Audience Feedback for Preparations

This audience feedback allowed me to understand the good aspects of my film, whilst also highlighting areas for improvement. It was also useful gathering feedback from people within my target demographic.

Task 12 - MORE Target Audience Research - Secondary

This research has furthered my knowledge of the genre which will in turn help me create a short film with clear genre boundaries.

Task 10 - MORE Short Film Industry Research

For some reason there is no definitive register of short film produced in the UK and the UK Film Council do not track such productions. Also, the UK Film Council do not track feature length films with a budget of less than £500,000.

The British Film Institution (BFI) will sometimes fund up-and-coming directors for their latest short film. The government also issue grants.
List of funding sources and the bodies which help production and distribution:
- National and regional screen agencies
- Local councils - if the subject matter is to their benfit
- Charities - if the subject matter is appropriate
 Production schemes and competitors
- Aid from festivals.

Short films also have 'Golden Rules' which should be adhered to:
- An original and exciting idea
- Good acting
- High production skills and values
- Traditional timing for shorts (5-20 minutes)
- Have a strong, captivating opening
- Avoid repitition
- Include new and interesting techniques
- Other resources which are not commonly used

Short films can be distributed in numerous ways:
- Online/YouTube/Vimeo
- DVD's at festivals etc
- Distributors may use your film in their catalogue of films at festivals like Cannes, Rotterdam and SunDance, which would boost sales and audience potential.

http://www.slideshare.net/saimaaauddin/short-film-research-26553517

My Target Audience

My chosen target audience for my thriller short film is males and females, aged 15-30 (100% of people I surveyed fall within this demographic).
However, with sub-genres within thrillers my film could appear to fit with a certain sub-genre without me purposefully striving for that effect, which could attract a different audience who I would not have known would enjoy my film.

Task 12 - Target Audience Research - Primary

Audio from Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1qfAw6SaMjMNHE5eXRXSktWVW8/view?usp=sharing

Questionnaire:

Results:

 Q1.)

This shows me that out of the people that I asked, the majority of people enjoy a comedy over the other choices. However, I am set on making a thriller because I enjoy the genre and I believe I can produce a quality film.

Q2.)
 
This data proved to me the importance of a good plot, according to my target audience. This allows me to focus on that aspect of the genre, whilst also showing me what aspects to leave out. Q2 has significantly aided me in my progress.

Q3.)

The results for this particular question has made me doubt my plot decisions. However, I believe the possibility of my target audience enjoying such a plot is strong enough to warrant my decision of going through with my idea.

Q4.)

This question has made it clear to me the type of resolution I should chose in order to please the majority of my target audience. Therefore, I will add an aspect of ambiguity in order to make the audience contemplate the ending after it has finished. I am hoping this will add to the overall emjoyment felt after viewing my film.

Q5.)

The clarity of the results for this question allow me to choose freely. I believe that a good narrative needs two strong characters to forward the plot with momentum. Therefore, I am opting for a two character-driven narrative.

Q6.)

With the feedback from this question I am beginning to sway towards the implementation of death within my narrative. The results show me that my target audience expect death but also alot of people believe it should be used only sometimes. I have alot to think about plot wise after recording this data.

Q7.)

I have learnt from this data that my plot should involve a gun, however only if it is necessary to forward the plot. I wanted to include a gun in the first place and this data has further powered that idea.

Q8.)

These results for this question has further solidified my original intentions. I have tried to create a complex plot, that makes sense but leaves a sense of ambiguity at the end, and now I believe I made the right decision and nothing needs changing.

Q9.)

I am still unsure whether to make my thriller violent or not. Although the majority of people who completed my question would say that it should, I believe a powerful thriller can rely solely on tension and intersting camera angles. Therefore, I am still unsure on whether to make Preparations violent or not.

Overall thoughts:

I have many things to think about now, whether I should include blood and violence, whether I should include one or two strong characters. I believe this target audience research has significantly helped me mould the creation of my short film.

Task 7 Part 2 - Short Film Analysis (Spider)

Spider (short) analysis from RebuiltBurrito

Created using Powerpoint and uploaded using SlideShare. With this information, I plan on implementing certain ideas from these shorts and altering them to fit my story. This way I know I have exhausted every means of inspiration possible.

Film Theorist - Graeme Burton

Burton's Six Elements

Burton suggests that each text in a given genre shares particular key elements to make up the generic formula, these include:

• Protagonist
• Stock Characters
• Plots and Stock Situations
• Icons
• Background and Décor
• Themes

Repetition and Novelty

Generic texts repeat many elements of a formula, to offer audiences the pleasure of recognition, but also have novel elements of surprise, to offer audiences something new. Repetition is also appealing to producers, who have to put less work into their texts.

Film Theorist - Stanley Kubrick

Director of Dr Strangelove etc had the theory that all you needed for a captivating narrative was seven Non-Submersible Units. These were scenes, images, actions, sounds or a combination of these that created a strong impression on the audience that they couldn’t ignore, shrug off or forget.

Film Theorist - Syd Field

Syd is a practicing screenwriter and his theory is more of a piece of advice for potential film makers. He is interested in the way one thing leads to another or causality. As you watch a film you should see a structure of events develop as things lead to other things.

Field says a typical Hollywood film can be separated into three separate dramatic sections or acts.

Act 1 is the setup. The first 10 mins is very important to grab the audience. If they like it in the first 10 mins they are unlikely to change their minds later. The film maker should show the audience who the main character is and why they should care what happens to him/her. They should see what style and genre the film is going to use. The next 20 mins show the audience the nature of the problem the hero has to face or this can be left to plot point 1.

Act 2 is the confrontation. The longest act shows us the hero in more and more extreme problem situations. He/she is helpless against the opposing forces. There may be a mid-point where they start to turn things around but not until plot-point 2 will they realise the way to succeed…

Act 3 is the resolution. The hero wins out (often by confronting the opposing forces on their own territory)

Where Act 1 becomes Act 2 and Act 2 becomes Act 3 there is a plot point – a particularly important piece of the plot which turns around the lives of the characters, change their relationships and alter the tone of the film. Films often have a number of plot points like these but Field points to two major ones between the acts and a less important one in the middle of the film.

Film Theorist - Levi-Strauss

He argued that all meaning-making, not just narratives, depend on binary oppositions – a conflict between two sides/qualities which are opposites.

E.G. Westerns where there can be many binary oppositions such as:

Cowboys	Indians
settlers	natives
Christian	Pagan
domestic	savage
weak	strong
garden	wilderness
The law	outlaws
helpless	dangerous
clothed	naked
whites	redskins
telegraph	smoke signals

Film Theorist - Barthes

Barthes suggested that narrative works with different codes which the reader tries to make sense of. The most obvious is the use of enigma codes. These are little puzzles which the audience needs to solve throughout the plot. This makes us work but gives us pleasure when we solve them correctly. The plot might need the solving a big enigma code but there will be little ones along the way.

Film Theorist - Todorov

Todorov also saw underlying structures to narratives.

He argued that stories all begin in “equilibrium” when all forces are in balance.

This is disrupted by a problem to cause “disequilibrium”. Then more events take place before a “new equilibrium” is established.

Many film makers today don’t bother setting up the normal world in order to disrupt it with a problem (a killer shark, etc.) and go straight for the problem and disequilibrium. However, there will always be a sense in the film of what life was like before the problem came along and therefore what the characters can return to if they can only sort the problem out.

Film Theorist - Propp

Propp looked at folk tales and saw some structures they shared in common. He found 8 character roles and 31 functions that move the story along.

The 8 character roles can also be types of action because they are not the sort of roles which appear in the cast list. One character in the film or play can occupy several of his character roles or types of action. They are:

1. The villain
2. The hero (not always good but always carries the story along, the central character and not always male)
3. The donor (who provides an object with some special property)
4. The helper (who helps the hero)
5. The princess (the reward for the hero and object of the villain’s schemes)
6. Her father (who rewards the hero)
7. The dispatcher (who sends the hero on his way)
8. The false hero

The 31 functions include events such as:

The hero is prohibited from doing something

The villain learns something about the victim

The villain is punished, etc.

Short Film Inspiration #1: Spider

Spider is a brilliant Australian produced short film directed by Nash Edgerton. The atmosphere and story are creepy and thought provoking and the ending is one of the most shocking revelations I've ever seen in a short film. The dark humour that resonates throughout the short film is perfectly balanced between the sombre moments which all work together to creating a truly exceptional piece of work.

From Spider I tried to replicate the humour, without making it seem as a complete comedy.

Audience Feedback from Draft Edit

Today I screened my draft edit to two people from my media class, and this was the feedback I received:

Tom: Audio needs a little work, perhaps create sound bridges to make the gaps between audio clips seamless.

Ellie: The script is good, however some portions are out of sync and need correcting. She also noted how she likes that both of the actors look into the camera.

With this audience feedback I can understand some of the problems that need addressing to attain the highest mark I can.

I will soon be gathering more audience feedback to add to my current feedback.

Task 12 - Target Audience Research - Secondary

Target Audience Research

Generally, people who choice to watch a short film over a feature length film have a particular love for the industry. Many shorts today are made to such a high standard that they can be just as engrossing and immense as a feature, someone with a passion for film would understand this. Therefore, my target audience are people who can appreciate a short for what it is, without scrutinising over things such as budget because a short shouldn’t have a massive budget. The style comes from the directors limitations.

However, to be more specific, I am aiming my short to target male and females between the ages of 17 and 40, who appreciate the film industry and what impact shorts have upon the industry.

Therefore, if my intended audience do watch my short, I hope they can enjoy the dialogue, tone and pace. 

Thrillers can also be hybrids of other genres, such as:
Action/Adventure
Sci-Fi Thrillers
Crime Thrillers
Western Thrillers
Film Noir Thrillers

This allows filmmakers to implement different elemenets from their favourite genres and create something new and interesting.

There are also many codes and conventions of a thriller that should be considered:
Quick cuts
Camera angle changes
Tense music
Mise-en-scene; costumes, props and settings, lighting etc.
Mirrors
Ambient music
Non-diegetic
Voice-over/narration

Techninal Elements include things such as:
Camera work; canted angle, close up, two shot, mid shot, wide angle shot
Editing; thrillers use editing techniques to increase elements of suspense and tension.
Sound; ambient sound to create tension and panic, asynchronous background music to identify genre.

I can use this information to form a film which falls directly within the genre of thriller.

Task 11 - Inspiration

A2 Media Short Film Inspirations from RebuiltBurrito

Task 10 - Short Film Industry Research

A2 Media Short Film Industry Research from RebuiltBurrito

Task 9 - Poster Analysis of 4 Short Films

A2 Media 4 Short Film Poster Analysis from RebuiltBurrito

Task 7 Part 1 - Short Film Analysis (Six Shooter & Alone)

Task 7 from RebuiltBurrito