Finished Products

trailer from Eric Bowlby on Vimeo.

Product Development

Second Draft

Supervisor feedback:

• Inter titles are needed, for example cast names and other information.
• Some scenes are a bit rough and need altering or removing.
• There needs to be some sound at the end.

Personal view:
I have taken the information on board, some scenes will be removed and replaced by intertitles and cast details. Although I can use the sound from the clips as a soundbridge to aid the dynamics of the trailer.

Supervisor Feedback:

• The main image needs re-sizing, there is still room for one more sell line.
• The text under the main sell line is hard to read, I may need to change the colour of the font

Personal view:
I have taken the feedback on board and I will re size the image, I agree there is only room for one more sell line. However I like the font colour but I will experiment with different types of stroke.

Quick Update

Rough Cut Feedback

To develop my products effectively I needed to conduct audience feedback for my media products, I did this in a range of different ways. Firstly, I constructed a range of questionnaires for my primary audience. This gave them a series of direct questions relating to my media products. Secondly I asked audience members within my class to give me feedback on post it notes. I told them to comment on what needed improving on all of my products. Lastly I asked my class supervisor for feedback. From these three different sources of data I have managed to see some similarities. These problems will be addressed.

Trailer Feedback

Audience:

When looking at my trailer feedback I found some very apparent similarities. From the positive side a majority of answers said the genre was represented well in my trailer and that my narrative was good. The negative aspect of my trailer was said to be mainly the lack of dialogue, many members of my audience said this. This also ties in with another popular grievance, there needs to be another part of the narrative. When I film the complicating action in the next few days this gives me the challenge of getting crucial dialogue for my trailer. This can be done through scenes in which my protagonist communicates with Dean, the character that helps my main character re build himself. This will solve the problem with the lack of narrative and will also ensure that there is more dialogue. I will also make sure that I record a voice over to introduce the trailer and to catch the attention of the viewer. Hopefully with the the filming of the next scenes I will be able to address these issues and satisfy the audience.  

Supervisor: 

My class supervisor also gave me feedback on my trailer. Again it was very similar to my audience feedback. I need to add more dialogue and sound to my trailer. This can be done through filming my complicated action. I can also search for more copyright free music and sound effects, I could also attempt to create my own soundtrack.

Poster Feedback 

Audience:

Again the positive aspect about my poster was that the genre was being clearly represented. However the main problem with my poster was that there is a lack of content. To improve this I will add more information and forms and conventions of real media products. For example quotes and cast information. One member of my audience even suggested creating a statement about my film, another suggested the addition of more quotes. I will make sure I add further professional content onto my film poster. To combine my products I 

could also put a quote on from my magazine, this would link my media products together.

Supervisor:

Again the feedback was very similar to my audience feedback. There is a lack of professional content on my poster, again quotes and cast information were suggested.

Magazine Cover Feedback

Audience:

Many people said that my magazine looked professional and the layout was good. However I need to improve it by adding more sell lines and advertise more content. This can be done with the addition of another image maybe taken from a still from my film. I could create more content related sell lines for my magazine featuring British films, actors and directors.

Supervisor:

The feedback was similar, more content was needed to appeal to the audience. I also needed to make the cover look professional by utilizing more space. 

Rough Cuts

My rough cut trailer shows the basic structure for my future trailer. To represent my genre I have used tints to alter the darkness of the shots. Social realism is a dark genre and adding a dark tint helps emphasise the depressing locations. Making some scenes black and white helps make them more dramatic, this technique has been adopted from the Dead Man's Shoes trailer. The scenes of abuse in the past are made black and white. The trailer follows my narrative, in the begining the characters are introduced and the life of the main character comes alive when his abuse is shown. Towards the end the character transforms himself and seeks revenge. The use of diolouge is short and adds to the atmosphere of the trailer. My next step is to film and add more footage, this will give the trailer the main bulck of diologue. It will also explain the process of the main character taking revenge, this will build tension later in the trailer. I also need to create a soundtrack in garage band, this will add to the atmospheric feel of the trailer. After effects will also be used to create a collection of text shots that will help explain the narrative.

This film poster helps represent the narriative of the film as the reader can see that the film involves three characters. The use of the character with the sledgehammer suggests that the film will have violent elements. The poster also represents the genre by the use of English housing in the background. To complete my poster I need to add text, for example reviews from magazines and and the names of actors and directors. I also want to add a white boarder to make my poster look more asthetic.

So far my magazine cover has a good structure. The text is aligned in the correct manner and the image is central overlapping my masthead, this technique was used in my insperation text. The use of a skyline helps adverise further content.To improve this I need to add more sell lines and improve the bottom part of my magazine. This can be done by adding more text.

Production Company Logos

I created this production company logo to make my film look more professional. From my research I found that most trailers feature production compnany logos. I have researched some production companies that produce social realsim film's. Warp films produced Dead Man's Shoe's and This is England. It also produced other British films such as Submarine which I have taken some inspiration from and Four Lions. I wanted to create a production company that was professional and sounded like it produced British films. I named my production company 'Grey Stone Productions' for a number of reasons.The 'Grey Stone' part of the name represents the tradition of dry stone walling which is famously British; it was used to mark field boundries and territory. This strongly relates to the theme of social realism as both things are notoriously British. The word 'Grey' has connotations of saddness and blandness. This is strongly related to my genre as social realism represents the hardship and sadness behind working class British life. Therfore I thought Grey Stone Productions sounded very fitting.

I created this production logo by downloading a font from dafont.com that looked like solid stone. I then created a Photoshop document and used the font. I made sure each of the words in the title were the same size and layered on-top of eachother. This represents a dry stone wall. Next to this I used an image of an actual dry stone wall to make the logo look eye catching. I could now apply the production compy logo to other media products such as my poster. This then helped brand identity. 

This is used at the end of the trailer to inform the viewer of the name of the film for future reference. The font is also the same as on my poster which helps create an effective brand identity. This will add to the professionalism of my finished trailer. It also features the age rating of the film so the audience is aware.

Magazine Development

So far my magazine cover has a basic structure. I have used the font 'HelveticaNeue' for my sell lines as the font looks bold and professional; it's also similar to the magazine cover I have taken inspiration from. Empire magazine is a reputable magazine and gives off a professional feel; it does this by using bold conventional fonts. I am trying to create this effect on my magazine cover. Being a magazine that represents the British film industry and British talent, I have included other arts such as music. Music plays a key part in social realism films as it helps influence subcultures, which are often shown in my genre. Thefore I have used Iggy Pop and his connection to Trainspotting in the sky line. The front cover has been created using a Photoshop document. I now feel confident with my Photoshop skills from my AS production. The font 'PulpFiction' has been used for my masthead. This is because the font was very bold and noticeable. The font works well with the text as it makes the word 'BritFlick' look strong and powerfull. This will hopefully attract my desired audience.

NOTE: Throughout the development of my products I will colate a number of screen shots of the production Process and present them in a Prezi towards the end of my ptoduct development

Poster Development

These are my first ideas for my poster. I have used stills from my trailer footage to create the bottom poster and my test shot for the top poster. I am confident that using stills will be effective, this has been done in the piece I have taken influence from. To create these examples I used Photoshop. I have used the font I selected in my font research and applied it it to a poster sized photoshop document. To achive the effect on my images I have desaturated the images to make them black and white. On the first poster I simply used the quick selection tool to move the character from the test shot to the Photoshop document. The second poster requred more technical ability. I created a background gradient and tried to blend the dark colours into a lighter red. I also had to make the end of the main charxters hammer into a seperate layer and put it infront of the main image. This makes the poster look more dimensional. I feel the images I have used represent the genre well sue to the strong emotion, however I will have to wait for audience feedback further into the development process.

    

Test shots

Before my photo shoot I decided to take some test shots for my print media products to see if I could achieve the effect I had visioned when I drew my flat plans. The image shows a close up with a downwards tilt, creating a direct eye contact with the reader. This draws more attention to the magazine cover therefore improving the advertising campaign.

The image bellow shows the proposed pose for my character on the front cover. The pose is replicated from a similar character in the film A Place Beyond the Pines.

A few days before my first day of filming I decided to take my film camera with me on my paper round at around 7.00am. The examples above are two of many test shots I took of my chosen locations. The first video shows the location in which my main character was attacked many times by the agressors, it is also shown at the end of my trailer. The second test shot shows the terraced streets where I filmed the opening scenes of my trailer, I did test shots to get to grips with the camera controls. The weather was in my favour when I filmed these test shots as the dark clouds help set a dark atmosphere for my film.

bbfc Black Card

All British trailers have to have a black card before the trailer, this is to ensure that this film has been watched and asigned an age rating from the BBFC. Therefore I constructed a black card myself using photoshop. To research this I looked on the internet for other black cards, I then downloaded relevant fonts from dafont.com. I chose my film to be a fifteen because of my initial research. Most social realism films are rated fifteen. This is due to the mature content in social realism films that is only apropriate for older teens and upwards. Social realism has a lot of dark themes that need maturity to be understood correctly. The violence and underlying theme of abuse has also caused my film to be rated 15.

Font Planning

The image above consists of a number of fonts I have chosen that most suit my film and genre. I have downloaded these fonts from dafont.com. In this following post I will analyse the font selection and choose the most suitable font.

1. The first font is effective because the characters are large and bulcky. This will attract attention. It also has an almost cartoon effect which I am looking to achive with my font. However the rounded fat ends of the characters don't look very threatening and wouldn't represent my narriative.
2. The next font again is effective due to character size, it would help attract attention. However the font looks rather western and wouldn't represent my chosen genre that effectively.
3. The next font is very effective because of the pointed edges of the characters, it helps represent my narriative well. It also has a cartoon effect. Another thing I like about this font is that the characters touch eachother making the title look stronger.
4. This font satisfies the comic book effect but it looks too light hearted and would not represent my genre very effectivley. This is because the characters are jauntily angled and it looks quite playfull.
5. The next font is not bold enough for my film, it also looks weak in some aspects.
6. This font looks very artistic and I chose it because it helps represent the artistic side of my genre, however it's not very strong in other aspects.

To conclude I have chosen the third font as it is the most effective from my chosen selection. The font looks sharp and agressive which is linked to my narriative, it is also related to the film name mantis as some of the characters look like parts of an insect. The font is also cartoon like and is therefore linked to the example font from Dead Man's Shoe's shown at the bottom of my researched fonts. 

Model Release Forms

Shot list

Script

Anematic

Trailer Comparison

Storyboards

Further Planning

Character Profiles 
Tom Hacksworth - Sammy Shaya
Tom is a seventeen year old boy growing up in the North East of England in 1993. He is an introverted silent character who prefers his own company. Compared to his peers he is quite intellectual and enjoys to study in his spare time. He is recently becoming more and more of a victim to the local townies who enjoy abusing him. He keeps the abuse to himself to try and keep personal attention at a low level. He can't approach his mother as she is unsympathetic and quite distant from him, she thinks he's strange compared to the rest of people his age. Tom is left to fend for himself in this situation although he is physically inferior. Although his life turns around when he meets Dean Kirkpatrick, an ex soldier who fought in the Falklands.


Debra Hacksworth - Played by Janet Bowlby
Debra is Tom's mother. Debra's boyfriend left her when she fell pregnant with Tom. Since then she has been left with post dramatic stress disorder. She can't hold down a job so is left to work at home looking after her son on the small dole income. Recently her condition has become worse and Tom is often a target in her mood swings, reducing the relationship between Tom and his mother not making her very approachable.

Dean Kirkpatrick - Played by Joseph Elliot
Dean is a thirty two year old ex army soldier. He has recently moved into the area and is trying to adapt to normal life, although like everyone he is experiencing the trauma of the working class North. He is quite an individual character and is disciplined in his scheduled. He comes across Tom one day and cant stand to see this social injustice. He is left empathetic and morally superior from his time in the army and is sickened to see someone being treated like this in a country he fought hard for.












Scott Baker (Bully 1) - Played by Jack Lundy
Scott is a bored seventeen year old one year into his apprenticeship working as a window fitter for his dad. He is making quite a lot of money for his age and has little to spend it on. He chooses to spend his money on clothes and going to football games. As a kid he had little chance to vent his anger and stood back from the violent actions of his friends. Although he is beginning to regret this and wants to make a name for himself. After his mother left he has become quite psychotic and Tom is a perfect person to vent his anger. He sees himself as a cold hardened individual who is superior to his best friend Marcus Winthrop.

Marcus Winthrop  (Bully 2) - Played by Joseph Sanderson
Marcus is a seventeen year old who works at the checkout at his local supermarket. His parents take little notice of him because they see him as unintelligent and put more effort into his fifteen year old sister Claire. He see's Scott as his best friend and secretly looks up to him because of his cruel logic. Marcus is quite a simple character with a low IQ but is more morally balanced than Scott. He joins in with Scott because he feels superior and involved in something when abusing Tom.

Magazine Cover

My magazine front cover will feature the main character central to the page. This again helps give away narrative information, the film has to be about this character. The biggest sell line is the name of the film   which is located under the main image. This will draw attention to the center of the page. The use of the title 'Brit Flick' suits my genre and target audience. Social realism films aim to keep the British film industry alive, therefore calling my magazine BritFlick is an accurate representation of an example magazine cover. The use of a skyline helps draw attention to extra content in the magazine. The use of smaller font size helps expand on the sell line without giving too much away, it also keeps the reader interested. These techniques have also been used on the example front cover to the left. The use of the primary colours, red, yellow, black and white make the sell lines and titles stand out on the page and accompany each other making my magazine cover look professional.  

Poster flat plans

On my poster I have positioned my main character to the center of the page. This will alert the readers attention to the central character and suggests that the film will be about the character seen on the page. This is also shown on the two example posters from my genre. The use of the English country side in the background helps emphasize that this film is a British social realism film, this is also used on both example posters. The character is dressed to fit a subculture therefore more attention is drawn to the character, it will also hopefully draw the attention of people who follow that subculture. The credit block will be along the bottom of the poster. This diverts the main attention to the title and main imagery of the poster but still features a credit block. Making the sky a solid red colour draws large attention to the bold white title clearly emphasizing the importance of the title. The age rating of the film is also positioned to the right hand side of the title making it clear that this film is rated a 15. The chosen quote helps sell the film to the target audience by giving away some information on the content, this will hopefully appeal to my older teen audience and will attract people in their mid forties as well. The use of a sound track artist box informs the reader of what to expect in the film. Since my film is set in the nineties era the soundtrack both will realistically feature songs from the nineties, again helping attract more viewers. Minimal background activity helps focus the attention onto the main character.

On this poster I have again used the main character for the main image this seems to be a common technique used on posters of my genre. The use of three primary colours (black,white and red) this makes the poster look tidy and professional. Making the title consist of two colours helps make the title seem physically bigger therefore emphasizing its importance, as seen in the example poster above. The character also dominates the left hand side of the page, this is useful as people read from left to right and this image will be the first thing they see. Again my character is used to fit a certain subculture attracting more viewers. The use of a youthful character will also attract my older teen audience. The quotes again help sell the film and give away some narrative content. The credit box is again located at the bottom as not to obstruct the main images. The use of white font on red and black makes smaller text stand out.

Costume and Props

Costume and props from EricBowlby

Recce of Location