Final Short Film - A Vida Doce

Short Film Final

Vimeo Upload

 

YouTube Upload

Title - A Vida Doce/The Sweet Life

Written & Created - Johnny Fonseca

Narrator - Carlos Fonseca

Target Audience - PG

Length - 5 minutes 18 seconds 

Music - Andrea Guerra - Welcome Chris (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Here is the final outcome for my short film, overall the short took around 10+ hours to create and that's not including learning how to use the software. Overall the short came out perfectly, if not even better than I expected. I was always a little worried about the narrative but in the end, I feel that the audio turned out crisp and clear. I really wanted this short to hold a message within about family and so far I feel it has connect to a lot of my family members, I shared the final copy of the short to a family member and it got spread over Facebook and I didn't even post it up myself! I received so many comments from members of the family explaining their thoughts on the film and they all loved the film and each person received the message. From this another problem arise when I thought maybe other people who aren't in my family won't like get the same feeling about the short, and this is right but it's not a bad feeling, it's just audiences outside of my family think about their own family instead of my own! Everyone interprets this film completely different however everyone receives the message. I created a survey to also get further feedback on the short.I first uploaded the short to YouTube as my video was too big to upload to a basic account of Vimeo, after I used the schools Vimeo account to upload the short. I wanted to put the short on both platforms as I feel target a different audience in a sense of YouTube being for everyone and Vimeo being used by professionals and the industry.

Audience Feedback

Emma/17/UK

I feel that this short film is very creative which makes it enjoyable to watch. The use of non diegetic and diegetic sound allows us as the audience to experience the feel of Portugal and the activities occuring. The voice over and translation is unique and give the short film an extra edge to it. The bright colours used also give off a happy feeling which makes me too feel positive and in a good mood. Overral I think this short film is really well edited and has a range of great camera shots, angles and also beautiful settings.

Alex/20/UK
This film touched me dearly as it reminded me of my own family experiences and how it felt to be a part of one. The whole way it was laid out and the time, it wasn’t too long as it was just the right length. I loved the vibrant colours and song which was chosen in the background as it made me feel happy and brand so many memories to my heart.

Final Magazine Short Film Review DPS

Final Magazine Review

My main inspiration for this layout was from Sight&Sound review section, however I felt that their article was more formal and just full of text whereas I wanted mine to be more colourful and bright, I wanted the article to stand out and so that just a glance will pull readers in. I really like that I used lots of screen grabs to really sell the short, the overall layout and has professional trates and makes the DPS looks realistic.

Audience Feedback

Ana/English(Portuguese Background)/18

The article functions well in that it is stylistically interesting yet simply structured and easy to follow. The graphics that the editor chose to showcase moments of the film are accurate examples of the subject matter and the candid, montage style of the film. These photos also carry a lot of the cultural elements and the closeness of family that the film hinges upon. The pull-text pieces are useful for readers who prefer to skim rather than plunge into the meat of the article itself, but the perhaps the most important element, the title of the film itself and the name of its author, are a bit lost in the shuffle. I would suggest a much more prominent title, top and center, in order to cement the film title in the mind of the reader from the first glance. 

Rating 5/5.

Tony/UK/20

 The film review article is really well formatted, and definitely looks like something one would find between magazine covers. The pull-quotes used perform their task quite well, drawing the attention of the reader and piquing their interest with small extracts. One bit that seems oddly used is the photo of a person enjoying their can of soda. It just seems that there could be something more fitting, without even needing to change the image subtitle. The actual text covers film in depth, and the author gives the readers a lovely description of the events and their meaning. Overall, a very well made article.  Hats off to the author for an enjoyable retelling.

Rating 5/5.

Final Short Film Poster - A Vida Doce

Final Poster (English)
After fully completely the English film poster for my short, I felt the need to create another film poster with the exact style however instead of being in English I would make it Portuguese. As the short itself is in Portuguese language it seems understandable that I would also create a film poster to represent the film in Portuguese.

 Film Poster (Portuguese)
Simple,classic and beautiful is what I was aiming for and I think I have achieved it! I found that my feedback from previous drafts were probably the most useful piece of information I could acquire. I worked on the feedback which basically lead the film poster to hold all conventions of a stereotypical poster. I can actually say that I am so proud of myself for creating such a poster and I can not say it any simpler, feedback is key to a successful poster.

Audience Review/Feedback
I wanted to acquire a board feedback so I asked some friends from around the globe. This meant that I would be reaching audiences from other countries and also meant that I wasn't going to get feedback from just British Citizens.

Marcus/Canada/23

                The film poster features a gentleman taking a picture of a beautiful sunset over a calm ocean. It is a fitting image for the movie, in that it is a happy moment being captured as a memory, however I think it could have been shown at a different angle in the same setting, and perhaps show more than one person enjoying the sunset, as the film has a family-oriented meaning. The newly-wedded couple would have been ideal for this! The poster does have a professional feel to it, in that the poster’s viewers have an easy time understanding and getting a general feel of what the film might entail. The text is appropriately placed and does not interrupt the main image.

Rachel/America/26

As an advertisement for the short film, A Vida Doce, this poster effectively conveys both the tone and subject matter in a concise yet attractive and stylistic way. The saturated colors are inviting and also suggestive of the warm ambience pervading the film’s atmosphere. The silhouetted photographer oriented to the left hints at the perspective from which the film was composed, without interfering with what we understand to be the film’s subject matter. The darkness of the figure suggests anonymity, and implies the universal qualities of the film’s message. The subtitle referring to the nature of happiness is a clever grab, and while it hints at  the film’s content, it does not betray any of the endearing moments the film itself has to offer.

Isha/UK/17

I think that this poster is really nicely done. A great job right here, a lot of beautiful colors and I feel gentle just looking at it. I really like that it comes in both Portuguese and English. It shows the cultural side of the movie.I feel like the poster really brings out the message of the video, too, like how happiness can be found in stopping to enjoy something simple like a sunset.I also love how the sweeping text for the title looks like what you might find on like a box of chocolates, so when we start the film it's almost like unwrapping something sweet.

Production Diary #37 - The Final

Here is the final production log that I will be doing for the whole blog - I felt this was the time to stop as after this post each post will be about the final products and that the whole purpose of the production logs was to keep track of the creation process. I have actually enjoyed my time when doing this blog and I have learn't a lot in the process. One of the main things I learn't from doing this blog was timing. I needed everything to be done on time so that I didn't fall behind and have to do everything last minute like last year.

RAW Narrative Audio

The studio was a successful one and I was able to record everything in one session which meant I wouldn't have to go back, the only issue I came across was that I didn't know how continue recording without overwriting the previous record. However hearing the final footage, they seems to be a bit of grain in the background so I will research into a way to reduce the grain. I used Adobe Audition instead of Audacity as I was told by my teachers to use Audition as it record high quality sound and isn't that difficult to use.

Here is the RAW audio clips placed into a timeline.

Alternations made along the way

Software changes was made half way through doing tasks which really held me back in terms of creating the piece. I had to use new software which I didn't even have a basic understanding of. I felt I should create a prezi as I kept using the blog format and the blog began to feel repetitive.

2nd Draft - Short Film

SELF-FEEDBACK

For my second set of drafts I wanted myself to evaluate my own work - I know that one major problem that most people have is evaluating and depicting their own work and criticizing it. I used this opportunity to find the needed improvements for my short film but also at the same time work on my feedback not only for others but also for myself - honest to myself is key. I will have to keep thinking what would I say if "A Vida Doce" was created by someone else and they showed me this.

What I felt was easiest for me was to view the short and jot down aspects of the film which I personally thought could be improved. I also then confirmed the list with fellow students in my Media Studies class to double check I wasn't missing any major aspect out - maybe an aspect of the short that I knew took a long time to do and still didn't look right and knowing myself I would push to the side and leave it. That's why asking someone else I could make sure I wasn't doing that.

Colour Correction
Anyways one of the easiest aspect I noticed needed work done to was my colour correcting. The problem with colour correcting was that if too much editing was done to a particular scene - the scene would get a type of colour bleed and green/red pixels would be visible in the background which ruined the whole HD shot. I then had to ask my teachers and googled the problem and found my way round some forums and found out that I was basically over editing the clip which created the static pixels. To resolve this I reset the colour edit on that specific scene and re-edit the shot. The purpose of the colour correction was really to make the footage stand out and give it that professional look that I was desiring for my short film. There was traits that this could also be rendering problems.

Subtitles
Another problem was that the subtitles for my short seems too in your face. I felt to keep with the overall theme and feel of the short I should fade the subtitles to really make the whole piece flow. However saying that I only faded in and out when a subtitle was emerging or after the segment of subtitles ended. I also noticed that I found spelling and punctuation errors which made the whole short look unprofessional and gave it a shabby look.

Scene Adding/Cutting + Credits
I also had to do the stereotypical move and edits with removing certain shots that didn't seem to tie in with the whole short - they seemed more off putting. I then had to replace these with new shots which would stand out and connect with the message and visuals of the short film. I also added some credits to the end of the short to reiterate the stereotypical information needed after a film - Who created the film, the did the dialogue and who composted the music.

Audio

Lastly after giving the video one last watch the audio kept bugging me. For instants parts of the song was faded badly and at parts became too quite or too loud which was an ultimate. I also had parts where the background music was way too loud and you could not hear the dialogue. This was easy simple tweaks however it was a huge improvement

From this I feel that "A Vida Doce" will finally look like a professional short film and that I will be able to ensure that these improvements were worth while by acquiring feedback for my final product and seeing what the audience think. 

2nd Draft - Film Review DPS

SELF-FEEDBACK

Quality

Almost instantly I can already see a major issue which I only just realized - the upload quality. For some reason when I uploaded the film review to issuu. I uploaded the file again however this problem continued to happen, the PDF looked in perfect quality when I viewed the file. I then took to good and researched the problem and made sure that the quality was at its best. I learn't that I should also double check anything I do whether its an essay or a product I should always proof check. 

Image Layout

Also looking at the film article as a whole I feel that the main screen grab is a bit obnoxious and I am just covering up an easy chance to add more images to represent the short - I think that if I used another similar screen grab the magazine would look more interesting. Also the way the article is laid out is a current issue of mine. Yet again I feel that I wasted room by adding such a huge picture during the article. I could have simply added two separate images and maybe pull in a quote like I previously done - these would grab the readers attention.

Film Poster Section

On the bottom right of the double page spread I have connected the film poster to the article which gives the whole product a sense of realism. The only problem is that right now it looks like I ran out of article so to cover it up I placed the film poster there which is not the reason. I need to add text to fill the space on top/below the film poster image, maybe some information about the creators of the film - like a synopsis.

Professional Look

Ultimately I feel that the article holds professional elements but in some parts it seems like I have placed stuff just to fill up space and I also have added many sub-headings for the images so right now they just look like a randomly placed image. I also forgot to label an age rating for the film in clear view of the reader, it would be a good idea if I could include it someone at the beginning of the article. Also some of the images look a bit bland and could do with a little touch up on Photoshop.

I feel that its the best thing for me to give myself feedback because I can work on the skill of self criticism which I learnt from A2 Media Studies. The way I do this is that I pretend I am analyzing someone else's work as I have noticed through my class that most students are careless about feedback to others and will say their opinion however they are very easy to defend their own work due to the heaps about of effort gone into the product.

2nd Draft - Short Film Poster

2nd Draft of Short Film Poster

SELF-FEEDBACK

Here is my first digital draft of my film poster, however my second overall draft. Almost instantly after completing the draft I already could see the flaws. The overall design was very simple but also keeping that professional element. I firstly used a photo which would overall illustrate the short as a whole for he its this simple photograph of an old person taking a photograph of the sunset.

Photograph
Being as I come from a background of photography I should have always edited the photo before even using it, however in this case I used the RAW file. This really gives the photograph no life and with a simple colour touch up I will be able to make this photograph stand out. The photograph needs some vibrancy and I will do this on Adobe Lightroom.

Reviews
The simple design might have become too simple and now just looks like I did a quick film poster. By only having two reviews the poster looks too plain and not as big. So by adding 2 more quotes. I also felt that but using 4 starts instead of 5 I am just underselling the short film and in actual fact give the film a bad image. The only reason for me giving the short 4 starts was that I felt I was giving that image of being "too good" however after speaking to fellow class mates of mine everyone explained that the best possible thing was to add more stars to give the film a better image.

Age Certificate/Awards/External Links
I also forgot to add very common factors/conventions of a film poster such as the parental age, any awards given and also any other information about the short for example social networking/websites. For the age restrictions I did not want to add a BBFF age certificate - specially those bright colourful ones as it will only distract the viewers of the poster. Instead I am going to opt for a more plain and simple age restriction with white text and boarders. For the award I wanted to give the short a real award to really give the poster the sense of life and that actually its really true. Saying this I had to go back into my blog and re-read the post on film festivals and begin to find one which would best suit my short (PALME D'OR - FESTIVAL DE CANNES 2014). Lastly I simply added the website, Facebook page and also a hash-tag to help the film trend on twitter. I placed all 3 of these things below the credits part of the film poster and used the same/similar font to the reviews.

Portuguese Edition/Landscape Edition
I also thought that as my short film is actually in Portuguese that I should also create a Portuguese film poster for that specific audience. As I am fluent in Portuguese most of the translations was very simple for me (My family did help me a little bit!). To further make this film poster unique and interested I also made a landscape edition of the whole poster which was simple to do on InDesign.This really illustrates that if this was real and that the poster was used for advertisement purposed that I was prepared for billboard/landscape advertisement space.

Production Diary #36

Since receiving feedback from both myself and others for my first drafts I have worked to improve my products and made sure I followed the given feedback. However for my second drafts I feel that I will be giving myself feedback instead of asking anyone like the first drafts - this is due to asking people sometimes can be tedious. Not only would I completely remove this tedious effect from receiving feedback but also at the same time I will able to work on criticizing my own work and gradually learn how to give valid feedback to anyone.

Photographs for Short Film Poster & Film Article

I recorded a video to demonstrate the photographs in which I used for my film poster, however for the film article I simply screen grab parts of the short film and just gave those shots an individual touch up, those photos weren't really a contact. I recorded this using a program called Frapz which was very easy to use and then quickly edited it on premiere.

Production Diary #35

After finding out the problems with the current products I then research on ways in which I could improve them as well keeping in mind with the feedback given. I began taking into consideration what would I say to my products if they weren't mine. I also went through my blog and noticed that I have missing posts and in some cases things so make sense - for example in my film poster I have chosen the photograph however I didn't explain how I got the photo and if it's actually mine and if it is, what did I do with it. This is what gave me the idea of my next post.

Technical Difficulties

Overall there has been multiple difficulties across each piece which has driven me insane! So here is a video explaining this.

 

 

Production Diary #34

My current status:

Rough Cut of Short Film

FEEDBACK

Michael/UK/26
After viewing the draft short film I got really confused as to why there was a random burst of music straight at the beginning of the short. I am going to guess it was a miss placing of the sound - top tip make sure you double check the time line before you export. All in all the short film was amazing and I can see the message Johnny is trying to give to the audience which is a powerful, I just feel like its lost in the touch due to there not being any vibrant shots, he should colour correct.

Marlene/Portugal/21
Johnny explained to me that there will be subtitles and a dialog implemented in the film, I literally feel like this short film with those elements will hold so much power. The message will be shot out to the straight to the audience! I just hope that whoever recording the dialog has a deep voice - and an accent! That would really give it that Portuguese especially if it was in Portuguese.

SELF-FEEDBACK



 I really wanted to record my own opinion as well as others so I could get a pure and real understanding of what I thought of my short film at this moment in time. I wanted to hear my real thoughts and not me going back and editing parts of my audio off as I now don't believe that what I said was right - If I said it back then it has some effect on me as a viewer as a first impression so it needs to be adjusted. I also uploaded the audio to SoundCloud for the first time on the blog, I really want to wide the software and programs I use to post stuff on my blog. Whereas my second drafts will need to be much more thought out and I will have to give feedback from a perspective of my whole target audience and not just mine like this feedback.

Sketch Draft of Film Review DPS

FEEDBACK

Tony/UK/30
This plan for a double page spread seems really interesting! As a fond reader of film reviews I can tell that there is a different feel and aspect of this layout. Saying that I feel as if this full bleed look is working, my eyes don't know where to start and I just feel really overwhelmed by the spread. I also feel that you shouldn't have the film title on top of the image as it might ruin that clean look as you are overlaying a big part of the page which is the main image. Also maybe add the page title outside the boarder so that the page is not full bleed and more professional.

Ciara/Spain/17
With this layout I am able to work out that it has a huge comparison between text and image, its 50/50. I feel that it's best to choose down a root where the readers of the magazine prefer a more text driven spread than a image one - using too many big images looks tacky. Maybe include smaller imaged throughout the article with a few subtitles. Also have you thought about including your film poster anywhere to illustrate that this is a successful short with the whole package.

SELF FEEDBACK

I specifically chose two friends who I knew would be brutally honest with their feedback and, I know that they were talking about my work in my best interest. I think that my problem with this sketch is that I thought about making it too playful and I forgot about my main target audience which are 16+, these reviews need to be more professional and more review heavy as that's what their reading the spread for - to know what my short is about and if its worth watching. For the images I am going to have to find and choose screen grabs/photographs which best describe the short in a nutshell.

Production Diary #33

From just doing the first sketch for my short film poster I instantly remember one thing I really wasn't good at/didn't like - drawing/sketching. Not only does it take a long time, but also is very tedious in a sense that I have to draw it with pencil and paper then scan it into the computer for a digital print to them annotate it from there. I know now that for my film review DPS I will have to spent a lot of time doing the sketchs and not actually rushing it like the short film poster one as the overall image looks very scruffy and nowhere as expected - you will have to use your imagination to view the drawing!

Sketch Draft of Short Film Poster

FEEDBACK

Lily/21/USA
Johnny explained he was going for a very simple look however I think he has gone a bit overboard! He has not included vital conventions of the short that is really needed to complete the whole professional look. For example the billing block, star ratings and also a sub heading/slogan. The star rating are important - for example if I saw a movie poster with 1 star/no star there is a little to no chance that I won't watch that film. I also want to comment how I love the title name "A Vida Doce", it seems like a perfect sum for a family/love film and how it just seems to roll off the tongue ever so perfectly.

Sebastian/19/UK
To add the Lily's feedback I would think that adding a a slogan/sub heading would really give a boost to the film poster. It might be a good idea to add a good quote from the short itself - I can see you are following a clean theme which I love so I feel that you should use the colour white for the text.

SELF FEEDBACK

I really felt that this self feedback should be non-scripted so I did it. This was more so that I could go on further about the themes of the film and so I could link different elements from different parts of my products. 

Production Diary #32

Quick recording I got to illustrate and explain what's currently happening.

Original Footage in RAW State

Just as I did my RAW footage of Location post, I recorded my screen using a program called Fraps which recorded both my screen and my voice. This meant I was able to smoothing record and talk about each shot easily just by holding down a button. Anyway I only spoke about the shots that really stood out to me and ones which I knew were going to be used in the short film.

Production Diary #31

So after uploading my practice task I feel that not only was that beneficial for me as a learning curve but also to the final short film. That was the first time using Adobe Premiere to create a proper film and I encountered multiple errors which I have now found and know fixes to - this also means that these problems shouldn't come up in my final products but if they do then I know how to deal with them.

I am beginning to start getting nervous as time comes so close to when we are actually beginning to create draft copies for our products. I just hope my products come out as good as I want them. I guess it just needs some hard work!

Practice Task

I felt that before beginning my short film I should practice my Adobe After Effect skills and try to get my head around colour correcting and the way the software is laid out. I basically collected all the footage of my brothers wedding a created a mini wedding video for them in a perspective of a guest. The soundtracks used were two songs which meant something to the bride and groom and for me that was sort of the icing on the cake, there was meaning and depth in the video. Once I showed them the video they both loved it and were happy I was able to upload it to YouTube so they could post it on Facebook and all their friends could see. After watching the final video I noticed some colour correction errors which I will have to work on when editing my short film, as well as this I also noticed that the wide screen bars might be a bit too big and they are cutting too much detail in the film. Lastly even with the colour correction I know I rushed them as I wanted to show them the video as soon as possible and from this I can see how badly the colour correction has been done and I now know that colour correcting will take time and I will need to learn to be patient.

Production Diary #30

I kept hearing my class mates use a browser based software called Voki for their production diaries. I had to see what all the fuss was about and I created and account and gave it a try. Anyways moving on I just finished the audience feedback which the lovely Neha who is a class mate of mine did for me. I will now being moving on to finally creating the products! However before that I wanted to include the wedding video I did for my brother as a practice task for my block and before I get into my products.

Audience Feedback

I was lucky enough to get Neha (a class mate) to review my blog in its current state and my film ideas. I specificially wanted Neha to give me feedback because I knew she would be honest and say the truth so I know I could rely on her feedback. I felt the need to get a whole feedback on the blog so far so that I can find out if I am doing something wrong so far and that I can work on it before continuing the blog and doing the Construction Evidence section of the blog.

Production Diary #29

I have now finally published the handout sheet I gave out when I was filming in Portugal. I had to make both English and a Portuguese versions because I will be around multiple English speaking people however there will also be family who live in Portugal who I will be filming aswell who arn't that great at English. And as I now completed my Planning section of my blog I am going to ask a school friend to do a Audience Feedback for me.

Handout Release

Here is the handout release that I gave out to all of my family,friends and anyone who was going to be in any of my shots. This enabled me to be relaxed when shooting as I knew the people knew they were being films so it wasn't a surprise to them. This also meant that I wouldn't make anyone angry or upset for filming them and if they did have a problem I knew before filming. I had to make both an English and Portuguese version as I was filming in Portugal.

 

English & Portuguese Handout Release:

 

 

 

Proposal for Short Film

Title - ???
Length - 5/6 minutes
Narrative - Carlos Fonseca
Target Audience - PG
Music - Andrea Guerra - Welcome Chris (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Synopsis:
A digital storytelling documentary about family. A short documenting the lifestyle and culture of Portugal and and see Portuguese family's in action through my eyes. Do we take family for granted? Are we just being greedy? What does family mean to you?

Editing:
The will will not include crazy SGI and effect created with Adobe After Effects, this short will be simple and beautiful. Simple transitions like fade in/outs both black and whites, Cross dissolves and quick cuts. I want the audience to focus more on the narrative and footage more than them getting distracted by crazy transitions. Simple and Beautiful!

Audio:
Portuguese narrative mixed with English subtitles, I felt this would really create the mood and meaning for the short. By using another language and forcing the English audience to read the narrative makes them more focuses and aware of the content instead of them just watching the footage them will understand the message and meaning within them. The narrative will be mixed with a beautiful backing track by Andrea Guerra. Simple orchestra which really combine's with the footage and gives a meaning to the short itself.

Target Audience:
I wanted my short to be viewed by everyone, it's a simple message for every (Cherish your family). However the content could be a bit deep for a younger audience so it really then depends on how mature the person who is viewing the film. I made the age rating for this short as a PG as there is scenes which feature alcohol and smoking.

Length:
With all my footage I knew I could easily made a 10+ minute short, but in my opinion I wanted my short to be quick and easy, you didn't have to watch it from the beginning to understand, you just had to focus. Instead I feel my short will go around the 5 minute mark, however saying that means I will have to find the best footage through all the 350+ clips and only use those which really stand out. But I know there will be loads of clips that I love so I have a plan to use multiple shots in a space of 30 seconds.

Title:
For the short title I am still undecided so I will be doing a post brainstorming different titles and I will begin to choose one before editing my short. The title will need to summarize the film in a whole.

Production Diary #28

I have now basically done every element to now create an overall proposal for my short film. This has made me think about what type of background music I want to add, music seems as if it's nothing important however music adds so much emphasis and impact to the short. It's actually so important that I choose a piece which suits my whole theme and also the look of the overall short. So far the one composer who has caght my attention is Andrea Guerra - she created multiple tracks for the film Pursuit of Happyness. There is something about her music which really hits the spot of emotion.

Health and safety evidence

I felt that even doing the Risk Assessment sheet I am unable to demonstrate that the sheet was in fact not as useful to me as it would be to others. Recording a non scripted video urged me to demonstrate the types of obstacles I had to overcome when in Portugal and being non-scripted made the video like a conversation and personal. 

Production Diary #27

Here is a quick video I did for the 27th production post - I don't enjoy filming myself maybe because it's me in it but I felt there was a necessary to do at least one of the logs in this format.

Film Poster Plan

My overall theme I am trying to acquire for my poster is simple, clean and beautiful. I firstly did the exact thing I did for my film article plan, I went back into my blog and re-read the post on my analysis of posters, however instead of moving on and beginning to look into magazine, I feel in love with this design for the film "the kid with a bike". It followed a simple colour scheme of white, black, red which contrasted well with the picture in the background who was wearing a red t-shirt.

Anyway before even starting I went through all my holiday photographs and luckily enough I found a perfect photograph which I took both in portrait and landscape! So I already knew what background image I was going to use. For this photograph I really feel a simple plain white would contrast perfectly with the image. I will also include these aspects to my film poster:

-Reviews

I will use a variation from newspapers, magazines and famous people in the industry, like a cinematography critic.

-Title

Depending on the title I am hoping to go for a text which a swish to it, something along the lines of Scriptina. It gives the poster a classic side to it. 

-Tag Line

Quick and easy line to drag the audience in.

-Billing Board

This is very common and its now a convention so I will have to include one, however instead of using fake information all information will be true to the short film itself.

-Age Rating

This is needed as its now a convention.

-Awards

This information is ofcourse fake, however by including this it gives the film a sense of realism and that if audiences saw it won an award they will be more likely to go watch it.

-Social Media

For those who want to know more about the film/stay connected

-Background Image

Production Diary #26

Planning for Article

Design
Before creating my article I needed to prepare myself and actually know what I was going to create before even opening the software. First I went back to my magazine analysis post and refreshed my mind with the different designs, from this I began flicking through magazines and saving double page spreads which stood out to me, one that really caught my eye was one from Sight&Sound, the DPS was reviewing the movie Argo. In my case I was looking for at the design more than the content itself. With there simple colour scheme of dark blue, grey, white and black mixed with a simplistic page layout worked perfectly in my eyes, this was the sort of look I wanted for my short film DPS magazine review. The only problem this DPS was for me was the lack of visuals, this could be that i'm a personally a more visual driven person, saying this means that I will be using more than just two images and one pull quote, I feel these are what engage the read and are eye catchers when flicking through magazines! I also like the way that this spread includes a credits and synopsis part and I feel that even though my short film wont have as many credits it will still be an interesting section to have on a DPS. The type of fonts which will be used are probably ones which are going to be used for my film poster as well, I want to try and keep a reoccurring theme through all my pieces. This spread will include fonts such as Times New Roman, Century Gothic, Scriptina and lastly Helvetica CE 35 Thin. I will be using the same sort of layout as this spread however include two images in the top half instead of the one, this is mainly because I am worried that I haven't written enough for the review for it to cover as much space as this spread has.

Sight&Sound - Argo DPS

Stuff to include:
-Images from Short Film
-Pull Quotes
-Captions for images
-Synopsis of short
-Credits from short
-Page number,magazine and date
-Type of page e.g. SHORT OF THE WEEK

Written Article

Production Diary #25

I'm really confident in the way my short film will form. As I have a shot list and a base structure I am now keen about the overall production. I am not worried that I have to place clips together as that was my previous concern. I will now be moving on to writing my review for my double page spread and I will be getting it checked by a friend of mine who actually writes reviews - I want her to read it to proof read and make sure the review sheds a good light on my short.

Structure of my Short Film

So far I feel that with the footage I collected I will be following a simple structure. The intro will start of with loads of cuts of my family and friends faces (happy emotions), and then the last clip will fade into white and then the title of the short kicks in and then the film begins. After the title sequence it will begin with some footage of some type of journey and then maybe some clips to demonstrate the beauty of Portugal. From there I will fade into a family party which will demonstrate the culture and family side to Portugal and Portuguese people. Then after that section I will go back to clips which will have meaning behind them, this part will probably be with the beach, pools and nature, and this will be linked to the script. Then I will cut to another family party and keep the happy theme going and straight after that I will move onto the finale of the short which will be the wedding and that part will sum up the movie as a whole.

-Quick portrait shots (Intro

-Title Sequence

-Journey

-Illustrate Portugal Life

-Portuguese Cultural parties

-Beach/Pools/Nature

-Reinforcing Portuguese culture and party lifestyle

-Wedding

All of this will need to checked with the script and if needed I will move the structure/script around to make it work with the film and the shots used.

The type of narrative structure which my short film will follow is a Linear narrative.

Production Diary #24

Making a post solely to the post-production software really opened my eyes and demonstrated to me what I actually have to learn and how long it will take me! These are products which are industry standard and I didn't want to throw this opportunity, this is where I took myself to YouTube! I began finding videos on how to actually work these programs and before I knew it I was on YouTube for the whole day! I was experimenting with multiple different effects and techniques for Adobe Premier and I found that Colour Correcting seemed like something inwhich I wold want to do for my short film. There was something about how good the footage looked after being tweaked. The colour correction seemed to reborn the clip.

 

 

Editing software

I have created a prezi to demonstrate the different software's I will be using to create my final pieces. I felt the need to include screen shots to demonstrate the base of the software. Overall I will be using a total of five softwares to create everything from my blog posts to final pieces. Not only has this opened my eyes in suprisement as I have began/will begin to learn multiple software and also illustrates how I have left my comfort zone of only using Photoshop and now moved on and used multiple programs.
 

Production Diary #23

I feel like these production diary's are starting to turn into mini podcast! I end up talking for a long time about something so simple as a shot list. I am happy that my audio clips ended up like this as they are more enjoyable and off the bat, which represents my personality. I also spoke about me being unable to create a prop list due to my products have no need for props! Anyway have a listen and enjoy - Until next time!

Shot List

Shot List:

Even though this post looks easy it was actually probably one of the hardest of them all. Having to go through all my footage of over 350+ clips varying from seconds to minutes and choosing parts which fit with the script. The way I did this was I went through each clip and either did three actions, either delete it if it was bad quality or not what I needed, moved it into the artistic folder or move it into the people folder. This allowed me to organize my shots and if I needed a certain shot for example a visual of a Portuguese city I would just go in the artistic folder. However I made a back-up of this folder in case I deleted/misplaced a clip i needed/wanted. This really goes to show the amount of work needed for just a 5 minute short film.

Production Diary #22

I have noticed that I have taken these production dairies as the personal/realistic part of the blog - realistic in the sense of that I am writing straight what I feel about the current situation. Nothing is really thought about in this section. It's my diary I can talk about any aspect of the filming. My next post is going to be very time consuming so  know that I am going to have to start it very soon and give me a long time spare to finish it - the overall post will be tedious however it will be 100% beneficial specially for the editing stage of the film. Instead of having to go through all the clips and pick one at a time I already have it written down, I now have created the first base of the movie.

RAW Footage of Location

Here is a quick video illustrating my RAW footage. Instead of posting all my footage into a Adobe Premiere time line I felt that I should talk about my footage as I am demonstrating it. Also if I placed my footage onto a time line it would be over 30 minutes long. I used a program called Fraps to record my desktop and microphone and did the whole video in two takes. I didn't want to write a script, instead I wanted the post to be more laid back and actually put myself on the spot.

Production Diary #21

After creating the "storyboard" I have begun to think about the type of narrative structure that I want my short film to go under:

Chrnological/Linear

The most traditional and most common narrative structure is the linear or chronological one. Such a story is organized around a series of events and key moments that have often been labeled and ordered as follows: the rising action or precipitating incident, the conflict, the obligatory moment, the climax, the resolution, and the falling action. Most children's stories and many of the classics in literature and film move through this predictable, archetypal structure.

The Fractured Narrative

Some writers and storytellers prefer to structure their narratives less linearly, so they are able to jump back and forth in time. If you think about scenes in films where there is a flashback, you'll get a sense for how time can be fractured or bent to alter or intensify a story. William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" is a powerful example of a fractured narrative structure in that the entire book looks at a single brief event through the eyes and voices of a half dozen characters. To pull this off, Faulkner has to move his narrative back through time as each character tells the tale as he experienced or witnessed it.

Framed Narrative

Some stories are actually stories within other stories. In Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," for example, the narrator Marlowe is on a boat out on the Thames with a handful of other seamen when he tells them the story of his trip into the heart of the Congo region. While engrossed in the Congo portion of the story, the reader might even forget that the narrator is actually finished with the Congo journey, retelling it to his fellow sailors on that boat. "The Wizard of Oz" is a similarly framed narrative. The Oz portion of the story is only occurring inside Dorothy's head; it is a dream sequence embedded within Dorothy's "home" life in Kansas. 

The Circular or Epic Narrative 

Some tales end where they begin, with the hero or protagonist returning home after his epic journey. Homer's "Odyssey" is a prime example of this. Odysseus must leave his beloved island Ithaca and his soul mate Penelope to take what amounts to a 30-year odyssey. But ultimately, the journey ends with his return home. Joseph Campbell, one of the foremost authorities on myths and heroes' journeys, found this circular narrative to be a prominent narrative structure across cultures, religions, and time periods.

So far in my opinion I feel that my short film will fall under the Chronological/Linear narrative structure as I'm 100% sure I want the ending of my short to be like a climax. I want the ending to be happy and people finish the film with a smile on their face. Now to think of the conflict/obligatory moment.

Refletion on Shots (Storyboard)

A film storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur.

For my planning of my short film I simply was unable to do a storyboard shot by shot. I had a clear undestadning of what I was looking for due to previous experiences of the Portuguese culture however when I ventured out and began filming it was more of a 'in the moment' type of filming. As I said due to me visting Portugal and knowning the cultural/my family culture I was able to know parts of what I am going to film, for example family partys where music is a huge influence. This meaning a full storyboard would be impossible with my film style, instead for this storyboard post I will list some of the key types of shots I knew I was going to shoot before going to Portugal. The othere scenes were more with the flow and through my eyes at the time (in the moment), just like a documentary/Digital Storytelling.

REFLECTION ON PLANNED SHOTS

Family Party Scenes/Wedding/

Being from a Portuguese background and having family out there my whole family always come together to celebrate birthdays during our summer vacation, this is mainly beacuse the whole family are together. I know that at my family partys we have strong Portuguese tradition of music, at my  family parties the celebrations are completely different to other people and their cultural background and I knew this would attract other audiences as its something new and different however for me its secound nature as I was brought up with it. My older brother also had a traditional Portuguese wedding which was another major opportunity to film with cultural/tradtional value.
Before my summer vacation I already noted the type of shot oppotunity which I knew was going to come up to I was prepared for these type of shots, however others were 'in the moment'. These party scenes would include music, dance, food, family members, etc.

Still from RAW Footage of brothers wedding.

Swimming Pools/Beach

Sterotypical scenes which give that summer feel, I will also be able to use this to connect to the script.

Thursday Market
As I explained on a previous post there is a famous market which occurs every thursday of the summer which I will go shoot at as this yet again holds cultural and tradtional value which I can link to the script of my short about family.

Travel
Traveling to Portugal was also a completely different to the norm. Instead of getting a simple plane and renting a car, we travel to Portsmouth and catch a 24 hour ferry to Spain, Santander and then do a 10 hour joruney to Portugal. It seems bad and don't get me wrong it is however it does me I can spent time with family before and after our holidays on the 24 hour boat, the journey is just like that famous saying of 'It's the little things in life'. Also just the travels I will be doing in Portugal and the different style of transport (old brick roads) will contrast well to countrys such as England.

SUMMARY

 It was really helpful that I wrote down the shots which I was certain I was going to capture whilst out in Portugal as it gave me a clear understanding of how much more I needed to film, overall I got around 150+ Videos all varying from 10secs. to 5minutes. The scenes which I knew I was going to shoot were already preapred in my script and it will be easy to link them into the narrative of the short in the editing process. That is why I had to create the script after shooting so that the narrative script would link with the footage.

Production Diary #20

Another audio recording!

Filming/Editing Schedule

Stereotypical Filming Schedule

I couldn't really do the stereotypical filming/editing schedule due to the style of my short, however as I said before some shots were able to be planned so I created a schedule for those dates, however saying that I based my scheduled on existing ones but only included a few of the details as they weren't included in my short film e.g. actors, characters, etc. Overall this was very useful as it kept us organised as I could write down important dates and the days these events occurred.

Production Diary #19

I never thought writing a voice over script would be so hard. It wasn't the quantity that was hard to reach - it was the quality. I mean half way through writing my script I realized "This is for my actual Short Film!". From there I had to start fresh and make sure each life fit my idea of having a short film based around family and friends. I used Google as my main helper in the post and searched stuff like "Best family quotes", from there I found the best ones a created a script. Overall I probably went to over five different sites to get enough quotes for my short film as a whole which wasn't too bad. One quote which really grabbed my attention was "Families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts" - such a powerful quote in such simple terms, amazing.

Voiceover Script

 For my short film I have planned to include none of the actual recordings except from the party scenes, this is purely due to the sound quality not being that great and if I kept using the sound I feel like it could bring thw short down with bad quality. My script will be on a subject which is personal to me and multiple people, family. I want to write a script to get close and personal to each of the viewers. The visuals of the short will include snip its of my own family to represent family's in general. Even though the script will be focusing on my family every viewer will understand and link it to their own family.

I also want to have the voice over in Portuguese, I will be trying to get an actual family relative with a strong Portuguese accent to read the script, then I will use subtitles for translation in English. This will reinforce the cultural value of Portugal and will link with the clips of Portugal. I wrote the script in English first and then converted it into Portuguese, after doing that I printed a copy and gave it to my family members to correct as my grimmer/spelling and translation could be wrong.

Production Diary #18

I never thought I would enjoy audio recordings but I have become to love them! Recording is so simple quick and easy and takes 1-2 minutes to upload. QUICK AND EASY! Each of my sound clouds are all unscripted to give that personal side to them. I mean its my production diary's for my product and blog right?

Information/Photographs on Location - Portugal, Barcelos

Portugal - Barcelos

My main location will be filmed in the city of Barcelos located at the top left of Portugal. Thhe town is a portuguese parish, located in the municipality of Barcelos. It has a population of 5,213 inhabitants and a total area of 1,20km². Barcelos is a small town known for its pottery and the most widely-recognized symbol of Portugal -- the Barcelos Cockerel. Barcelos has big cockerton figures around the whole city and each one has differrent patterns and designs.

A 13th-century legend says a pilgrim on his way to Santiago de Compostela stopped in Barcelos and was wrongly accused of theft and sentenced to death by hanging. He was spared when he stated that to prove his innocence, the roasted rooster that the judge was about to eat would get up and crow. It did, and since then, brightly painted ceramic cockerels are sold throughout Portugal as symbols of good luck. The resturant has both Nando’s has strong African and Portuguese influences.

Thursday Market

Noisy, chaotic and rich with colour and life, the weekly market in Barcelos attracts people from the Minho region to buy and sell all manner of things. You’ll find cheap clothes and shoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, lots of ceramics, lampshades, kitchenware, traditional tools and farming equipment as well as souvenirs and handicrafts. The Barcelos market started life as an annual event in 15th century and remains an important element of the local economy and culture.

 Outdoor cafés

The town centre has plenty of cafés with outdoor seating, perfect for a spot of people watching. Last time I visited Portugal there was atleast one cafe 5 minutes apart.

Architect

If, like me, you’re a fan of old buildings, sculpted stonework, colourful tiles and swirly railings, you’ll have fun wandering around Barcelos. The historic centre is quite small but there’s a wide range of architectural styles and features for the keen-eyed. I particularly liked the four stone figures on the wall of the 18th century Benfeito manor house. Each one represents a different season; it looks as though winter is grim up north! Many of the buildings are in ruins but there are still some very impressive ones, such as the town hall and the baroque monuments of the Walkway of the Benches gardens.

 

 

Summer

As it will be summer when I go back to my parents home town of Barcelos, I know I will be able to get gorgeous shots with the sun and make use of lens flares as I feel they will give a really cinematic look. In summer Barelos also holds multiple events from dance, film and music so I will attend as many as I can and try capture the event. I will also be doing the traditional holiday traditions of going to the beach, swimming pools and visiting family who live in a rural part of Barcelos so these are all oppurtunitys for filming.

Production Diary #17

I am now well underway on my blog and I just really taken into consideration how much stuff/behind the scenes work it is to create a short film. It's not a simple get a camera shoot and done. I have to learn everything from scratch. I mean I have had some experience however when I am on my own and having to do it all by myself I have to know what I am doing. There is no one there to help me. Now time for some information on my exciting film locations which will be one of my films unique aspects.

Visual progression / image systems in my Short Film

Visual progression is an important thought to consider when creating a short film as it helps the video to grow rather than staying static. This ensures that the video is visually interesting and will keep the audience entertained. In my case I will be doing digital storytelling type short film about the importance of family.

In my short film I hope to use my family as the visual progression. For me they are my family however to everyone else they are just a group of Portuguese people/a community. At the beginning of my short I hope to illustrate multiple shots of families and basically introduce them to the audience as strangers through the short more and more family clips will array slowly for example a family party full of dance, music and happiness. Throughout the short the audience begin to understand who these people are and they actually work out that the faces are all reoccurring - its a reoccurring family. Instead of the family being a complete stranger to the audience, by watching the short towards the end they gain a personal feel to the family even if they haven't met them/known them. There will be multiple other little image systems throughout the short film such as musical instruments which will always appear in shots and also the overall party scene in general with a bunch of family and friends. My short film shows visual progression through the use of the setting and editing. As the locations change and progress the audience can feel the emotions changing.

Moodboard for Short Film

Before doing any planning for the short film I felt that both an image and video moodboard would be necessary, these would enable me to think about tasks/things I will need to learn to create my short film (Colour Correcting, DSLR Video Recording, etc). The image mood board in particular focused around my idea of looking very cinema-like and illustrates family and cultural values of Portugal, which is basically the sort of idea outline that I have for my short film at this moment in time.

The video moodboard focused more on videos demonstrating how to create a cinematic short film. I also included three short films which I recently found and inspired me for my short film. I also developed my idea and began looking at poetry/voiceover for short films.

Production Diary #16

Now my previous post felt good! That was one of the main posts I created about the way in which my short film will actually be about. I mean there is such a big lead up with over 10+ posts just solely on researching. I mean I have thought of so many ideas when doing the research posts that it seems good to get it all down. I recently watched a film called "Love Actually" and there was one section which got to me the most - the introduction. I have never been so dragged in to a film so easily and it was all due to topics which everyone relates to - family, friends and love.

 

Inital Planning Ideas

Here is a presentation I created on PowerPoint and then uploaded to slide share. This presentations was just an explanation of my initial planning ideas.

Production Diary #15

Purpose of Short Films

The most common reasons for creating short films are self-promotion and experimentation. They can be seen as a baby step into film production because it's all about finding different ways of expressing themes and communicating a message within different techniques. Whether it's sound, Mise-En-Scene or the cinematography.

They can also be used as a way of understanding New Media technology when it comes to filming with new cameras or editing with new software. It can be used to enhance the knowledge of technology and seen as an experiment with different shots, editing techniques and post-production to find ways of communicating a message. While challenging the normal conventions of filming a short film. Also they're mainly funded by the local film production companies like the UK Film Council or BBC Films.

Research equipment

I researched into the list of what equipment and software I will be using for my entire A2 Media Project, I even included software and external equipment to this detailed list.

Production Diary #14

Previously I completed a post which I really wasn't looking forward too - Audience research. It's not the fact that I have to do a research topic. It's more that I just completed an in-depth research topic last week. Everything seems to be researching and analysis. I just want to finish the Research section and begin planning and actually creating my short film. My next post is now moving away from the research and more onto the equipment I have my hand on and which I will be using to create my A2 Media Studies products.

Audience Research

Potential Audience

Over the last few years the creation of short films has increased this is because of technology which has enabled many people to create films in short amount of time.Short films are not profit- oriented; they are mainly created for the self-promotion of directors, to be entered in film festivals and competitions- they are like a ‘stepping stone’ and to gain experience.

The target audience would effect the content in the film. Feature length films have more potential audiences because they have much more publicity, as the trailers/posters/adverts are shown in various locations such as on television, near cinemas, stations and bus stops the public becomes more aware of them compared to short films which are not normally as heard of. The main reason for this is the budget which is much less than main stream films, as short films are normally 5-10 minutes less money is needed to create them therefore there is also less publicity otherwise more would have to be spent on publicity compared to the actual film. 

Other ways how short films are distributed is through the internet again with due to technology, people from all over the world are able to see short film with sites such as YouTube and the BBC Film Network (some films are also shown on the official websites of the director/creator) and this enables the creator to easily share their work as people of different ages visit these sites. However not many people do search for short films as they are not main stream as do not get as much publicity as feature length films. therefore it would not easily reach target audiences.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies all films in created in the UK. There are six categories where films can be classified into and there are ‘U’ which is suitable for all, ‘PG’- Parental Guidance, ’12’ and ‘12A’- Not suitable for children under the age of 12 however may see the film accompanied with an adult, ’15’, ‘18’ and ‘R18’.

The reason for why films are classified is because of the content- some scenes may disturb/be harmful to different audiences. For example horror film may upset younger children making them unsuitable therefore there would be an age limit so the child must be at least a particular age before they can watch the film. An example for this is Paranormal Activity 3 was rated 15 as it contained strong language and threats which would not suit anyone younger than this age.

The aim for short film relates tends to relate to the purpose if short film. One of the main reasons is for self-promotion. Therefore, the film is aimed at people who go to film festivals and competitions or even talent scouts. As short films are typically used as experimentation for aspiring and established film directors, the audiences would not be as wide as a feature length film. An example of this would be Cherries by Tom Harper. The 15 minute film was about a class of 16 year olds who were being called to the front line. The film would have been shown in schools from year 10 upwards on the issue of a  

But that main reason is for self-promotion as it won an award in the Virgin Short Film festival. However, short films are not always used for self-promotion. Alive In Joburg and Double Take are clear examples

Survey

Analysis of survey results

Production Diary #13

After examining a previous students work I really felt a bit bad for critisising it as he probably spent so long and lots of error and here I am critisisng it. However this was all a learning curve and im 100% that when I complete my short film I will continue to get feedback, a short film is never perfect for everyone. Ofcourse the creator will make it as good as he wants it to look, I guess you could say their own "perfection". Now time to research into audiences.

Analysis of previous student A2 work

Short Film

Parallel  by Matthew Thomas

Intro

The audience are first introduced to an introduction to the short film. This is to represent the production company of the film, however the design for this intro is completely distracting. In my opinion the intro is cheesy and ruins the introduction of the short film, just by seeing that intro then seeing the short film ruins the experience for me. Also the overall design/theme of the intro I didn't sort of understand, why is the title placed on metal and somethings burning in the corner, it doesn't make sense. However saying that it doesn't have to make sense it's only an intro. In my opinion the production company intro should be a simple black with text.

Concept

We are introduced to a character doing normal daily tasks in his morning day to day life, whilst this is going on we are left with cheesy background music. He goes from multiple stages from waking up, putting his clothes on, making breakfast, eating, getting ready to go out, and when he leaves the door that's when a split screen occurs, this is already half way into the film so it took a while for the film to become engaging. We are introduced to two of the same people however two completely different attitude, on one side one guys in a jacket and smoking and on the other ones in a suit all happy and smiling. Then they come together in a scene as if they are two different people maybe like twins or something. After this split screen is almost always used and we are entered in another clip where there are two different phones, probably one for each character, however the texts seem exactly the same just one is written in slang and one isn't, they both mean the same and in my opinion doesn't make sense. But short films don't have to make sense, that's the beauty of them. Then we a brought to a scene with a table set for i'm guessing the girl in the text. One of the guys girls doesn't turn up and he is the one who set up the table and the other guy's girl arrived and he is lounging on the sofa, then the short ends with a kiss. I mean talk about confusing, lots of things weren't answered and I just didn't understand/like the overall creation, but to be honest I don't have to like it and maybe his short was targeted at someone else and maybe the purpose of his short was to create questions. 

Shot/Cinematography

In my opinion I am a cinematography kind of guy. I love when shots are clean and perfectly shot. Cinematography is a major aspect for me and using a variety of angles. However this students work seems to look like a standard student movie, this is something I want my short film not to have. I want my short film to look professional and as if it wasn't created by a student. This film uses the stereotypical look and shots from any student films, boy wakes up, dresses up, makes breakfast, eats, then that is where the movie kicks off and takes it's own story. Student short films are beginning to have the same look and feel to them all which is starting to bore me and make me shy away from watching student short films.

Edit

The short film was very simply edited. He basically shot the film and then placed all the shorts in the order he wanted to create the short. The only major editing he did was probably creating the introduction and creating the split screen. There was no colour correction and the overall footage looked a bit flat. If there was a bit of work with colour correcting I feel that the film would hold more professional feel and look.