2. Whilst in the process of making my short film, I had to ensure we included certain codes
and conventions within the film to make it look professional. Before starting producing
the film, I researched different types of cinematography, genre and narrative to see how
things are done correctly and to also help me when planning the film with my friends.
Before the start of filming, we also research lots of theorists and watched various other
short films to get ideas. My understanding of codes and conventions came from watching
a diverse sort of real life media texts. After watching the short films ‘I’m Here’ and
‘Across the Hall’ I compared and contrasted similar conventions that shown in my texts.
It was from this process I believe that I was able to make quick decisions about how I
would use and design my findings in my media products.
3. NARRATIVE
We looked at a theorist called Todorov which indicates that the majority of narrative starts with a state of
equilibrium. This is then disrupted which is usually a true fact. We also took a look at Barthes code, Propp’s
character roles and Levi-Strauss which helped a lot when deciding and making our characters as we had to
produce quite a few (detectives, suspected, the boss, victims and extras). We use a soliloquy on the character
Detective Barnes which was one of our main and critical features of the film. This is to explain to the audience
what he is thinking about the situation. I think this is one of our most powerful and interesting scenes as it shares
to the viewer’s his inner thoughts and his suspicions on who he thinks the actual killer is. I think the audio of his
voice works really well with his facial expressions, it’s a diverse way of showing feelings to the audience, which in
return gets them wondering who the killer is as it’s so unsuspected, which gets them questioning themselves.
Whilst researching about narrative, I learn that it was very important to interact with the audience, which is why
the use of a soliloquy was so useful. The majority off the narrative is linear, which is very similar to Todorov
conventional narrative theory like I mentioned earlier.
4. GENRE
The genre of our film ‘Stake Out’ is a Horror but kind of a murder mystery at the same time. Choosing
this was another very important convention to decide which is why we looked at many other types of
genres beforehand by watching films like ‘Across the hall’ (thriller),’Pitch Perfect’ (comedy), ‘Twilight’
(Vampires and Mystery) and ‘Django’ (Western/comedy). This was to identify what genre we wanted to
base our film around and to ensure we are picking the right genre for the current target audience.
5. MY FILM POSTER
This is my final Final Poster that I am going to use as
on of my ancillary tasks. As you can see from the
professional posters on the other slide, I have got
inspiration from them. The layer orders, where all the
things that make up the posters are placed and also
the characters that are on the actual poster. These 2
characters are in actual fact the main characters which
is why I had them so bold and dominant on my
poster. This was an idea I gain from the research I did
on actual film posters but on all genres not just
horror’s. The reason the majority of m poster is in
black and white is because my film is set in the 1960’2
so I wanted to keep with the film. However certain
parts are in colour (the title) as there are the main
parts of the poster so need to stand out.
6. MIS-EN-SCENE
After looking at Narrative and Genre, the next convention I had to look into for the short film was Mis-en-Scene. This was to plan what costumes each
character would wear in the film to make it realistic and look very professional. Not only that we discussed where each scene would be set, what equipment we
would be using and acting skills that would be needed. The killings would be set outside, in a dark and gloomy atmosphere to add to the drama, the
interrogation and coroners lab would be the same plain white room but with different lighting and props. However the Bosses office would be busy with lots
of files and a large desk to make it believable that it was a real detectives office. The clothing of the characters would be as follows: All detectives be smart, in
either suites or simple black and white clothing, however have a black over coat. The rest of the characters, suspects, extras, victims would be in whatever
clothing they are wearing. This is to make the audience believe they are just every day, normal people. Different styles of editing the film where also
researched to make the film look even better. Slow motion , sped up motion, black and white etc. Simple, scary creepy music will be played at the most vital
scenes to add to the tension and atmosphere. Slams of Detective Barnes hitting the desk whilst interviewing would be very loud and a fundamental part of the
scene and film (shows anger). Screams will also be heard in every murder to show suffering. This convention I feel I have met through the narrative is not
only presented through the camera but mis-en-scene to rather than through dialogue. This is very common in most short films ‘I’m Here’ and ‘’. I feel we did
this convention to a high standard. This is because we set the film in the 1960’s so we took into consideration at all times at costumes of our main characters
and also props. Not only that but whilst editing, we used the black and white filter to make it feel more like that decade. We also took into consideration all
the things in each scene that wouldn't be normally in the 60’s so we didn’t et them in the shot if we couldn't’t move them.
7. SHOTS
Another convention that I decided to use within my short film was close up and mid shots. This
method allows the audience to interact with the characters of the film which creates an
understanding of the characters personality and forms a relationship between the audience and
the actual characters. By doing this it also influenced me and my group to use a voice over scene
in our film. This is where Detective Barnes has a soliloquy about who he feels is the killer in the
film. Believe that it fit in well with the house style and genre of the film as it builds up tension
between the protagonist and the audience. This was then established through the camera work,
sound and also the mis-en-scene as well as the voice over. I feel as though this technique is very
effective at forcing the connection between the audience and the text. This is very similar to the
majority of most house styles the same as ours.
