Pre Production

Our group decided to create a short film. In the pre-production process using digital technology was highly helpful. In-particular Web 2.0. Watching short films such as Le Cheval which had a big influence on our film as it was of a hybrid genre which we felt ours was going to be.

Again Digital Technology has also helped with the story-boarding process, we scanned them into the computer and they were created through a program called Scribd. We were then able to create an Animatic which would show our shots flowing together and give an example of how they would look together. PUT ANIMATIC ON. We then uploaded our animatic to our Youtube and Facebook page to gain audience feedback. This allowed us to gain feedback from our target audience. This helped us in our development stage as we were able to make a film that our audience would enjoy.
At the beginning of this project we produced a questionnaire which would help us find more about our intended audience. We wanted them to tell us what they would like to see in a short film. so we could include this in our short film. This would help us in our initial ideas stage.
We wanted to include our audience in the process of making our short film as more and more people are becoming interactive thanks to the progression in digital technology and Web 2.0. From our feedback we could see that our target was aged between 17 and 21, and they wanted a film that was entertaining and a sense of escapism to it. I think that we took on board this feedback as it entertained the viewer and although it wouldn't be said it was a fantasy genre it has parts of escapism, with the twist at the end of the film.
Through the internet as a group we were able to make a high quality film, through our researchwe were able to find the codes and conventions of short films, therefore this helped us into creating a real life short film. Short films use many different ways to portray a message or story line which shows that short films are more so a genre in themselves. The different aspects of short films mean that they form a Hybrid genre. We followed this convention of a hybrid genre in our film, as we used features of different genres. We thought that using different aspects of different genres would make the film more interesting. Using different aspects of different genres made the film different and not stereotypical like blockbuster films.
From the research i found that many short films contain a message,for example when looking at short film Goodbye Mr Snugglesit begins with 2 country men, you immediately assume they are upper class gentlemen, they go to a field and begin to paint. We then see fast paced shots of a clown who is in a fast moving car,he then enters the field that the 2 gentlemen are in. It then ends up in a battle. with one of the men pulling out a gun and shooting the clown. He ends up on the floor. The ending of this film is really unexpected, when you see the 2 men painting you just expect them to be on a normal day out, until one of the men pulls a gun out. The message in this film could be to not judge a book by his cover.
We wanted to portray a 'Butterfly Effect' , which has the message that every action has a consequence. In our film the man who drops his hat misses the bus. In our film the man who drops his hat misses the bus, and the one who doesn't catches the bus, which then crashes. This is a big consequence and it relates to real-life. Our pre-production was highly useful and we were about to get ideas.