Poster & Review Feedback

Poster    Average mark:  8.3/10

I was really pleased with the feedback I got for my film poster. There were many positive remarks along with some good constructive critisism.

The main comments made about my poster were that more information was needed, such as production company logos, who rated it and who Harry Wainwright is. I totally agree with these comments, thinking that I needed some of these before I got feedback on it.

The other comments that cam eup a few times were that they really liked the incorrect spelling of the words in the title and that I had edited it and used Photoshop really well.


Review    Average mark 8/10

Again, I was extremely happy with the feedback I got and agree with all that was said. The comment that came up mutiple times was that the white background was a little bit boring and simple, so I will definitely change this.

The positive comments that I got were primarily that the layout look like a real film review and that they really liked that I'd included a screenshot from the film as the main image rather than just the poster.

Film Review - Before Feedback

Film Poster - Before Feedback

This is my film poster for my mockumentary "Confeshions of a grammer junky". I'm rather pleased with how it came out. The Photoshop practise we had definitely helped me when producing theis image. 

I decided to not use lots of colour as I don't feel Gordon's life is all that colourful, especially considering he is always reading newspapers which are primarily black and white. However the oranges is not only used to catch the attention, but it can also connote the enthusiasm and determination that Gordon feels towards correct grammar.

Location

For the final scene where Gordon gets arrested, I have decided upon a location. It was important to Julian (my policeman actor) that it can't be too busy as he didn't want to cause a scene as it wasn't professional and he was actually meant to be on duty.


When walking through outer Wymondham, I came upon an alleyway that I thought was perfect, and whilst there isn't any graffiti for Gordon to correct, I have gathered up a number of band posters from a magazine and I can stick them to the wall to look like a poster board, which is ideally what I want.


There were 3 sections to the alleyway, all of which could be potential locations for the scene.

 The part of the alley was suitable, but because of the door, it made it seem more like a back garden rather than an alleyway. 


It also felt a bit too cramped.

This part of the alley was more suitable than the above location. However, it too seemed very cramped and enclosing. 


Also, the bike at the other end, I had no idea who it belonged to and it was chained to s part of the wall and couldn't move it out of the way. It was also a bit too long and I couldn't move further up as the wall had windows and I was looking for a blank wall.

At the end of the alley on the other side, was a large, empty brick wall which I felt was perfect and exactly what I was looking for.


It didn't have the enclosed feeling that the other 2 parts of the alley did and the wall was completely empty. I would probably film the scene facing the other way so the wall is on the right and the fence (unseen) is on the left.

Photoshop Practise

In order to create a poster for my short film, I must be able to use creative software such as Photoshop to get as best results as possible. Our class was given the task of editing the image of Rupert Murdoch so that it looked like he was holding the globe in his hands.


Below are the images before and after I Photoshopped them.

and

 

became

After this task we then had to use the hue/saturation tool to change the background of the image from "Mesrine: Killer Instinct" 

<-- The original image.     

After this task, we were then allowed to use images we had found on the internet to come up with a film poster for a film already out. I decided to mix things up a bit and use images from 2 different films to create an original film poster .

   these 4...

...became

I feel that these edits have helped me to understand how to use the basics of Photoshop, which are essential to know if I want to create a decent film poster.

Storyboard

Characters and Ideal Actors

Below is the list of characters I will need to cast:

Gordon Bridgeman

Interviewer - (Voice Over)

Gina Bridgeman

John Bridgeman

Mr Taylor

Brittany

Policeman


(+ Extras)

Ideal Actors

Gordon

For Gordon I need an 18 year old male who is good looking, but also has something that makes him different from the generic "fit guy" (apart from his dress sense and OCD).

Some actors that I looked up fit the description for Gordon. For example;


Craig Roberts                                                                                           Rupert Grint

 

and Darren Criss

 

All 3 of these actors are good looking, but they also hold a quality about them  that makes them much more different from the "jock, fit guy" status that many attractive males are put under.

They still have a boyish charm in their faces which I feel is key to Gordon's character. 

 

Interviewer

For the interviewer I would prefer it to be a woman's voice as I feel the mockumentary is very male orientated and they have a somewhat softer tone when talking. There are a few actresses that I have researched that I would deem suitable for narrating my mocukmentary.

Emma Watson, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet all have suitable voices for voice-overs. They are all English and very well spoken so I feel they would be great voice-overs. I know that Kate Winslet has done a narration to the film "The Girl and The Fox" and Emma Thompson has narrated the film "Stranger Than Fiction". All 3 of these actresses have had experience in doing voices for animated movies.

Kate Winslet

                                             Emma Thompson

and Emma Watson

Gina Bridgeman

For Gina, I'm looking for the generic mother character. A woman who's not dressed up as she's too busy with jobs round the house. A couple of actresses I have come across are Romy Rosemont and Felicity Huffman. Rosemont is known for her role as Carole Hudson in "Glee" and Huffman for her role as Lynette Scavo in "Desperate Housewives", both of their characters fit in with what Gina Bridgeman is like, so they could easily play the part.

Romy Rosemont                                                                                   and Felicity Huffman

 

John Bridgeman

Again, for Gordon's dad, I would like him to be the generic father. The manly man who does the DIY and too doesn't dress up in shirt and ties as he's too busy with his own jobs. A couple examples I found are Mike O'Malley and Richard Karn.

Richard Karn                                                                                                    Mike O'Malley

 

Mr Taylor

Mr Taylor needs to also be a very generic teacher. I feel that by having the other characters as your average kind of characters, then it accentuates Gordon's abnoramlity. A few examples of actors for Mr Taylor I have researched are; Jack Black, Matthew Morrison and Neil Patrick Harris who have all at one point played a teacher character.

<-- Jack Black            

Neil Patrick Harris

and Matthew Morrison



Brittany

The character of Brittany is the school's main "mean girl" which is again very stereotypical of films and TV shows, particularly American and English ones. I have seen some actresses around that would fit this part very well, such as Naya Rivera and Kaya Scodelario.

Naya Rivera

And Kaya Scodelario

Policeman

Again, my final character needs to just be the average policeman. Someone who looks trustworthy and has friendly face, preferably male. Some actors I have researched for the part are; Ardal O'Hanlon and Simon Pegg

 Aradal O'Hanlon                                         And 

Simon Pegg

Obviously, I wouldn't be able to use any of these actors, but it is them that I am basing my cast off of as I feel that they would fit the parts extremely well.

Location Research

My Mockumentary requires numerous locations in order to get the ideal documentary style and feel to it.


One of the most important locations for my short film is the place where Gordon is correcting grammar on public property where a policeman is able to walk past and notice him. I went all over Norwich keeping an eye out for graffiti areas. Below are some images of what I found.

This poster collection is the sort of thing I was looking for to film the part where Gordon gets arrested. However, after speaking with Julian (who played the policeman) he requested somewhere a little less busy as people may think the re-enactment real and with him being an actual policeman, it would be deemed unprofessional.

This piece of graffiti was in the subway walkway connected to the above photo. It was all grammatically correct except for 1 error in spelling which I thought Gordon would pick up and correct straight away.

This is a section of graffiti I found in another part of Norwich. There was much for Gordon to be able to correct as the majority of the words you couldn't really word out what thy said.

This is another poster section that caught my eye, however there were too little posters and again it was a bit too public for my policeman.

I saw that this sign post had some graffiti and stickers on it that Gordon could correct, however it would have been a bit too high and awkward to reach. Although, if I had a longer time limit, I could have added an extra scene in which Gordon goes out of his way to correct the errors. Even more than he normally would.

I noticed this error further up the street from the sign and thought it would be something Gordon would pick up on, however I felt that there wasn't enough for him to correct for him to stay long enough whilst the policeman arrived.

I spotted yet another poster collection, but not only were the bins in the way, but there also wasn't very many posters. As well as this, it was also a very busy street, particularly with buses so Julian probably wouldn't have done the scene here.












I needed to get some shots of Gordon walking all by himself which will be used for when the Interviewer/Voice over is speaking. There were a number of locations that I found and I plan to use more than one of them.

 The first was a street in Norwich. It would have been ideal, but due to the number of people about I decided to not use it as I wanted Gordon to be on his own as a way to emphasize how alone he is because of his condition. 












This is the main street in Wymondham. Whilst there are currently not many people about, the street can become very busy and like the above location, I would like Gordon to seem very alone.





This a pathway in Wymondham beside the Tiffey river. It was very quiet and open which is what I was looking for for Gordon to walk along.









This bridge and long road was beside the above location. I liked it as it too was very lonesome and despite there being a number of parked cars along the side of the road, there were no people about. 

This location is beside the school. Whilst it was quiet and no one was about, I prefer the other locations that had more greenery showing and I preferred how you couldn't see the end of the path/road, whereas at this location, you can see the gate and building at the end of the path.

This is the final location that I scouted for Gordon to be walking. It is the Abbey gardens and the gravestones give a perfect opportunity for Gordon to glance at and double check the spelling as he walks by.














There are many locations around the high school that I can use when filming my short film. Besides the generic classrooms, below are some other potential locations to film at.





This is an area outside the sixth form social science building.


The social science aspect could accentuate on how Gordon's conditions affects his social skills and life.

 This is a study area for sixth form students in which Gordon could be studying by himself, or possibly proof reading something. I have the school library for this scene.

This location is on the outside of the school. It is primarily where the lower school go during lunch and break. I feel I would be more inclined to use the location had the gazebos not been there, and had Gordon sitting alone on one of the benches.


















Another important location for my Mockumentary is a sitting room for Gina and John scenes to be filmed in. I'd prefer a simple, bog-standard lounge that doesn't look too fancy as I am casting them to be lower middle class with generic jobs and lifestyles.

The first location was at a town house in Trowse Newton. The woman who owns it is an interior designer and everything looks a bit to pristine and perfect for what I was looking for.








This location was a lot more what I was looking for. It was also a lot more accessible than the above location as it was closer and I knew the owners a lot better. 

This was the final location that I found for sitting rooms. Again, it was much more what I was looking for. however, I preferred the above location as the leather looked more expensive than the red sofa and I was looking to have a wall right behind the sofa.