Thursday 17 February 2011

Final Poster Design

For the film poster I decided to make the film poster using Photo Impact 12.  I decided to use this program instead of Photoshop because I was more skilled in using this program. 
This is a screenshot of me using Photoimpact 12 to create the Poster. I found it very easy to change the pictures and edit them in order to make the final poster designs.


These are the images that I incorporated into the poster:

I created two different verisons of the film poster to see what may be effective. When looking at both of them they both seem to be just as effecive as one another but we decided to go with Poster design Number 1 because it had more reference to film in terms of the two protagonists facing each other which occurs within the film as well.
Poster design 1



Poster Design 2:



Ancillary Task: Poster

Thursday 10 February 2011

Audience Feedback

We had our 2nd screening of our film 'Prodigy' and we gained some feedback from our class peers on how they think we improved from the previous screening and how we can develop it further.  

Please feel free to make comments on our short film the following questions are just guide lines.


What would you change?


Who do you think our target audience is?


Where do you think you would watch this film? (arthouse etc)

Can you follow the narrative?


What do you think of the actor's performances?


Thank you very much

Monday 24 January 2011

Colour Solution with Regards to Real Media

As previously stated on the blog, we have had various issues with the colour of our footage. Our main location for our film showed up much darker than anticipated to the extent where the characters features were hard to define. After thoroughly searching the Internet for a resolution we trialled colour correction, negative tone and having the film in sepia.

However, none of these helped the mood of the film, so we turned to our original inspiration, Shane Meadows. Through secondary research, we found that his first feature length film TwentyFourSeven was in black and white and also shared the same genre are Prodigy.
 Although not formally stated, it can be argued that he did this to pay homage to Martin Scorsese' Raging Bulls. However, We have another reason for using this stylistic technique. In this day and age, black and white not only has themes of nostalgia attached to it but also anachronism. As our film passes through several states, past,present, future and even conditional he chosen color scheme goes hand in hand with the subject matter.

Parental Consent Form

This is what we asked both of our young actors to sign as to allow them to appear in our short film.

Parental Consent for Photographic/Film Use of Children under 18 years of age I, (adult’s name) ____________________________________________________________________
of (address)________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
being the child/children’s parent or legal guardian, hereby give permission for
Zapp Production Company to take and use publicity photographs/film of
(child/children’s name/s) _________________________________ Age of child__________________
______________________________________________________ Age of child _________________
______________________________________________________ Age of child _________________
for upload to Dunraven Blogger and youtube channel where they may be viewed by the public.
I also consent to use of the photos for publicity, marketing, and advertising for Zapp Productions, for publicity, marketing, and advertising.
I agree that the photos/film may be combined with other images, text and graphics and
be cropped, altered or modified in any way which Zapp Productions deems appropriate.
I consent to the provision of this form and the details within it to be stored on Zapp Productions’ private database.
I understand that the child’s/children’s name/s will not be given to press or public without my consent. I also understand that I may cancel this permission in writing, and that Zapp Productions will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the photograph/film is withdrawn from future use.
I further understand that I shall receive no remuneration for this assistance.
Signed: ___________________________________________
Date: _________________

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Narrative structure problem and solution

After a second unofficial rough cut, i found that audience members still didn't grasp the story even with all the footage. I found, common in infamous films, that the original concept of the film had changed, and therefore the original ending didn't tie up as many ends as thought it would. Originally, we were to have the brother portrayed as a christian chauvinist, trapped in a 17 year old body, but this didn't come across on camera. In order to correct this, I felt only two doors were open:

  1. adjust the script to tell the story rather than show it
  2. subtly, through the use mise-en-scene (a crucifix around his neck) show that Stan is a practising Christian
However, as time was against me and the actors were reluctant the film I came to the conclusion of finding a third door. This opened to the world of editing. As Stan wore earphones in the scenes, I will add gospel music over the footage, as if diagetic, which will connote his religion. If this does not work, as plan b i will have a stand in for the character of Stan holding on his crucifix around his neck. This is commonly done in feature length movies, which has once again acted as an inspiration for Prodigy.