EVALUATION.

After many days of preparation, over 3 decision changes and a very cold wintery day, I finally finished my film. I have uploaded the final film onto my blog. My previous version, which is also on the blog has been changed slightly. For example my title has now changed into a much more visually stimulating title. Also i decided to change the ending credits music.

First of all I would like to analyse my camera work. Having watched my film many times I have soon become to notice the unsteadiness of certain parts of the film. For example at the very beginning, where my character is sitting on the wall. I feel that i should have taken my time on this part, because if i had, then It would have looked much more effective and less make-shift. Saying this, there are parts of my film, especially where my character is running to the shop, that i purposefully shook the camera, therefore making the audience feel more connected with the character. This is what my film is about, my aim is for the audience to feel that excitement when she wins money. It's a feeling that everyone loves, and I hope that I achieved this with my audience. Of course i did not plan to have it snowing on the day of filming, but i used this to my advantage, and thought of extra scenes to add in. For example the snow man making and snow angel. I thought this added a festive and magical feeling to my film, which i thing suited the genre well. I thought quickly, because i had a shooting script i wanted to stick to, so i made some notes and wrote down a few camera shots and it turned out well.

My genre of Drama, I feel certainly shined through in the film. A narrative story that could be part of every day life is a drama, although I like to think that a comedy aspect was included, as a sub genre. For example when she is making a snow angel; it is so unexpected, and I know some of the viewers of my film have laughed at that part.

I also feel that i have managed to stick to my target audience. To test this target i showed my father this film who is 46 years if age. Of course he would have like it, because he has to support my school work, but i asked him to answer honestly whether he would watch a film like this for pleasure. He made no hesitation in answering no! This concluded my decision. I do feel that this film would be suitable for maybe one or two years younger although, the representation on gambling could send out a negative message to younger viewers.

I managed to stick to the time limit of roughly 4 minutes. In short films, as a genre, i think the time span of the film is a typical form and convention. I feel i went against the forms and conventions of a short film, especially a drama short film with the music editing. I edited the music so it played through the whole film with no dialogue. Some would see this as against the forms and conventions of short films and i totally agree. Many people have suggested my film could be a music video. I see their meaning by this, but the lack of special effects and technical editing shows that it would never be a music video. The only specific parts that include any sort of enhancement would be the ending of my film where she realises she has won the money. I used slide transitions to mark the change in mood. This is another example of going against the forms and conventions of the drama genre.

If i could go back and make my film again, i would certainly take my time. As you can see at the early stages of my blog, i did change my mind a considerable amount of times and this resulted in me having to make a quick decision. This was a disadvantage, but i also thought that it showed my consistency and passion to make a perfect film. I had filmed 2 whole films before i came to this final one, which i fully edited. I just felt an emptiness in these films, with no clear message or excitement. So maybe if this was my original idea, i would have thought more carefully and slowed down. I would have used a tripod and changed the costume!

After creating a questionnaire for 10 people in my target audience, i found that there were some uplifting points about my film, although, as i have said myself about my camera work, people have said how unsteady some parts were. I have taken this on board, but as i have finished my film, i do not want to film all over again. The weather may be an issue! There are always things that you need to work on, things that you can learn from, and this is one of them. We also had a class viewing in my lesson. This was helpful to gain helpful information from my teacher and classmates. I even uploaded my unfinished film to youtube, which i received lots of helpful information from. I changed the title at the beginning of my film, because of someone elses point of view. If i had not uploaded it to youtube, my title would not be as good as it is now.

Looking at all of my work together; review, film and poster i feel i have accomplished what i set out for. With my review and poster i was aiming for simplicity. After looking at posters and articles in the same genre as mine, i saw a reccuring similarity. The colours are usually quite pink, with pastels and happy colours. Very rarely did i come across a review for an uplifting film covered in black. The soft peach palette from my review and the pink candy stripes on my poster do not match. I did not intend to have them matching. After all, they are different media texts, so they would not usually be matching in design and colour anyway. One thing that i think stands out well would be the design of the title on the poster. I made sure that the title was exactly the same as the one shown in my film, so that viewers can compare and notice the film and remember what it looks like.

I am not brilliant at using computers. From last years magazine making, i thought i had learnt alot, but when i started filming i realised how much harder this was going to be. Now i have finished my project, i have learnt new skills on photoshop, such as layering and resizing photographs, i have used the apple macs, which are generally quite hard to use and i have also made a film and by doing this i have had to learn the ins and outs of movie maker. This took time to get to grips with, but i figured it out and managed to learn all sorts of skills, such as editing music, adding clips, shortening clips, making stills from clips, organizing and arranging the clips, adding titles and credits and so much more.

My favourite part of the film would have to be my editing. I like the music that i added to the credits at the ending. It works well with the lollipop. The lollipop, if you are wondering, represented the characters innocence, as a young girl. The fact that such an innocent girl would win thousands of pounds is laughable. I also like the change i made in the title. The title was made on photoshop by myself, which took alot of time, because i have always found photoshop slightly hard at times. Finally, i also like the narrative to my film. When last year i heard about this years course of making a film, i imagined something like my film. A story that has a twist, something that makes the audience feel good with uplifting music. This is what i have achieved.