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.

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.

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. 

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

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

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.

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.
 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.