Evaluation by Freya

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
   In this question I will be looking at how our short 'Polly' develops, challenges and uses forms and conventions of other shorts I have looked at, such as Bro, Colour Bleed, Modern Life is Rubbish and Barry.  The thing with short films is that they're all so diverse; including such a massive range of themes, genres, ideas, styles and characters that it's hard to pinpoint their exact conventions, as each vignette seems to have its own.
   So we decided to pick a genre, in our case drama, and try and develop some of the conventions of the short dramas we'd seen.

Our use of shallow depth of field

          1. What I got from ‘Bro’ was the great use of depth of field.  In this shot shallow depth of field is used, the basket in the foreground is sharp, whilst the character in the background is out of focus.  We used this within our film, occasionally changing focus in shot to direct the audiences eyes to specific things in shot.  This is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also gave our film a more '3D' effect, having some objects out of focus and some very sharp really pulls people into the film, as it looks like they're really there.  In the example I've shown where we've used shallow depth of field, the focus changed, the sharpness almost meandering up Polly's body, to reflect the boredom in her days.  

          2.  We challenged the convention of stereotyping main characters in short films, because we wanted to characterize Polly as an individual, not a microcosm of teens but a very separate entity, which was part of keeping her an all round lonely character.  Part of this characterization was her costume, which we tried to keep basic.  Jeans and plain clothes really reflected the fact that Polly is not part of anything, she's in no particular subculture or anything to reflect with her style.  Color Bleed used close ups of the main characters clothes to show her punky individuality and we copied this convention to show Polly's plainness.

Our shots that show off Polly's costume

          3.  This birds eye view is a very interesting shot.  In 'Barry' the shots are hugely varied which I really noticed when I watched it, and wanted to use this diversity in Polly.  Since our film has quite a closed narrative which all takes place in one room we made sure to use a variety of shots that kept the film interesting within a small space. 

           4.  A drama convention that struck me with 'Modern Life is Rubbish' is the use of music to show emotion.  In this particular shot very low acoustic music is played to reflect the mood.  We copied this so when Polly realizes that Thomas has got the wrong person the music becomes very sad, as certain chords are struck that emphasize her devastation. 

Extreme Closeup

          5.  Extreme close ups were used a lot in 'Bro', a short film form which really creates a bond between the audience and the characters, as the closeups show such vulnerability and forces the audience to empathize with the characters.  We used these extreme closeups whenever Polly had intense emotions, for example for the first time we see her happy.  This stressed the importance of her feelings, which we felt worked so well through out 'Polly'.
          6.  Although the character in Barry goes outside, whenever she's in her house just one shot is used into the cramped area, giving the impression that her life is very restricted at home, and she is isolated.  We used this aspect of Barry to create a similar situation but heighten it, as Polly never even leaves her bedroom.  

          7.  Our narrative organization was in chronological order, although we  wanted to skip through time at some points, which we did by showing an image of a clock fading in and out.  This idea was developed from Modern Life is Rubbish in which they use establishing shots of the building as day turns to night. 
          8.  Both Color Bleed and Barry include small bits of animation like editing that add aspects of fantasy genre conventions to the short, bringing both interest and originality with it.  In Polly we developed this idea and used two Stop Animations.  One was of Polly's food disappearing as she ate it, which showed how time to her just seems to drift by.  The other was of the unicorns that Polly is playing with, which we used to reflect our characters sparkling imagination, and to bring a bit of fun to the piece:

          9.  A typical feature used in short films that inspired us was the use of props in 'Modern Life is Rubbish' which really helps the narrative along, as they convey certain themes.  'Polly' almost relies on props to denote boredom whilst keeping the narrative interesting.  We used a book, a photo album, the laptop, a slinky, an iPod, a deck of cards, false teeth, food, toy unicorns and a watch all as objects she uses in a desperate attempt to defy loneliness.   

Prop shots

Poster

• Before creating our own I looked at the posters for Made in Dagenham and The Kids are All Right, taking in the genre conventions of a drama poster.  
• All posters are formed to be eye catching, to make someone look at it in the first place, which we did with a very bold title, big main image and bright colours.
• Like the Made in Dagenhams poster we used a main image of the protagonist, in a pose with facial expression, hair, makeup and costume that reflects her character within the film.  
• The Kids are All Right have the background of their poster of the setting we see the characters in, and  we've taken this convention into our poster for Polly.  The background is pink and green, the same as the walls that are always surrounding Polly, as her only setting is indoors.
• We have the prop of the slinky stretched under the title, a key feature that Made in Dageham had-having props somewhere in the image as a kind of icon.  
• We developed Made in Dagenhams eye catching, original font idea as the title by doing a similar thing, but making it even bigger.
• But we did challenge a few poster forms.  For example we did not include an actor name, as we thought that it was unimportant as 'Freya Murdock' lacks star quality and would not make our demographic of young adults want to watch Polly any more, so we just left it out.

Key Features of all Posters

• We also made our release date huge, as we thought it would make our short seem so much more important if we brought attention to when our audience could go and see it.
• As well as this we challenged the usual way in which a poster taglines are written.  Instead of writing a long sentence such as Made in Dagenhams '1968. It's a mans world, but not for long.' we changed the form slightly to just read two words 'NonSocial Networking', which we felt gave less of our short away but still added enough interest.

Review

Key features that we used from 'Little White Lies' reviews.

• After reading from Little White Lies we had a sense of the house style and tried to use the particular conventions that the critics do.  
• We tried our best to use film terminology, opinions and specific language such as similes and adjectives in our review like the ones we'd studied.
• We didn't try to develop or challenge the conventions of the reviews as we wanted our review to look and read as if it was straight out of a Little White Lies magazine, so we just tried to use those forms.

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

3.  What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• Our audience demographic, 15-20 year olds, were easily targeted through facebook, where Holly posted our film to ask for opinions.  Over all we had very positive feedback, but we learnt a lot about certain aspects of our film, and how we could improve it if we did it again.
• Although appreciating our variety in shot angles and size to keep the content interesting during Pollys boring days,our feedback suggested that maybe we should have shortened the dull bits and introduced Thomas earlier in the storyline, as it all happens in a rather rushed way at the very end.  



Two comments suggesting a slowness to our film

• Through the comments something that I think was very successful was the empathy that people felt for Polly, the film genuinly making them feel sad.  I was thrilled with this feedback, that our audience responded to Polly on a very emotional level that I didn't think we'd be able to achieve.  (see comments below)

I think this positively reflected on a few things we did well:

1. Narrative:  A thorough plot idea of this lonely girl that has no friends, that our demographic really understood.
2. Music:  The music really helped people to connect with what she was feeling, particularly when at the very end when she finds out she doesn't have a friend.   
3. Certain shots:  The closeups and extreme closups we used to help the audience sympathize with Polly.

• A few continuity errors were spotted, which we were really disappointed in.   At one point the audience can see that it's light outside when it's meant to be dark, at another bit the blind is already half done up when it's meant to be closed.  In some of our verbal feedback we received from our peers someone pointed out that on the closeups of Pollys watch you can see she's wearing a black shirt when she's mean to be in a green top.  Also, after Polly is finished talking to Thomas she gets straight into bed in her pajamas, even though when she started talking to him she was in her regular costume. 
• From this I learnt that you have to look so closely at every shot to insure there are no mistakes.  Even though it felt like I knew our film back to front from editing it turns out I really didn't.  If I had to do this task again I'd make a few other media students watch the film before finalizing it, as others might catch the mistakes I've missed.

• Our stop animation of the unicorns was met with great approval as it added such interest to the first low beat half of our film.  We were a bit worried that it would actually put people of as stop animation is definitely not a form of kitchen sink drama. This reflected that there's nothing wrong with adding a bit of a fantasy genre convention into a drama, that mixing genres isn't necessarily a mistake if you do it carefully.
• Although our unicorn stop animation was successful our food scene had a few negative comments.  I felt that people thought we were maybe trying to hard to interest our audience instead of staying true to our genre and narrative.  Maybe we should have just left out the food scene, as it 'didn't quite fit in' which is a comment I agree with.  

Poster

• Holly posted our poster of Facebook as well, to get constructive criticism from our demographic.  Again, overall we had positive feedback with some pointers.
• A lot of people thought it looked very professional, particularly the basic layout and the block font for the title.  The colors were also commented on a lot, I think people really noticed the links between the setting in Polly to the background of the poster.

• Our poster does come across slightly too fun though, people were almost expecting something more like Juno or Freaky Friday rather than our downbeat drama.  I think this is because the colours, although reflecting Pollys setting and being aesthetically pleasing, make our film seem very lighthearted.  If we were to do it again maybe keep the colours but make them a different shade, one that reflects a darker mood.  Maybe just by tinting the edges of the green and pink with black would give the whole thing a much darker effect.

4.How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation

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

Evaluation by Holly King

1. In What ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products:

Short Film

• Short films often contain some of the most inventive and unconventional work found within film making, and so they are often very unique. I feel this is because a lot of imagination and creativity is needed to fit a story into such a short period of time, and different people have different takes on how to do this.
• Before creating our own short film, we have had to research different short films, and look at techniques they have used and the genres. The thing I found most interesting was the variety of different genres and techniques used and the individuality of each short film. This helped us to produce our short film, as there were no specific conventions we had to follow-the beauty of short films is that there is no boundaries-you can  be as creative as you want, and I have found that this creativity and uniqueness is what makes a short film successful.
• Typically, a lot of short films will have an ending or beginning that does not reveal something to us (leaves the viewer thinking, however our short film is different to this-we are studying the life of a young girl, and showing her repetitive life, as so it is meant to be clear that at the end-the  viewer knows that she will return back to her monotonous lifestyle (there is nothing we keep from the viewer).
• I feel our short film is a drama. Although the story is realistic, we have also added an element of disconnection from reality and the surreal effects this can take. The use of surrealism is not something that often fits into dramas, however in the context I think it works.

Conventions of a drama:

• Exhibits real life situations, with realistic characters, settings and stories.
• Portrays journeys of characters development.
• Intense social Interaction.
• Dramatic story line should move the audience emotionally.
• Audience can relate to characters.
• Structured with climaxes/anti-climaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached.
• A form of realisation at the end/Happy ending.

As briefly discussed before, our film does however go against some of these conventions. Such as:

• Social Interaction-Our short is focusing on the lack of social interaction and the lonely lives of  some people and the effect this can have.
• Also I feel our film does not have a happy ending-the audience is lead to believe the ending is happy (when the climax of the boy talking to her occurs), however the anticlimax of him thinking she was somebody else, and then her having to return to her lonely, repetitive, unhappy routine goes against the convention of a drama having a happy ending, however I feel it works in our piece and helps the audience to be emotionally moved.
• I watched several short films when researching, however the only short film I felt influenced my work was 'Waiting for the End of the World'. This is a drama and is similar to our short film. This is what influenced my decisions when planning the short film (I looked at what worked well, what I could do differently etc).

Below is 9 frames taken from the short film 'Waiting for the End of the World' which i think help to answer the question above:

Image 1:

• This is a screen shot of his watch, which is the opening shot for every day. This is a close up of the watch and his name badge which reads 'Petr'. The name badge helps us to identify who he is and the watch shows the significance of time in this piece and also goes with the title 'Waiting for the End of the World', so suggest time is going slowly.
• This short film shows the repetitive life of a young boy who works night shifts at the local supermarket, the narrative of the short film shows us 3 consecutive days (showing the repetitiveness of his life). The alarm sounds at the start of everyday and the same opening shot is shown-this helps to exaggerate the repetitiveness of his routine.
• Using the same sequence of opening shots for every day, is a good technique which we used in our short film too.

Image 2:

• This shot shows the boy working. A lot of these shots in this short film are long-this is to exaggerate how time is moving slowly and really dwells on Monday life.
• The use of an extreme long shot is also significant as it establishes the location for us-In this short film there is also a voice over which helps to explain what is happening too.
• The story (of a boy working night shifts in a local supermarket) has a realistic story, setting and character (so therefor this fits the convention of a drama).

Image 3:

• This shot is also showing what the boy does in his routine, however in this screen shot we can see how the crew are starting to experiment with shallow depth of field, where everything is out of focus. This is important as it helps to express the boys disconnection from reality, as he has the same monotonous routine and also is deprived of human contact.

Image 4:

• This use of repartition at the end and start of each day is a good technique because it shows us how everyday is the same.

Image 5:

• This is a screen shot just showing him fulfilling normal tasks (shows realism-fits in with conventions of dramas)-shows how he passes time.
• This shot is showing him being confused/forgetful of what he has done or is doing- showing that being deprived of human contact can lead to a disconnection from reality and can affect you mentally.

Image 6:

• This is an extreme long shot at the end of the day-the camera zooms out more as he counts down to the end of his shift.
• Each day always ends with him doing something odd (such as lying in this storage box)-shows how doing the same, unsatisfying routine everyday can cause a disconnection from reality and cause you to loose your mind a bit. This element of insanity is realistic, however the way in which it is portrayed may be rather surreal is some cases (and so goes against conventions of drama).
• Also the shots always zoom out to show his isolation and the empty space around him-emphasising that there is not much to do and that he is alone.

Image 7:

• This is a big close up of the characters face. He is starring into the camera, which allows us to connect/empathise with him more/feel what he is feeling. These shots are important because we are focusing on his facial expression. We can see from this shot that he does not look happy (not enjoying what he is doing). His half  closed eyes, show that he finds it repetitive and boring (he does not look like he enjoying what he is doing).
• He looks almost robotic in what he does-never shows emotion/expressionless, which i think is important as it shows us how he is feeling.
• Low Key lighting/dark lighting is used a lot in this piece, which creates more of a mysterious mood but also sets the negative, dull atmosphere.

Image 8 and Image 9:

• These 2 shots show how he passes time. With his imagination as his only company-it shows us how he attempts to entertain himself during his uninteresting routine. These tend to be short shots to show different things he does. However there is no particular climax.

Overall I really enjoyed this short film, however there were several conventions I felt went against the conventions of a drama, these being:

• Portrays journeys of characters development- This short film only looked at the repetitive life and routine of a young boy who works in his local supermarket. There is no journey or character development.
• Intense social Interaction- This film (similarly to our short film) also only looks at the loneliness and isolation of a human contact deprived young boy. There is no social interaction.
• Dramatic story line should move the audience emotionally-There is no dramatic story line-it does not move the audience as there is no climax or anticlimax.
• A form of realisation at the end/Happy ending-There is no 'happy ending' in this short film-it is just showing us how he does the same routine day in day out and nothing ever changes, and that this constantly continues.

Below is 9 Shots From our short film, which i think help to answer  the question:

Image 1:

• This is the opening shot. Similarly to 'Waiting for the End of The World', it shows the character waking up-her name has been inserted over the footage, as this is the title of the film and it also introduces the character.
• Every day starts with the same series of shots-her waking up and getting changed. This is to exaggerate the repetitiveness of her life and how it is the same everyday. Each day also ends with the same series of shots (her getting into bed and turning off lights), however this changes when she comes across company-showing the effect is has on her uninteresting life.

Image2:

• Throughout the short film we have used shots of the watch showing how slowly time is moving and how she has little to do everyday and has to find ways of entertaining herself.

Image 3:

•  This shows the girl passing time. She is hanging off of her bed upside down to show she is bored. The camera then rotates and tracks out to show her on her bed. This shot is slightly surreal and experimental but is effective at showing how she is feeling. It starts of close up and she is looking into the camera, so we are able to see her emotionless facial expressions and also because she is starring into the camera we can connect and empathise with her more.

Image 4:

• This shows a screen shot from a stop motion animation sequence in our short film. This is a surreal shot, showing the unicorn toys (the girl is playing with) running around. This was shot in first person-as if it is from her point of view. To show that her isolation leads to a disconnection from reality and her imagination taking over and distorting reality.
• This goes against the convention of a drama being 'realistic', however it is justifiable and makes sense in the context-showing that being deprived of human contact could lead to 'mild insanity'.

Image 5:

• This shot shows the girl shuffling cards by passing time, however I have used shallow depth of field, to distort the shot to suit the mood of the film.
• Exhibiting real life events/setting and character-which fits into the convention of a drama.

Image 6:

• Show another shallow depth of field shot, focusing first on the water on the window, then adjusting to focus on the melancholic facial expression of the girl, as she gazes our the window.
• This uses pathetic fallacy - the weather represents the girls unhappy, mood. This allows the viewer to empathise with and feel sorry for the girl, and thus keeping the audience emotionally attached.
• The camera is also canted here, to add to the surreal mood.

Image 7:

• Face book plays a key role in our short film. The girl constantly checks her face book page where she has '0' friends. This shows us that she has no friends on line to talk to and therefor no company.
• We chose to use face book, as face book plays a key role in many young peoples social lives now-a-days and so it is realistic and also something people may be able to relate to.
• The climax of the film is where the girl receives a friend request from a boy and they start to talk. This disrupts the girls ordinary, monotonous routine and we see her become happier. This is the only human contact we see the girl having and it fits in with the drama convention of 'social interaction'-as social interaction is the main point of our film.
• The anticlimax of the film, is also this however. We see the girl happy because she has a friend, however the following day she receives a message saying 'sorry, i thought you were somebody else..' and we can see how this upsets the character. And how it also moves the audience emotionally because they have become emotionally attached and empathise with the character.
• This unhappy ending also goes against the conventions of dramas having an uplifting ending.

Image 8 and Image 9:

• Image 8 is a shot showing the girls elation when she is talking to the boy. The use of a big close up really allows us to see her facial expression in detail and empathise with her. The non diegetic sound track here is uplifting and so helps the viewer to empathise with the girl more and share her happiness.
• Image 9 is also a close up of the girls facial expression, however this is following the climax of the film where the boy says 'sorry I thought you were someone else', so we see her sad response, and in combination with the melancholic non diegetic sound track, it lowers the mood and allows us to empathise more with the girl.

Ancillary Tasks:

After producing our final short film we also had to design a poster for our short film and write a review and produce the layout in the style of Little White Lies Magazine.

For the Poster Design we had to:

• Research current British film posters and look at their content and layout. I analysed 28 days later and Tamara Drew's poster designs.

List of things that should be considered when creating poster design/Conventions:

• Layout-The Layout and positioning of all of the elements on the poster is very important, this also affects the image you may use and also the justification of the text. The layout needs to be clear and eye catching-Easy to find important information.
• Title-The film title is often positioned at the top of the poster as this is what the viewer will look at first. It needs to be bold and clear. Also the same title/theme should be established, so people recognise the style/font and become familiar with the title/more memorable.
• Image-The image you use in a poster is not normally a screen shot from the film-it is often taken from a photo shoot in order to have a higher quality image and explain more about your film. Your image needs to be clear and give the viewer some indication as to what the film is about/the genre, or you will not be appealing to the correct target audience.
• Colour-Colour needs to set the right mood of the film/genre, so that it appeals to the right target audience.
• Reviews-Often film posters will have reviews on and 5 star rating, or a quote. These should be from reliable sources that are relevant to the target audience, so that your target audience know that it is worth watching.
• Credits/Legal requirements-is often in the form of block text at the bottom of the poster, showing recognition to those involved in the creation and production of the film. Needs to look professional.
• Actors-Often on film posters, if a well known actor is used, their name(s) will be listed in bold on the poster-this is so people who like this actor will be encouraged to see the film.
• Tag lines-These are often used in films to indicate what it is about.
• Rewards-If a film has won well known awards from reliable sources, then people may go and the the film as it is highly rated by critics.
• Sponsors-Companies sponsoring the production of the film are often listed below legal requirements.
• Production Company Logo-Often the production company will have a logo which is included in the poster-get people familiar with production company.
• Acknowledgements-A lot of posters also have acknowledgements, like other well respected films by the director, or if it was based on a well respected novel for example. This encourages people who have enjoyed these other things, to watch the film.
• Website-A Website is often included so that people who are interested/drawn in by the poster can look on line for more information.
• Release Date-This is always put on film posters, so that their target audience know when it is going to be released and they can view it. If they did not include this information people would not know when it was out, and so the company would loose viewings and money.

After researching and deciding on what needed to be included, I designed a number of different designs on photo shop and this is the final poster design that I have created (includes all necessary conventions listed above):

• Image-There was a number of different images to choose from, from our photo shoot, however I felt (and the target audience felt) this main image of the girl was best as her body language and facial expression, indicate to us her boredom (she is just gazing up at the slinky). The slinky is also significant as this is used in the film as a way in which she passes time and is often linked with old 'Rainy day entertainment'. Originally we were going to use the false teeth in the poster design, however people said it gave the impression of the film being a comedy.
• Title-The main title is written in a doodle style-as doodling is also something associated with being bored, and also is something that teenagers are stereotypically known for doing.
• Colours-We have chosen to use pastel colours pink and green, as these are the colours of the walls in her bedroom (in which most her time is spent), and also we thought helped to show the simplicity, sweetness and innocence of the girl as the protagonist in our short film.
• Tag line-The tag line is something we found hard to think of, so we decided to go with 'nonsocial networking'-as social networking is main theme in the film and is significant and by adding the play on words 'nonsocial', it indicates to us that she is maybe not very sociable (not out of choice), she just has no friends on line.
• Reviews- I have made up reviews for my film poster from well known sources (such as empire magazine), as these are sources film critics are likely to trust and there for watch it. I have chosen to do a 5 star rating, as i feel this stands out more than a quote and works better with the design of the poster.
• Legal Requirements-These are included at the bottom of the poster along with sponsors, as these are needed on film posters to show recognition of  the work.
• Allignment-I decided on central allignment as i thought this worked well with the image. Also the colours are split central (as this is the wall pattern and also shows her being split between reality and surrealism).

All of the above, suggest that it is a drama and help suggest what the film could be about in order to appeal to the right audience.

We also had to write and design a review for our short film in the style of those in Little White Lies Magazine. To do this we had to research current reviews from the company.

Conventions of review by little white lies:

Here is a link to research I have done on the conventions of the layout of the review.

Here is a link to research I have done on the conventions of the text of the review.

After research and planning we both wrote draft reviews individually.We then met and combined these reviews to create our finished 500 word review on 'Polly'.

After finishing the text, I worked on Adobe InDesign to design the layout of our review in the necessary design. This is the final review I designed:

• I feel our review Is also successful. The language techniques we have tried to use was similar to that of Little White Lies Review. Although the content might not appeal to our general target audience, I feel it appeals to the Little White Lies target audience, and this is what is intended (We are meant to appeal to the Readers).
• We have tried to copy the layout of text (the content not the appearance), and the order of the things in which we discuss, and I think we have done this to an accurate standard also.
• The Layout I feel is also successful. After analysing current reviews, we ensured to maintain the layout/dimensions. The Font and effects were changed where necessary, the break up lines were used where necessary. The overall layout (3 collums-Summarised review at end, Title and Subheadings) I feel were replicated well and I think it looks accurate enough to be a Little White Lies Review.
• All of the necessary conventions for a Little White Lies Review were used to produce an article that would appeal to their readers. 

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

Below is a video I have created, in order to answer the Question:

3. What have you learnt from target audience feedback?

Film Feedback:

• The target audience of our short film is young adults (ranging from ages of 16-25). We chose to target this audience, because we fit into this category and so it is easier to know what appeals to us, and there for what should appeal to other people of the same age bracket.
• Our short film is also aimed at both Men and Women, however it may appeal more to the female audience, because the character is female and so they may be able to relate better.
• We also chose to aim our short film at people of this age bracket because a key theme in our short film is facebook, and for the majority of young people now a days, facebook plays a key role in their social life, and so by aiming it at people who facebook is most important to/used by-then it is more likely they will be able to relate to the story and therefore empathise with the character.
• In order to receive target audience feedback, our short film was uploaded to youtube-this is because a lot of young people within our target audience group, use youtube, and so it would be good to receive feedback from people we did not know (as this is likely not to be bias feedback). Following this I shared the link of facebook and asked for feedback on the short film (What they liked/didn't like, could they relate to it etc). I uploaded it to facebook because as i have mentioned before, facebook plays a key role in young peoples social life in modern day life (and the majority of my friends on facebook are within the target audience group) and so I would be receiving feedback from my target audience.

Below shows some of the feedback I received (Full identity of individuals has been concealed for privacy reasons):

Positive Feedback/Creative Criticism/My Response:

• I received a lot of feedback from individual saying how they felt moved and upset at the end when it turned out Polly didn't have a friend and would have to go back to her boring, unsatisfying, lonely life. They said they also thought the character was easy to relate to and also the realistic story line, helped them to connect with the character. I have been told that some people felt so moved and sad at the ending when Polly was sad, that it Made them cry. However some people did say that they though the climax of the film was too brief (only lasted 1 minute), and that too much time was used up, showing her going about her life. They thought it would have been more emotional, if more time was spent building the relationship between Polly and Thomas. I am pleased that our film has emotionally moved our target audience, because our short film is a drama-a convention is to emotionally move the audience and help them to build an emotional relationship with the protagonist, and I felt we successfully achieved this. I do think however that we should have spent more time building up the relationship between the 2 characters, because this would have been more upsetting when it ended, however I am pleased that all of the people I asked felt sad at the end.

Selection of shots some people thought were effective

• Another thing people said they thought was good was the variety and creativity of the shots. They also liked our stop motion animation sequence. They thought these things kept the film interesting and fun to watch. Some people thought the point of view shots (such as the waffles and the unicorn sequence) was really good and fun, However some people did think that the stop motion animation did not fit in with the rest of the short film, and that the film started off quite slowly. I am pleased that people did find the variety of shots interesting, I understand that to start with it may have been a bit boring and that perhaps the surreal stop motion sequences did not fit in with the rest of the film. However these are things I can take on board for any future projects.

Screen shot showing error in match on action

• A lot of people also thought that the shot ran in a smooth order/good match on action and continuity. This is important as it stops any confusion with the viewer, However there was a point in which that the colour outside the curtains did not match (they were filmed at different times of the day) and this was obvious to some viewers. (As you can see above in the first shot, it is pitch black outside, however in the following shot when she is going to sleep, it is light outside).

• The majority of people also said they thought the non diegetic sound track was really effective and worked well with what was happening in the film and helped to set the mood. They also thought that the Foley sounds were good and went well with the piece.The join between 2 of the songs however is a bit rough and they do not run smoothly into one another, however this is because our skills on garage band are not too high and so we struggled to do this-I feel with more experience this could have been perfected.

• The main criticism was that it was too long and slow getting into it. I agree with this completely and feel we should have spent less time focusing on her alone and more time building the characters relationships. However we spent a  long time on her long, boring, monotonous routine to emphasise how repetitive and boring it is, however this could have been reduced.

Overall The feedback was really good, I feel successfully appealed to the audience and moved them and this was the aim of the short film. The criticisms have been important as it allows us to be aware of what we need to improve on in the future. 

Poster Feedback:

I also posted the Poster on Facebook, and asked if they thought it worked well with the film/what they liked/didn't like.
The aim of our poster was to appeal to the target audience of our short film and also to inform people of the film and indicate what the film was about/what genre. So that the right people would like the poster and there for enjoy the short film. I shared the poster to the same people who had seen the short film so that they could say whether or not the poster worked well to portray what the film was roughly about.
Here is some of the feedback I received for the poster:

• A lot of people thought it worked well with the film and looked professional.
• Also they thought the simple layout in combination with the simple colours was effective and helped to set the mood of the film.
• They also liked the font used-doodle style and thought that the poster worked well with the style/mood/genre of the film.
• I  did receive some feedback suggesting it should be more drawing like/darker, however i did create a design like this during the planning process (Here) and i do not think it suits the mood and genre of the film.
• They did say however that the reviews were a bit plain and could have been more interesting (looked a bit out of place with the rest of the poster).

However overall the majority thought the poster was good at representing what the film was about/set the right mood. The audience feedback was really useful and it was helpful to see what elements people liked and those people did not like.

Review Feedback:

Article From Little White Lies Magazine

We wrote a review in the style of Little White Lies Reviews. Because we were aiming to write a review that would be published in Little White Lies. It therefore would have to be written to appeal to the Little White Lies target audience, as opposed to our film target audience.


The Little White Lies Audience tends to range from the ages of 18-40. It has a broader age bracket and appeals to both genders. It is a magazine that specialises in film reviews, so the target audience is people who are interested in films. So in order to appeal to this target audience we had to try and replicate their layout design and also write in the same style as their journalists.

• Instead of posting our review on facebook, I tried to reach a larger, more age varied target audience and asked individuals (friends, family, neighbours and family friends) what they thought of the review. Below is the final Review I designed (Text written my Freya and I):

Vicky King 42
'I think the layout looks really professional. I like the text justification and the way you've positioned the text into 3 columns. Looks like a professional, reliable source. The text gives a detailed review, which accurately describes the content of your film. Good bold title-Could maybe have chosen a better image that portrays what your film is about a bit better?'.


Jay Joy 25
'I like the image across the top, and how you've rounded the edges-makes it look more professional. I like how you summarise the review at the end of the article and give it a rating. After reading some of the review, it sounds like a good story that I'd be interested in watching'.

Lee Milford-Cottam 45
'Like the use of descriptive language, and the friendly tone you use throughout the review-Feels more casual. Good Layout-Could have used some more colour to liven it up a bit, but overall it looks good'.

Jake Green 18
'Looks cool, like a real magazine article. Good layout- Maybe a bit plain'.

My Response:

• All of the reviews I received were very useful, and gave me good and bad feedback that I can Learn from. The main Positive point was that the Layout and style looked really profession. They also thought that the content of the text was good and made them interesting in watching the film (Which is what a review should do).  The Main criticism was the plainness of the review. The majority of people thought I could have added more colour to make it more eye catching and standout. Also There was comments on the plain screen shot I chose to use-some people thought it was not a good choice of image to represent the film.
• In hindsight I should have added a coloured background-however i thought id stick with Little White Lies Classic black and white theme. However I can see how colour would have been more appealing. I also found it hard to chose which screenshot to use, however me and Freya decided on the girl looking out the window, as we thought this shows her boredom/sadness-however this is something we could have asked our target audience before designing the Review.
• Overall I still feel we achieved what we intended with the Review and am pleased with the outcome.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and Evaluation stages:

Here is a presi design I have created in order to answer the Question:

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? on Prezi