Theoretical Research

In this post, I have researched two different theories: Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory and also Tsyvetan Todorov's narrative theory. I researched these two theories because I thought that they were very interesting and I am looking to either apply them or intentionally not apply them to my short film.

Tsyvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory  

I think that I will be applying this theory to my short film. This is because I know that a good narrative needs structure and this is the most famous and successful structure to follow. We, as an audience, are so used to seeing this structure media texts that we could write a narrative ourselves and our narrative would follow this structure without us even realising. By using this structure, I think that I will have a short film with a strong narrative. This should help to make my short film a success.

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

I think that I will intentionally not include male gaze in my short film because I see it as unnecessary. I have a lot of faith that my script writing will be funny enough for me not to need to include male gaze. I strongly believe that my short film will be a success without the inclusion of male gaze. Also I want for my short film to appeal to a large female audience which I believe not including male gaze will do.

Location Recce

In this post I have visited some locations that I am thinking about filming my short film. I have done this because I think that it is important to get an idea of where I am going to shoot my short film before I start my storyboarding or script writing because then I can produce my storyboard with my location in mind and this will prevent numerous issues when it comes to filming.

Location 1: Innovation Center

Side 1

The Innovation Center is made up of two separate rooms that are joined together. On this side of the Innovation Center we can see that there is a large, circular, table in the middle of the room. Also this room has a very bright colour scheme that might be nice to play around with to portray certain characters moods in our short film.

As you can see from this picture, there are two large windows at the far side of the room which let in an awful lot of natural light however there is not a very nice reflection of this light from the white wall of the hut that is just outside of the window so I believe that it might be better to close the blinds, when filming, and find an alternative source of light for this room.

This picture gives you a good feel for the size of this particular section of the Innovation Center. As you can see, this room is surprisingly large and you can comfortably fit 20 people around the table in the middle of the room and still have a respectful amount of room around the outside of the table. A negative of having all of this space is that it does create an echo in the room which is not great for filming our short film. Also from this picture you can see how the two sections of the innovation center are joined. 

Side 2

In this picture, you can see the other section of the Innovation Center. As you can see, the bright colour scheme is continued into this side of the Innovation Center and the room is filled with these equally bright chairs that could serve as good props for our short film. 

This picture shows that this side of the Innovation Center is also quite large which again creates and echo in the room. Also you can see, in this picture, how you can access side 1 of the Innovation Center from side 2.

From this picture you can see that side 2 also has large windows that let in a lot of natural light however, there is a chicken coup just outside of the window that don't really want to be able to see in my short film so, again, it might be a good idea to close the blinds and find an alternative light source.

This picture shows the corridor that is located just outside side 2 of the Innovation Center. As you can see, the corridor is quite narrow which I think will make it quite interesting to shoot some scenes in however, there are some sections of the corridor that have very high ceilings which creates a huge echo in the corridor. 

This is a picture of the same corridor, outside side 2 of the Innovation Center, but from the other end of the corridor. As you can see in this picture, The corridor is extremely long and again I think that this makes it a very interesting location to shoot some scenes in. 

This is a picture of the corridor located just outside side 1 of the Innovation Center. As you can see this would also be a good place to shoot some scenes for my short film. The ceilings here are very high which creates a huge echo also. As well as this there is a big glass door at the far end which lets in a lot of natural light.

Checklist

Risk Assessment

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Location 2: MU3

This location is a music room which might make it quite interesting to film in due to the amount of musical equipment that might be possible to use as props. Also this room is very large in size however, due to the amount of objects in the room, there is not much of an echo. Also there is a stage in the room which might be interesting to play around with whilst filming.

This room also has some wooden step that are used as seating to watch acts that are playing on the stage. I believe that this would make filming here more interesting because, other than using it for characters to sit on, it could make filming high angle shots easier.

Checklist

Risk Assessment

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After completing this post, and a lot of decision making, I have decided that I think that it would be better to shoot our short film in the Innovation Center. I have made this decision because I think that there is a lot more options, shooting wise, in the Innovation Center and I think that shooting my short film in the Innovation Center will be slightly more interesting due to the colour scheme, the fact that it has two sections and also the fact that there is a large corridor that would be good to shoot in as well. Above this, I think that it would be a more suitable location to shoot my film due to the the main plot of my short film.

Audience Research

In this post I have produced a questionnaire to gain information about my audience. I needed to know if the people taking my questionnaire had ever even seen a short film before. Also I need to know if the people taking my questionnaire liked things like black comedy because I plan on using black comedy in my short film.

Here is a link to my questionnaire:  

https://docs.google.com/a/tavistockcollege.org/forms/d/1Tl-ngbJj1_ozAv3AVZd35mPSLi3cBIBsP5tj_SezIYo/edit

The Results
Here are the results that I have recorded from my questionnaire for just 5 responses. I think that some of the results are quite interesting.

After completing this post I now have a huge knowledge and understanding of my audience. From question 1 I found it quite interesting that 80% of the people that took my questionnaire were male. I thought that this was interesting due to some of the answers that I received for the later questions. I also found it a relief, from question 3, that absolutely everyone that took my questionnaire had previously seen a short film before. This was a relief because I now know that short films are popular and I also have the evidence to back that up. question 4 allowed me to gain an understanding at how often short films are watched which I was quite underwhelmed with because short films are not watched as often as I thought considering that they are popular and everyone had said that they have watched short films before. I was surprised yet relived with the results of question 6 because, according to my results, comedy is the most popular movie genre due to the fact that is received 40% of all the votes that I collected for this question. This is good news because the main genre of my short film is comedy which suggests that my short film could prove to be quite popular. question 7 also back up my predictions for my short film because 60% of all the responses that I received stated that they watch comedy films often. More good news that I received from my results is the fact that 60% of the people that took my questionnaire said that they liked black comedy which was a relief because I had big plans for implementing black comedy into my short film as a main theme. One thing that I did not expect was the results of question 9. most of the responses said that improvised comedy and sit-down comedy were the most popular styles of comedy. This was highly beneficial because it gave me new information that I will work on to add into my project to make it a better and more popular short film.              

Audience Targeting

In this post I have produced a mind map about my target audience. I have done this so that i can gain a better knowledge of my target audience and I know exactly what my audience is like even down to what they do in their free time.

Now that I have completed this mind map, I have learned many things. I have learned what type of comedy my audience like, which is important because I am considering having aspects of comedy in my short film, and I have also learned what type of media texts they consume most often. Films like "Step Brothers" and "Without a Paddle" are the most commonly watched films and programmes like "The Inbetweeners" are the most commonly watched due to the fact that my target audience have a lot of Brit Humor.