video blog.

This is the video blog we created, logging our progress and intentions for our final product. We felt this excercise useful as it gave us a sense of our position and we were able to recognise what was necessary to move forward in our research and poduction. Perhaps if we were to repeat this exercise throughout the making of the film, we could create a better idea of our research developing, and gain a better idea of our production methods.

The sometimes poor sound quality and shakey shots may cause viewers to question the overall quality of our piece. However, these moments are in fact typical conventions of a documentary, therefore they are appropriate and effective. Our filming style reinforces the sense of spontaneous movement, complying with the 'fly on the wall' genre we researched.

Ancillary Tasks

what have you learnt from your audience feedback?

What have you learned from your audience feedback? on Prezi

How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

Our main product and our Ancillary tasks work well together we have had feedback on all aspects from our class, teachers and also other friends. Our main film has worked better than we could have imagined as we were told the humour would be very hard to achieve using the conventions of a documentary. In all the viewings we have sat in on we have received laughs and positive comments. Linking the film with our collection of poster was easy as we used a simple background drawing the audience’s attention to our main character Simon. Using him in multiple funny poses with the vital prop of his oven gloves enabled us to maintain the mise en scene with our film as you are not laughing at his phobia or his problems instead at his beaming smiles or even the ‘serious quotes’ from celebrities. These are all used in a serious way but allow humour as if you take a step back and think of how ridiculous the phobia is then the more serious we make it the funnier it seems. Completing the package is our magazine review again having a piece of serious writing about our piece allows the humour to continue as although the review gives a good detailed analysis of our film it also by talking about it as a serious film again continues our feel of a serious theme about a very humorous topic. The research we did into reviews helped us to realise that pictures were key and our choice of our two pictures were very important. The one we use showing the group of people with social difficulties is subtle but also links into the film by showing one of the funniest parts without giving the reason behind it away therefore enticing a magazine reader to want to watch our film.
All in all I believe our combination of ancillary tasks and our main film work terrifically and the idea that the film is a mockumentary can be felt throughout all of them. The humour in all three of them is not forced and all the conventions and themes needed for them are there though underlying all of this stays our ridiculous phobia which when made to be serious people have found hilarious.

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation media

View more presentations from charliemcrix.

teaser posters.

These are the 3 teaser posters we have designed. The use of a blank background reflects simons' solitary nature, and the high angled shots connote a vulnerability within his character; similar to the Borat poster we analysed in our research. Feedback throughout has been very positive; we felt it was important to inform the viewer yet also leave a lot to the imagination. Very few of the other students in our group were aware as to the true meaning of 'chirophobia' - therefore a touch of ambiguity is added to the themes of this poster. The appearance of a small review from 'the news of the world' heightens the seriousness of our product and fits the conventions of a typical teaser poster, attempting to draw in viewers with positive and respectable reviews. the use of a facebook site creates a vague target audience and allowers the viewer to research the film further if they wish to. Overall i think that the cartoon style of our teaser posters are very effective fitting with the upbeat nature of our product.

hands on production.

This is the new sting that we designed for our latest production.the use of bold black and white create an ambiguity to the particualr nature or style of our production team. It is only when combined our actual film 'chirophobia', the humorous coinsidence is realised. The use of an oxymoron between our production company and our product creates an irony for comic intent. The feedback we haved recieved has been mostly positive, regarding the comedic intent of our production name. Another fellow student commented on how the detail of the hand, contrasted to the unspecific ovengloves we present in our film - perhaps as a group we should have considered maintaining the ovenglove theme within our sting, creating an obvious link between the company and the actual product. I feel this would not lose the humour within this sting, as it remains within the name 'hands-on productions'. This sting was produced on 'adobe aftereffects'; to begin with it was a difficult program to understand, however after viewing multiple tutorials, it became easier to understand and use. Other students suggested 'photoshop' and 'paint' however, we felt it necessary to include a wider variety of media types, having used both these programs for pre-porduction needs. overall, i believe this sting appropriately fits with the general themes of our product, it achieves humour whilst still maintaining a serious and professional image.

review.

This is our review plan. It is a variation of a 'total film' review of 'your highness'. The photo's are appropriate as they introduce the 2 main actors 'danny mcbride' and 'james franco'. they also give a sense of the medievil mise en scene of the film. the text is in an appropriate position, easy for the viewer to read. The small captions add humour to the review, fitting with the theme our final piece. The fact that the title goes into smaller size font enforces the unnecessary length of it, again adding to the humour of the review.

animatic

This is the animatic for our short film we have used a voice over on the animatic to explain and describe what occurs within each slide and how we hope toe to produce them.when putting the animatic together in adobe premier pro we haven't kept the transitions of the slide the same they are different in each transition this was a learning curve as it doesn't look as professional if we stuck to one type of transition, however it did give us the chance to experiment.

scripting.

Within our film we hope to depict real life, and real people. We were worried that if the dialogue was heavily scripted the sense of the characters being natural would be lost. Originally we intended on completely improvising the entire film. however, after one morning of filming we came to realise that this method was unproductive and not time effective.

Here are several examples of the loose scripts I have written. The questions are clear and structured, as would be expected from the presenter. for the character answering the questions, i have merely devised potential answers for them to use. This way, the joke or point is not lost, but it is also not said in a unnatural or structured manner. I feel this method gives me and the other actors a chance to develop our characterisations, including personal idiosyncrasies, aware that the scene is natural and most importantly productive as long as the organised point is made.

Within these scripts, I have also provided a rough outline as to how these scenes would look. I felt this was effective as it allowed the character to visualise the scene. Once they became accustomed to the mise en scene, they are able to acknowledge the characteristics necessary to create a convincing portrayal.

prop production.

Simons Prodder.

As a result of simons chirophobia, there are several simple tasks which he would struggle to cope with. One of which, we dicided would be typing. This is the prodder device i have created in order to allow simon to type! The simple and easy to use elastic head band fits comfortably around simons head without causing discomfort. The 10" prodding stick is easy to use nad it's thin design allows it to go almost unnoticed on Simons fore-head.

princess productions.

Princess Pictures is a film and television production company that has forged a reputation for producing projects with some of the most innovative talent in the country.

Princess looks toward new ideas, stories that haven’t been told or ways of telling stories that make audiences look at the world in a different manner. The company has already gained a powerful reputation in this area, having acted as a link between the vision of intensely creative talent and the practicality of distributors and networks.

Princess was started in 2003 by Laura Waters, an experienced producer with credits not only in current affairs and documentary television, but also entertainment and narrative comedy. Born in the United States, Waters trained and worked in Boston, London, Washington, DC and Los Angeles before settling in Australia. This unique history infuses Princess Pictures with a broad view of where ideas can fit within the creative and international spectrum.

Princess Pictures’ has a ‘quality vs. quantity’ philosophy toward ideas, developing fewer projects with more time, resources and energy. We are convinced that a well-developed idea supported by a bottomless pit of commitment will always find a home.

Because Princess loves these projects and the talent behind them, we have developed ways of protecting both the creative ideas and the people who are financing them. Acting as a bridge between these two very different parties but understanding that they both want the same thing – reaching an audience with an exciting new idea – is the driving force behind Princess Pictures.

I believe this company would be suitable for our mockumentary. In the past it has supported such series as 'summer heights high', a mockumentary by Chris lilley. similar to ours, this show combines the ridiculous with the everyday normalities, creating an even greater humour. We support their ideology to promote untold stories, highlighting the originality of our subject.

filming

within many of the mockumentary's I have observed, it is apparent that a lot of filler is necessary. compilations of the characters actions to be used where appropriate, instead of merely showing an entire structured interview. Here are some potential filler scenes we hope to include:

• first driving lesson - establishing shot of car in large space, panning to follow.
• washing up - over the shoulder shot, conveying intensity and difficulty of the task
• brushing his teeth - in the mirror shot, head and shoulders
• playing in goal during a football match - tracking shot of football. or shot from behind the goal.
• playing hockey - establishing shot showing space around him, connoting he's not safe to be around when in possession of a hockey stick.
• playing guitar - medium shot, perhaps not showing his hands, adding to hilarity that he can actually play.
• writing - shortcut shots of numerous pencils breaking
• typing (prodder) - long shots with a zoom, conveying hilarity and lonliness
• making a sandwhich - fixed shots, complimenting dry humour within.
• taking things from the oven - close up on the gloves

These sort of shots will add to the verisimilitude of our film, conveying how these filmakers really are following him everywhere. It is important to consider Simons clothing during these shots, and also lighting may affect the quality of some shots that are necessary to be done outside. It will be important to schedule appropriate times to film and ensure theses shots represent a fly on the wall sort of view - not a well rehearsed and planned scene.

poster research.

This poster perfectly conveys the nature of Borat. He is a naive character, conveyed in his lonely position. The photo is taken from a high angle connoting a vulnerability within the character, slthough this contrast to the enthusiastic and joyus expression upon his face, this merely supports his emmence naivety. The font of the text supports the foriegn and dated theme that resounds within the bland colours he not only wears, but is surrounded by.
Our character is similar to Borat within his naivety and lonliness, therefore this could a potential style for our poster. However within our actual film, we hope convey several different sides and moods to our character, therefroe perhap we could find a style that allows a viewer to notice different traits to this character.


trainspotting is a popular british film, it concentrates on the toils of addiction and a mans struggle to quit heroin.this poster reflects the emmence variety of characters that occur within the film, each with a different pose and facial expresssion to convey their general attitude. For example, 'begbie' uses the effect of a strong gesture to portray his aggressive and short tempered nature. perhaps we could use this device to capture the varying moods and feelings of Simon, a compilation of photos, each connoting a different side to our character.
I also like the use of bold colours, capturing the audiences attention; i think this effect could be obtained with the presence of the oven gloves. This would connote how the gloves are the only source of colour and perhaps happiness within his life, even though they restrict his day to day life.

       
Here are a collection of posters that single out a particular character. The locations and level of zoom differs allowing for altered perceptions of them. It is clear that colour is an important factor when designing these posters, it gives an idea as to the themes that will be included and the general mood of the feature. Several od these characters are straight on to the camera - connoting an awareness and willingness to be involved. Whereas, those characters not looking staraight convey a mysterious attitude, as if the photo taken was from a covert perspective.