Narrative

Our story essentially focuses on the relationship between a father and son, with the theme of religion weaved through. They are both working class and share stereotypical working class morals. The boy would do anything to please his father and in turn the father thinks that his son is 'picture-perfect' and the shadow of himself. However, the father doesn't realise that his son is hiding another identity. When both are forced to identify the issue, they will see how strong their relation truly is.

Getting to know Technology

We went to a sound workshop with CLC to give us a deeper understanding into sound. in my AS Media film, we were unable to experiment with sound, as we didn't have the technical support, however this year everything was available to us. When at the CLC we were given a brief overview into how sound can be portrayed in many different ways and also the quality of the sounds that we here in films by Adele Flecther. We learnt how effective sound can be when watching a film and how it can be used to display effects within the film that doesn't have to be fully visual.

We were guided through the impressive equipment with industry professionals, to ensure we have a much smoother outcome with regards to our audio. we tested out various things that led us to come up with our own conclusions of which piece of technology would suit our film locations best.

The Equipment we Tested out

The Boom Mic and Windjammer

 The Boom mic is used to record sound where by it is held above what is going on in the scene. The Boom mic however is not to be seen in any of the shots and scenes. Its helps pick up sound more effectively meaning it is more sharp than what the camcorder is picking up. The Boom mic will be operated by one person who will hold the Boom steady so that all the sound the actors are saying can be clearlt heard. The wind Jammer is used on the Boom mic to lower the background noise so that what needs to be heard can be done so clearly without having to make out what the characters/actors are saying.

Merantz PMD660 "The Recording Brick"

 The Merantz allows a mircophone,clip on microphones and headphones to be connected . This allowed a quick and easy way of recording a person talking. The features to raise and lower the volume is effective. The Merantz is not however on the small side and can be used with the Boom mic as well. 

An Edirol

This can be seen as a smaller version to the Merantz. With this device you can use clip microphones and headphones. It is more handier and easier to use.

The Result

After  spending the day trying to decide what would give us the best sound, we found that the boom mic would be best as it achieved the perfect balance between capturing ambient noise, giving the strong sense of realism, whilst at the same time have the characters voices predominant. The use of the Edirol would have been too complicated as it had to many wires to handle and positioning of the clip on micorophone would have to be paced specifically.This would be very time consuming. The Merantz would have been ideal but yet again we didnt find it to be effective and we though that it would rather be suited for an intervier/report rather than a drama.

 There was one other piece of equipment that we were shown and that was a device whereby we could record sound wirelessly. The device made it easy for the action to be at a distance and it stil be recored. The range of how far the device can go is effective as it means long shots can be carried out and the cound cans still be incorporated. We may consider using this as it seems to be efficient and effectovely.

 We disregarded the others as we would have two main characters and the wires could get tricky and could possibly slip in and out of shots.The postioning of wires would also be a problem as well as sound quality that many of the remaining devices lacked.

Target Audience

We carried out research into who we would target our film at. This research would help us decipher who our characters will be and how they will be portrayed as well as how our storyline will be received from our chosen audience. We carried out this research in three different ways:

• A Questionnaire
• A Survey

Results from the Questionnaire
The Questionnaire helped us establish just how known Short Films where and how our target audience would be able to respond to many of the features that a short films displays.  The questionnaire highlighted issues that we took into consideration.   The main points we found out from the Questionnaire was:

• Short Films are known to many of our Target Audience
• Most of their experiences is from Music Videos that have been extended
• The impact that short films had on them were effective
• Many of them understood what a short film was and how they respond and relate to particular short films.

Many Short films were mentioned some mainly documentary and some drama, the main example was: Channel 4 3 minute Wonder.

Results from the Theme Questionnaire

After handing out the questionnaires to collect quantitative data from our target audience, I was then able to display these results in pie charts. Here is a sample of the data:

Through presenting my findings in individual pie charts, I was able to see who agreed with each issue and who didn't. I think that pie charts are great for recording opinions on and this showed in my results. My questionnaire focuses around parent-child relationships and if the child felt that they could share things with their parents. I asked a wide range of children from a variety of age and ethnicity. This gave me a strong factual base for developing our film idea.

From my results, I found that children have a strong bond with their parent, but don't feel that they can share everything with them for fear of destroying the image the parent has of them. This will be highlighted by the actor's, who is playing the son's, body codes and dialogue.

Our Chosen Genre: Drama

Analysis By Vivienne Samuels 

Last Words 

This short film, written, produced and directed by Matthew Junmar, is centered around the 9/11 event.  It sets up the characters as a couple in the beginning closely followed by the dramatic irony for the audience, so that we already know the consequences. The film allows the audience to imagine the fate of one of the protagonists, with the use of a fade to black and what can be thought of as diegetic sound.

It then uses ellipses to set us up for the emotional scene, accompanied by the absence of color, to indicate the loss of his partner is the lose of the color from his life. although the director chooses to use a few dissolves in the emotional scene, the final frame is kept tight so that the audience connect with the character.

I thought that it was interesting how a short film could end on a climax without a stereotypical resolution.

The lighting is very extreme and almost feels over exposed but could reflect the happiness they feel when they are together. All their actions are highlighted through close-ups which we will try to do in our film.



Analysis By Channan Toussaint

Reddress

This film was produced by Troy Dovey- Crudstar. The beginning of the film starts of as really dramatic as the audience is shown these characters , a group of men who seem to be of some sort of negative portrayal. The film sets up a moment where we as the audience think we know what is going to happen but it diverts itself to a whole different scene. The normality of the mother and child seem to be of ease for the audience. The drama then arises when the audience yet again is shown the group of male characters now approaching the woman and her child. The use of fade in and outs creates the the unsettling atmosphere and the speed of these fade in and outs to different characters makes it more dramatic. 
This short film allows the audience to imagine for a moment what the mother could do and to see whether thelittle girl would be discovered. The quick turn of events keeps the audience on edge. The lighting is very dark but shady and this creates the dramatic atmnosphere. There are many close-ups of each charatcers face and shots where each person is in frame. Each close-up shows a charatcer either going through some experianxce or so. It was unusal to see how this short film ended as there was no real closure except the raw emotions from the mother and her child. The sheer outburst of emotion seems as if it is the beginning rather than the end. This short Film redress, takes issues very seriously instead of making them into humour. The narravtive can also be seen as realistic and something that could have happend rather than fiction.

This type of emotion and climax is what we will try to incorporate in our short film.

Brainstorm: Initial Ideas

We were given a photograph of a woman shouting from a rooftop. With this photo we were then given the task to come up with words, phrases and feelings that could relate to this photo. We focused on what the photo could be about first in terms of its proper meaning and what it was taken for. 

World Press Photo: Iranian Woman Shouting from Rooftop 

When forming our ideas towards the photo, we brainstormed them.  We had many different views upon how this photo could be represented. With these ideas we came up with the idea of our short film and what it would be based upon. As you can see from our brainstorm below their were many different outcomes from each of our points of view.

We decided from going over our brainstorm to focus on the ideas of: Religion, Modern and Isolation.