My Short Film Package

 Doors

https://youtu.be/BhqkXz8ISG4

Post Card

(Front of the Post Card)

(Back of the Post Card)

Website Link

https://andrewstern4.wixsite.com/website

Website Homepage

Critical Reflection

 How do your products represent social groups or issues?

My film touches upon two main topics, breaking and entering, and murder. People who have their homes broken into would understand this issue best. It is traumatizing to have your home broken into and the victims can be left feeling vulnerable. In the film, the main character Myles forgets to lock his door, (which is such a common occurrence in households) because he was too excited over a package that came in the mail. My home was personally broken into and I as well as my family felt as though we were trapped behind closed doors and had no clue what was going on. We wanted to stop what was going on and defend our home, but we were too scared to do anything. This can happen to any social group, no one is above this possibility. This movie was originally filmed with the mentality that locking doors is very important. There are 4 different doors used, multiple ones are locked and used in almost every scene. I wanted to stress how locking doors can save you from an unfortunate situation. Many people experience something like an attempted break-in or possibly a murder attempt. I also wanted to touch on how people feel if there is a death related to a break-in. The main character cries out “what did you do to my sister” in the film, after seeing a picture of her with a pole through her face. This is to represent the stress, and confusion one goes through in a situation like this, where they are not sure of what is going on.

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?

There were multiple types of branding I did for my film. This included a website, postcard/poster, and social media accounts, as well as a YouTube channel. I used these elements to spread the message of my film by directing it to the younger generation who frequents social media with specific teasers and wording. I also used Facebook to target some of the older population by using more professional language and teasers to get adults interested. The website I created includes a small description of my short film and pictures of the main character. I also included mentions of the date and release location. This information is on all the different platforms which can be used by anyone, including those who come across it and are out of the targeted range. People can use social media with filters, for example, if people have their Instagram filtered to show horror or thriller movies, my movie will most likely come across their screen more than once. For those who are not interested in horror or thriller, they will not be affected by the targeting of my film. I kept the viewers of my film engaged with the film before it was finished by updating behind the scenes of props and progress updates on social media. Each of my media websites has a picture of the film's main character with his hood up as well as the killer with his weapon. I did this to entice the viewer into looking at the entire film.

How do your products engage with the audience?

My products include social media accounts which are enforced to engage with the audience. My film specifically is based around the age gap between teens and young adults who are the primary candidates to use social media websites such as Twitter and Instagram, now for Facebook that one targets the audience based around older age as it was created long ago. My Instagram contains certain audience attractions, now these are specifically targeted to engage with the audience by asking within the comments of the post why or what may happen, it’s a bit of a puzzle as my post contains certain aspects of my horror genre while also pertaining to have the audience interact with said post. Twitter has the same effect with certain young teens being able to connect with the movie progress by commenting and giving their preferences. My other products consist of my postcard now with this card comes information that everyone can gather, however, the cover art is more appealing to the younger thrill-seeking teens who may have first looks and interests in watching my film. The more color-based it is with horror aspects the more connection it will bring with the younger audience. My final product contains the website, this website included a brief description of my short film to engage the audience on the suspense of what can be expected, as well as certain little details like the main picture designed behind the horror genre and certain rating and reviews from big companies and titles which are known by many people between ages.

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

The genre in which my film was produced was horror. The research put into my products were contained from old classic horror titles and projects. The portrayal of a burglar within my film was taken from the idea behind multiple horror films about home invasion. I researched certain weapons that were shown in multiple horror films including knives, pipes, or bats. Types of weapons like guns and crossbows are unlikely to be seen in horror, which is why the research put into the weapon was consistent through many horror movies through past time. It is much more common for household items such as bats or pipes to be used in attacks as they are more likely to be had. My title is also connected to the research behind creative titles of movies based on home invasion, recent examples were “Alone”, and “Locked’, while my title was “doors”. Doors was a pitch idea behind the breaking and entering of multiple spaces which included several doors throughout the movie, the target behind the title was an obstacle faced within the movie to cause suspense and overall bring effect into the horror aspect of a man being kidnapped and taken into multiple rooms as he travels through the house alone and eventually killed. I also researched the horror film “Psycho” were the entire film brought a feeling of suspense and thrill just like any other horror film, but it was entirely silent. I used this in my film to keep my dialogue to a minimum and try to build suspense with the visuals of my movie.

 

Final Editing blog

 Today I was finishing up everything I needed to be able to turn in my short film package alongside my CR for tomorrow. I went over my movie 1 final time and adjusted a couple of things. I started by altering how long my titles were at the beginning of my movie. I made sure that all the spelling of my titles were correct.  I have a total of 11 titles, and I wanted them all to last 5 seconds with a one-second fade in and a one-second fade out. I also wanted there to be a one-second gap between each title. This came to 66 seconds or one minute and 6 seconds of my film having titles. I triple checked to make sure all my clips matched up with each other how I wanted and that the transitions or to my liking. I will upload my movie to YouTube tomorrow and then attach it to my short film package blog. I checked over my social media websites, I checked that they were all cleaned up and had at least two posts each. I looked over my Wix website and made sure that it was pretty and easy to navigate. I clicked on each social media link on my Wix page to make sure it redirected me to the correct site. I showed my completed movie to my family for the first time, and they loved it. They were happy I included them in my project. I had a lot of fun filming with my family. I also really enjoyed the editing process, where I got to take a bunch of clips and put them together into a short film. It is a cool feeling seeing an idea in your head be on a screen in front of you. I then sent my movie to one of my other friends in the class and asked him to look it over. He gave me positive feedback and said that I did a really good job. I returned the favor and watched his short film. I am sad that I did not get to work with him due to Covid-19. But I am happy that I got the chance to work with my family. 

Postcard Blog

Because I was so close to finishing my film I decided to work on other components in my package. I had to leave town because of a family emergency relating to Covid-19 and was not able to access a computer while I was gone. I had a notebook hand-sketched how I wanted my postcard to look. I began creating my postcard for my package. It contained information pulled from a bunch of different sources for my film. The front of the postcard is a picture of my house where the filming takes place. The caption is the title of the film (Doors). And the subtitles are “a short student film by stern productions”.  I chose the name stern productions because that is my last name, and it sounds quite professional. On the backside of my postcard, it reads “you're just going to keep getting in my way, aren't you?” I wanted to include one of my favorite quotes from my film. There aren't many to choose from, as I decided to remove a lot of dialogue and voice-overs in my film. I removed most of the audio because of the movie “Psycho” that I rewatched before leaving. I have a couple of lines of dialogue between the main character and his sister. I also include the dialogue between the main character and the murderer. Alongside the quote on the back of my postcard are my social media handles. This includes my Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube handle. I also include my Wix website link which when opened will have the links to my social media. There is also an icon of a door as a symbol of the entire movie.