Final Film

Final Poster and Radio Trailer (Ancillary Texts)

Jennifer Penaluna - Critical Evaluation - Q1

During the filmmaking process, we used the conventions of filming and editing in our film to ensure professionalism. In terms of filming, we made sure to keep to the 180 degree rule so that our film made viewing sense. This was especially important in the beginning scene of Jack and Emma entering the house when they walk through the living room and into the kitchen. We filmed the shots from entering the house to pouring the wine from one side of the couple so it didn’t confuse the audience.

We also used fast-paced editing and jump cuts for when Jack is buying, receiving and opening his remote. The fast-paced editing demonstrates the impossible quickness of receiving a package and makes it humorous. The jump cuts were filmed from different heights and on a 30 degree angle to make the jumps continuous. We decided to use jump cuts to show the speed and subsequent eagerness of Jack and his new life-changing package. 

 

The flower drop and give back sequence was quite difficult to do to ensure continuity and prevent from jarring and consequently looking unprofessional. The editing here was crucial and fiddly to get the consecutive shots to fit together seamlessly. Although I found it difficult to match the giving back of the flowers sequence, I think I managed to make it work and appear to run smoothly.

After coming up with the initial basis of our film, we decided that our film was a Romantic-Comedy which is evidently a sub-genre of both Romance and Comedic films. ‘Rewind’ is based around a “meet-cute” which is a humorous and/or awkward encounter between the main couple and this is what led us to follow other conventions of the Romantic-Comedy genre. We also incorporated a hybrid of Science-Fiction with Romantic-Comedy due to the technology of the remote control and making our film a different genre, which according to Steve Neale, is important for growth of genre as it attracts new audiences. Similar ideas to this include ‘the Time Traveller’s Wife’ which incorporates both Romance with Science-Fiction due to the main character’s love of his family and ability to time travel. Looking for ideas for our niche hybrid genre, I came across ’11 Minutes’ which is a short film that is also a Sci-Fi Rom-Com and this helped me to understand exactly what goes into this genre.

In accordance to Tom Ryall’s genre theory, we tried to stick to the narrative structures, themes, iconography and characters of Romantic-Comedies. Our narrative structure can be said to be typical of a Rom-Com due to the majority of the predictability of our storyline, i.e. the “meet cute” infers straight away that the couple become romantically involved, as well as that Jack will mess up on the date due to his initial awkwardness. The typical theme of love and striving for perfection is the main point of our film that everybody can relate to. Even if not in such a radical way as having a time rewinding remote, people aim for perfection – especially on an initial date. Iconography was very important to us as this is what the audience can easily identify with as being a Rom-Com; flowers, wine and a couple watching television are obvious Rom-Com traits without even knowing the plotline (pictured below). As for the characters in our film, we stuck to the very vague typicality of a main girl and a main boy being romantically involved but we wanted to subvert the gender stereotype and have the male as the awkward and unsure character, subsequently making the female the stronger and superior character throughout the film. This made the twist at the end (Emma having a remote control all along) a shock to the audience because she isn’t the strong one after all; she is just as susceptible to strive to perfection as Jack due to lack of confidence in herself, making the two equals at the end. 

As our film is mainly a Rom-Com with components of Sci-Fi intertwined, we realised that our film would have to primarily follow the conventions of a Rom-Com and the Sci-Fi part would be the innovative and different selling point. This idea follows Steve Neale’s theory of Repetition and Difference, meaning that audience pleasure was created through the predictability of the characters, iconography, themes and narrative structure and the unique selling point of incorporating Sci-Fi and technology into a Rom-Com. With this in mind, we created our poster and radio trailer with the remote control being the main point of the advert. The link between Rom-Com and Sci-fi exists already as a niche film market that manages to make big films due to the mix of traditionalism with a bit of difference. Films likes this include ‘Click’ which has a similar theme to ours in regards to the idea of a remote control for life itself (trailer below).

From the beginning, it was evident that Jack was an awkward kind of boy and so the audience would assume that he would mess up. From guessing this, the audience gains pleasure through feeling as if they have worked something out. So as not to be overly predictable and subsequently bore the audience, we manipulated the audience’s expectations right until the end where Emma has also had a remote and this hopefully left them surprised. After letting people view our film, typical out loud comments were:  ‘Oh, she has a remote too!’ which show the exclaim we were looking for and means that we were successful in terms of creating audience pleasure through both predictability and surprise.

Jennifer Penaluna - Critical Evaluation Q2

Rewind on Prezi

Jennifer Penaluna - Critical Evaluation - Q3

Jennifer Penaluna - Critical Evaluation - Q4

We initially set up a blog on Blogger of which all our media portfolio would be put on to enable us to use different types of media in one place throughout the making of the film. I was introduced to this last year and so had a years worth of experience with it at A2.

We were able to upload videos that we created on Final Cut Express onto YouTube and then embed them onto Blogger so they could be viewed directly on our blog. For this to happen, we had to create a YouTube account. We created a group account with the username ‘blankpagepro’ so that we could upload and manage our videos together.

Along with videos, we can upload photos to our blog which allows us to show our further ideas in picture format, making the blog a multi-media platform and interesting to view rather than just writing and essay structures.

Ebay helped us to be creative by allowing us to create a pretend selling page for our remote control prop in our film, making the intertextual link between the viral advert and selling page which were incorporated into the actual film.

We used the Macs for all of our media production process, which featured Celtx and Final Cut Express. We used Celtx to create the script and was very easy to use as it uses the correct format for a script. We used Final Cut Express for all of our editing throughout the filmmaking process including my Video Diary, the Viral Advert and the title sequence along with the finished film.

For the filming, we used a HD camera which I did not use last year so this was a development for my confidence in my camera skills. As I was in most of the film, I did not get chance to film much so my input to this was limited but I got to see and understand how to use the camera through observation. The sharpness of the image that this camera gave us made our film look a lot more professional than last year. For my video diary, I used the smaller handheld cameras as they were more portable but a less sharp image.

A voiceover was included in our film which meant that we had to use a Zoom recorder to record both mine and Joe’s voices. This was a new experience for all of us and we had to quickly learn how to use it. We missed a part of Joe’s speech and me and Jade had to re-record it whilst we were filming. We were also able to turn the sound level up when necessary on Final Cut Express due to one part being held further away from Joe and subsequently sounding naturally too quiet.

Final Cut Express enabled us to be creative with our film and incorporate the ‘rewind’ feature. We wanted to show the shots in reverse to fit with the theme of rewinding to make the effect of the remote more plausible. We were able to edit the shots to play backwards which was exactly what we anticipated. Some of our shots were the wrong colour due to filming on different days in different levels of natural sunlight and they weren’t continuous. We were able to edit the balance of light on Final cut, making our film look a lot better.

We also used Photoshop to create our poster in a professional looking way, which was a step up from last year. After every group member contributed a poster, we chose a favourite and used this to create in Photoshop so we knew exactly what we wanted it to look like so it was quite straightforward.

Along with other group members, I used Facebook to gain audience feedback which proved useful. Before we had fully finished the film and wanted some feedback on what was missing, I posted our film on Facebook to people directly asking for comments which we took on board, allowing our creativity to blossom further.

Jade Brammah - Critical Evaluation - Question 1

Question 1: In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

At the start of our project we all brainstormed our ideas and decided that we wanted to make a short film that would be easy to do and would only rely on the members of our group. We wanted to make a film that could be seen by a wider audience and therefore we focused our plot and themes around this point. We decided to look at the romantic comedy genre which is very popular since it is a hybrid of two well loved genres of film; this would help us achieve our target of a wider audience. We each looked at a related genre for our research and presented our findings on the blog. I looked at the romance genre to see how romantic leads should behave in a film such as ours (shown below) and to take inspiration from films that may be similar to ours. Others looked at comedy, drama and even romantic comedies themselves to see what the common features of these films are and how we could use them in our film; this way the audience would know what to expect and would be happy that the film is how they imagined. Romantic comedies have become so popular in recent years that the genre itself has become a cliche, relying on several plot points to bulk out the story and make the type of film apparent. However we wanted to subvert the rom-com stereotype a little by using only a couple of these elements in our film so that there are enough features of a rom-com for the audience to identify with the film and understand what it is and what we intend it to be, but also that it stands out as being different and not just like any other film of the same genre. To do this we only used certain pivotal points, such as boy meets girl, a date situation, conflict between the two and 'the look', which help ground the film and take it in the direction that we intended it to go in. However, the characters do not get their usual 'happy ending' as they do not really get on and in the end this is too much of an obstacle to overcome; this would not happen in a typical rom-com as they rely on happy endings and obstacles being overcome. Also we tied in the genre of science fiction to again make our film a little bit different, you don't usually see these two genres together and we thought that it would be interesting and would help spice up an otherwise quite mundane plot. We subverted the power between men and women in our film as usually the man seems to have the upper hand and be the strong one that has it together, but in our film it is the woman that takes on this role as the male character relies on the remote to help him and is constantly trying to please and live up to the woman's expectations. She is in control and the date could go however she wanted it to if he did not have the remote, it is suggesting that without it he probably wouldn't stand a chance and this makes him vulnerable, yet with the remote he feels invincible which is shown towards the end of the film as he starts to adopt a cockier attitude. However at the end of the film the male power stereotype is introduced as it is revealed that she had a remote all along as well which shows that she is just as vulnerable as he is; this still does not agree with the stereotype as they are now seemingly being represented as equals rather than either of them holding the power. This shows our views on the male and female power struggle that is constantly ongoing in modern day society and acts as an inoculation effect, injecting our ideas into the public's minds and possibly making them question and think about it. This is known as hypodermic theory and is used by many media manufacturers to pass on ideas and beliefs.

For our research we looked at clips from different romantic comedies to get an idea of the basic feel of the films, the setting, character style, costumes and so on. By doing this we got a better idea of how to plan our film and what elements to include. I looked at a clip from the rom-com "500 days of summer" and took inspiration from how the characters act around each other. We made the characters in our film similar to these by making them awkward around each other and as if they are never really completely comfortable in each others company. This and other borrowed points from our film, such as a rewinding remote similar to that in the film "Click," help to give our film intertextuality and hidden depth. Of course our film constantly takes inspiration from others, for example the idea of going on a date and everything going wrong, this is a common rom-com feature and has been used in many films, for example "Along Came Polly". Therefore we are taking the genre's history and twisting it so that it will be desirable to a modern day audience. We wanted to use some cliches in our film that would make it intentionally cheesy so that it would provoke more laughs from our audience, this was our intentional direction as we wanted to kind of poke fun at the romantic comedy genre rather than completely agree with it.

To get a better idea of how to make an entire film in the space of only five minutes we looked at different short films. Mine was taken from the website "Shortsbay," which was effective in helping me find a film that lasted around the same amount of time as ours as it had the option for me to search for five minute films. I chose to look at the short film, "Maybe One Day," as it focused on a male lead like our film and rather than being a romantic comedy it seemed to be a journey of discovery about oneself and a search for happiness. This is similar to our film as both of the characters are clearly constantly searching for happiness and need help to get it. In our film they find out a lot about themselves as they are forced to deal with their own failures and personalities; first choosing to fight against them but ultimately having to accept them. "Maybe One Day" uses a voice over constantly so that we get a more in depth picture of the man as we can hear his innermost thoughts, things he wouldn't say out loud, this links with our film as at the start Jack is only heard through a voice over which allows us to get to know him without actually seeing what he is like. Both the male lead in this film and our film are trying to make a change in their lives and seeking out new opportunities, but at the end of each film it becomes apparent that the next day they will probably just end up going back to their normal lives. There is a lot of sarcastic comedy used in this film which we tried to incorporate into ours as well as the use of physical comedy. Both rely quite heavily on jump cuts to progress the story without letting it become repetitive and boring which shows that we have taken inspiration in our editing techniques. Although "Maybe One Day" and our film are very different to each other I think it is apparent that we have taken inspiration from certain areas of the film to build up a believable idea of what our main character is like.

We wanted to give the audience a sense of pleasure whilst watching our film, as it is a romantic comedy we wanted to provide a release for them, where they can escape for five minutes, forget about their worries and just laugh at our film. We included several points to achieve this, such as:

• Comedic situations/cliches
• likable characters that the audience can relate to
• Situations that the audience can identify with
• Honesty in our characters, showing the audience the real them so that they don't feel cheated
• Hope, shown through the use of the remote as a safety net to let the audience know that even if things go wrong they can be fixed

However we did not want the audience to agree with the use of the remote as it symbolises the constant struggle for acceptance and approval and the desire to obtain these by any means necessary. It acts as a way for our characters to not be themselves but to hide behind a mask and a fake personality. In a way they are lying to themselves and becoming something they are not just to make a good impression on someone they are not even compatible with. The remote in a way shows our modern need for new technology and how ridiculous this is becoming as we rely more and more on gadgets that we do not really need; it promotes materialism and we do not want our audience to agree with this so we are showing that the remote does not actually help anyone, it just makes matters worse in the outcome and prolongs an uncomfortable experience. 

We edited and created our film using Final Cut Express; cutting our initial clips down and swapping them around to make an effective film that has a plot which makes sense. We used a non-linear narrative to make our film more interesting and make it seem as if we were giving the audience an insight into the origins of the story before continuing with it. We used several jump cuts to make long periods of time pass quicker so that the film would not contain any boring parts that lasted too long and would focus on the actual action of the film. We used fades to create the illusion that a passage of time had passed so that we could focus on our main character's mistakes. Voice overs are used to create the illusion that we are hearing the characters thoughts and freeze frames help the audience to focus on certain frames and audio. We featured a montage at the start of our film to condense the beginning of the characters relationship down and to keep the audiences attention, we put music over the montage and included speech so that the scenes could be explained. This music was taken from royalty free CD's and we took our sound effects from royalty free websites such as Sounjay. We kept our continuity smooth and seamless by sticking to simple filming rules such as the 180 degree rule and using effective techniques such as pans. We had to edit the lighting using Final Cut Express since the brightness was different on several scenes, we managed to do this effectively by adding filters to alter the colour and brightness. We changed the speed of the scene where the glass is dropped to make it look more dramatic and draw focus to what was happening. Lastly, to create our rewinding effect we chose the motion tab, selected speed and chose the speed at which we wanted the footage to rewind; this created an interesting effect that looks professional and works effectively with our film.

This shows that we have used and followed the 180 degree line rule.