Evaluation!

Emma: Final Film, Poster, And Review!

Future Aspirations For My Film/ Film Career

With my media products finished, I have many aspirations for "Emma". I want to enter it into short film festivals such as BFI, Cannes, and Sundance. Maybe, before this though into smaller, more student orientated film festivals such as Slough, Screen test, and The Broke Student. These may be more appropriate for a tester to see how my film goes, before I enter it into the bigger film festivals. These film festivals will provide my product with a much broader audience which could benefit from the word of mouth. Another potential benefit would be to gain recognition from studio executives and producer in order to then gain funding to produce another short film, or even a feature film based on "Emma".

Other aspirations I have for this project include making other short films within the same cinematic universe. Maybe looking at a minor characters story and their point of view. Making and expanding a cinematic universe helps encourage fans to watch all of the films that are linked together, increasing the audience dramatically. This could help fast track my career in film, if the dynamic story lines intertwine together in a interesting way. I could also adapt this idea into a feature film if a company felt so inclined to fund me for it, their are almost infinite possibilities. These are my aspirations for "Emma" and what I wish for its success in the future, as well as what I hope to achieve in my future too, as a film maker.

Final Improvements!

Film: More sound effects and longer blank spaces in between scenes
Poster: Use the same logo as the review, and the same date/ time as the CCTV scene in "Emma"
Review: Include page number, magazine name ect & change star rating to actual stars, add a line to separate the review to magazine information. Use correct spelling of "Magazine"
Evaluation: Include narrative and audience theories, talk about a bigger range of films I took inspiration from

Review Questionnaire for Emma

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1kjcfoTb6bKcVm_62Mls8_BPVFxY_qGDd0ELemgAibTo/viewform

Emma Film, Poster, and Review: Nearly Final Versions

Film Review Development Part 7!

This is my final version of my film review. It has been improved upon from my last one, as I have added in a information box, a larger quote, a large first letter. I also have made the text fit into 3 columns to better fit the page, and edited the screenshots to look slightly more cinematic.

My Meticulous Editing

Throughout the process of editing my film I have been very meticulous in making sure everything I produced was up to scratch. I decided to document my editing of a 6 second clip, to show my attention to detail which I have put into each second of my film. The clip is of a reshoot I had to do where my actor looks up in reaction to a line another actor says in my kitchen scene.

This was the clip before I re framed it (above) and after wards (below).

This is the extent of the effects on this 6 second clip, which includes but is not limited to: resizing, motion (keyframe by key frame to ensure it is exactly where I want it at all times), time remapping, changing the white/ black levels, colour grading it, more precise colour grading, warp stabilising it, and adding the aspect ratio bars. 

However I felt to fully show the level of detail I needed to show the clips side by side, so here they are playing after each other in a clip for your comparison. 

Film Review Development Part 6

This is the first time I have put the text of my film review to the template I have made. I will continue to improve this to ensure I create the best film review that I can. 

Film Review Development Part 5

The purple text has been improved upon. 

EMMA

"Emma" is a female led thriller film that will have you thinking about it for days afterwards.

The story follows the lead character Emma as she wakes up disorientated after having been kidnapped. 

She tries to remember and figure out what has happened to her, while dealing with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Her character arc is engaging and intriguing as you try with Emma to work out what happened to her and who kidnapped her. The end of the film is deliberately ambiguous and open to interpretation, as is the film itself, and despite the strong narrative I would place the film firmly in the stylised Art Film bracket.

The lack of diagloue reinforces this, as the director specifically designed the film as to not give Emma a voice. This creative idea is deliberately symbolic and says that Emma is voiceless as a victim of assault and feels she can't speak up even if she wanted to. She breaks the fourth wall powerfully halfway through the film, almost reaching out to the audience, asking the viewers for help, for protection. This provokes a powerful emotive response as we as an audience feel compelled to try to help and to keep watching. This is partly a product of the excellent casting of Lydia Batchelor, whose flawless acting prevents the film from becoming lifeless and emotionless. She engages the audience and asks them not to be passive, but to help her, and girls like her, to speak up and to give them their voices back by believing in them.

Emma, I noticed, is also the only character with a name. Whilst critics could argue that this is purely due to the fact the film is so short, I believe it to be another clever social commentary by the director. Emma feels so alone because of what has happened to her that she feels she can't connect to anyone else, highlighted by the fact that none of the other character have names.

Whilst the film was clearly made on a limited budget, you can tell the cast and crew have worked hard to stretch the resources that they did have to be as effective as possible. The film does suffer because of this, as with some more time and money spent on it it could have been even better.  The director, Mariella Devoil, is still relatively a newbie in the film industry but has definitely made a splash with this, her latest short film.

The setting of the film was a bit basic and stereotypical at times, however the locations were believable and the set design was certainly up to scratch. The audio is dramatic at times and the film uses the technique of silence very effectively to make the audience feel uncomfortable and uneasy. The rest of the sound design is suitable as the sound effects and ambient music fit the scenes and mood and ensure the film to be believable. 

The cinematography however is really excellent and looks elegant and professionally effortless. The CCTV scene especially comes to mind, as this has been expertly edited to be very realistic and fits seamlessly into the film. It adds a level of gritty realism as both a beginning and ending scene, tying the film together nicely. The mise en scène has been carefully constructed frame by frame. The kitchen scene (image above) intensifies the feeling of entrapment for Emma on her return to work. Although the pacing is fast and keeps the audience engaged throughout, the separate scenes feel a little disjointed. The order of the scenes can be confusing but the film succeeds on the strength of its stylisation, meaning that the plot is not the only thing holding the film together.

"Emma" far exceeded my expectations, given it was from newbie director Mariella Devoil, filmed on a limited budget and with its strange concept. I was pleasantly surprised that the film works in its own right and engages the audience effectively throughout. Overall, an excellent short film with an original storyline that really excels in its cinematography and stylisation of its aesthetic. With "Emma" I have no doubt that Mariella Devoil has earned her place firmly on the map of the country's most promising up and coming directors.

Improvements: Emma - The Fourth Version

• fade shots into each other more
• cut the focus pull shot to end before it refocuses on jenny
• Reshoot calendar shots
• Reshoot a reaction of Lydia for the kitchen scene
• Tweak Audio and add more background noise and sound effects in
• Static over George talking
• Cut shots of Lydia playing with the ring down in length
• Colour correct George's opening
• Add in some train noises to increase flow of the plot
• recolour correct the calendar scene
• stabilise the calendar shots
• Re edit the audio to the calendar scene as it is out of sync
• tighten pacing even more

Emma - The Fourth Version

Poster Developments Part 4

Film Review Development Part 4

The pink text has been improved upon. 

EMMA

Emma is a female led thriller film that will have you thinking about it for days afterwards.
The story follows the lead character Emma as she wakes up disorientated after being kidnapped. She tries to remember and figure out what has happened to her, through her PTSD. Her character arc was engaging and intriguing as you try with Emma to work out what happened to her and who kidnapped her. The end of the film is left ambiguous and open to interpretation, just as the film itself whist holding a narrative is firmly placed in the stylised Art Film bracket.

The lack of diagloue reinforces this, and the director specifically created the film to not make Emma speak. She is also the only character in the film who has  a name. This creatively has symbolism intertwined in it. It says that Emma is voiceless as a victim of assault, she feels she can't speak up even if she wanted to. She breaks the fourth wall powerfully half of the way through the film, almost reaching out to the audience, asking the viewers for help, for protection. This provokes a powerful emotive response as we as an audience feel compelled to try and help and keep watching. This is partly a product of the excellent casting of Lydia Batchelor, who's flawless acting carries the film from being lifeless and emotionless. She engages the audience and asks them not to be passive, but to help her and girls like her to speak up and to give them their voices back by believing them.

Emma, I noticed, is also the only character with a name. Whilst critics could argue that this is purely due to the fact the film is so short, I believe it to be another clever social commentary of the director. Emma feels so alone because of what has happened to her that she feels she can't connect to anyone else, hence the fact that none of the other character have names.

The budget was extremely low, and you can tell the cast and crew have worked hard to stretch the budget that they did have to be effect as possible. the film however, does suffer for this, as I feel some  more time and money could have easily been spent on it to make this film as good as it could be. The director, Mariella Devoil, is still relatively a newbie in the film industry but has defiantly made a splash with this, her 6th short film.

The setting of the film sufficed, even if it was a bit basic and stereotypical at times. Locations were believable and the set design was up to scratch. The audio is dramatic at times and the film uses uncomfortable silence effectively to make the audience feel uneasy. The rest of the sound design doesn't have much impact but is suitable, the sound effects and ambient music fit the scene and mood and help make the film to be believable. 

The cinematography is really excellent, it looks elegantly and professionally effortless. The CCTV scene especially comes to mind, it is expertly edited to be very realistic and fits seamlessly into the film, and adda a level of gritty realism as both a beginning and ending scene, tie-in the film together nicely. The miss en scene has been carefully constructed frame by frame it seems. The kitchen scene (image above) intensifies the feeling of entrapment for Emma on her return to work. Although the pacing is fast and keeps the audience engaged throughout, the separate films feel a little disjointed with one another. The order of the scenes is confusing but the film got away with this by being stylised based, rather than the plot being the only thing holding the film together.

Emma far exceeded my expectations, as its from the newbie director Mariella Devoil, with its small budget and strange concept. I was pleasantly surprised that the film works in its own right and effectively engages the audience throughout. Overall, an excellent short film with an original storyline that really excels in its cinematography and stylisation of its aesthetic. With Emma I have no doubt that Mariella Devoil has earned her place firmly on the map of the country's most promising up and coming directors. 

Film Review Development Part 3

This is my first draft for the text of my film poster. I will get comments on it and subsequently improve upon it to make the best version that I can.

EMMA

Emma is a female led thriller film that will have you thinking about it for days afterwards.
The story follows the lead character Emma as she wakes up disorientated after being kidnapped, and tries to remember her and figure out what has happened to her, through her PTSD. The character arc was engaging and entering as you try with Emma to work out what happened to her and who kidnapped her. The end of the film is left ambiguous and open to interpretation, just as the film itself whist holding a narrative is firmly placed in the stylised Art Film bracket.

The lack of diagloue reinforces this, and the director specifically created the film to not make Emma speak. She is also the only character in the film who has  a name. This creatively has symbolism intertwined in it. It says that Emma is voiceless as a victim of assault, she feels she can't speak up even if she wanted to. She breaks the fourth wall powerfully half of the way through the film, almost reaching out to the audience, asking the viewers for help, for protection. This provokes a powerful emotive response as we as an audience feel compelled to try and help and keep watching. This is partly a product of the excellent casting of Lydia Batchelor, who's flawless acting carries the film from being lifeless and emotionless. She engages the audience and asks them not to be passive, but to help her and girls like her to speak up and to give them their voices back by believing them.

Emma, I noticed, is also the only character with a name. Whilst critics could argue that this is purely due to the fact the film is so short, I believe it to be another clever social commentary of the director. Emma feels so alone because of what has happened to her that she feels she can't connect to anyone else, hence the fact that none of the other character have names.

The budget was extremely low, and you can tell the cast and crew have worked hard to stretch the budget that they did have to be effect as possible. the film however, does suffer for this, as I feel some  more time and money could have easily been spent on it to make this film as perfect as it could be. The director is still relatively a newbie in the film industry but has defiantly made a splash with this, her 6th short film.

The setting of the film sufficed, even if it was a bit strange at times. They were believable and the set design was up to scratch. The audio is dramatic and the film uses silence effectivly.The rest of the sound design isn't very special, the sound effects and ambient music fit the scene and mood but aren't anything to really shout about.

The cinematography is really excellent, the miss en scene has been carefully constructed frame by frame it seems. The CCTV scene especially comes to mind, it is expertly edited to be very realistic and fits seamlessly into the film, as both a beginning and ending scene, tie-in the film together nicely.  But apart from that the lighting, camera angles, and mise en scene have been carefully thought about for each shot within each scene. Although the pacing is fast and keeps the audience engaged throughout, the separate films feel a little disjointed with one another. The order of the scenes is confusing but the film got away with this by being stylised based, feather than the plot being the only thing holding the film together.

Emma far exceeded my expectations, as its from the newbie director Mariella Devoil, with its small budget and strange concept. I was pleasantly surprised that the film works in its own right and effectively engages the audience throughout. Overall, an excellent short film with an original storyline that really excels in its cinematography and stylisation of its aesthetic.

Film Review Research and Progress Part 2

This is my updated and revised layout for my film review. I have included all the parts that I found out were important from my research in this template and will be subsequently making my film review from this. 

Focus group Feedback 2!

Feed Back Questions:

(X= number of times it was commented on)

Did you understand the narrative?

Yes - 8, No -1, Kinda - 1

Did you sympathise worth the main character Emma?

Yes - 9, No - 0, Kinda - 1

Have you figured out who kidnapped her?

Yes - 8, No - 2

Do you my think my film has improved from the last time you saw it? How?

Yes - 10, No - 0

• Pacing improved X4
• Scenes run smoother X2
• Shots look cleaner X2
• Edits are tighter X3
• Good that the councillor scene has been removed
• Easier to follow/ understand X2
• Beginning is more effective
• Aspect ratio
• Its been tidied up more
• Makes more sense
• Works better

Any specific comments on sound/ editing/ camera work/ etc?

Sound- 

• Good use of high pitched sound
• good use of silence & minimal sound
• Jenny's line is unnecessary
• dramatic music could be used in calendar scene to increase suspense

 Camera/ Editing-

• Camera warp is great
• jitter/ jump cut is effective
• Pacing is improved
• Blur effect is cool
• Fade to blacks are effective
• Liked the whole kitchen scene
• The editing is really good
• Good mise en scene 

Overall Improvements?

•  Could be spread up slightly
• Callender scene could have a bigger range of flashbacks
• Ends a bit abruptly
• Maybe put and extra scene at he end?
• Maybe put music over the CCTV footage?
• Tweak Editing / continuity
• keep the aspect ratio the same throughout

Overall Positives?

• Its very good
• Very well directed
• Ring scene is much better
• Pacing is slick and effective X2
• Kept me interested throughout
• use of silence was effective
• Shots are clear and well thought out
• Story is good
• Acting is good
• Mise en scene is excellent X2
• Very good cinematography

Improvements: Emma - The Third Draft

• First CCTV shot is too short
• Longer transition between George & kitsch scene
• Cut train scene down even more
• switch order or train & ring scene
• Longer black transition between last scene & CCTV scene
• Maybe ADR for George's line in the kitsch scene
• Train noises instead of/ and car noises in ring scene
• Sort Sound out 
• Try and edit it to be under 5 mins
• Muffel George's opening audio
• Cut Jenny's line
• Super close up of Lydia reacting in kitchen scene
• Cut George's line in Kitchen scene too
• Increase volume of dialogue
• Shorten Lydia's look more
• Louder tints when Lydia is looking up
• Increase background music volume

Emma - The Third Full Version

Changes in Edit no.3

• Re ordered the scenes and footage
• Blurred George's opening
• Cut Lydia's walking out
• Re framed the kitchen scene
• Cut up ring scene to shorten using jump cuts - also provides confusion to the narrative
• Speed up some shots to shorten them and provide a fast pace
• Tampered with and edited and added the soundtrack a lot
• Added Sound Effects throughout
• Fixing the calendar scene - still gotta re shoot part of this scene due to narrative changes. 

Audio & Copyright

Through research I discovered that I could not just use any music that I liked. Music has to be made to be royalty free under the creative commons licence for it to be free for anyone to use. Even then if you are using it and making money off of it it may not be allowed. I found many different websites and youtube channels where I downloaded the music for my film from, in order to keep from breaking the law and using music/ audio that isn't mine to use.

Like this one for example, https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

I chose the music very carefully for each scene and shot for my film, adding in sound effects and different tracks on a frame by frame basis. Here is a screenshot of the audio timeline of my film in Adobe Premire Pro. As you can see my the number of keyframes in each separate audio track, and the number of audio tracks, I didn't take making the sound for my film lightly.

As you will see above there are sections of my sound design where I used silence, or very little sound. This was done on purpose for dramatic effect, to emphasise these parts of the narrative, and to make the audience feel as if on edge and uncertain. I believe this has worked effectively as my feedback on my versions so far have commented on this being a positive point in my film. 

The Disjointedness

Due to my lack of editing knowledge, when I first began putting my clips together I made a individual project for each scene. What I really wanted to do was just make a new sequence within one main project. However as I didn't know this feature existed I ended up editing each scene of my film individually on a separate Adobe Premiere file for each, and exporting each one, putting them on one new timeline and exporting it. This was fine in the beginning, if a bit lengthy, but the problems came when I realised how disjointed my film was. None of the scenes, while good in themselves, flowed together well. I have had trouble creating synergy through out my piece as I cannot ocular correct, pace, or edit my film together as a whole only in separate sections. This is something very small, but very valuable I have learnt though the corse of this project. And something that I shall not be forgetting in a hurry!

Improvements: Emma - The Second Draft

• fade slower when she is walking 
• blur George opening part
• aspect ratio??
• ring scene little parts jump cuts to shorten the sequence and cause confusion-
• callender shots cut to be leaner there is unneeded extra frames 
• more obvious that it speeds up during calendar scene
• re record audio in kitchen scene??
• background noise of other people taking and working 
• 180 degree rule is messed up in kitchen scene
• cut jenny's line
• add claps
• speed up Lydia looking
• shorten whole film by cutting unnecessary frames from shots
• its still a little disjointed
• cut down the ring scene its still to long
• George finding emma > kitchen > finds the ring (flashback) > train/ calendar (Intercut with) > shorter councillor scene > CCTV

Emma - The Second Full Draft

Emma - Act 2 Scene 3 Version 3

Poster Developments Part 3

Because of the new direction my film has gone in, in terms of the new CCTV footage scenes, I decided to play around with the Poster. I wanted to try and create a more powerful look as my poster is kinda weak with its current lack of direction. 

It was pretty easy to do as I am very confident with Adobe Photoshop. I added some noise, desaturated the picture and played with the contrast / brightness/ exposure. I then used the rulers to create guides of where I wanted to add lines in to make it look like it was recording. 

After drawing the lines, I added back in the text I had before, just on top of black boxes to make it look as if it was part of the recording. And finally superimposed on top a recording symbol to further reinforce the idea of it being a CCTV recording, and after lining this up to correlate with the other boxes I was done!

Im not sure if this will be my final poster, but I like it a lot more than my previous versions. 

(Inspired by this scene of my film)

Focus Group Feedback

Feed Back Questions:

(X= number of times it was commented on)

Did you understand the narrative?

No- 3 Yes- 7 

Did you sympathise with the main character Emma?

No- 1 A little/ Sometimes- 3 Yes- 6

Have you figured out who kidnapped her?

No- 2 Yes- 8

Overall improvements?

• Reshot councillor scene with an older actor and better location X2
• Speed up/ shorten councillor sequence
• Black transitions are too long/ boring X3
• There are some out of focus shots X2
• The shots are badly framed when emma finds the ring X2
• Speed up/ shorten calendar count down scene X4
• When Emma finds the ring there is a editing mistake of a black screen of a couple seconds
• Editing and sound needs tightening
• The first half doesn't flow very well
• More synergy between scenes - maybe do the warp stabiliser throughout?
• Sound design in pitch scene
• Needs to keep up the pace throughout
• Do you need the councillor scene?

Overall positives?

• The ending is really nice X3
• Clever shots/ good camera work X4
• style of narrative was cool/ advanced
• When Emma was being found, the transitions were good
• warp stabiliser was beautiful
• Very creative
• Good locations
• Editing was great X2
• Sound design was great X3
• The tracking shot was very effective
• Love the editing/ effects X2
• Very good cinematography
• Interesting character/ character development

Emma - The First Full Draft

Audience Theories in relation to my Media Product

• Will your intended message get across to the audience ?

I think it will, because of the clear message and reinforced ideas throughout my film.

• What barriers might there be?

Audiences may not get the intended meaning from the film that the producer may have been wanting to get across. In relation to my media product, my film is slightly controversial and is heavily stylised. This may not agree with some people's grand narrative and they may oppose on principle. 

• How will I overcome these barriers?

I will overcome these barriers by reinforcing my message though multiple different filmmaking methods. 

• What factors may influence my message?

The audience themselves will influence my message as well as the place, time, and method of consumption of my media product. 

• Which is the theory I agree with most?

The theories seem to link and correspond together, so I have had trouble picking a one that I agree with most. However I think I agree most with the uses and gratifications theory. It seems to make the most sense to me. 

Poster Developments 2

These pictures are screenshots from various points of my film so far. I think they make great contenders in terms of the poster because I didn't really love the other picture. I will think about it and maybe edit one of them up to compare and come to a decision once I have finished the rest of the film. 

Emma - CCTV Footage Scene Before and After

Teaching Myself Adobe After Effects

After I decided that one of my scenes was gonna be shot like CCTV I realised that I had no idea how to do this, and that my (slightly) limited Premiere Pro knowledge was not gonna cut it in terms of the professional look that I wanted. I researched the effect I wanted and found that I would have to use another of Adobe's software products After Effects to create my desired effect. I had absolutely no previous experience or knowledge of the software, so I was very apprehensive about the whole thing. To start off I watched a whole bunch of Beginner After Effects tutorials on Youtube. I tried to mimic  a couple of the basic effects on some tester footage. It didn't really turn out that great, but I was grateful for the small amount of experience. 

After that I watched multiple "How to make your footage look like CCTV footage" tutorials. In the end I combined a few tutorials to create my end effect. 

Basic things were difficult as I literally had zero experience with the software, so I had trouble importing the footage and putting it onto the timeline to edit. After troubleshooting however I got there in the end. 

Following the online tutorials I put a vinaigrette onto my footage, and then added a night vision filter. To this I re coloured the footage to be greyscale. 

Here I added a timecode to act as the time on my footage. As this is not its intended use I had to cheat a little by upping the starting frame by a ridiculous amount so it would show the time of day that I wanted it to, instead of the actual timecode of my footage. 

Next came the difficult bit. I made a new shape layer on my timeline, and then used the rectangle tool  in the colour black, and made a box the same size as the timecode. I moved it across to the other side of the frame, using the rulers as markers so I the would it be perfectly in position. Then I used the text tool over the box and created a fake camera name, making sure it was the exact same font, colour, and size as the timecode. 

(This was my crazy timeline at the time)

I then duplicated this box and put a fake date inside, again being careful to use the same text settings as both boxes before. 

Finally to make the CCTV footage really believable, I lowered the frames per second from their normal 25fps to 4fps. I played around for a long time trying different numbers and seeing how they looked, if they were TOO jumpy or not enough etc. 

I ran into some problems when I tried to export my finished clip. I couldn't export directly to a video file format, or to adobe premiere. I encountered many error messages, and had to spend a lot of time online troubleshooting. After a while I got the Adobe Active link to work and I sent it into my master Emma film in progress  premier pro file. 

From here I exported normally the beginning of the film, just to include the clip.