Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I gave 8 people questionnaire upon seeing my final piece, and I've looked through the results to see the general opinion of the short film, and see what I can draw on and use if I were to continue working on and improving it.

Are you:

Male – 4

Female – 4

I wanted to ask an equal amount of males and females, to determine whether either of them would favour the film and I would know whether I had inadvertently aimed it towards girls, which was a danger with the fairy logo of Fairytale films and the overall storyline of a lost doll.

What is your age?

Under 16 – 2

16-30 – 5

31-50 – 1



I tried to ask more of a range of ages so that the reaction was more varied, however as the majority of people who saw my film were my age 16-30 year-olds make up the majority of the audience. If I was going to redo this I would ask an equal amount of people from each age group, however the number of responses from each age group best represents my target audience of young adults.

Did you like ‘Missing’?

Yes – 8

No – 0

This presents an overall positive view of my short film, however some negative feedback may have been helpful in giving me points to improve on or little aspects which didn't fit. I feel a more honest response would have been given in a more anonymous setting when gaining feedback, for example, something simple like leaving the completed questionnaires in a pile or box instead of handing them back to me themselves.

Did you understand the storyline?

Yes – 8

No – 0

This, again, gives a positive outlook of my piece, as easy to understand even from the under sixteens (both aged 11) perspective.

Did you like the ending?

Yes – 8

No – 0  

Other comments – make ending clear – show walking away with bag?

I found this particularly helpful, as the ending (as you will have seen in previous posts) took a lot to organise. The fact that people liked it was a relief, as I wasn't sure it would work as well as the original idea, and the small amount of feedback also helped, and gave me something to work on.

Did you think the film was a good length?

Yes - 7

Too short - 1

Too long – 0

Another thing I was concerned about was the length, as my piece is much shorter than most other short films used in research. The majority of the audience thought the film's length was okay, however one thought it was too short. I would agree with this feedback as whilst the length was good for the simplicity of the storyline, more could have been added to both increase the length and add to the storyline.

Have you watched short films before?

Yes – 4

No – 3

Don’t remember – 1

I wanted to know whether short films were new to my test audience, to see whether they had other short films to compare mine to. The majority had, which meant they weren't just evaluating something new and had some previous experience. This means the previous answers to questions are reliable, and not just guesses.

Any other comments?

“I would have like to have seen the film develop more over a longer period of screen time, but I liked it – some interesting camera angles/framing etc.”

This was good feedback, as the criticism allowed me to see why the short film would have worked longer. Had my original ending worked, I think the film would have lasted around 3 minutes, and so in this respect it worked better, however I think the storyline the finished piece ended with worked well with the overall simple storyline and style.
The comment on camera angles and framing showed that the way I had filmed some scenes fit together well and worked well with the overall piece.

Evaluation questions 2 and 4 - Answer Powerpoints.

These links will take you to slideshare.com, where I've uploaded my evaluation answers.
It isn't possible to embed these into a blogger post, and so the links are the closest I can get to uploading them to the blog.

Question 2
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?


Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Questionnaire for Audience Feedback

These questions are what I'll be using to finish my audience feedback, I'll be 10 people to answer one after seeing my film so that I can analyse these results and see how effective my film actually was.

I asked about endings because I had a lot of trouble organising the end for my film and so I'd like to know if the ending I used works well, and how others would have done it, if they would do it differently

Evaluation Question 1

(The video is a bit quiet, the sound didn't convert over to Youtube well.)

Question 2 and 4 are Slideshows, as the slideshare upload page is blocked in school, they will have to be uploaded later.

Magazine review

Finished magazine review - click for bigger image.

Short film

As it's finished, I thought I'd put up the film itself, it's also on youtube, and I have put out a request that people watch it and comment with their thoughts on it.

Review

The review has started, I'm getting the writing done first and then fitting in the colour scheme and graphics around that. From looking through other reviews I've noticed that there is rarely just one review on a page, and so I decided to take 3 short films I watched during research and do very short reviews, and include them on the page as a 'Short film' feature page. These are theshort reviews which will be included at the end of the article:

Traffic Warden

David Tennant, Sophie Hunter, Morwenna Banks starred in Donald Rice’s 2004 10 minute rom-com ‘Traffic Warden’, about a love struck traffic warden ‘Romeo’ chasing his ‘Juliet’. With no scripted speech and quirky storyline (Centred around goldfish...) this is a great family short film. 8.5/10

Sorry I’m Late

The Tomas Mankovsky 2009 short ‘Sorry I’m late’ is fun little 3 minute stop-motion piece, ideal for all ages, following a man (Simon Carroll Jones) on his journey after missing a bus, overcoming some rather strange obstacles in rather strange ways.  8/10

For My Blossom

The 2004 6 minute animation ‘For my Blossom’ by Gaku Kishonita is the story of a little boy, trying to find his own path. A little darker than the other two films, but the simple storyline and animation alongside the little boy’s voiceover makes this a memorable piece. 7/10

Late change

Okay, because I've had a few setbacks (Cameras losing material, being rejected from using shops [In one shop I was told "We don't like your sort here!".... Not exactly sure what 'My sort' is or why I wasn't welcome, but, hey ho] and various other issues) I've decided to have a rethink of the end (again).

I had a thought that she'd go round looking for it, and be unsuccessful, and then we cut to her packing to go away (to university maybe) and her finding the doll and packing it away to take with her.

Magazine review language

Magazine reviews tend to use funny, colloquial language and swearing, to appeal to the reader by using language they would use. As mine is a family film, there would be no swearing, and the funny language might not fit. Magazines also use quotes from the films being reviewed, which I can't do, because my film, with the edited end scene, is silent.

Reviews I have seen also use language similar to that used in the film, for example a review of Sherlock Holmes uses a wider vocabulary, as the characters do in the film. This makes my film review a little easier to write, as there is no speech I don't have to fit to a style of speech.

In my research, I found the following, an article titled 'How to write a short film review'. I won't follow this plan, however it is useful to have a very basic structure to follow, as I found most film reviews are diferent based on the genre of film, style of magazine and who wrote the review (and their preferences).

From: http://www.ehow.com/how_5211353_write-short-film-review.html

Instructions

1. • 1
     Start with a quick summary of the film and your opinion. This should take up the first paragraph and should not be more than three sentences. Identify the name of the film in this paragraph and any important association the audience may have. For example, a woman is far more likely to read a review of the baseball film "Money Ball" if it's introduced as Brad Pitt's new film "Money Ball."
   • 2
     Use the next paragraph to summarize the plot or expand on your opinion. This graph needs to be a few sentences long, but edit out anything inessential. Do not explain more of the plot than is necessary for the reader to understand that review. You do not need to lay out the full details of the plot in a short review.
   • 3
     Use the next paragraph to give credit to something good in an otherwise poor movie, or to say something that a good movie could have done better. This graph is optional, but it does suggest to the reader that the writer approached the film with a critical mindset. The most useless reviews, short or otherwise, are those written by a fan (or anti-fan) who only insults or praises the film and does not explain "why" he felt that way.
   • 4
     Close the review with an anecdote or wrap-up that also summarizes why you either liked or disliked the movie. A closing graph may also point out exceptional performances by the actors, a director, or a cinematographer.

Never give away the ending of a film in any review. Nothing angers film fans (or editors) more.

Scene issues

Because the my older brother, who was going to be the other person in the last scene is ill and has alot of uni work to do, if I can't find an alternative I'll have to change the whole scene, which could take a long time, to create, organise and film.

I might go back to my original 'happy ending' idea, which, rather than symbolising leaving your childhood behind as an adult, would symbolise holding on to your childhood through adulthood. Having this ending would mean that I wouldn't need another actor, only someone to man the cameras, filming could take up to an hour and after this the filming will be finished, and editing and music would be the only things left to do.

I would need to film:

1. Several quick shots putting up posters in different places.
2. Walking past the shop with the doll in the window.
3. The shot of me noticing the doll in the window.
4. Going into the shop.
5. The doll being removed from the window.
6. Walking out of the shop with the doll.

All very quick shots, which will make up the ending of the film.
After editing, I can prepare music. I'll need to take note of times of the film, and what mood these times are, so that music can be played in time with the scenes. If not, I may have to experiment with garage band.

Magazine review - layout plan

This is the basic layout for my magazine review, which will be a double page spread of multiple reviews. I looked mostly at 'Empire' magazine and 'Film' magazine for layouts, and I noticed the biggest difference between short film reviews and feature length reviews is the length of the review. Which is why the space for writing is so small. I also noticed that there was mostly no correllation betweenthe main film being reviewed and the adverts for films in the cinema or reviews of other films, other than maybe actorsor genre, general things that would appeal to those interested in the main article. It's from this I decided to review 'Traffic Warden' and 'Sorry I'm late', and if I have space for another 'For My Blossom'.
I can't sort out the photos or the main review until all filming and editing is finished so I can get screenshots or stills, though I can write out the shorter reviews of actual short films (of the same, childish, family genre). Also, I can do the smaller parts of the review, e.g. basic plotline, film details etc.
I'll have to find styles, fonts and colour schemes too, I'm thinking of light colours to fit the genre of the film without using pink or blue, to make it clear that the film isn't aimed at males or females specifically, and I'd choose more rounded fonts (as opposed to the more square, harsh-looking fonts which would look out of place).

Magazine review - research piece

To make a magazine review, I decided to look at other film review articles. As I couldn't find a short film review article, I used a feature film article as a basic idea. (The boxes contain little notes about some aspects of the article, click the image to make it bigger)

Although, this clearly isn't the genre of film I want to use, or a short film, though the basic layout will be very useful, in creating my magazine review.

Magazine review

So, the other ancillary task (other than the poster) is a magazine review. I'll have to find magazine reviews for short films, the type of magazine, find an audience appropriate magazine, and how it's set out. I'll also have to see what programme to use, I've never used photoshop (successfully, anyway), so I'll have to find a programme which will look like a magazine article, and upload to the blog.

Poster

I know that it's unconventional to have so much blank space on a poster, and so I tried to fill it out, using the little tear-off tabs sometimes at the bottom of missing posters, with details written on them. I decided to have 'Missing' and then the fake website which would further advertise the film, whilst still having the look of a poster. I'll upload this finished product when I'ts finished, and I've decided if it looks better or not.

Distribution

As there'll be a radio advert for my short film, I'd need to think about where people would find my film. Most short films are found either on Youtubes (Many are posted after short film festivals) or on specialised websites, or sections of bigger websites devoted to short films, such as the BBC Film Network short film section. So I think my short film would be on the internet, and maybe have its own website (Like 'Sorry I'm Late'). That way the advert could say something like "Missing. The new short film by Lyndsay Essex. Find it on www.missing-shortfilm.com." There is a problem however, as it is more of a silent film, there will be no voice clips available, so I'll have to think of a way around this, and use the background music from the film in the advert.

I had a rethink since writing this, and I thought that my target audience wouldn't be people who would listen to the radio, my target audience being young adults and teenagers. So I decided to change my ancillary task from a poster and a radio advert to a poster and magazine review.

Coding schedule analysis

--CLICK FOR BIGGER IMAGE--
The Coding schedule I made was supposed to evaluate short films by sorting how short films differ, using genre, number of characters, the use of music and diagetic sound.

This means I can compare my film plans against other short films, to make sure the style, storyline and genre fit and work together.Only 2 of the films are less than 5 minutes, and so these examples are the most useful. However the longest, 'Traffic Warden' is the right genre and was a major influence (see first post).


'Test' is the wrong genre, I labelled it as 'drama', and whilst it is in the time limit it is quite violent and dark, the complete opposite of my planned film.


'Sorry I'm late' would work as it is the right genre and within the time limit, but it is a stop motion, I am only using stop motion for the opening titles.

Questionnaire results

Results of 5 returned questionnaires:

1.       2 under 16s, 3 16-30

2.       2 female, 3 male

3.       2 yes, 3 no

4.       Either no reason, not interested, or never heard of any
5.       3 4-6 minutes, 1 7-9 minutes, 1 10 minutes or over

6.       2 with speech, 3 silent

7.       3 comedy, 1 action and 1 animated

8.       4 solid ending, 1 cliff hanger

Question 1 - This shows the questionnaires were aimed at the correct target audience my short film is aimed at. This will enable me to see the preferred film specifics of my target audience.

Question 2 - I originally handed out 10 questionnaires (5 to females, 5 to males), but only 5 were returned. However the returned few were still a mix and so the results should produce valid results.

Question 3 - I chose this question to try to find out how wide the audience for short films is, though obviously only handing out 10 questionnaires wouldn't have brought back representative results. Only 2 out of the 5 people had seen a short film, which shows the audience for short films to be quite small.

Question 4 - I asked if there was a reason they hadn't seen a short film, they said either no reason, not interested, or never heard of any. This shows that short films aren't as publicised as full length films, which could be a major factor in why short films aren't as popular. After speaking with the person who answered 'no reason', I was told that they had heard of some, but only the titles, and so had no idea of what they were about or where to find them, which fits in again with their lack of publicity.

Question 5 - 3 people chose 4-6 minutes, which works due to the fact the limit for the short film is 5 minutes. If I rewrote the questionnaire, I'd change this question, as I think putting a question about length it pointless when there's a set limit. I'd possibly ask the question about prefered story lines (using general examples) or ask about my storyline, and get a rating and a written opinion, or different 'check-box' options.

Question 6 - 2 People said they preferred speech in short films over silent. As silent is the more popular, though people do want speech, I have decided to have no scripted speech and background music, though keep in background sound from filming, so that diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are merged together.

Question 7 - The most popular option was comedy, and so I'll try to incorporate some funny parts into it. Action and animation both got a 'vote', however, as this is only an A level piece, I don't have the budget, software or knowledge to make an animated film, though it would work with the storyline, an action film has the same problems, though wouldn't suit the genre.

Question 8 - More people wanted a solid ending, which works to my advantage, as a cliffhanger would probably need a sequel. In my experience, people don't like single films which end on a cliffhanger, as audience members want to know what happens to the characters, how/if the storyline ends, etc. I found this when I went to see 'The Golden Compass', whist it's a full length film, many people outside of the cinema screen were complaining about the ending.

Title screens

For the titles, I decided I'd have a kind of stop motion of photos of the object the film as the opening, so into that, I'd incorporate some title screens into it, printed out version, because many short films have titles in the style of the film (The earlier 'Traffic Warden' post, for example). Although, I got this idea from the TV series Miranda's openning titles, though abviously they will be different to mine as this is a sitcom series, not a short film, and so the TV series titles will be more of a motif to tell the audience that the programme is starting, rather than an opening. However, I will use this as a kind of inspiration. Due to copyright and availability and all that jazz, I can't add a link like I want to.

'Missing' poster Ideas

As the film will be called 'Missing' I thought the poster could be a missing poster (Like the ones that will be used in the film) Because I don't have those made yet, here are some examples of the simple 'Lost' poster I wanted.

Poster plans

I created a few posters, each with something different, such as a logo or a completely different design.

This version has tear-offs along the bottom, as it's unconventional to have so much white space on a poster, I tried to fill space, so I moved the writing and logos and added in tags which read 'MISSING - www.rosie-is-missing.co.uk'.  

 This makes them seem more like the american style 'lost' posters I found. I didn't think this worked, as the tear-off tags aren't commonly seen in Britain, and would look out of place.

I really like this version, as it's simple, looks like a mssing poster (though the logos make it obvious that it's a film poster). I also like the fact it breaks conventions by having lots of blank white space, as this reflects the storyline of the film, (it's unconventional for an 18 year old to hand out missing posters for a doll).

 This is my least favourite version, as it doesn't fit the style of the film. I tried to fit with other film posters, using one photo to fill the whole poster, and overlaying the writing. Though due to the quality and size of the photo, it looked really unprofessional.

Music

 As a silent(-ish) film I'll need some music to go over the film. Rob has written 2 pieces of music for me to use, I'll use one for the credits (both opening and closing titles) and one for the film itself.
 I can't get the music to fit the film until filming and editing is finished, so I can see how long each piece of music needs to be, and when the pace changes, to make sure the music fits the pace of the film all the way through.