Evaluation Video Voice Over

Below is our production for our evaluation. We have used our characters and voiced the evaluation to make it more interesting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rUQGRg6iSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRWt4bS8pCo

(Tom and Alex)

Evauation

For our final evaluation instead of just adding it to our blogg we decied to record over over it on audacity. This was much more difficult to do as much of our evaluation is written in big chunks and paragrahs and we found that we were messing up alot. however we took our time and eventually had it all record. we then took a shots of the major and one of the reds mouths moving so that it looked like they were saying our evalutaion. It turned out that our whole evaluation became 11 minutes long (longer than our film). This was our last ever seaction of filming our production and after putting them together it makes our our film look more exciting.
(Alex)

Radio Trailer

Below is a our radio trailer for 'A Point Of Cue'.

(Tom)

A Point Of Cue Finished Production

Below is the finished production of 'A Point Of Cue'.

(Tom)

Radio trailer evaluation

What research did you carry out? We looked at radio trailers from everything as well as movies including products such as ice cream. The main animation we looked at was ‘Despicable Me’. In this trailer it started with the describing the character and what the production was about. After that, it played a line from the film to give a small taster to the audience. Then it named who was in the production we did decided that we would not do this as no one in film were well know actors. Also in our research we noticed that radio adverts are not long. We thought that this was due to the target audience attention span not to be that long. Also in our research we found that most radio trailers end on a slogan to stick into their audience’s brain to make them remember, we called this the hook.

What conventions do they conform to? We did not conform as we did not leave a slogan at the end however we put it in the middle to suck the audience into our piece. We conformed to the timing as we only made it short also we had upbeat music to keep the audience interested. We did not say any of the script in the trailer however we made some of the characters tells a couple of jokes.

 Did you conform/challenge /develop conventions? We challenged conventions we decide to put the slogan in the middle of the of the trailer as we wanted to leave the title to be the last thing that the audience hear so that they remember the title and what it was called. We conformed to having a narrator narrate ring the title and slogan.

Who is your intended audience? Where would your product be displayed/heard?

Because our audience is not a specific target audience it is based to male and female age range 12 to 40 and because of this our trailer ideally if it were a big production on the radio as our audience range is so high however because it is not a big time production I would say it would be heard over social networking sites such as face book, my-space and twitter. Also YouTube is somewhere I thing it would be found.

How does your product create meaning and appeal to your audience? 

Our production appeal to our audience as it is snooker balls living in everyday life situations in which the audience can appeal to. Also they can appeal to the comedy aspects of the production.  This is why we decide to put in a couple of jokes in the trailer so that they can warm to the piece. Then our intention was that they would appeal to the

How effective is your product in advertising your animation?

I think that is it not that effective because allot of the comedy aspects in our film come down to facial expressions of the characters and because you cannot seen them on the radio trailer it is up to the audience ‘s imagination to decided whether they think that this production would be worth watching. That is why we tried to put as much dialogue in the trailer as possible.

How do your products link? Have your created a brand? How have you done this?

The products link because of the different dialogue thrown about. Also the music we use is branded to our production team and style as we as ‘Mad Dog’ production try to incorporate music that tells its own story. This is how we did this as making the music goes with the piece of dialogue in trailer just how we did in the film.

Overall Evaluation

Media Studies - Advanced Portfolio

Self assessment

Name: Tom Dix and Alex Pryde

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

·         A poster for the film

·         A radio trailer for the film

·         A film magazine review page featuring the film.

Research and Planning

1.      What general research did you do into animation before you started your film?

Before we began our production we prepared by researching animation. This started with a presentation at the beginning of the course which we produced on animation. This was an introduction to animation and also helped us learn about the different types of animation there is such as stop motion. In preparation for planning our animation we did a lot of research into facial expressions, mouth movements and body language as we knew these were three key features in making a successful animation. To do this we looked at many worksheets showing the types of facial expressions, mouth movements and body language that can be expressed through animation and how they can be expressed. We also researched existing animation such as Tom and Jerry and produced our own hand puppets and used body language and facial expression in order to tell a story with no dialogue. When we came to planning our radio trailer and poster we looked at existing media and looked at the conventions of these in order to get some ideas for our own radio trailer and poster.

2.      Did you attend any workshops?

Before we began our animation we attended a BBC 21CC workshop where we learnt how to use stop motion animation.

3.      What were your three influential short films?

Our three short films that we thought were influential to us were Baby Dogs (Stop motion), Tom and Jerry (cell animation) and Baby Dinosaurs (Stop motion).

4.      Did you carry out textual analysis for each of the three films?

For all of the three influential short films we carried out textual analysis covering misce en scene, including lighting, costume, colour, setting, facial expressions, camera angles and how meaning was created to attract audiences.

5.      What conventions did you identify?

We found that modern animation conventions of ‘human genres’ such as horror comedy and fantasy are very complex and reveal a lot of information without any dialogue. This is done through facial expressions, body language and the fact that modern animation uses advanced technology which improves the quality of the animation. Also animation most often gives its characters human qualities so as to relate to the audience.

6.      What conventions did you decide to use, modify or subvert in your own film?

In order to conform to conventions of animation we gave the snooker balls human characteristics and also a human setting of a snooker table which is something the audience want to understand.

7.      Who, or what, is the target audience for your film?

Our animation will target our peer group of 18 year olds and young adults. This will be done by using adult humour that day to day, stereotypical humour that such an audience would recognise.

8.      How did you research your target audience?  (e.g. focus groups, questionnaires, interviews etc.)

In order to target our audience we produced questionnaires to find out whether gender or age determined the popularity of animation and whether people preferred things such as dialogue or sound tracks.

9.      What did you do to ensure that you had organised actors, locations, costumes and props?

We planned dates that we would film and record as we done some of our filming during our free periods at school. When we came to filming we put our snooker table onto another table so that it was at a higher level making it easier to move the characters. We made our character using ‘New Plast’ and moulded them ourselves. The voices for our trailers and film were mostly done by ourselves but when we needed other people to do them for us we made sure they were free on the day that was suitable to us.

10.  Did you create storyboards?  (If not, how did you plan your shots?)

We did create storyboards in order to make our filming period more organised.

11.  Did you create a shotlist?

No. We shot the frames in chronological order.

12.  Did you log your shots as you took them?

The software logs the shots in order for you – there is no need to use a list when shooting in chronological order.

13.  Did you write a script?

We did write a script for our animation, this helped when recording our voice over.

14.  What location scouting did you do?  Did you take photographs?

Our location/setting is a snooker table and we therefore did not need to scout for a location or take any photographs.

15.  How did you manage your time?  (if your time management has not been good, give reasons for your problems and how you might improve.)

As a team we have managed our time successfully. However due to software not being tested and ordered this has put a constraint on our production, effecting time.

16.   How much care have you taken with the presentation of your research and planning evidence?

The research and planning we have carried out throughout this module has all been published onto our online blog. Some elements are not in chronological order but the information is all there and we made every effort to make it look professional and clear to the audience.

17.  What ICT skills have you shown in the presentation of your evidence?

We have used the internet to research and have learnt how to create a blog and upload all files and images to it. We have used two different animation software programmes – DivX and Stop Motion Pro V.7. We have also used windows movie maker to edit and finalise our movie. Photoshop was used to create the film poster – it was totally new to both of us so we had to teach ourselves how to use its many layers! And we used Audacity to create the sound for both the film and the radio trailer alongside Windows Movie Maker to add the sound to the film.

18.  How would you rate your communication skills in the planning and research stage: ‘minimal’, ‘basic’, ‘proficient’ or ‘good’?  Explain your answer.

We have different strengths which we are very aware of. My creative skills (Alex) work well alongside Tom’s organisational and technical strengths. We worked very well together as we are always open in our discussions and honest with our opinions. We discuss everything and conducted each part of this work as a team. It was an enjoyable experience and neither of us would ever want to work with anyone else!

The shots in our production varied as we used a tripod for when our characters were speaking. We used a lot of panning shots to show the table and the rest of the characters and their positions on the table. Due to this the camera became unsteady at times however it is not very noticeable as the audiences’ focus is on the movement of the characters. Also we have a lot of close up and extreme close ups using a lot of zoom. This was to show character expression, however, now and again the camera did appear a bit unsteady.

In the framing of our shots we tried to ensure that only the pool table and the characters were in shot. However, at some points we felt it necessary to capture some people moving around the table, this was done in order to create a natural effect. However, if we were to re-film it, we would ensure this would not happen as after watching it back it did not look very professional and some audience members may feel we have included such shots unintentionally. One of the shots showed a hand in the framing so we insured that we took this out – we double checked all of the frames to make sure there were no other hands in the way!

Yes, we used a variety of shot distances to ensure that characters facial expressions and movements could be clearly seen by the audience. We also ensured that medium close ups showed specific characters being shown (ones speaking in the script at the time) and that long range shots showed the whole action on the table.

The material was appropriate to the task as I felt that we had conformed to our target audience. Also we stuck to the brief and decided to keep it simple by making a comedy portraying the lives of male and female “Average Joes” in life.

For our ‘mise en scene’ it was very basic as the only set we had was the snooker table. In terms of costume, the characters only costume was hair, eye brows and a smile. The only props we had were a snooker cue, to create the playing the game effect. For lighting, we also used a light which created a gloomy snooker club effect - this sets the setting of snooker club. We put huge efforts into characters’ facial expressions also as the movement of their mouths shows who’s talking and shows their reactions to events around them.

All of our characters were designed and created ourselves. We created them out of ‘New Plast’ this was because in our research all of the best original animation was made from ‘new plast’. It was films like Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run this is what inspired us to use ‘new plast’ the advantage of using this was that we could change the characters facial expressions. Their were no costumes for the characters however all of the characters had things that made them stand out. These were special features for example the character ‘The Major’ had sun glasses a shaped beard and a cigarette, this was to make him look cool. We thought that there were people that could relate to him or knew someone that they could relate to this ‘too cool for school’ character.

When we edited our film to appeal to our target audience we made the start very fast paced to keep the audience still engaged as there was a lot of words without movement in the script. Also comedic sound effects that we threw in to make more of the movement flow. The music that is in our piece sets up a lot of the scene as its fast paced and jovial sounding.

For shot transitions we mainly used were pan shot to close up shot this was effective to create the effect we were going for which was to show the characters moving and then speaking showing character personality. We prefer to use shots where we cut from one part of the action to another so the action is fast paced – fades do not suit our style of films.

We did not use captions because we did not think they would be necessary with our dialogue and music to add meaning.

For sound effects we mainly used laughter, however it was not the most authentic sounding laughter but it still fits in. Also we have sounds for balls being hit so as to make the snooker game environment clear to the audience.

We used faced paced music to create a humorous and friendly mood. At times we used rock music to create tension. The music is copyright free.

Our film constructs narrative by using stereotypes from people in everyday life, in terms of speech and movement. For example we had a stereotypical gay guy and we had a woman who was heavily made up, knowing that our target audience would recognise such ‘characters’ from their everyday lives. This is also how our piece represents people places and behaviour showing these stereotypes of: race, sexuality, self-obsessed blonds and ‘geezer’ cockney type. We also began our film at the beginning of the snooker game, this clearly stated to our audience that it was the start of our film. At the end of our production we have shown the black ball getting potted, this signals the end to the game and also the end of the film.

Our film follows the convention of animation giving animate objects human traits. Using snooker balls allows stereotypes to be shown without causing offence. This is similar to one of the films we looked at in our research called ‘baby dogs’ which was dogs talking about human things. We conformed to our characters stereotypes cleverly by using the coloured balls that represent skin colour or the connotations of that colour, for example, the pink being the ‘girly’ girl. We also used a snooker table setting which is like a typical snooker club, everyday people talking about everyday things. Our characters behave very typically – men make jokes at the expense of others and eye up women – something our peer group would recognise and be entertained by.

We conformed to existing animation productions by personifying something that does not usually speak. In our production we made snooker balls talk like humans, and in Baby Dogs which is an animation we research, they personify dogs and talk in human voices.

The combination of our film and ancillary texts is effective as we have used the title, slogan and production company in all three products. The film and the posters also show the characters and the setting. In the poster, the characters’ positions tell part of the story by hinting their relationships through their position and facial expressions. The radio trailer has similar pub style jokes, similar to the ones heard in the animation. All three texts have a jokey atmosphere which links them together.

Audience feedback – We showed our film to a group of 6^th form students and we gathered from this that we needed more music in parts that were silent. They felt that they were waiting for something to happen in the static moments but we were trying to show the quiet, still parts of a snooker game. We appreciate this opinion and if we was ever to do it again we would make sure that music or sound effects would fill the silent parts. They also said that it was funny as they understood the jokes, as they understood that they were representing real people. They also understood the stereotypes we included in our production which included sexism and racism. The also noticed the connotations of the colours we used as they recognised that the green ball was the boring old guy. Our research groups also included people of different ethnic backgrounds who were in no way offended by stereotypical jokes but laughed at them also.

We heavily relied on new media in the making of our film as we needed a digital camera to film he scenes also we needed a tripod to take steadier shots. In terms of taking frames we needed a computer and the computer software which was ‘stop motion pro v7’. Also we used the internet for research also to look at sounds and other sound effects to put to our film. We used the internet to update the blog as well so that we could gather audience feedback. We have used the internet to research and have learnt how to create a blog and upload all files and images to it. We have used two different animation software programmes – DivX and Stop Motion Pro V.7. We have also used windows movie maker to edit and finalise our movie. Photoshop was used to create the film poster – it was totally new to both of us so we had to teach ourselves how to use its many layers! And we used Audacity to create the sound for both the film and the radio trailer alongside Windows Movie Maker to add the sound to the film.

Our film would be seen on the school website to directly be available for our target audience and for free over the internet as it is not a highly founded production and is only short it would be seen on websites such as YouTube and the BBC animation website for example. 

Poster Evaluation

Ø What research did you carry out?

In class we researched existing film posters. We looked at modern films with real actors in them and then recognised the difference between the conventions of these and those of the animation films. The animation film posters we looked at were mainly Garfield, Shrek and Toy Story. We looked at the conventions of these and aimed to match these conventions in our poster.

Ø What conventions do they conform to?

The conventions of animation films conform to that of making the main characters the main focus of the poster and also telling part of the story through these images. Also the title plays a big part in animation poster as they seem to make it big and bold in cartoon font.

Ø Did you conform/challenge/develop conventions?

We conformed to these conventions as we included every one of our characters on out poster. We also told the story through the positions and facial expressions of the characters. Around the border of our poster we put snooker pockets; this indicates to the audience that our film is about snooker. As well as this we used the green background to indicate a snooker table. We also made the title the second focus of the poster by using a big bold, cartoon like font.

Ø Who is your intended audience? Where would the poster be displayed?

Our intended audience is from the age of 17-40. We have gone for the older audience as our animation includes humour that only the older generation would find funny and understand. We would display the poster on billboards and have a big internet promotion campaign.

Ø How does your product create meaning and appeal to your audience?

Our poster includes every character in our animation, this therefore shows our audience the stereotypes we are conforming to, such as the old man, the black man and the Indian. This will attract every social group as they are included in our production. Also, those who like snooker will be attracted to our animation as our poster clearly indicates that the base is about a snooker game.

Ø How effecting is your poster in advertising your animation?

We feel that our poster is effective in advertising our animation as it conforms to the stereotypes of successful animation films. We also feel our slogan and title will attract our audience into watching our animation. The fact that we have included every character in our poster is very important as we can hopefully attract our audience through this. Also, we feel that as we have based the story on a snooker game will attract sports fans and may at first attract those who enjoy snooker rather than our actual intended audience.

Ø How does your 3 products link? Have you created a brand? How have you done this?

Our 3 products link through our brand image of ‘Mad Dog Productions’. We have also used a slogan which is used in all three of our products.

(Tom)