My completed film noir OTS.

CHEAT ME TILL DEATH from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.

My evaluation

Evaluation on Prezi

Day of market research.

Due to the lack of time in the lesson, i am planning to ask around 5 people who fit in my target audience group what they think about my OTS. I am interested to find out what they think of it and there are some specific questions i would like answered. Here is a brief plan of what i am going to ask:

1. Do you think the music during the poker game was dramatic enough?
2. Did you understand that there were 2 femme fetales?
3. Do you feel as if it targeted you as an audience?
4. Does it aesthetically look 1950s?
5. What improvements could i have made?

I will film my target audiences reactions when they watch it and also them answering my questions.

Filming my target audience watching my OTS


Here is the video of my target audience watching my film noir OTS and then giving me feedback after i have asked them the questions.


MARKET RESEARCH OLIVIA SMITH from fLIX.TV on Vimeo.

Day before market research.

To see if my target audience like my finished film noir OTS, i am planning to play it in front of my target audience (16-25 year olds, male and female) and then get feedback and ask them questions. I only want to briefly plan my questions so the 'interview' is more informative and i can think on my feet.

I will either show my OTS in front of about 5 people separately while at the same time filming their reactions and feedback and then afterwards i would ask them questions about it. Or i will show my OTS in front of a whole group of people together, while filming their feedback and reactions together and then pause the OTS now and again to ask them questions.

Advantages of a separate showing
- The person im interviewing isnt influenced by other people, so they tell me a more truthful, detailed answer.
- I can answer similar questions for each person, comparing person-to-person.
Disadvantages of separate showing
- As i would only be asking around 5 people, the feedback i get might not be very wide-spread or informative compared to a whole group

Advantages of group showing
- The people i ask may feel more comfortable answering questions with others
- I can talk through my OTS so it is easier for my audience for follow
Disadvantages of group showing
- I might one or two people dominating the discussion, so i only really get their opinions
- Response may not be very specific due to the time we have to film
- My target audience would be trying to do their market research at the same time, so i might not be able to go into as much detail as i would have hoped

I don't feel as if my OTS is as perfect as i would have liked due to the time and technology, but generally i think it is okay and relates to my target audience, storyboard and overall planning. However this is just my opinion, my target audience may not agree!

What my credits will say.

As i am still editing the last finishing touches to my film noir OTS, I have started to apply my credits. I have found it difficult because every time i drag a photo (which is the credits background i have planned for ages) on the clips, it automatically applys a transition on zooming in. I don't want this because it is no very film noir or 1950s, and ruins the whole tone which i am aiming for. The dragged photo last 5 seconds when it is played, and thankfully i only need 10 seconds for the whole credits, so i have to drag two photos.

I have also started to apply the titles to my credit background and what they will say.  The font in which i wanted only put the letters in capitals which i am not too fussed about. So here is what i am planning to have written as the titles:

A Noir production presents (...)
Cheat Me Until Death (...)
Directed By Olivia Smith (...)
Featuring Alicia Watts (... here it will start to move onto my actual film instead of on the credits background)
And Calvin Smith (...)
One dark, cold night... (this is on a black background which i imported the same as my planned credits background)

And then it will start to play my OTS.

After the poker scene, there is a black background of the shot reading:

A few days later... 

Overall i am quite happy with what my credits have turned out like and even though i have had a bit of a problem with them, i have tried to make them look as simple as possible.

Evaluation planning.

I have made scans of some notes which i would like to answer and include in my evaluation. These are only brief as i am making even more notes on A3 sheets of papers which will scan. So here are the questions and important notes i have to include:

Here are the big A3 papers which i ahve made notes around the questions. Ive gone into more detail compared to the notes above:

Evaluation questions.

Here are the questions i have to address when i evaluate my OTS planning and production:

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
4. Who would be the audience of your media product?
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Some of these questions are harder than others to answer and some are much easier. I am going to ask about how to answer some of these questions as i am not completely sure. I know the basic things i would like to say when answering these questions, however i know that i need to go into more depth and understanding. I have giant sheets to stick post-it notes on with the questions written on them, so i am going to do it that way. I know that i have to use different medias when constructing my evaluation so here are some ideas in which i can use:

-Filming the answers
-Printed posters
-Spider diagrams
-Text

Finalising my credit background.

I am still in the process of editing the poker scene of my OTS (automatic letter-boxing hasn't helped the timing of the editing) and have decided what my final background of the credits will be and what font the writing is. I have also thought about how the credits will move, E.G, Directors name to the Producers name.

I think i am going to have the fading in and fading out effect to move from name to name as i have frequently seen it in real film noirs and it is a very subtle and easy effect. I do need to find out how to apply a photo to iMovie so it can then be a still frame. As the Macs are a completely different computer to the ordinary ones in the school (you cant save something on one computer and to then find it on the other) so, i have e-mailed the credit photo to the Mac and it is now on there - for me to then apply to iMovie and onto my OTS.

So here is the final credit background i have decided to use:

Its really simple and is easy on the eye. As the font is quite sharp, I'm hoping that the fade in, fade out effect will soften it.

Next step: Find out how to apply it to my film, however, i might have to do the credits last because i don't know how much it will go above or below the time limit for my whole OTS. I'm using the credits to make sure i get in the time limit.

I did have a slight problem because i added text to the credit background on photoshop and NOT on iMovie, so when i do the cast credits, i will have to edit out the text.

Target audience: I think my target audience will like it as it is very simple and fits with the 1950s. I do not mind if my target audience recognise the place in which this photo was taken as it wouldn't damage the continuity - a rich businessman and two money-grabbing women could live in Norwich.

Visiting the British Film Institute

Today, we visited the British Film Institute to help  us with our exam in a few months.

When we got there we were seated in a cinema-type room where a man called Mathew Hall showed and talked us through clips of films which were related to the question: What is a British film?

We were shown clips from films such as; 'London to Brighton' and 'This is England' which could be classed as a British film due to the cast, setting and theme but could also be classed to some people as an American film because it is American funded.

 What factors does a film have to have to be classed as British? It is different for everybody and every film. You cannot generalize it. But here are a few points which could be ticked off to see if a film is British or not:

• British cast
• British funded
• Set in Britain
• Heritage
• British producers, directors, crew etc
• British theme

Most British films are American funded because there is just not as much money in the British film industry compared to the American. if a director wants to make an amazing film and it will cost a lot of money, the only way to make the film amazing was to get funding by the American film industry.

Here are some example of British films which have been funded by American institution:

• Sherlock Holmes
• 300
• Harry Potter

We were given a talk by the director of the low-budget film 'Shifty' (2008)  his name being Eran Creevy who now owns the company 'between the eyes'. He talked through how he came to directing a film and what the story of this film is about.

The story follows Chris who is following his friend, a London drug dealer named Shifty. He sheeps his through home-visiting and running from drug deals.

Overall, i quite liked this film and i thought it would have been more brutal and explicit with the drugs (e.g, injecting and more violence) etc. I thought it would have been more brutal and explicit because that's what you expect from the drug industry.