Question 4 - How Did You Use New Media Technologies In the Construction and Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

New Media Technologies Definition - New Media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the later part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content. What distinguishes new media from traditional media is the digitizing of content into bits. There is also a dynamic aspect of content production which can be done in real time.


Most technologies described as New Media are digital. Examples are:
- The Internet
- Websites
- Computer Games
- CD-ROMS 
- DVD's 


Wikipedia Definition: New Media Technologies

Below I have made a collage of various New Media Technologies I used during my short film project. I have numbered them and below my collage I will state how they helped me.

1. Social Networking Sites - With the use of social networking sites our production group was all able to contact each other. For example the use of Facebook and Facebook chat allowed us to arrange times and dates to film and discuss various information about our short film.

If social networking sites were not available then it would not of been to much of a problem as there would of been various other ways of managing to communicate with each other. Facebook was just a quick and easy solution.

2. Digital Cameras - We used digital cameras during our short film project to take pictures during our production day, during editing and for our location reccee photographs. Taking these photos has allowed us to be able to make our blogs look visual and be able to provide evidence of our hard work.

If Digital Cameras were not available then to be able to make our blogs look visual we would of had to use other ideas. For example we would of had to draw our location recce and scanned them to be able to get it on our blogs.

3. The Internet - The Internet was one of the most important parts of our short film project. We used the internet for our written side of the coursework. We used blogger to complete all work set by our teachers and to provide evidence for pre-production and post production task also any workshops we did and any photos taken. We used search engines such as Google and Bing to research key words, equipment and material relevant for our blogs. Youtube was also used to collect any videos we had filmed to put on our blogs. Any workshop practical research we had done with lighting, 85 filters etc. It was also a place where our short film was uploaded to. We also used Youtube to watch examples of short films in our planning stage of this project.

If the internet was not available to us then completing this project would of been near enough impossible to do so. Therefore the internet is one of the most influential and key new media-technologies around to date.

4. Mobile Phones - We used mobiles phones to communicate during our production of our short film. Our Director Anton would text us latest updates to do with production days, editing and any work that is needed.

Without mobile phones then we would of had to find another way of communicating to each other.

5. Laptops/Computers - I used Laptops/Computers to access all our work. They enabled me to get on the internet and get on with my blog. Also it was where we could scan all our work onto. For example the storyboards in pre-production and our postcard designs. It was a safe place to store all our work.

With out the use and access to laptops/computers then complete this project would of been very hard and near enough impossible.

6. Flip Videos - We used the flip video cameras to record short films and information to post on our blogs. For example when we was on our production day we filmed short films of us all in action for evidence to post onto our blog. We also used the flip videos to record feedback of our short films.

Without the flip video cameras then we would of had to find other ways.. Most probably the solution for this would be to upload photographs.

7. PD150 HD Camera - We used the PD150 camera to record our short films.

Without the PD150 Camera then we would not of been able to film our short film.

8. Edit Suite - We used the edit suite to successfully edit our short film. In our group we each took turns editing on the software abdoe premier pro.

Without the edit suite then editing and putting together our film would not of been possible.

9. Scanners - I used the scanner to scan and upload key work needed to be posted onto my blog. For example the storyboards & postcard designs.

Without the scanner then none of my written work or drawing would of been able to be put onto my blog.

           
  

Question 3 - What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Once all three production groups had completed their editing and moved onto there evaluations we decided that as a class we will review each groups short films.

Miss Shipp screened all 3 films in lesson and we all took notes on what we thought of each film e.g. what we thought of the films storyline, lighting, acting, strengths and weaknesses etc.

We created questions to ask the other groups then recorded thier feedback. The questions we asked were:

- What Did You Perceive of the Overall Message of the Film?
- What Were the Srengths of Synchronicity?
- What Were the Weaknesses of Synchronicity?
- Did You Feel the Music Was Fitting With the Scenes And Visuals You Were Getting?

 We used the flip video cameras to record them.

The groups feedback can be seen below:




The first group we interviewed was the creators of Karma. This is the feedback that we received from them.

What Did You Perceive of the Overall Message of the Film?:

- Karma believed that the message of our film was not very clear. They said that the only way they would of understood the message is if they were told before hand.

What Were the Strengths of Synchronicity?:

- Karma believed that the setting we used was a strength because it fitted well with our story-line. Also the props we added in were also effective.
- They believed the camerawork was good with the theme of the story.
- The credits at the start were good.

What Were the Weaknesses of Synchronicity?:

- They felt that the acting in our film was to scripted. So for example the actors did not put much emphasis or expressions into there lines. One of the reasons could of been because our actors spoke with foreign accents and therefore may of struggled to adapt to English grammar.
- The sound seemed to be out of sync and not leveled to the right sound in certain scenes. Some shots were much louder than others.
- The overall message was not clear if it was aimed at the parents or at Isabel.

Did You Feel the Music Was Fitting With the Scenes And Visuals You Were Getting?

- Karma believed that the music fitted very well with the visuals. Especially at the beginning.




We then went on to film the group that produced Fleeting. This is the feedback we received from them.

 What Did You Perceive of the Overall Message of the Film?:

- Fleeting's director Bobbie(right) answered this question. She got that the message of the film was clear. She understood that the parents were lawyers and that they did not have time to play with there daughter. She also understood that Isabel caused the train crash by pulling the train set off the table.

What Were the Weaknesses of Synchronicity?:

- Matt (middle) answered this question. He felt the weaknesses like Karma said was the acting. He felt they came out of character at certain points and would focus to much on there script.
- Also he felt that the scene with Isabel playing with the train set dragged on for to long. This lead him to becoming very bored and not understanding why the scene was so long.

What were the Strengths of Synchronicity?

- Emma (left) said that the overall story line was good and that she could adapt well to Isabel's emotional story.  
- Bobbie said she liked our Mise-en-Scene.
- Matt feels the lighting was very good. For example the blue lighting created by the gels.

Did You Feel the Music Was Fitting With the Scenes And Visuals You Were Getting?:

- Like Karma, Fleeting said the music fitted well with the visuals they was getting.



Once we had finished receiving feedback from our class piers we decided that it would be good to interview a more professional approach and someone more in our target audience range.

We decided that we would interview our learning pastrol care supporter at our school Ms Wright. We asked her the same questions as we asked our class mates. This is the feedback she gave us:

Our Short Film Is Drama. Is This Clear To See?:

- Ms Wright said that is is clear to see the short film is Drama

Can You follow What Is Happening in Our Short Film?:

- Ms Wright said it was really easy to follow. Straight away you can identify who the main characters are and can simply follow the story.

What were the Strengths of Synchronicity?:

- The positives we had was the clock. She liked the way it showed that time was passing on throughout the day. 

- The way it cut between the story and the little girl. You had both sides to the story. 

- The music was haunting. 

What were the Weaknesses of Synchronicity?

- With Isabel hiding. The parents did not panic as much as you would expect parents to panic if there little girl went missing. 

Audience Feedback Conclusion:

From the feedback I got of my class piers and teachers this is what I have learned about Synchronicity. 

The message of our short film had mixed reviews. It is important that when making a short film you're message must be clear for the audience or it will not be successful. It was clear that our piers did not really understand the message but our target audience with Ms Wright did. This maybe is because our target audience our more likely to understand the message as they have experience themselves. 

We had many Strengths. The clock shots were brought up a lot and this was pleasing because it was an important part to our film and showed the time difference of Isabel being ignored. Also the credits were a positive as we felt we could grip the audience at the start with them and it was to our advantage they found them gripping. 

The weaknesses were the acting and this was disappointing as the characters were a key point to making our story line good and understanding the message. This was maybe because we didn't give them enough of a chance to learn the scripts.    

Question 2 - How Effective Is the Combination of You're Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

In this post I will be talking about how effective the combination of my main prodcuts and ancillary texts are now we have made our short films.

These ancillary tasks were my Postcard and Film Review.

I have decided to talk about my own personal view on how effective I thought they was. I also received feedback from other students on how effective they thought they were having watched my short film.

I first decided to record an audio file of me talking about how effective I thought my ancillary tasks were. I printed out my postcard (front & back) and planned out what I was going to say on what I thought about it.

Posted below is my planning that I have scanned on:

I first planned out what I was going to say with the postcard. I highlighted and circled key ideas I thought about my postcard and how effective they are. I then got a sound recorder and recorded an audio file of me explaining the points I made.  

The audio file can be played below:

Ryan by MrsShipp100

Below I have re posted my postcard (front & back) and circled the key points I have talked about. This is because it is a lot clearer to see with visuals. 

Below I have uploaded some screenshots I have taken from my short film that will illustrate the points I have been making in the audio clip.

Peer Feedback:


Once I had finished talking about how effective I found the postcard and film review I decided to ask some of my fellow students for there feedback.

I asked Liam to discuss how effective he thought my film review was and how it reflective when he watched my short film. I asked similar questions to Carolyn and Matt who gave me feedback on the front & back of my postcard.

This can be seen below:

  

Liam gave me very detailed and good feedback on my film review. I learned that that the image I decided to use with Isabel and the train set was good as Isabel is the main character and audiences can relate to her when they watch the short film. Also I learned that in my film review I wrote a paragraph on the importance of the clock. Liam found this very effective as it was well explained for anyone wanting to watch the short film.

Carolyn's feedback on the Front of my postcard was also very well explained and I learned a lot through the feedback she gave me. As I mentioned in the audio clip I uploaded to Sound Cloud the font I used on my postcard was very effective. Carolyn liked it as it was childlike and creepy at the same time. This fitted with the overall message of the film so this was very pleasing.

Matt gave me feedback on the back of my postcard. I learned that the font gets the audience thinking about the small girl that is very effective. The picture of the bear and the lonely figure of the bear will show the audience that the girl is very isolated.

All this feedback was very pleasing and I feel all the work I put into my ancillary tasks paid of as they seemed to be very effective. With the audience feedback I got I established this.  

Question 1 - In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

The first evaluation question I was set was to look at our short film and ancillary tasks, my postcard and film review. I then had to state whether develop or challenge forms of conventions of a real media product. 

I first looked at my short film Synchronicity. I selected 16 screen shots from my film and made a grid to show them all in. Below I will explain whether they challenge, follow or develop media conventions.   

My 16 screen shots can be seen below:

  

1. The first shot I have chosen follows media conventions. This is because we have put our titles at the begging of our film. This is where generally you would expect to find titles in a film either over shots all on in one go like our group has done. This was common in many of the short films I watched before we began making Synchronicity.

2. The second shot shows the name of our film. This follows conventions as you would expect to see the name of the film you are watching at some point at the begging of the film. This was common in all the short films I watched for examples. 

3. Shot three uses forms and conventions of real media texts. This is because it sets an establishes the scene for the audience. For example the audience will see the house when the camera pans round with Isabel skipping across the patio and be able to locate to the location. 

4. Shot 4 challenges real media texts conventions as straight away the audience is thrown into the storyline and usually you would get the main characters story built up. But in Synchronicity Isabel's story is built up as the storyline goes on. You can see a two shot of Isabel and Lisa the followed by shot-reverse shot when there is dialogue. 

5. Shot 5 shows Isabel being ignored by her father Simon. This challenges conventions as you would usually expect to find parents playing with there children. But in Isabel's case you can clearly see she is being ignored.  This links to the story when she eventually destroys the train set. 

6. Shot 6 does follow conventions of real media texts as it shows the main character Isabel isolated from her parents as she is shut away to play in the living room with just a train set and teddy bear. In my research I did I found out the main character usually has a problem and this usually relates to the overall message of a short film. 

7. Shot 7 shows the clock that links each scene together after Isabel has been turned away by her parents. This challenges real media conventions as you would no usually expect to find something like this in a film but it clearly links each scene together very well and is easy for the audience.

8. Shot 8 shoes a close up to Simon's reaction after hearing that his train case has gone down down the pan. We have used conventions by showing a close up of Simon. This is because you would usually show someones reactions by using a close up shot.  

9. Shot 9 shows Isabel playing with her train set. We are following conventions by showing Isabel is being ignored by her parents and the train set is showing that Isabel has had it for a long time and is continued to be ignored.

10. Shot 10 is showing the clock-face. It showing a different time to shot 7 and we have followed conventions by using the same shot size and used a cross dissolve to show the differences in time.

11. Shot 11 shows Isabel throwing her teddy bear at the train set. We have filmed it from under neath the table and the train set for effect. This challenged conventions as it was a difficult and dangerous scene to try and film.

12. Shot 12 is showing Isabel pulling the train set of the table. We have followed conventions by using a medium close up to film this. In other examples of short films such as Wasp it showed mediums close ups to catch important parts of the films so audiences do not miss them and it is clear to see. 

13. Shot 13 shows a two shot of Simon and Lisa watching the T.V screen. We have followed conventions with the two shot and also with the shot-reverse shot when they are talking in dialogue.

14. Shot 14 shows a close up on Lisa to show her reactions to Isabel going missing. We follow conventions by using a close up to show her reactions.

15. Shot 15 shows Isabel hiding in the shed. We have not followed coneventions by not using any light or gels. But with her reactions we have used a close up which follows conventions.

16. Shot 16 shows our credits. We have stuck to conevntions by having them all at the end of a film. This is usually where you would expect to find them. This is common to all other short films I have watched for examples.

Film Review:

Below I have re posted my film review. I will explain below how I have used, developed or challenged forms and conventions of real media texts. 

      

I decided to base my film review like an article from the Sight & Sound magazine we looked at when researching into film reviews. It was important when making my film review that I stuck to conventions in order to achieve a good mark for it. 

I stuck to conventions by using the big picture of Isabel at the top of my film review. This adds visuals for the reader and in any film review you would expect to find a picture of the main character or a key point of the film. I also used conventions by placing other film reviews on the side of the page. In the article we looked at you had other film reviews down one side of the page. 

An area where I have broken conventions and challenged them is with the overall text in the film review. Sight & Sound is a very formal magazine for people who are in the film industry. With this in mind I was finding it very difficult to write one for my short film in this style. I decided to break conventions as my film was a short film and you would only expect to find feature films in Sight & Sound. So I decided to base my article as a short film special page and write it out in my own style. 

POSTCARD:

I have re posted my postcard and below it I will discuss how I have used, challenged or developed forms of conventions.  

FRONT:

BACK:

I have stuck to conventions on the front of my postcard by having a main picture of the protagonist (Isabel). In the research I did in Post 16 I found out that you would usually have a main picture of the main character on the postcard. I decided to stick to conventions with this. The picture also was intriguing and this would make the audience be interested in watching the short film. I have also stuck to conventions with a slogan on the back and small synopsis along with the cast list an production logo.         

Post 20: Final Products

In Post 20 I have all of my finished products. This includes my short film, postcard and film review. 

POSTCARD:

Posted below is my finished postcard front & back. The front of my postcard shows Isabel playing with her train set and the teddy bear. I choose this image as it has many key points of the film in the image. On the back it has a picture of the teddy bear with the opacity taken down for effect and the production name with a slogan "they wont find me in here". 

FINAL FILM:

This is our final finished film Synchroncity. 

When we uploaded our short film onto YouTube we experienced a few problems. Firstly the sound has lost its sync and it has changed its format from 16:9 to 4:3.

Film Review:

This is my final short film review page. I decided to go with the Sight & Sound layout that we researched in post 16. I decided to stick with it as it was something I new well . 

I have chosen a picture of Isabel to put at the top of my film review then put the text down the left hand side. On the right hand side I have put a cast and crew list. On the right strip of the film review page is other articles of short films I found on the Sigh & Sound website.  

Post 19: Post-Production Report

Once we had finally finished filming we began to edit in the edit suite.

Our first job was to log all the clips. This was a long tedious task but between our group we each took turns logging in sets of two to keep concentration. This helped and it also got logging done a lot quicker.

We did not really experience much difficulties when logging. The only real problem that we had was mistakes on the clapper board which led us to ponder about which shot it was. This lead to us working it out and eventually we got on top of it and marked the mistake in our logging rushes. I can admit that the mistake on the clapper board was an unfortunate mistake of mine. 

We also had a random unknown footage of a coffee cup in our footage. We did not know how to log this footage so it became a bit of a problem for us. We decided to log this footage as unknown footage and this overcome the slight problem we had. 

We selected all the clips we wanted by marking a yes in the table of our logging rushes and then imputed all the codes of the wanted clips ready for capturing. 

This whole process took us about 2 weeks. 

Once we had finished capturing we started piecing all our clisp together. It did not take us long to piece our film all together. This was because when it captured our clips it pieced it them together like a film. All that was needed was to cut to clips to the length we wanted them. 

Like with the logging we each all took turns to edit. Me and my fellow group member Timothy spent the best part of a whole school day editing our film to give it a good start and to ease the pressure of workload from our director Anton and fellow group member Nicola. Me and Timothy cropped and pieced our whole short film together so that every clip was in order and it was just about ready for us to start editing sound levels and adding titles and any effects.

Before we could add them we still had a few problems to deal with. We had continuity error with the clock when it changed time. Because on the day of filming we used blue tack to keep the positioning of the clock correct but we did not think about the place mat that was next to it. When we filmed the other clips this had somehow moved and left us with continuity error that we picked up during editing. This frustrated the whole group as it was an important part of our film. To overcome this problem we tried adding a cross fade in. We felt this worked as when you watch it through we hoped the audience would only focus on the the clock and not the place mat. 

Once we corrected this we decided to start adjusting sound levels. We made sure everything in the film sounded good and we did not experience any real problems with doing this. 

Once we had all the sound levelled correctly we then added the universal counter leader and the universal indicator. This was to make our short film look realistic. Once this had be done Anton had found some unlicensed music to add to our short film. He wanted the music to be at the start of our film. The music he choose added great tension and overall I felt it gripped you into wanting to watch the film.  

Once this was done Nicola spent some time in the edit suite as it was her turn. 

After Nicola spent a morning editing she was eager to show me and the rest of the group what she had done. When she showed us the group was very pleased with what she had done as it was pretty much completed. Nicola also had written down a list of what she felt the group needed to look at when we was all together.

This list can be seen below:

Nicola wrote a fantastic list and lead a great group meeting about the points she had on it. 

Points we had to think about: 

Points to pull out from the list are. We had to add cross dissolves on the clock on scenes 2 and 3 because of the continuity error of the place mat. In scene 4 the camera had pulled focus because it had been focusing more on stuff in the background. 

One of the main points to bring out of the list was that no one had noticed the camera had changed to 4:3 from 16:9. So we had to zoom in and this made the shot go slightly out of focus. 

Also there was no copy right of ring a ring of roses so we had to record kids and put echoes in. 

Once we had sorted out the problems we had finished editing. The whole group was pleased with the outcome and sighed a great bit of relief as it was all finally finished.      

Post 18: Production Report

We planned to begin our preparation for filming at 10am at Anton's house. We all arrived safely and on time. We planned for the actors to arrive on set at 11am this would give us a good hour to set up our set. Our first group meeting happened as soon as we arrived. As a group we discussed the jobs that needed doing and planned out the best possible strategy to get it all done before our actors arrived.

The Plan can be seen here:

We began by getting our sets ready. As we was filming in someones house it was vital that we made sure that after we had moved all there furniture, personal items and changed any lighting. We got it back to the way we found it when we finished filming. With this in mind we decided we decided to take pictures on the SLR camera of anything we was planning on moving. This would help us get it back to exactly the way we found it.

Posted below are pictures of the office how we found it. We then used these to help us put it back after we had finished filming:

By looking at these pictures you are able to see how it looked when we arrived. This allowed us to get it back to the way we found it after we had finished filming.

The first main difficulty we had to deal with was the news that our actors were running late. After arranging for them to arrive at 11am and for them to tell us they are unable to arrive for a few more hours you can understand how frustrated we all were. With this news we decided it would be worth having a group meeting and talk about what we should do. We came to the decision that we would use the time to set up to the best standard we could make it then have a lunch break to refuel ourselves knowing that because of the actors we would have to stay longer. 

As my job in the production group is to deal with the lighting my role during setting up was to make sure all our lighting was correct. This included setting up all the lighting equipment, cutting 1/4 and 1/2 blue gels, sticking the gels over the lights and making sure the sources and the colour of lighting was correct. 

I began with the lighting in the living room. The first difficulty I was faced with in the living room was with how yellow it was in there. This caught us out as in the location reccee photos we did not pick this up. With this drama in place it was my job to be able to bring the lighting back to how we want it. I decided that we would stick 1/4 blue gels over the lights for scenes 2 and 4 to begin with. Using an 85 filter we hoped to block out all the natural lighting in a hope that it would darken up the room and bring a more colder feel to it. 

After cutting out the blue gels I experienced another problem. The problem I encountered was very frustrating as the gels I was placing over the spotlights were not staying up with the crocodile clips we were using. This lead to me becoming very frustrated and becoming angry with myself for not being able to perform such a simple task. I took a short break to find something else to use to use to help keep the gels up. I eventually came to the decision that changing the direction of the lights to keep the gels up and switching different sizes of   crocodile clips helped and they eventually stayed up.

Posted below are how I had the gels over the lights:

     

After finishing the lighting in the living room I moved onto the lighting in the office. The lighting in the office caused me even more difficulties than in the living room. This was because when looking through the camera from each end of the room the lighting colour was different. This lead to me enquiring some thinking time. I took the time to think how I can solve this lighting dilemma. I decided that if I add an extra light and place it in front of the office desk out of shot and direct it against the wall then the office would warm up. I then looked back through the camera and noticed that it had in fact done that.  

This how I directed the light:

Once I had completed the lighting in the office and Anton, Tim and Nicola had finished there jobs we were almost ready to film. As we were beginning to film in the living room me and Tim decided to set up the train set. It was important that we got the train set out properly and with great care as it was not ours. It was borrowed. 

Me and Tim set the train set out not fully completed as this was a reasons for our actor Isabel's frustration in our story before she runs away. 

Posted below is me and Tim setting up the train set:

   

Once the Train set was out we were ready to film. 

The next problem we had was our actors were not on time and we could not get in contact with them. Anton continued to phone them and we got no answer so we decided that we would have to put a back up plan in place. We decided that we would use Anton's girlfriend Jemmas younger sister as Isabel and Anton's Mum and Dad as Lisa and Simon if our actors didn't turn up by 3pm. 

Just before 3pm our actors eventually turned up. We was now in a rush to get filming as we did not want to take an extra day to film. We knew it was going to be a late one so we all decided to put the shift in.  

Nicola got the actors ready for there roles. This included making sure that they was all correctly dressed in there costumes, making sure all make-up was right and making sure all hair was correct. Isabel caused the most difficulties as she had to have her hair re-done and change her clothing to make her look more like the Isabel we wanted to show in our short film. We also made Simon put wax into his hair as it made him look more professional. 

This video shows Nicola getting Isabel ready:

We finally started filming. We started filming outside and it did not take long at all. We got both scenes of Isabel skipping up the patio done with only a few takes needed. 

We then went onto filming in the living room. With Isabel settling into her role nicely we felt that we could get the scenes with just her in done very swiftly. But how we were wrong. We came across a problem with Isabel continuing to look at the camera whilst filming so we had to take several shots for her to finally get the hang of acting whilst on a set. 

Another difficulty we had was with the parents Simon and Lisa. They struggled to keep composed throughout shots and it lead us to become very frustrated. This is because we had to keep re-filming scenes just because our actors were not composed. Also in between shots they keep moving so this led us to become worried about making continuity errors so it made us re-film shots.

As the day went on it started to become very late as a result from our actors not turning up on time, lighting and actors not staying composed. We decided to ask our teacher on advice on what to do. Whether to stay on and stick it out for the night or arrange another filming day.

We decided to have a group meeting, which would hopefully be our last to discuss these possibilities. We decided as a group to stick it out for the last two scenes we had to film. 

We got on with our preparation for filming the last two scenes. We had to change all our lighting gels to 1/2 gels as a result of the atmosphere in the film changing. This lead to more frustrations with the gels and the clips. Once we had completed this we set about filming our final scenes. We got them done all in about an hour. 

We had a difficulty with filming our final scene outside in the shed. This was because it was pitch black in the shed. We had to use extra lighting and be very careful with shadows from the camera, cameraman and the director. 

We eventually finished filming after a long day at 11PM.      

   

Post 17 Ancillary Task 2 - Film Reviews Part 1

As well as the postcard another individual task we have to complete is a film review. In order for us to create a well designed and written film review it was vital that before we do so we looked at a few examples.

In class we looked at the film industry magazine Sight & Sound. Although we will be writing a film review on our short film "Synchronicity", Sight & Sound focuses on more long feature films. But it was still a great example to get ideas and apply them to our own short film review. The film review that we read over and used as an example was a film called Frozen. Frozen was a film released in 2004 and was directed by Juliet Mckeon. Juliet Mckeon went on to feature films after previous success with short films.

Posted below is the film review on the film Frozen we were looking at:

Reading it through we broke the film review article down paragraph by paragraph and in groups we talked about the key points and conventions the film review had.

- We started with the overall layout of the film review. We noted that it had a clear synopsis of the film and was layed out into paragraphs with the key information about the film posted at the top. The article also had a picture of the main actor to give the review some visual context.

- It also talked about the casting and how good the actors were. one of the main points that it said about the actors was that the overall storyline was not the best butt the casting allowed it to be a enjoyable watch and talk about how Shirley Henderson brought it around. 

- Also the film review used exciting phrases and words in order to attract to the reader to want to carry on reading it. such as "magical, impassive and cinematic". 

- Also it compares Frozen to other films.

After we had read Frozen and analysed it we was set some independant study to go off and read some other short film reviews to get ideas to help us with ours.

I looked at two different film reviews on The Kings Speech which is a British Film tipped to be big this year. I read through The Guardian's interpretation of the film and then The Independants.

The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/06/the-kings-speech-review

The Guardian differs hugley to Sight & Sound. This is because The Guardian is a newspaper. Therefore readers of The Guardian would not only be reading The Guardian for film reviews but also for general news and devlopments in there everyday life. Where as Sight & Sound is a formal film magazine so therefore readers to this magazine will only be intrested in reading it for reading about film reviews. When reading through the film review there was a clear diffrence in language between the two different styles of reviews.

Overall I found The Guardian's review of the Kings Speech written by Peter Bradshaw a very enjoyable read. I feel that this it the type of film review that I would prefer to read as when I read the Sight & Sound one of Frozen the language was a lot harder to understand. 

Below I have pointed out some of the key coneventions and points about the film review:

- The overall layout of the review allows it to be very visual and easy on the eye for the reader. You have a picture for good visuals. It also has a information about the film half way down on the left giving information about the film certificate, running time, cast and director. This I feel is very interesting as it gives readers the key information they need about The Kings Speech.

- The Guardians review of The Kings Speech also keeps readers entertained throughout with comical phrases and words. Example being "and who pronounces the word "promise" as "plwomise"

- It also talks about the main cast and how fantastic they are, along with supporting cast and how they gave a crucial supporting role

- Peter Bradshaw also talks about the main storyline throughout The Kings Speech this gives readers a burning edge to want to watch The Kings Speech. This is one role a film review is crucial to supporting a film.  

The Independent 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-kings-speech-tom-hooper-113-mins-12abrthe-next-three-days-paul-haggis-128-mins-12a-2179616.html

The Independent's film review on The Kings Speech was written by Nicholas Barber. Comparing it to The Guardians review it was a lot less heavier to the reader. This is because the film review was a lot less in formal. Using more common language and slang for the less educated reader. 

Below I have pointed out some of the key coneventions and points about the film review:

- It gives the film great reviews and speaks about The Kings Speech is in encouraging manner. It begins by saying The Kings Speech is a definite for UK's best hopes of an Oscar. This gives it a powerful opening to the review as it talks about it positively straight away.  

- Similar to most other film reviews it has a picture of the main actor. This gives readers good comfort with visuals as they can familiarise there selves to the actors before going to watch the film.