thinking about, below is the final product. I used basic baggy clothes as well as a blanket to act as a coat. A belt was also used to both hold the blanket in place as well as holding a hatchet in it. There were a few extra touches such as the walking stick and all together I feel the costume portrayed a medieval peasant well.

Work towards rough edit

So far there hasn't been much filming towards the final product, due to a few stagnations. The main problem being that the costume has been harder to aquire than first thought. For the main character the plan was to have him look like a ranger with a hooded cape with a tunic and large boots, but these are expensive or too small. Therefore I have decided to make the costume for myself as this will be easier. The cape will be relatively easy to make and the tunic can be done by threading string through a v-neck collar. Another problem was getting to the location but this has now been resolved as one of the actors can drive us there. I plan on starting filming by this weekend as I now have all the means necessary to begin. Below is a link that I found which will help me design my cape as well as an image of what I hope to achieve.

How to make a Cloak

First day of filming.

A couple of days ago me and my first actor went out on location to film for the introduction to the short film. In this introduction, the character comes across as confused and dazed whilst wondering through the forest. Overall, this filming went well due to a few factors. The most helpful factor was the weather. Of course the main benefit is that it wasn't raining but instead it was a sunny day and the sun was beginning to set so it gave off great shadows to work with. Before filming got underway, there were a few hindrances (the main one being getting lost!) however the shots that needed to be taken in this session were shot and to a standard that I was happy with. The actor also did a good job portraying the character. Next filming session I intend on filming the first scene with the main actor in which the first actor gets killed. Below is a quick vlog, explaining again what we got up to on set

The Props

My film is set in a fantasy world and one of the most important things to do is immerse the audience in this world without anything pulling them out of it. One way that they can be fully emerged is through the use of the props. The props that are involved in my piece will consist of a bow and arrow, a necklace and may include various campfire equipment, such as pots and pans. So far I have got the bow and the pendant. The bow was initially red so it was painted brown to look more immerse, as can be seen in the picture. The necklace is the most important prop as the whole story is built around it. I decided to go with a simple blue pendant necklace as seen below. I chose this as it needs to look like as normal so that it gives it an innocent persona even though it causes nothing but problems for the person who wears it. The next step is to decide on whether a campfire will feature in the film as these props will need to be assembled if this is the case.

Audience research into fantasy films

With any film making sure their is an intended target audience and that you will capture their attention is key. Before I start my own piece, I need to make sure my chosen genre is appealing, and who it is appealing to. To do this, I need to conduct some audience research to see what sort of genre people like and what they're opinion is on the fantasy genre. There are a variety ways of doing this however I feel the best way of doing this is through a questionnaire. Therefore, I put together a survey which asked questions which could help me determine if my choice of medieval fantasy was the right one. Below are all the questions that I asked along with some analysis of the feedback received.


What is your favourite film?

On average, peoples favourite films fell under the action genre, such as 'Purge Anarchy' and 'Fury'. There were a few people who preferred films that were far from reality and could have been classed as a fantasy film. Most of the other films mentioned do not move away from reality too much like fantasy films do. Some examples of this would Forrest Gump and Billy Elliot. 

What is your preferred film genre?

In this question, the participant could choose from a selection of the most common film genres such as action, adventure, horror, comedy and so on. All but one of the participants said that they enjoyed the action genre. More importantly half of the participants said that they enjoyed fantasy films. The fact that most like the action aspect of films means I could interoperate this into my piece by adding a small action sequence such as a chase or a fight scene. 

How often do do you watch fantasy films and do you like fantasy films?

My research shows that the majority do watch fantasy films however and do enjoy the genre. However the people who didn't really watch much of the genre and didn't enjoy it had a similar taste in other films. For example, two of the participants who said that they didn't enjoy the genre were both into horror films. This could show they prefer things that could be related to real life rather than that of imagination. 

If yes, What is your favourite fantasy film and why?

By an outstanding amount, the majority of the participants favourite film was the Hobbit. This helps greatly in cementing my idea to make a medieval fantasy film as it seems this the most appreciated fantasy sub-genre. There were a few other sub-genres that stood out such as Sci-Fi fantasy such as Avatar. 

Overall, this survey has helped greatly as has cemented the idea of a fantasy film, specifically a medieval fantasy film. Although not enjoyed by some the majority do enjoy a film which takes them away from reality and into a completely different world and this is what I plan to do with my piece. 

If you'd like, you can help me further my research by completing this poll to the right about your favourite genre