Final Copy Of Film On YouTube

This is the final copy of my short film published on YouTube. After publishing my film on YouTube several times, I have been able to arrive at this product. A comment very late on in the coursework process from Jeremie Crystal as shown below was hugely influential in the drastic changes that were made from the previous draft of the film and this copy.

As a result of the comment, I uploaded my film to Final Cut Pro from the original I-Movie platform that it was on. From here I looked at improving on the amateur titles which were shown. The effect transformed the appearance of the film, making it appear far more professional and and interesting.

Note To Examiner

Hello Examiner,

This is the blog containing all of my media studies coursework over the A2 course. The work is a progression towards and after the creation of my short film (5 minutes) 'The Desolate'. It will include all phases of the film cycle.

The blog goes from the bottom to the top in order of creation.

I hope you enjoy

Dorian Masters

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

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback has been crucial to the success of my short film. I uploaded the film on to several different media bases, including Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter. By uploading the film to these different websites, I was able to get real audience critique, from people who would not have the purpose of flattering me about my work. Instead, I could receive feedback that was brutally honest if necessary. Fortunately, the majority of the comments were positive, and critique was important to improving the product. For example, on YouTube, I received a comment stating that titling at the beginning was a necessary feature in achieving a professional product. My film had prior to this comment had no titling, and as a result, the audience was largely in the dark as to what they were about to view. I made this change to my film after the critique, and there were visual results.

Verbal critique was also essential to improving my product. For example, George Mitchell stated that "After the girl dies and the shots begin to rewind, the lighting of the piece makes it seem far too lighthearted". With this feedback in mind, I se about editing these shots on Adobe After Effects. On this platform, I altered the resolution, brightness and crispness of the clip to make it appear far more depressing.

Audience feedback came for other products of mine. For example, my film poster was uploaded to Facebook in order to get feedback from my peers. The feedback was very helpful to my poster. For example, Yashar Kutay did not understand the wording underneath my poster, as did not realize you could be a daughter and a sister at the same time. Other critique clarified to me that the poster was in fact a success. Particularly Jake Denton's comment of 'Better Than Religion'.

Finally, I relied heavily on audience feedback for my radio advert. The initial feedback I received was that the content I had used was good, and reflected well upon my short film. The problem was that there was loud breathing sounds in between each sentence. As a result, I re-recorded the clip, removing the breathing sounds and the overall feedback was much better.

After all of these projects in my media coursework, I have now understood the importance that audience feedback holds on my project. It finds problems or flaws within my projects from the real audience, that can be improved upon. Thus, through the feedback, I could improve all three aspects of my media coursework.

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

For my short film coursework piece, we were set three potential ancillary tasks, of which two of them we would have to abide by. The three options included a poster for the film, a radio trailer for the film or a film magazine review page featuring the film. Out of these three, I decided to do the poster for the film and the radio trailer for the film. The film poster would have to have themes within that linked to the film I made. As a result, I made it to show the girls face, with emphasised shadowing around the face. The link between the main film product and the ancillary task of the poster is highly effective in not only gaining support for the product, but also emphasising to the viewer the type of film that this is. As a combination together, I believe that these two products are very effective in emphasising the tension that should occur within the piece. Furthermore, the similar colour schemes in both are highly complimentary of each other. The other ancillary task of the radio advertisement for the film was highly effective in promoting my short film. The advertisement not only summarised the contents of the film, but also had real critique comments from people who had viewed the film. This was an effective way of  promoting the film, as it made the potential viewer know what to expect from the film, and was also an incentive to the viewer to watch the film as it will be a good use of their time.

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

Director's Commentary

For my short film 'The Desolate', there are a number of areas which I was extremely happy with, however there were a few moments whereby I would have put more emphasis, or changed small aspects if I had the chance again. The benefit of hindsight is that you are able to improve upon past mistakes. From both of my films last year, I witnessed several repeated flaws. This flaw was the gradual loss of continuity in shots. With this in mind, I filmed my Short Film, covering every angle and every moment on the girls journey. This paid off in the appearance of the film, as it appeared much more professional, and made the characters seem more like people, rather than actors. Another feature that I was extremely happy with in the production of my film was the convergence of different camera technologies. For the majority of the filming, I used the Nikon V1 HD slow motion camera, however for the underwater clip, whereby it shows the blood falling from the girls arm into the water, I used a Canon Powershot D20-3. By using the two forms of technology, I was able to capture a range of different shots, and made the piece appear more interesting. The film revolves around two actors, and their struggles. By using just two characters, I was able to delve into their lives, and further emphasise the emotions that these characters were feeling. I was able to understand the need for a limited number of characters in a dark narrative, as a vast character base takes away from focus and emotion. I was extremely happy with the narrative of the film. I felt that films with the biggest impact and influence are often of an emotional narrative. As a result, I wrote a narrative based on the sensitive issue of suicide. Within this, I blended another issue that people face which is being cheated on. By doing this, I was able to emphasise and magnify the emotions within the film. I was learnt a lot from last years narrative when making this years short film. This learning was through the narrowing down of the flamboyant ideas of drama in the piece. In last years film, I felt there was far too much going on, which was distracting from the film and the narrative was confusing at times. Thus, I managed to create the narrative of this years film to follow a series of events that were realistic, with a twist of the dramatic side to the cinematography.