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

Ancillary Task: Film Review

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

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: _________________

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.

PENSIVE FLASHBACK

Initially, the flashback scenes were to be of both actors in a previous time, enjoying the each others company. However, with the help of real media, I thought it would be a better idea, and a easier concept to grasp for the audience, if the flashback was to consist of the characters when they were younger.

Generally, film, television and even video game flashback troupes are that to a younger self of the present character onscreen after reflection in the mirror or a dream. This essentially transfers memories from one character to another allowing them to see from their own point of view. Evidence of this can be seen in such shows as

• Mad Men,  in the first episode of season three where Dan flashes back to how he was born/adopted-although not his own memories as he is called, " a prostitute's worst fear"
• A rather interesting case occurs in Final Fantasy VII as a crucial part of game's story. The heroine Tifa enters the catatonic hero Cloud's mind and helps him sort through his muddled memories. Together, she and Cloud (his subconsciousness, really) go over experiences they shared in the past to determine what memories were real, which were invented, and which were implanted.
• the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

In order to achieve this, i had to cast new characters that were quite young. The difficulties surrounding this would of course be parental consent for which i drew up forms for their parents to sign.

After, some deliberation, a drama teacher and i decided on the following actors.

Jacob Payre, 11 younger Stan

And

Junior Kisombe, 11 younger Mitch



Actor problem and solution

Unfortunately, the actor who played Mitch felt uncomfortable with the Islamic attire of the Dish Dasha that I wanted him to wear for the flashback scene. The original narrative, had the character of Mitch wearing the dish-Dasha half way home then changing into jeans wear his brother spotted him, hence sparking off the argument in the pub.

however, I was unable to go through with this plan and came up with the idea of his brother spotting him with a Muslim girl near his house. This way the visuals are kept as close to the script's meaning as possible and the reasons for Stan's tension can be left slightly more open to audience interpretation. i think that this slight problem has helped me with regards to creativity, as i was able to incorporate another actor which allowed me the chance to experiment with multiple shot types that were closed off to me in the conversation scene between the brothers.

The actor playing the Muslim girl is Fatima Mohammad

She is 17 years old and is a practising Muslim. this helped a lot as she was able to give her opinion as to the character of Mitch which has helped with validity of his persona. Not only this but with her being the same age as Shola, the actor, the audience can experience a sense of identification and hopefully even ship for them to be together.

Production Logo Ideas

For our production logo, we related to real media conventions. Firstly, as our genre was social realism, we sort inspiration from Warp Films best known for This is England.

We loved the simplicity of the colours scheme juxtaposed with the complex image. Something like this is a great reference for our final outcome. The use of an onomatopoeia makes the production company easy to remember and manages to keep the genre of films created by the company broad, which is something we need to out a lot of thought into to not single out audience members. However, it is very rare that they show their logo at the beginning of a film, which gives them a sense of mystery that we want to steer away from.

Another logo we were inspired by was Spyglass Entertainment.


The visuals are very clean cut, which in turn positions the audience to feel likethey are going to watch aclean cut film. To do this, we will need to master After Effects through the use of online tutorials to achieve the finish we want.

First Audience Screening

For our first audience screen we  produced questionnaires in order to see how we are working towards our personal brief as well as to get an idea on how our target audience will respond to our short film.

 We screened a rough cut to our class mates and told them our film's synopsis in order for them to get a sense of what the final outcome will be like. We also showed them alternate scenes and asked the response to both in order to get the best response in our final cut.

We received very positive feedback and even contradicted some of our previous worries about our film. They generally understood our concept with the lighting,as they felt that it, 'reflects the emotions of the characters well'. The main issue which the entire audience felt was that we didn't include enough camera shots. So with this information, we plan to re shoot some of the scenes from different angles and then incorporate them into the scenes.