Birthday Party

Birthday Party from Lewis Wilson on Vimeo.

Final Poster Design

Here is my final poster design for my short film 'Birthday Party'.

Magazine Film Review Page

Evaluation; Question 1

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

Evaluation: Question 2

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

The media products that I created consisted of a short film, which was my main task and a film review page and a poster for my short film.

To ensure that my products fit together as a whole media package I had to monitor and design every detail to be harmonious to one another. One way that I made all my products consistent with one another was by using a colour theme throughout each product. The main colours of my colour theme was orange, yellow, red and blue with other secondary colours as each colours connotations and representational aspects were suited to my goals and the concepts that I wanted to project in my work. To apply these colours to my short film, I incorporated the colours into my mis-en-scene through certain props and their colours, also having an appropriately lit and painted setting to shoot my film in allowed me to feature my colour theme. 

Mis-en-scene of Birthday Party

An example of props that were used is the medication bottles that are on the side cabinet in Tim’s bedroom. I designed each bottle label with great care, first hand drawing them then scanning them so I had copies of the images digitally. This allowed me to import the images onto Adobe Illustrator and digitally colour the bottle designs to suited colours. Another way in which I created a correlation between my main task and poster was by actually using an illustrated version of a shot that was taken from my short film. This obviously created an instant link between these two products as they both featured the medication bottles. I also decided to use a screenshot of the medication bottles on my film review page to once again link all the products together, making each product work harmoniously together.

The arrows on the following images highlight the medication bottles that all feature in each product, creating a recognisable correlation between them all.

                                                Screenshot from 'Birthday Party

                                                              Film Poster

                                                     Film review magazine page

 I also decided to create my own font to use throughout all my products, another feature that would make for a strong media package. To do this, I designed the font by hand and scanned in my design and then made digital versions of the font using Adobe Illustrator making it easier to apply the font to all of my products. The font is used on the title screen of my short film, the text on my film poster and also on the title of my film review page, creating a balance and consistency flowing through my productions and designs.

The font I designed 'Tim's hand'

By illustrating the design of my film poster, I was also able to create a representation of my

character’s persona and creative ability that is shown in my short film. I believe that my main

 and ancillary tasks work very effectively together and that they complement each other’s

concept and aesthetic appearance which allows for my media products to develop their own

 distinctive identity as well as a unique selling point. Establishing an identity is necessary to be

successful in the media industry, as shown by Wes Anderson and Stanley Kubrick. I believe

 I have achieved and produced my own identity for ‘Birthday Party’ effectively which would be

 satisfying to my primary target audience and also secondary target audiences.

Evaluation; Question 3

3. What have you learned from audience feedback? 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hbaao6akygewr86/20140512%20190823.m4a

Audience Feedback from the first screening of 'Birthday Party'

Evaluation; Question 4

4. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing your media products?

In this project, I had decided to use Adobe Illustrator to assist in the design of my products, particularly my ancillary tasks. This was due to the fact that Illustrator is more suited than other software I have previously used in my coursework (Photoshop) to create magazine pages. Illustrator features layout guidelines and grids which makes for neater and a more professional organised layout which proved very helpful with achieving a suited design aesthetic for my film review magazine page. On previous magazine pages that I have designed using Photoshop, measurements haven’t always been equally set out, resulting in unintentional unsymmetrical aspects to the product. I believe using Adobe Illustrator to construct my film review magazine page was very beneficial and resulted in a more professional looking ancillary task.

Technology, as expected, was heavily used in the process of designing my film poster. I initially took a photo of medication bottles that are used in my short film to refer to when drawing, even being able to do this made the creative process much easier. After I had drew my image I then scanned it onto my PC and imported it into Illustrator to create the layout of my poster, and also import my own font as the masthead, alongside other details such as director credits and a website for my short film.
I then exported the design from Adobe Illustrator to Adobe Photoshop to begin the next step in constructing my product. I decided to use Photoshop to digitally colour my design, as it had a vaster colour range so it allowed me to use my colour theme that is existent in each product. By having the knowledge and access to a range of software I was able to determine which is most suitable to use for each part of constructing my film poster.

Main Task; Pre production

Before I began shooting my short film I had to complete a range of tasks in order to prepare for the first shoot. One of the these tasks included developing certain props, such as the medication bottles that are located on Tim's desk. I decided to create my own labels for the bottles. In order to do this, I hand drew the designs and then used a scanner to create a digital version to which I could import onto Adobe Illustrator. Using Adobe Illustrator I was able to colour each label design effectively.

The next step to creating my medication labels was to print them onto labels that would stick to bottles. I used a printer to print out each design and then placed them on existing medication bottles. Technology has allowed me to create realistic and professional looking props which made my short film a lot more effective in it's aims and concept.

Here are the finished medication bottles...

Production

To produce my film there wasn't a big range of technological factors involved, other than using a DSLR and SD

 cards to shoot my film. However, If I had a bigger budget, I would have invested in more production technology

such as a steadicam. Instead, I had to compromise on certain shots and use a Tripod to hold the camera still, I

also attempted to build my own Steadicam.

Here are the instructions I created and used for my home built steadicam.

1. Put holes in the side of the shoebox then thread string through either side.
2. Tie string together to create the holding point of the steadicam.
3. Measure distance to the middle and place another piece of string at this point (sitting above and hanging below the box)
4. thread the string that you just placed on the box through a 2.5kg weight and tie.
5. Cellotape the string in place.
6. Use CD cases and bluetac them down to raise the camera above the string on the box, to prevent a slanted angle and also to add extra weight to the steadicam.
7. Place Camera on top of both CD cases.
8. You now have a functional home-built Steadicam!

After building my steadicam, I used a spirit level app on my Iphone that measures the angle at which the iphone is positioned. This would show me how steady my D.I.Y project really was if the degree of angle didn't change drastically as I moved the steadicam up and down (pedestal down shot). I found that my Steadicam only had a degree change of 1°; flicking between 2° and 3°. I was rather suprised at how accurate my home built steadicam actually was, considering it was made out of materials found around the house. It would have been more appropriate to have a professional steadicam, however that was not possible; building one was a suitable alternative which I believe was fairly effective and beneficial. Below is a video, of the spirit level app in use, measuring how steady my Steadicam was.

Despite not having Steadicam technology, I was able to use other means of technology, such as Apps, to help develop my own Steadicam.

Post Production

the Post production phase was probably the most reliant on technology. I had to use Adobe premiere pro to sort through all of my captured data and delete, crop and render footage. I then organised my clips into the desired sequence that would portray my story in most effective way. I could have used other software to edit my footage, such as windows movie maker, however Adobe Premiere pro is considered to be the industry standard and also the most technical production software that I had access too.
The next process was adding in the orange effect that I wanted to overlay the whole film, in order to do this I used the colour correction tools that are available Adobe Premiere Pro, this was a process that I have never done before, so it required some experimentation with the different colour levels and application to the scenes. However, eventually I was able to find a suitable tone that wasn't to overpowering creating a rather satisfying result.

Here is video tutorial that demonstrates colour correction on Adobe Premiere Pro;

Creating my title screen really challenged my post production ability whilst also learning me new technical skills. I initially produced my text to over lay over a particular scene of my short film, this was easier enough to do as it is not complicated to do so. However, I decided to overlay my text over the scene, but have a subject (Tim's feet) overlay the title text afterwards. This is more advanced skill that I had never done before or even attempted. To begin the process I had to use search engines to find some information on what the process is called and discovered 'rotoscoping'. 'Rotoscoping' is the process of using the Roto Brush tool on Adobe After Effects in order to cut out whatever is desired, allowing you to create layers of video. I had to teach myself how to do this process with the help of the internet and spent several hours processing different versions of the roto scope. Eventually, I was successful in creating the video layer and then exported and imported the file into premiere pro, where I created my title screen.Throughout the process of constructing my media products, I have learnt a whole new range of abilities and even
 been exposed to new digital software, that I was previously unaware of and also incapable of using, as well as

developing upon my previous technical ability. Creating my main task and ancillary tasks has been a great way of

learning and applying new skills.

Technology software and hardware used:
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects
Apple Mac
Canon DSLR
Apple Iphone
SD cards
Digital Scanner
Printer

Audience Reception Theory

A slideshow that gives background on Stuart Hall and his studies. Audience Reception Theory  plays an important role in the media industry; particularly film, as it allows you to breakdown and understand different ways your product can be perceived and interpreted by your audience. This allows you to make informed decisions considering the different ways it may effect different types of audience so it was a relevant theory to be aware of when producing my short film.

Casting and Actor Organisation

I had to arrange a suitable date to film with my actor, I proposed a date via email. Fortunately, he was available to shoot on the selected date at our location. Here is the conversation that occurred between email.

Production: Finding a Setting

To began my production I first need to find a suitable setting for my film and any other possible secondary shooting places I would need.
Due to the nature of my film, my location needs were rather minimal...
my location must be...

• An indoor location, preferably a bedroom
• Ideally to have no natural light coming in from windows (or for it to be possible to be filmed without seeing windows)
• For the location to be of a rather small scale

My idea instantly was too shoot in my own bedroom, as it was reasonably small and fit all the rest of the criteria of my location checklist. As it happened, one of my bedroom walls happened to be painted the colour of orange. This made it even more so appealing as the orange wall would become a main feature of the film and the setting, enhancing the mood of the film dramatically.

Secondary Settings
Other possible settings that could be featured in my film is the bathroom in my house, when Tim uses the toilet after he wakes and also the stairway in my house and lobby, if I decide to show Tim collecting his card from the lobby.

Props and Semantic Implications

After researching semantics and connotations I decided to show how they have been applied and how the selection of my props was influenced by them.

Tim's desk

Here is my self designed tablet and medication bottles alongside collected medication and a small portrait of a man, on Tim's desk.I believe this setup if a rather fulfilling representation of what the film is about, as it inhabits the theme and mood of the movie in one image.

Vintage Brylcreem advert on bedroom wall.

The image is an advert for 'brylcreem'. The words 'for the man of the family tree' seemed to appear ironic to Tim and his persona, due to the lack of stereotypical masculinity that was existent in his character. The colours were also suitable with my theme.

                                                       "I'm Lost' By Adam Wilson Holmes
This is a drawing by Adam Wilson Holmes. This drawing is current on the theme of my film, in regards to 'loneliness' and emotional struggling; The words 'I'm Lost' also could be used to summarize Tim's state of being, making for an effective prop.

Bird Illustration by Audubon
I decided to use this illustration as a prop in my film because of the two birds and their possible connotations. For me personally, in the context of my film, I believed the two birds could be seen as a metaphor to what Tim aspires to have. This image is powerful to me and is a complete contrast to what Tim's lonely existence is.

A found painting

I found this painting in my house, I decided to use it almost purely to express my characters interest in art.

                                                     Winston Churchill by Adam McDade
This is a portrait of Winston Churchill by Adam McDade. This portrait was used to show contrast between characters and their greatness, possibly showing Tim in an even more unheroic light in comparison to Winston Churchill. Once again the illustrated nature also reflects Tim's interest in art.

                                              Small portrait of a man by Adam Wilson Holmes
This is a small framed portrait of a male character. I decided to use different portraits of males to perhaps represent Tim's longing to be someone else... anyone else but himself. This was in hope to heighten the lack of confidence in himself, further enhancing the mood of the film.

Deconstruction; Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson

I decided to analyse a scene from Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson as this film has influenced me both creatively and technically when producing my short film. By deconstructing Anderson's work I will be able to identify the features that make his work so unique and use this as influence in my own product.

Most notable in the work of Anderson is the camera work which often sees the use of still shots and tracking shots to create almost photograph like image. Close up shots of characters faces are often shown in the centre of the screen (0:22) developing a symmetrical aesthetic, which seems to be a key feature in his work. Moonrise Kingdom also uses a very identifiable colour scheme, which can be seen in this clip. The main colour is Yellow and features in almost every shot of this film. These subtle and uniqueuse of still shots, symmetrical mis-en-scene and strong use of colour seems to be what identifies a Wes Anderson production.

Film Review Magazine