http://www.surveymonkey.com/

The email I received from them when I signed up to the site to confirm my email address.

I think this website and having an account on it is useful to me as I will be able to create surveys to put on facebook and other other social networking sites or through email to get wide demographics of people within my target audeince age range opinions and answers on surveys to do with my short film.

Useful stuff.

http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/05/13/how-to-design-a-movie-poster-with-an-example/


I found this website above to be useful in learning about the different stages there is in making a film poster, from the research to planning to the final thing there is a lot more thought that you'd originally thought.




http://asanda2mediastudies.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-analyse-film-poster.html

Once again, useful in reminding me how to thoroughly look and analyse a film poster. I learnt about the unique selling point and how the layout is could actually be clues to the films narrative. Also, a poster can tell you a lot about the genre of that particular film.

http://www.skillset.org/film/business/#

This website is useful for the business side and different stages of film. I think sometimes people don't realise how much work actually goes into a film.

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

I like this website and i'm glad I signed up to it as I am now able to ask questions to my focus group/target audience and then get their responses via twitter, text message(SMS) or the web in real time and then embed it in my blog. I think this is an interesting and different way of viewing something and then being able to respond and reply to it.

Feeling boxed in ?

When researching the title boxed in I decided to type it into Youtube to see what came up. This photo being the top one and the most popular was funnily enough quite ironically similar to my idea of my short film. This Youtube video is about the 2010 Census in America and how they ask you 10 questions to identify yourself. The narration asks 'feeling boxed in about your identity?'  and then goes on to say stuff like 'be yourself' and 'because you count'. This reflects my short film as it is all about identity struggle and feeling trapped into being something that you're not, wanting to have the freedom that each individual deserves.

Title of my short film. BOXED-IN.

I had thought long and hard about the title of my film and wanted to incorporate the main theme of no identity in it and the fact that they are having to wear box-heads on their head.

BOXED-IN
came straight to my mind and I instantly liked it. It has that feeling of being trapped which the main character regularly feels and has the word box in it.

To make sure I wasn't using another films name or bands etc and to make sure I didn't get done for copyright I searched 'boxed-in' on the internet... and this is what I found.

Luckily there looks like there is no film or anything that I could get in trouble with 'copying' as with my title of my short film I have purposefully done it in capital letters with a hyphen (-) between the two words. Also after it there is a full stop.

I found the dictionary definition very much reflects my storyline and how my characters seem enclosed in being something they don't want to be.

A Focus Group

Focus group- Box Head from Bethany on Vimeo.

(When showing my clip the computer was being really slow and annoying and wasn't playing my clip smoothly, just wanted to make sure people knew it wasn't supposed to look like that)

I showed a group of people from the ages of 15-30 (my intended focus group's age) a short raw footage clip from my short movie. I decided to show them a clip in which you can see from the point of view of the main character (a fish eye lens is used) and the surreal box-head people. I asked them what their first reactions were and I think they were slightly confused by it, which is sort of what I intended and thought, I wanted them to have no understanding but just give me their first impressions with no prior knowledge. One of the boys said how there was room there for the audience to be asking questions in their heads.

I then asked them what they thought the plot might have been, and I liked the fact that one of my focus group knew straight away that it was from the point of view of one of my characters. Interestingly someone said it could be political based, as they associate political adverts with weird things "like boxes on their heads". Another said it could be linked with identity and categorisation. This same person made the assumption that my characters were wearing similar clothes, and whilst this was not my intention when choosing what costume my characters wore, I think it fits in well with how I want everyone one of my characters (what with the box heads) to look the same, with not much of an individual identity. The idea of taking the a clothing item or the box head off to "fight the power" is an idea I had previously thought of and was planning on using.

I asked does the silence annoy them when watching the clip. Most agreed no, as it adds mystery and suspense. My focus group followed my question up with a question of their own which I liked as it showed they were interested and wanted to find out more. They asked if there would be a score underneath. Obviously I had already thought about my options of sound and had decided on getting my musically talented friend to help my play and record an original song or my own version of a song already done. One of my focus group (a male) said it was good there isn't any background noise (diegetic sound) and I agree with this as it builds tension of the unknown, he also added it would be good if there was an eerie noise.

I really appreciated that a female from my focus group spoke up when I asked a question. She noticed and liked how it was and looked different to the norm. Another of the boys from my focus group cleverly noticed the enigma, making you want to watch more, and amazingly I even impressed another person (who is usually hard to please) as he would be interested in watching the rest of it.

I asked if there were any improvements that could be made, even though the clip I showed them was quite short.  The lighting was mentioned, but as a good things, how it made it look realistic like every day life. He liked that even though the plot has a dark underlay, the lighting does not portray this, confusing the audience by giving them a red herring. I asked their opinions on it being edited to black and white as I wasn't too sure and they said it would be better in colour to keep it realistic as though it is the actual future. Maybe the only reason it would be in black and white would be for a reason- "does someone take their box off at the end?" Suggestions are that I could change it to colour/black and white with fuzzy blending as he takes off his box.

What I have learnt from this focus group is that they like my ideas, which is a plus, and they appreciate the surreal idea which is different from the crowd. They seemed to get my ideas which is what I was surprised about. Their interest in sound (diegetic or non-diegetic) made me realise how important it is to creating emotional response. I appreciated all of the input and liked that it was coming from both genders.


The only thing I disagree with what my focus group said was about the black and white. I want it to look bleak, their futures are bleak and so are their lives and so I want to reflect this. Editing/changing the black and white monotones with dull repetition of manner and style really match my box-heads characters lives, making it seem even more brave and rebellious to go against the regime that the government has imposed on them.

As an added bonus, I was proud of myself on this day as I overcame a technology problem with showing the clip as I had to convert it into a different file. When me, a technophobe, overcomes a technology related barrier problem, it is a good day :) .

More Inspirations & Influences

Walkabout from Bill Newsinger on Vimeo.

Whilst I won't be using the stop motion animation in my short film, this did catch my eye as its very well done as it looks quite smooth so its edited well and almost looks too good for just photos. It gave me inspiration to maybe try it one day for a little project on the side as I think it would be quite fun to do and you could have a theme, like for in this one its as though he/she is showing you where he lives, maybe his everyday route. I like the different sounds and underlay of music as it fits in time with the pace of the film/clip and has different electronic sounding elements to it which contrasts with the theme of nature. The fact that its all been done by him is a great boost to me, as it proves that good things can come from one hard working person.




My Life in a Day; San Francisco from Scott Hammel on Vimeo.


The second short film that caught my eye on Vimeo, it links with how I'm going to use a fish eye lens for my short film, to show the point of view of what my main character box-head is looking at. Once again this film is done in photos but I think it works lovely and the music once again seems very much in time, making me want to have a successful song/soundtrack. The music seems quite tribal and could represent San Francisco to be this urban jungle of creative nightlife.




Luckily I'd got a fish eye adaptor for christmas so I could use it in my short film :)

                           I love the distorted effect that the fish eye lens gives, adding an instant twist to it.