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Sunday, 6 March 2016

Film Poster Analysis 1 - Back to the Future

Back to the future is one of the most iconic and popular time travel films of all time, it is an ideal film to take inspiration from in terms of advertisement. The film was produced in the 80s so the poster lacks elements which would be included in a modern poster, such as a link to a website or hashtags which are now a crucial part of the advertisement campaigns for films.

In terms of content the poster does not include much information. The only members of the production team that are mentioned are the director and producer, the cast themselves aren't mentioned this could be because they are not well known and their names wouldn't do much to advertise the film. However Steven Spielberg is mentioned for he is a notorious director who's name would do much for the film's credibility. I find it quite odd that there is no mention to the production companies or even the distributor, this leaves the poster looking quite bare relying upon the elements of the narrative to advertise it.

The typography used in this poster is very unique and links into the Sc-fi genre and the narrative of the film and over time has become iconic and symbolic for time travel and has been parodied numerous times. The typography has a very exciting look to it, the colours have a very flamboyant and fiery look them, they use this to match the very iconic effect of the fire trail behind the even more iconic DeLorean. The text style is quite simplistic and square shaped, however the way it's angled gives it a very unique look, it expands at the start and narrows inwards to give it a more dynamic look, it's also bent and distorted to give it a time travel effect which is of course the distortion and transformation of time. The arrow is especially significant as it is used to hint the narrative which is of course going back in time and the arrow is pointing backwards to signifying this. In comparison the cast text is far less interesting, although it's angled adjacently to the main title.

The Delorean at the bottom it by far the most iconic feature of the franchise and the Sc-fi genre. It has been highly exaggerated in terms of lighting and clarity to make it more visually spectacular and to give it a more dynamic and scientific look in order for it to fit into the general conventions of a Sc-fi film, although due to this films immense popularity and originality it is likely that it set some of the conventions used. The effects used on the Delorean all correspond of what you would expect to see in a Sc-fi product, the front of the car is entering what appears to be a portal of some sort that is emitting electricity in a very spontaneous and dramatic way. The car itself has many scientific elements such as wiring and piping, and two large thrusters, this clearly indicates to the audience that this is not an average car. The fire trail is another key icon of the franchise and is certainly one of the most memorable elements of the film, it is used with the Delorean to hint to the narrative of the film and make the poster more visually compelling.

In the top right corner you can see the two main protagonists for the film, they are both acting out scenes which define their characters in the film. The figure on the left Marty Mcfly, is looking quite bewildered and shocked whilst wearing his stylish iconic apparel that the fans will come to recognize. Doc Brown is seen in his stereotypical look, holding a piece of advanced technology that contrasts highly with his shocked and confused facial expression really summing up his personality in the film.





Sunday, 28 February 2016

Target Audience - Questionnaire

We have completed the first draft of our film and now it's time to test it with our target audience and get some feedback. For this I've created a questionnaire similar to the one I used earlier in the build up to our film, It includes more questions relating to our film.

1. Did you enjoy our short film?

2.What was your favorite part of the film?

3.Did you understand the story line?

4.Did you find the special effects compelling?

5.Were there any aspects of the film you disliked?

6.How do you feel about our characters?

7.Did you find the killing scenes realistic and shocking?

8.Did you find the variation of camera shots exciting?

9.What did you think of our soundtracks?

10.What additional information would you want in regards to the narrative?

11.Would you recommend this film?

12.Does it fit in with all the codes and conventions of the sc-fi genre?

13.What improvements if any would you make to this film?  

Friday, 26 February 2016

Tempore Exitus - First draft

This is the first fully pieced together draft of our short film. Now the next stage is to present it to our target audience and have them voice their opinion.
Right now there are quite a few improvements and tweaks to be made to the film before we re-draft it.

-There are some imbalances in the sound levels.
-There are some differences in lighting levels in some scenes.
-The narrative needs some clarity, we need to add some additional footage to make more sense.
-We need more sound effects to work with the special effects.
-There are still a few shots where you can see the actors smiling, these need refining.
-Some audio clips have the wind in the background, these need balancing.
-Some jump cuts we've used tend to be sketchy and need refining.
-We need to establish our characters better.
-There is an issue with a change in hair colour for our main actress.
-The "time travel" high pitched sound is too loud and needs lowering.


Thursday, 11 February 2016

Character name change

Due to some poor coordination by us when telling our cast what to do when filming, we've been forced to change the name of our characters.
"Sarah" will now be known as "Katie".
"Beth" will now be known as "Charlotte".
It's not a major change and won't affect the narrative of our film nor the continuity.

New Actress - Charlotte Fensom













After Ella proved unreliable we had to make an immediate switch to another actress, Charlotte Fensom. Charlotte is a fellow media student so was more than willing to help us in our time of need. She's reliable, local, talented and fits the character specifications that I previously mentioned.

Filming Update - Issues

There have been a number of issues arising during the filming process and it would be easier to list them all and our solutions then make individual posts on each.

-Cast issues: both our actresses seem to be unreliable we needed to completely overhaul the entire cast list, Ella has now been replaced with Charlotte Fensom.

-Character name issue: During filming our actors accidentally referred to our characters by the wrong name, this isn't a major issue we can simply change the names on the script etc.

-Actress hair change: Our lead actress Katie inconveniently changed her hair colour between filming sessions. Our solution was to add a scene to the script that justifies this change in hair colour.

-Filming session issues: Our plan to film together during free sessions at school has been unsuccessful, me and my colleague have been struggling to find a mutual time slot to film in. We have assigned each other specific scenes to film and we are working in separate sessions.

-Lighting problems: As we have been filming the same scenes in different filming times the levels of day light appear different. The solution is for us to apply a cinematic filter to our work to balance the lighting levels.

Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Cast Overhaul

Bridie is unfortunately unavailable. We have had to replace her with a different actress. Katie Wright is an exceptional choice who also has a decent acting history, she has starred in numerous school performances and conveniently lives in the local area. She will be playing Sarah.