The Evaluation

“Lovey Dovey”
Nicola Bound
 The task: what the evaluation will
cover
For my A2 media coursework, the task was to create a short film, with a genre of
our choice. I chose to work together with a friend as we both had similar ideas
and, too, wanted to create a film of a “romantic comedy” based genre. As well as
the short film, we designed a poster that would help to promote the film, and a
double page spread article that would again persuade our audience into watching
the film. From this, we then had three media texts which would overall develop
the components of a successful short film, that manages to target and please a
certain audience. These are what the final three media texts look like:
 The task: what the evaluation will
cover
I will cover:
 Narrative
 Mise-en-scene
 Title shot
 Key Scenes
 Intertextuality
 Effects
 Lighting
 Poster
 Double Page Spread Article
 Combination of Main Products and Ancillary Texts
 Audience Feedback
 Media Technologies
 If I were to re-do my coursework what I would change
 Narrative 1
A narrative theory which I believe ours follows is Claude Levi-Strauss’ idea of
“binary opposites.” Ours follows this convention through the opposite
personalities and character types between our two lead characters, Georgie and
Ali. This was a deliberate choice of making the characters opposites, as the main
intention was to emphasise the unlikelihood of a relationship formation, and
highlight how unusual it is of Georgie to want to fall in love with Ali. One way we
connoted this idea of opposite characters was through the mise-en-scene.
Georgie’s happy yet crazy personality was connoted through her clothing which
contrasted in colour, for example the bright blue cardigan compared to her golden
hair. We used several accessories for Georgie too, almost suggesting that she had
so many elements to her; many parts to her character. It also emphasises how she
is different, how it is not particularly conventional to wear lots of random items of
jewellery and accessories. On the other hand, Ali’s very ordinary and boring
character was connoted through his dark, plain clothing. We made sure he wore
black and dark wash colours, connoting this darker aspect to his personality,
furthered where he can be heard listening to heavy rock music at the beginning of
the film.
 Narrative 2
Furthermore, Strauss’ theory was used further through the behaviours of each
character. Georgie is always seen to be smiling, and getting over excited about
situations and prospects, whilst Ali’s character was again performed as if it have a
boring and dull personality, represented by his occasional frowning and lack of
expression. This is also presented in the dialogue of each character. Georgie’s
voice is intentionally performed rather well spoken, an evident contrast of her
unusual appearance, an opposite in itself. However, myself and my partner
believed this was an effective tone in her voice to have, as it contrasted her
character so much that it almost extended the idea of her character being unusual.
With regards to Ali, we matched his voice to his appearance, and kept his voice
very monotone and expressionless.
(What must be mentioned is this applies to Ali up until he is dosed by the love
potion chocolates, whereby he then acts besotted with Georgie, and his voice
raises in pitch and he temporarily is seen to be very happy and smiling, like
someone madly in love.)
From our audience research, the idea of “binary opposites” was an idea we
decided to use through looking at classic fairytale ideas.
 Narrative 3
The storyline itself was inspired by that of “Snow White”, however, we also looked at
Disney Princess fairytales. This was because they all follow a similar idea of opposites, for
example in “Beauty and the Beast”, where Belle falls in love with the Beast even though
they are completely opposite, and in “The Little Mermaid”, where the mermaid Ariel falls
in love with Eric, a human from up above. Again, they are opposites in the way of species
almost, and it appears
an unusual relationship. I believe that basing a story-line on
a very popular films is an effective technique, as it almost
ensures that it is a popular convention to follow. Our short film
“Lovey-Dovey” is more satirical than the fairytales, as this adds
a slight edge to our film, and creates the aspect of comedy.
From a different perspective, a theory by Barthes suggests that an audience negotiates a
meaning for the media text, based on other areas of media and their own experiences. In
such a way, different meanings can be negotiated when applying it to my short film.
Themes present are unlikely relationships, making people fall in love involuntarily,
stalking and isolation. An audience may apply their
 Narrative 4
their own knowledge and understanding to forming different interpretations on the short film. The
aspect of isolation, present where Georgie is immediately called a “freak” at the beginning, and
throughout how she appears in her own world, separate to others around her. An audience may
consider this pathetic, however, another audience may consider this sad and a lonely prospect.
This idea can be carried forth throughout the short film.
Finally, Laura Mulvey suggested the theory of the “male gaze”, by which a female is perceived as
an object of desire, and on screen to be looked at. Mulvey says that this is encouraged by lighting,
editing, mise-en-scene, positioning and narrative placement. Furthermore, I believe this is
presented in “Lovey Dovey.” Towards the end of the short film (5mins30), where Georgie is
presented as an attractive object to be desired. This is exaggerated through the elements in which
Mulvey lists should be present. The shot is a close-up of Georgie, where she is positioned central in
the camera. Here, this enables the audience to get a clear view of her appearance. Moreover, the
camera shot follows Ali’s male gaze, as if to imply this is from a male’s perspective. Slow-motion is
used, to emphasize this moment of her beauty, exemplifying that the audience are to see her as
seductive. The editing used is a glow, connoting the idea that she is almost an angelic figure, as if
from heaven, and brightening and contrast is used to imply that she is of overpowering beauty.
The mise-en-scene is of her in a red dress, with the red connoting passion and love and the dress
being a seductive item of clothing for a male to be attracted to.
 Mise-en-scene 1
As aforementioned, mise-en-scene is a key aspect of portraying the short film, as it
visually enables the audience to understand the character types and the situations in
which they are in. This is represented mainly in the contrast between Georgie’s
costume between the beginning of the short film, where she is seen to be dressed in
the contrasting clothing and many accessories, however, where Ali sees her in a “new
light” as beautiful, she is seen in a red dress (as mentioned connoting passion and
love) with her hair down naturally, looking simply beautiful. Similarly, the mise-en-
scene in the first scene immediately introduces and connotes the character of
Georgie. The diegetic music has the lyrics, “we live in a beautiful world”, whereby the
scene films Georgie walking through the country side happily, and spinning in a circle.
This immediately represents to the audience her personality, of being alone but
happy and appreciative of life, but at the same time, the spinning in a circle connotes
the idea that she is quite unordinary. As the short film begins outside, it too sets the
scene for the majority of the film, in which is filmed predominantly outside. This was
an idea that we carried forth as it signifies the idea of stalking, and enables us to
present the fact that she follows him on his day to day excursions.
 Mise-en-scene 2
Throughout “Lovey Dovey”, we decided to manipulate the format of the film, with regards to
the brightness, contrast, saturation and exposure. The main adjustment were of the contrast,
whereby we wanted to create a slightly vintage quirky effect. From carrying out research, we
looked at the manipulation of the Harry Potter film sagas, where this too is manipulated to
create a vintage, aged effect. It is particularly appropriate with the fantasy genre of Harry
Potter, as the films are set in historical style settings, for example in the castle of Hogwarts. It
is also appropriate as the film setting era is not aimed to be particularly current, and this
aged and vintage effect conveys this well. Similarly, the films are quite dark, which connotes
the darker aspect to the film, such as the deaths and the dark magic. In such a way, the
manipulation of increasing the contrast and brightness connotes a cheerful feeling to the
film, which is the intent as it is a satirical easy going short film. The brightness connotes the
light-hearted aspect, whilst by increasing the contrast adds more colour, connoting a more
colourful and happier feel to the film.
 Title Shot
The convention for title shots is that they tend to be seen at the
beginning of the film, in order to inform the reader of the title and
create an impact to the reader. Whilst carrying out research into
title shots, I found the most successful films had the film titles on
backgrounds, and not superimposed onto the film. For example,
Inception (2010), nominated for 9 awards and winning 4 BAFTAs
introduces the film on a background similar to that of an electrical
circuit/maze, and the Harry Potter saga (highest grossing film
franchise of all time, with the seven films released grossing
$6.3 billion worldwide) all begin on plain background, that merge
into the film, which is what our film does. In “Lovey Dovey”, once
title shot merges into the film itself, it connotes to the audience
that Georgie is infact acting “Lovey Dovey” as the shot begins on
her walking away from the camera,
similarly highlighting that she can
be considered one of the main characters. Furthermore, we felt it
would be effective to use an introduction of the title on a
background, as it is simplistic, connoting this aspect of our film, as
the film is based on a very conventional idea of old-fashioned love
satirically and there is nothing to draw the audience’s gaze away from the title of the film. We also
ensured that the font/colour/effects on the text in the title shot were exactly the same as that of
the poster, to make an assosiation between the two, as our film title should be recognisable from
all these factors.
 Key Scenes 1

Long shot enables

audience to see
both characters
No head shot creating and the situation in
anonymity and curiosity which they are first
for audience seen together

This is the first scene after the title shot, in which Georgie is walking through the country
side alone. Diegetic music is played in the background, being “Don’t Panic”, where the
lyrics write of how “we live in a beautiful world”, implying that Georgie is content with her
surroundings and appreciative of this. The first words of the film are from the character
Georgie, where she sings another song to herself, “I’ll go wherever you will go”, by The
Calling. This is a early and subtle denotation to the audience that she is referring to
someone else, an idea carried forth where she appears to revel in the fact that he “spoke to
[her]!”
 Key Scenes 1
Visually, the film begins with a long-shot of Georgie as she walks through the countryside,
followed by a medium close-up tracking shot as she sings the lyrics to herself. These two shots
enable the audience to get a clear sense for the character. The use of a long shot followed by a
medium close-up means the audience are able to see the full extent of her mannerisms,
appearance and character. The singing and talking to herself similarly emphasizes the fact she is
quite unusual; it is often regarded strange to sing and talk to one’s self. This is then followed
close-up shot from behind Georgie, angled to the right making it come from an over-the-shoulder
shot perspective. This is effective as it allows the audience to see life from Georgie’s perspective,
enabling them to immediately feel slightly connected and involved with her. This shot is then
followed by a medium close-up of Georgie sitting down on the floor, by herself playing with a large
piece of twig; again, arguably considered a strange thing to do by one’s self for no apparent
reason. This shot then zooms out into a long-shot, whereby an “anonymous” character walks in
front of her, with the camera only revealing him from shoulders down. This anonymity creates a
sense of wonder to the audience, of who this individual is, and why Georgie is so happy and
surprised to see him. It also draws the gaze of the audience still onto Georgie, so they are not
distracted by Ali, and fully witness her reaction to his presence. The scene ends with an extreme
close-up shot of her grabbing her coat from the floor, emphasizing her rush of excitement and
intent to follow after him. It again also enables the audience to feel more involved with her,
through the use of a close proximity.
 Key Scenes 2
Long shot, positioned centrally to
emphasize character and actions

Shot reverse shot camera

action, representing the
backward and forward motion
of communication

Tracking shot of Georgie as walks looking at the writing of Ali’s

name. As if audience is following her actions instead – sense
of irony. Shot enables Georgie to get closer to the camera,
adds proximity and slight relationship with audience
 Key Scenes 2
This is a key scene within “Lovey Dovey” as it is where Georgie acquires the Love Potion Chocolates to give to Ali.
The scene begins with her watching Ali as he walks away, from over the bridge. A long shot is used, with Georgie’s
back to the camera, with her positioned centrally to the camera meaning she has the audience’s gaze. Another
effective shot used is a tracking shot of Georgie walking whilst kissing the piece of paper with Ali’s name on. The
tracking shot enables the audience to see her moving and get a full understanding for her mood through her
mannerisms, for example, she has an “individual” work of almost strutting/bouncing, connoting her strange
personality. The camera work then zooms into a close-up of her face looking extremely happy, again positioned
centrally. However, the camera then moves slightly to the left, giving a moderate indication of something
happening on the right-hand side of the screen, where the character of Miss Tree then appears. Following from
this, a series of shot reverse shots from over the shoulder are used, representing the motion of conversation, and
allowing the audience to feel involved with each character, from different perspectives. The shot reverse shots are
also close-ups of each character’s face, meaning the audience can get a clear view of each characters thoughts and
emotions from the clear depiction of their facial features. This is similar to that of the film “Love Actually”, where
Juliet and Mark meet. A series of shot reverse shots are used, from the house and from outside, creating a sense
of division between the two characters, an aspect these shots helped portray in “Lovey Dovey”, whereby Miss Tree
and Georgie are opposites with the individual camera shots highlighting this.
 Key Scenes 3

This is the third key scene in the film, where Georgie leaves out the Love Potion Chocolates for Ali,
rings the doorbell and runs away. This is key as it is a turning point for the film, as it causes Ali to fall
in love with Georgie. The scene begins with a close-up pan shot of Ali going from his hands to his
face, the first shot of his face. This is effective as the panning allows the audience to get a full
understanding of his appearance and actions in this scene. It is similarly effective as the next
immediate shot is a panning shot of Georgie from her legs to her face, meaning the audience gets
the similar perspective of both character, almost creating a similarity for them both, appropriate as
this is the first scene in which they have proximity for a long duration of time. It is also ironic, as the
similarity in camera work contrasts the situation, as he is completely unaware of her presence, and
she is blissfully aware of his, so there is a clear contrast between the two. The next shot is a zoom
to a medium close-up of Georgie as she rings the doorbell and runs away. This is effective as it
shows her excitement and, when considering the privacy of her actions, the slow zoom connotes the
idea of the audience being “secretly” involved with this private act.
 Key Scenes 3
This is similar to that of the romantic comedy
film “Heartbreakers”, whereby the mother and
daughter are a double act that con men for their
money, but who each end up falling in love. In a
conning scene, the mother puts water down to
pretend she has slipped on spilt water from the
hotel. A series of close-ups are used here, to
highlight her private act that is not intended to
be seen by any characters but only the
audience. Thus, this is similar to the close-up
shots in “Lovey Dovey” that too are used for this
same effect.

This shot follows on from a close-up to emphasise the

idea of the act she is doing is private and she does not
want others to know of it.
 Key Scenes 4
Finally, I have chosen to evaluate this scene as it ends the short film and was a scene that
took a lot of careful consideration and planning. It ends by Ali falling unconscious after hitting
his head, then waking up in Georgie’s room. The ending was created for the purpose of it
being up to the audience what has happened to Ali; the only indication is of him looking
underneath the sheets, but as to why he does this is down to the audience’s interpretation.
We carefully constructed this scene, in the way of not revealing who the individual was who
was walking up the stairs, yet it being all the same very obvious. As the “individual” walks up
the stairs, they wear a light purple dressing gown carrying two cups of tea. There are a series
of shots from different angles, each revealing different areas of the “individual” such as their
head, back and feet. Finally, the “individual” pulls down the dressing gown hood, utters
“Good morning sleepy head – How’re you feeling?” and ginger hair is revealed, showing to
the audience that is, in fact, Georgie. In our audience feedback, we were “criticised” of the
short film being predictable, however, we reply that this is the aspect of the film that we
revelled in the most. We want it to have an element of predictability, yet conjunctively to
represent this satirically, having a cliché aspect that adds to the light-hearted humour that
we wanted to emit throughout. Despite this, we did appreciate the positive and critical
feedback we received, as it helped us to develop our film better and give us a greater
understanding of our audience’s expectations. As aforementioned, as Georgie walks up the
stairs, there are consecutive close-up shots, enabling the audience to get hints as to who this
character could be, despite the deliberate lack of subtly. At the end of the scene, when Ali
realises where he is, he looks under the sheets and has a direct gaze with the audience, as if
 Key Scene 4
looking into their eyes whilst screaming. We believed this was an effective shot as this is the only
interaction with the audience Ali has throughout the film, therefore, looking at the audience and
having their gaze connotes his panic and horror. His scream is then faded into the background,
simultaneously as the scene fades out to black. This is intended to represent to the audience how
there is nothing more he can do, as if his voice is diminished by the sense of loss of dignity and
knowing, whilst the black could connote his emptiness, whilst at the same time connoting his darker
more miserable character. Moreover, black finalises the end of the film well, compared to white which
we used to begin the film with after the title shot. Once the film is completely black, a diegetic
voiceover is used, where Georgie says, “I will love you Ali – forever.” This ends the film with a little
quirk, as quirk is the main genre of our film. This line can be viewed almost hauntingly, which furthers
the idea of it having a satirical edge, as throughout watching the film the audience should realise it is a
romantic comedy.
 Intertextuality
Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. Intertextuality can be directly
applied to the relationship between media texts and the participants. When considering the
actors and actresses to use in the short film, it important that they are chosen right in order
to get an accurate portrayal. From films such as “This is England” to “Slumdog Millionaire”, it
is becoming popular to use unknown actors/actresses for the film’s benefit in not creating
any bias from the audience. For example, using well-known, famous actors/actresses can
have one of two effects; they may be tempt an audience into watching the film or discourage
them to watch the film, possibly for reasons such as the individual have too much of a strong
familiarity with the genre, or too contrary to their actual character that it reduces the
realism. For example, over the years Hugh Grant has got a renowned connection to playing
the bumbling hapless male in romantic comedies, which arguably takes the believable aspect
out of the role. With this in mind, this is a popular reason as to why films are beginning to
use unknown fresh talent, as it enables the character roles to be more believable as the role
is potentially not tainted by the actor/actress. Unknown actors are also good as they are in
low demand and require low amounts of funding. When applying intertextuality to my short
film, I used unknown individuals from my sixth form of the same age as the characters. The
age similarity means that the actor and actresses are able to relate to these feelings more
than if there was a larger age gap. They are unknown actors/actresses, meaning there are no
distractions for the audience, and they are in little demand.
 Effects
Effects: As previously mentioned, I manipulated the short film considerably
in terms of brightness, saturation, contrast and exposure. I manipulated
the short film on the video editing software “iMovie”, in which I also
created the film. For the poster, I edited the image on “Photoshop”, a
graphics. editing program, developed and published by Adobe
Incorporated. This program allows professional editing to enhance the

appearance of media work. I predominantly used this to created a

softened effect on Ali and Georgie’s clothing, and similarly their
skin. I did this to create a gentle tone to the poster, similar to the
of the “soppy” aspect of a romantic comedy. Thus, the soft and
blunt tone connotes that the film is of a gentle nature. For
example, in a horror film, a poster may chose to display a contrast
of dark and bright colours, with a sharpness to the image to
exaggerate certain aspects, possibly those that are designed to be
fear-arousing. In using “Photoshop”, I used a smudge effect to
manipulate the image of the love potion chocolates into appearing
as if they had a magical glow/flames emitted from them.

For the double page spread article, I used “Photoshop” and

“InDesign.” “Photoshop” enabled me to manipulate the image
itself sufficiently, then I placed this into “InDesign” where I was
able to display it in a double page spread article format. I added a
text, masthead, boxing, captions, lines and an image.
 Lighting 1
The lighting for the image of the double page spread article was naturalistic as it was
captured outside, reflecting and representing how the majority of Lovey Dovey was filmed
outside. However, I still manipulated the image using “InDesign”, as it was an inconsistent
background which I didn’t like. The image bled to the sides, however the sky in the picture
was not consistently covering a certain area, so instead I brightened this area of the image
to make it all completely white. The sky that was manipulated to white merged with the
white background, by which I then was able to incorporate a “aged” background, which is
linked with the title page of Lovey Dovey. Therefore, a sense of a continuity was achieved
through creating a consistent background to the double page spread article.
 Effects 2
Film – Slow motion
Ali – House scene – after eating chocolates
Kate’s voice – slowed down to make eerie
 Lighting 2
The lighting for the poster was artificial, created from a spotlight which was stationed from
above, casting light directly onto the two characters. This created a shadow from the characters,
as they stood in front of a white backdrop. I believe this created a professional appearance, as it
is a technique used in many areas of research that I have carried out, for my short film and for
my AS music magazine front cover, by which after asking a large sample audience they too felt
that a spotlight creating a shadow on a white back drop looked professional. For example, it can
be seen in these romantic comedy film posters:
I then manipulated the image
by editing the shadows to
where I believed they would
look best, for example
Georgie’s shadow not covering
or hindering any area around
Ali, as it would obscure him or
distract the attention off of
him.

I felt using artificial lighting was effective as it created a professional look to the poster, one that is
seen and achieved successfully in previous romantic comedy films. It was also arguably effective to
do as we used naturalistic lighting for the double page spread article, thus, we are showing
different aspects to the film, and not repeating the same idea, being boring – and it isn’t.
Music and Sound
 The Poster 1
When designing the poster, the most important area to consider
was audience research; what conventions to stow by and follow
for the ones that have previously proven successful, or which
new ideas to bring to the area. There were several conventions in
which I used which were effective, those being the ones circled
in red on the left. In “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, the
conventions we followed were of having the actors and actresses
names horizontally along the top of the poster. This is effective as it adds emphasis
to them. Another is of how the characters do not have a gaze with the audience; they
are looking at each other, connoting their love/hatred for each other, giving slight
indications for the theme and message of the film. We also followed the arguably
cheesy and satirical framing of the two characters having their backs against
each other. This implies that they oppose each other for some reason, which is an
idea I wanted to portray to the audience, thus, they have their backs to one and other,
however, with Georgie looking towards him, connoting how she has eyes only for him,
and with his back to her, connoting to the audience his lack of interest. In “The Backup
Plan”, I followed the convention of having alternate colours in the main title/masthead
of the film. This is an effective technique as it adds a familiarity between the title and
the audience. The colours used and word length would be hopefully soon be
recognised as a familiar heading, in which they would not need to read to know what
it was. We also followed the convention of having the credits field along the bottom
as it is important information, but lower on the poster means it is not obscuring
 The Poster 2
any of the image or headings and callouts etc, or distracting
the audience from the main areas of the poster (title, date,
image.) Another convention I followed was of “Just Like
Heaven”, where I used the idea of incorporating detail into
the poster to make it more visually attractive and
appropriate for the poster. I manipulated leaves onto the
poster, detailed horizontally across the top, connoting the
fact of it being based outside, whilst it being visually
attractive to brighten up the poster with and not look so
plain. I too followed the idea of the men dressed in dark and the female in white, a popular
convention as it highlights the gender differences, whilst following the stereotypical idea
of women being an angelic figure, compared to men, hence the white t-shirt, as if
heavenly – “Just Like Heaven” – however, to prove this isn’t just a fortunate convenience
it can be seen in the previous two examples to further this point. Moreover, its
appropriate to my short film, as the dark clothing connotes Ali’s dark attitude, whilst the
bright colouring of Georgie’s clothing connotes her bright and happy attitude.
 The Poster 3

However, I did not follow all conventions into the formation of the poster, myself and my partner
incorporated our own preferences and ideas, whilst including feedback from our audience research. A
main example of this is of the love potion chocolates box, featured central right of the poster. In our
audience feedback we received positive comments such as “the framing is excellent”, “the colour is
really effective and goes with your film”, “the editing looks great”, “the white-drop background looks
professional”, and constructive criticism such as, “the arrangement of text could be better”, with the
suggestion of moving the release date and quotation to be central in the page, to catch the reader’s
gaze. However, myself and my partner believed the poster looked slightly simple, which is not a
connotation of the film; we believed that Georgie’s area of the poster in particular should be more
detailed to connote that of her crazy personality. Therefore, we decided to manipulate the chocolate
box using Photoshop, whereby I put lines around the chocolate box of different shades of pink, and
then used the “smudge” tool to create a “hazey” effect, as if the chocolates are emitting a powerful
feeling of love, almost like fire, a satirical idea on the male’s burning loins. We believed this effective as
it also connoted a magical aspect to the chocolates, hinting to an audience who are yet to watch the
film (bearing in mind the poster is there to tempt those who have not watched it) of what the
chocolates are capable of. Similarly, after carrying out research into existing posters and looking at that
of “Just Like Heaven” (above) we too believed that adding further detail would enable the poster to
become more visually attractive, and connote the almost “flowery”, “lovey dovey” aspect of the love
presented.
 Double Paged Spread Article 1
Here, there were many conventions
in which I followed:

Angled call-out to catch reader’s

gaze and persuade

Page numbering informs

reader and directs them to
correct page
Film information
The rule of thirds – image covers
2/3rds of page

Secondary images to inform Information organised into columns for

reader and enhance the ease of reading and to create a structure
appearance of article to the article
Capital letter extremely conventional of Background effect used, to create an
written articles, in particular magazine. aged and battered effect which
Draws in readers gaze to signify where connotes the dark aspect to the
to begin reading Twilight saga with the aged
connoting the myths and legends
told – aged effect in Lovey Dovey
Large callout of a quotation, catch readers gaze, inform them of the style
connotes the cliché old fashioned
of interview (personal opinions) and gives information on the topic of
satire of the unrequited love
question
presented
 Double Paged Spread Article 2
I would consider my double paged spread article quite conventional, as I did conform to the
standard structure of the article. For example as highlighted, the use of two columns to a page,
use of secondary images, the capital letter signifier and the two thirds image rule for the
composition. I chose to create a conventional article as after carrying out research into existing
double page spread articles, these were too the conventions of successful films, for example The
Social Network (2010), which grossed $22,445,653 on it’s opening weekend in
USA, was one of the most successful films of the year. The article was written in Empire
magazine, one of the most successful British music magazines. The
article features an evident two-thirds rule convention which is effective as it
offers a good balance between image and text, as this is not a full article, therefore,
the image is there to entice the reader. Similar to my article, the film title is not largely
displayed, but instead
“Geek Tragedy”, connoting that the film is getting a successful reputation and is
recognizable without the title. There is also an easy to read two columns on the one page, and a
capital letter to signify where the article text begins; both further conventions I have chosen to
follow. Thus, my magazine article could imply positive connotations as they are similar to that of
articles of successful magazines, suggesting “Lovey Dovey” is too, a successful film.
il
 How effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary texts?
In the poster, it is important to portray the correct message to the audience, as it is there to persuade them to watch the film by boasting the
creative ideas intertwined throughout. Therefore, the film had to resemble the film. This was carried forth through in several ways, one of which
being the colours used. As mentioned, the saturation, brightness and exposure were increased in order for the film to incorporate an old-
fashioned feel, resembling the cliché unrequited love. In such a way, in the poster we predominantly increased the saturation of the clothing,
therefore Ali’s was very black and Georgie’s was very bright. This is an exaggerated connotation, as it highlights to the audience the contrast
between their characters, through the contrast in colour; Ali’s darker and gloomier whereas Georgie’s being very sporadic and fun loving. Both
characters are positioned centrally to the page, using the same amount of area, indicating that they are both the main characters and have an
equal weighting of importance in the film. This composition for the poster is similar to the poster for “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days”, whereby a
long shot is used of the male and female characters too have their backs to each other, creating a division in the page, with each character
covering the same amount of area. The long shot enables the audience to see both characters in their entirety and from this create a perception
of each character. Similarly, it is representative of the shots used throughout the “Lovey Dovey” film, whereby the majority are long-shots as they
enable the audience to get a greater understanding of each characters appearance and setting, and is also appropriate for the storyline. This
would need to be clear particularly in a short film, as there is limited time for the audience to have any unnecessary confusion, so enabling long-
shots means they can get a clear sense of what is happening in the particular scene. The manipulation of editing detail onto the poster, such as
the pink leaves, swirls and flames represents the exaggerated “sickly” aspect of love, thus, emphasizing the satire involved throughout. The facial
expressions were also a key aspect to consider. We tried a range of different shots, of Georgie looking cheekily at the camera, with Ali turning
away, or Ali looking moodily at the camera and Georgie longingly at him. However, after carrying out audience research we decided this was the
most affective. We believed that with Ali looking down towards the floor connotes how he is quite dull and lifeless, whilst Georgie looking quite
longingly towards him connotes to the audience that her attention in the film is on him. She also has her finger on her lips, implying to the
audience that her intentions are secret. This almost acts as a hook, as it is clear in the shot that Ali can not see this action of putting her finger to
her lips, suggesting that it is an action only for the audience’s eyes and are already involved within this plot. Moreover, the love potion chocolates
are held by Georgie to the right of the page, just under half way down the page. They are slightly obscured by her arm, connoting that they are
indeed the secret that Georgie is keeping, and the composition of them not being central to the image furthers this idea. However, they are
positioned towards the audience, so the words ‘Pieces of potion love Assorted chocolates’ can be seen, indicating this is a significant factor to the
plot. The colour scheme for the poster is cliché of “romantic” pinks and reds, whilst incorporating the vintage style editing of the film (increasing
contrast, saturation, brightness, exposure.) We chose to use pinks and reds as they are typically associated with love, in particular red connoting
the passion of love, and pink arguably connoting the childish aspect of love present in the film. We also intentionally made Georgie’s lips red with
a red lipstick, as the evolutionary theory suggests that this is considered to represent fertility, a quality that attracts men to women, thus
considering her attractive. This links to the scene towards the end of the film whereby Ali finds
 himself attracted to Georgie after eating a love potion chocolate, and there is a slow-motion scene in which he finds her beautiful. It similarly adds a sense of continuity to the
poster, as it furthers the colour scheme, as it links with the red font used. We aimed to create a professional poster, therefore followed conventions of other successful film
posters. We had many sources of inspiration, one in particular being that for Bridget Jones’ Diary, being too of a romantic comedy genre, when considering the white backdrop
and shadowing used. The white backdrop enables the individuals in front to stand out considerably, as with the characters wearing coloured clothing it creates a contrast
meaning they would catch the audience’s gaze and attention. This was exemplified by the use of shadowing which we believed would be effective as it enhances their figures
further and emphasizes they are important. We achieved this through using a spotlight. This is a technique used in the Bridget Jones’ Diary poster as shadowing is used here,
making the poster look professional and adding perspective to the poster. The white back-drop was also successful as it enabled us to be able to add a masthead, callouts and
different coloured texts that could all stand out against the white without any distraction. The text for the poster we chose to keep simplistic as it formed a cohesion between
that and the masthead (which links with the title of the film on the film), and overall a simplistic font is effective as it does not distract the audience completely from the image
itself, which is the main selling-point of the ancillary texts. We incorporated a distinctive familiarity for our masthead without a quirky font choice, by having the word “Lovey”
in red and “Dovey” in black. These two colours are oxymoronic, as red connotes the feeling of passionate love (felt by Georgie) and black connotes dark morbid feelings (felt
by Ali.)
For the double page article spread, again I believed an effective article would be to have both characters involved, but not Miss Tree as she is not a primary character within
the film. I ensured their were cohesions between the article and the film, so there was a distinctive link and association. One link was the background of the article having an
“aged” antique effect to connote the old-fashioned idea of unrequited love which linked with the background to the title of the film at the beginning. I chose to use the two-
thirds rule composition as, from carrying out research, I found this was the most successful and commonly used rule. The image is designed to cover approximately 2/3rds of
the page, with the remaining 1/3rd being text. This is important for the article as the image is designed to attract the audience into reading the article, whilst the text supports
the image, and informs the reader further. I chose not to include a large title of the film, despite this being a common convention in film articles. After researching into
existing film articles, such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows P1, an uncommon format style is to include a large heading implying a certain idea/message about the film,
with the film name incorporated either into the text or in an information box. I chose to follow this idea, as it connotes to the reader that it is a successful film that does not
need to avidly inform the audience of their film. It is an arguably risky move to make, as the audience may need to see the title to act as a cue in wanting to read about it, and
the article alone may not provide this. However, it was a risk I was willing to take, as with such a large image and repeated use of words such as “love” does act as large hints
to the reader as to what film the article is about. I carried forth a sense of continuity between the poster and the double paged article spread through the colour scheme; the
use of pink is prevalent throughout the article, through font, capital letter, Georgie’s lipstick, the call out and clothing of Miss Tree in the secondary image. This again connotes
the idea of love. However, I have also conformed to the conventions of media texts, by using the simple colours white and black. The main article text is written in black, the
most popular convention of media texts such as magazines and newspapers as it is cheap to print and easy to read if on any bright background. White is used to stand out
against the black of Ali’s clothing and the dark shades of the trees. These colours add simplicity to the article, an aspect I was willing to incorporate as the article is written
asking the actors what they thought of their roles, thus does not need to be as eccentric as it is quite a normal standard article. For the image, I chose to manipulate the image
slightly further than that of the poster. For the poster I believed a completely accurate representation needed to be portrayed for the reader to understand the tone and
meaning of the film. There is only one image and the persuasion heavily relies upon this. However, I manipulated the double paged spread article slightly further
as I believe it does not need to be entirely as accurate. I wanted to make it look slightly more animated in order to incorporate the comic
satire the film heavily focuses around, and to incorporate the “Disney” aspect of the romantic but still unrequited love. There are also
many other secondary images further in the article for the audience to understand that this is not entirely a replica of the manipulation of
the film. To create this effect, I used Photoshop where I used “blemish remover” to make their skin clear, and then used the “smudge”
tool in order to create the animated effect. I similarly used this on the trees, all the while these effects creating a magical aspect too.
Photoshop was particularly effective when blending in the aged style background with the trees, in order for it to look subtle and an
unnoticeable difference. I carefully chose call-outs for the film to act as a hook to entice the reader in, such as a review saying “The
loviest, doviest film of the year!” which subtly informs the reader of the film title and offers positive commentary on the film, which may
help in persuading them to reading the article. I included an information box in order for the audience to be informed of any information
about the film they were unsure of. This includes the film title, release date, certificate and director. This is useful for the reader as it is an
easy to read box, composed on Ali’s black t-shirt in pink and white font, and means the reader can see this information without having to
scan through the article to find it. For the masthead “Fact #50: Don’t force someone to fall in love with you” I made this angled in order to
stand-out to the reader and be visually attractive. It is also an intriguing statement, as the words are ambivalent “someone” and “you”,
neither being identified. The reader could identify themselves as the article advising “you” (the reader) however, the lack of identity could
cause intrigue to the reader and be a reason for them to want to find out why you, in fact, should not force someone to fall in love with
you. For the secondary image, I added a drop-shadow in order to make the image stand out as it is small it may go unnoticed in the article,
but it is important and I wanted to emphasize this. I also used lines throughout the double paged article spread, to add structure to the
article and help the reader with ease of reading, to direct them on where the article columns begin and end. It is also a common
convention, shown particularly in popular magazine articles, such as NME http://www.nme.com/ and Empire magazine
http://www.empireonline.com/
 What have you learned from your audience
feedback?
Audience feedback was one of the most important areas in the planning and preparation area of creating the short film, but also in the
development of each stage, as it was very helpful to get an audience’s opinion as we are creating and designing, for them to tell us if a better
idea would be more effective. Before we were to act on any impulses on what we thought a good short film would be, we wanted to see what
our audience believed would be, as they would be the consumers of our product. We wanted to know aspects such as what was the most
popular genre in this market, which gender would be preferred the main character and what tone for the film to be. To obtain these results we
carried out a questionnaire, then put the data into pie charts. For our audience research we carried out several different types of feedback
retrieval, such as questionnaires, surveys, interviews. We had a range of ages and people in our audience to their was not any population
validity, and it was random so there was not any opportunity bias. For the questionnaires, we made sure they answered anonymously, so
they were not tempted be biased through fear of offending us,or wanting to flatter us (social desirability bias.) Our target audience was from
aged 12-24, as we believed a younger audience would enjoy the romantic element of the film, whilst a generation of around 17 years of age
would enjoy it as this is the same age as the actors, and they may find it satisfying to relate to the characters. An older generation of up to 24
may enjoy the film too as they may appreciate the humour provided, as this may not be entirely appreciated by a younger audience who are
potentially not as receptive to it, as the satire is sometimes considered a complex form to understand, thus, we certificated the film at a PG.
Therefore, whilst carrying out the audience research we aimed to ask an audience of between 12-24 as this is the age market in which we are
targeting. We predominantly used opportunity samples, as this meant we could easily obtain the desired feedback with those willing to
participate their opinions. We asked pupils in our high school and sixth form between the ages 12-18, whilst asking relatives of a similar age.
However, we also asked the older generation, such as teachers and parents as we believed they may be able to offer more technical advice,
as they would have lots of knowledge having grown up in a constantly developing media. Our media teacher was extremely beneficial, and
offered considerable amounts of useful advice. One area that was helpful for example, was highlighting how important it was to keep the title
the same between the ancillary texts and the main project film. Previously, on the film we had a simple font in white times new roman, whilst
on the poster using a deliberate font and text style to present specific connotations (being the red and black font choice previously
mentioned.) Keeping both texts the same enables the audience to create a familiarity between the film and the title, therefore, the title being
instantly recognizable as a symbol for the film. A key piece of research that we carried out was a questionnaire on our class, where we
showed them the film and asked for their opinion on it; we asked questions such as “was the genre clear?”, and we worked on the responses
we received. Overall, carrying audience feedback reinforced the expectations of our audience. It is easy to forget the audience you are
targeting as it is easy to get become involved with your own views and thoughts on the film.
 How did you use media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?
In the construction of the short film, we used a ***** video camcorder in order to film with, which enabled us to get quite a
professional appearance to the film. For our research, we used the internet predominantly in order to find successful previous media
texts to gain inspiration from and use as guides in order to too make our media areas look more professional. Youtube was a very
useful website as it enabled us to watch clips from films that are of a similar genre in order to gain the inspiration, but also to watch
films produced by minor independent companies, and by people who enjoy making short films recreationally. We also researched
using film magazines. In gaining audience research, we carried out polls on the social networking site Facebook. This was an
effective website to use in order to gain successful feedback, as I am 18 years of age, and so are my peers, and they are too of
around a similar age bracket, thus, are the age of our target audience. We also posted our progress on the film, the poster and the
double paged article spread and asked others to comment on their thoughts and opinions. We gained great feedback, both positive
and critical but we used all constructively. When considering Youtube, this was potentially the best area of carrying out research
through using media technologies. Our film has received around 300 views having only been posted their around 1 month, which we
consider quite successful. The film also has 2 “likes” which is a form of poll where the public can vote if they “like” or “dislike” the film.
I also received an email from an individual who works for a film company who wrote to say, “I was wondering if you'd like to be
working for a small filming production; I am the owner. We need more creativity to our performance. Right now, I am working on an
independent short film. If you would like to help out with some ideas, we already have a script for it but I'd love to have more creative
ideas from you. If anything contact back and you'll be placed on the credits as what you helped with. Thanks.” This was a flattering
piece of audience feedback, as the individual is asking for my “creative ideas” implying to me that he is impressed by the short film in
which myself and my partner uploaded to Youtube.
As aforementioned, the two main media technology programs I used were Photoshop and InDesign as they enable the work to look
professional, and are quite advanced so have many different editing areas which I used to manipulate my images. I also used a
website called Scribd, a Web 2.0 based document-sharing website, which allows me to upload my Powerpoint presentations to my
Wordpress blog, whilst also allowing other individuals who use Scribd to access my work, which is a form of promotion of my film. I
chose to use Scribd as I used it for my AS coursework, and found it very advantageous and easy to use, whereby I would upload it
to www.blogspot.com I also use d Microsoft Excel, a commecial spreadsheet program in which I used to formulate graphs and
charts when calculating the results from my audience research.
Retrospective: What would you do differently
if you did it again?