Flick Film

As practice into varied forms of presentation for our films production, we decided to compile a brief animation, using sticky notes, after watching the below video gaining inspiration:







Using only post it notes, he cleverly produced a short but extremely effective and awe-inspiring animation film. We liked the idea of using sticky notes, and used a brief storyboard- like theme to create a very small animation. It is sometimes blurry, and not as effective as we hoped, but it enabled us to develop upon the idea of animation, and gave us ideas of possible incorporation into our film. 







Overall, I would have definitely made it longer, much smoother, and added a soundtrack. We produced it in lesson, and I am glad we had a chance to explore the possibility of animation.

The Effects Of Lighting



After extensive research on the effect of lighting and filters on certain sets and films, I found that it was highly influential and gave many clues as to the genre of the film, what was happening, how safe a setting was, and even characters definition.

I researched into the different types of lighting and filter colours that are generally used during filming, and found very different and specific styles that each hold connotations of evil, or love, or warmth, and the audience automatically interpret them in certain ways. I looked at the main structure of lighting used on many film sets, called Three Point Lighting. These three main heavy lights include a back light, a key light and a fill light.

The back light usually stands behind the object of focus, or person, and is mainly used to provide seperation from the background, say a wall. The key light, positioned to the left of the diagram, or the right hand side of the object/person, provides a natural base light, used to make the image clear and focused on camera. It is the primary and most important light source. The fill light acts as a 'leveller', providing some 'fill' as hinted in the name, and a shadow for your object of focus. This balances the contrast created by the strong back light and key lights, and gives the finishing product a natural and balanced, clear look.



Each of these pieces of lighting has a seperate purpose, and works together to significantly give depth and high quality on camera. But one light may be altered slightly, be it using a filter, brightner, or other effect, to change hopw the overall image is shot, and create a specific intended effect. I looked into these different alterations further add substance and depth to a particular shot, and give meaning.

Back Lit Subjects

Bear Backlit. Serene Image

This involves the other two lights barely bright, whilst the back light is directly behind the subject of focus. By brightening it substantially, it can create a variety of effects.

Black and White Backlit. Rural,

again serene image.

 I tried, with a group of others, to replicate this use of lighting. I think the effect worked quite well, as it gives a soft, somewhat heavenly touch to the subject, as it is so bright, almost creating an aura around the subject of focus.



Romantic image.



It also creates quite a romantic image, shown in the holding hand photo, as the lighting surrounds the hands, and could be quite significant and symbolic if filming about love or romance.

High Key Lighting.



Old fashioned films
 mainly
 used this style of lighting 



This form of lighting is generally used in filming, when it is outdoors or brightly lit on a clear day. Light sources come from all directions to create this effect, and it often gives a happy, bright effect. It would generally be used in films of a comical, or romantic nature, and rarely in horror films, when light tends to be much darker, and sinister. It gives clarity, and presents to the audience a very clear image of the subject in focus.



Prime example of high key lighting
within a studio.



Low Key Lighting

This form of lighting is generally used in films of the horror, or mystery genre, or in hybrid films that incorporate aspects of sci fi and action. Less of the area of filming is lit up, and this in turn purposefully creates shadows and partially lit subjects. This can create a sinister, eerie effect of the subject of focus, and perhaps represent a character in a particular way. I explored this technique with my group, and researched into its general use.



Partially lit, Low key subject



The creation of shadows,
experimental

Examples of this form of lighting proved difficult to accomplish within our classroom setting. Eventually however, we discovered its use can create a severe effect, and put specific ideas about the subject of focu into the audience members' mind. If a character is only partially lit in the shadows, or from underneath, like the two images shown above, then they are portrayed as potentially dangerous, and most definitely evil or suspicious characters, due to their particular expressions, and lack of revelation of facial details. When producing our own short



Low Key Lighting Example

Colour Filters



We experimented with using various colour filters over our primary sources of light in order to understand the various effects they produce. Our favourite effect was through using the red filter. PLacing over the front of the light, it produces images that gave impressions of romanticism and love. The closer the filter to the head of the lamp, the stronger the colour was produced. We feel that it will be effective using it within our film, as the blue filter gave a grim and dank impression, effective for making the woodland scene seem grim and disturbing, the perfect setting for our horror genre.




Not only can the red filter create a romantic effect, but also one of fear. It could be a prominent signifier for blood and horror, something we also may consider incorporating into our films structure of camera shots and lighting effects.



Creation of shadows,
 using a colour filter.

















Film Poster Analysis- Horror Genre

 I created a piece of work containing many modern horror genre film posters, and analyzed how each effectively create the impression of belonging to the horror genre. Each uses dark, muted colors and sinister imagery and motifs to successfully foreshadow fear and danger within the narrative.

Mise en scene Research

As part of my research into the production of my very own five minute short film, I was first to understand how everything in front of the camera in each scene is essential in its overall genre adaptability, understanding, and effect upon the audience.
One definition of this exactly, everything in front of the camera, states:


Mise-en-scène is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means "visual theme" or "telling a story" —both in visually artful ways through storyboarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_sc%C3%A8ne)

It basically refers to everything placed in front of the camera, how it is arranged, and what purpose it has there (which the individual audience member is left to interpret). It includes several aspects of a scene, such as costume, props, lighting, composition, actors and set. I will research further into detail each of these aspects, in order to fully understand what I will need to incorporate in my final short film.

Set design 

An important element of "putting in the scene" is set design—the setting of a scene and the objects (props) therein. Set design can be used to amplify character emotion or the dominant mood of a film, or to establish aspects of the character.

Lighting 

The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an image is perceived. Light (and shade) can emphasise texture, shape, distance, mood, time of day or night, season, glamour; it affects the way colors are rendered, both in terms of hue and depth, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition.

Space 

The representation of space affects the reading of a film. Depth, proximity, size and proportions of the places and objects in a film can be manipulated through camera placement and lenses, lighting, set design, effectively determining mood or relationships between elements in the

story world.

Costume 

Costume simply refers to the clothes that characters wear. Using certain colors or designs, costumes in narrative cinema are used to signify characters or to make clear distinctions between characters.

Acting 

There is enormous historical and cultural variation in performance styles in the cinema. Early melodramatic styles, clearly indebted to the 19th century theater, gave way in Western cinema to a relatively naturalistic style.

Viral Marketing Research

To further develop my researching process into the production of my five minute film, we studied the use of viral marketing in coercion with the success of popular mystery films. Famous titles, addressed above in the presentation such as "The Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield" all became famous from the production and incorporation of viral marketing.
It can be defined as follows:

"Viral marketing and viral advertising, (buzzwords), refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes"

This means that, through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or even interactive film websites set up and heavily detailled, producers and marketers are able to reach massive audiences whilst still in the early stages of film production. Mysterys are developed and created, little revelation of details about the film itsself are given, and slowly but surely, fan sites and members build as the clues are tried to be pieced together, to attempt to make some sort of sense out of the enigma. It is a highly successful, yet cheap method of marketing, and many examples of this have been seen ever since the birth of the internet.

The earliest account was, "The Blair Witch Project", created in 1999 by Robin Cowie and
Gregg Hale. Previously mentioned as one of the leading successors in cheap production huge profit, it heavily exploited the capabilities of the internets mass audience, and the possibilities of incorporating many different aspects of multimedia into the marketing of the film. Because it could be created so cheaply, and due to the ease and extreme success of the viral marketing campaign, the creators made a very large profit.

Another aspect of its extreme success was its incorporation of "Hyper-realism". They created a background to their horrific tale, even adding a section for mythology that details the events leading up to the students doomed journey. They even went as far, in terms of making it as believable as possible, to produce a section focused on "The Aftermath", explaining and documenting the evidence that show the students were in fact killed during that horrific night. 
Photographs of their ruined bags and clothes are shown, marked as "Evidence", and films from those individuals who supposedly found the evidence, under a 100 year old bunker cabin, explaining that there was no possible way it could have got there.

Another film that has been possibly the most successful viral marketing campaign of all time was that of the "The Dark Knight", the most recent batman film. It began months before its premiere, and we as the mass internet audience, were introduced into the world of The Joker, as he created a list on website " http://www.whysoserious.com/ " of to do things that would wreak havoc around the globe. The response was enormous.


The video below outlines the extent of the influence and effect over the people of the world, solely from this viral marketing campaign.

The impact this particular viral campaign had was so substantial, an almost alternate life was created, in which people were able to feel part, or a 'citizen', of a fictional Gotham City. 

Audience and Reviews

To carry out this particular section of research, I must focus on the audience, the most important factor in the decision and outlining of my overall short films plot. The audience, as a collective and each individual, is integral to its success, and we as directors must adhere to their preferences in order to allow the short film to be a success. For example, if I chose to create a short film of the romance genre, but no one I had asked who may be watching the short film had chosen that as a particular preference, they would lose interest quickly, and it would not turn out a success.

To begin my research on what audiences want and expect out of short films, I composed a questionnaire. I felt this form of inquiry was most personal, and would enable me to receive all the essential answers to any queries I may have regarding the production and success of short films, both existing and yet to be made. The majority of people I handed my questionnaire to were in the age cache of 18-36, and I felt this was most important, as my film will be watched by people in this age group, therefore their opinions and ideas are most valued. I have provided a screen shot of what my questionnaire looked like. The questions included:

Screen shot of my
Audience Research Survey

• What kinds of films do you enjoy?
• Do short films interest you? If so, how?
• What is your favorite genre of film?
• What is your favorite short film?
• Where would you watch a short film?
• What makes a good short film? What interests you most?
• How do you think a short film could be best publicized? Through viral marketing? Film festivals?
• What key features would you like to see in a new short film? (E.g. Unusual characters, different settings, aspects of the paranormal, etc.)

I was very pleased with my questionnaire questions, as I felt they cover all aspects of areas I felt unsure of how to develop concerning the audiences preferences. From the results, I was able to piece together several certainties concerning the production and development of my short film ,in order to make it a success. After receiving the results and piecing them together, I felt it was most effective to produce an Xtranormal presentation outlining them in an interesting, unusual way. I have embedded this below: 





I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with the capabilities of the Xtranormal medium of presentation software, and felt the final product was interesting and effective in presenting my results in a different way. 
Now that my results have been accumulated and formed a picture of how my very own short film should be developed and publicized, I will summarize them in a list of bullet points, to outline a clear structure of audience opinion:

• As horror was the most popular genre among individuals of this age cache, I will develop my short film plot surrounding the conventions and codes of a horror genre piece. As comedy was a close follower, I will incorporate aspects of humour into plot and dialogue, thus making it a hybrid genre film. This will add unusual and interesting aspects to a seemingly guessable storyline
• 9 people, the majority, said that they did enjoy short films, though 7 people said they did not. Due to this mixture of beliefs, I will work hard to make my short film as entertaining and interesting as possible, in order for it to be a success. It was concluded that many did not enjoy them due to a lack of depth, therefore I will add as much detail to my film within the time period of five minutes allocated to make it as concise and thoroughly exact as capable.
• Unusual plot lines and unexpected twists were aspects highlighted as being most effective. The storyline I will develop will be complicated yet easy to follow, and incorporate an unexpected turn of events in order to maintain interest and add alternate perspectives. 
• "Im Here" by Spike Jonze was the main short film people had heard of, and was mentioned frequently, over 12 times. This could be a point of interest, and I have focused upon its composition frequently throughout my coursework; it could be a focal point for aspects of intrigue the audience look for.
• Short films are most frequently watched when recommended by others.  By heavily publicizing my finished product through mediums such as You tube, its success could be broadened by word of mouth, or by social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. As you tube was found as the most popular medium for watching short films, I will heavily focus upon it as a starting point for getting my short film noticed and watched.
• Film festivals were highlighted as an easy and popular way for short films to be brought to light. I will research their effectiveness in the success of films. However, it was viral marketing that was recognised as the most effective form of publication. After extensive research on the capabilities and past successes of viral marketing, I feel comfortable with the prospect of perhaps developing this idea and making my short film well recognised via this form of media recognition. Perhaps by establishing a website? Creating an enigma about the short film before its release?
• Time as an element of intrigue within a short film story line was brought up frequently, a total of 8 times throughout the questionnaire. I will most definitely incorporate this aspect, and make time elements of change, expansion or reversal clear through typical conventions such as camera angles and lighting associated with the change of time. 

It is now clear what specific elements must be incorporated into my short film, in order for it to become successful, and appeal to the audiences. 

An interesting point of focus concerning pre existing film successes could be the process of which reviews of particular films take place. Reviews can have a substantial level of influence over whether someone decides to watch a film or not, and there are several highly popular websites that retain this influence. I will now look in depth at these websites, in order to gain perspective on how the review process works, and what attracts or deters an audience individual from a certain film, solely due to reviewers opinion.

Rotten Tomatoes

This particular review website enables the individual to decide whether a film is "fresh" or "rotten", with many written critiques 
available to read, and agree or disagree with. It instantly recognises you from your facebook page should you have an account, to "personalize the experience", an aspect I was taken aback by due to its seemingly invasive nature. 

If you choose a particular film to 'review', it gives details of box office money success, its length, director, and how many ratings it has had. It goes with the majority, in this case fresh. I feel its influence over what people feel about a particular film is great, as its biased synopsis of a film and wording of opinion by the individual critiquer is set in a way to sway the online individual towards a certain standing, good or bad. Personally, I don't feel the review process it uses is professional, though admit it did sway my opinion slightly concerning films I haven't even seen yet. Should I go to see the films I read reviews on, I feel it may have a minor impact over my overall opinion of them , though should I entirely enjoy the film, it would probably make no difference whether the review I read was bad or good. It is because of its highly persuasive nature, mainly due to linguistic factors, that this particular review website could be essential in the success of a new short film. Should the overall review regard it as "fresh", it could sway many individuals towards watching it. 

Short Film Directors- Why Make A Short Film?

Joe Nussbaum

There have been many tales of success concerning the production of a short film, just a small idea that has developed, at a low cost, into a widespread hit and a massive phenomena. I researched the reasoning behind why directors decide to produce short films, and found that overall, it was all on a basis of funding. Directors such as Joe Nussbaum, ("George Lucas in Love"), Alex Merkin, ("Across the Hall"), and, a point of my own subject focus, Spike Jonze ("I'm Here")  all struggled with the idea of profit. Jonze struck lucky and found sponsorship in the form of vodka company Smirnoff, an internationally recognised and reputable company that allowed his initial idea to stem and develop, resulting in a highly successful slightly lengthy half an hour short film.                

There could be many reasons why an individual decides to produce a short film. They are ideal for a simple, or short plot line and narrative, 



Award Winning Spike Jonze



free from the constraints of extensive budgets necessary to create multi-million pound box office hits with never-before-seen special effects, and effective in their very own quirky, individual sense. Once the film has been created, the last finishing touches added, and the credits produced, all that is left to do to get your product out into the market is get it played at one of the many film festivals that are gaining increasing popularity. If the audience like your film, then you could be in for recieving a massive amount of profit from such a small project.



Alex Merkin (Left)



The success of many directors of short films is evident. It all stems from the simple fact that their usually humble origins are of the everyday working class, and their ability to create from their own imaginative minds a realistic and interesting, whilst extremely entertaining short film. The audience can relate to them, and thus from this laugh along, share the comical antics of the person onscreen ( who is just another average joe, more often than not) and thoroughly enjoy the film in its simplest form; free from the facade of block buster special effects and false faced actors.

I researched the reasoning behind creating short films, and found an interesting article, that highlights the rising success of the short film industry, on http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/short-films--brief-encounters-of-the-increasingly-popular-kind-2094256.html . The journalists views outlines its basic success to date, and incorporates many of the reasoning behind creating such a film similar to what I have found.

In summation, I now know enough of the pro's as to why someone would decide to make a short film, to understand the process behind my very own future feature length. Its success and likeability however, will all depend on my most important factor in its production; the individual audience member in society.