My Advanced Portfolio Evaluation (Part 2 of 2) - Alex Lloyd

Implications With Our Final Production Of ‘Milo’
What have you learned from your audience feedback?

· Organisation is key when producing any type of film with a restricted time limit. Our organisation wasn’t great and in the end caused us to have to re shoot a couple of scenes. We found it difficult getting all members of the group together to film and edit due to other engagements.

· Milo unfortunately had a busy schedule throughout the filming stages, this gave us an even smaller space to film in within two weeks. We managed to successfully fit in all the filming in the end but it could have been done a lot easier if we had been more organised with timetables.

· I have conducted audience feedback and what has come up on numerous occasions by those who are 20+ years old is the fact that our monologue could be read wrongly in one of the scenes. “They don’t argue and love each other” is said when Milo describes his friends parents, the way this is read could interpret that the parents do not love each other either. If we could do this again we would have it as: “They don’t argue and they love each other”.

· Sound in some shots does not quite flow, the ambient sound in some shots cuts with the image and so it is recognised that the shot has been cut.

· With our audience feedback, we found that some viewers believed the monologue waffles a little bit towards the end and could have perhaps been reduced.

· The scene in which ‘Milo’ morphs to his older self has finished up quite short, It would have been better if we could have had a few more shots of our older ‘Milo’ and a little more for him to say. He looks as if it has been rushed at the end for this reason.

2/ How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary tasks?

We all took part in planning the desing of both review and posters, we came to a group decision on whose initial ideas we would use for each. Caroline's poster was edited to fit our final and the review was based around all our ideas. Jack and Abi worked on the Poster whilst Caroline and I then designed the review.

POSTER

After a lot of research on short film posters, we found that all of them connote the film as being low budget which is obvious due to the template of the poster, the image used, the ratings etc.

A look into social realism film posters gave us conventions such as typically being landscape view. Examples of this are ‘This Is England’, ‘Fish Tank’ and ‘Mixtape’.

· Our final poster is landscape, this allowed us to have an image to the side of the poster and then gave us plenty of space for text on the other side.

· The image we used for our main poster is a shot in the film (the shot in which Milo eats his breakfast with the parents in the background). We only wanted Milo in the poster. We designed our image on photoshop taking the shot from our film and drawing around it, this cartoon like poster makes it seem very unique as well as low budget.

· The font we used for our title as well as actors, ‘directed by’ and catch line is a childish handwriting font we found on the internet. The image and font together represents who our main character is and how old he is. The audience can tell the film is going to be about a boy.

· We never wanted too many colours in the poster, it was our aim to stand out the alcohol bottle against the rest of the image. This represents the themes and issues within the film connoting alcoholism.

· We included one logo (Festival De Cannes), this is to entice the audience into watching it believing it must be quite good to be nominated into a festival. Also this would attract film literates.

· We wanted a quote from a review on the poster also, we thought there wouldn’t be one better than taking a quote out of the review we made for our short film. ‘Creative, Captivating and Compelling’, the alliteration conforms to the Little White Lies house style language.

I believe our poster represents the film very well and gives the audience an idea of what it’s about. It is our cartoon like image that would really make it stand out from a group of posters being very innovative.

REVIEW

Referring back to a past post, I have pointed out all the typical conventions and styles used and included in each film review. - http://advancedportfoliolloyd.blogspot.com/2010/03/initial-review-ideas-alex-lloyd.html

· Our image takes up a little less than half the page, something we found to be done a lot in LWL reviews. Again we used the image of Milo at the breakfast table as this is one of our most important shots in the film.

· The house style and language was analysed and we found LWL tended to use complex language. For our review we used many complex words such as ‘copacetic’ and ‘pragmatic’.

· A lot of adjectives are used to describe the film such as ‘bitter’ and ‘bleak’.

· Alliteration is used – ‘sombre secret’.

· Many puns are used to describe the film, examples of this are ‘definitely one that strikes a hit’, ‘drenched with the stark realities of everyday life’, ‘pulls at your heartstrings’.

· There are many evaluative comments used. ‘You can come to a conclusion regarding the final scene for yourselves when watching the film but it may not be everybody’s cup of tea’.

· At the end of our review we have included a convention very typically seen in LWL’s which is a rating out of 5 for ‘Anticipation’, ‘Enjoyment’ and ‘In Retrospect’.

Aspects of the film we chose to talk about in the review included the most important scene in which the parents are arguing, hence why we used the image for the review. This represents the film well of being social realism and should attract any social realism fans.

The language we used represents the film of being a typical social realism in the way that it will be bleak and upsetting but resolves in some way at the end.

In my opinion the poster and review would have the same audience, Little White Lies targets a mixed sex (more male) ranging from 15-40, I believe our poster could attract this age also with its quote, award and uniqueness.

Our Film As Feature Film

From the beginning when planning our review, we had always wanted our short film to be the featured film of the magazine. We have treated it this way and have done a lot of extra work showing that we have really become familiar with the house style and format of LWL’s.
Examples of our work are:

http://advancedportfoliolloyd.blogspot.com/2010/03/milo-double-page-spread-design-alex.html - Double Page Spread

http://advancedportfoliolloyd.blogspot.com/2010/03/credits-little-white-lies-jack-storer.html - Credits of the Magazine

http://advancedportfoliolloyd.blogspot.com/2010/03/little-white-lies-research-caroline.html - Chapter 1 Page



Previous films with their own issues include: 'Kick Ass', 'The Road', 'Where The Wild Things Are' and 'This Is England'.

We knew that no shorts have ever been the feature film of LWL, but as they have featured a lot of social realism's we thought it would be the closest magazine to doing this.




3/ What have you learned from audience feedback?

I have explained what I have learnt from our audience feedback in the implications part of question 1.
If I were to do the film again, the changes I would make are:

· Cutting down the monologue, one of our key viewers believed it waffled on a little and got a tiny bit boring towards the end, for us to have a very powerful ending it may be better if we could cut down the ‘McDonald’s’ part of the monologue. Although I do believe this helps to signify how disappointed he is with the fact his Dad never took him and how that without him, problems like this won’t occur again.
· I would then include more monologue, of which our older Milo will say, some of our audience have come back saying it looks a little rushed towards the end with only a few shots of our older Milo. We did a good job in morphing the images between our young Milo and older Milo as well as morphing the sound of them both speaking too, what would have been better is if we could have started this process earlier on so that the change really stands out.
· Lighting was an implication and not enough of it was used in some scenes such as the scene in which he takes his shoes off. We wanted to use as much natural lighting as possible but in places like this, it is admitted that it looks a little too dark in some shots.

Overall I have learnt that our group has successfully produced a powerful social realist film, engaging with the audience and building empathy right from the start.

We conducted our audience feedback using many sites including:
· Facebook
· Twitter
· MSN
· E-mail


4/ How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the production stages of each of our tasks, we used:

• HVR-HD1000U shoulder-mount HDV Camera – This is a high definition, wide screen camera giving us a very professional quality. We were able to use manual focus easily as well as a smooth slow motion fitted in with the camera. In comparison to my foundation production, ‘Milo’ has a much better picture quality and has used many more creative shots and styles.

• Final Cut Pro – This is industry software used in the production of many professional feature films today. Last year I used I-Movie showing how much stronger Final Cut Pro has turned out to be. My reason for using Final Cut Pro was the way it is set out and the better transitions and titles it offers. Something we were able to do this year was edit the sound in Final Cut Pro rather than having to export our movie to Garage band. This became a lot easier for us and allowed us to go back and improve our sound at any point.

• We used many other contraptions such as a voice recorder to record our monologue of Milo, as well as our actor who plays the ‘dad’ as he shows off to his friends in the kitchen.

Throughout the planning and research stages we had lots of help from the internet using sites such as:

•Short Film Central - http://www.shortfilmcentral.com/
•BBC Film Network - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/category/drama/page/4
•Virgin Media Shorts - http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk//
•BBFC - http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

These helped us to research other short films and find the conventions for the genre we chose. We were also able to find information on censorship etc.

For the poster we were able to take on set photos with the college’s digital camera.
We then installed our chosen favourite photo and cartoonised it on Adobe Photoshop. Again Photoshop is a professional piece of software.
We used photoshop to design the template of our review also making it a very easy process. To research into the house style of Little White Lies' reviews we used their home site: http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/

With today’s web and social networking sites we were easily able to distribute our film to many volunteering viewers using sites such as Facebook etc.

Final Review - Alex Lloyd, Abi Black, Caroline Robertson and Jack Storer

This is the final review for our short film 'Milo', as you can see we have followed the typical house style of the layout and language used in Little White Lies. We have set it out as if Milo is the featured film of the magazine hence why we have included a vodka bottle by the page number and a scribbled desgin of a tree, all referring to Milo.

Final Poster - Alex Lloyd, Abi Black, Caroline Robertson and Jack Storer

This is our final poster for 'Milo'.

Feedback via email - Caroline Robertson

Emailed some people for further feedback

1. Louisa Brewis, aged 19
yeah its good, definitely demonstrates the situation, i like the transition of the boy growing up but it was quite a little short at the end in my opinion maybe more dialogue of older guy?

2. Lucy Boakes, aged 17
I love it :)..Really liked the way the narration was over the video, it is much more effective having it done that way than if we saw the child talking. The way it links back to the first shot aswell, with the child eating breakfast and then changes into older guy is brilliant, really well done and the progression shot looks really clever. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it, camera shots well done, narration is brilliant and altogether a fab video. Well Done guys xx

3. Alana Stabile, aged 14
this is so good (Y) love how you saw the lad older at the end, and how u dont really expect that kinda story from the average day begging :) really good, sweet film :D x

Film review Draft 1 - Caroline Robertson

Abi Black and I have been given the roles of writing the review. We have found this to be more challenging that we origionally thought because of the writing style of Little White Lies, our chosen Film magazine in which the review would be featured. They use a very conversational writing style, but still incorporate complex language. This is one of our first drafts, but we will need to come back to the ratings, make it flow more and add some academic or film references to pull our word count up. A conclusion also needs to be added.



"Straight out of college, a collaboration between young directors Alexander Lloyd, Jack Storer, Kaz Robertson and Abi Black gives us a short social realism piece drenched with the stark realities of everyday life.

This story of a young boy delivers to the audience an honest representation of the harsh realities of learning to live and let go. We follow the story through the eyes of “Milo” (Junior Price), a ten year old boy struggling to make sense of his life. Living with both of his parents at home, his father an alcoholic and his mother a victim of domestic abuse, his isolation is mirrored by his surroundings. Rather than using the clichéd working class family there is a twist in the standard conventions- an average middleclass family hiding a sombre secret. As we hear Milo talk us through his everyday life via a monologue we watch as he shows us his way of coping with a downward spiralling family life which he can’t control.

A scene which stands out with powerful composition is one where the team of directors have used a shallow depth of field, portraying an iconic image of a child sitting staring into space as his parents are blurred out in the background and we hear them arguing.

Despite the sometimes unconvincing accent of Dominic Harper, Junior Price still manages to shine through as a powerful and moving young pro. His last film, “Trauma”, another social realism directed by Chris Davidson again reflects his abilities as a young actor, and he has not failed to disappoint the audience with his depiction of “Milo.” His performance is complemented by unique camerawork, clearly achieved by the combined efforts and laudable skills of the entire crew.

The directors have managed to avoid the painful parts of the reality whilst touching on the subject enough to reveal the bitter, bleak impact it has on the child. Although this pragmatic take on family life is something the audience will relate to, the director’s decision for the ending is questionable and may undermine the storylines credibility. You can come to a conclusion regarding the final scene for yourselves when watching the film, but it may not be everybody’s cup of tea.

The copacetic, yet natural lighting is complemented by the rural surroundings illustrating the physical isolation of Milo, again emphasized by use of long tracking shots which really helps us to empathise with the protagonist. His mental isolation is also apparent to the audience via the use of his “only friend” Sam, who is mentioned continuously throughout the film but that we never meet. It is again accentuated during a scene in which we see Milo on a trampoline alone, his surroundings bare as he tells us “We played crack the egg on his trampoline. It doesn’t work on my own. None of the games we played were as fun at home on my own.”

The monologue makes a clear connection between the viewer and the characters, and much like Joe Tunmers “Eight”, helps to almost create a relationship between us and Milo, almost to the point where we can relate with his situation, no matter how far from our own reality it may be."

Audience Feedback

I have made a group on Facebook that has helped us to receive a lot of vital feedback, I will use this to help me with my evaluation.

Some good comments include:

Elizabeth Archer (23yrs) - Wow Alex I really enjoyed it. You've got some great creative shots in there, the soundtrack is amazing, and I like the continual voiceover with no speech actually on screen. The acting is great and the shot of him eating his coco pops very original and in depth - it conveys a lot of information about the story in that ...1 shot which is a really useful tool in a short film.

Caroline Layzell (45yrs) - Well done Alex! Really liked it..especially the bit with the boy running down the road. Got the sense of his loneliness and separation from his dad and the vulnerability of his mum. The boy was really good and liked the idea of seeing him years later as the older boy.

Luke Graham (19yrs) - Really good man, it got me watching till the end :) loved some of the shots: arguing parents out of focus behind the little boy, closing the shutter to end it and using a car (i guess, it was a car rite) to track him running. Really interesting and the continuity was near perfect. Wouldnt be suprised if u got an A :D m...y only criticism would be lack of lighting and nearer the end the child narration could of been cut down a bit, as he seemed to waffle, so when he did talk it would be more powerful. Hope that helps for your evaluation mate, really impressed,

Max Crawley-Moore (17yrs) - Just watched it, is sick. love the narration by the boy and love the jump to older. well done!

Further audience feedback - Caroline Robertson

I have collected more feedback via emails to help us when writing our evaluations :


"Love the bit from 1.27 onwards when the parents come in. The music creates a nice atmosphere and the way in which it is broken off by the two parents storming in has a massive impact on the audience. I like the over-the-shoulder shot where you can see the kid having breakfast whilst they are kicking off in the background.. Big fan of the narration.Its cool I'm enjoying it. loving the bit from 3.45 when you track him running along. The variety of camera shots and angles, and the ongoing music work together to create a feel of real isolation, you really used a lot! Particularly like the shot where he is sat in the tree. get the feel of the frustration this kid has, which is replaced by a feeling of hope when the kid grows up and his mum leaves his dad and the transition from 5.27 to 5.28 is really clever"
-Dan splarn

"Beginning started off a bit slow, but was good once it got going"

– Holly Kinton

"Thats pretty kl. i like how the dingy lighting and the creepy music fits with the style of the movie. The glass bottles banging is effective. the innocence of the little kids voice really suits the narrative "

– Charlie Izard

"I liked at the beginning, the innocent music, which was then broken by the door slamming open, shouting and the bottle being smashed because it was dramatic. The shot from inside the cupboard was nifty.. because...it was a different view? I dunno it was just a nice touch. I liked how it was a continuous monologue of his thoughts, and how the language was like a child, like wanting to go to Mcdonalds and his friend sam etc, as it just made it seem sadder that his dad was a d***. and I liked how the ending was him just shutting the blind, as it was a clear closure to the story"

– Suzanne Ruby