Question 1 of the Evaluation - By Joe Blissett

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

Existing research into short films (not my own film):

Back in September, we did some early research into short films and the conventions of the genres that the films were made up of. This included analysing the various different narratives as well as the theorists that go with them, as well as the characterisations of the people involved with the film. As well as this, we also looked into the mise en scene of the short films and why certain elements of the scenes are implemented specifically for the genre. Finally we also researched into the camera-work and editing of each of the five films we researched. These would all contribute collectively to create and emphasise the particular genres the producer wanted to envisage. 
To narrow down our focus on what we were looking for in short films, we aimed to select short films that were between 5-10 minutes in length, as this would be useful when analysing as it would give us enough data to describe in detail, as well as the obvious fact that our own film would be roughly this amount of time and so it would give us a basic idea of what would be expected in our short film.
Short films are useful as they can usually be a building block for young, inexperienced film makers trying to get out there in the competitive world of film making, and so by making short films, it allows their audiences to gauge what a particular film-makers traits are when creating a film. This would also be a good starting point for film-makers that have a low budget as they can effective create a short production that will not cost a lot to make but will still look professional. 
As a group, I believe we successfully created a product that indeed follows this description, as we didn't really have a budget at all, and only had basic equipment (in terms of film-making) and so to successfully produce a short film that looked good and professional and that had a good background knowledge behind it, helped us achieve what we set out to do. 
By doing this early research, it allowed every member of the group to have a clear understanding of what was expected when it came to making a short film, as well as the conventions we would need to follow once the genre had been selected. 

Short Film 1 - 'Seek' 

The sequence begins with a panning shot of a field going from right to left with a low toned non-diegetic soundtrack playing alongside this. This can immediately connote to the audience that the short film could follow the steps of the thriller genre as so far in the opening couple of seconds in the film, the soundtrack connotes some sort of gloomy feel to it, something that is commonly associated with the thriller genre. However the audience is still not quite sure of the correct genre because of the way two non-diegetic bell sounds are heard when the title appears and disappears. This doesn't typically follow the conventions of the thriller genre as it comes across to the audience as perhaps toning down the initial suspense factor which is introduced early on with the eerie soundtrack. The following shot shows a close up view of what appears to be a dogs snout panting in what appears to be wooded area, however the shot could be argued to be from a worms-eye-view as it is facing directly upwards at the end of the dogs snout, displaying the dog's tongue hanging out. This particular camera shot can justify the type of codes or conventions of the thriller genre as the audience cannot figure of what is going on at this moment and not enough has been revealed about the story or overall plot yet. However this is then revealed soon after in the following shot; a mid shot of a young blonde boy running through a wooded forest. Like the synopsis asks, the audience does not know at this point why he is running, who from, or where he is running to. All three questions, the audience are eager to discover, and so this is what inevitably keeps them watching, hooking them into the possibilities of what could happen next. As the audience soon discovers from the next couple of quick paced shots, the predominant character in this short film is this young blonde boy, and so the audience can make assumptions of what might happen to the boy, raising questions about his vulnerability, especially due to his young age and his isolation in the forest, leading to assumptions of potentially negative representations of the boy's situation. 

However because the scene is set during the day, it may not typically be associated with a thriller genre, as thriller can tend to follow the path of creating or causing suspense during the night, and not in pure daylight. 
Using the repetition of chimes that continues to play more frequently, it sets up a eerie montage of suspense that the audience begins to feel. This, alongside blurred shots of the forest, confuse us as the audience as we find it hard to figure out whether or not a character is in the frame or not, however as the shot goes on, it reveals some sort of figure emerging from the trees, dressed in black, and it's this colour of black, which perhaps suggests to the audience that this character is possibly a antagonist, something which again associates this to the thriller genre. Using shot-reverse-shots between the young male character and the dog creates the idea of perhaps an oncoming collision, keeping the audience pegged back on deciding whether the dog is seen as a threat or potential hero for the young child. Then by using a long shot showing the child enclosed inside the ruins of a building, the audience gets the idea that perhaps the child is trapped with nowhere to hide. However by adapting Buckingham's idea of children or young people having no 'child-identity', it could perhaps suggest that this child is exploring and finding out more about the outdoors by himself without the need of parent supervision, something that is widely regarded as a potential negative aspect of living in the 21st century due to the vulnerability of children and increase of child abducting, causing outrage and controversy across the globe. 
From the way the non-diegetic (wind instrument) sound is used alongside a sequence of shots of the boy searching from inside the ruins looking out into the forest, it gives the suggestion that perhaps the boy is lost and is unsure in what to do. As well as this, by having restricted narration, again it creates the idea that no one else is around to help the boy and that he is alone out of reach from anywhere local nearby in search of help. But at this moment we are unaware whether or not the boy is scared and lost, or just adventuring the woods on his own with the aspect of freedom being attached to him. 

But, however, the film takes a eerie, sickening twist when a close up shot is seen displaying a hand with a black gardening glove on, as the person passes a tree. Suddenly the audience recognises that the child is in potential danger and is not alone in the forest, and that it seems the child was being chased through the forest by this unknown body. Notice how at this point the non-diegetic sound changes to one of a more spooky, gloomy, deeper sound, again adding to the suspense. Then a close up shot of two pairs of boots walking through the forest is seen, adding to the suspected idea that now there is more than one person heading towards the boy; soon after a long shot is seen showing the boy sat against a wall with his head in his hands looking to the floor, creating the idea that he is now scared. A partly obstructed shot then reveals the antagonist to be a male character, linking stereotypically with the typical semantic codes of Altman's theory of a thriller genre.Then the build up of the non-diegetic sounds increase in volume and the original chimes are heard again, before we see the climax of the sequence, revealing two hands reach down to grab the boy; the audience fearing the worst, before the non-diegetic sound reaches its most climatic, before abruptly coming to a stop, as the boy is grabbed, and the shot goes to a black screen.

However the audience then discovers the irony of the film and the cleverness of how the director has shot it, by having the male character (who the audience first believed to be the antagonist) using the dialogue 'Found ya!', immediately revealing the idea behind the film being a game of hide and seek, hence the title 'Seek', and not a killer on the look for a young child; as well as revealing the idea that the mum and dad has found the child, showing them now as protagonists. 

This short film allowed me to look into and discover how clever camera work and the use of mise en scene (particularly props) helped influence the audiences thoughts and feelings within the film. This would then create the suspense that clearly the film-maker wanted to do so that the aspect of surprise would be at its greatest right at the end. This is a great way of ending the film, as it keeps the film in the audiences mind after the film and so will be perceived as a successful short film. It used and challenged a lot of conventions of the genre type, as throughout the film the audience expected the inevitable 'bad' thing to happen to the child and so prepared themselves for that suspenseful ending, however by challenging the conventions right at the end when the audience realised that it was in fact just a simple game of hide and seek and nothing sinister, it gave the film that extra professionalism that I believed would've made any film that little bit better. As a group, I think we did try to embed the aspect of surprise into the ending of the film, however I don't believe it was as effective as how it was portrayed in this film, although our film was more difficult to avoid giving away too many clues as it continued along a familiar path to that of Jumanji, and so the 'big surprise' at the end would've been hard to create effectively. 

Short Film 2 -  'No Point'

The sequence begins with the fade from black, handheld, close up view of a male's feet doing some sort of warm up around coloured markers (prop). Alongside this is another male's dialogue of instructing him on what to do, using language such as "...dancing with the ground" or "...dancing with the cones". Now at this very early stage of the narrative, the audience can gain an early understanding of what genre this falls into. This can determined by the male's tone of voice towards the other male character, coming across as a very keen, yet friendly individual who obviously enjoys being involved with other members of the public, as well as some of the props that have been used this early on in the film, including the multi-coloured cones, which the audience could believe to associate the male with his sexuality. During these opening couple of seconds of the film, there is also a light, upbeat non-diegetic soundtrack overlayed on top of the dialogue and close up shot of the warming up exercise. This also helps set the scene for the audience to work out the type of genre the film is and who it's trying to target (in terms of audience). 

The following mid-shot then shows the audience what the male character's are wearing (costume), with one wearing a purple coloured tracksuit with a sweat band across his forehead, whilst the other wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a grey baggy jumper and hat. It is at this point the audience discovers what the main plot of the story is, making it come across as some sort of training video in the style of a comedic value as well as potentially a documentary; a mockumentary. Due to the mise-en-scene factors in this shot, the audience also understands the video to follow a tennis type video, revealed by the tennis nets and courts in the background as well as the tennis coach looking rather familiar to famous tennis legend Boris Becker, highlighting the emphasis behind the idea of tennis.
  

The film then switches to a close up shot of the male character who is trying to learn how to play tennis, as he explains his coach's attributes, saying that "to call him just a tennis coach, doesn't do him justice" and that he's "more than a coach". At this particular moment the tennis coach, who we now know to named 'Barnaby' (again following the comedic value of it), is seen holding a blue plastic bag (associated with little British corner shops) filled with tennis balls whilst in the other hand, lighting a cigarette, whilst also trying to keep hold of his tennis racket with his arms. By showing this character like this, it creates the social realism that the target audience can relate to, with the idea behind the less serious aspect of teaching someone how to play sport, due to the general act of laziness, something which can be commonly associated with the lower classes in Britain, or more accurately, how the rest of Britain see these lower classes; a typical negative representation. As the close up interview progresses, he quotes Barnaby as being a 'Tennis Guru', something that is seen as misinterpreted, as the typical associations with the word 'Guru' is someone who prepares well, is calm and composed and very knowledgeable about a particular subject, however Barnaby is displayed as someone who doesn't have any of these traits; looking unprepared, scruffy and clueless about the sport. This is then highlighted in the following mid shot when Barnaby is seen holding a small tennis book in one hand, and a pasty in the other. The audience assumes that this tennis book contains basic information on how to play tennis for beginners, or something that follows those lines, and then this is shown from the way he tells Ben to "keep a straight arm and snap the wrist".   
Ben then explains how his relationship with his coach isn't the best, with them not being great friends and how the friendship isn't too intimate, also saying how its "only professional". By saying this alone, it creates a 'tongue-in-cheek' moment for the audience as so far in the film there is no indication that the tennis lessons are taken seriously from the coach nor the player, immediately going against the usual idea behind being a professional. The idea of their friendship being not too intimate, is also quickly juxtaposed when another mid-shot is used displaying the tennis coach massaging Ben's hair whilst he sits casually in the bath.

This instantly causes this light humour as it again perhaps portrays their sexuality, but also at the same time trying to conceal it from view. Following on from this, when Ben quotes that the bath helps his muscles as it gets the stiffness out of them, asking Barnaby if he was correct to which he agrees, where the audience can subtly tell he actually just wants to see him in the bath, again adding to the typical conventions of the comedy genre, using the incongruity theory, as it displays the aspect of surprise amongst the audience.
The next scene is when the two characters are back on the tennis courts, with Ben practicing his shots over the net but said at the end at how it doesn't seem to be working as he can't seem to get any balls over the net, to which Barnaby quickly responds with "don't worry about getting it over the net... leave that up to the ball", as well as also saying at how Ben's technique was perfect, causing a shy smile to grow on Ben's face. This shows at how perhaps Ben was catching onto the fact that he doesn't seem to be learning any tennis, however due to Barnaby's quick response, it instantly settles Ben, and makes him believe that he's doing everything correct, showing how gullible he is. Barnaby then goes on to say how Ben is the best talent he's ever worked with, mentioning the fact that he's going to be a star, soon to be at Wimbledon. This last comment about Wimbledon may make the audience laugh as it is very unlikely that an average man who has only just started playing tennis, will make it as far as a major tournament, however without this contextual knowledge from the audience, the joke wouldn't be funny and the humour wouldn't be seen as no-one would know what Wimbledon is, let alone that it's a major tennis tournament.  

This short film highlighted another way we could portray our film. Although this one followed a comedic route, it still offered various ways that we could show our film to follow. It followed a linear narrative, meaning it went in chronological order, however it sometimes cut back to separate shots that were clearly from different parts of the day. I liked the way that in this film it gradually revealed the weird times the two characters had with each other, and that the coach wasn't simply teaching him how to play tennis but also being a friend; a very close friend it appeared to be. I think it would've been good to incorporate this into our film as it would've showed the growing relationship the characters created as the film went on, however ours followed the basis that they were already close friends and so the audience would not have the effort in trying to figure out the relationship of the characters. However it would be debatable whether or not if we changed it or not it would've effected our film in a positive or negative light, and so because of this, I believe the way we did our film was probably the best way to introduce the characters and their relationships with each other. 

Overall summary of what I have found out from my earlier research 

When looking into these two short films in which I earlier analysed, I discovered some interesting points about short films in general. One of them being that they often end without a resolution. Many do this as they aim to reveal as little as possible to the audience so that by the end of the film they have to figure out for themselves the conclusion of the film. In doing this, it enables the film-makers to subtly add in clues to hint to the audience into knowing what the resolution is, yet without giving away too much about the film. In the short film 'Seek' this is displayed through the use of varying camera shots at the end, revealing very limited images of the two adults walking away with the child and the dog. Now even though the audience can assume that these two adults are the child's Mother and Father, there is no hard evidence which suggests that this is actually the case, as this is even more challenged because of the way there is not much shown of the two adults, especially above the waist. 
Again this is also displayed in the other short film I analysed ('No Point'), as throughout the film the characters build up a story about what is going on, however by the end of the film the audience are none-the-wiser in whether the character continued to play tennis (for example in 'No Point') or whether he took up another sport, or if he was still 'friends' with his coach for example. All of these questions suggest to the audience that a resolution has not been solved yet and so we are left with the assumption that he simply continues with what he is currently doing as we have no other evidence which suggests he changes this. 

Another point that could be raised with what short films have in common (in general) is that there is a lack of dialogue throughout the film. As opposed to a feature length film, some short films opt to have the entirety of the film without dialogue. Depending on the genre, this can suggest a whole range of different meanings. For example in thriller genres, this can be used to create suspense and to keep the audience unsure or unaware of what could happen next in the film. However comparing this to a short film that particularly focuses on a disability for example, it can be used to help emphasise the disability so that the audience are clear about the background knowledge of the story. An example of this is in short film 'Silent Things', displayed below. 

A final point about what short films show in common, is the way they follow a linear narrative. By this, I mean that the events go in chronological order. This is used in short films as in order to portray to the audience everything important, they can not afford to go into too much detail with things and so it is common that they scratch on the surface of particular topics, leaving the audience to decipher the rest. This is likely due to the fact that as it's a short film, not much can be shown in such a short amount of time, and so this is why the events follow a linear narrative. 

All the points above helped our group progress in our short film as all were used during our planning stages of our film. This was because we wanted to be recognised as being a group that makes short films instead of feature length films, and so combining all of the points above, it helped achieve this. 
For example, we wanted to make sure that the film ended in such a way that it not reveal too much about what had happened, leaving it on a 'cliff-hanger' so that the audience could decipher for themselves what had happened. 
As well as this, we also used the effect of limited dialogue as, like I said before when applied to the thriller genre, we wanted to create a feel of suspense within the audience and so we believed by doing this, it would be one way that could portray this.
Finally, we decided to use a linear narrative in our short film as it would help show the main events effectively without confusing the audience too much. If we had decided to use a non-linear narrative, then we would've found ourselves with a lot of work to do in order to make sure that the audience fully understood what had happened. 


Our short film - 'Advance to Go' 

'Advance to Go' was our short film production and it came from the basis of a Monopoly game that has a spiritual side to it, causing the players of the game to come out with positive rewards (such as collecting real money) or negative rewards (such as a powercut), however the sinister side of the game becomes a reality once one player cheats resulting in the other players fearing for their lives. 
In order for our film to follow the usual steps of becoming a 'short film' we had to make sure our film involved certain attributes. This included making sure the film was between 5-10 minutes which it was. The final product came to just over 5 minutes so pretty much a perfect time. It also had to include the conventions of our genre, which in our case was the thriller genre. This would include using sinister non-diegetic soundtracks as well as low key lighting and particular props such as blood etc. However as well as this, we wanted to challenge the conventions, by adding the twist that the board game was sinister, and so this included adapting the conventions to suit the film. This included the lack of dialogue towards the end (to create the creepy atmosphere) as well as using slow motion (via post production editing) to emphasise important features of the film. 

Our short film begins with a slow motion shot of a mobile phone falling and hitting the floor with the addition of diegetic bleeps as if the phone had been hung up. Alongside this in the centre of shot is our title ('Advance to Go') which is fading in and out in time with the bleeps from the phone. This very first shot however, indicates that something mysterious is happening at some point in the film and that this would link to possibly the most climatic part of the film.

This gives the audience an early (yet vague) understanding of the genre of the film as well as what the film may entitle. However at this point, the audience is unaware of the link between this and the popular board game 'Monopoly', and so the title may not be entirely clear at this point. 

The next shot shows a close up of 4 glasses being filled up with red wine. This shot shows early signs of the scene that is about to be set, as 'wine' would connote the fact that adults would be the main characters in the film. Also the use of glasses, represent the idea of some wealth, highlighting the fact that the characters could be of a middle or upper class background. The 4 glasses are on the right hand side of the shot and so hint that they do not play that much of a significant part of the story-line, just an overall basis to lead the audience on. 

The following shot then shows two young characters (one male, one female) in the kitchen discussing about the events of the night ahead. Because of the fact that the characters are young adults/teens, we as the audience can assume that this is not their own house and that they are perhaps having a gathering due to the fact that their parents are away etc. As the shot is a mid shot, a lot is revealed to the audience, such as class for example. This could be seen through the mise en scene from the kitchen portraying the audience to make their own judgement about the characters and their traits. 

Towards the ending of the film, the use of non-diegetic sound is used to slowly build tension within the audience to then eventually cause a sudden shock at the end of the film. The sound clip that we used was from Soundcloud and was called 'Intro for suspense scene' by Mister M. We used the clip from Soundcloud as it would provide us with a copyright-free clip that we could legally use in our film, however we decided to choose this clip as it gradually built up in volume and intensity, constantly adding new instruments the longer it went on, adding to the effect. We used it from the point the electricity bill came through the letterbox (however only briefly to suggest slightly that something sinister had happened) until right up to the point where the male character drops the phone on the landing by the stairs. We also decided to alter the volume levels of the soundtrack as this would enable us to show certain emphasis on particular points, as well as to allow the audience to hear what the characters were saying.
Another soundtrack that we used (which is also non-diegetic) is named 'Wine Glass Woman' by Mayer Hawthorne, which was used as a backing track which was laid over the top of the shots of the characters playing the board game, especially during the time-lapses. This would make these particular scenes more enjoyable to watch and to keep the audience engaged, as without the soundtrack, the audience would literally be waiting until the time-lapse had finished - something we obviously did not want to happen.

During post production, we had to add a lot of effects in order for the film to look as professional as we could. This would include adding sound effects as well as transitions and titles to change our footage into a viewable film. An example of this in action in when we used time-lapses as well as slow motion to suggest a shift in time, either moving further on in the storyline, or just slowing down the events to show the emphasis of that particular scene. Alongside this, we had to work on the titling of our film, as this would be a starting point in determining whether or not the audience will like the film or not. As we weren't too particularly sure how to approach this, we decided to have it flashing in time to the phone bleeps on a black background, before it merged onto the first scene of the wine being poured into the glasses. By doing this, it portrayed a simple yet effective title, as it hinted at the conventions of the genre (black background with white lettering) as well as not revealing too much about the film; the only slight give-away would be the sounds of the 'bleeps' from the phone.


When focusing on the themes and issues of the film and what we wanted to try to portray from the film, we aimed to show at how everything you do will ultimately have consequences. Like in the film, this was displayed through stubbornness of certain characters, in particular Marion (played by Lily) and Russell (played by Charley). In Marion's case, she didn't want to pay the electricity bills when she got the letter through the door and quoted in saying that she'd play it on the next round. This resulted in there being a power-cut which then resulted in her disappearance. In Russell's case, whilst the lights had gone out, he decided upon himself to cheat and take some money from the bank (of the game) resulting in his Mother phoning up later in the film saying that the bailiffs were round and taking his belongings.
This highlighted the trust issues that the friends had between them, making each other believe that they were good friends, however when it came to trying to be the bigger person it backfired and effected the lot of them.
This could relate to reality as it is all too common nowadays for so called 'friends' to unfortunately stab their friends in the back, acting as their friend, before being the opposite when with other friends or family.  





 

Film Posters 

When designing a poster for our short film, we had to do research into other film posters; some from major films and others from short films just like ours. This would help identify what would be needed so that our film poster could look professional as well as giving our audience a rough idea of what our film would be about from just looking at the poster. This is one of, if not, the most important part of our project as this would undoubtedly make the minds up of our audience in whether they do or do not want to watch our film, and so this is why it needed to look the best it could be in order to achieve this. 

 

Research into other film posters

Poster 1 - 'Advance to Contact'

 
From the initial viewing of this film poster, a lot can be revealed about who the main character of the film is as well as the possible settings of the film. Displayed by the fact that a man is centered in the shot, split between two different settings, the audience has a vague understanding that this is the same man who looks as if he plays two vital roles in his life; serving for his country, and living his 'normal' life. However there is a slight suggestion that his 'normal' life isn't that normal, seeing as the slogan across the top suggests that his life gets tougher once he returns from fighting in the war. 
Looking deeper into the poster, the mise en scene of the background image of what appears to be a city, hints that he is likely to be an ordinary man, living an average life in England, however by looking at how some of the people are dressed (clothing) in the shot, it looks as if this could be set between the years of 1980-1990, potentially hinting at the fact that the war he may be fighting in is either the 'Falklands War' or the 'Gulf War', portraying the fact that the war will play a major part of the film. The colour of the imagery though suggests that the character's life will appear to get better as in both shots the sun is shining in, suggesting happiness. 
It looks as if the main two images of the male character standing in centre of shot are superimposed onto the background images, making the poster look more

professional, as by doing it this way, the editors can adapt the lighting on both the background as well as the character, highlighting the most important parts of the poster. 

 When talking about the representation about the poster, there seems to be a lot to talk about. Firstly, from the way the character is dressed, we assume that he is probably from a middle class background, stereotypes including casual clothing, probably stable in terms of finances and has a decent place to live. This overall assumption suggests that he is content with his life, however by looking at his facial expression, the audience can tell that he looks fairly unhappy and perhaps angry at something. From our initial thoughts, we can imply that this could be down to the fact that he is suffering somewhat from his time from the war, or perhaps that he takes his job as being a soldier too seriously. Either way we can determine that he is not happy with something, however by not clearly revealing it, it makes us want to go out and watch the film to discover what bothers him. I also noticed how the background images are very appealing to the eye, as the colours stand out; however compared to our character, he comes across quite dull and normal, hinting that he doesn't particularly stand out in society. From the iconography of the buses and buildings in the background, it supports the idea that this is a British film, alongside of course the soldier's army uniform, suggesting the British culture. 
Finally, looking at the slogan at the top of the poster ("The war is over but the battle is about to begin") suggests that the initial relief that is expected when somebody comes away from the war is short lived and has some possible after-effects. However it could also suggest that he is singled out from the others from the war, potentially hinting that his life actually gets worse once he's away from the war.

Though not much is communicated in the film poster, the audience can still understand the main concepts of the narrative. The main idea that comes across is that the male character has recently been in the war and that when he returns, his life seems to get worse (through the post traumatic stress). 

Even though it doesn't say on the IMDb website what genre this film is, from looking into detail on the poster, I can assume that the film would probably follow a thriller genre, as it is likely to include violent scenes from his time in the war as well as violent scenes once he returns back to the UK. However because it is based on a true story, it could possibly be a documentary, meaning it would appeal to a smaller audience as not everyone is interested in this genre. 

Poster 2 - 'Illegal Activity'  

From first viewing this film poster, a lot can be determined in terms of target audience as well as genre of the film. Firstly due to the fact that the poster shows a young teenage boy overlaid onto a dark black and grey background (colour), suggests that the film is probably aimed at audiences that are 17 and over, and with the likelihood that it is aimed more towards the male population instead of the female population. This could be connoted from the typography of the word 'illegal', bringing in stereotypical connotations that the person doing the illegal activity is the boy on the poster. This could be backed up further from the way the boy is in the centre of a long shot, with a bright light from the background emphasising the fact that he is the main character in the film. Looking deeper into the poster, a lot is revealed from the background images. Most notably the graffiti sprayed onto the garages and walls of the alley. This instantly tells the audience that the film is mainly about crime as well as the fact that the boy could be from a working class background. Now looking further at the boy's clothing (costume), a lot of stereotypical judgements can be made of the boy. Firstly because of the way he is wearing tracksuit bottoms, a hoody and a baseball cap, the audience assumes that the boy is from a minority background, this is also backed up from the way the boy's skin colour suggests that he could be from a ethnic minority background. The bag that he is holding also suggests to the audience that that is his equipment used when carrying out the 'illegal activity', hinting at possible theft. Finally when looking at the typography at the top of the poster (knowledge is power) the audience recognises that the boy obviously knows something that only few people know and so when it comes to doing the 'illegal activity', he gains some sort of power from it, either from friends or family.  

The overall meaning behind the film is shown in the representation of the poster. Like I said before, due to the fact that he looks as if he comes from a Afro-Caribbean background, it suggests that he could be economically different compared to the rest of the population, or perhaps his family are. From this it then leads to assumptions that he goes out of his way to steal things for his family to live on, this could be anything from food to money to technology. Because of the fact that we cannot see his facial expression, we cannot determine whether he is unhappy or not, however by looking at his posture we can determine that he is likely unhappy or angry; obviously by having the view of a facial expression would help justify this. From the iconography of the image, we can tell that the character is very lonely. This is highlighted by the fact that the streets that he is walking down are abandoned, and although this could be trying to say that he does the crimes when no one is about (during the night perhaps) I believe that the poster is actually trying to portray how the character feels inside his head and how perhaps he feels in comparison with the rest of society. 

By looking at the film poster we can determine that the narrative would likely follow a linear narrative (start to end). This is because the boy is trying to get to the end of his families needs and so has to go on a journey to get there, however because of the fact that he looks as if he's half way through his journey, it could perhaps suggest that it is not a linear narrative. 

Like I said in the first paragraph, it seems as if this film is a thriller or maybe a action/adventure. This is because the boy seems to be on a journey and so will likely face troubling times ahead, as well as the fact that he is clearly doing things that are illegal, and so may get in trouble with gangs or the police. 
Finally a interesting point that I believe could be important in the film is the way the title looks very familiar to popular thriller/horror film 'Paranormal Activity', which could possibly suggest that weird or supernatural events may take place throughout the film, however I may be wrong. 

From this research, I discovered a lot about what needs to be included in a film poster in order for it to look professional, including actors names; billing blocks; a main image, a title; and sometimes even quotes from magazines or newspapers.
  
Our Film Poster 

In our film poster we wanted to include all of the above features that make up a good film poster, however it was important that it portrayed what our film was about without giving too much away. 

 Above is our final product for our film poster. As you can see the poster is based on a basic template, and so there isn't too much clutter in and around the poster. The poster portrays what the overall meaning behind the film is (monopoly) without hinting at the fact that there could be a sinister side to it. By not revealing too much, the audience will be more likely to watch the film as they are intrigued in what the film could be about. 

 

This is one of our best parts of the film poster as it merges the two components of the poster together; the main image that is used to help portray the genre etc, as well as the quotes and rating system inside the image. By having it in what looks like one of the places from the board, it is a neat way of not putting too much clutter in the poster, as well as making it look more professional. 

By including the 4 character pieces as well as the dice it also helps to portray the meanings and possible storyline behind the film. 

By having a black background on the poster, it would give a subtle hint at what the genre of the poster is as well keeping the poster design looking slick and professional. 

Film Reviews 

When learning about the film review that we needed to produce alongside our film and our poster, we did some early research into many 'Little White Lies' reviews as this is what we were going to base our film review on (in terms of layout and design). Below is what I researched into.

What is it and who reads it? 

'Little White Lies' is a bi-monthly British independent magazine that is based upon reviewing films that have recently been released, featuring writing, drawings and photography which generally relate to a film. It is published by 'The Church of London' which is a publishing company based in London that is also known for publishing popular magazine 'Huck'. It's first issue was made in 2005 and it has continuously grown since then. 
In amongst the content of the magazine are a few things that will be important when analysing the magazine. For example, the amount of artistic content there is; why there isn't as many adverts compared to mainstream magazines; and why perhaps that the magazine is quite highly priced, as well as others. 

In terms of who reads the magazine, when looking at a survey completed in 2008, we found that a large majority of people that read the magazine are males aged between the ages of 25-35, meaning the magazine contains content that appeals to this age range. However we also saw that the magazine was stocked in popular bookstores such as Waterstones and WHSmiths as well as unusually HMV and Urban Outfitters. This suggest that it also appeals largely to trendy teenagers who will be well educated enough to grasp what the magazine is trying to portray. 
Also in the survey, we discovered at how 65% of people buy between 0-4 DVDs each month, meaning the people that read the magazine will obviously have a basic interest in watching films. 
Finally, an interesting point to mention is that 54% of people that buy the magazine, play video games regularly, possibly suggesting that people that may have some time on their hands can get round to doing their hobbies as well as work, suggesting potentially students.  

When talking about the audience of the magazine, it can be split into two sections: Demographically, and Psychologically. Demographic means the age, class, gender and ethnicity of the people reading the magazine, and psychological means the interests, attitudes and opinions of the audience reading the magazine.   

What are the layout conventions of LWL?

When looking at the layout of the magazine, it is very neatly produced so that each copy follows a similar layout to the next, given the magazine it's own distinct style. To begin with, it features very few adverts in comparison with other mainstream magazines meaning the content of the magazine is far better quality compared to the other magazines, as well as suggesting that it is being aimed towards a different target market. 
It also has a front cover that is purposely designed from the inspiration of its feature film. However this is not just a photo image from the film, it is a hand drawn illustration of the lead actor, giving it its own unique feature. The cover film also plays a valuable role in the style of the content inside the magazine, such as chapter icons and distinct headings. However, like I said, the overall layout remains the same. 

The magazine is split into 6 chapters, starting at the lead review, and finishing with future releases. By doing this it breaks the magazine down a bit so every varying member of the target audience will enjoy at least one feature each addition. 

The magazine also uses a tripartite system for ranking. The categories (which include 'Anticipation', 'Enjoyment', and 'In Retrospect') are marked out of 5 and are alongside a piece of text explaining why they have been given that mark.

What are the style conventions of LWL?

In terms of styling the magazine, the editor always keeps to the same basic layout. However by doing this, he also adapts it uniquely so that it corresponds with its feature film based from the front cover. On the interior of the magazine, the style generally follows the same each addition of the magazine. By this I mean that paragraphing is often used to help represent a slight change of topic or to just simply break the text up a bit. As well as this i also noticed how there seems to be a little image to do with the film inserted into the middle of the text. This is quite neat as it gives the audience a little recognition that what they are reading about is the part that is portrayed through the image. 
The text is also surrounded by a unique border, usually on the basis of the feature film, making each review valuable and special.

Other important features of a LWL review: 

• The measurements of the page are 196mm x 245mm (including margins)
• The measurements of each column are 52.4mm x 107mm
• The measurements of the total text review are 168mm x 217mm (plus margin top and bottom)
• The measurements for the main image is 70mm x 168mm

After I had done this research I then created a basic plan of what our review would look like.

By doing this it would give our group a clear basis of what is expected when it came to recreating a review but for our film. 

Our Film Review

Once we had made basic plans of what the review should look like, Zoe and I started to work on the content of the review. We had to make sure that it fitted with the standards of that of an actual LWL review so that it could technically pass as one. This became quite challenging at times as we had to think through the correct vocabulary to use as well as then dropping the word count as it turned out to be too long.
Once we had completed the content of the review, we then had to place this content into a template of the review, so that it would look professional. Here is this stage.

However once all of this had been done, we had completed our final production of our film review, and as a group, I believe that we were very satisfied with it. Below is the review!
 

Like an actual LWL review, it included all the features that is expected on this kind of review, including directors names and the rating system in the bottom right hand corner. 

THIS IS THE FINAL PRODUCTION OF THE REVIEW! HOPE YOU ENJOY!