'Beneath the Cracks' Evaluation

A2 Evaluation- 'Beneath the Cracks' from LilyBridget

FINAL EDITS

FILM:

The final version of the 'Beneath the Cracks' short film has massively improved from my first draft. Not only have I added a backing track, but I also found the use of subtitles to be highly effective. I wanted my soundtrack to create a happy and upbeat tone that was partially fast in pace so that the homeless clips would be strongly juxtaposed and therefore emphasised in order to get my point across. As mentioned previously, the scripted audio was at times hardly legible; no matter how much I adjusted the volume levels, I found that viewers had to strain their ears in order to hear what was being said, however by adding subtitles this issue was removed. I also found that the insertion of text allowed the audience to be more active in their engagement as they had to read it for themselves, rather than have the information handed to them passively. 

As well as this, I found that through the insertion of multiple title stills, my facts were presented on top of the on-screen action. This allowed the audience to truly visualise the contrast that I was trying to portray (the stereotypical view of London life vs. the perspective of a rough sleeper). I found all of my facts online (many of which are present on my 'Script' post) and found them rather shocking myself; I selected these ones in particular as I felt that they would strongly impact the audience's sense of empathy, therefore arousing their inner emotions. 

I have developed this version from my initial draft not only through content, but also through effect. I added multiple cross fades in order to ensure continuity between shots; I found that through doing so, my sequence appeared more fluent as the shots flowed into one another rather than appearing separate. 

REVIEW:

I chose to use a slight grey-white gradient on the background of my initial layout in order to create a sense of synergy between the products as my poster also features in greyscale. I also experimented with the font/typography as both my first and second draft received a negative peer review in this department; many commented on how the font on the first draft did not appear professional nor did it follow the conventions/tradition of a typical magazine article. The second draft was criticised for it's bold and rounded sans-serif font as it was said to be "chunky", "unpleasant to the eye" and "clumsy looking". 

Through the insertion of a synopsis box (right hand corner), I was able to portray all of the key information in one place; this is effective/beneficial in relation to the reader as this information is quick and easy to access without reading the entirety of the whole review. I was strongly inspired by 'Empire Magazine' as this is a common feature within both their online and hard copy print articles.

I also decided to include a small one-liner beneath the title in order to summarise the nature of the review. I felt that this would be beneficial to the audience as this would be one of the first bits of information that they read and could potentially decipher whether or not they choose to continue reading. 

I chose to do a two page spread as I felt that this would be more realistic and professional; although many of the reviews I looked at were online, I felt that through applying similar codes and conventions to a magazine layout, I would be able to develop and somewhat challenge my own research. Also, I feel that online reviews are not as critically appreciated as those features on a hard-copy print, as websites such as Rotten Tomatoes often allow the public to write their own reviews, whereas hard copies are guaranteed to be from someone of an official critic status.

POSTER:

This is my final version of my 'Beneath the Cracks' film poster- one of my ancillary tasks for my chosen project (short film brief). The editing process between my first draft and now allowed me to experiment with my poster through trial and error and receive feedback on what was effective and what wasn't. 

Due to the poster following the greyscale colour scheme as featured in traditional film noir, I found that if it were to be featured on a billboard or advertised locally, it would not draw in the attention of passersby or bystanders due to its lack of colour. In order to improve upon this I decided that I would add a title of a larger font and make the text red in colour in order to maintain an eye-catching quality.  I choose the colour red because it is bold, bright, but also associated with genres of a darker nature (e.g. thrillers) so does not defer from my storyline and the desired shock factor. I decided to use a Sarif font for my title as its sharper and somewhat harsher due to the point in shape, therefore reflecting the realities that my documentary style short film will be attempting to present.

I also readjusted the opacity levels on the background layer of my image as I found that the two images merged together as block images and to some extent it was difficult to separate them from one another and decipher what both images were trying to portray.

I felt that the images were somewhat too plain and did not relate to the title, this influenced me to research how to add in the effect of cracks onto the base of the poster; I saved a royalty free image of a cracking effect as a jpeg. file and imported it into my photoshop document- from there I simply added it as a different layer and fitted the image to scale. In order to prevent the image from pixelating upon expansion, I made two copies of the layer and used on for each half of the poster. I then adjured the opacity levels in order to make the effect appear more subtle.

Film Review: Second Draft

Film Review: First Draft