Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

There is a huge difference between my preliminary task and final piece. This is mainly due to my progression and understanding of media. The preliminary task was done in a group of four and then I preceded to make a short interview scene, displaying my basic knowledge of reverse shots and angles.

During the period leading up to christmas I planned scrupulously, researching into sound and other aspects of creating a shot list, story board and organising dates to film and hiring equipment. During this time I thought a lot about how the film would look and constantly tried to rationalise what I saw as a vision of the film and what the reality of it would be like. There is always a very big difference to the film you invision in your mind and the film you eventually product and this is something I was told regularly and tried to apply to every aspect of my production.
I believe it's very important in the construction process to keep all of your footage available and always film extra fillers that you mightn't of originally thought of, my final film was very heavily made up of shots that I decided to film on the night because obviously you can never know exactly what the location will look like with all the actors there and the lights properly set up.
Shots such as one of the ambulance, in slowmotion, were only captured as a side-product on the night. Several of the cutaways in the first ballet scene were also filmed sporadically outside the dance studio, so in hindsight I think you should allow your shooting schedule time to fit in an extra hour or so of free filming so that you can record any ideas that come to you from the location and moment.

When planning, I researched stereotypes of teenagers, the kind of alcohol they drink, what they wear and where they hang out. I found all of this through various websites and observations, I went to places like Brixton and Peckham (areas that have higher youth crime rates) to observe common places of interest for teenagers. All the characters needed carefully planned make up and costume to aid the scenario and create the right semiotics. Compared to my preliminary task which was filmed in the day at school, there was a lot more planning gone into the final piece. 

The two films required entirely different amounts of planning and preparation not only because of the stage in my course at which they were made but also their complexity. The prelim had a very basic storyline and only one location, the final piece however had mutiple story-lines and locations. From this, I've learnt that the camerawork and editing can make almost any storyline look good, from a simple conversation to a ballet sequence. 
I've also learnt that when working with amateur actors or even friends you have to keep focus on the camerawork and editing over the acting talent in order to gain the desired effect of a trained actor. By doing this you can make almost anyone seem like a good actor simply by the way the camera portrays them. 

One of the most important things I've learned is that there is a strong reflection between the planning and organisation of your film to the quality of the final product. I learnt this through my piers projects aswell as my own.
Finally, I learnt to be prepared for anything, especially on set. For example, when we were filming the weather conditions were adverse and this meant we had a far more limited time to film in. 

In contrast with our preliminary task, the final task was far more time consuming but resultantly more rewarding and better looking. I have learned a great deal about camerawork, editing and software over the course and have developed my own style of editing which is hopefully reflected in my film. 

Question 5

Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I've used several types of media and software in the planning and creation of my film, aswell as new equipment: it's been a very enriching experience thats brought many forms of media to my attention and how to use them successfully has become an easy practice. The largest challenge was probably Final Cut ProX, which I've been using constantly to create the actual film, ident, storyboards etc. However after exploring Final Cut ProX and learning how to use it properly, I then felt I could then move on to the range of other programmes.

Adobe Software (Illustrator & Photoshop)

• I used these programmes to crop and edit the storyboard and the ident stop-motion pictures
• I had to edit contrasts, crop and blur out mistakes in some pictures which took a basic knowledge in these programs
• I'd never used Adobe software before so the whole concept was new to me

Final Cut ProX

• The program is relatively self-explanatory but has a huge variety of hidden talents and features that can only be found through playing on the program or taking tutorials 
• For example you can shorten the length of selected clips to a certain time by command D, then typing in your desired time
• I had to use this program more than others for extended periods of time to create the various videos required over the course
• The program also takes almost all file types so it's very easy to cut footage together effectively, which is one the things I was worried about

Camera: Panasonic 1080p HD

• The camera itself is simple to use, there are a few basic rules which took a while to remember such as never press the 1080p button as it makes the format incompatible 
• Fortunately because the camera runs on an SD card, no awkward tapes were needed, the card holds far more film, is more compact and allows far quicker download to computer
• The camera is excellent quality but requires an eye for shots, especially when using the zoom and manual focus
• Because my film is very stylised, it was not easy to get the shots I wanted because it was raining on location and we only had a small umbrella to protect the camera
• The stylised shots I wanted were created through the angle of the camera and its movement, a lot of the work was handheld because it made the footage feel more claustrophobic 
• The camera quality changes significantly in the light and also looks very different on the camera screen compared to the computer therefore judging the appropriate lighting to use and time of day to film is very hard, this must also be considered in location
• I managed to find a location that was gloomy at night but had some dim street-lamps that I could add fillers to 

Survey Monkey

• To complete some of my evaluation and audience feedback I used survey monkey, which is an excellent membership free website
• I learned that using online surveys is a far more effective way of working because you can view all the results in a collated form in charts and graphs as soon as a survey is filled out, there is no calculation to be done on your part
• This makes the website very efficient and easy to use

Other Equipment

• Using battery lighting was challenging because you only have 30mins of life in each light so I had to use my time very wisely with a clear schedule to get everything filmed in the short time
• The tripod also had to always be leveled when filming using the level to assure the camera was centered

Question 4

Who Would Be Your Audience For Your Media Product?

After a screening of my film opening I asked 12 audience members to fill out a survey analysing, my film and their film preferences such as visits to the cinema, age, gender and favourite genre. Out of all the surveys the most favoured genre was comedy, second action and third thriller. My film is a combination of thriller and horror,  it explored the idea that ballerina works harder than other profession and dedicates her life to her art. This utter dedication to dance results in a psychological breakdown triggered by excessive alcohol and drugs that cause her to hallucinate as shown in the opening. The survey showed that the target market (teenagers 15-18) enjoyed the slightly confusing storyline and editing that left them wondering what happened next and how she developed as a character.

In response to 'What did you like about my film?'

'love the title Eleve, especially in the last scene. Opening section was great with juxtaposition of happy teenager with what lie below' 

'The jumpy, distorted and fragmented nature'

'outlined story well, built tension well'

I have chosen the teenage audience because After researching Black Swan they found females age 15 - 25 where their most influential audience, they loved the gritty almost gory nature of the film and the controversial topics covered such as lesbian relationships and women sleeping with men to get what they want.

I also chose this market because 90% of the characters in the film fit into this range and hopefully demonstrate a stereotype of teenager that would later in the film be renounced. Making the film a positive view on teenage experiences. The reason I chose a ballerina as a teenage protagonist is because she of all people has to get an equal balance of work and fun, so teenagers of the future might gain a moral aspect of the importance of relaxing whilst also maintaining work. 

To confirm my audience expectations I did an initial survey in october on Survey Monkey, which allowed me to grasp the opinion of Black Swan, its reception by the teenage market and who was going to watch my film. My results showed that teenage girls would most enjoy my film so I set about making a gritty urban drama that was stylised enough to match the glossy finish of a ballerina.
After making the film based on my planning project and research into the audience I took another survey at a screening that proved my results were accurate, all girls in the category 15-18 enjoyed the film greatly and commented with excitement for the rest of it.

Question 3

My film is set in ana urban environment and covers stereotypes of teenagers and ballet dancers. The focus being the ballet dancer. The film is heavily stylised to make everything seem out of reality and from the inside of the protagonists mind.

Companies such as Film 4, BBC Films or Film London might be interested in this low budget but highly relevant story line that gives viewers an insight into the world and mind of a ballerina.
An example of this is Shifty, a film that was filmed on a Film Council budget in just 18 days by a man who wrote and directed it (Eran Creevy). The film was released in the UK in 2008 by BBC Films and because of its success and high praise in online reviews was re-released for the US market.

Similarly to Shifty, my film was made on a low budget using a basic equipment set up. Shifty of all films proves that money doesn't necessarily make a great film. Therefore If my film was to be received well at a film festival for instance such as the Berlin Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, London, Sundance or Toronto, it could be picked up by a producer who might go on to re-release it in the US market or perhaps worldwide.

Initially my film might be shown in art house cinemas such as Picturehouse or JK Cinemas, however depending on its success it could progress similarly to how films such as Slumdog Millionaire, the Social Network or Submarine did. Each on a relatively low budget comparatively to a Hollywood level, and each making an excellent taking in the box office.

The film is universal in it's subject matter, the topic is not uncommon and judging by similar film Black Swan, it wouldn't be hard for the film to spark the interest of millions for a psychologically thrilling feature film like mine. Because of it's worldwide capability companies such as Fox Searchlight or their larger brother company 20th Century Fox could distribute my film, primarily possibly via their contacts with several British Film companies, including the prestigious BFI council. This partnership could be an excellent gateway for films like mine, as it was in distributing films like Never Let Me Go and Little Miss Sunshine.

Although my film might start out in small arthouse cinemas, with a possible american company backing, a larger budget could be allowed and the film could be produced on a new scale, allowing the extending of storyline, characters and action, making the film far more thrilling and exciting to watch.

Question 1

Question 2

Rough Cuts

My first cut of the film is 40 seconds too long and captures the style but i don't like the ending or music use. I'm going to try and find some better methods of editing and music.

I\'ve managed to complete a rough cut 1 which stands at 2:30 I don't particularly like the ending or and it has continuity issues but I plan to resolve all of these in the next few edits. 30 seconds also needs to be shaved off the end of the film. I've re-filmed a small section outside the dance studio for clarity and quality of shots which I wasn't so happy with area filming. I plan to have finished the film by the end of this week.
  

For this cut It's very close to the finished item, I did a private viewing of the film for several piers and got feedback from them :


I'm starting to think about evaluation, getting friends and others to view the film at this stage and tell me their views on it, asking for as many criticisms as possible so that I get an understanding of what the film is to an outsiders perspective. After a few interviews I've found that the storyline is clear but continuity and speed is an issue.





After two weeks of editing the film is almost complete. I've shown several audience members and got a general idea of feedback. The camerawork creates good suspense but then music doesn't necessarily work with the climax in drama more contrasts. And although this is the desired effect it's not the best effect. I plan on experimenting with a few different soundtracks and compiling a select few then allowing others to decide which is the best. As the film has no dialogue the soundtrack is of vast importance and the second track that fades in from ambient sound is the one users have a problem with.
The film creates the desired effect of mystery and split mentality but the editing makes it uncomfortable to watch and not as thrilling as it could be, the moments of foresight can be demonic and intense, however they are currently too immediate and sudden, therefore illogical in the continuity of the piece.