I evaluate my final film product and I talk about the planning, research and problems that I went through and the reaction of my audience

1. Evaluation of film product
ALIVE

2. 1. What was your initial concept for your final project and what were the
reasons behind your choices?
The multiple ideas and concepts I was trying to achieve in making an artistic film about loneliness in
London and the isolation that you may feel in London. I want to make people think about how you can
feel lonely in a high-populated city like London and how people may just think about themselves and
what they are doing. Instead of the people around them. My aim was make people think of what they do
when they are out in public and are traveling around in a big city but practically London. I want them to
ask themselves, do I think about the people around them and what they are doing? Or does digital
products/ listening to music shutting out the world around me and consuming me? The message that I was
trying to put through to my audience is that people do not make the effort to socialise with other people,
which can make people feel isolated. In terms of audience I was targeting people that enjoy artistic films
that cover different issues that the world has. They also may like films that use imagery in different ways
in video form.
The relevance my project has to my audience is that it will target people that are interested in niche
artistic films that can make you feel different emotions. The specialism I have chosen to follow for my
final project is the film industry the reason why I have chosen to go down the film route is because I am
fascinated about films and how it can make you think about different things and put you in different
situations and make you think about what you would do in these situations. You can also connect with the
characters and what they are going through which means you may be able to relate to the characters and
feel like you aren’t alone. Doing a short film project has helped me in terms of my future work and
further study. It shows me that I am passionate about film and television and it shows that I am willing to
explore the different sides of it instead of doing other mediums like print. It has showed me that I will
enjoy film and television out of everything else in the media industry. By doing this project it has shown
me that I can cope with the tough decisions that will happen and the ones I will make. For example, my
plans not going ahead how it should be or footage turning out the way I do not want it to be or expected it
to be. I solved situations like when I was stuck on how to edit my film and what kind of shots to use. I
asked my target audience and teacher and this showed me a way of how to progress.
I am very passionate about this project because I know that I can put my unique twist on the film that I
make and to get people thinking about the different topics and subjects I cover in my film. I can also
express the creative ideas I have about the theme layers of London and to make people really think about
what city life really is.

3. 2. How has your research and planning helped you develop your
final project?
In terms of research I have done different types for example doing secondary research where I researched what actual living statues do and how do
they feel about being a living statue. I also did research on how to make a living statue in terms of costumes and props. I have done this is to see on
how to make a living statue and the things I will need to buy so that I can make a successful statue. I did secondary research on loneliness in London
and big cities. It was about how loneliness can affect people. This research has shown me that it can affect people in a great deal and make them move
out of the city so that they feel less alone. I also did research about just loneliness and feeling this emotion. The research informed me that it could
make people feel isolated and empty. I used this research when I was writing my poem and I was able to think back to the research I have done on this
and this helped me greatly when I was talking about loneliness and isolation in my poem. Doing research about already existing living statues helped
me understand the kind of movements they do and how they are meant to look. It showed me that they rarely move and that they have to have full
control over their body so that they can control of every body part they are moving.
The first primary research that I have done was go to the docklands museum and to look around and look at the different history of London and see if I
get any inspiration from the museum, is located in canary wolf where a lot of statues are located I took inspiration from the Jon bucks sculpture called
returning to embrace. This sculpture made me feel emotions and made me think about how people can be connected and know a lot about each other.
I done a lot of primary research to do with my audience and their opinion on the different things that I had been doing. I first off asked them about
living statues and if they think London is a lonely city and they gave me varied answers, which helped me decide on some few things. I also asked
them about the costume variations for the character that I was trying to create which was very helpful because I could have chosen something that did
not suit the style of the statue I was going for. I went to the Victoria and Albert museum where there are a lot of statues and I went there to get some
inspiration about what a statue look and feel like. Another location I done primary research in was Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus where I found
living statues. This showed me and informed me about how living statues act and interact with the public which made me think about how my living
statue was going to move and act in public. I also started to think about if I needed to change my script to suit what I have seen.
I had problems with my poem and to get the right feeling for my poem. I wanted to know how a statue felt. I wanted know what the feelings and
emotions was when people walked past you and ignored you. I decided that I would stand in the busiest place in my college and stand as well as I can
and not interact with people that came up to me. After this experience it made me think about people and how they act in situations. Throughout the
process only two people were interested/ concerned with what I was doing. This made me think about how I should look at the more positive than
negative aspects of the people in the city and the city itself.
To test out what kind of colour my statue should be I tested out different strokes on the arm of my actor to see what kind of foundation would stand
out. This is a form of primary research because it helped me learn what kind of colours would stand out on her skin I chose to go with the dark
foundation because I thought it looked unique and different and would attract people’s attention.
In terms of my audience I done some research about what kind of people would be interested in artistic movies that have a statement. It showed me that
artistic people and creative people would admire what is happening in the film. Throughout the process of doing my project I was asking creative
people about my film and the decisions that I was making. They gave me good feedback about how I should move forward with it. I researched similar
movies to my film that I would make and the kind of audience that would see it and I based some of this information off of what kind of people would
watch my film.
In terms of contextual analysis I first watched a short film that I thought was interesting and was done uniquely. It is a short film called dream date I
like how they made use of one location and the audience still knew what was going on. They only used sounds and one piece of dialogue at the end
which made us understand that it was a dream date this film taught me that I can do a lot with visual and sound and that I do not need dialogue to get
my message through to my audience. I also watched a film that is called la Jetee and it taught me that stills and some moving images can be interesting
and can make up a good a narrative. I used this as inspiration when I started using stills instead of moving images because of how shaky the moving
images were.
I thought that I planned my film and what I was doing very well. I did a lot of research and pre-production to get ready to make my film and to know
what my idea was and knowing what every aspect will be in my film. I was able to film when I completed my pre-production. I started to edit but when
I finished my first version it did not go accordingly. The camera was too shaky which means that it could not be used in the final edit so I decided that
I had to take the right stills to create the narrative so that everything would come together. Also in the last location, which was Trafalgar square. The
lion statue that I wanted to use was being cleaned so I had to think on the spot and film with another statue, which had a different outcome but a good
one. I know I have planned my time well because I know that I will be able to submit my product on the due date, which shows that I have managed
my time properly.

4. 3. Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience that would like to watch my film is people who are interested in artistic films that tell a story, also people that
like poetry. My film will attract people who like weird and creative films that make people think. In terms of age I believe
people 16+ would get the message behind my film but anyone could enjoy the poetry in the film and enjoy the different stills
that I have layered in my film. My demographics characteristics are reading poetry, reading books and watching artistic films,
and admiring pictures.
I have asked my target audience about what they think about my final edit. They said that they like how the images correlate
with the poem. They also said that I need to check the poem properly and make sure that everything is in sync. But overall
they said that they think that it is unique and something they haven’t seen before. They said that it makes them think about the
different people in the city and what they do which was one of my aims for the film product.

5. 4. How did you attract/address your audience?
The techniques I used to attract my target audience were getting their opinion on the different things that I was doing with my
project throughout it. I also asked them their opinion with the direction I wanted to go with my project. For example I asked
them their opinion on the poem I made and they said that it made them think about what was happening in the city but it was
very negative. They said that it should have more of a positive vibe so that it doesn’t get my audience depressed. My audience
knew that my film was going to be poetic and visually pleasing this helped me decide the kind of shots that I picked and what
order they would be in.

6. 5. What have you learnt about media technologies from the
process of constructing this product?
In terms of filming equipment I used a DSLR camera, tripod and an audio recorder. During this
project I have noticed that I need to research more about the settings on a DSLR camera
especially about the aperture settings and the ISO setting so that I can film better and control the
lighting more. In terms of using a camera I need to know when I should go handheld and when I
should use a tripod. My downfall was not using a tripod when I needed to which meant that I
had shaky footage. My skills in using a camera and tripod have developed because I know now
how to film properly using camera angles and some of it setting and I know how to level a
tripod properly so that it is correct with the eye line so that it looks correct when people are
looking at the footage that I have recorded.
The software packages I used were premiere pro to edit the video and audition to edit the sound
together. I used this software because it is the best software to edit audio in. These programs
were easy to use and edit on. However I did encounter a problem with using this software’s,
every time I needed to edit on another computer that had the programme on it I had to export
what I had done. And then import other footage onto another computer. Also when I wanted to
go back to the software premiere to edit the footage it would say that it was off line. I learned
how to restore the footage and I saved it properly so that I would not come across this dilemma
again.
My skills have developed greatly throughout this project and across the year because at the start
I did not know how to use programs like Celtx to create scripts. I didn’t know the right way to
make a script and how to make sure that the scene is at the top in capital letters and full stops.
Also with narration and actions, it had to be in different places. But I know now how to make a
proper script and how to write a short and snappy logline pitch so that people know what my
movie is about in one short sentence.

7. 6. How closely did your final product resemble your initial ideas and
expectations?
My final film product is very different from what I thought it would be when I first started to think about what kind of film I wanted to
do about London. The first idea I had was it be about statues in London and what they mean and why they are located in random
places around London and what does this tell us about London and if it shows that London is an artistic city.
Another idea I had was to do a film about a living statues in London and to show what they do, how people react to them, if they get
ignored or not and what it is like being a statue. The idea that I chose was filming the statue going around London and filming the
public’s reaction to the statue and what they do when they see something unique or do they ignore it and carry on with what they are
doing. I went out to film the different shots that I planned to for my film shoot. However I noticed while filming people were ignoring
the statue and were not interacting with it in the way I wanted them to interact with the living statue. People were on their phone a lot
or just not paying attention to the statue.
I filmed in several locations and on the train but while looking back the footage a majority of them were shaky which showed me that I
should have planned the shots more this would have prevented me not shooting while walking which was one of my biggest down
falls. To correct this I made the footage into stills but only the key moments, which changed my film dramatically because now it had
a different vibe than I was aiming for my project. But it gave it more of visually pleasing and artistic vibe.
However the consequence of making the choice of changing my footage into stills was that I had to go out and film again. I had to take
pictures that correlated with the poem that I had made. At the start I did not know that it would involve a poem and having a poem
now changed what my film was going to be like from the very start. But it turned out to be different and artistic and made me think
about the research I done about being lonely in the city and feeling isolated. I based my poem around these two subjects.
The unsuccessful aspects of my final product are the running time. I think that I could have included different photographs so that it
could have been longer and I should have added shots that didn’t have my poem layered into it. Having just having a soundscape for
my audience to listen to, which would have made people think more about what they are hearing. Another unsuccessful aspect about
my product does not know when to use a tripod because my final product would be different from what it is now. Next time I will
make sure that I plan when I am going to use a tripod so that none of the footage that I film will be shaky.
I have shown my target audience my final product and the first thing said was that is very artistic and the images correlate with the
poem. They said that it makes them think of London and how everyone does not pay attention to the people around them, which was
the aim for my film.
However they said that the pacing should be slower so that they can take in what they are seeing and hearing and there should be more
pauses between images and speech to make the piece last longer.
If I could do this project again I would make sure that I look at the pacing of my editing and audio and I will make sure that I plan
every shot properly and include what kind of equipment I would being using in each shot so that my footage never comes out shaky
again.