REVIEW: Editing final product

When editing our final draft their were several things we needed to consider such as layout, colour and text. We need our page to be colour co-ordinated so as to not repel our readers but also to attract readers into reading. The layout of our review page was also of high significance as it can decide whether someone will read the review or not. Coincidentally we plotted our pictures at the top of the review to make it the most eye-catching and appealing. As a result we decided to plant our biggest picture as the most intresting and ambiguos to draw the attentions of readers. We feel that the combination of large interesting pictures with a well written review coincide to produce a well sculpted review.

REVIEW: Drafting layout

Our inital thoughts and ideas were to have a double page spread with around eight percent writing as we felt that the text would be the most important part of our review. However after the analysis of our chosen magazine to portray - 'EMPIRE' and coincidentally shortened the text and then became a one page spread. This would then as a result draw more of the readers attentions due to the larger percentage the pictures now had. We decided to add an zaibatsu to the bottom of our page but after initiative we decided that a short film would not be promoted by large coorporations such as 'MTV' which we used and then changed to our youtube page, making our film more easily accesible. Below is our first draft.

Below is our final draft of our review page as we feel the layout compliments our film genre while maintaining our relationship with the EMPIRE ambience.

REVIEW: Drafting text

Enthusiastic and captivating it is clear that feature film newbie Scott Griffiths has put All In to hit the bright lights. Exciting and ambitious the film radiates in drive and integrity as it follows the protagonist’s, Jack Shaw and Hindley on their search for financial gain through illegal means. Cleverly Griffiths has penetrated the film industry by entering into a niche genre with its only competition being films with momentary flashes of poker; such as the nauseating Casino Royale which helped to establish Daniel Craig as, ahem, an average interpretation of a so-called suave and sophisticated James Bond. However although brimming with potential and eagerness it is obvious that Scott’s lack of reputation has cost him the ability to higher the Tom Cruises, the Will Smiths and the Johnny Depps, but has instead been provided with the likes of George Remins and Craig Presley. Who? I hear you say. Exactly.
So does this poker/gangster tie-in fold under the pressure? Or does it persevere, wait for the perfect card and seize the opportunity? The initial answer is the latter but All In is not without its faults, as you’ll read later. The audience is taken on an intriguing journey of twists, turns, and sublime suspense watching the two main characters as they develop throughout. It is this that sets Griffiths story apart from others; his creative contrasting of characterisation with a juxtapose of confidence with nervousness and apprehensiveness. From the outset it seems the two characters are big money players but with high praise to unconventional director Griffiths, not everything is at it seems – particularly the stand out twist at the end. Keeping with Griffith’s early established un-conventionalism he turns what should be a slow paced and sophisticated game of poker into a fast paced and at times frantic perception on what a poker flick should be. And it works. Particularly as the game unfolds, the quick cuts integrated make for a seat clenching and mental thrill ride as the match comes to the final card flip. Also the setting of All In can only be described as perfect for the semi-legal theme that’s meant to be portrayed; by introducing working class houses as the venue for the film it is established that this would be a film of grit rather than glamour as the poker players stake their money for further gain. In contrast from a large casino to a suburban working class house it is evident that perhaps this film is aimed at those closer to the protagonists own situation, but however the classy apparel worn may appeal to those of a higher class. Coincidentally this film should appeal to all.
However, like most films, along with positives come negatives; which are mainly due to the director’s inexperience and lack of ‘materials’ i.e. acting, time and equipment. Often at times the acting seems unintentionally awkward. This is most evident when player 2 or Jack Hindley wins and clearly the director has asked the actor to portray happiness but instead receives a look of mild relief from constipation. Griffiths has clearly been dealt a bad hand in terms of actors, and the film almost suffers because of it. If it wasn’t for the clever subtleties of character design earlier mentioned then decisively the opinions of this film would have dropped considerably. A final hindrance of the film is the random changes in lighting which many critics have interpreted in several ways, ‘its his [Griffiths] inexperience’ or alternatively ‘it’s his way to again show the contrasts in characters’, either way it doesn’t affect the film greatly – unless you’re a nit-picking movie critic, (not pointing any fingers) ‘it’s his inexperience’, please?
Verdict – An extremely imaginative twist on a niche genre with little room for much character development – but this pulls it off. Thumbs up. Small little faults hinder overall quality. 4/5

REVIEW: Analysing design & language conventions of magazine reviews

While exploring different film reviews we made it a priority to analyse conventions used by major magazines as a guidance to how we wished our review to be made. By analysing methods used by successful magazines we are given confidence that by using their techniques our magazine would also be successful.

Review: Choosing most appropriate images

On our poster we have three seperate images all designed specifically to compliment our media production and to portray the direction we wish our project to follow. As our page was a one page spread we decided to have three relatively small images so as to not overload the picture and coincidentally break away from the EMPIRE magazine we were aiming for.

The picture above is our largest picture and coincidentally is one part of our films two protagonists. We obviously wanted a picture of our main characters on the review page so that readers will be aware of who's inside. However a more unconventional decision we made was for none of our pictures to be face on and therefore our pictures look natural and 'real'. In the picture above we decided to take a photo of our character Jack H holding a whisky bottle which as a result to those that haven't seen the film get the impression immediatly that this is a film which may be controversial and 'semi-legal'. In addition we tried to narrow the amount of shots taken as we was using real whisky.

Our second picture and smaller sub-picture is of our second protagonist arriving at the venue dressed smartly to add to the effect that these are big money players. The subject of the picture is looking away, almost paranoid that hes being watched which coincidentally adds to the 'semi-legal' theme embroidered in our film.

The last picture is one of all three of us in the heat of a poker 'battle'

POSTER: Exploring fonts

For our poster title we intially thought we would go for the large, bright and exciting types of font usually associated with casinos and such. However through trial and error we decided the best font would be a simple but effective one with the objective of being sophisticated rather than tacky. A font can be extremely important in attracting audiences with the purpose of drawing and willing people to go and view our film. With this in mind we feel that with our Title and font we have remained attractive while not becoming excessive.

As you can see from our title screen (below) we have included a playing card (Ace) to represent the 'A' in 'ALL IN' - which effectively highlights and promotes the genre and backdrop to our film. We also decided the playing card needed to be in colour for our poster to stand out and attract. With this unconventional wordplay and simple text we believed we have delivered an attractive title through sophistication and colour contrast (colourful playing card to plain text)

POSTER: Pitching ideas for posters

Before becoming creative and coming up with numerous ideas for our poster our first idea needed to be what our genre was and therefore what message we wished to portray. After deciding this we knew that colour, positioning and font were crucial for our poster to be a success. An example of this would be our conventional use of green (associated with poker table), red (for our poker chips) and black (to highlight the sense of 'behind closed doors').

POSTER: Analysing conventions of film posters

In preperation for creating our own poster to support the 'sales' of our film we analysed conventions of other film titles and their poster. By doing this, our knowledge grew by deciding on how best to represent our film and how to give the audience a restricted outline of the film but to offer enough to gain the interests of consumers. Along with major film posters, I looked at previous students efforts and as a result I was analytical on both good and bad aspects of the poster and coincidentally I feel we created a better poster. However I found it more beneficial by looking at the global film posters, as quite obviously large companies don't achieve great success, without great advertising. 'The Silence of The Lambs' is a clear example that demonstrates both captivating advertising and aesthetically intriguing images. The poster uses symbolic contrast of white and black colouring as a representation of death, along with this is the use of framing as only a part of the face can be seen - adding to the ambiguity and surrealness. Noticeably the picture is the centre of attention which is further reinforced by the small title and conventional information, which highlights the attractive aspects of the poster. This is something when making our poster will need to take into careful consideration.

FILM: Researching other short films

For my film to work, a reasonable amount of research was needed for the film to be as successful as possible. A substantial amount of research went towards reviewing and analysing other short films found on the Internet, such as websites like http://www.youtube.com/.

My initial discovery when researching other short films was the direct and precise direction they take to deliver their message in a short time. Unlike feature films, their is little digression and focuses mainly on delivering the moral and emotive messages.

I decided to do my research on websites such http://www.youtube.com/ because of its popularity and would therefore provide many options for short films. With YouTube being easily accessible and cheap their would be a range of prosperous and exciting new film makers publishing their videos virally. Anouther advantage of film makers publishing their films on sites like youtube is because of the ease in which the videos can be viewed and rated - with the internet now being in most households due to its low prices the films gain more publicity.

An example of a film I viewed is 'Teeth' - a short film embroidered with comedy will remaining emotive and dramatic.



By watching and analysing films such as teeth I have learned that big budgets and million pound storylines are not needed to have a great effect on the audience. Subtle camera work and acting can be enough to provide a good short film.

FILM: Shooting schedule

A shooting schedule played a significant role in the making of our film, as we needed to address problems such as; when are people available? And when will the venue be available?

As a result of our film being a poker match and our objective to portray an undercover, semi-legal representation the setting and place of filming was a key issue. We found a suitable room inside our school, but however the time had to be booked in accordance with group members availability and therefore gaps as big as week between filming were nonnegotiable.

Having a well planned shooting schedule complements the fluidity of the filming process, helps with accuracy and direct actions taking place. As our film is only set in two locations we decided to film chronologically and as a result everyone was aware of our position in the filming and what was still required.

FILM: Organising locations actors etc

Before shooting our film it was crucial for everything to be planned and organised. This would include the location of the shooting and the contents of the clip (mise en scene) and making sure that right actor was in the correct shot. Everytime we scheduled a place and time we needed to clarify with everyone i.e actors and dirctors whether or not the time would be suitable to their needs. Effectively, all external issues were planned to time manage and prevent the occurance of any mishaps.

Along with scheduling, the actors themselves needed planning and consideration as to costumes and performance. With our film trying to represent an 'underground' and semi-legal theme our actors would need to wear gangsta-esque clothes.

FILM: Storyboard

Storyboarding is a key component in the making of a film due to its time saving capabilities and its way to direct everyone involved within the film. The storyboard gives direction towards the film as it provides guidance and a template as to how the director feels the film should be carried out. A relevant example is the famous director Alfred Hitchcock who is well known for his detail and creative storyboards.

As a group we made relevant changes to our storyboard and the way we wished the film to be carried out. Our initial idea for our establishing shot was a medium shot of four players, playing poker at a table but however our film seem too short an we decided to add to our time by adding an establishing shot of a house and with the dealer drawing the curtain. We've used a house with the effect of drawing the curtain to make the 'underground' image more obvious to our audience.

FILM: Scripting

Scripting is a key aspect of all films - be it feature films or short films, as it gives the actors guidance as to how the scene should be acted and the things the actors are actually going to say. Through stage directions and grammer (exclamation marks etc) the actors can give the director the performance he has asked for and wants. Without the script the filming process would inevitably take longer through indecision and a number of takes.

FILM: Developing a pitch

When developing our pitch it was of high importance to advertise the encapsulating qualities, while ingraining the messages and twists incorporated in our film. By looking at other pitches we noted that the pitch has to invite the audience in without revealing the climax of the film, therefore it needed to be eye-catching but unrevealing. In our pitch we gave away that our film did in fact have a 'twist', however we didn't let on what that twist was. By including this information we have 'sucked in' the audience as they are left intrigued as to what the twist may be.

FILM: Research into target audience

For the tension and at times seriousness we felt that our audience would need to have quite high maturity levels to apreciate and enjoy our film - therefore we decided that 15 years and above would be most suitable. Anouther point of our film is the dark and 'semi-legal' nature of our poker game and therefore we believed a social demographic audience of c1 and below would be better accustomed to appreciating the emotions set throughout the film. Through the 'underground' nature of our film those of a more higher social status will perhaps feel distant from the film with nothing to relate to the piece.