A2 MEDIA EVAULATION QUESTION

1. Hannah Miller

2. *
*One aspect of our pre-production process, included created and
presenting our pitch for our short film. We chose to create a
PowerPoint which explained all aspects our short film including
inspirations, and our decisions towards the genre and narrative
aspect of our short film ‘Eighteen’. Overall the presentation process
went well and we were able to gain valuable feedback from the
audience which helped further develop our short film. One thing that
I would improve within our pitch was the order in which we organised
the presentation; as by placing them in a better order we would have
been able to properly describe the flow of ideas which resulted in the
idea of our short film ‘Eighteen’.
Hannah Miller

3. Hannah Miller
* Narrative-
* Narratives appear in all films, they describe the structure in which a story is told; the traditional
narrative structure which most films follows is: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and
resolution.
* Non Linear; is a disrupted narrative which uses flash backs and jumps in time to disjoint a flowing
story.
* Linear; describes a story which is told in a logical order- following the exposition, climax and
resolution structure.
* Our short film adapts some elements of the traditional narrative structure, as all characters in the
scene have an individual scenario which develops to show their struggle with mental health and
repression from a pressurising modern society.
* Although the film can be perceived to flow from a state of equilibrium (all of the girls are sat happily
socialising) to a state of complication (each individual scene which shows the girls going through tough
times); back to equilibrium (all of the girls socialising in the same scene as the beginning).
However, the narrative can be considered as non linear as by the end of the film order is not found and
the audience is reminded that although initially things may seem fine; each individual is silently
suffering.
As a group we took inspiration from the narrative from Jaws’ band music video named ‘17’. This was
particularly interesting to us as it plays a narrative of a young male whilst including cutaways to create
a non linear narrative. As well as this it was extremely useful whilst planning our shooting scripts, as the
music video uses a similar concept of mental health amongst young men; there we took inspiration of
cutaway shots used to portray this theme- such as the shots which shows the male to be isolated from
the outside world as he interacts with his phone.
This links to the VALS of our target
audience, as they are materialistic and they
can be described as a digital native.

4. Hannah Miller
*
* Filming various shots of different angles of the same scene to benefit more fluid editing; this
relates to conventions of real short films, as real production use this filming technique to
create subtle and flowing cuts within the film. Our short film would have been even better,
if we had filmed more shots of each scene in this style; as it would have meant that we
could have created smoother flowing cuts within our short film- meaning that an audience
wouldn’t recognise any unnatural editing techniques.
* One important aspect of our shots filmed, was the use of mirrors within our short film;
conveying the feeling of self-reflection for both the character and audience. As well as this,
by shooting an over the shoulder shot of a character looking into a mirror; we are able to
place the audience within the scene as a way of fully projecting the emotion and meaning of
the scene to an audience member. Reflecting on this, this I believe that although the quality
of our shots isn’t the highest, the use of the mirrors within shots is a successful prop to use;
to further develop the themes within our film to our audience.
The use of mirrors to portray the reality of body image, was taken from
inspiration from the scene in ‘My Mad Fat Diary’ in which the female
protagonist unzips her skin to reveal a skinner version of herself. Throughout
the scene, mirrors are repeatedly used to portray the emotion the girl
experiences whilst transforming into the ideal young female- which was a
concept which had a large influence within our film. This is particularly evident
in the scene in which the girl expresses her emotions through the mirror;
revealing her true emotions to the audience.
This links to our target audience, as they have a high concern towards
appearance; and are most likely to be vulnerable to body image.

5. Hannah Miller
* Mise en scene-
* Short films carefully decide on a characters clothing to portray their personality, age and
lifestyle; in our shirt film we decided to dress our characters in young clothing which
represents their younger as well as the modern setting. Also, in some scenes a characters
clothing was used to further represent the characters emotions; and example of this is seen
within the beach seen as the character wears dark clothing to develop the theme of
heartbreak and isolation.
* Also, films use a variety of lighting within shots to revel the tone or emotion within the
scene; the most recognisable being low key and high key lighting. Our film is shown to
frequently use this convention; an example of low key lighting within our short film is the
scene in which the young girl is in her bedroom. By including the low key lighting in the
scene, we are able to further display the sadness experienced by the pressures of social
expectations; such as photoshopped images in magazines.

6. Hannah Miller
* Sound-
* Most short films conventionally use diegetic sound,
which is filmed during shooting and later edited over
the scene.
* As a group, we made the deliberate decision to record
a voice over and use this audio to play over the film
opposed to diegetic sound captured during filming. One
of our friends and frequent writer, agreed to write a
poem; this poem perfectly suited the genre and theme
of our short film.
* Also, we looked for some ambient backing music to
maintain a pace throughout the film and contribute to
the narrative. At first we didn’t think that the film
would require any other sound, as we wanted the
attention of the audience to be focused on the visuals
and poem. However upon reflection, the backing music
complements the voice over, by contributing to the
pace of the short film.
* This was taken as inspiration from the film ‘The Perks
of being a Wallflower’ in which the main protagonist
frequently uses voice over within the film to voice his
inner thoughts. This was successful as it allows the
audience to develop an emotional connection to the
character and understand their true thoughts and
feelings.
This links to our target audience, as although they are sociable; it can be
interpreted that social constraints could lead to introvert tendencies. Therefore
the voice over could represent inner introspective thoughts.

7. *
* Editing-
Most short films all follow similar editing techniques to produce a form of media that has a smooth flowing narrative;
which can be easily followed by the audience.
Our short film ‘Eighteen’ uses many of the traditional forms of editing including:
-Cutaways (frequently used within our short film as the characters interact with props such as mobile phones
-Match on action (shown when a character is opening and walking through a door)
-Eye line match (we have tried to maintain this element throughout the editing, especially during the beach scene where
we cut from the character looking onto the sea; to their view of the sea)
-Although our film is edited in the style of a montage, it is still extremely important that we edited shots to maintain
continuity (overall, this was an element which we found hard during the editing process; however I am proud of the
outcome as we had no experience of editing footage before starting this coursework)
-We have used the transition fade to black within our editing (it was hard to not over use this within our film, as it is an
easy transition to slot in between shots)
Hannah Miller

8. *
* After conducting research based around genres of short films, we decided as a
group that the plot of our short film fit into the genre; drama, particularly teen
drama. Some examples of how our short film portrays conventions of the genre
drama are:
* The narrative of our film portrays scenes of real life events that the audience
would find relatable; our short film includes scenes that show heartbreak (shown in
the beach scene); as well as the damaging effects of expectations regarding
appearance and social standards. Our target audience would be able to recognise
these similarities and hopefully feel comforted yet empowered to think of their life
beyond isolation and repression from metal health issues and social expectations.
* The (female) characters are presented as real life examples of young girls going
through modern struggles, it was important that through the characters normal
young clothing (mise en secne), poem used for our voice over and settings; we were
able to create a highly recognisable scenario which presented a drama based
narrative. I believe that this is one of the strongest aspects of our film as we can
confidently state that by using the conventions listed above and also the opinions
and influence of young people who surround us; we were able to make a short film
that is impactful but true to life.
* An improvement that would further develop the audience’s recognition to the
genre of our short film, towards real life events, would be to include more
situations that have an effect on young girl’s mental health; such as the pressure of
education and exams.
Hannah Miller

9. Hannah Miller
*
* Double page spreads in film magazines use conventional techniques which can be identified in their
structure and form. My double page spread follows some real conventions, explains of these are:
* The text follows a three column structure
* The article includes a main title
* A pull quote is included within the design
* My double page spread includes a main image; however this is developed by the inclusion of a
secondary image that overlaps the main mid close up image.
* The inspiration to overlap a main image with a secondary image, originates from my research and
specifically the double page spread located below. This was the only double page spread which
overlapped images and this concept became interesting to me as I knew that I wanted to include
more than one image but also wanted to include the flowers. Instead of overlapping a image (which
took up a page) with a smaller image; I decided to reduce the size and place in the top right hand
corner. By doing this I was able to ensure that I had enough room to fit in my text- as this was an
initial worry of mine.

10. Hannah Miller
* My article includes a banner; however the placement of the banner (at the bottom of the
page) goes against the conventional top placement which I have seen during my research.
* My article uses a colour scheme which visually relates to the short film plot in some way; as
the film is based around young girls, I decided to use pink as part of my theme to emphasise
the social expectation that pink is a colour associated with women.
* I have challenged the conventional layout of a film magazine double page spread, by
including flowers which frame and overlap certain aspects of my magazine pages- including
my main image and writing located in the typical three column structure. I have chosen to
include this, as they match he colour scheme and house style of the pages; as well as
including flowers due to their connotation with a scene in the film and their association with
girls. I chose to add a dark filter over the light pink roses, as it creates a sense of corruption
and darkness to a typically innocent and delicate object; this relates to the film as it shows
that although it may not look like it everyone has dark times within their life.

11. Hannah Miller
* Film posters use wide range of the same conventions, which make them recognisable as a media
product. In order to ensure that my poster for our short film ‘Eighteen’ included and used real media
conventions; I chose to follow some of the conventional guidelines.
* My poster included a main (mid close up) image which represented the film. I have developed this
convention within my film poster, by adding a black and white filter over the image; this was taken as
inspiration from other film posters I had researched. I chose to do this as it linked with my house style
and colour scheme, as well as contrasting with the expectation that girls love the colour pink- our film is
based on challenging society's social expectations upon women.
* I have challenged the conventional layout of images on a film poster, by overlaying a secondary image
over my main image. Also the second image, which is a mid-lose up shot, had been edited to have a pink
filter over it; this complements the house style and colour scheme, as well as relating to the tagline and
theme of the play.
This idea took inspiration from my
research, in particularly the poster for
the film ‘Control’. I particularly liked
the way in which the hot pink title
contrasted against the black and white
background. It was this image that
influenced my main image, however I
developed this by overlapping a
secondary image with a pink filter;
which uses the same colour of pink as
the title.
This is a modern design which link to
the VALS of our target audience; who
like modern, true to life media
products.

12. Hannah Miller
* My poster includes a Masthead which states the name of the short film, ‘Eighteen', I have
chosen to write this in large bold lettering as I believe that by doing this I am able to attract
the attention of our audience- which follows traditional conventions.
* I have chosen to include a tagline within my short film poster, as it follows the traditional
conventions; as well as using the written word to further attract the readers attention to
the film.
* I have included a billing block of all of the names of our group, this follows traditional
conventions, as all of the film posters I have researched have included this. I like the
positioning of the billing block on my poster, as it develops the minimalistic house style
shown within my poster.
* I have chose to include a blurb (exciting review) as it follows conventions of a film poster;
as well as using emotive language to capture the readers attention. Unlike some of the
posters I have seen, I have chose to only include one blurb feature; as I believe that by
adding more I would overcrowd the poster and I wouldn’t be sticking to the simplistic house
style of m short film poster.
* I have challenged the traditional conventions of a short film poster by including a lot of
negative space within the design, this has allowed me to maintain the readers attention
with the most important features of the poster; images, masthead, billing block and blurb.
* I took the inspiration to defy traditional conventions and use negative space from the film poster
‘ANGST’; this poster successfully uses blank space but still presents itself as a film poster which is
attractive to audiences. Upon reflection, I am pleased that I decided to include blank space as it
compliments all of the individual elements of my poster; without missing key conventional elements-
this would attract our target audience due to the modern design.