EVALUATION QUESTION 1 GLOGSTER

QUESTION 1 EVALUATION

Our Media product uses a variety of forms and conventions in a variety of ways as I will show in this presentation. Sticking to forms and conventions enabled us to make the short film easy to understand from the audience’s point of view and also within our print products as they were kept very simple but effectively carried out. To carry out the idea of keeping everything simple to understand, we followed Todorov’s narrative theory being beginning, middle and end. This can be shown in our film:

Beginning – the character arrives in London,

 Middle – the character gets in to trouble and has an adventure in London

 End – Monty’s ticket is out of date and he has wasted his whole time

Another aspect of Todorov’s theory we tried to embed within our film which he says a film consists of establishing a problem, developing a problem, complication, action climax and resolution we implicated within our short film. This can be shown when the problem is first established, he falls in love with a stranger on the train. The problem then develops as he goes into a day dream with her and falls for her even more. Complications that his ticket is out of date so the main character has gotten himself in to a problem here.  With regards to the last bit of a resolution, we decided to not act upon this because if there was a resolution it wouldn’t have fitted in with the story of our film as we wanted it to end on a note that the audience could sympathise with the main character for his time being a full waste in London. This was because we tried to relate it back to one of our case studies; Mr Bean. In the majority of Mr Bean short episodes, there is barely a resolution to the madness he is doing and usually ends on a sad, but funny scene. We tried to use this as we ended our short film on a sad note of Monty wasting his time in London and having a mental break down however the audience also found it funny because of the way he just dropped to the ground and screamed. Mise en scene plays a big part within our film for example the main character is wearing smart clothing which connotes that he is an educated man however there is a slight twist as his trousers is tucked in to his shoes which shows that he’s clumsy and forgetful but also the straw hat shows that he has bad dress sense but also adds to the humour because it’s a contrast between smart clothing and farm clothing.

Levi Strauss suggested narratives need a binary opposition where there is a theme of ‘good vs. evil’ and we have challenged this as we don’t have a ‘good’ or ‘bad guy’ within our short film but most people would maybe interpret the ‘bad guy’ to be the girl Monty falls in love with. This is because she didn’t like Monty in the same way he liked her as Monty is rejected.  Feminism was also explored in my short film as women are objectified. This can be shown in my short film as Monty the main character fantasises about a girl he likes. She is also presented with dominance because she has the audacity to slap him as he day dreams about her which shows her power and authority.

We did three case studies in total which helped us to follow the main conventions in films such as Todorov’s narrative theory as all these films had a clear structure which we needed to use in order to succeed in making the film funny; and they were: Mr Bean, Citizen Khan, and Desmonds.  We felt that Mr Bean formed the backbone so we decided to use this in terms of Camera, sound and mise en scene. of all of our ideas and related to our short film in terms of the main characters non diegetic sounds in some scenes for example before he sees the security guards he makes a sound similar to Mr bean. Citizen Khan was also important to us because we wanted to embed this Asian culture within our film and this helped us greatly because it gave us a sense of direction in where we have to go with this comedy to add the Asian culture we wanted to put in. This can be shown in the day dream scene where we have used Indian music followed by the female character that Monty falls in love with costume as it is traditional. We chose to do Desmonds as a case study because in the very beginning of the planning stages, we wanted to add an African culture into our film in order to mix all of these cultures to make it hilarious as we really wanted to put an African character in there with an African accent. However due to audience feedback, it was proven too difficult to carry out followed by other issues concerning this, so we didn’t really need to use this case study however it wasn’t totally useless as we really liked the way the camera angles were used for example the use of camera panning in the barber shop. We mainly used YouTube to view these case studies in relation to our research and planning. Further analysis on camera shots we used from out case studies can include the use of the close ups of Monty’s facial expression in order to add humour to our short film as it is mainly ‘slap-stick’ comedy which very much is the base of Mr Bean. Also as we have used long shots in the train scene when Monty first identifies the girl he likes, this was also done in all of my case study examples in order to establish the scenery. The first version of our short film consisted of audience laughter effects which we really liked from our case studies as they all consisted of this. However, during one of the audience feedback exercises the audience felt it worked in some places but in other places it was much exaggerated. We were told to remove the laughter completely because they felt that it didn’t work appropriately. The use of the establishing shot at the beginning of the short film with the zoom on ‘London City Airport’ was used to emphasise to the audience that the main character has just arrived into the country and was also used in one of our case studies ‘Desmonds’ when zoom is used in the barber shop. The use of two shots was also used in the day dream scene particularly during the picnic part in order to show that it’s a daydream only about the two of them and no one else is involved. This idea was gathered from one of the examples I have put on my blog ‘Big Bang Theory Inspiration’. We really liked this idea and it is very reflective within our short film as we have used a number of ideas from this for example the faint glow around the screen during the video; this emphasises that it’s a day dream.

With regards to my print product case studies, the one that influenced me the most was the Mr Bean one. As we have also used the background of the train, it connotes a journey and a day out as with the Mr Bean case study; the train is also present in the imagery which also connotes a day out. Also, with the ‘East is East’ case study we used some of the edit aspects for example the splash effects as this sells the film for what it actually is. Also in the ‘East is East’ case study, the fact that there’s small images giving glimpses of what’s going to happen in the film, we have used this in our film poster also as we have chosen to use a medium shot on the still of the girl the main character falls in love with as it is iconic as a crazy day out.  Our magazine review was heavily influenced by our case studies for example we saw that it was a common convention to use the star rating system and we used this to show that our film has been rated by the audience so it makes it the audience more keen to view it. Our film poster also followed other forms and conventions such as the use of the tag line, title, release date, and main character as the main image. As with our film review, it also used forms and conventions for example the picture taking up half the page of the review and the rest of the page filled up by the journalism. We mainly looked at the ‘Skyfall’ case study as it uses a similar structure to this. We decided to add a colour scheme of our own which matches the house style of our 3 products as a package in order to create consistency. Also, I was drawn by the ‘Unstopabble’ film review as I really enjoyed the language used as this shows in my own review as the language consists of some short sentences in order to keep the reader entertained as it can get monotonous. The use of font in the print products is bold and attractive as it has a unique feel to it because of the colour scheme and the fact that some of the letters are slanted conveys clumsiness which could represent the genre of the film. The effect of this is that it would be remembered by the audience. The film review also follows the consistent colour scheme throughout the three products. Another common convention used is the text in the symmetrical text boxes which resemble most magazine reviews. The use of the image in the film review is a still from the short film of the main character just before he meets the security guards. This is also an iconic symbol because it shows that his whole day was wasted therefore I decided to utilised this specific image.

 

 

case study - Unstoppbale

 

The use of the pull quote ‘At its best it’s a brilliantly simple movie’ acts as a promotional method in order to sell the film to the audience. It does this because it instantly grabs the audience’s attention and makes it sound very appealing to them. This is straight to the point and gives their opinion on the film, this can also be shown from a quote in the review “purely unashamedly, a runaway train movie”. This is very straight to the point and highlights some of the key features of the film in an instant which can appeal to readers. The effect of these short snappy lines is that it hypes up the film to the audience to an extent that they have to watch it for their own pleasure.

The use of the tagline “Denzel Washington versus runaway train in old school action romp” quickly summarises the film and gives further information with regards to it being action based. The effect of using famous actors name that paly in the film acts as a promotional method in order to show that a famous actor stars in this film. This can grab the audience’s attention because the use of using this famous actors name would make them think of past successful films that he has starred in and would think this film should also be as good as the others.

Also consists of the star rating system in order to emphasise how good the film is. As I have explored in my other case studies of magazine reviews, the star rating system is a typical convention in order to make audience believe that it’s a good film based solely on the fact that it’s been given full stars based on somebody else’s opinion. This would make them want to see the film for themselves to see if it was overhyped or not.

The image that is used in this magazine review alone strongly connotes that it’s an action based film as the main character is in the middle of two carriages of a moving train. The use of the main character on the review is also a promotional method because the audience can recognise him as a famous actor and they would want to view this film. The fact that some of the stuff is blurred out but the focus is on Denzel Washington suggests that the film is fast moving as we can almost see the speed of the train because some parts of the image is blurred.

The language of the review is high lexis and speaks about the film very positively. The effect of this is that it makes the review look professional but also a common media convention. As the film is spoken of positively there are barely any negatives within the text which makes the film seem very good and they have to view it for themselves.

The layout and structure of the review is very conventional as common in movie reviews. Unlike the other reviews I have looked at for case studies this one takes up two pages and therefore requires more columns. The writing is more spaced out so that it can be read easier.

case study - Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

 

The structure of this review has three columns as this is a common media convention used by most magazine reviews I have looked at so far. The font of the title is in bond and enlarged in order to capture the audience’s attention but can also relate back to the seriousness of the monkey as it creates suspense. This can be further explored in the image that is used here as there is much emphasis on what the monkey is actually holding. The use of this image followed by the actual name of the film shows that the monkeys are up to something of no good and what the monkey holds in his hand could be the rise of the monkeys as the title of the film suggests.  

The language of the text is mainly in high lexis for example the use of the word “prequel”. The effect of this is that it makes the review look really professional and fits in with most magazine reviews.  Also the use of high lexis I the review targets an educated audience.

There is also a star rating system present on the magazine review which I felt appealed to me and I think I would use this in my own magazine review of Monty’s Day Out. This appealed to me because I was under the impression that it was already rated and liked by many other viewers so it would make me want to watch it. Underneath this, the use of the director’s name is in bold which suggest that they are trying to attract viewers who know of the directors previous successful films and suggests that this film will be of the same standard and quality. If viewers do not know the directors name, it will definitely stick in their minds as it is in bold writing.

The use of the pull quote ‘film of the week’ adds to the reputation of the film as it makes it seem that the film was so good it won an award for film of the week. The use of this would make a person want to see the film too.

case study - skyfall magazine review

There is the use of graphology in this review. The point that’s being made here with the big red ‘Y’ as it is the start of the sentence, is highlighted in red and enlarged is because it needs to stands out. The effect of this is that it makes the review look much more professional.   

 

The fact that the magazine review company is kept at the top of the page suggests that it’s the first thing that will capture the audience’s attention. Also as it contrasts the colour of the background image it stands out. It can also be used as a promotional advertisement opportunity to spread the name of the company.

As the image used in this review is at the top of the page, it is one of the highest attention grabber in the review. The image being used sells the movie for what it actually is as it is an image of the main character Bond on a motorbike which connotes action. Also, the background that is in the image looks very foreign which can attract the audience because they would want to know what’s going on in the film and why he is in a foreign country.

The date is kept at the bottom left of the page which is right next to the page number which is a common media convention that most magazine review and articles follow. Following this convention can ensure that it fits in with what it’s supposed to look like and can conform to professionalism.

The isolated text in the circle text box ‘Talking point’ gives information about the film and grabs the audience’s attention because it is in a separate text box all together. It suggests that it was the first ‘Bond’ film since ‘Golden Eye’ as it follows the sequence so it suggests that it should be a good film judging by its past reputation. The structure of the review is in three columns followed by a text box of facts relating to the film. This could be used as a selling point as some people may be interested in this information which could make them want to watch it.

The actual name of the film ‘skyfall’ is in bold and stands out from the rest of the text on the review. The effect of this is that it captures the audience’s attention. There is also a star rating system present on the magazine review which I felt appealed to me and I think I would use this in my own magazine review of Monty’s Day Out. This appealed to me because I was under the impression that it was already rated and liked by many other viewers so it would make me want to watch it.  The colour scheme of the magazine review is red, black and white. Black and white are common colours that are used in most magazine reviews however the use of the red is shown to be highlighting important bits of text which effectively stands out to the audience and is relatively easy to spot. The fact that it’s in red makes the audience interested and makes them want to read it and question its importance.

The tag line on the film review seems to be a quote from the actual film itself. The effect of this is that again it sells the film for what it is and this specific tag line makes it seem classy and full of action. Also as the tag line is in another font, it shows that it is making reference to the film rather than making it up and the use of ellipsis connotes that the film has more comments to go with it.

How we completed the Movie poster

As we had split up the tasks according to what we felt our abilities are strongest in, my group members took charge of doing this task as i had done most of the movie review. Heres how it was completed.

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Firstly we decided upon this image as being the main image for our movie poster because it seems like he has just found the olympic stadium and he is staring at it with amazement. The story is about him going to the olympic games, so this image and the story line both match, and for this reason we have used this image.
it more clear to see his face. we also extended the image because the image was cut short and for this
we chose this image and made it lighter so that his face complexion is more brighter thus making it more clear to see his face. we also extended the image because the image was cut short and for this

reason it seems blurred out becuase we have extended it. this way is better because it allows the audience to only focus on his face, and his facial expression is potraying comedy so this will allow the audeince to be dragged in to the movie poster.

 

 

Next we decided to blurr out the rest of the background as we did in the bottom half of the image. We done this to allow the people viewing the poster to only concentrate on the main characters face as this will sell because as mentioned his face is funny and people might want to know why his face is like that or what he is looking at etc so they'll be interested to find out and watch the film. We done this by playing about with the gradient of the image. We made the image much more lighter and we put a glow on the image by playing around with the effects to make it seem more brighter so that his face is more clear to see

 

 

 

After that we decided to keep the title at the bottom of the page as we found this technique interesting from one of our case studys 'East is east'. We decided to keep our main title like this with montys name bold to stand out and the same colour as his tie to make the poster look professional with the correct colour scheme. we also wanted to have 'DAY OUT' written in that form to make it seem like montys day out was a disaster of some sort due to the reason the font used for 'DAY OUT' looks messy and it makes montys day out seem like it was disasterous. the fact that its boldened and stands out tells the audience that Montys day out was also dangerous and this would grab attention to the film, the audience would want to know what made his day out so dangerous



 

 

However we then thought that his name should appear like its a comedy genre and the title should immediately tell the audience that its a funny film. For this reason we didnt want to keep his name formal and small in the corner we thought having the main part of the movie poster, the name of the film, bigand bold and having it take up the bottom half of the poster would give a better taster to the audience that the film is full of comedy.

 

Having the name like this is usually found in cartoon programmes like 'Tom and Jerry' a famous comedy case study and for this reason when we see a font like this then we automatically know that this film is comedy based because we see this text style being used in other funny cartoon products, so this also proves that we followed conventions of real media product. however our film doesnt involve cartoon





But as a group we wondered if the colour red really gave a comedy vibe because the colour red would relate to blood and death so a sad or action type of film. So this would give our target audience the wrong impression of the film. We decided to change the colour to a more positive and innocent colour and we chose orange, because we thought this colour was free from sins and there wasnt any negative energy or hidden messages attached to it. We also had the day out coloured white to help it stand out with a orange boarder to keep to the colour scheme so that it looks professional. we chose white colour so that it stands out and the audience knows what the film is about. The other style in which day out was written in would not be in the colour scheme and so we did not keep it, we also thought it was too messily written and made our target audience seem too young, it seemed like it was another episode of the cartoon series programme 'denace the mennace' aged for 5 to 7 year olds where as our comedy is more mature then that so this is why we we changed the text 'Day out' to a more mature type.

 

Next we made up quotes in which other organizations have said to help prommote the film. We chose these organizations because in our research we found these organizations the most common. We coloured the quotes orange to help go with the font name 'MONTY' and stay in the colour scheme. We placed them at the top and wanted three quotes instead of two or one because in a case study of ours we found this interesting and wanted to use it in our own movie poster (4 lions). We made up the word 'comedilarious' so that the audience feel as though this comedy film is so funny that they are on another platform of comedy, thus acting as a promotional act and they'd see that this quote given by a standard organization

 

 

We next added in when the film was being played in the cinemas and we kept the colour of the date yellow so that it helped stand out from the rest. This doesnt fit in with our colour scheme orange, black and white however we only done this so that it grabs attention. We kept this slanted and extra bold so that it stands out and people are aware of it and it stays on there mind. We wanted this text to have enough space of its own so that it doesnt get in any other texts way thus not making it all squashed up together and also so that the audience easily view it

 

We then added a star shape and coloured it yellow to help go with the yellow date '1 FEB'. We used this star to show off the producer of the film so that the audience realize and see who the film is made by. This was also used to help grab the audiences attention and to help sell the film. We also found this technique in one of our other case studies 'east is east', when they use a star to show to the audience who created the film or who was part of the crew to help make the film and this helps the film sell more because they recognize a persons name who is part of the crew and find the film trustworthy to watch so this is why we kept them in the star. We kept this near the film name because by knowning who directed the film you could easily evaluate how good the film is and so by having this near the film name the audience will view it quick and would want to know further about the film, so this keeps the audience interested

 

 

 

 

 

We then added a tage line to the poster 'are you ready london its...' we kept this white so that it matches with the colour scheme of the film and so that they can read it with the appropriate colour being used. We originally wanted to have a tag line 'same monty different country however we thought this would not suite our product as it seems like the film is a sequil and this is the only time we see monty, so we didnt keep this tag line. We kept our tageline on top of our film name because both the tag line and the film name works together and for this reason it had to be on top of the film name. The tage line introduces the film name by saying 'are you ready london... its MONTYS DAY OUT'

We next wanted to fill in this empty space that we had on the left of the main character in the main image and we thought we put in thought bubbles coming out of his head, making it seem like he is having thoughts about the events that he has experienced at the same time. The audience could also get a insight in what the film will hold by having these thought bubbles aswell. We kept these thought bubbles to the left of the character because this makes it seem like these thoughts are coming out of his head, and for each bubble we kept a different colour. We kept a hot pink colour for the girl to connote love and romance

Lastly we thought that we had too many thought bubbles being used in the poster and this would make the poster look too detailed and squashed up so for this reason we took out a thought bubble and only used the first two main important ones, and this is how we compleated our movie poster

case study Desmonds

Desmond’s

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Desmond’s is a classic comedy series from the early 90’s which conveys comedy through various ways but mainly through the African culture that resonates throughout the series.  The main characters accent is argued to be the main source of comedy as his African accent fits in just fine with the culture of the series. Stereotypes clash here as the barbers mainly consists of black people however there are also white people within the barbers which show them to be co habiting unlike Citizen khan, the whole competition culture and scenes that take place. There is also a slight hint of taboo lexis in Desmond’s. “pain in the –“ this shows the comparison of the changing times as in today’s modern day and age taboo lexis is freely expressed but in the early 90’s it was seen as disrespectful that’s why Desmond cut his line short when he was supposed to say the word ‘ass’.

This can be shown in the two shot. Here the people of two different races are cohabiting nicely but a funny tone is added to this ad Desmond calls him stupid. There is also a contrast in costume/ clothing which can show the power distance between them as Desmond is dressed smartly which can show that he has all the power in the barber shop and the white character is dressed in denim shirt which is basically just casual clothing. This can emphasise that he is just a worker compared to him. This two shot also reflects that Desmond has power and authority over him.

 

in this short episode, a variety of camera angles are used in order for humour to be conveyed. In this scene, a wide shot is being used in order to show a character has just walked in to the barber shop and shows the surroundings and props. The costume of the character that just walked in shows that he has just come back from school which also plays the part of school being a huge influence upon kids of that age.

 

The shot then changes to medium close up of the boy and emphasis is added on to the bruising on his face. This portrays that he’s been in some kind of fight and makes the audience feel sympathy for him as his injuries are shown up close followed by his sad facial expression.

 

Close ups are also used in Desmond’s In order to capture characters facial expressions. Humour is exploited from this because of his eye bulging funny body language. Also close ups of other characters laughing at jokes that other characters make adds to the comedy aspect of the series because when the audience see a character laughing it’s almost like a trigger to make the audience laugh and feel like their following the story line.  

 

With regards to this medium shot, it shows clothing/costumes they are wearing. Comedy can be exploited from this because for example the variation of costume. Again the stereotype clashes here as the man in white is dressed slightly differently. A sense of identity is also explored here.

 

There is a zoom effect on the bottle of alcohol. The effect of this is that it adds emphasis to it which becomes an iconic symbol of the episode which connotes an event is about to take place. This is correct as they are preparing for Mathews family’s arrival. The effect of this is that it’s a sort of spoiler and gives the audience a hint of what’s going to happen in the next scene.