BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

Introduction/Research planning- what the piece of work consists of etc.

The Short film I am working on is called, The Tail of Ruby Hood and is based off the old fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. While researching, I have found a film which is similar to my short film idea because the film is mainly based off the same fairy tale we are using, Red Riding Hood; it was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and is a fantasy, horror and mystery type genre film, which was released on 15th April 2011.This also relates to my short film idea because the genre type for my short film will also be a mystery/horror type film. When researching this film, I found numerous of different stand out points and found that the film overall was a good film, so by considering this, I believe that my short film will also become successful.

The use of the colours used in the film also relates to the style I want my short film to also be like; in my short film, I am planning to show the film in black and white however only show items and special objects in the colour red, such as the new jacket my character will be wearing, to symbolise many different things. The existing film has done something similar, whereby they have most of the characters in dull colours and the main character is the one wearing the brighter clothes, representing a more important status.

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

The age rating for the film is a 12A which is also similar to my short film idea, where we believe, that these would be the lowest suitable age rating for our film, even though our film will be targeted to people aged 15+

Genre similar to my short film idea

The gross profit margin tells their investors, audience and other related people about the film revenue and sale figures AFTER taking away all the costs of goods and services. By this, I mean the gross is what the company now has profit for themselves, after paying personnel, pre-production, post-production and production costs, covering over their film budget.
The film made a good start with making 842398 in their opening weekend. Which meant the film was popular in the UK and by looking at this also means that my film also may become popular with my UK based target audience.

Negative Reviews

Some User reviews about the film

Positive Reviews

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

Primary research After looking into the existing film concluding that my short film idea may become successful, I had decided to conduct a primary research, questionnaire targeting my focus group, considering their feedback into my idea so my short film will be more relevant to them and even more successful. My questionnaire consisted of questions like, which type of genre film do they like and general questions about my short film idea.

Firstly, after explaining my film idea to my target audience, the majority of people who responded to my film questionnaire seemed to be more males than females, even considering that this film is based on an old fairy tale.

Male Female

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 10-15 Age

16-21

22-27

28-33

34-39

40-45

The question is relevant to my focus group because this question shows me if my idea of focusing on drawing people aged 15-19 is successful. The results for this question has changed my idea slightly because it shows that my main focus group is people aged from 16-21 however, after reviewing this, I have decided that the variable may be too large and I have decided to smaller the scale and be more precise on my target audience, so instead of asking for a general age, asking if you are aged from 1621 for example, I have decided to ask them for their specific age and then my graph changed to

7 6 5 4 Age 3 2 1 0 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 40 41 42 43 44 45

something like this.

By being more specific in looking at my target audience I can now identify what ages specifically will be interested in my film and focus on either how to improve selling my film towards this age group of 4

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

look into how to boost the sells to ages around the main age that are already interested, such as people aged 16 or 22. The reason for a jump in the ages was because the first diagram showed a response from someone aged 40-45 from the last response where the person was aged 22-27. This was another factor why I considered detailing what aged the people who replied to my questionnaire

Comedy

Thriller

1.Which Genre do you prefer?

Horror

were.

By looking at the graph and results from my questionnaire I can see the majority of the target audience, aged around 14-18, preferred a film which either had a genre of horror or comedy. Considering my film will be about an old fairy tale which in the original version, featured a wood cutter killing the wolf and in my modern idea of the film, making the film a horror rather than mainly a comedy would be more fitting for the film and make it more realistic. Also considering that the Hollywood version which was released in 2011 was also a horror genre film, and did well to sell out to its audience, by keeping my short film to a horror film would make it safer and better for it to attract to its target audience.

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2 Minutes 5 Minutes

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

2. How long would you like the short film to be ?

10 Minutes

The majority of people here voted for a short film that is no longer than 5 minutes, which means anything longer, they will lose interested and feel the film is dragging on, so this means the film may need to get straight to the point and I must be able to show enough of the characters information for the audience to understand and include the storyline in this time frame. The results from the third question was that the majority of the audience wanted to see the wolf end up getting killed rather than, ruby getting killed by the wolf or the wolf trying to return ruby's rose clipping she had dropped in front of him by mistake, but the wolf would be seen trying to give the rose clipping back in a creepy scary manner however without actually having the real intention of hurting ruby, just simply wanting to give the rose clipping back to her.
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
Wolf Gets killed Ruby Gets Killed The Wolf Returns the Rose Clipping in a scary manner to Ruby and no killing occurs

3.Which one of thw two endings do you prefer? Why? Any Suggestions?

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

The next set of questions I had asked was open questions and would not be able to be put in a graph or chart.

4. How could we make the film more relevant to the age group/target audience? The most re-occurring answer was that the target audience wanted the characters to be the same age as them, so use actors that was 16-17 years old because this would help them relevant to the film by seeing someone who was the same age. Other ideas was to look at using costumes and music, by looking at customer this would mean looking at existing trends in clothing, ( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/clothing-guys-hate_n_4293315.html ) for the actress, I could look at making her wear things like beanies, wedge sneakers, bright lipstick, heavy eye makeup, bangles and things like leggings, which are a few things that are trending for females, according to the website proved and other similar research. And even looking at what is trending for the male actor, so clothing like t-shirt designs, one of the most trending t-shirt designs are Aztec printed t-shirts or jumpers, shoes. Also by looking at music that can be played either in the background when introducing the character, so for example if a females like listening to calm music, I can use calm music to introduce the female character so that the female audience can relate to her or the complete opposite, use more violent/upbeat music so the male audience can relate to her, because from the questionnaire, more of the target audience seem to be males and also this could work as also showing she isnt this innocent characters and show her more of the opposite of what the fairy tale characters is. 5.(depending on the answer from question, 3.) how can we portray the little girl as innocent but then show her as a killer at the same time that will make sense to you has the target audience? Here many people suggested different things but almost similar. One suggestion that When she kills the wolf you can show her dark side after like she actually enjoyed killing him, another suggested show her twisted and evil killing animals for fun etc. or use stuff like props or objects to represent her evil side- evil thoughts, flashbacks of her killing someone/things else, this idea was smart however considering that the audience wanted a short film of no longer than roughly around 5minutes, it would be quite hard to fit in all that extra information about her past or hobbies and also have time to show the original storyline and the end where she actual does kill the wolf. Someone else offered the advice of dress her in white then when you reveal the twist about her being the bad one dress her in black so here, I would also be considering costume as the main factor of the actress, I also thought this idea was something suitable and can link in with the third reply, about using props and objects to represent her evil side; an original plot where the wolf kills the girl was that we would show his development of him becoming more evil and wolf like by using his shadow, and turning his human shadow more into a wolf's as the story goes on, however I could use this idea and apply it to the feedback that will make this film more likeable for my audience and decided to change the girls shadow from a little girl to a more dangerous being, or something that reassembles evil, such as her shadow growing horns or something similar to her shadow developing into this figure of death, having things like a robe and a scythe which together represents death/grim reaper. People said that by showing her as innocent I could make her do things like show her going to 7

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

school and being good showing no sense of evil about her. Also people suggested focusing on props, NVC ( Non Verbal Communication) and editing, which would be one of the best suggestions and suitable because there will be no changes to the film which may affect the running time that the audience initially wanted and would be easier to perfect and clearer to do. 6.do you think the idea of having the whole film in black and white and only showing the most important parts of the film, such as ruby' jacket and her rose clipping, in colour? The target audience thought that this was a good idea however there were some comments that stood out; first comment said the idea wasn't good, saying it wasn't original and clich. Another said they didnt like the idea of the whole film being in black and white, and that only having a smaller part of the film in black and white was a better idea suggesting the ending would be more effective and better use of the idea. One of the main comments that stood out to me was one that stated that this idea had already been used in a film called, schindler's list however they liked the idea. I went on into researching into this film and found out that the film did use this idea, the film was in black and white and there is a little girl who wears a red coat and thats the only thing that is in colour, this is also done to symbolise many things in the film and also to show she is important and the main character. However the majority of the comments said they all liked the idea and one said that the idea was good because it can link in with the twist if done effectively. This then means, I will continue to use this idea in my short film idea. 7. How do you feel about watching a short film loosely based on an old fairy tale but with modern day features applied? Mostly all the target audience said that they feel the film will be successful and would watch the film and some comment feedback included that they would like to watch the film knowing this because it makes them feel older and related to their childhood however one said that even thought this is a good idea, it may not appeal to a lot of my target audience which links in with one comment someone replied with saying it was not a good idea and would be boring, and they may lose interested mainly based on this factor however another comment said that they would like to watch this film because they are interested in how I would inter-prate it and see how I can make this old fairy tale become more modernised. One comment said that this idea was very creative however may turn out to be hard execute. I think this would be one of my mine concerns about this idea however, part of this idea can be accomplished by looking back to my feedback from my other questions such as when someone suggested to focus on clothing when trying to relate the film and characters to the audience, by looking at trending clothings for example, I am already modernising the film in this section and already helps me to achieve the aims and objections of overcoming this idea becoming hard to execute and making the film more relate-able to my focus group.

8. When watching a film with a genre of thriller, what kind of aspects do you expect to see? The general reply to this question was that people wanted to see quick, jumpy scenes and tense music (non-diegetic music). One person also suggested that the key focus in a thriller is to have something unexpected to happen, relating to jumpy scenes, and most people said that a jumpy scene to them is someone getting killed or a typical twist in the storyline. Most of what the target 8

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

audience are looking for already have already been thought of by myself and already applied, such as something unexpected happening and a twist in the story and someone getting killed, my twist is that the little girl, ruby, ends up being a killer and the wolf gets killed, the twist is what is unexpected and the wolf is the person who gets killed, covering the foundation of what the target audience are looking for in a thriller genre film. 9. Knowing the theme of the film is based around the old fairy tale little red riding hood, do you think this is something that appeals to you, if so why or why not and how can it change to fit your likings? The comments for this question was more negative than positive, however what was said was useful enough information for me to improve on why they were not appealed to the film. The main complaint about this film was that the audience couldn't relate to the characters because we had chosen to use a younger girl to play the role of Ruby Hood however her real ages is 16, which relates and is similar to what my target audience, however in the short film, we make her seem younger than she really is and because she does not look her actual age. So by knowing this, I know my film will be successful if I change the way I portray the actress and make her seem older or her actual age, 16 or by getting a different actress that looks older or the audience can relate better too. However, I must also need to consider changes and not changing too much of the film that the theme of red riding hood no longer fits, although I will be modernising the film, I will also need to keep some elements of the fairy tale in the film, which is also which one comment included when asked this question, they had replied with, yes it does as long as it is original with elements of the fairy tale but a modern twist. The more positive side of the comments included things saying, they are appealed to the film because it contradicts what they were brought up with and is something interesting to watch because they can compare the two and see two different versions of what they know as a child to what they can understand now later on in life, sense of this innocent fairy tale turning into a horror film. Even when questioning someone much older and out of the target audience range to see whether it appeals to them also, they responded with that they feel the film has good ideas and was good overall however the theme of the film was childish and made it unrealistic for them or even relevant to them, however they did suggest that this film would best be suited for people around the age of 14-17, which is similar to what my target audience range already is.

Production Stages For the first stage, the pre-production, will have been looking at developing a film idea, what the storyline is, what happens, considering different twist ideas, then finalising and writing up a synopsis of the film, this film idea and synopsis is then explained to our target audience ( through a presentation), conducting primary research at the same time and getting feedback on what worked well for them and what we can do to improve it, we then went back to the film idea changing things the audience didnt like and working on the feedback we was given such as changing the twist, then we started writing up a script for the film and looked at things like equipment lists and possible talents. The production is recording the footages for the film, using the correct personnel and getting all the footages done for the post-production stage. The Post-production handles all the finalising work, they work on editing the film, making everything smooth and make the film look more

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

professional and clean, the editors also work on things like special effects and adding sounds and music. The post-production also includes looking at how the film is distributed.

Personnel needed for production Director- this is one of the most important person in the team. They must be able to visualise the whole end production, be able to work through the whole film visualising each step, they must be organised and always on track. The director must be able to pay close attention to detail, they must be able to direct each and every one single member of the production correctly, meaning they must be able to understand each job role everyone has and be able to distribute task to the correct crew member. Another key person is the Producer the producer is the very start of the production, they are the person that had thought of the idea of the film and visualises everything, apart from visualising, they must be able to put everything into motion and be able to finance the whole production. The producer is someone who decides whether the film is going to be made or not, they will be the person who gambles with putting money together or using their own money to start the beginning of the production off, start the pre-production of the film. The producer also has the most say in the production of they decide to get involved, they overlook everything in the production and change what they feel is right. Actors/Actresses or Talent- these are the main people to bring the life into films, they must be able to take on different roles, become a new person each time and stay in that role over periods of time. They must be familiar with scripts, storyline and be able to listen well and work on feedback quickly; they must be able to listen to want the director says and work on it, be able to change/tweak certain features about themselves being this new character and be able to keep the rest the same. A talent is someone who can physically, emotionally and mentally change themselves to fit into the new character the director wants and needs them to be. Runners runners are usually people who help around the production, doing smaller tasks such as making people tea or finding costumes and props for scenes, filing documents and doing research. Runners generally help different sections where needed and do most of the background tasks. Camera Man (optional) Assistant Cameraman the camera man will be in-charge of the basics, recording the footage during the production part of the film, an effective camera man is someone who would go over the film idea and script for example so he or she is familiar with the story line so recording footage will be much easier and get done quicker because the camera man will know what scene are being done, meaning he will know what kind of shot or take they will need to do, becoming more individual and wouldnt need so much assistants or direction from the director. The Assistant camera man could also help with recording footage, maybe from a different angle and would also be in-charge of things like sorting the files in the appropriate places; computers etc. and are in charge of stuff like rushes sheets, recording a log of what footages have been shot already. Sound Engineers (Boom Operators) the sound engineers will be in charge of the sound of the footages, recording things like vocals/ dialogue; going out to record things like sound effects. Example of this is in animation films, sound engineers would go out to recreate sounds the audience 10

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

will hear in an animation such as birds chirping and flying or a sound of cars driving pass. The same principles apply when making normal films, if things like car sounds need to be added in, sound engineers would go out to recreate the sound, then hand the sounds over to the editor who will then piece together each sound to match the footages. Specialist sound engineers will also work with the editors and director and work on things like non-diegetic music, music/sound only the audience can hear and not the actors. These kind of sounds/music are used for specific special reasons like give the film a sense of tension or danger and overall making the film more better by adding correct matching sounds and music, during a fight scene they could research into music that is fast, powerful to make the fight scene more tensed, exciting and dangerous. Light specialist people who work on creating the film through lighting. On set specialist that knows the story and can visualise each scene, they produce each set's mood and atmosphere by how bright or dark the lighting is, what colour is used. Light specialist set up lights in ways that they can make an object seem either more important than what it is or less important, the use of shadowing certain parts of the scene and using the light to direct the audience to show them what they need to focus on firstly. Set Designer- also usually works with the light specialist, the set designer is also another creative visual person, they must be able to read the script, understand the storyline and visualise each scene separately. Set designers have to be able to visualise the most obvious objects to the smallest details and have everything in the set match what the scene is about, what the character is like as a person, for example the set designer must be able to describe a person's lifestyle just by how his or hers room is set, having a messy room where there is a lot of clothes laying around, shows audience that the person is disorganised, unhygienic and indecisive; being able to describe things in this manner, without physically having to tell the audience through the use of communication. Editor they will be the people at the post-production that will finalise the film, edit together all the footages, take out what is not needed, what is needed, then match the correct sounds to them, so handling tasks like syncing the vocals/dialogue to the footage and then adding in the special effects and transitions, fade away, cuts, wipes.

Conclusion To conclude my report, I think that by making a few slight changes, I think that my short film will be successful. The reason why I say this is mainly looking at the primary research I conducted; most of the results I had gotten back all had liked my idea of the film and had general positive feedback about it, and all I needed to focus on and act upon are making the film more relate-able to the focus group, which they all said that the main way in doing this is by making the characters the same age as the target audience so it is easier for them to relate to the characters. Also another factor in way I think my short film idea will be successful is because the general idea of my short film is similar to the Hollywood version made in 2011, it being a horror film, and the use of colour in the film; by this is mean watching the trailer of the film and researching into the film, the director also chooses to use colour to symbolise the importance of a character, when watching the trailer, I had noticed that the direct had almost everyone apart from the little red riding hood, in dull colours however riding hoof was the only person with this bright coloured clothe, which symbolises her own importance, showing 11

BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

she is different to watch the town is like and the people in the town. This is similar to the idea in my film where I am only choosing to show the colour red to symbolise the importance of certain things and to represent deeper meaning in the film. Also by looking at the finance side of the similar film, I can see people enjoyed this film because the film made a huge profit from what it had to work with in its budget showing that a lot of people went to cinemas to watch this film, meaning the film was well advertised and was an overall good film. The film also received negative reviews however the positive reviews outweigh it, one comment about the film said the film was underrated and was a good mixture of ideas, I think the one thing that stood out to most people in this film was the use of playing with the audiences emotions said in another comment, and the film overall being a good film. However the negative reviews also can help me consider things I may have missed out on before and I can apply some feedback to this Hollywood film to mine, for example, one comment said that the film tried to cover too many things at once and over a short period of time, which left them confused, I could also make sure this doesnt happen in my film, because I will need to remember that I will be making a short film, so I must be careful in not cramming too much action into this short film and spread the action across the time I have to work with. I must also need to remember that I need to show enough information about the characters without dragging it on or nothing at all to avoid confusion, by this I mean I will use a technique used in another short film I had watched and studied about, last Man on Earth, the short film is about a guy who drinks poison to kill himself because we find his the last man on earth however at the end gets a phone call from someone he knows. The short film did not include any other information about the guy, only that we find out he was supposed to be the last remaining person on the earth, I could use this technique because it had worked well in another short film. By not introducing the character properly, the audience just focused on what is happening in the short amount of time they had to watch the film. I could apply this to my short film because my target audience are looking for a short film that is no longer than around 5 minutes, so by not introducing the characters background history, the audience will not need to learn a lot of information in a short period of time and have the risk of them getting confused about the characters which then will lead into them not becoming interested in the film anymore or diverts them from focusing on the actual film and storyline onto trying to figure out each characters. To conclude my report I think by considering all these changes and feedback from my primary research and researching and looking at the feedback to the Hollywood version, and applying these slight changes, my short film will be a success.

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BTEC Media Extended Diploma

Miss.Schutze

Bradley Bablee

Track Changer and checking spelling and grammar.

While typing up my report I had decided to track my grammar and spelling with track changer, a feature on Microsoft word. Using track changer I can see where I had made a mistake in my spelling or if I had misused or forgotten punctuation.

Grammar correction-Deleted unnecessary words Punctuation corrections

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