Evaluation Question 1

Construction: Movie Review Page

Having developed the poster, we know moved on to the making of a movie review page on a double page spread which we had prior experience of using for our Foundation Portfolio with the magazine. Our movie review page was to feature the main codes and conventions of a movie review page which were a two-columned layout, a main image, an intro, a secondary image and movie details. For the execution of our page, we required two images, one of which we already had available while the second one too, was available in its raw format. The raw format available was not very sufficient as it didn't have the under-privileged effect in a commercialised world which the image was to depict. This main image was shot properly during the shooting procedure however, it was nipped and tucked to give it the desired effect. The background hereby is the amalgamation of two fast-moving roads shot by Dua while the image has been skewed to give it this demented impact. Then, we decided on the text that would introduce our movie to the audience. Amongst the choice of either starting in a purely conventional way introducing the movie to the audience, lets introduce the movie review by reviews from the audience. Hence a story was written with an introduction attached with it which was then added to the page. The main details were very easily written and required no prior planning as all the information was already available to us in terms of directions, genre, production houses, casting and the likes. Conventional movie review contain a page title on the very top corner of the page. Our review page was pre-planned to be sold out through Smash magazine which is a top movie magazine for teenagers in Pakistan. The page was hence titled 'feature' as per Smash's layout to give a link to the institution.

The context behind the main image was to show the passion young children have of earning their parents' respect and how they are harassed by their parents' themselves for not being able to bring sufficient funds at the end of the day to add to the days income. The demented effect that was added to the image was to reflect the tired that one feels after constant degradation and torture and how he/she simply gives up and accepts their fate. 

The colour palette for this page too was pre-determined once we had the image available to us. The costume worn by the model was chosen to be reflected in the colour scheme while the busy life in the background added activity to the page. The font used for the story and the introduction was Consolas. Text wrapping against the outline of the main image gave a very interesting effect to the story and its layout. Once the movie review page was ready, our Media teacher suggested a few changes that would lift the overall mood of the movie review. Once this was done, we had the movie review page ready

Final copy of our movie review page is in the following: 

Construction: Poster

Once we were done with our short film, we starting researching posters and analysed their codes and conventions in order to understand the basic layout of the poster and how its conventions attract the audience towards the media text it is promoting. When reviewing the conventions, I had the basic idea about how our poster will be designed. However, we required a very effective image to give a poster effect to it. For this purpose, Dua merged two images that she had shot during the shooting procedure. When taken votes on which one well-suited the layout of a poster, this image was chosen for the poster while the other image featuring Surraya was used for the 'main details' in the movie review page. 

When shooting with Surraya, the image was to give away a poverty-stricken child's emotions so as to inter-link the film with the poster and hence was deliberately shot under sombre but white lighting. The expressions of Surraya were also directed according to the mood that the image was to set. However, when laying it out in a poster, it just didn't sync so well. 

This image gave the poster a very modest look but it didn't hold enough power to provoke the audience. Hence, it was just too serene for something that is meant to attract the immediate attention of the audience. Contrary to the first image, the second images which were to be amalgamated into one were shot during the shooting process and low-key lighting as were used for the film was used, in order to create a relationship between the film and its poster. This image represented the concepts of hope, faith and struggle all in one image as the flickering candle signifies struggle, the hands encircling  it signifies faith while the low candle light itself conotates hope. Hence, presenting the main ideology behind our film to the audience. The image that this image was merged in with was of burning wood which looked like a real treat to the eye in the technological world, that we are living in.

Image 1

Image 2

Now that we had the images, we could easily decide upon our poster’s colour palette which was definitely going to be in contrast or combination with the image. Our title, we had decided very early on during the short film planning, would use the same font throughout the three texts to inter-link them. Next in line, came the formulation of a catchy tagline which we chose upon by amalgamating the poster’s analysis and the short films’ narrative and came up with the tagline; despair, hope, struggle. Secondary to this tagline came its connection with the short film as it stated –‘for a better tomorrow’ and that too in green to signify the colours relativity with the films’  local audience. Now that we had all the raw material that was to be edited in order to obtain a final product including the main image, colour palette, tagline and the title, all that was left was the usage of a conventional poster layout for the execution of the data available. So we began researching posters for the placement of taglines, casting details, titles and image in a poster and not only this but also the ideal page size required for the making of a poster on. It was quite interesting to find out through this research that the page size for a magazine cover and a poster differed. While a magazine cover is on a page of 8 by 10 inches, a poster is created on the dimensions of an A3 page. We came across a major trend in the usage of main images in posters to look at the audience directly in the eye, almost like as if forming some kind of relationship with them. The casting is placed on the very top of the poster, if it is not very extensive while casting details, if lengthy, are placed at the very end of the page. The title is usually very emboldened and large so as to highlight the title of the media text as a title is what rounds up its entire content.

Now, that we had all the information that was required, we began by placing the colour palette in the background and added boxes to the work space with guide lines to ensure efficiency and neatness. Having done this, we then added the image to the poster and began placing titles, taglines and casting information as per the conventional codes and conventions of media text. However, our poster still lacked something as its look and feel continued to look boring. When we consulted our Media teacher for views on this, he asked us to make a sparky effect in the background with a paint brush to represent the fast-paced times, this country is coming to and how it is effecting the under-privileged as they get robbed off their rights. When we added the required effect to this poster, it finally looked like something successful and meant for the audience.

 

                                       
                                                                        
                                    


                                   

When playing around with the placement of text in our poster, I realised the significance of placement of text as I re-developed the texts placement and made it look something like this. When I took feedback on this poster, however, I was asked to change the placement of the tag line in the poster and improve the versatility of colours. Hence, when this poster was  re-edited, we finally had a product that was approved by all.

First attempt

Final product

Final Cut

Once we had the rough cut at hand, our job was a lot simpler than before. Making the rough cut was hectic as it required shot listings, cuts and copies, imports and re-imports, text additions and a lot more. However, constructing the final cut was not so difficult as all we required was to refine cuts and add/adjust the changes our media teacher asked us to make. These included the shortening of a few shots which were so long that they were a source of boredom for the audience and the addition of a few inter-connecting shots which would reduce the abruptness of our scenes.
However, this turned out to be quite a troublesome task as I fiddled continuously with the management of audio, video, and background score cuts. Also, it was only after the sixth attempt that I was able to manage a full final cut of our rough cut as lack of memory in the computer system and load shedding led to the loss of our final cut around four times, exclusive of the one time when the entire audio went out of synchronization and nothing in the entire film made any sense, neither ,at this panicky stage, did me or Dua as we had little time left and our ancillary tasks were yet to be completed.
When editing our rough cut, we followed a particular pattern when working. We decided on adding effects to the video first, then move on to adding effects to the audio and then adding the logo roll-in, title and the closing credentials. Our last milestone was the addition of subtitles to the film.

Video Effects

Our film featured the usage of a few effects that included colour correction for the flashback scenes, dip to white and black for the transition between the past and the present or vice versa and dissolve. We didn't make use of a lot of effects as we wanted to maintain originality at its maximum throughout the film. The effects, however, were quite easy to use in premiere pro and getting the gist of them was quite an interesting realization.

                                      

                                 

 

Audio Effects

The audio effects in our film featured cross fades, audio gains, speed adjustments and the basic cuts and crops in the audio track. The cross fading effect was quite an effective tool to use in our film as it helped distinguish between the four short stories that our film was portraying. The audio gains in the sound score was used for the rise and fall in volumes of sound when dialogues appeared and re-appeared. We used speed enhancers for the one flashback scene in our film whereby the audio changes pace to represent hardship and pain in the third scene with Hammad. 

Logo Roll-In

Our logo roll-in was made through Photoshop CS3 which has the functionality of reverting to premiere's format. The typewriter effect was formulated through multiple layered files which were saved in jpeg format, separately and then imported into premiere in the same frame size to avoid any obstructions to the audience's eye as the film ran its course. We moved the camera across the frame by cutting the sequence into multiple shots and moving the frame in a regular pattern from the left to right. The addition of a easy-going sound score helped in making the roll-in an interesting transition.

                                     

Title

Our title video with the painted hands was shot by Dua. This effect was not very difficult to create as all it took was the placement of the video layer simultaneously with the title text's layer with the dissolve effect added to the sequence opening and closing layer with the audio cross fade in the film's opening sequence.

Credits and Subtitles

These two aspects of our short film were probably the most easily taken tasks as all it required was the used of the text tool, work space and the right font colour and the job was done. One tedium in this was, however, the closing down of  work space followed by the individual and manual import of each subtitle in their places. 

Here is the final cut of our short film after everything was completed therein:

Possibility Pakistan - A Short Film from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

Evidence Clicks with Dua on the Camera

During the start of the production process, me and Dua divided our duties. As Dua was good with the workings of the camera, she took control of the shooting while I assisted in the setting, lighting, acting and the other aspects of the shooting procedure including taking evidence pictures while Dua worked. We took test shots wherever they were required.

Dua on the camera:

Confirmations

Test Shots. Directed by me.

directing from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

test shot 3 from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

test shot 4 from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

test shot 5 from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

giving the go-ahead from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

test shot 2 from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

Rough Cut

Once we had all the shots ready, we were now suppose to shot list the best ones. At first I had no experience of Adobe Premiere but once I opened my own project therein, it felt like the entire work space was mine to work on. So I began importing shots and lining them up in respective layers neatly so as to avoid any chaos in the future. Once this was done, I began cutting through shots while managing the audio as we didn't have any voice overs to be synced in later on. While cutting through my shots, I faced a major obstacle in cutting my shots abruptly, so much so that it was becoming very obvious to the audience. Many a times I had to re-import shots so as to rework them into proper, usable shots. This was one tedious task as our shots were a little too long and cutting them from here and there was one messy work. Once, after taking one entire week of editing, I had my rough cut ready without a background score, it was a major relief as we had little time left and the rough cut alone had taken a little too long in its making. Then came the task of putting in a background score. This we had finalised very early on in our short film production to be a tabla instrumental and that score too was shot listed already so all we were to do now, was put it in and sync it with the video. During this process, I learnt the usage of cross-fading, audio gains and speed/duration as they helped add the desired effects in our films. I also faced many problems during this, like the cutting of the shot's audio while working on the background score if they landed mistakenly on the same layer. More than thrice, I had to redo the entire scene's editing owing to trouble with the background score. My rough cut without the background score was 12 minutes and once the audio was imported, the file was 9 mins long. This worried me immensely as the video had no effects, no titles, no credits, no logo as yet. How were we to shorten it when all its major conventions threatened more length. Putting this fear aside, I now began working on my final cut with the editing and everything and hoped that the length wont be a trouble. Here is a copy of our rough cut:

Abeera from Abira and Dua on Vimeo.

Ancillary Task: Magazine Review (Analysis)

Ancillary Task: Poster (Analysis)

This poster of ‘Les Miserables’ represents a complete picture of what the film’s title entails. Dirty and sad, the main image in this poster comprises of a young girl with eyes that yearn for a luxurious living; the eyes of the needy and the envious. The tagline of this poster says ‘fight, dream, hope, love’ that almost gives the audience an insight into the narrative of the movie to be about struggling to make your dreams come true. The colour palette used by the designer is proportionately in dark hues hence not representing a very vivid and joyful genre, maybe drama as per the main image, title, tagline and the colour palette. The designer has very strategically used the film’s strong cast as to the film’s promotional advantage by putting it up on the very top, prioritizing it to some extent.

This poster for the movie ‘Black Swan’ is using the whitish hues hence creating a dream-like outlook of the movie genre. Hence the movie may be of fiction or a supernova genre. The main image of this poster has blurred edges all around hence maybe a burring of boundaries of the real and the fiction. Hence, with two aspects of the posters pointing in the same direction the audience can easily identify the main context of the movie. However the designer has hereby not disclosed anything about what the narrative of the movie may be by not giving out any tag lines. The title of the movie ‘black swan’ might give many the idea of something relative to the ‘ugly duckling’ or the likes. However, one can never ascertain this as in reality nothing like a black swan really exists. Moreover, some may assume the story line to be about good vs. evil; something that genre theorist Levi Strauss has always stressed upon as an important element of any media text.

This poster for the movie 'Shutter Island' gives an immediate impact of some kind of action and suspense in the movie. The colour palette of this poster is basically dark in blackish hues in the rain that somehow connotate hard times. The title of the movie and the release date are red hence maybe representing somebody's death or bloodshed in the movie. The poster is a collage of three images; the main lead, the island and the burning fire. The atmosphere shown is that of thunderstorm and high tides. Hence, a simulacra of maybe a dark setting with a very small hope of getting rid of something or someone. The tagline says,' someone is missing'. This may direct the audiences attention towards finding and searching for somebody. The how and why remain a mystery, though. The font used is somehow blurred horizontally, showing either the removal of memory or the passing of time in a prompt fashion. All somewhat linked to the search for whoever's 'missing'. 

This poster for the movie 'stolen' attracted my attention owing to its main lead and its tag line which is full of suspense and promises action. The main lead of this movie is Nicholas Cage who is basically famous for acting in action films, hence my derivative of being attracted to this movie. The main image comprises of a background and of Nicholas Cage running forth, representing action, violence and time constraints. The tag line states,' 12 hours, $10 million.1 kidnapped daughter'. This tag line basically gives away the content of the movie and the genre of this movie is hence decided as action. The movie is most certainly about the collection of money within due time to get probably Nicholas Cage's daughter back from the kidnappers. The movie would focus on fatherly love. The colour palette of this movie is smouldery and bluish hence a normal setting, probably the due time is limited to an evening hour. The tag line has been enlarged and emboldened, hence the importance of these three phrases is highlighted the most, even more so than the title. The title in orange comprises of a straight font, representing a no non-sense personality maybe of Nicholas Cage. The orange colour may represent a lot to do with fire or action if bullets are to be fired. 

This poster for the movie 'Burlesque' which by the way means 'parodying something in an absurd manner' is in appropriate a combination with the main image of the poster. The tag line represents fame and signifies that the movie will be mocking a legendary artist. The main images in the poster are quite materialistic and their expressions portray attitude and an absurd air about the two, hence a high street fashion or musicale maybe. They are in opposition to one another; this may be represented from the fact that the two women have different coloured hair, one is a blond while the other is a brunette. The title font used has been coloured pink in contrast to the black and white and is sparkling, hence a movie on fame and stardom.The font in it self demonstrates power and strength. 

Shooting Day 5: Leftover Shots

Today we decided on completing our shoot finally. All we had to do was reshoot the Jamal shot which we had done wrong and complete the Hammad's flashback shots. So we firstly did the flashback shots whereby one was to be done in Dua's lawn while the second one was to be shot on a road. Flashback 1 required directions to  Hammad's on-screen father in terms of body language and Flashback 2  was to include a 180 degree rule which required a series of over the shoulder shots to get the right continuity in the scene. We managed both of these shots as I helped in directing Hammad and his father while Dua shot and in instructing Dua on the right image positioning so as to be considered a 180 degree rule.

Directing

When we moved on to Jamal's scene we faced a major obstacle which dealt with the broken table that could no longer be used as its top had eroded owing to heavy rainfall. We used an Art board to overcome this, however the art board required fixing if Jamal was to stand up from it to prevent it from falling down. For this, I supported the table with my head so as to prevent it from falling while Dua was on the camera. 

Supporting the table

Dua on the camera

Dua on the camera

With the cast and crew

Shooting Day 4: Scene 5.

This was a completely outdoor shoot. We had decided on doing this scene on the road in a purely natural way however, roads were risky and to be realistic, working naturally with a camera at hand was more than likely to put off people or strike their curiosity levels so much so that it effect our shooting. So we put off that idea and decided on going to another spring festival where we were likely to find many people. As we went therein we were able to see many people but the crowd was a riot. Shooting here meant crowd management on a second level and this time we were six young girls and one young boy only so we rejected this place too. We then thought of places where we could find a good crowd and sufficient room for shooting without any crowd issues. So we went by the Quaid-e-Azam Public Library which was linked to the Lawrence Garden. We got lucky as we came here because crowd-management was expected to be a major constraint here as well, however the availability of students from an arts institute attracted all the attention and we went by our shoot smoothly.