Changes made throughout producing the magazine review.

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.

The process of editing photographs for the Poster.

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 show some of the ways we altered our images.

Plan Update.

 

Ancillary Tasks Completed- Final Posters

1st Poster



2nd Poster



Main Poster



Magazine Review

Here is the finished Magazine Review:

Poster Analysis

2nd Poster:

3rd Poster:

Folk Soundtrack

Folk Soundtrack

Due to our film being a Mockumentary horror, we have decided not to use a soundtrack throughout our film. We decided this due to the fact that when researching and watching other films of the same genre, hardly any used a soundtrack as it ruined the realistic feel. Therefore we made the decision also not to have a soundtrack throughout to stick with the conventions.

However after stumbling across a folk song relating to the history of the cinema and our storyline we felt that we had to do something with the song. Michelle composed her own melody on the guitar to the lyrics and produced our own unique soundtrack. We decided not to use this soundtrack throughout our film but at the very end, playing across the credits. This 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 the very first draft of Michelle's song:

Here is the final song recorded at KETV studios:

As this is supposed to be a traditional Folk song, Michelle used the chords  A,C,G,D the chords used are very common to many traditional Folk songs. She also sang and played the song in a way that conveyed 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 of a rough sea, sail boat and a seagull. These sounds subliminally suggest an eerie sea mood to the listener.
We also added Reverb and Delay to the vocals and the sound effects to make the song sound haunting and maintain the mood of mysterious ghost smugglers until the very end of the film.

Magazine Review Distribution

Magazine Review Distribution

Michelle and I researched into magazines that typically review  'Independent films' We wanted to find a magazine that had not only a main stream audience but also a more underground audience. After looking into various Film Magazines such as 'Empire Film Magazine' 'FILM Magazine' we found that 'MovieScope' Magazine would be very effective to review our film as it uses both mainstream Hollywood and 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 using 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 has in general 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 it online.

 

Magazine Review plan

Before producing our magazine review we sketched up a mock version of how we wanted it to look on a piece of paper. This helped us when creating the review as it was much easier already knowing the layout of our page. Below is an image of this sketch.

Sketch:

Film Magazine Research

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.

Distribution Of Our Film.

Distribution company

After researching into different types of distribution, I feel that for our edgy, unique film, ‘Art House’ distributors would be the best company to release and get our film known. They claim to distribute quirky, small budgeted films like ours, at festivals, theatres and on DVD. I think that this sounds very good 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 ours 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 movies.

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 also found to be very intriguing 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 also gives our audience a social network to discuss #UNANSWERED. 
     Michelle and I were influenced 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. I was a victim of this dangerously clever advertising campaign, I found myself noticing the quick advert and researching the hash tag to find out more. It then occurred to me that not only does it entice their target audience but also brings in a wider audience, as I 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.

However this also made Michelle and I feel slightly scared and shocked at how a simple advert controlled us and made us research a company we never would have looked into. This made us realise that Foucault’s theories do in fact hold truth. I decided to research into the rules of subliminal advertising and see where the boundaries lie so we would know if we ever produced a similar marketing scheme...

I found that subliminal advertising is banned in Australia and Britain but I think that 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 first, we would broadcast on twitter, that if people added UNANSWERED on ‘Snapchat’, at midnight a week before the release, a special code would be shown that allows just those people to see the film first at their local, independent cinemas before wide release. This unique one week only experience could be further enhanced by merchandise sold at the events and decorated in a scary way. This would make our audience feel special and a part of something unique. It would also be exciting for the audience as Snapchat is a social network where you can release images very quickly, so they would have the excitement of trying to get the code or print screen it before the picture disappears. 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

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

Continuity

Whilst filming in the cinema I brought along my SLR camera. This was so that I could capture some great images for our poster but also keep track on continuity. 

Throughout our AS project we realised how important continuity is because you never know if you will need to re-do any shots and the actors costumes, the location all needs to be the same to ensure quality.

This helped us when filming our A2 short film because we already knew before shooting that we needed to take photographs before each take of the actors to ensure quality if we had to redo the shot. This means that their costume would be the same whether that meant their jacket was on or off, even their facial hair needed to be the same length for one of our actors case. We had to tell him to not shave his beard off even after finishing shooting, that he grew especially for the part, incase we weren't happy with the footage he was in, otherwise that could have jeopardised the quality and realism of our film. Fortunately, the shots were all successful. 

Below are some of the continuity shots we took of each actor/actress before their scene:

 Michelle- Student Filmmaker 

 Real Mr Arnold

Local who was interviewed - Becky Gliddon

 News reporter - Carol Johnson

Local who was interviewed- Laura Johnson

Fake Mr Arnold - Unknown?

Potential Posters.

Michelle and I have done a lot of research into what makes an effective film poster for a thriller/ Mockumentary styled film. We have learnt that simplicity and mystery is best and never to reveal too much. We have taken all of our research on board and created a few potential posters. They still need a lot of work but we are happy with the look.

We plan to release a few posters leading up to the release of the film. The first one will be very mysterious and hardly reveal anything but the release date and a small caption to intrigue the audience. We were thinking something like this:

It is very simple and the sepia 'Exit sign' could be interpreted in many different ways. You wouldn't automatically think 'cinema' it could be any building but what it does signify is danger. We want to strip everything down and just convey one simple message to our target audience, 'this film involves the sense of danger.' After all, that is was intrigues people to watch a thriller/Mockumentary film, the idea that real characters are in real danger. The caption at the bottom actually reveals our film title, 'UNANSWERED' but the viewer doesn't know it yet but it is putting that word into their head from the very start. The only slight hint we have revealed about the location is the curtains in the picture that are being revealed from the glow of the sign. Those curtains will get our audience thinking, where could it be? Leading them onto our next poster...



This poster is again very simple but this time it is revealing a little bit more. The exit sign is still lingering looking very threatening but now the shadow of a young girl is shown. There is a slight light coming from her hand area which could hint that she is holding a film camera but the caption, 'I'm ready to show my footage' confirms that idea. The caption will give the idea that the girl has needed time to decide whether or not to release her footage and is now confessing that she's ready. This automatically will make our audience curious and want to know more. We want the poster to seem very realistic, after all it is supposed to be the characters own footage and film, therefore she would not have a large amount of money to produce posters. That is why we have chosen to use the black and white grainy effect convey the hand held cam style of the film.

We want our last poster to reveal the most about the film. On this poster we have revealed the name of the film, date and a small caption telling our audience a little about the story. We have decided to use a Typewriter font to convey a 'news' style, adding realism. We have used 'The Blair Witch Project' poster as our inspiration and wanted a similar intriguing caption to what they had, using a very factual style of writing. We are still working on all of these posters and I believe that we can improve them further. These are just rough copies and I really want to think about our typeface a bit more and make sure it is conveying the right mood, I also want to work on consistency and make sure each poster look like they could link together. Michelle and I will continue to update our blog with new poster ideas and hopefully we can start releasing some over the Internet very soon.

Further poster research.

I wanted to look at a film poster that involves the paranormal as that aspect is similar to ours. So I decided to annotate the film poster for 'Paranormal Activity' it has offered me lots of great ideas and made me realise some great techniques to get people interested and engagedd in the film.

 

 

Evaluation of filming.

On the 13th September Michelle and I had a phone call with the cinema owner and he informed us that if we wanted the cinema to ourselves we should arrive and begin filming from 9:30am to 12:00pm before their screening. These times applied for the Saturday and Sunday. Obviously that wasn't a very long time but it meant we had to be even more prepared and efficient during filming. This was one of the obstacles we excepted as we were filming in a public place. Below are some of the key things that went really well but also things that could have been improved on.

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.

Overall, I feel that the two days at the cinema went extremely well. It was such an amazing experience to film in such a historic place. Michelle and I felt like we were real film producers with a large budget as we couldn't believe how lucky we were to have access to such a photogenic place. We are now currently organising our footage and getting ready to start editing. I'm sure that we will wish some of our shots could be slightly different but realistically it was very difficult to get everything perfect in the small time frame we had in the cinema. I'm sure that most of our shots will be successful, however we may run into a few issues with background sound/ lighting etc. From here, we will begin to slowly pieces our film together from our steady cam and hand held footage and create a very unique thriller/Mockumentary.

Plan update.

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	Research starting soon
14th-15th September	Complete filming	YES
16th-October	Complete editing	IN PROGRESS
November-onwards	Distribute film and evaluation

 

As you can see, we have just finished our filming! We are extremely happy and the filming went very well. My next blog post will be a brief evaluation of how the filming went. During filming I took many photographs to use for the newspaper article and poster. We are now currently editing those photos and making lots of different film posters that we could potentially use. We are making very good progress.