Here we have another group responding to our presentation from the questions we asked them.
This exercise allowed us to learn what could be changed to improve the short film and in addition we found out what they liked. To improve the short film we have been advised to change the target audience age to a little older as our planned 13 - 25 was deemed to young due to the violence aspect some scenes in the film have.
Our response to this is to increase the age to 15 - 25 as we believe and so did the group who responded think that this will be much more suitable.
On the positive side we have been told that the idea for the plot is good and they can understand our storyline clearly.
Below is the video of our response to the feedback.
This is our groups audience feedback in reference to our short film. I think all of these suggestions definitely put us in a place to make the story make a bit more sense than what it does currently and this is the main area our group are going to improve.
The title suggestions we received were taken into account, but since then we have decided the title will be 'Purgatory'. We believe this title fits the story much better as the whole plot is about someone trying to get revenge on his killer before he can move to heaven, he is stuck as a ghost until he does this.
In terms of how the killer will be caught, the undercover detective will eventually bring all the clues together with the help of the ghost placing things to help her who doesn't realise there a ghost until near the end of the film when she realises who the killer is.
Filming for our short film is underway and below are all the clips. Of course not all will be used and some will be after being edited.
These range of clips from our first shoot for our film have a varied aspect. For example we have a few shots we could possibly use as our establishing shot to show the viewer where the next scene is taking place.
Other shots are based on the storyline such as the drug deal and the killer putting the drugs into the drink of the victim, a vital part in our story.
For our first update in terms of planning to shoot and edit out short film, we have created a timetable. This timetable brings together all of the other people in the group to find out when each of us are free to shoot the film and make it easier to workout when and where we are going to do it.
Below is the timetable displaying the various members of the groups free periods and when we are in lesson.
Real life TV shows/films that influenced my short film:
1. CSI
This TV series is all about murders and the investigation side into finding the killer. This gave me the idea of having a murder happen in my short film and how the police investigate who done it.
2. The Lovely Bones
After coming to the decision to make my short film about a murder and the investigation, I then began to think how I could develop this idea to make it more interesting and possibly more mysterious for the viewer. 'The Lovely Bones' is about a film that includes a ghost that help her dad find her killer and thus gave me the idea to include a ghost that tries to help the police who are investigating the death of the ghost to find out who was the murderer. The ghost in my film will do this my moving things around for example.
3. A Touch of Cloth
This TV series made me think of ways I could add little bits of comedy to certain scenes to make it not so sad for the audience. 'A Touch of Cloth' is a crime series but spoofed so through this it made me think of ways I could do this to my short film idea.
Overall, this has given me the idea of a murder investigation with a hint of comedy.
Films are carefully structured using the following techniques in order to connect with the audience as much as possible to make it as best as it can be.
The first part of the structure is often a 'Shark Bite' The essentially means something dramatic to draw in the audience. A good example where this has been used in a film coincidently is the 'Jaws' series where you can see a women in the sea but is suddenly appeared to be attacked by a shark.
(The shark bite technique does not always involve a shark attack in a movie)
Another example to show how the 'Shark Bite' technique is used without an actual use of a shark can be seen below.
I like this example as although it is much longer the viewer feels engaged in their conversation as draws them in by making them wonder to themselves where are they going to commit the next robbery.
The next part of the structure is known as the 'Body'this section develops the main plot which is what the film is all about.
Of course in terms of examples every film has this and is pretty much always the middle area of the film. Ultimately it is telling the story of what is happening, even books and news articles use this feature.
Below is one example you could class as the main section of the film.
Finally the last part of the structure of any film is known as the 'Tail' or in other words the end of the story and how it concludes and draws everything in together to finish.
Some endings are more controversial than others, for example some may end as a cliff-hanger or some will end with the unexpected happening for example the person who killed someone may be a character nobody expected to do such a thing.
Below is one example used as the ending of a film.
This is a very nice ending that brings the whole story together.
So the structure of a film comes in 3 parts, and if you think of a shark it is much easier.
