Within this essay, I am intending to be evaluating the information that I have collected from multiple secondary sources such as websites and books in addition to the primary data I collected through the questionnaire I created. This gave me more specific details to what I should be including in my short film. The information I found was useful because everything that I gathered provided me with knowledge in order to create a more accurate piece, especially in regards to the Wiccan religion as this is a theme. I would not want to portray anything in the wrong way as this is ethically wrong, mainly for the people who practice the Wiccan religion. Therefore, this means that if I do include this theme, I can hopefully present them in the most correct way that I can, so that not only can I create an entertaining short film, but also something factual and more alluring.

In order to gather more information on Wicca, the first thing I did was research through books online on Google Scholar. I simply typed the word into the search engine and a number of results came up. Book research is notably harder than online research as it takes a while to find the specific answer that you are looking for, but after reading through a few pages I found some pieces of information that I believe were useful for the project. For example, topics such as how negatively witches and Wicca is viewed was something that I believed was important to note because it is important when creating a piece of about the Wiccan religion (or any religion) to include the correct information, or else this will anger people. So, it is often found that many people relate Wicca to Satanism, but the only relation between witchcraft and Satanism, is that they are both involved in an occult which is a magical worldview and generally have real use of Christianity.  This shows that there can be a negative correlation between witchcraft and the real world. For example, this can be seen in multiple movies/TV shows such as Witches, Hocus Pocus and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.  Therefore, this information holds much importance as it shows this narrative tends to be false and that if I do want to include ‘black magic’ in my work, I can do this but not relate it to Wicca.

Furthermore, through the book research, I also looked into females in filmmaking, which is useful information to know that this will help me understand the link between females and the importance of what they have created. For example, I found that Women’s contributions to filmmaking has been especially noteworthy, they were prominent in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s as directors, publicists, producers, editors, animators and organizers. This information is useful due to the fact that it shows how relevant women and girls are in cinema and some of the most prominent films in cinematic history wouldn’t be available if it were not for the women behind them. I find this information useful as there are very few films were female filmmakers are present, and for this short film, our group are all females, so it will be interesting to see how we all work together and what we produce.

Lastly, I also researched into horror in film and why people enjoy it so much. I found that the monster is just a functional ingredient, it’s the story behind this that makes the concept interesting, which is what I need to remember when it comes to creating the narrative of our short film- that the storyline is the key element to what I am making.

After using book research, I also decided to use internet research by reading articles and different websites on film. Using internet research was definitely much easier to find more specific answers. So firstly, I looked into how witches are viewed in cinema, and I found a lengthy article on how witches have been viewed in different forms of media. For example, regarding the topic on the fact that they have always been somewhat negatively viewed, especially by Disney. Disney tends to portray their ‘witch’ characters on descriptions form anti-witch texts. Therefore, this has obviously created a negative view of witches, but in fact, witches can appear to be quite the opposite to what Disney paints them as. For example, Snow Whites Evil Queen character, she always appeared to be beautiful, and desired, however in contrast, Disney’s Maleficent is quite the opposite to this, with her horns and overall evil nature. This is particularly useful to me as I am aiming to break these norms by making my witch character to appear “normal”.

Furthermore, through online research I also looked into experimental filmmaking, and how to use it properly to convey the meaning of a short film. The research explained that experimental filmmaking means that the rules of conventional cinema are being broke. With experimental filmmaking there does not have “to be a message”, it could be whatever the filmmakers are intending it to be which is why experimental filmmaking can be so confusing yet engaging. Therefore, expressing witches through experimental filmmaking can be very effective as it will leave the audience wanting to know more through the hidden meaning/ symbols.

Also, I looked more into different types of filmmaking and genre and I found more advantageous information. For example, I found that it is more useful to stick to one core idea, as there is no time to develop an elaborate plot. Instead find a simple idea that is easy to run with, and be creative with the twists that are made to it. But through another resource I found that it is easier to focus on making the short film more visually pleasing, by telling a story through the pictures. A colours, scenery, costumes, makeup, etc., can piece together a short film that will influence the audience’s emotions more. For example, for my short film, if I am going to be going through with a supernatural or darker theme, the colours in the film will have to be darker, with a lack of particularly bright colours. Colours such as blacks, dark purples, burgundy’s, dark greens, greys, etc. This will aid the horror/thriller intentions of the film.

Carrying on, I also researched into how to make the short film creative with the use of added camera angles and techniques. For example, I found that using handheld/jittery camera footage will help influence the horror genre more. The jittery camera footage makes the scene more unstable, which can make the audience more unstable.

Back to more information on the Wiccan religion and it is found that it is starting to become more popular than it was in the past. From an estimated 8,000 Wiccans in 1990, it has been found that there was a jump to 340,000 practitioners in 2008. This shows that if the religion is getting more popular with society in present times, raising more awareness on it through media, (in this case, short films) will definitely get more people talking about it, making it more known.

However, straying away from the secondary research, I also proceeded to create a questionnaire in which I asked a variety of questions. For example, I began asking questions that were focussed on more of the basic aspects of short films such as how long people prefer a short to be, preferred genres, preferred narratives, endings, and more. Within these questions I found that people prefer short films being, 6-10 minutes long, a horror genre, a single strand narrative and a prophetic ending. These are all aspects of the film that I am aiming to complete, because I believe that a longer short film will work well with a horror genre as there is more chance to explore the narrative and introduce more alluring elements to the plot.

However, nearing the end of the questionnaire, the 4 questions were focused on the Wiccan religion, if they are familiar with it and whether or not they would want to see it in a short film. In which all of them appeared to be very interested in learning more about the topic. This was rather helpful to me and my group because we now know that this is something people want to know about and view in a short film, which means we get to carry on researching on this topic that we all find to be very interesting.

Furthermore, another way in which we conducted primary research was through interviewing a former student, Els Kenney, who had already completed her final major project two years ago.

She gave advice on how to achieve a successful short film and the techniques to use in order for the process to well. For example, one of the the things she advised  it is key to maintain consistency with your visual style and camera angles, as this gives the short film more variety. In addition to this, she mentioned similar pieces of advice in regards to audio and ensuring that we always use audio in scenes, even it is supposed to be “silent”, use copyright free audio or create Foley in order to have some sound.

The information she gave was useful because she too suggested to ensure that our groups should come up with a simple idea, and also to all create the idea of the plot rather quickly so that we don’t spend all of our time trying to come up with an elaborate plot. This helps as this advice is from a person who has already had experience with creating a short film, therefore it is good to know that this is some real advice, and have a conversation with someone that had already been through this whole process before.

But, overall, I believe that all of the research I found and gathered have proven to be very necessary. Therefore, we are now aiming to create a short film that depicts dark magic and witches in a more interesting and positive way for the audience to see and learn about the topic. In addition to this we are aiming to use a creative single strand narrative with a mixture of experimental film making, and ensuring that we are careful but creative with our camera angles, in order to create the most mysterious, alluring piece of work that we can.

Book Research: 

• Carroll, N. (2003). The philosophy of horror: Or, paradoxes of the heart. Routledge.
• Hawkins, C (1996) Witchcraft: Exploring the World of Wicca. Grand Rapids. Michigan
• Petrolle, J & Wexman.W. V (2005) Women and Experimental Filmmaking. the Board of Trustees, University of Illinois

Online Research:

• Burnett, K, (2015). FILMSOURCING, Writing a Short Film. Retrieved from, https://www.filmsourcing.com/writing-a-short-film/
• Elwyn, J, (2017). jonnyelwyn, Tips on Editing Short Films. Retrieved from, https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/tips-on-editing-short-films/ 
• Hardy, R, (2013). nofilmschool, Experimental Filmmaking for Dummies (Part 1): Why You Should Be Making Experimental Films, Retrieved from https://nofilmschool.com/2013/11/experimental-filmmaking-for-dummies-part-1
• Joalland, S, (2012). RAINDANCE, 7 Rules for Writing Short Films. Retrieved from, https://www.raindance.org/7-rules-for-writing-short-films/
• O’falt, C (2016), IndieWire, SXSW 2016: What Is the Key to Writing a Good Short Film Script? Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com/2016/03/sxsw-2016-what-is-the-key-to-writing-a-good-short-film-script-58016/
• McAfee. R, (2016). POND5BLOG, How to Be More Creative With the Camera: Film and Video Tricks. Retrieved from,  https://blog.pond5.com/6604-how-to-be-more-creative-with-the-camera-film-and-video-tricks/
• Singh-Kurtz, S & Kopf, D, (2018). Quartzy, THE US WITCH POPULATION HAS SEEN AN ASTRONOMICAL RISE, Retrieved from https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/qz.com/quartzy/1411909/the-explosive-growth-of-witches-wiccans-and-pagans-in-the-us/amp/
• Wardlow, C, (2018). FILMSCHOOL REJECTS, A Short History of Witches Onscreen. Retrieved from https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/filmschoolrejects.com/witches-on-screen/%3famp

 

Within this week, we will be focusing on rounding off all of our research by doing some more thematic research by using the internet and books. I aim to have this done by today (24.04.19).

On Thursday (25.05) I will be creating a bibliography on all of the research that we have done, and a report needs to be written by Thursday and Friday. Then on Friday/ next week Monday we will be completing our 2nd and final version of our project proposal.

How to make a good short film:

In this article, it goes deeper into understanding on how to make a good short film. IndieWire investigated this by asking the question to some short film screenwriters. Remy Dunagan stated that when writing a short film script, it is important to include “what explicitly needs to be known”. Therefore, this shows that it is important to only include relevant information. They also state to “leave the audience wondering”.

Creating a plot:

This piece of information is particularly useful as it suggests to not overflow a short film with too many ideas, but instead ensure that you have “one core idea”. There is no time to “develop an elaborate plot, or a raft of characters or length set ups.

It is important to stick the genre that has been chosen for the short film. Burnett (2012), states “your original goal was to create a short screenplay that scared/ moved/ amused/ shocked the audience”. This proves to be a significant statement as it is important to impact the audience’s reactions that you originally intended to, as they are expecting as well, otherwise this will create disappointment.

Burnett also states that it is important to focus on a central question for the script and that the question in the film should always be answered in some way.

Making a short film visually pleasing:

Joalland (2012) states that it is important to ensure that a short film is visually pleasing and stories “in pictures”, as this creates a visual backstory for the characters. Therefore, this creates more of an impact on the audience.

Using creative camera angles:

Another way to make a short film effective is by using creative camera angles. In my case, I want to create a lot of unstable looking footage in order for it to relate to the horror/thriller genre that I am going for. Therefore “jittery” footage as described as by McAfee, will help the audience feel slightly more unstable. I just have to ensure that my “shutter is set at double your frame rate” but depending on what will be shot, I might have to “increase or decrease” the shutter speed.

McAfee also suggests handheld camera footage, particularly for the horror genre. As this “helps the viewer feel more immersed in the story”.  More freedom comes with handheld shooting as there is more chance to explore the space you are filming in, however it is better to use handheld rather than putting the camera over your shoulder  can be “troublesome without a proper shoulder mount or rig”. This shows that it is safer to use the knowledge that myself and my group already have by just doing this with our hands.

Effectively editing a short film

“Do short films require a specific approach to editing?

Efficiency, efficiency,  efficiency.

When editing a short film constantly remind yourself that you’ve only got between 5 and 10 minutes before your movie needs to be over. If the scene, shot, moment, isn’t great, get it OUT.

Another form of efficiency is the story arc. Make sure that every story line pays off, meaning if you suggest something it needs to come back again sometime during the film in a changed way.”

REFERENCES

O’falt, C (2016), IndieWire, SXSW 2016: What Is the Key to Writing a Good Short Film Script? Retrieved from https://www.indiewire.com/2016/03/sxsw-2016-what-is-the-key-to-writing-a-good-short-film-script-58016/

Burnett, K, (2015). FILMSOURCING, Writing a Short Film. Retrieved from, https://www.filmsourcing.com/writing-a-short-film/

Joalland, S, (2012). RAINDANCE, 7 Rules for Writing Short Films. Retrieved from, https://www.raindance.org/7-rules-for-writing-short-films/

McAfee. R, (2016). POND5BLOG, How to Be More Creative With the Camera: Film and Video Tricks. Retrieved from,  https://blog.pond5.com/6604-how-to-be-more-creative-with-the-camera-film-and-video-tricks/

Elwyn, J, (2017). jonnyelwyn, Tips on Editing Short Films. Retrieved from, https://jonnyelwyn.co.uk/film-and-video-editing/tips-on-editing-short-films/ 

Video Production Techniques

There are multiple types of camera angles when it comes to media. But before anything is done, the production crew has to ensure that they have the essentials down when setting up the camera. Firstly, the battery needs to be fully charged, the card formatted, the white balance at the correct setting, the correct lens focal length, the pixel aspect ratio and the frame rates and the light meter are all set up properly to match the scene being filmed.

Snorricam– also known as a chest-cam is a camera device that is rigged to the body of the actor which is facing the actor directly. Therefore, when they walk, they do not appear to move but everything around them does.

Crane/Jib- this shot is done while the camera is fixed onto a crane or jib. This enhances the epic nature of large sets and massive crowds/ large settings in general.

Panning – the first type of camera movement in the pan. This is when the camera is when the camera is in a fixed position swivelling a still or video camera horizontally. This motion is similar to person turning their head from left to right. This movement is effective for following a character walking down a street or for a point of view shot.

Contra-zoom (Camera and Lens Movement–  this is an unsettling in-camera special effect that appears to undermine normal visual perception. This shot was originally used by Alfred Hitchcock in his film, Vertigo.

Tilting- This movement is similar to a pan except it is just portraying a subject by tilting the camera vertically. Tilting is less common than panning because humans associate more with move left and right instead of up and down.

Tracking– this movement is any shot where the camera follows backward, forward or moves alongside the subject that is being recorded. In cinematography, the term refers to a shot in a which the camera is fixed to a camera dolly (which is placed on wheels), this creates a smoother shot.

Dutch Angle/Canter- this is when the camera is set an angle on its roll so that the framing of the shot has an uneven horizon which creates an unsettling effect for the audience.

Push and Pull Focus- is a creative camera technique that involves changing the focus of a shot. This can be changing the focus from one subject to another. For example, is there are two people in the shot but only one is in focus, that person is the main subject of attention.

Textual Analysis- God is a Woman (music video)- Ariana Grande 2018- The Use of Female Empowerment and Religious Relations.

Directed by- Dave Meyers

Although this media product is not movie, it does not take away from the fact that Ariana Grande and her creative team created a music video with many hidden meanings in addition to being bold with their film by using certain imagery/ visuals to convey a message, taking experimental filmmaking and using it to a whole new level.

There is a lot to analyse throughout this video with the first factor being female empowerment and representation. From the title of the song God is a Woman, it can already guessed that this song will have some strong links to feminism and empowerment. Not only is this a factor, but she also makes some very strong historical and religious links.

In the first shot of the of the video we see Ariana in the middle of a Milky Way galaxy, suggesting that the power of her feminine energy is at the centre of everything as she dances her way through it. Therefore, we know from the first seen that she has decided to create a bold statement, getting the audience ready for further scenes to come, which is how to get the audiences’s interest within literally the first second of this video.

In another scene of the music video, she is seen sitting on a pedestal, in a thinking position, much like the Thinking Man statue, however she has now become the Thinking Woman. Also in this scene, we see that the background scenery is all made from newspaper, indicating the press and daily battering that Grande gets from it everyday and once again she is quite literally in the middle of it during this scene. However, this scene also includes very small men, much smaller than Grande, who appear to be very angry and are literally “throwing” insults at her, quite sexist ones at that. But these insults are not affecting her, just simply, bouncing right off of her as she remains unbothered. This shows that this is not only a problem that Grande herself has to deal with, but woman all of the world get called these names too, but remain to ignore it and power through.

Onto the more religious side of things, Ariana changes the scenery around as we see her standing in front of three dog heads, however this is not all there is to it. This is a reference to Cerberus, also known as the “hound of Hades”, who is a figure in Greek mythology, known for guarding the gates of Hell. The particular meaning of this scene isn’t clarified but this particular scene hint to Ariana giving Cerberus an extra head as she states “when you try to come for me, I keep ok flourishing”.

In a following up scene, Ariana is now seen standing with a large group of women, however while all of their backs are turned away, Ariana is facing the front while singing her lyrics. This particular scene conveys protection and unity. In this scenario, Ariana is the one standing guard of them, but not only is she doing this, she is standing united with them, implying to the audience that women have to stick together.

Once again, there is a scene with Ariana in the universe, but this time she is on top of the world, controlling it. Implying that she is god and that she literally has the world “in her hands”.

This scene is presented in an animation style as Ariana approaches the camera and turns to side, as a pregnant belly begins to grow on her, with flowers inside of it. This implies the literal life that woman grow inside of them. Without women, we would not exist.

Moving on from the previous scene, Ariana is remaking Greek mythology again by recreating the “she-wolf” who kept Romulus and Remus alive. But instead she is keeping the men beneath her alive, by literally supplying them with the source of life, which once again portrays great female empowerment.

Here, Ariana is in the middle of a triangle surrounded by planets; once again she is in the middle of something, portraying to be a very godlike figure. However, the etchings behind her indicate that she is recreating Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, except she has changed him to a woman.

In this scene, Ariana is reciting a line from Pulp Fiction, which is originally from Ezekiel 25:17, however, instead Madonna has recited these lines, which she changed to “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my [sisters]. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” After this she proceeds to throw her hammer through a glass ceiling, quite literally recreating the metaphor to “break through the glass ceiling”, the glass ceiling that was always a barrier for so many women and people of colour, preventing them from ever getting higher on the corporate ladder.

In the very last scene of this bold, amazing detailed music video is a direct recreation of Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam, replacing the men in the picture to women of all sizes and skin colours, with herself being portrayed as God. This proves to be extremely impactful because after all of the small possibly “hidden” meanings, Ariana wanted to end off on a very straight forward note, keeping the audience captivated just like she did at the beginning of the video.

The reason that this video is so useful to my own personal project is due to the fact that this is very much experimental filmmaking, by throwing in hidden meanings, religious and feminist references without anything being fully explained, leaving the audience wondering and speculating afterwards. And this is definitely something I am aiming to do.

Online Research

Witches in Cinema

Overtime, witches have been portrayed in many different ways through cinema. From different looks to different intentions, it’s clear to see that there are more to witches than just the bad ones. Wardlow (2018) stated that the term “witch” is considered “relatively gender neutral”, however in popular usage it can come to mean specifically female and “often overtly feminine magical practices and supernatural dabblings, contrasted to the masculine “wizard” or “warlock””, this shows what movies and mainstream media has to done to witches

Over the years, a witches appearance has become more associated with being “ugly” rather than pretty, or beautiful. However it appears that Disney are the ones who began giving witches they disheveled appearance. Wardlow (2018) states that “Disney’s evil witches actually redeem me descriptions from many of the most influential anti-witch texts”. Therefore, this has obviously created a negative view of witches, but in fact, witches can be appear to be quite the opposite to what Disney paints them as.

For example, Wardlow touched on Snow Whites Evil Queen character, she always appeared to be beautiful, and desired, however in contrast, Disney’s Maleficent is quite the opposite to this, with her horns and overall evil nature.

This information is personally helpful to my project as I aiming to create a more realistic view of witches, rather than them being disheveled and “ugly”, I want to break the norms around this stereotype, by making the witch a somewhat normal character, who would resemble any other human.

Experimental Filmmaking

Hardy (2013) describes experimental filmmaking as being “hard to describe” but it “refers to anything that defies the conventions of cinema”. This basically means that when using experimental filmmaking, the rules of conventional cinema are being broke. With experimental filmmaking there does not have “to be a message”, it could be whatever the filmmakers are intending it to be which is which experimental filmmaking can be so confusing yet engaging

Experimental filmmaking should include “creative freedom”. There can often be a “restraint” with narrative filmmaking at Hardy suggests. However when it comes to being experimental, the all the rules of narrative filmmaking can be broken, as you are free to use whatever type of storyline, visuals or broken narrative that you want to, as this is how this visual style is carried out. Any “emotions, ideas, concepts” can be expressed through the “juxtapositional” editing.

Furthermore, it’s also about social expression. If there is anything, a message, possibly, that you want to convey, experimental filmmaking is ideal for this. Hardy stated that through narrative filmmaking does not allow you to express political, social, cultural or religious tones properly because of the “tremendous amount of money on the line”. So therefore, experimental filmmaking let’s you have the creative freedom, this can be done, without any of the “ back and forth politics that come with narrative filmmaking”.

This information was ideal for me to know as I want to use experimental filmmaking in this upcoming project. This is because I want to express the Wiccan religion though experimental filmmaking as I believe it will make the film appear more fun and captivating, in addition to me expressing the message to the audience.

The Wiccan Religion

Singh Hurtz and Kopf indicate throughout this article that the Wiccan religion seems to be growing and becoming more popular. But they also touch on the misconceptions of the Wiccan religion. They state in the beginning of the article that Wicca includes “free though and will of the individual, and encourage leaning and an understanding of earth and nature.” This begins to show that this type of witchcraft uses more elements of nature to within their religion rather than anything else.

Furthermore, the pair also wrote about Brigette Necessary, who “describes herself as a Green Witch” which has a “feel adherence to nature and natural law, an attention to cycles of earth and the lives within in it”. This shows that if we are going to represent the Wiccan religion in our work, it is definitely important to consider this information regarding the use of nature, as nature might be one of our main props.

Singh-Hurtz and Kopf also bring up the fact that Wicca is growing “tremendously” and becoming more and more popular. From an estimated 8,000 Wiccans in 1990, it has been found that there was a jump to 340,000 practitioners in 2008. This shows that this religion is only getting more popular, which means that including elements of this in a short film would definitely raise a lot of attention to it.

REFERENCES

Wardlow, C, (2018). FILMSCHOOL REJECTS, A Short History of Witches Onscreen. Retrieved from

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/filmschoolrejects.com/witches-on-screen/%3famp

Hardy, R, (2013). nofilmschool, Experimental Filmmaking for Dummies (Part 1): Why You Should Be Making Experimental Films, Retrieved from https://nofilmschool.com/2013/11/experimental-filmmaking-for-dummies-part-1

Singh-Kurtz, S & Kopf, D, (2018). Quartzy, THE US WITCH POPULATION HAS SEEN AN ASTRONOMICAL RISE, Retrieved from https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/qz.com/quartzy/1411909/the-explosive-growth-of-witches-wiccans-and-pagans-in-the-us/amp/

Within thus questionnaire, I wanted to look into what people want to see within a short film. I had a variety of different answers that I plan to look into further with more research.

 

In the first question, I ensured asking the audiences age so that I know what type of age range will be answering my questions. It can clearly be seen that the majority of people that answered were aged 15-30 with the 15-20 category being the most answering by 76.9%. This is the same age range that myself and my group fit into meaning that their ideas could be similar to mine which is a positive as it means that when it comes to creating our final piece. However, it’s unfortunate I was not able to receive many answering from people aged 31 to over 50, because their opinions would also be helpful to me as I do want to include people of all ages in my target audience, however I still see this being possible though by doing more research within the target audience topic.

In the second question, I asked the gender for each person answering so that I can know the main gender answering the questions which in this case it was females as they were the majority by 61.5 whereas males were 38.5%. This question does not necessarily hold great significance but it will just give me a rough idea of who’s answering.

This question is where I begin to ask the audience about short films in order to aid the short film I will be creating. I firstly asked how long they preferred short films to be, as this is important for me to know because I do not want to be producing too little content nor too much. The majority of people seemed to prefer short films being 6-10 minutes long as this answer held the majority by 69.2%. However, it is important to note that I made an error when creating the answers for this question as instead of putting 7-10 minutes, I put 6-10 which is not correct as the option previous to this one stars 4-6 minutes. However despite this error, I know not to make my short film any less than 6 minutes or any more than 10.

On to the next topic of short films I had to ensure that I asked my audience which genre they would prefer to see and as it can be seen, the results are quite divided. The genres of comedy, drama, science-fiction, horror, thriller and supernatural are all present in the results, however thriller and comedy won by both receiving 30.8% on each. This shows to be quite helpful as thriller is the genre our group wanted to go through with, even though comedy also received the same results, it is hard to achieve true comedy in film, therefore it is safer to use thriller as our main genre as this is a genre we know how to work with well.

This question was a difficult one to ask because personally I want our short film to appeal to people of all ages but I felt obligated to ask it anyway as it is still important to know what people think about the age range for people who watch short films. It does appear that a younger audience will be the ones viewing the film as the most popular ages are 15-30 at 61.5% and 21-30 at 30.8%, however 41-50 is still on there with 7.7%. Therefore, I now know that I have a younger target audience, which means that I will keep the film intriguing with enough action to keep them interested in the film.

In this question, the results were almost equal by female reaching 46.2% and males reaching 38.5%. Despite these results, I still want to make the film unisex so that people of whatever gender can enjoy because there won’t be anything in your film that will be aimed for a specific gender anyway.

In this question I wanted to know where the most appropriate place to upload my short film would be in addition to where people prefer watching them and as I expected the majority of the people who answered stated that they would rather watch short films on youtube (84.6%). This is helpful because, obviously, YouTube is easier to access and to upload videos on. Furthermore, through youtube, a wider audience can be reached, therefore this is the ideal platform.

I ensured that I asked the audience their preferred narrative so that when it comes to creating a storyline, it is easier to know how many characters should be, who the story is focussed on and why it’s focussed on them and overall what the story is. Once again, in this question, there were a few results for each option, however a single strand storyline seemed to be the most preferred as it reviewed 38.5% of the votes. Along with this, a non linear storyline was also one of the more popular ones (15.4%), which is helpful as this is a storyline I would like to experiment with.

Also, I had to know which type of endings people wanted to see as this is an important element to the narrative. The majority of people who answered selected a a prophetic ending which is similar to an open ending , but it tends to be more certain, for example the doom of fortune that was prominent in the storyline will also be prominent in the ending. The second most popular answer was a closed ending by 30.8%, which almost shows overall that most people would prefer a more certain ending.

In this question, I needed to know the type of visual style people wanted to see, such as experimental which is non conventional filmmaking by changing up scenes by using different camera angles such as worms eye view, birds eye or a dutch angle to put the audience off or to create confusion. The other was conventional, ,which is just the standard filmmaking we see used in cinema day to day, so normal camera angles such mid shots, wide shots and long shots, overall quite basic. However, the chosen visual style is experimental (76.9%), which is definitely more useful as it will fit well with the thriller genre.

I was interested to know if the audience would like to see multiple camera angles, and it’s clear to see that through the results of this question that, they do as 100% answered yes. This is good to know as myself and my group are planing to use multiple camera angles as we believe that this is a very important part to filmmaking as it definitely keeps the story flowing and more interesting.

Character development can be the most important part of films for some people as it keeps them intrigued to know the true mission behind a character, or their overall personal development to become a better person for themselves. 100% of the people who answered clearly would like to see some character development, and this will work particularly well if we use a single-strand storyline.

Similar to character development, 100% of the audience think that it is also important to build up a relationship with the character over the films timespan. This can be done through making the character relatable or putting them in a vulnerable position that the audience wants to see them get out of.

I asked the audience what keeps them interested in a short film and 46.2% of them answered saying an interesting/ intriguing storyline, 30.8% stated that it’s the visuals and the scenery and 23.1% of them said multiple camera angles. I will ensure that I include all of these as it is not hard to do, therefore the audience will stay captivated by the work.

After asking all of the basic questions about filmmaking, is started getting into my own ideas for our short film. Therefore in this question I asked the audience how they feel feel about supernatural themes. Overall I had positive responses such “interesting”, “cool” and “better than boring “real life” films”. However one persons stated that this is a “difficult genre to perfect” as it can seem very fake if not done properly. Therefore I need to remember that when writing our scripts, but because we are focussing on witches, I believe that they are easier to make realistic rather than any other supernatural element.

In these four questions, I started to get more into the Wiccan religion by asking the audience more about it. And it is clear that a lot of them aren’t familiar with it, for example, 58.3% are not familiar with the religion. However a majority of them (58.3%) do think that religious representation is important in film, and 72.7% of the audience would find it interesting to learn about a new religion in a short film. Therefore this shows quite a positive response to using elements of Wiccan religion and witchcraft in our work, as this is something that is not common with most people, which shows that leaning more about it through a short film or will be interesting as well as eye opening. 83.3% would be interested to see Wiccan witchcraft and other elements of the religion being practiced in the short film interesting, therefore this is definitely going to be a part of our film.

For the last question, I just asked the audience if they had a favourite short and I did luckily get some replies. This is just so that I could get an idea as to what they like and what elements of these films I should be including in my own.

Overall, I will use this information within my project usefully as it has given feedback as to what people want to see, therefore I will include what they want while also sticking to the genre I want my short film to fit in to.

Textual Analysis- -500 Days of Summer-2009- Directed by Marc Webb

Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.

500 Days of Summer follows the story of Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), everything that we see in the film, is through his perspective and thoughts. Tom is a card-greeting writer, but is also described as a hopeless romantic, especially when he comes across Summer (Zooey Deschanel), his boss’s assistant in his workplace. Throughout the story we see Tom and Summers “love” story begin to bloom, however it takes Tom by surprise when Summer is suddenly done with their relationship and essentially, dumps him. After this he reflects over the 500 days that her spent with her, all the good times in addition to the bad. Over the time he realises that he was never as prominent nor important to Summer as she was to him, and because of this he tries to figure out what could’ve gone wrong,, despite Summers character always being a manic dream girl, never taking life too seriously and especially not wanting a serious relationship, nor any relationship at all.

Narratively, this movie flows in a very non linear way, the storyline is very fractured, creating the the sense of instability that it seems the filmmakers are trying to achieve as it keeps jumping back and forth in time, showing the broken parts of the pairs relationship with each other. . The way the filmmakers did this was by using imagery force of a countdown, showing the audience which day of the 500 days that a certain event would occur by using a tree as the prominent subject of the image. For example, on a sunny day when the tree was in full bloom, this would usually correlate with Tom and Summer having a good day together, but after the scene is shown it cuts back to the countdown, going either backwards or forwards in time, but this time, the tree has no leaves and the day appears to be cloudy and gloomy- this is a foreshadowing that the scene that is about to appear, is one of Tom and Summers bad days. So, this is how the structuring of the films continues throughout, which can be very confusing, yet very effective from a filmmakers point of view, as this is clearly what they are wanting to achieve; to confuse the audience.

It is essentially showing the strength and weaknesses of love, showing that one day it can be the most amazing feeling, but then jumping to the next few days, when it is quite the opposite. This type of narrative structure is not always easy to attain, but when it is done, it’s one of the best ways of telling a story, especially this one. This is because, the filmmakers were not trying to go for the classic love story, where the guy typically “gets the girl”, vice versa. It is trying to show the audience a more realistic perspective on love, and that sometimes, it is not always returned by the person you are in love with. As it is quite clear throughout this story, that Summer is not necessarily in love with Tom and she has very different views on life and love than he does.

Therefore, the non-linear narrative can be useful in filmmaking, because it can baffle the audience and take them by surprise, especially if it is not the filmmakers intentions to let them know what is going on, it makes the film a whole lot less predictable. However, when carrying out this type of narrative, it is important to ensure that it works with the story.

In regards to the genre of this film, it is important to note that ‘ 500 Days of Summer’ is not necessarily a romance, as it fits more into, a coming of age or drama slot. This is easily due to the fact that this is clearly no love story, as the narrator states in the beginning of the film ,”this is a story of boy meets girl, but this not a love story”.

Throughout the film, it’s simple to realises that there is simply not enough info given about Summer for this to be even close to a love story. Everything is revolved around Tom, what he’s feeling and how he sees Summer. The audience don’t ever actually get a glimpse into her world, simply just Toms. A reason for this film also fitting a coming of age genre is because, during his time with Summer, he matures and starts to really understand the true meaning of love, not the vivid, cloudy thought he initially had. He grows throughout this experience and turns himself and his ideas around.

This film clearly represents how a person falls in love with the idea of someone; they begin to paint their own ideal picture of what they want someone to be, but in reality they are someone completely different, with their own plans and visions of the world. This movie portrays how Tom viewed Summer, often with his own narration, never truly showing Summers true personality, nor life. She could never be what Tom wanted her to be and she was okay with that, being the headstrong, independent person she was.

When analysing the two characters separately, it’s important to note that Tom never wore bright colours, he was always found wearing browns, beige’s, greys and overall, lifeless colours, with his hair always being messy. In contrast, Summer always wore pastel colours such as light blues, whites, pink, etc. and her clothes being quite loose fitting, portraying her ‘manic pixie dream girl’ and unpredictable character. This was the first indication that Tom and Summer were from very worlds.

Furthermore, even her apartment is filled with random objects, in addition to the whole apartment appearing to be very dreamlike as fairy-lights drape her bedroom, whereas Toms apartment is once again very dark, filled with greys and browns and the objects in his house kept to a minimum, implying him feeling empty and not really fully knowing himself yet. However, important factors are not only portrayed this way but also through certain scenery. For example, a specific scene is where Tom goes to a party at Summers house ( a party she invites him too after not seeing him for a while) and he sees her telling a friend that she is engaged. He proceeds to leave after being so heartbroken, and had he does, the colour and reality literally drains from his world, becoming a black and white sketch for a few seconds before it cuts the next scene.

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Even the sound throughout the film is an extremely important factor and half of the time, it is Tom narrating his thoughts and feelings about Summer, even when she is explaining important details about herself, the audience never truly gets to know more about her as it will cut to Tom, narrating over the scene, proving that the film is truly about him and his story, not Summers.

Overall, this film portrays excellent film making through the use of a creative non-linear story line, effective costume, interior and exterior design, important portrayal of colour and a unique use of sound through narration. This shows that by using complicating film methods, it produce the most intriguing piece of cinema which will impact the audience and their real lives.

Today, we participated in an interview with two former students, Els Kenney (personal communication, 5^th April, 2019) who came to give us advice on filmmaking tips on how to reach our full potential on with our FMPs.

After watching her FMP, she gave a lot of useful advice, for example, one of the first things she began talking about teamwork, and how important it is to work collaboratively with them. Even if your ideas collide, groups should always sit together and discuss their ideas out loud and even if you strongly disagree with the plotline, you need to come to terms with the fact that, that will be the plotline you are going with, so that the whole production stage can flow through quickly.

After discussing this, we started talking about the sound design and how to ensure that everything goes perfectly for this. She advised us to use Foley for most of the sound, it is extremely important to have a layered audio track, and to include audio even where it is not needed, Foley sounds such as machines buzzing in the background, jumpers coming off skin, etc. are all sounds that should be included as this aids the short film with being more realistic and professional. Also, on the topic of professionalism, she also stated that it is key to maintain consistency with your visual style and camera angles, as this gives the short film more variety.

Furthermore, we also went through the stages of pre-production and how crucial it is to keep data presentation neat as it is easier to read in addition to it being more aesthetically pleasing. We also got onto the topic of risk assessments and how important it is to not only list practical problems on the risk assessment but also personal issues such as allergies, or other health issues- so that there is always a plan in place if an emergency within this field does occur.

After going through this stage of pre-production, we started talking about idea generation, in which Els gave some very useful tips. Firstly, she said it is handy to create a mind map, even if you start off with basic ideas and start branching off, this way it is possible to come up with more ideas. Another thing she suggested doing was a mood board- take images from movies, or scenes from anything such as adverts or music videos that inspire you, Els stated that it is important not to over complicate your ideas, because the simplest idea could shape a whole 6-10 minute short film. You could also come up with more than one idea, choose one and write a short synopsis, which could help start up a storyline. Additionally if you are ever struggling with ideas, you could always get inspiration from other filmmakers by looking at their techniques and using it in your own work.