Story board 1

Shot 1, establishing shot.
Shot 2, mid shot.
Shot 3, Close up.
Shot 4, Close up.
Shot 5, Over the shoulder shot.
Shot 6, Close up.

Movie poster research Annotated.

The first example is a simple yet effective style of film poster, which acts like a teaser trailer, to try and entice an audience.

The second example is more energetic and contains more action with the visuals than the first.

This is a short film poster.

The short film poster is very simple yet effective. The actor is large on the poster to promote there skills and role. The title is simple font and Large in the centre, with the directors name underneath. I tried replicate this type of short film design with my poster. 

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

Technology played an enormous part with the entire project.
When filming my short film I used the Sony DCR-HC46E 'Handycam'. This is a simple but effective camera which offers widescreen video,hi-Fi audio and 12x zoom. I have used this camera in my As coursework and it proved effective then and worked brilliantly now.

To edit my short film, I used the software 'Final cut pro'. 

On the 'Apple IMac '. 

Final cut pro aloud me to Edit efficiently and I was able to try out new things such as key framing. This was a new and interesting technique which I learnt from my tutor. The process is: 

1. Make a text/picture in photoshop.

2. Make first Key frame in canvas window. click on the the diamond icon in Final cut.

3. Use arrow key to forward 5 frames, move shape into correct position.

4. Add key frame.

5. Move forward next 5 frames and then repeat.

This structure allowed me to create the 'Dubstep' writing which appears on the billboards in my film.

I created some of my own sounds and music by using a 'hercules mp3 e2 DJ mixer' and the DJ software'Virtual DJ'

I was able to blend and mix interesting sounds which included the eerie song heard when the Dub Zombies surround the music producer.

YouTube was how managed to upload my videos. And is a good way of seeing how many views you've got.

I used Facebook as another way to get audience feedback a way of sharing my video so others can watch.

To create my poster, I used Photoshop elements. I used an orange filter in the background. The main image of Sam, had to be cut out and put on a separate layer. To create the text I used Picassa which flowed well with the rest of the Photoshop image. 

Evaluation. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To get a better understanding of what type of audience I wanted to accommodate to when making my short film, I made a short questionnaire about short films. Most comments that came back were ages 15-19, which made me decide to make a film which would suit that age group. Dubstep was a good way of converging towards that category.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am47P7tqSe8FdDdvMUhkTnZIdUF0aW9GclQzdHdLdkE#gid=0

I asked for what kind of structure would best suit a short film? and most came back with simple plot. This helped
me out because I was then aware to keep my storyline simple and not include to much sub plots. After finishing a          
rough version of my short film, I received some constructive feedback from an media studies graduate. I wrote down the feedback in a list and recorded at each time where I needed to change things.

0:25- Title music needs cropping (currently 4 secs)

0:31- Text positioning (maybe colour? )

1:10- End Hip Hop Music

1:16- Trim 'Next'

1:37- Add more ellipsis- no fade

1:38- Scratch noise ( separate black page)

1:58- Cut ' They don't listen'

2:08- Adjust cue of music to second headphone

2:23- Adjust music level to low and extend till fade out

2:25- Extend 'wake up music loop'

2:47- Trim just before button press.)

2:47- Adjust music to button press.)

3:22- Lower music as he leaves room

3:32- Trim TV Dubstep announcement (take out)

3:39- See above adjust length of reaction shot( increase song volume)

3:59- Trim shop entrance and then jump cut

4:18- Cut shop leave scene

4:22- Establishing shot adjust image edit to song drop

4:50- Trim look up to straight to the point, octopus and above

5:06- Edit sound to fade in

5:23- Repeat the head spin sequence

5:36- Take out Wobble 

5:45- Mashup- the end - quick cuts/ Chaos!

5:51- Trim last headphone shot

5:55- 'NOO' blackout end the music and add weird sound

5:56 Louden the Gasp

END- Expand title length

This again was a huge help towards finalising my main product and making it the best that it could be.
I created another small questionnaire on audience reaction after they had watched my short film.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Am47P7tqSe8FdDdvMUhkTnZIdUF0aW9GclQzdHdLdkE#gid=0

The first Question I asked was 'What did you think of the short film?'
The answers that came back were:
'brilliant'
'It was good, great concept'
'Really good Dan, great idea!'
'Loved it :D'
This Question feedback showed that they seemed to all enjoy the film.


The second question 'Did the story and characters work?' Came back with all the answers as yes. This showed that I was successful with my chosen plot structure and my choice of characters worked well.


The next Question was 'What areas of the short film did you like?'
The answers that came back were:
'camera and plot both brilliant and they all work well together'
'the acting'

'The music is edited brilliantly and the colours when dubstep takes over'

'The Plot, different camera angles and the actors :P'

The feedback for this question showed me that my film was very positively received and everyone who filled out my Questionnaire liked it. It also helped me see that my film accommodated to my chosen target audience and the different decisions I decided to make paid off.


'The things that could be improved?'
Things that I needed to improve on was the key-framing, better locations and the pace of the film. I agree on all of these comments however given that the context is a short film which are conventionally Low budget and independent, my film was made like this.

I added My Short film to Facebook and had 4 likes. One comment said 'Love the concept'

This type of media (Facebook) has aloud me to see feedback on my short film in an interactive way.

Having Audience feedback is a really brilliant way of helping me shape the outcome of my coursework. It help make my short film accessible to my chosen audience and It helped me improve many aspects of my work.

Evaluation. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

When I first started to plan my idea for my main product, I was originally Going to have a film about a retired DJ, who is strapped for cash and decides to return to the music industry but finds that its a lot harder to fit in with the modern music scene. But after many attempts to draft a decent storyline and script I decided to change my idea. The Theme would still be Music, but a totally different story. When trying to draft the script for my first idea, I was listening to some Dubstep, the interesting heavy baselines, and futuristic sounds, make the genre of Dubstep a alien and unique form of music. I thought that this could make a good idea for a short film.

The story was Dubstep had taken over the world. After a heavy night drinking, a man wakes up to find that this has happened. But after some feedback, the story was seen as being too weak, with only a middle and no beginning and end. I looked at having the character being in the music industry and wishes that the world is dubstep. This then gave a moral to the story, 'the character's wish becomes a nightmare ploy'. And then I thought  about putting a twist at the end, have the audience think that the world is back to normal but something is shown at the end to show that it wasn't a dream. 

With the script and storyboard finished I was ready to film. However on the day of filming, many of my actors had to turn it down and only two were available. when filming the Zombie teenagers scene, the actor playing the lead character(the music producer) didn't really connect with the script and I felt that he wasn't the right choice for the role. 

The First scene in the video on the right, was the original actor.

Frustrated with how the filming went, I Then decided to change my idea, feeling that the Dubstep theme wouldn't work. In my early stages of planning, one of my other ideas for a short film was an  apocalyptic theme, where only a few humans had survived a cataclysm event. I drew out a new storyboard and was to film straight away.

But something made me change my mind again and go back to my Dubstep idea and film again but with a different actor. 

The picture shows the first actor, who was then replaced with Sam ,
who you see in Planet of the Dub.

My Main product combined with my poster and review worked really well. They each assist each other well and help bring my idea come to life.

The way in which brings the three texts together is the use of Dubstep. The music genre is seen throughout, with the speakers in my poster and The name of my short film 'PLANET OF THE DUB'. The word Dub would let the audience know that Dubstep is involved. The music and colours in my film all relate to Dubstep. I have represented the Futuristic surreal world of Dubstep within all the three media texts, as the neon bright colours are found in the poster and in the review colour scheme.

The poster 

As you can see the poster colour scheme reflects the colours in my short film. The Use of the Sam on the front is a good way of promoting the actor, which is usually shown in short films. The speakers and title, again, tells the audience that the film is about Dubstep. And the use of my distribution in the right corner, is a way of promoting the company.

The Review

The colour scheme used for the review is a light blue which reflects my chosen target audience, which is 15-29. A dull colour would not attract this age group. The Still I chose from the movie in the top right corner, was a good way of showing the films visual aspect, (the purple filter) but it also links in with the poster. Sams facial expression is a mixture of confused and annoyed, which is similar to the review still, as he is walking in shame of the Dubstep world, which he ultimately created, holding is head in his hands.

The links at the side of FACEBOOK and TWITTER, is there to show that this is still an independent film and you can connect with  the film and review company 'World' in a social network.

The different texts help promote the film and create a good sense of production.

Evaluation. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Planet of the Dub is my own view of the current media society that we live in. The character of the Music producer, is stubborn, selfish and ignorant. In seeing that Dubstep is the new 'craze' within the public, he coldly turns down the people who have talent just to please the masses. This happens often in the industry, when a new and popular sound hits the charts, many artists and producers begin to see this as a way to earn big money.

My film also touches upon the areas of originality and Authenticity. When the Music Producer goes into the Dubstep world, everyone is only listening to Dubstep and its the only genre of music being played. The producer then starts to hate this ideal world that he wanted and soon realises that his greed and following of the masses has created a discomforting society of unoriginal features. The second area that I showed in my film was the Influence of technology within society. The scene towards the end, where the 'Zombie' like teenagers, wearing the headphones was meant to be a small reference to the seclusion and anti social behaviour that is created when listening to music wearing headphones. You now start to see footballers walk off the the coach wearing headphones to suggest that their journey has been an anti social one. Headphones can be seen as a barrier between connecting with daily life and young people have grown up plugged into music. I was trying to capture a 'what if scenario' where everyone is wearing headphones and loose all form of communication.

I believe that my short film was quite a interesting concept to choose. The use of Dubstep as a foundation for the story worked really well and was refreshing. From the feedback from my questionnaire, Short films aren't really common to the ages of 15-19years because they are a niche art form. However by incorporating Dubstep, which is a genre of music associated with teenagers, I was able to challenge the usual stereotypes of short films thought being only available to people in the film and art industry. Dubstep pulled in my chosen target audience of 15-30 years because they could understand some of the references I put in my film. 'Now its like walking through a Skryllex video!'And maybe by them watching my short film, this may encourage them to watch other ones.

The conventions of a Music film is used in my film. I wanted to have music constantly playing throughout the film. The music starts off as being very normal, with the use of Hip hop and pop. then gradually the Juxtaposition of the Dubstep kicks in. With heavy basslines and alien sounds. I wanted the audience to feel uneasy when watching because the Dubstep is a form of hypnosis. Eventually the music goes back to peaceful at the end and I chose Greig's Morning mood, because its a very warm and comforting song.

The outfit that the music producer wears is a black suite. This is to show that he is wealthy and has power within the industry. The rest of the characters are seen wearing average normal clothes, to highlight the social hierarchy between them. The location of the studio was to highlight the music aspect of the film. with the keyboard in the background behind the producer. The Exterior shots of the High rise buildings, were meant to give the impression that the record company is set in a city. Which linked in well with Dubstep  because that was established as a genre in the urban environment of London.
To make the Dubstep world stand out from the reality in my film, I wanted to change and play around with the colours, this turned out to be a good visual aid for my film as the audience is thrown into the strange world with the main character. I chose purple as the 'Dubstep colour' because its a very vibrant and in your face colour. The music genre of Dubstep has a very futuristic feel about it. I wanted to put the sounds of dubstep and bring them to life visually. The neon purple was a good way of visualising the futuristic sounds to make it seem alien to the audience.

My poster is more of a spoof poster than anything fitting in well with the Comedic side of my film. I took the style of the 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' DVD cover (I've already spoofed the name 'Planet of the Dub')  and put my own take on it.

The speakers in the distance were meant to represent the power of Dubstep, which overwhelms the Music Producer in my film. I chose to put over exaggerated sized speakers, for anyone who hadn't seen the film, they would then know that 'Planet of the Dub' is a film about music. I chose to use orange and purple as the main colours. Orange, the colour of fire and flames, is meant to show the destruction and pain that is running through the Music Producer's head when he enters the Dubstep world. The purple is the reference to the strange neon colour filter that appears in my film. Although the main characters head being the centre focus is a homage to 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', its also to show that he is the focus of the film. This is his story, his journey, and I wanted to establish this in my film.

With my Review, I researched movie reviews on the website 'Empire'. The reviews always have a small synopsis on the film and a verdict which sums up what the the reviewer thinks of the film. The main review is the key of the page as it addresses some of the plot, information on the film and personal opinions. On the right of the page on Empire, it includes a section called 'Film details'. This includes key information about the film such as certificate, Cast, Directors,Screenwriters and running time. I included this in my review. I put a small still from my film, which doesn't give away too much of the plot but highlights a key aspect of the film. I chose the picture I used because it shows off the purple neon, visual aspect of the film. The main character has his head in his hands, which shows that he is in trouble.

Analysis of a film Review.

I looked at 'EMPIRE' reviews, which are one of the biggest movie reviews in the industry.