Unrequited feedback.

We can take both negatives and positives from the feedback we have received so far; the feedback can be used to further refine the finished product to give a greater finish. To collect the feedback, I used the social networking website Facebook, which allows users to comment/like assorted posts. The link to the video was posted onto the site to allow people to view it and "like" and comment.

I agree with the first comment as the titles are quite repetitive and lack creativity, they're also too long. On the other hand, I like the effect it gives of a blurred reality, that the blurred images the audience are being shown aren't true or can be misconscrued into something else and the length adds the effect of an enigma, which is built upon as the short film goes on. Barthes' enigma codes establishes mysteries, drawing the audience into wanting to carry on watching the film so that they can solve these puzzles. This is the reason why the twist is at the end of the film; carrying on with Barthes' proposal of enigma codes.

Merchandise - Unrequited

Click image to view full size. (1920x1080 pixels with 72dpi.)

This image could be used as a desktop background to a computer/laptop.

I feel that some of my poster designs are somewhat in the style of action posters, so I decided to create a promotional poster that fits into the genre of our film more, although the love heart in this may restrict the popularity of the product from a boy's perspective. I created this image using Photoshop CS5. 1920x1080 pixels with 72dpi.

My Poster Idea

This is a rough version of the poster I believe we should use for advertisement of our film, The shadowy effect and the character being behind the tree gives the psychological side of our film. The text is also a standard text used in posters so it looks professional.

Short film genre research

I believe that our short film genre will be drama, bordering on psychological drama as it has some level of enigma as to what is happening the film. The drama genre is usually a piece that allows the audience to empathise and sympathise with the characters in the film. The audience may prefer one character over another, though this is common in a media piece, relating to characters usually makes people enjoy something more, finding themselves agreeing with what they're doing. Drama as a genre tries to keep the audiences attention by making them become emotionally attached to the characters within the film. Usually in drama genres, there is some kind of realisation at the end, in our film this would be Connor finding out that Lauren had written this in her diary and is all just a figment of her imagination. The storylines are also usually realistic, our film is very realistic as these type of things occur very frequently, unrequited love is something that the majority of people feel, be it for a musician or a peer.

A few poster drafts for our short film

These posters were made in Photoshop CS4.

Research into movie posters (unfinished)

http://editorial.designtaxi.com/news-info0902/2.jpg < Link to the infographic.

According to the infographic, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:Part 2 ranks as having the most popular poster, thanks to its design features like backlighting and extra close ups, and this poster is still successful even without having the title of the actual film on it, although this is due to Harry Potter being known almost world wide by hundreds of millions of people who can automatically identify with it and what it is.


This poster uses a large image of Javier Bardem's eyes in the background to give it an almost eerie feel.

Radio trailer first draft.

This is the first draft for the radio trailer advert.

I shortly realised that the radio trailer needed to be much shorter. A shorter version is due to be completed.

Audience of the short film

Our target audience should be an evenly split male/female ratio between the ages of 15-25; this is due to the fact that a large percentage of the cinema goers would be in this category. Connor is around the same age of our target audience and we have tried to make him relatable to other youths to the same effect that the Michael Cera movies do. Michael Cera is also portrayed as a teenage boy so that their target audience can also relate to the film. In contrast to our short film, Michael Cera is put into extraordinary situations which wouldn’t occur in real life, whereas ours is something which is much more likely to happen in real life to add a sense of verisimilitude and realism in the piece. A film that is similar to ours is Gone Goodbye, which is also a short film, although Gone Goodbye aim at a slightly more mature audience. Our 5 minute product would only appear to be a 12 because there aren’t many dark themes, there were ideas to include suggestions of rape in the film also, although this is yet to be decided upon. Based on the information I currently have and the guidelines of the BBFC website (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/) I expect our short film to be classified as a 12A this is probably a better classification because 15 is the lower end of the age of our target audience and will also allow younger viewers than that to see the film, which will maximise the audience of the film if it were to appear in a cinema. The BBFC classification system is usually pushed to its limits so that the target audience of the film can still attend, for example the Harry Potter series is usually a 12 or a 12A, this is because their target audience is of a lower age to ours and the distributors of the film Warner Brothers needs to comply with the regulations to fit into that classification in the same respect that ours will have to.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification

Distribution of the short film

Our film would be released on a small-medium scale due to only having a very restricted budget. A distribution company which could theoretically distribute our film is Paramount pictures as they have also launched an independent distributor called Insurge Pictures which is an independent distributor of ‘micro budget’ films which cost under $100,000 to produce. The Paramount Pictures Corporation is owned by media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount is also consistently ranked as one of the top-grossing movie studios. The distributor we decided on was Momentum productions due to the amount of successful thriller films they have released and the fact they also distribute for smaller films, an example of small budget films which were successful and distributed by Momentum productions is the Paranormal Activity series and movies alike where they use very little budget but are still quite appealing to the wider audience. Allthough, these companies don't distribute short films to my knowledge, so we may have to look elsewhere for distibution for the film, a distribution company called Future Shorts does distribute these type of films. Future Shorts is the largest short film network in the world. Since 2003 they've built a new audience for film across the globe, developed a platform for filmmakers that allows millions of people worldwide to engage with their work.Working across exhibition, distribution and experiential events, Future Shorts is the product of 9 years of audience development, experimentation and of reacting to the demand for another way of experiencing film. Operating online, in live events and through commercial distribution, they believe strongly in the social experience of film; in cinema as a communicator and community that should not be restricted by geography, status, wealth or politics. Future Shorts Distribution is the world’s leading short film label, representing an extensive and eclectic catalogue of original, award winning titles, this is good because it already has previous successes with its distributed short films.
Our film can be promoted using internet viral campaigns which will gain interest in our film with minimal costs. The growing market of independent films means that micro budget films can make large revenue from their otherwise little costs, especially with the ability to sell merchandise via the internet which is again a very minimal cost. Although merchandising may not be easy to devise for our film, I believe that merchandising is an important part of making a profit for small companies and large companies alike. Due to the minimal props we used in the film there are no iconic items/memes we could duplicate and sell. Other merchandise such as posters and t-shirts could be used. Micro-budget films usually don’t make it to the larger cinemas so I believe that the best option for our media product will be to show it at either a film festival or in an independent cinema. Film Festivals are to show films which will be otherwise overlooked due to insufficient funding.

Poster Idea

This is my idea for our film poster. I used Photoshop Elements in order to put this together and copied layers in order to alter the opacity thus creating a distorted look. This is to portray that nothing is what it seems as Jordan isn't actually the stalker in the film. I used simplistic titles so it wouldn't detract from the effect of the image and to fit in with the titles of the film. The poster is quite plain but I think it causes the audience to wonder what the film is about as there are no indications as to what the plot is, other than the title.