Aftermath Final Film.

Final cut on youtube

Aftermath - Final Poster

Aftermath - Radio Trailer

The following link is a preview of the radio trailer for Aftermath:

Evaluation Question 1.

For our A2 Media Product, wanted to incorporate codes and conventions of a Drama film, without completely conforming to them. As normally expected within a Drama film, would be a male protagonist, however we decided to create a female lead protagonist, which subverted gender stereotypes, and also added a twist to the ending of the film. Aftermath follows the protagonist Georgie as she has returned home from a tour in Afghanistan and is now trying to overcome her PTSD. Our short film conformed to typical Drama conventions as it has an emotional storyline and relatable issues that are relevant to modern society. One way in which we did not conform to the Drama conventions was not having a happy ending where all ties are fixed and nothing is left unanswered, we left ours open ended which left the audience questioning what happens after. This allowed us to bring in some Thriller aspects.

In our A2 year we were all more comfortable as a group, as we all get on out of the lesson, which helped with dealing with more complex and technical parts of our course. This year we had to create a five minuet film, meaning we spent longer filming than we did in our AS year. Due to having a longer filming period, it meant that we struggled with continuity throughout as different aspects keep changing, for example a haircut or someones hair colour. Eventually this developed into a problem when it came to reshooting, meaning some parts had to completely be re-filmed.


The main problem we had with the actress who played Charlotte and as when we started filming she had a pink hue to the ends of her hair and it was long and curly. However once we came to reshooting these scenes she had her haircut three inches shorter meaning we had to entirely reshoot the scenes as waiting for her hair to return to the previous length and colour would have been too long. We also took the precaution of this not happening again, by adding a padded hooded coat and purple scarf to her outfit for the remainder of filming, allowing us to hide her hair.

 We inhabited the key aspects of Drama conventions as we included real life situations, realistic relatable character and interactions between our main characters. We aimed to make our film relatable and familiar to our audience so that they create an emotional attachment to our characters. We aimed to achieve this through our flashback scene at the start of the film, as this allowed us to establish the plot and provide vital information to the audience, to create the relationship with the audience.

The next thing we did to strengthen the relationship with the audience was the title sequence which provided an insight into Georgie's house. To create our title sequence we used photos of various household objects such as, flowers, a foosball table, photographs and an empty chair. The empty chair was used to symbolise the emptiness within Georgie's life after the loss of her best friend. We uses 'Levi Strauss's' Binary opposite theory to juxtapose the two scenes (opening sequence and title sequence), this was done to emphasise the fact that Georgie and Charlotte were two young girls with their life ahead of them, however to portray the tragedy, that being in the Army out on deployment. This was cemented through Georgie's Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Charlotte's death. Once way we portrayed  Georgie's innocence as a character, was through her mise-en-scene, she was frequently seen wearing Bambi pyjamas throughout, this implied her innocence and her mentality once she was away from the Army as she is trying to decompress, also the reference to modern pop culture as she is seen quite often with her mobile phone, while within the house, however once Georgie and Charlotte are outside they are seen wearing fashionable outfits. This is used to allow Georgie and Charlotte to be more relatable to the audience.

However throughout our short film, 'Aftermath' doesn't conform to the typical Drama conventions, such as our film doesn't reach a typical happy ending. Choosing to leave it open ended allowing the audience to decide themselves what happens to Georgie after the conclusion of our film, however we left subtle hints as to what happens with Georgie as she finally managed to open up to her therapist and tells her about what actually happened to Charlotte. An example of a Drama film that conforms to the typical genre conventions is War Horse, as Albert has to get over the loss of his best friend Andrew, who is killed by a gas explosion within the German trenches. Nonethess the happy ending comes when Albert is finally reunited with his horse Joey and they return home to Devon together.

The main media product we were influenced by was the TV series 'Our Girl' and 'Emmerdale' as both of these have dealt with the subject of PTSD and allowed us to gain some ideas on how to portray the matter through our film. From 'Our Girl' we were influenced by the war aspect and also the episode when Georgie is taken prisoner while on deployment over in Kenya on a humanitarian mission. This gave us the inspiration for how Charlotte dies as, in 'Our Girl' the aid worker Kiki is killed moments before Georgie is rescued.

The clip below shows the build up and the rescue of Georgie Lane.

We used 'Emmerdale' as an influence as the storyline of Belle being followed by a girl, who kept appearing randomly and always in different positions. This influenced our plot with Charlotte as we decided to follow there example and have her appearing and disappearing throughout, this was to hint towards the fact that she wasn't really there and just a figment of Georgie's imagination. However the only differnence is that when Charlotte appears it is to try and help Georgie, whereas the person 'haunting' Belle says hurtful and mean things.

The video shows Belle sleeping rough and the girl 'appearing randomly'

We followed Tom Ryall's Genre theory which states 'genre provides a framework of sturcturing rules, which act as a form of guidence over the production of filmmakers and the understanding of the audience'. There are four parts to the theory, iconographies, narrative, representation and ideologies. If the audience is able to recognise these things in a film, it provides them with enjoyment and also allows them to make comparrisons to other films. Through our film, we inhabited key aspects of a drama, however we also subverted them aswell, through having a female protagonist and also leaving the film open ended.

Also we used Richard Dyers theory of entertainment, this included five aspects, energy, transparency, intensity, community and abundence. Our film includeds energy as it is told through a flashback at the start which set the tone of the film, and the eliptical editing throughout. Through the use of transparency it allowed us to have Charlotte appearing randomly throughout and to go unnoticed in the threapy session. We portrayed the intensity through Georgie's PTSD and the plot twist at the end. Transparency can be seen in the film Eden Lake (Dir James Watkins, 2008), where the working class  teenagers are portrayed as bad and Jenny and Steve are portrayed as middle class good people.  Emotion is portrays through Shawshank Redmeption (Dir Frank Darabont, 1994), where Brookes who has been instotutionalised is released from prision, and eventually hangs himself.

Evaluation Question 2.

Evaluation Question 3.

Evaluation Question 3 from SarahMedia2015

Evaluation Question 4.

Evaluation Question 4 from SarahMedia2015

Final Questionnaire Responses

The majority of people who answered our questionnaire were female in a 3:2 ratio.

 There was a 4:1 split with the different age gaps, with the majority being with within the 15-17 age bracket. This implies that the final cut was watched by people within our intended demographic.

Upon asking our audience if they enjoyed the film, the majority gave a score of eight, while two gave a score of nine. This conveys that the film was enjoyable and easy to follow, this is what we were intending to do within our storyline, for keeping it intriguing, making people want to continue watching.

Everyone who took part in our questionnaire said that they understood the plot of our film. This means that our plot was easy to follow, and also that we conveyed the themes and messages in a way that was easy to follow.

A ratio of 4:1 thought our film fit a 15 certificate, while one thought it fit a 12 certificate. This means that we added the appropriate qualities for a 15 certificate, this conveys that our research into film certificates was successful.

4:1 ratio of the people who answered our questionnaire said that they thought the genre of our film was action and drama. This is good as they are the two main genres we were trying to portray within out film.

Upon asking where people would expect to see our film there was a 3:1:1 split within the answers. Three people suggested that our film would be good on YouTube, which is the site we chose to host our short film. The other two suggestions were at the cinema and on TV these could potentially be possible, if we had the budget to approach them, however we only had a very small budget meaning that YouTube was the best option as it if free.

Everyone who answered the questionnaire said that the music we chose suited the overall tone of our film. We were happy with this result as we took caution and caution when picking the music for our film, ensuring that it fit to our film. We also altered the music from our rough cut, with the response of the audience questionnaire we carried out previously. Some of the comments on the music were things such as 'The music used has a very melancholy tone which fits with the flashbacks' and 'I feel as though you spent time on the music and a good soundtrack and add a lot to a film', this conveys that the time we spent selecting the music was worth it. 

We also asked if there were any improvements that we could make to our film for future reference, the feedback which we received  were things such as 'the opening credits are lovely and the performances are very good', 'the narrative is clearly displayed and made for an enjoyable experience'. We did however receive some constructive criticism, for example, 'the sound levels could do with altering a little' and 'could have given actors mic each so easier to listen to'. We took these into consideration however the mics would have taken us out of our budget. 

Final Questionnaire

Here is the link to our final questionnaire for Aftermath after making changes to our film from the last reflection on audience responses. We asked questions that would tell us what our potential audience thought was successful about the production of our film and any suggestions they would make that could have improved the film even further. Most of all, we wanted to discover whether they thought our film had met it's targets of being a Drama that was suitable for a fifteen age rating. 
Link to the Questionnaire

Shooting Pack 7 - Extended Letter Box scene

The following is a list of things we needed/used during filming of our extended letter box  scene.

Shot List

This scene was added after reading through our audience feedback, that said we needed an extra scene to further explain the letter coming through the letter box and Gerogie jumping, with her PTSD. We used a range of medium to long shots, with close ups and over the shoulder shots. 

 Storyboard

 Between these two scenes within the house and walking to therapy we added in the scene where georgie went to pick up the post, and had a conversation with Charlotte about her anxiety, this scene further establishes the relationship between them, but also relefcts the severity of her illness.

Script

Props 

 

 

Character Profiles

 

Equiptment

 

 

Production Diary

Friday 18th November 2016 -
In the afternoon we went to the main indoor location where our main character Georgie Ward lives with her partner, Charlotte. We took some practise video shots in order to test whether the angles we wanted to use were suitable for the film. This is integral to helping us plan out the start of our film as it means we will be able to get straight into filming our first scenes on Friday. We spent roughly two hours planning what areas of the house to use and where we would set up the camera for each scene. This organisation will help us save time during filming as everything will be planned, prepped and ready to go.

Friday 25th November 2016 - 
We started filming the kitchen and bedroom scenes, as well as looking at camera angles. We got lots of footage to work with which will be helpful when editing as it will give us lots of options and things to work with. This week we have started editing, and will start some of the outdoor shots next week, before completing the indoor shots in the coming weeks.

Friday 2nd December 2016 -  
We made a start on filming the war sequence. We decided to shot in a local park, and because we were using a plastic gun we went over to inform the police of our actions so that they were aware of what we were doing. We got lots of footage to use in lots of different camera shots, that will be good to work with and edit. This next week we are planning on editing this footage and then planning out a filming schedule for over the Christmas holidays.

Tuesday 13th December 2016 -
We reshot the house scenes, for continuity purposes, due to a hair change by one of the main characters. We managed to re-film everything within the space of an afternoon. We also altered some of the shots. After christmas we are planning to edit all the new footage, which gives us time to do any re-shoots that may need to be done.

Wednesday 17th January 2017 
We made a start on filming the final shots of our film, in the counselling room, due to weather restrictions. We used a spare classroom in our college for this scene, making sure to set up the room carefully, in order to capture the essence of the therpay session. We did lots of close ups in order to make the scene appear more intimate and show Georgie's vulnrability.

Wednesday 1st February 2017
We filmed some of the outside walking scenes. To film this we used the fountains located across from college, here we used the walk way located between the Town Hall and the fountains, this allowed us to have more footage to use and so we were also able to use it to link the bus scenes to the reception scene. Also, we used Regent Street as a lot of busses use this route to the main interchange at the bottom of the road. This allowed us to film a bus pulling away and Georgie and Charlotte appearing, as if they have just got of the bus. We will link this with a shot of a bus pulling up to a bus stop near Georgies home.

Monday 6th February 2017
We shot some of the final scenes for our film, the reception scenes are needed to link the walking scenes to the counselling session. To film this we used the reception and main doors of college, this set up allowed us to film walking through the main door, which acted as the main doors for the counselling building and the reception area acted as the reception area of the building as well, as it had a sofa, table and a few chairs to give a good effect.

Friday 17th February 2017
Today was our final day filming, we shot the outside of Georgie's house and once scene inside where the lid was put back on the orange juice and the bottle placed back in the fridge. We used close ups for the orange juice scene, with long and medium shots for the outside scenes.

Friday 3rd March 2017
We decided to reshoot the therapy scene, to include more detail to Georgie and Charlottes back story. Also we decided that we needed to include a lot more close ups to show more emotion and to try get the viewer to sympathise with Georgie. To film we uses a one to one room, that is situated n college, they are a plain room with only coat hooks on the walls. We decided this was a good place to film, as it gave a more therapy like atmosphere.

Friday 10th March 2017 
We had to refilm the shot of us walking into the counselling room because in our original shot, the camera was visible in the glass. We decided that we needed to remove this error from the film otherwise it could effect the overall quality.We had to shoot three times because of background noise such as doors opening and people walking.

Friday 17th March 2017
We decided to film an extra part to the letterbox scene. We decided to film this as we wanted to explain what happened, and give the audience more detail. We shot this in the same house, however our only problem was the lighting, so we made the decision to refilm the letter coming through the letterbox, so that we had continuity with the lighting.

Revised Script for Letterbox Scene

This script will be used to fill in the space between the posted letter and the start of the journey to the therapy session. We felt this would be necessary as it provides the audience with more infromation and adds more substance to our film.

SECOND ROUGH CUT

Research into the use of Internet

Internet can be uses to promote films and TV programs world wide. The main reason that they use the internet is because it is a free form of advertising, this is beneficial to the producers, as it is a cheap way to advertise the film effectivaly, and use the money to advertise the film to people who may not have access to the internet.

Facebook

 Facebook is one of two main ways that film producers and TV programs use the internet to advertise and promote films. By using Facebook, they are able to post teasers of the film, such as posters, clips, pictures and cast interviews. One of the main benefits to using Facebook, is that it is easily spread, for example, if one person likes the page or a post, it is then visable on all there friends feeds, this leads to more people liking the page. This page inpartucular has over 6 million likes, this shows the extent of people liking and sharing posts. Through the page, they can inform the fans of DVD/Box set release dates and promote other films, by the same company.

 Twitter is the other main way that films and TV programs use the internet to advertise and promote films. Using Twitter is another free way of promoting films and TV programs. Through Twitter the production companys are able to interact with fans, they are able to host Q&A's with the cast, giving fans a chance to speak to there favourite  character/cast member, and ask questions. The Once Upon A Time Twitter page has 1.5 million followers, and works in a similar way to Facebook, as when you like or retweet a tweet it appears on your timeline, meaning anyone who follows you may see it, spreading the word about the film or TV program.

 Another way to promote films and TV programs is through Tumblr, this allows people to like and reblog pictures and videos from the film/TV program, or even post there own fan art. Tumblr alows poeple to post mulitmedia and other things in the form of a short blog style. It is a good way to share information about upcoming things and it also allows you to comment on the posts.

 A website for the film/TV  prgoram, these allow you to look through previous episodes, videos and learn more about your favourite characters. The only bad thing about websites is that the content may be restricetd to the counrty, for example, the website shown above is an American websiste, which means that in the UK you would be able to access it, however you may not be able to watch the episodes.

Ending Credits Research

Every film has ending credits, wether its a feature film or a short film. These can be done in many different ways, however they all tend to follow the same billing order:

1. Director
2. Writers
3. Producer
4. Executive Producer
5. Lead Cast
6. Supporting Cast
7. Director of Photography
8. Production Designer
9. Editor
10. Associate Producers
11. Costume Designer
12. Music Composer
13. Casting Director

The order credits everyone within the production of the film, in order of a stand alone person to those who work in groups.

The Avengers ( Dir - Joss Whedon, 2012) - end credits, show all the characters main assessts, such as Captain Americas shield, Iorn Mans suit, Hawkeyes bow, Black Widows suite, Thors mjölnir,  these make the end creidts specific to the film. As the actors names appear on screen they are also shows with their respective asessts.One thing that is typical to a Marvel film credit sequence is that they place two snippets from future films within the credits. They are typically located one after the end of the main credit sequence which lists the main actors and crew, and another at the very end of all the credit sequence.

  In the Star Trek Into Darkness (Dir - J.J. Abrams, 2013) - End Credits, they follow the order, however there is annimation in the background, which bring the names in and also wipe the of the screen. The end credits, fit with the theme of the film, as it takes on a space theme, and the music also fits.

In contrast to this, the Lego Movie (Dir - Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, 2014) - end credits, are annimated lego blocks forming different backgrounds in relation to whos name is being displayed at the time. 

Amendment to Shooting Pack 3 - Therapy Scene

The following is a list of things we needed/used during filming of our therapy scene.

Shot List




Script

Storyboard

Props

 

 

 

Character Profiles

 Equiptment

Details of Re-Shoots

We decided to re-shoot the therapy session scene. This was because we felt the scene lacked dialogue and interaction between the characters. We added lots more close-ups to allow the audience to be much more engaged with the character's feelings, especially as this particular scene is so emotive.

We felt the scene needed to deliver more clarification about the imaginary presence of Charlotte. Although hints were placed in the preceding scenes, we wanted a subtle but shocking reveal that cleared up any speculation in the audience's minds.

Re-shooting the scene allowed us to capture Georgie's thought process, and learn more about the traumatic situations that sparked her hallucinations. In the re-shoot, Georgie's tours of Afganistan are referenced, which weren't included in the initial shoot, and allow insight into the reasons behind Georgie's fragile mindset.

Rough Cut Questionnaire Audience Response

Rough Cut Questionnaire: Responses

In order to gain a better understanding of our potentional audience and to be given an early opportunity to make necessary changes, our group released an audience questionnaire with a link to the rough cut of our film on the social media network Facebook for people to answer at their own leisure. Upon sharing the questionnaire, our film was not fully completed, so critques about the lack of music and credits were expected but suggestions about how and when they could be incorporated and comments on the cinematography, editing and performance were valued by our group, as it meant that we could add to our film before our coursework deadline.

The first question that we sought to ask our potentional audience was if they enjoyed Aftermath. Of our eight responses, all of the people stated that they enjoyed the film fairly well, with the most percentage going to eight out of ten on the scale. Even though we are pleased that our film has been positively recieved, we wanted to know how we could make our film more entertaining, so we followed this question with ways that they could add their imput to the film's production, with open questions such as 'what do you think was successful about our film' and 'what suggestions could you make to improve it?'

87.5% of the people that watched our film understood it's plot and the twist that came at the end of the clip. Georgie's PTSD means that she can be prone to hallucinations which we attempted to represent through the inclusion of Charlotte's character. Although, we tried to make Charlotte's death subtle in order to capture the sensitive and heartfelt nature of Aftermath, due to the limited time that we had for the running time of the film, we had to make the ending of the film more of a revelation so that the message could be understood. Most of our responses said that they wish that Charlotte's status had been referenced earlier in the film so that the ending was more clear. This could be done through including more moments such as, Charlotte's sudden apperance in the kitchen, throuh the use of jump cuts in editing.

75% of the people that took part in our questionnaire were between the ages of 18-20 while 25% were between 15-17. This adheres to the 15 certificate that we have given our film and shows that it's plot is appealing and understandable to young adults. The majority of the audience agreed that our film should be a 15 certficate which shows that our film has successfully fit into the BBFC guidlines and would be suitable to show in cinemas with this rating. Although, our film was aimed to appeal to both a male and female audience, 75% of the responses were from females. This could possibly be because all of our cast was female which could possibly mean that it was less relatable towards a male audience.

The genre of our film was understood to be a War Drama which matches the one intended for Aftermath. This shows that our film has been successful in displaying the conventions of the genre, such as using the army jackets and the sound of gunshots in the opening scene, and thus suits the context of the film. Individuals generally expected to see our film in the cinema or through film festivals, which is what we too expected for our film, as War Dramas are a popular and successful genre but the low budget of our film would probably mean it would have to be an Independent project.

Because of the serious subject matter, the occasional use of profanity and the implication of violence, we believed that our film would generally appeal to a more mature audience. Looking at the research gathered from our questionnaire, we found that audiences thought our film would be mainly watched by teenagers and young adults. As a group, we wanted our film to be able to appeal to a wider demographic and so we chose to explore how PTSD can affect individuals day to day lives. This is a relevant subject for audiences as it can be the result of anyone who has gone through a traumatic expoerience. 

Throughout the film, Georgie displays feelings of frustration, anxiety and anger. Her difficulty in opening up to Charlotte about how the PTSD is affecting her life creates a very sombre and almost mournful tone to the film, which we needed to project through the use of similar music. Many people found that the music suited the film and that it went well alongside some of the film's more solemn scenes. However, some suggestions were made from audiences to remove the clock ticking from the counselling scene as it was distracting and made our actors difficult to hear. They also suggested reducing the volume or replacing the sound of ringing after the gun is fired in the flashback scene, as it dosen't quite fit the cut from the war scenes to the bedroom.

Finally, we inquired from audiences their thoughts about what was successful in our film and what scenes they felt could be improved or changed. Audiences complimented our filming techniques (particularly the use of camera angles and lighting), the storyline and the well placed fade at the end of the film. Nevertheless, they felt that there could have been more close ups included in our film in order to create more intimacy and that the scenes where our characters are walking from one place to another needed to be cut or reduced. Again, they felt that the film needed more music and that the volume could be highered in the counselling scene. We will work to make the neccessary changes appropriately.