5 Things That I Need to Improve On

1. Depth of Field

What I’ve learnt from producing my short film is that I need to keep a close eye on my depth of field and whats in focus/out of focus. To do this I just need to make sure I keep the depth of field on manual and to be careful when zooming in and out as the depth of field changes. I’ll also avoid using depth of field as much as I did so that when I do use it, it’ll show more importance to the production.

2. Schedule

When it came to starting my pre production, I mapped out a reasonably timed schedule for when things should be completed. However I didn’t take into account how much certain problems could affect my schedule. What I mean by this for example is that my actors were unavailable at times in the schedule where I wanted to be shooting my short film. To counter this I’ll take more time when producing my schedule and will get the dates where my cast and crew are available.

3. Types of Camera

For my next production, I will make sure that I only use one type of camera as I encountered various problems through using two different types of camera for my short film. These problems were that it would blur out my footage and it would not allow me to create various copies of the short film. To counter this in my next production I will probably just stick with using a DSLR Camera from college as that way I can get the highest quality possible.

4. Editing

When it came to editing my short film I made the poor choice of editing my scenes in a mix and match order, what I mean is that due to my poor organization on this task it resulted in me filming in a non-chronological order which totally ruined the story and gave me the problem of having too much variety in music. This lead to me spending more time editing then I had planned and I could have used this time more efficiently. So for my next production, I will edit in a chronological order.

5. Lighting

The lighting in my previous production was all over the place due to me underestimating how little light a camera can pick up in a darkish setting. I did try during this process to add more light but overall it was just not enough however it helped me learn for future work. In my next production I will organize my schedule so that my filming will take place earlier on in the day.

A Forgotten Obsession Short Film + Trailer

 

This is my short film on living in a digital age for college:

This is my teaser trailer for my short film, A Forgotten Obsession:

Problems I have Encountered in the Process of making my Short Film

Pre Production

One of the main problems I have faced in my pre production is that of getting familiar with the layouts and details of the forms that you have to fill in. For example, when you’re filling out location recces. Also another problem I encountered was that of been able to organize my time accurately so that I wouldn’t run the risk of not completing my short film on time. However this was always going to prove difficult to me personally as it was the first short film I’d ever produced and I was unsure how long certain things would take to be completed. One of these things was that of getting the person playing my characters the time to actually be able to be part of the filming. Admittedly this was probably my fault as I asked my sister and mum to take part and they had other things they needed to do most of the time. Nevertheless I still managed to complete my short film and this is something I have learned from massively.

Production

For the actual shooting of my short film, it took places in two different countries which was a problem I shouldn’t have taken when I’m this inexperienced however it has definitely proved valuable due to what I encountered. This proved a problem because I had to keep the continuity right and I only had one chance at getting all the necessary footage whilst in the other country. Whilst I did manage to get a lot of the footage I needed, I still was left unhappy at other chances I missed whilst there but to counter this I decided to do some of the filming in England but making sure that it wasn’t easily recognizable as it would ruin the general feel.

Another problem with the shooting was that some of the shots I took were way too bright as the whiteness covered the background. Unfortunately I couldn’t change this and it ruined some of the shots I took. However whilst I was shooting, I made sure that I took enough shots so that when it came to editing I would have more than enough footage and I could therefore choose the best ones. 

In addition to the above, in some shots people kept looking straight at the camera because they didn’t realize I was filming a short film. So I had to cut several parts out of my shots at the editing stage, which although wasn’t a big problem. It was a regular occurrence.

Another problem that occurred was that of not been able to get the depth of field right when filming a moving object. This may have been because of my inexperience but it’s something I’m working on changing.

Finally, one of the other problems I encountered was that of not getting the lighting correct which resulted in some scenes being a little bit too dark and others too bright. So to counter the darkness of some of my shots, our college tutor showed me how to brighten the image up using effects on Adobe premiere which will come in useful on future productions.

Post Production

For the editing process of my short film, I encountered various problems which will help me learn in future productions. One of these problems was that of audio files that can get corrupted if you switch computers during the editing process. Honestly I still don’t understand this completely but I know that on future productions I’m going to stick to editing the audio side of things on one computer. Another problem that I encountered was that I hadn’t hired out audio equipment when I shot some of my scenes so I decided that I was going to record it separately and add it over the footage, however when I told my college tutor what I planned to do he helped me realise that the dialogue would seem out of place and therefore make the viewer lose interest in the dialogue been spoken. To counter this I decided to have a voice over of the main character reacting to what the other character was saying originally, but to make sure the viewer knew what the other character was saying, I thought about adding subtitles to make it clear.

 

Adding Audio to a Pre-made Clip

Today we were tasked with adding our own audio to a pre-made clip from a short film, we first decided to add sounds of nature that would make the clip more believable and professional. For example, twigs crunching and birds chirping. Then we decided to add creepy background music to signify the genre of the clip. This gave the clip a mysterious and horror type feel. To give this more effect we dragged out the audio clip of the music to give it a dramatic feel.

We also decided to include ghostly whispers in the clip when they approach a tunnel as again it would clearly show the genre of the clip and it also gave the clip more depth and impact. To make the whispers sound like they were coming from the tunnel we added a fade in and a echo effect onto the audio piece.

We also used the above as a template to create a funny clip where when they approach the tunnel they get an unexpected surprise…

Short Trailer for Retribution (Short Film)

For this task we had to take a short film from you tube and make a 15 second trailer that’s suitable for Instagram. I decided early on that I wanted to create a trailer for the short film Retribution as I liked the general feel to the short film and I felt that there was some good shots to use in there.

The first thing I did for the trailer was deciding which shots I would use and I felt that I used the correct shots to portray the genre and feel to the short film. This would therefore entice more people into viewing the short film. The second thing i did was a make sure that the trailer lasted no more than 15 seconds long otherwise it wouldn’t be compatible for Instagram. Once I had decided which shots to use I begin cutting them down and adding the effects which are key features of feature length film trailers. This then made the trailer seem more professional.

When it came to deciding the soundtrack I felt that a fast paced song would perfectly represent what was happening on screen. What I mean is that the fast paced music can connote the action genre and it also makes the trailer exciting for the target audience. I also used sound effects to empathize the action genre and to give an indication of the characters personality.

Overall I found this task very helpful as it allowed me to experiment when editing and it also gave me more confidence at the whole editing area of film production as I was very unfamiliar with the software we were using. I also found it useful because this was the first trailer I have attempted to make and it gave me additional ideas for future productions.

How I Would Advertise My Short Film

The marketing plan for my short film would be to create several teaser trailers, social media accounts and film posters.

The Teaser Trailers

I would release 2 teaser trailers for my short film, these would be released every 3 days and would be around 10 seconds long. The first would be based around my main characters obsession with her phone. I would also include a voice over to make the visuals been shown make sense and I would also use a fair bit of the fading to black technique to keep my audience on edge and interested in my short film. This would be the equilibrium of sorts for the teaser trailers that I would release.

The second and last of my teaser trailers would show the disruption proposed to my main character and this will show some of the narrative of my short film. This will also get the viewer putting themselves into my main characters mind frame therefore creating a bond between my short film and it’s target audience. For example, for James Bond Sceptre they released a teaser trailer which showed just enough details to get the target audience hooked. The only difference in mine would be that I released an additional one.

Social Media Accounts

The idea behind the social media accounts is that there would a social media account (So Twitter/Facebook) for each of my characters. This would allow me to bring them to life and so they could interact with my target audience. I would also be able to release my teaser trailers through these social media accounts. I also intend to portray the social media accounts through my characters perspectives because it allows the target audience to connect with the character and therefore enticing them into viewing the short film. Tony Stark from Iron Man is a good example. Film Posters

The film posters is a very common way off promoting films but in my experience of been a film enthusiast I believe just sticking up film posters anywhere is a pointless idea. So I plan to release my film posters in certain locations where I’m certain it will grab the attention of my target audience and include the phrase “Show me on Social Media” so that it gets widespread coverage, also when you do put it on social media you’ll be given the film poster as a free background cover. By the way my target audience is that of the teenage age range to that of around the parent age of 55 tops. The locations I would be looking to release my film posters would be at schools, youth groups, social media accounts of popular TV channels (MTV for example), village halls, parents evening etc etc. I would also promote my film posters at town centers by projecting an image of the film poster onto large buildings/walls. This would then catch the target audiences eye as it’s an unusual way of promoting film posters.

 

My Production Work for my Short Film So Far

Synopsis

I have already written out several potential synopsis’s and i decided to go for this one:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… Texting, Calling, Facetime… This is a tale of how a mobile phone obsessed teen copes with her phone been 420 miles away, in a separate country, stuck at home. Would you be able to handle it?

I feel that this synopsis provided the intended meaning and moral story of my short film and it also shows the base of the narrative without giving too much away. In addition i feel it’s short and snappy enough to catch the target audiences eye and to entice them into watching it.

Character Bios:

The character bios for my short film are coming across nicely and i’m certain that I’m going to have enough detail for my actors to give a genuine and believable performance. For the character bios I have written the characters personality out on how they behave normally and how they interact with certain events. Also for the characters personality i have made sure that they have realistic traits of someone who is genuinely like that in the real world so that they can relate. I have also written what each characters relationship is like with other characters. For example, the daughter in my short film is sarcastic and stroppy towards her mum yet her mum treats the daughter with respect and patience. Finally I have also written about each characters back story and their past so that it can back up their actions and personalities.

Story Boards:

I’m still creating my story boards but I’m about half way through and should finish within the next two to three days. However I’m enjoying fleshing my ideas out onto story boards as it allows me to clearly visualize my short film and i feel it will only help improve not only my short film but my film making skills as a whole. The only trouble I have had with the storyboards is that i can’t draw so i acquired the help of my mum to draw the shots that I was visualizing. I asked my mum because she used to be a graphic designer for Matalan so I knew i could trust her.

Script:

I haven’t properly started the script due to the story boards being incomplete but I have drawn out some ideas for the opening scenes which will come in handy. I intend to start my script over the next few days and because the majority of the dialogue is as a voice over, it allows me to do the script after I’ve done my filming. The script for my short film will mainly consist of dialogue for my main character Amber but there will also be occasional dialogue from her mum. Overall i predict that my script writing will take no more than 4 days to complete as I’m familiar with the script writing software that I’m using.

Casting Call

For my casting, I intend to use my sister as the main character and my mum as the other main character in my short film. I chose to do it like this because the basis of my film relies on a phone obsessed teenager forgetting her phone when she goes on holiday. Therefore realistically my mum and sister were the best option. However for other productions I cast actors from the drama studio at my college or if I am making a short film with a decent budget I would use websites such as casting call pro as they are extremely useful for finding the best actors for the role you need.

Actor Casting Websites

For this task I used the website Casting Call Pro, the signing up process is very simple and you can easily establish what you’d be looking for in an actor when posting the job on the website. However the website does charge you and expect you to pay the actors at least £55 a day if you are paying. Apart from that you can put every little bit of detail onto the advertisement and it’s very easy for the actor to apply for it. The website also gives you the opportunity to ask for a self tape audition which is very helpful.

In addition, it is also very easy to find where the actors on the website are also the search options are very specific so you could search out actors that live in a certain radius to where you want to film therefore saving you money. You can also specifically search someones physical appearance allowing you to get the perfect actor for the job. You can also see what the actors are interested in doing so if you are looking for actors for a student film you would be able to see if they are willing to do it. You can also see the actors qualifications and what they have already worked in.

 

When casting for a film, you can encounter various problems and dilemmas such as budget. For example if your making a low budget film, to deal with money and budget problems you could use the advanced search option on this particular website to create a price range so you can see who’s affordable. Also you have to clearly establish with the actor about the payment methods. Another problem is that of traveling to auditions and the cost of this because some actors expect you to pay for their transport even if they mightn’t get the job. Therefore you’re best off only hiring actors who live close by to where you are filming. Especially if its a low budget production.

In addition, another problem is that of not knowing the actors appearance, this can be countered through the actor sending a head shot image of themselves to the casting crew. Allowing the casting crew to decide if that person fits in well with what the character should look like. Another dilemma is that of a lack of chemistry between characters, this can be prevented by the casting crew seeing how the actors perform together at an audition, or by getting the two actors to spend more time together but usually there wont be enough time for this to be used. There is also the problem of the actor just not being very good at acting so to counter this you should watch pieces of their previous  work and ask their previous employers for their opinion on the actor.

 

Treatment of my Short Film

I will be filming my short film on a DSLR camera and a Nikon camera because I believe this way I will be able to get a variety of shots and in a short amount of time. Also using a DSLR camera will allow me to implement more effects. This will therefore make each and every shot more interesting to the audience.

The target audience for my short film is that of the teenager age range as it focuses on a teenagers obsession with her phone and how she deals with it. Therefore the teenage age range can relate to this. I am also targeting the parent audience because they will definitely be able to relate with the parents in my short film, which in turn creates a stronger bond between my short film and the audience.

For the location of my short film, I have decided to set some scenes in Clayton, Bradford to give a sort of setting and back story for my characters. However most of my short film will take place in Amsterdam. This will allow me to catch some very good shots which will provide a greater impact on the audience. To make sure that I know where to shoot in Amsterdam I have viewed photos from people that have been on holiday there and the lighting and setting of Amsterdam is exactly what I’m looking for.

Analysis of my research

Focus Group

Before I start asking the questions for the focus group i will play a short film called ’17 Seconds’ then i will have 2-3 minutes to ask the following questions.

1.How would you describe that short film in 1/2 words?

I asked this question because I’d like to get a general reaction to the short film but because of the time restrictions I’ll have to keep it very brief.

Answer: The general reaction was that it was a short and snappy short film with typical action scenes included. I also found out that the focus group thought that the short film had good comedic value and that it had a silly nature which they all agreed on. But overall they enjoyed the short film.

2. Which area of the production could have been improved? i.e. Editing/Camera Operator/Director.

This question allows me to see which part of the production team needs to work on their contribution and it allows me to see what worked for them and what didn’t.

Answer: The overall feeling was that the audio needed improving because it came across as patchy and grainy at certain points. However there were slight concerns over the lighting and the acting saying that the acting came across as cheesy.

3. How long do you prefer short films to be?

This allows me to get an estimate as to how long a short film should be before it becomes boring to the target audience.

Answer: The general consensus was that 5/10 minutes was the best/most preferred running time of a short film because they felt that it’s unlikely that the audience would form a relationship with a character in a short film. They also felt that 5/10 minutes was enough time for a decent narrative to capture the audience.

4. What genre do you prefer when it comes to short films?

I’m asking this because it allows me to see which narrative type will appeal most to the target audience and it also allows me to see which is the most receptive for the audience.

Audience: When it came to genre, the focus group by some distance felt that action/comedy are the best genres for short films as they found the narratives associated with them more appealing. However there was a solitary mention of the Sci-fi genre.

5. How many characters do you prefer to see in a short film?

From this question I will be able to tell how many characters development they’d like to see in a short film.

Answer: The amount of characters that the focus group would prefer to see in a short film was mainly 3 due to their opinion that if there was anymore it would be even harder to form a relationship with any of the characters. However 1 or 2 of the focus group felt that 4 characters is the right amount.

 

Questionnaire (Survey Monkey)

For the questionnaire, only 4 people answered. The questions on the questionnaire are as follows:

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. Please can you rate the following film genres? (Choices: Action/Drama/Horror/Spoof/Thriller)

4. What would you rate the short film? (Choices: 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-10)

5. Which character most appealed to you? (Jack, John, Dafne, Handkerchief Guy)

6. What do you look for in a short film? (Own written answers)

7. What makes a good character to you? (Preset answers)

8. How long do you prefer short films to be? (Preset answers)

9. How many characters do you prefer in a short film? (Preset answers)

Overall

Overall i found the focus group to be more beneficial because it’s a qualitative data source in which i get answers from the respondents mouth and i 100% know that they are actually answering it. Whereas the questionnaire was a quantitative data source which is just based off fact and not peoples opinion which was more valuable to me. However quantitative data gave me a more clear set of results but i feel that the results from the focus group will serve me better in the long run. I also feel this because i had more opinions and answers from the focus group whereas only 4 people answered the questionnaire. I was also able to ask a wider variety of relevant questions in the focus group due to the fact that i could explain a question if someone didn’t understand it. Luckily this didn’t occur and the focus group understood the questions with ease. Finally the focus group overall gave me additional ideas for when i produce my own short film and i feel this can only improve my final production.