'The Employer' - Bloopers

Viral Marketing - Social Networking

Social Networking
I thought it'd be a good idea to create a Facebook page as a way to raise awareness and as a way to advertise the film.

https://www.facebook.com/theemployera2

So firstly, I had to create a Facebook page on my personal account so I would be the administrator. I was told to upload a photo for the page and to add some information.

I felt that the information needed to be secretive but also very misleading so due to this I wrote: The Employer is about revenge and choosing between the right thing to do and the wrong. A gripping tale of homeless man, Kyle, and his fight for survival.

The profile picture i chose for the page is a still from the title sequence in the film: 

I have invited friends to like the page and to show their support.

As we collected more things to put on the page, we did so so that audiences can get a sneak peak of what it is to come. Putting this video on will attract audiences because it will allow them to know which kind of poeple like the film storyline:

We then continually added other videos to attract a potential audience:

This is a brilliant way to attract a potential audience because they'll find things out about the film they wouldn't have otherwise known.

'The Employer' - Secondary Poster Draft

Here is our Film poster for 'The Employer'.

I am not uploading this to our official 'The Employer' Facebook page until I have received feedback from my media group. This way I can alter any issues with my poster, and if my team want to include or change anything, I can do that too.

Something I may change with the approval of my team is to delete the layer with the eye and curtains, and increase the image of Kyle to take central focus of the poster, as the eye has more impact on a viewer, that our primary photograph.

Reshoots

Through our films production, we had to have many reshoots. The main reason for reshoots was because of technical errors with the camera as I have explained in my 'Issues during editing' post.

However, we did do some reshoots because of lighting issues and continuity errors. For example then filming the fighting scene between myself and Kyle, we noticed a brick which was in a one of the shots, but missing from another. This caused a rather large continuity error as the two clips simply didn't match up when editing them together. As a result we had to go out the next day and re-film the entire scene.

Additional continuity errors were also a problem. For example we kept forgetting weather my bag was placed on my right shoulder r my left. We also forgot weather I had my top button done up, and weather not not I had my shirt tucked in. Looking back now I feel that before we started filming we should have made a list of these things for me to stick to, avoiding this problem. \

A miscommunication error also occurred between our team. I thought that a in a specific shot, Darrel (my step father) should just give me the note prop, not the box. This resulted in me re-filming another entire scene at my house, for which Darrel was not available. In a mad rush I asked a friend of our team if she would mind coming over to spend a couple of hours filming. She agreed, and luckily the shoot went well. I have learned the importance of communication between a group for the future.

On some reshoots, the lighting was different and so we would film that day and when editing notice that the clips would not match up because of this. This meant we had to note down the specific lighting of each shoot so that we could find a time in the day where this light was exactly replicated in order to produce shots that would matchup when editing together.

'The Employer' - Drafting Poster

This is a rough sketch of the poster I aim to create. I plan to take the photograph of Kyle sitting at a desk within college hours tomorrow afternoon. When I have taken the right photo I am going to edit the photo through Adobe Photoshop.

I want a black circle to shadow inwards on the image of Kyle, with the 5(*) ratings with short sentence reviews to be placed right and left of the image to produce the effect of a blockbuster film poster, with massively applauded reviews.

In terms of props, I would like a right on the corner of the desk to light up half on Kyle's face. I would also like a gun to represent the violence the film contains, and documents to show Kyle's calculating scheme to track and kill the character in the film. A final glass of water should give the office a professional and reality to the scenery.

I want Kyle to dress in a back suit (the same as his suit in the film) to replicate a business transaction scenario. I feel this works well with the plot to out film as Kyle plotting revenge does share similar qualities business men have.

Audience Feedback - Final Cut

Audience Feedback - Final Cut

Audience Feedback form for Final Cut of 'The Employer'

Film Poster Photoshop Draft 3

This is our final poster we have created. From the previous draft we have corrected a few spelling errors and coloured parts of texts with a black shade. When consulting as a team we decided not to delete the image of the eye and curtains as it does represent the omniscient presence which Kyle is presented to have.

We have also added a '15' certificate to our poster purely to make it appear industry standard.

Adaption of Film After Audience Feedback

Due to a lot of people on the feedback questionnaire stating that they found the narrative to be confusing we have decided to adapt a few things about the film.

The main thing that the respondents found confusing about the film was the middle section and why Kyle's character was actually going to the houses in the first place.
To make this section of the narrative seem a lot clearer, we all conferred and decided that instead of wasting time re-shooting the scene and showing the actual writing on the letter, we should have the same shot and have a voice over.
This voice over would be the Employer himself reading out what he has written on the letter to Kyle. We felt that this voice would be domineering like the Employer's character and it would be another introduction to the Employer buy without showing his face, which would create an eerie atmosphere and evoke suspicion and interest from the audience.

Graphs of Audience Feedback

Radio Trailer Research

As part of my research portfolio, I am going to help my team in creating a radio trailer. As our film is a psychological crime thriller, the kinds of trailers I am going to research into have to be very specific. However, before narrowing down into that specific genre of film, I am going to briefly overview some well know and effective radio trailers.

Audience Feedback Form for Rough Cut

Rough Cut of 'The Employer'

Rough Cut

The following film is the rough cut to our film 'The Employer', posted on YouTube. A feedback form has been created and has been linked in the description of the video on YouTube and also has been posted out on various social networking sites.

Audience Feedback - Rough Cut

Audience Feedback - Rough Cut

Radio/Viral Trailer - Individual Idea

Radio Trailer - Idea

The idea that I had for the radio trailer is quite unconventional. It came from a discussion I had with the actor who plays the Employer. We were talking about ways to do the trailer that would be quite unconventional and ways that presented the character of the Employer in a less obvious typical villain way and more of a 'could be anyone' way.

To achieve this would be particularly effective as the film isn't a huge blockbuster thriller proposing a large over exaggerated situation that would be relatable to an audience. Our plot is something quite close to home and happens everyday, muggings. So because we want our film to be relatable to the audience, we came up with the idea that the Employer would speak to the audience directly. Because it is a radio trailer it would maintain the mystery surrounding his identity, but still create some kind of connection like Kyle has with the Employer.

We decided that a monologue that is close to the one that is used in the final confrontation scene would be effective as it gives a sense of what is to come in the film and in regards to danger and threat which would immediately create a select audience that enjoy those elements in a film.

We brainstormed for ideas that we thought should be involved in the radio trailer. his is what we came up with:
We discussed paralinguistic features of the monologue such as light laughter or scoffs, phrases that we would like to use, religious references or quotes, violent language to allude to the atmosphere of the film itself and direct conversation and questions towards the audience.

The elements suggested on the brainstorm were then discussed and made into this rough draft:

 

 

Studying all the elements to consider in the monologue, this is what we finalised:

 

 

'It's funny, the decisions we make. We choose marriage, job, kids, the perfect life. But isn't it funny, how decisions can change everything? Some make a choice that will ruin someone's life. All for personal gain. All to survive. To survive we have to suffer. And to seek revenge, we have to survive. I made the choice for revenge... You can only survive for so long. A life... for a life [scoffs] if you will.'

We then recorded this and uploaded it ready to edit together. The things that must be involved in the radio trailer are:

• A voice over
• Sounds from our film
• Dialog from our film
• Music from our film

So when editing the radio trailer we must consider how to involve these without losing the connection and closeness between the Employer and the audience.

Radio Trailer - Individual Idea

Radio Trailer

As a group we decided that it would be a good idea to create a radio trailer for our film. A radio trailer is a form of viral advertising and a way to raise awareness for our film. It is a way to attract audiences. I wanted to create an idea for it so that once we have all got ideas, we can work together to create a brilliant radio trailer.

I think a good idea would be to use the main music from the film as a background noise for the whole of the radio trailer. Then if the trailer was successful, audiences would recognise the music when it is played in the title sequence.

I also think that a big part of the final speech should be used in the radio trailer because then the audience will get an idea that this film is about revenge and trying to be a good person but failing miserably.

The voice over should be a male because women aren't involved in this film and that could be a confusing factor for the audience. The voice over will reveal vital information to the listeners that allows them to recognise and understand the film they're hearing about:

'The Employer is a film about fighting for what you believe in, whether that be the good... or the bad. Coming to cinemas near you. For more information go to www.facebook.com/theemployer. Rated 15'

Film Poster- Individual Idea

Film Poster
A film poster is one of the most eye catching ways to 'sell' a film to an audience. They can appear from anywhere to bus stops to the advertising space on the back of a public toilet door. So, for this reason we have decided that it would be a good idea to create a film poster for our film.

I think as an initial idea it would be good to have either Kyle or The Employer on the cover because they are the main characters in the film. It would be a great idea to have The Employer on this poster due to him being the secret character in the film and audiences won't see him in the film, full faced, until the end of the film so the constant thoughts throughout watching this film will be 'Where is the man on the poster?' which leads the audience to be suspicious of dark clothed man in the film.

If Kyle was on the front, the poster wouldn't seem mysterious or dark because Kyle has an open face that doesn't hold any secrets where as The Employer's does. It is hard to say which is a main character because they both hold a large part in the film but all in all the film is titled The Employer which suggests that he is the main character.

So, I am deciding that The Employer is to be the focus point on the poster. I don't want them both to be on because that could suggest that they're together for some reason when in actual fact, they don't know each other at all. One incident connects them that happened over 10 years ago.

I feel that the poster needs to simple due to the complexity of the narrative in the film so the two are juxtaposed. There is to be nothing that stands out on the poster other than The Employer as he needs to be the focal point of the poster, as he is in the film.

This is the film poster I designed. The Employer is sat where Kyle is sat in shots in the title sequence and the box is placed next to him which suggests that the box is related to him. The title is the thing that stands out the most because, throughout the film, the actual term of address 'The Employer' is never mentioned so this makes it clear that this is an important factor.

Issues During Editing

Issues During Editing

We suffered many difficulties when editing our film. A complicated mix of faulty cameras, along with different audio we all couldn't agree on resulted in a lot of time being spend on correcting the basic editing procedure.

Faulty Cameras

From editing in our AS film to our A2 we have continually experienced problems with the camera technology Barnsley College provide us with. Jodie, a member of our group film work team had taken the camera home and so had charged the camera over night before a full days work ahead the next day. When half way through a shoot in a church graveyard the camera unexpectedly cut out due to a dead battery. Luckily we found a charging point within a church, however we had to sit around whilst valuable filming time and daylight was being lost to a problem that was not of our making.

We also experienced a lot of minor problems with our camera equipment. On multiple occasions our camera turned off unexpectedly in the middle of a shoot and when moving the camera and tripod to a different position for a different shot. This was not only annoying, but also yet another inconvenience to the days shoot.


Self inflicted problems

When uploading footage to the iMac computers to edit, I thought that to speed up the time it took uploading I could press fast forward on the camera. Although this did work, it effecting the durability of each clip. For example the "1 v 1's" shots with me and Kyle in the final confrontation scene where each a split second long and so were completely unusable. We asked Simon for help and he said that we could re-upload the same footage and wait the amount of time that it needed, but when doing this the shots had been arranged to delete when exiting the camera, and so were lost. As a result we had to spend another full lesson filming the same shots.

Relevant Film Theories

Theory 1) Todorov’s theory of equilibrium:

Todorov’s theory of equilibrium fits into out A2 Media film, ‘The Employer’ perfectly. Our film commences with a young male protagonist moving down the country in the hope of seeking employment. (Note the final twist in out film goes again conventions of horror as his character could be interpreted as an antagonist). We feel sympathy for his character, as he is not only homeless but also in self-rehabilitation of crime/drugs and alcohol. This is the Equilibrium stage of Todorov’s theory.

The disequilibrium stage starts to happen as we observe Kyle have flashbacks of a disturbing nature, gradually becoming progressively more violent as the story moves forward. This is the second part to Todorov’s theory, the obstacle in the plot becomes known to the audience.

Todorov’s theory of the new equilibrium can be either good or bad, depending on each individual films story line. As our film is a psychological crime thriller, the ending closes with a gun being pointed at a Kyle’s head, and then cutting to black. This can be seen as a form of justice, or a murder depending on point of view, and so because of this there is no set equilibrium. However this final section to the theory may not comply with our film as the film closes with an assumed shooting, therefore theoretically falls under the category of dis equilibrium.

Theory 2) Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary Opposites.

Claude’s theory of Binary Opposites dictates that opposites attract each other within any type of film that involves elements of conflict. We find that this theory fits with our film, but in the stereotypical form that may be expected in a horror. The classic ‘good v’s evil’ can be seen to exist in our film, but again as our film has a narrative twist in its finale, it may be perceived as a binary opposite in the theoretical sense however not in its traditional convention.

Looking back at scenes in out film I can also see other Binary Opposite contrasts. For example the light and shadowing in the penultimate scene is metaphorical for the good and bad. Kyle is homeless and so we dressed his character in dirty overalls and muddy shoes with torn shirts and un-tasteful cardigans. We felt this look was the look of a man seeking shelter and a healthy lifestyle. In direct contrast, The Client wears a smart black suit with a shirt and tie. The look is completed with multiple papers and computer technology on his desktop. This gives him the representation of a working businessman.

Theory 3) Vladimir Propp's: 8 Spheres of action.

Propp’s theory of spheres dictates that each film has 8 fixed characters, each intertwine with each other in order to form the plot of a film. I feel that this theory does not fit with our film as well as the other theories I have mentioned. This is purely because the film we have created is only 5 minutes long, and so does not have the time capacity to fit in the characters to make a complex and intricate plot.

However, our film does include elements of the theory that are seen in objects instead of characters. For example the necklace Kyle leaves behind when mugging the client years before the film is set can be seen as both the helper and the donor. As the plot would not exist without the object. The note is also a significant prop in the spheres theory. It allows both characters to meet each other inside the clients office, in which he takes his revenge.