Evaluation 1

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

Title of the film

The title of my film is displayed on a woolen background; it was the closest thing to human clothes as possible I could produce. The idea to have the red ink blotches moving across the page were to signify blood. I chose not to use blood in my film as it distracts the audience away from the fact I wanted to get a mysterious, airy feel. The text I chose was a font that looked like it had been scratched or indented into the wool and through the ‘blood’ representing skin. The color is a skin like color, which I think, works well with my film.

I haven’t seen any other film with this type of title, which is what I am priding my self on. How unique the title of the film is introduced. The name Salus is health in Latin which I think goes well with the idea of mental health for my film.

Setting and Location

The reason why I chose an office for my film was because it gives a certain “why?” factor to my film, it helps ad to the mysterious and airy feel I am going for having it in a white office allowed me to have a blank canvas to work from, allowing me to add effects to it later whilst editing.

The idea of using the office came to me when I wanted to involve Hayley’s character as a psychiatrist and that is her office. I think the office I used was not displayed enough as a psychiatrist office, it was pretty plain and i could have developed more mise-on-scene in my shots. Using the close ups helped me get the angle that i wanted to achieve as it was my film but did not give enough to help the audience understand.

Costume and Props

I went with the philosophy less is more with my production the second time around. Having no props helped me grasped the concept that I was working towards, having it just with actors and there surroundings gave it a much more real look on it and what with I think would cause a problem of overcrowding if I had loads of props in it.

The costumes took me a while to understand and think off, a lot of it came from my audience research and the fact that what different colors made people feel. For example White over 90% said it made them feel calm which is what I wanted to get the audience to feel when they saw my character Rebecca played by Jennie. It was almost kind of effect I wanted to get using white to play on the audience’s feelings.

I used Hayley predominantly in black as it gives the impression of powerful and sophistication and that is what I wanted her character to be portrayed as even though she is died. I felt that I could have and should have used more props in my production, having changed my main task I ran out of R&P and filming time in order to get the best from my film. Costumes I don't think were overly complicated as they were exactly what those people would wear.

Camerawork and Editing

I used some interesting shots in my film that I thought would flow and tell the story I was trying to tell. I used very short sharp edits to give it the punch I needed. I decided not to have the titles mixed with the film as it would distract the audience from what I was telling them. Choosing to have very little movement in my shots and a small range of shots helped me as I would not confuse the viewer, this shows my camerawork and edit. I didn't have a range of shots in my production I could have used more establishing shots and included the 180 degree rule which could have been used and an establishing shot and helped the viewer understand the scene.

Title font and style

I chose to use a special way to introduce my Films name “Salus”. I used the font called GAZ in Final Cut Pro, it gave me the etched look that at first I didn’t want but on second thoughts it gave me an extra depth. The font looked like it had been scratched and you were allowed to see the blood ink underneath which suits my film.

Story and how the opening sets it up

I chose to have a long shot to start of my film. This allowed me to set the story up and it gets the viewers to ask themselves questions about the film. Having a girl in white crouched down in the corner at the start defiantly gets the viewers hooked and they want to see more as they their help instinct kicks in. to have a frame saying “start with your childhood” for me really gets the viewers to relate to their own childhood as ring a ring a roses is in the background it gets them asking qutestions

You don’t really see a lot of what I have done in my film in other films the shots I have chosen aren’t seen a lot. Choosing not to have not a lot of shots kind of hindered my on expanding my audience understanding. I think that were I knew what was happening didn't come across in the shots i chose, but flipping it on its head I wanted the audience to watch it and ask themselves questions and wait for more to come of it.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

I chose to use the a company by the name of twisted pictures which feature in the films of SAW I chose to use this as for me it just helps the viewer link with the film and they can decide for themselves right at the start which time of film it is. This frame shown was such a gift to me when I found it as it was more than what I wanted, to have text wrapped in barbwire just added to the mysterious and airy effect I want to portray.

How are the characters introduced

I only had 2 characters in my 2 minutes, this reduces confusion and is easy for the viewers to remember who they are. I chose a long shot for purely establishing purposing, this frame shows Rebecca crouching down next to Hayley the psychiatrist who is dead, having Jennie in the corner really gets the audience to establish a link with her and ask themselves why is she there.

Special Effects

The only special effects I used in this was the Title and the end shot of the start of your childhood as it was a direct link to each other and I thought having the title in such way made a better link with the viewer and my film.