Production- Final Magazine Review Page

Below is a bigger copy of my magazine review page, as seen in my Prezi presentation;

Production- Magazine Review Page

Creating my magazine page on Prezi

Production- Magazine Review Page research

Research into Film Review Pages on Prezi

Production- Final Film Poster

Below is a bigger copy of my final film poster, as seen in my Prezi presentation;

Production- Film Poster

my film poster on

Production- Film poster research

Research into Documentary Film Posters on Prezi

Production: Recording my narration

After going over the content of my narration with my parents, to check that they thought it gave an accurate representation of our daily lives, I started to think about how I would record it.

My class mates had suggested that I record myself talking tot he camera in a 'video diary' style and then intersperse clips of me with the footage of Matthew. However, my film is already almost 4 minutes long and with the maximum length being five minutes, I was concerned that this would leave me with even more editing to do! I also decided that recording just a voice narration would be quicker, so with my deadline approaching fast, it seemed like the best option.

I still used my camera to record the narration, but I didn't intend to use the footage of me talking, just the sound. I set it up on a tripod in order to film myself and managed to do it in one take! There were a few mistakes, but these could be edited out in iMovie later.

When I started to put my narration over the top of my film, I realised I needed to cut it down slightly, as there were some clips of Matthew where I wanted to keep the diegetic sound. Thankfully I only had to cut out the odd sentence here and there to make it fit.

Production: Beginning the Final Cut

Now that I have decided what clips I am going to use in my short film, I can start producing the 'final cut' of my film.

I noticed that a lot of my clips were still quite short and snappy, which was frustrating as I wanted the main action over which I would have my narration to be longer and to flow easily. Then I got the idea of having a few quick clips of Matthew, with the sound of his 'Leap Pad' over the top. A leap pad is a noisy toy that Matthew has on himnearly 24/7 so as a family we live with the constant noise of it. Due to his ADHD, he never lets it play one sound for very long so it often just omits short bursts of sound. These quick bursts of sounds paired well with the snappy clips of Matthew. In order to do this I had to extract the audio from some of the clips of Matthew playing with his Leap Pad in the car


Initially I started the film of a clip with Matthew being given his medicine. I thought that this would grab people's attention. However, Ms Casson suggested that I didn't use this clip frist, as it made him look ill. I then tried to pick clips that introduced Matthew's special needs gradually.
The video below shows the finished introduction to my short film

This video is much higher quality than my videos of my edited footage. This is because instead of choosing the option 'share for web streaming' I chose, 'full quality.' This has greatly improved the picture and sound quality of my footage.

I aim to get my final cut completely finished by the end of the week.

Planning: Second draft of narration

Following the feedback I receieved from my classmates about my footage and what they would like to know about Matthew, I decided to do a second draft of my narration. I think it needs to have more information about how it effects our daily lives... somethings that I would consider quite mundane seemed to interest them!

It's hard to explain to people what Matthew's like and how severe his special needs really are. Basically his autism means he can't communicate or more accurately doesn't see the necessity... It's strange really, because there's so many times throughout the day where Matthew's trying to tell us something, but he's just pointing, making noises and we don't know what he means... so he gets angry which makes us frustrated... sometimes I feel like shouting at him 'this would be so much easier if you could just talk! Can't you see you need to?!' But I guess his brain just doesn't work that way... His learning difficulties mean he'll probably never learn to communicate like other people his age. Right now, aged 14, Matthew can only say single words. This doesn't mean he's quiet though, he's always making noise, but not anything that resembles a sentence. It's hard to put a sort of 'mental age' on him because, admittedly he can't read or write or count to ten, but he's clever in other ways... I think he's got more intelligence than we give him credit for. His ADHD is the simplest one to describe, it just means he's hyperactive; can't stay focused on one task for more than 5 minutes... if that.

Living with Matthew isn't easy. He's very challenging in lots of ways. His behaviour is quite unpredictable... it can make going out in public quite a difficult and embarassing experience as he just has no idea about what is and what isn't socially acceptable. Because he doesn't like change, his days have to be very structured... he has a clear routine and we can't just randomly decide to go out as chances are he'll just refuse to co operate. If he feels disturbed by something he tries to maintain a sense of order, so he'll start trying to boss me and my parents around.
He's become much more controlling... I think that's what I resent the most, how much control he has over everyone in the house... We either do it his way, or we don't do it at all! Most of the time it's just easier to let him have it his way than to suffer the consequences.

When Matthew gets anrgy, his tantrums are horrendous. He doesn't have them all the time, but he goes through phases where he'll have an outburst at least once a day. Those times are the hardest.. for everyone. We don't even always know what's brought it on because obviously, he can't tell us. I just feel so helpless. I normally just hide up in my room while my mum and dad deal with it. I wish I could help but they say they'd rather I didn't get involved because I'd just end up getting hurt. When he's in that sort of state he just sort of destroys everything in his path; he'll break furniture, lash out at me or my parents; he gets really violent. He's violent towards himself as well... it's almost like he realises that something's wrong with him and that's why he feels this way so he takes it out on himself. It's horrible to see Matthew like that.

He makes me really angry, sometimes. I know he can't help it, but I don't want to always excuse him as some of the things he does are just so out of order, but at the same time he's my brother... he's my only brother and I love him. Underneath all the anger and frustration that he directs at us is vulnerability, he needs us. I do feel very protective towards him because he can't fight his own battles, he needs people to fight for him. And that's me, that's my job. I'll always look after him, always be there for him. Always.

Production: Editing my footage

This is the second half of all the footage I have edited for my short film

I am slightly concerned about the grainy quality of my footage on the YouTube videos, as my footage does not look like that in iMovie. However, I am hoping that the low picture quality is due to the fact that I chose the option 'share for web streaming.' After putting all my footage together I realised that I do not need to film anymore footage as I already have 17 minutes worth and the recommended maximum length for my short film is 5 minutes. Therefore I need to cut down my footage to the most interesting parts, or the parts that I think best show what Matthew is really like. During the lesson I showed my footage so far to my classmates and they gave some great feedback about what they would like to see in my film. They thought that it would be good if I had narration over some of the slower pieces of footage, but leaving the sound on for some of them could be quite poignant. They also suggested that I included footage of myself or my parents talking, as this would give the narration a more personal feel, as the viewer would be able to see my expressions and reactions. They also asked me lots of questions about Matthew which gave me an idea of what people wanted to know, which will help me in my editing process and when writing my narration.

Production: Editing my footage

Today I finished editing all of the clips I had of Matthew into the bits I potentially want to use in my short film. Whilst I am still undecided on what order these clips will go in, or whether I will use all the footage, I put all of the clips together and used the 'Share' option in iMovie to upload the video to YouTube. I compressed the movie for web streaming, then tried to upload it to YouTube, however, the film was rejected because the length of the film was too long (17 minutes.) I therefore had to split the clip in half so only managed to upload half of the footage to YouTube this lesson. I will continue to upload the rest of the footage next lesson. I have included annotations over the various clips giving my opinion on them and detailing my decision making process in terms of whether or not I will use them in my final project.

Extra research: Nick Hornby's writing on Autism

Ms Casson recommended that I looked at the author Nick Hornby's writing about his child with autism. I found an article on the Guardian website. The part I found the most interesting was the introduction he had written to a book of short stories which he had editing called 'Speaking with the Angel' where he describes a day in the life of a family with an autistic child;

''He sleeps five or six hours every night, in fact, which means that if he can be kept awake until, say, nine, then he will wake up at two or three. He is upset and frustrated, so he screams, and his parents, who have maybe slept three or four hours, feel a mixture of exhaustion and depression and panic - they live in a small flat, and the walls are thin, and they know that they are not the only ones who are disturbed on a nightly basis . . . It is six hours until one of them starts work (the other would like to work, but in the absence of any suitable school place for the child, it is not possible), by which time the child will have attempted to hurt himself by hitting himself hard and repeatedly on the head, and maybe thrown some food around, and refused to use the toilet and ended up soiling a carpet, and demanded in the only language he has at his disposal (one word, repeated with increasing force and volume) to go out to the park, even though it's pitch black outside . . ."

This gave me some inspiration into what to write for my narration and made me think about what parts of Matthew's daily routine my audience would find the most interesting.

Production: Tripod footage

Over the weekend I filmed some more footage of Matthew this time using a tripod./ I found this filming technique a lot more effective, as not only did the tripod encourage Matthew to interact with the camera more but it also meant that I could leave it running for longer and also keep filming even when I had to help Matthew do things. Capturing this sort of interaction could be very useful for my short film and I found that Matthew responded a lot better when being filmed using the tripod. I originally thought that I would film some more footage of him using this, but I believe that I already have enough footage for my film, therefore this will not be necessary.

Production: Reviewing my footage

After looking and editing my footage this past week, I have had to reconsider some of my original ideas. I originally planned to have my narration over the top of action of Matthew. However, after looking at my clips, I think some of them would be more effective if I kept the sound in it. Therefore, this may mean that I need to cut down on my narration, or film more footage of Matthew. I also want to review my narration again and complete a final draft of it. Over the weekend, I plan to film more footage of Matthew as I have managed to borrow a tripod.

Production: Editing in iMovie

This week I began to edit my footage using iMovie HD. At first, I found this challenging, as I have only used video editing software once and I've never used this version of iMovie before. However, I soon managed to get to grips with it and I have now discovered how to split clips and cut out footage I no longer need. AT the moment I am in the process of watching each individual clip and cutting out any parts that cannot be used (because he isn't looking at the camera etc.)

Half term work: Footage

Over the half term holiday I began filming footage of my brother for my documentary. As my brother is such an unpredictable subject, I was unsure about what footage I would get and could not really plan when to film him, so I just had to have the camera ready with me at all times! When I showed the footage to Ms Casson, she suggested that I used a tripod to capture some more action as my camera work was shaky, which I plan to do in the coming weeks. However, overall I am pleased with the footage I've got and will use the next couple of weeks to edit it.

Planning: Narration for documentary- First draft

Text on screen at beginning: Matthew is 14 years old. He has been diagnosed with severe autism, profound learning difficulties and ADHD.

It's hard to explain to people what Matthew's like and how severe his special needs really are... it tends to confuse them a little bit. Basically his autism means he can't communicate or more accurately doesn't see the necessity or feel the need to communicate.. that doesn't mean he doesn't get frustrated though... trust me when he gets frustrated you know about it! It's strange really, because there's so many times throughout the day where Matthew's trying to tell us something, but he's just like pointing, making noises and we don't know what he means... so he gets angry which makes us frustrated... sometimes I feel like shouting at him 'this would be so much easier if you could just talk! Can't you see you need to?!' But I guess his brain just doesn't work that way.. His learning difficulties mean he'll probably never learn to communicate like other people his age. Right now, aged 14, Matthew can only say single words. This doesn't mean he's quiet though, I mean he's always making noise, but not anything that resembles a sentence. It's hard to put a sort of 'mental age' on him because, admittedly he can't read or write or count to ten, but he's so clever in other ways... I think he's got more intelligence than we give him credit for. Although it might not seem that way when he's playing with noisy books or watching Postman Pat. His ADHD is the simplest one to describe, it just means he's hyperactive; can't stay focused on one task for more than 5 minutes... if that.

Living with Matthew isn't easy. He's very challenging... he's got more challenging as he's got older. He's become more controlling... I think that's what I resent the most, how much control he has over everyone in the house... it's not even that he thinks he has control, he does have that control. We either do it his way, or we don't do it at all! People find it hard to understand, why we give into him, why we let him do this... but most of the time it's just easier to let him have it this way than to suffer the consequences.

His tantrums really are horrendous. I mean he doesn't have them all the time, at the moment I'm happy to say that they're not a regular occurrence, but he does go through phases where... he'll have an outburst at least once a day. Those times are the hardest.. for everyone. We don't even always know what's brought it on because obviously, he can't tell us. I just feel so helpless. I normally just hide up in my room while my mum and dad deal with it. I wish I could help but they say they'd rather I didn't get involved because I'd just end up getting hurt. He's gets really violent and now that he's older it's started to actually make an impact, he really does hurt my mum and dad. It's horrible to see Matthew like that as well, with my mum and dad restraining him, it makes me think 'they shouldn't have to treat him like that he's their son!' They don't want to handle him like that.. but they have to, not just for their safety but for Matthew's as well. He's violent towards himself it's almost like he realises that something's wrong with him and that's why he feels this way so he takes it out on himself. He makes me really angry, sometimes. I know he can't help it, but I don't want to always excuse him as some of the things he does are just so out of order, but at the same time he's my brother... he's my only brother and I love him. Underneath all the anger and frustration that he directs at us is vulnerability, he needs us. I do feel very protective over him because he can't fight his own battles, he needs people to fight for him. And that's me, that's my job. I'll always look after him, always be there for him. Always.

Planning: 25 word pitch

We were advised to keep our ideas for our short films simple and were therefore challenged to write a pitch for our project in 25 words. Here is mine;


My documentary aims to give an insight into what living with a sibling with autism is like and the impact it has on family life.

Planning; Target audience

Unlike in my AS project, where my product had a clear target audience which could be categorised by age, gender and interests, for my A2 project I will have to approach the topic of target audience slightly differently. My documentary project has no specific target audience in terms of age, gender or interests; I am simply pitching it to anyone who wants to find out more about autism and gain a deeper insight into what it is like to live with a family member with the condition. This group of people would be known as my 'intended target audience.' However, my product as lo has a secondary audience, as I believe that people may also want to watch my documentary if they themselves have a family member with autism. They would be interested to see in what ways my experiences are similar and different to theirs and also to see how I have represented autism to a wider audience. They would not be watching it for the same informative reasons as my intended target audience and they would already know a lot about autism.

Research: Autism

What some people may not be aware is that autism ios a conditoon that can affect people in mn ay different ways, depending where they are on what is called the 'Autistic Spectrum.' Matthew (my brother) has severe autism, therefore is on one extreme end of the spectrum but some autistic people can live failry ordinary lives; go to mainstream schools, live on their own etc. There is an Autism Spectrum Quotient test online developed by Simon Baron Cohen, a leading autism expert which anyone can take to see if they have autistic tendencies. Once you have taken the test, the results page explains what your score means

http://glennrowe.net/BaronCohen/AutismSpectrumQuotient/AutismSpectrumQuotient.aspx

Research: Distribution of short films

Unlike feature length films, short film do not get the same wide distribution in cinemas or on DVD. They mainly rely on the Internet in terms of gaining exposure. This could be a case of the director uploading their work to generic video sharing sites such as YouTube or it could be in the form of websites dedicated to showcasing short films. Examples I have found in my research included the Virgin Media Shorts competition website and the website for the Tres Court film festival in Paris. I have discovered other UK based short film festivals in My research such as the London Short Film Festival and the Edinburgh Short Film Festival, where my film could be showcased. Alternatively, my film could be distributed as a '3 Minute Wonder' on Channel 4 which are short documentaries shown by channel 4 before their prime time shows.

Research: What I have learnt & techniques I want to use

Research: Documentaries

An Investigation into Documentaries

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Research: Short documentaries- Favourites and Influences

After thinking more about the concept of my short film, I decided to focus my research more on short documentaries or factual short films, rather than short films with a narrative (such as About a Girl.)

I began my research by searching for some documentary style and factual short films for inspiration. These are some that I found:


Roz & Joshua
This is a film I found on the 'Tres Court' film festival website. It is a factual film about a woman named Roz who is trying to secure custody of her son Joshua, now that she is out of prison. I spoke about this film in my presentation; I thought it managed to create a serious and poignant mood, even though it was less than 3 minutes long. The black and white effect sets the tone immediately, a good technique as short films have very little time in which to make an impact. Whilst I'm not sure it would be right for my film, it fitted in well here. I also liked the use of both interviews to the camera, but also voiceover over the action.

24 Hours in London
This is a film I found on the Virgin Media Shorts website, which Ms Casson prompted me to go on. Whilst it is very different from the type of documentary I will be creating, I still found it very interesting to watch. I really liked the time lapse techniques used. Although the premise of the film may seem quite flimsy in a way; just filming 24 hours in London, it was actually very interesting to watch... the pace of London seemed very overwhelming!

Sundays
Another film that I found on the Virgin Media Shorts website, this was a documentary about what ordinary people did on a Sunday. Whilst I didn't find this documentary as interesting as the others in terms of content, I liked the technique of using both interviews to the camera and voiceovers (as seen in Roz & Joshua.) The documentary had a more light hearted tone than Roz & Joshua, so the lighting was brighter.

Whilst I liked all the documentaries and could learn something from all of them, I thought I'd try and refine my search and try to find some documentaries that would be more similar to mine; maybe even some specifically about autism.

I began by looking at the Three Minute Wonder section on 4od. Three Minute Wonders were what first gave me the inspiration to do a factual short film. I managed to find some good documentaries focused on one person as a main subject, which is what mine will be.

The first one I watched was a documentary called 'Norman' I liked the way the documentary used a combination of voiceover and interviews to the camera, a technique I definitely want to use in my own work. I also thought it was interesting how they also used photographs as well as film, something I may consider doing in my own project. The documentary used the same technique as 'Roz & Joshua'; making the footage black and white to instantly create a more serious mood. I'm still undecided as to whether I think this technique is appropriate or not for my documentary.

I also watched another documentary from the same 'Juggling with Homelessness' series called 'Jamun' 'Jamun' uses the same techniques as 'Norman'; such as being in black and white, mixture of voiceover and interviews, use of photography etc. Another thing I liked about these documentaries is the lack of narration, which I think would've spoiled the mood of the piece. Instead of using a voice narration, they use text on the screen instead, which can make more of an impact.

The three minute wonder documentaries were particularly relevant as they both focused on people who had special needs.

From my research into short documentaries I have discovered many common techniques and features of short documentaries. At this moment in time as I do not have my footage I am not entirely sure which techniques I will use in my own film, but have found many techniques that I would like to use. I found that many documentaries use text on screen as opposed to narration when any background information needs to be expressed. This technique is particularly good for short documentaries, as I feel that a narration can spoil the mood of the piece. I will most likely use this technique in my film. I am also very sure that I will use a mixture of voiceovers and interviews to the camera in my film. I am still undecided as to whether or not I will have my footage in black and white or colour or a mixture of the two. Whilst is it very good way of immediately setting the tone of the piece, I think I will need to review my footage after I have shot it and decide then.

Research: About a Girl

about a girl

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Research: Presentation on short films

purpose of short films

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Proposal for Advanced Portfolio

Name: Amy Scott

Title of Brief: Written brief for my short film

Outline of ideas: My short film will take the form of a documentary about living with a sibling with autism, with the main focus being on my brother Matthew who is diagnosed with severe autism, profound learning difficulties and ADHD. I aim to give an insight into how autistic children behave and how their diagnosis affects the rest of their family.





Auxiliary Products: Poster for the film, film magazine review page



Target Audience: (age, gender, socio/economic group) Like many documentaries, the content will be suitable for anyone to watch, therefore it will be aimed at anyone who has an interest in autism; either on a professional or personal level. It will be mainly aimed at people who do not have much experience of children with autism as it will hopefully help them gain a better understanding of the condition, but it may also be of interest to people who have an autistic member of their family as they may want to see how my experiences compare to their own.

How will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? What is your inspiration? My idea is based upon the series of '3 minute wonder' films which are often shown before prime time shows on Channel 4. My film will follow conventions of documentaries such as the style of filming and the use of either a voice over or clips of people talking directly to the camera. I believe that what will make my product unique is my subject matter. In my experience of documentaries about autistic people, I haven't seen any that have included a child like Matthew, whose limited speech and unpredictable behaviour make him a challenging subject matter. Also, I haven;t seen any which focus on what it is like for the siblings of people with autism.



How will your main product and ancillary texts compliment each other? Whilst documentaries are not normally marketed in the same way as blockbuster films may be, they are still promoted, especially if they are appearing at a film festival. The poster and magazine review page with give the audience more of an idea about what the documentary is about and will make it seem more accessible, as some people are put off watching documentaries as they are stereotyped as being boring. Marketing it in a way similar to a film may change people's view.





How will you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I will use a video camera and editing software such as iMovie and photoshop in the construction stage. I will primarily use the internet in my research, using video websites such as YouTube to watch existing short films for inspiration and other film related websites like IMDb to find out other useful information. My blog will be an important part of my planning as it will keep all of my work in one place. My evaluation will most likely take the form of a Powerpoint presentation or even a video presentation.