Target Audience

short film titles

A short film must always have a name so people can gain a little bit of information from it, most of the short film titles I have researched only have 1 name so I thought that maybe that was a stereotype however I couldn't really think of a multitude of one word titles that would fit for my short film. 
I had a few options for my short film title so it was difficult for me to decide on which one I wanted to use. Therefore I asked my audience and gained some feedback, the title that had the most votes I would then use for my front cover and in my short film. There was 4 different options, 3 were quite similar so some found it hard to choose but overall the title with the most votes was Through my eyes. The others that they could choose from were: 
Prism,
From the outside looking in,
Through the lens,
Through my eyes.

I also showed them the draft of my front page with that title on and they said that the amount of words worked well because of the positioning. In addition as the picture was of the protagonists eyes the title worked well. When I shared the plot to them they thought that Through the lens which was the second popular didn't work well for the short film as the character is quite shy so she probably wouldn't be talking directly to the camera/lens. 
As the short film is about how the cousin is always there even though she does not know it   it can also work as the cousin is seeing her 'Through her eyes.' As well as the main protagonist seeing her life the way it is 'Through her eyes'. I am pleased with this option and I will work with it now when filming my short film so I can try and get the title across. 

Raw footage

This is my raw footage for my short film which I have uploaded to youtube, I will look at it in detail and bullet point what parts I ideally need to change and what things I like and will keep the same.
As this is only the raw footage I have not edited it together yet, just put the clips in chronological order so it will help me for when it comes to editing, therefore it might not make a lot of sense. 

Things I need to change:

• The beginning part with the photos needs some work with the editing. As I wanted to make it look as though it is a photo montage, when I looked at the different photo montages in films they were edited together really well as they portrayed the feel of a slideshow. I feel as though my film is quite static and when I add some music over the top I will have to look and see whether it changes.
• I will have to speed up the photos as well as they are a bit small.
• I need to think of a title to put in the space that I have.
• I must mute the beginning part and maybe see if I can make it lighter as it is hard to see.
• Think about putting a voice over on it.
• Look at the different editing that I could use

Things I will keep the same:

• The boarder around the photos at the beginning.
• The photo of the main protagonist 
• Where the title will go
• The low angle
• The eye line match of the almond

I do need to change quite a lot of this as it still looks quite messy and I will have to add more dialogue and clips to allow the story to come across. 

Research methods

To create my short film I will need to use research methods for gathering the information needed that the film appeals to the target audience. 

The main research methods are:
Primary- This is research you carry out personally
Secondary- Research you gather from other people
Quantitative- This is when you carry out questionnaires/surveys and you look for a pattern or tree within peoples answers/responses
Qualitative- This method investigates the why and how of decision making and people's opinions, ideas and thoughts and feelings.

As primary research is things that I carry out personally it is the main one that I will use. Examples of primary research methods are: questionnaires, polls/surveys, focus groups, email/text/letter, interviews and textual analysis of other short films. One advantage is that the researcher can have control over the information that is collected and gathered. Also with primary research the researcher can gather qualitative and quantitive data together so they can get a range of different feedback. However one disadvantage of primary research is that it can be expensive compared to secondary and you will have to pay to get the information and sort out interviews etc. An advantage of using questionnaires is that they can gather information quickly, they are easy to create and you can get direct answers. However one disadvantage is that they can lie and they can be time consuming. Another advantage for surveys is that they are not expensive and they can be informal if that is what you wanted in your short film. One disadvantage to this is that people might not be interested to answer and may again lie. One advantage for email is that it is cheap and it is easy to get people opinions. One disadvantage is that it can be reported as junk mail and it also could be ignored. 

Secondary research is where you gather information from someone else so it is much easier to collect. Examples of secondary research methods are: search engines, books, magazines and websites. One advantage of secondary research is that it is very accessible and you can always get information from anywhere as there is something about this topic in either one of the examples I gave and a plus side is this it is free. However one disadvantage is that the research may not be in the suitable format that you need and the text could possible be enough or not enough detail. One advantage for the internet is that it is free and you can gather a lot of information from specific websites. One disadvantage is that the information on the websites could not be reliable and maybe taken from other sources first. One advantage from books is that it is mostly correct information and it is easy to find the information you needs. One disadvantage is that is will expensive if you buy the books you use.

The research methods that I will tend to use will be primary and quantitive research because they are an easy way to collect the data that I require for my short film and they are the easiest ways to find opinions on the key features, such as the edit, camerawork, sound and mise en scene. How it attracts them and what they like and dislike about my front cover.

Timetable for my filming

A timetable is key to any production of any type of filming, you need to not only know what to film but WHEN to film. When I planned my prelim task I created a timetable so it would help me to achieve something that is easily understandable, a timetable allows you to film scenes within a time limit so you don't have the stress of when it comes to film without any idea of when and where you are going. I have researched the different types of timetables that would work for me as I only have a specific amount of time to film in. As my main character who I am filming only lives 5 minutes away from me and she also goes to the same school it is perfect to film her. As I can travel to and from the two locations easily I will have to think at what points in the day I want to film in these certain areas. As it is a day to day life of her and the character is quite gloomy it would be good to do it in the evening this will also make my shots look the same as it will have the same lighting. Also as the character does not want to be seen it will work better. The only thing is that as it is a day to day life video it will have to be during different types of the day. All of the filming will have to be done by october half term so I can then have plenty of time to edit however with other attributes to my weekly planner such as work I will not be able to film at the weekend. When looking at other a level students timetables they have worked during lesson and allowed them self to film, luckily for me I have a triple lesson where I am allowed to film so I will have the opportunity to go and look at the different locations. Underneath is a students timetable for their filming for their short film, they have decided to film on 5 different days in 3 different locations whereas I will only be filming on a maximum of 3 days. Firstly I will need to think of the different mise on scene that I need to include like her costume and different props in her house, this will need to be included in my timetable as I will need to think of when I need to take the equipment out like the camera and tripod as well as thinking about the different props that I will need to buy for the filming. As the bedroom has a lot of different things that could be included I need to think about the continuity of the different shots and make sure that everything that was there in the first place it put back in the same spot. 

Below is an example of a students timetable which has helped me find out the best way to structure my own. They have managed to do this online and have also added information about the different locations and what they are filming. I have not done this as I have done a storyboard that has this in so I can put a bit more detail in it and therefore will give me more of an understanding of what I am going to film. They have also said that they are doing most of it in lesson time where I will do it more in my free time as I can then leave the editing to school as I have the macs which are better for me to use.

Here is my timetable which in it has my filming schedule. I will start on wednesday 8th October where I can sort out my equipment I need, last time I took my camera but it ran out of battery so I just took the photos on my phone which worked but I think they would be better quality, therefore I will make sure I have enough batteries for my camera before committing to filming. Also when I looked around the place that I was going to film it was quite a small room therefore I needed to think of making my equipment limited and I will only use the tripod if I desperately need it. 

On the friday that week I looked at the locations that I was going to film and took some photos in which I could do my REECE about, I must make sure that all of the locations are safe and that it is the best place to film, the lighting is good and if I am allowed to film there. I decided that when I was storyboarding I wanted to start my film with some old pictures of my actress whilst growing up, therefore I needed to look through some pictures. Luckily my friend didn't mind me looking through her photos so I was able to pick the best ones, as I looked through I found that most of them were with her cousin which made me think about my storyline and what could happen. (I picked 10 all together.) On the friday that week I looked at the locations that I was going to film and took some photos in which I could do my REECE about. On the following Monday I started filming the opening scenes to the film and uploaded the footage to my macbook at home to see how they turned out, unfortunately though some of the footage was rather dark and it was hard to see the actress so I needed to re-film on a different idea. On the tuesday I decided to start editing and filmed again to make sure that the bit that was dark was then ok. 

I have yet to start the other part of the timetable but I will definitely try to stick to it, however I talked to my actress and during the school holidays she is going to London so therefore I will not be able to film her therefore I might need to change the timetable and make it fit around her but it should be ok. I decided to use her as she lives close so I am easily assessable and can ring her if I want to film so I might actually film on some other days as well just to make sure that it is up to scratch. Once I have filmed Noel I will probably have to talk to my other actress to see if she is available to film with her for a short period of time. When I created this timetable however I did not talk to her as she was in between looking for a job, now she has one it will be easier to film her especially as the short film is quite eery the late nights will help with this.

Uses and gratifications theory

So what is the uses and gratification theory?
It is an active audience theory that focuses on 'what people do with the media' rather than what the media does to people.

The uses and gratification theory is split into four main groups called;
1- surveillance
2- personal relationship
3- diversion
4- personal identity
There is several needs and gratification for people these are:

Cognitive needs:
People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc. Different people have different media needs these could be knowledge so they will watch quiz programmes on tv, or search engines to find out information. Particularly for the internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the sun with no time restriction.

Affective needs:
It included all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of people. People use media like television to satisfy their emotional needs.

Personal intergrative needs:
'This is the self-esteem need. People use media to reassure there status, gain credibility and stabilise. So people watch Tv and assure themselves that they have a status in society for example people get to improve their status bywatching media advertisements which can make people buy these products, so people are changing their lifestyle and the media helps them do so.  

Social integrative needs:
It encompasses the need to socialise with family, friends and relations in the soiety. People now use social networking sites to satisfy their needs. Another example is if your friends is watching a programme then you watch it so you have topics to discuss. 

Tension free needs:
People sometime use the media as a means of escapism and to relive from tension. For example people tend to relax watching Tv, listening to radio and for satisfy their need for entertainment there by relaxing from all the tension, people watch films. 

One criticism of uses and gratification theory is that it does not consider the power of the media. One positive thing is that it explains how the media can play within our day to day lives. 

So how does this tie into my short film and how will I fulfil the audiences certain needs and desires they have. Andrew Tudor notes that 'a genre defines a moral and social world' John Fiske also notes that genres 'embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular.' In the different types of film genres there are both emotional and physical values that the producer has to think of that will full fill these two needs

As my short film has not got a specific genre and falls into probably more than one it is hard to try and decide what specific gratifications I can offer my target audience. 

EMOTIONAL
Identification with the character- some of the audience may be feeling the same as the character and can relate to them
There will not be escapism because my character is very boring and her life is not ordinary so they will not think that their everyday life is boring.
Catharsis- Release of emotions

PHYSICAL
Tension and release of tension. Todrov stated that ' narratives are about transformation.'
Feeling for the character 

Once I have finished my short film I can ask whilst researching about what the viewers felt in terms of physical and emotional. 

Darren S Cook

During two lessons we managed to have an amazing opportunity and have a guest speaker into our lesson award winning producer and director Darren S Cook talk about his work with short films and how he came about the ideas and how he stuck to the time limit and budgeting. This was a very lucky opportunity as Darren is a stepdad to one of the students in our class so he was very willing to come in and talk to us.

Darren s cook is an independent film and tv director with a passion for moving image who has been involved in the industry for over 22 years, he has worked on many different sets including Three, Broken Silence and Behind Closed doors. During the two hours he talked to us about how the film industry works and how it is very competitive and time consuming. Whist he was here we were allowed to watch some of his work alongside students as well his own, this was very helpful as short films are normally hard to construct so seeing the different things that he has out together makes it easier for us to see what is good and not. We watched some films that did not have a budget just like ours and how he relied on friends and family to help create the short film, he also said how he managed to use someones house whilst they were on holiday and bring the set in and then make sure that all of their valuables went back into the same place and this was free. However this didn't change the quality of the film and it looked as though it could have been filmed with a budget of over £1000. This allowed me to feel as though my short film can look professional even if I didn't have any money to spend on it, in addition he said how he used some cameras that we have at school so it could look the same quality if filmed correctly. As he didn't have a lot of money to spend on equipment just like us he said a few tricks to use to get the same effect, one being he placed a camera on a penny board and then rolled it across the floor to get the same shot of a track. This made me think about what other things I could do to make the filming look more professional.

A lot of the short films that he showed us had a simple plot, so he suggested that we should keep our plot simple because it is easier to film and get the audience interested. When we looked at the codes and conventions of a short film it suggested that you should have a twist when talking to Darren he said that we should but to make it not complicated.

Darren also said how he doesn't normally edit the videos however when he does it normally takes an hour to edit a 1 minute clip this made me realise how much work and time is going to go into making this short film. In addition he said how editing can make a film look so different once you have finished to the raw footage and it can change the whole look with the different editing skills and music.

After he finished talking to us we were allowed to ask any questions about his job role and any more information that we needed to make our short film special. Someone asked if he has ever worked on something he hated and shockingly he said yes to a project that he has just filmed. As he doesn't like it they have not invited him to any events contributing to this film and he doesn't even want to watch the final product which is shocking to hear as he is a well adapted film maker and you wouldn't think that something he is doing could possibly be something that he dislikes.

The first Short film that we watched was called Wisdom and this had a higher end budget. Although there was only two characters they are both well established actors so some of their budget had to pay theme. In addition the vast amount of props had to be bought, the chair is actually an old execution chair that they have draped fairy lights around, the tools that are on the table are old gardening tools that have been wrapped in leather and the table is an old desk that has been covered in leather.



WISDOM from Darren S Cook on Vimeo.


Next was Little Angels which was a university students work and he was asked to film it in a London graveyard. He said how this was a great experience and whilst on the set the actor who was playing the mental character was actually scaring him in how good he was.


 
Little Angels from Darren S Cook on Vimeo.








THREE from Darren S Cook on Vimeo.

Lastly was Three which was a short film made with only Three actors throughout the night, he said that this was one of his first short film that he created and is still one of his favourites.

I will defiantly take on board what he has said to us and will also look as his other short films to get inspirations for different camera shots and editing skills.