Audience feedback for The Correspondent

After finishing editing The Correspondent yesterday, we held a small press screening to collect some feedback on it. We asked them to consider things such as the lighting and sound, acting and story coherence. The feedback we collected is accessible here, and could help us if we were to make changes to our film or make it again.

The Correspondent -- Extra Credits & Acknowledgements

Special Thanks

Yossef Levi & The White Hart

Joel Speed

Music Acknowledgements

"Intro" by alt-J

"Breezeblocks" by alt-J

"Bloodflood" by alt-J

"Tiptoe Through The True Bits" by Los Campesinos!

"Prelude 3.0 (instrumental)" by Slipknot 
"Rise to the Sun" by Alabama Shakes

The Correspondent

Here is the finished product: our short neo-noir film, The Correspondent.

Editing Day 9

Today was the final day of editing before we completed the final cut of The Correspondent. Here is our final video diary:

Editing Day 8

Today we started on our final cut of The Correspondent, working on the things detailed previously that we have to address before our film is finished.

The Correspondent (Rough Cut)

We have finished our first, rough cut of The Correspondent, and it is available below.


We are happy with how the footage seems to be shaping up. We still have a number of things to improve, however. A basic rundown of what we need to address in our final cut is as follows:

1. Cut unnecessary shots down / make editing of scenes snappier
2. Addressing background noise of shots
3. Addition of music and improvement of sound effects
4. Addition of credits
5. Colour-correction of all shots

Music Ideas for The Correspondent

Since the outset of our task, we have wanted to create a neo-noir, and have been eager to get away from the jazz cliché of classic noir films. This has led to us all researching rather different music to try to determine what might work well within The Correspondent. Below is a playlist compiling some of mine and others' ideas for music we could use. We ended up going mainly for rather ambient, indie music, reflecting the neo-noir theme, but tried to accommodate some more tense/upbeat music for hit points in the film.

Editing Day 7

Today we aimed to complete (and succeeded in completing!) the rough cut of our short film. We finished off editing the handover scene, and put together the final couple of scenes in the couple of hours we were afforded today.

Final Ancillary Task 2 — Film Review

I have created a final review for The Correspondent as the second of my two ancillary tasks. Taking inspiration from EMPIRE and AMAZEPOP's informal writing style, I adapted it slightly to make it slightly less humourous and focused more on intertextual references. (click to enlarge)

Further film review analysis - online magazine

Having analysed a review presented in EMPIRE Magazine and its online counterpart, I thought it would be interesting to analyse a review of an exclusively-online magazine. I wrote a freelance review for one such publication, the first magazine edition of AMAZEPOP, a few months ago. The magazine features mostly music news and reviews, but also a few film reviews. It is laid out very similarly to the magazine version of the Hitchcock review I analysed, with a quantitative percentage score in a small font at the very bottom. The in-house writing style for EMPIRE Magazine is relatively informal, and it is similar to AMAZEPOP; this style may not be the most effective for reviewing our film noir short because of its tone, but it might be interesting to experiment with different styles.

Final Ancillary Task 1 — Poster

Following the reception of audience feedback regarding the credit placement on my final poster, I present my final design for the poster for The Correspondent as one of my two ancillary tasks. (click to enlarge)

Editing Session 6

Today we have been editing principally scene 5 and started on scene 6. We particularly like the shots we took for scene 5, the prelude to the handover scene, and have experimented with what works and what doesn't including match-on-action shots. We were filming in a pub which means some shots couldn't be used due to noise or interfering customers!

Online film review analysis

Wanting to further research how professional film reviews are laid out, I decided to look at whether  EMPIRE Magazine's website had a notably different format to their magazine reviews. For the sake of consistency, I looked for their Hitchcock review; the way the online version of the review has been laid out is very interesting, and reflects the different ways people use online reviews as opposed to magazine reviews.

Firstly, accessing the review page for Hitchcock does not bring the reader straight to the full review as accessible in the magazine: it brings them to a 'landing page' (fig. 1), featuring only the plot summary, film bio, review verdict and star rating. (click to enlarge)

fig. 1

The star rating takes centre-stage, being placed directly underneath the title and is just as large. This design choice reflects the different roles reviews play online to reviews in a dedicated film magazine: people searching online for a film are less likely to want to read in-depth reviews and more likely to only want to know quick, easily-accessible and basic information such as the review score, while subscribers to EMPIRE Magazine are more likely to be more interested in films as a medium, and care more about what a reviewer has to say on the craftsmanship of a film. The full review is available online (fig. 2), but requires the viewer to click on the "full review" link.

Audience feedback for final poster design



fig. 1

I have received some audience feedback on the two poster designs I presented them with. The version with the text at the bottom (fig. 1) was favoured in terms of votes: it was described as looking "more professional" than the version with the text at the top (fig. 2). Comments on the version with the text at the top included the fact the date "stands out more on its own" and that the credits are "more noticeable". The noticeability of the credits is perhaps not something that should be taken as praise, though: with the text at the bottom Robyn's face on the poster can more easily be seen, and thus the enigma of the narrative/relationship between Scott and Robyn may hopefully be more easily conveyed. The version with the text at the bottom is more typical of a poster, and I shall use this for my final poster.  

fig. 2

Props

Below are the main props that we used for The Correspondent. 



fig. 1



 Figure 1 shows the cigarette and ashtray we used on day 2 of the film shoot. Cigarettes are an iconic noir trope, both stylish and destructive, and we incorporated Scott and Robyn (amongst others) smoking throughout The Correspondent because of this.



fig. 2



 Figure 2 shows the props that we used for the newspaper boss's desk in the agency. On the desk included the ashtray from figure 1, a telephone, a computer (monitor, mouse and keyboard), a fan and finally a mug of coffee, which Scott places down during scene I.







fig. 3



 Figure 3 is a close-up shot (taken from our first photoshoot) of Jade wearing a ring and holding her signature hat. I detailed Jade's costume in my blog post for Filming Day 1, but the hat is used as a prop in scene V when she places it down on the bar next to Scott. On the hat is a flower that portrays lost innocence.





fig. 4


Figure 4 shows Robyn smoking having exited the phone box from Scene II. We used multiple phone boxes as props/locations, which presented a few challenges! However they provided interesting shots and helped to drive the narrative forward.

fig. 5

Figure 5 shows Robyn's/Scott's desk in the newspaper agency. This is the same desk as the boss's desk, and contains some of the same things: a computer, phone and ashtray. There are newspapers and a leather file on top of the desk, alongside letters and other documents inside. In the drawer is where Scott finds Robyn's address on a letter in the searching scene.

Editing Session 5

Today we edited most of scenes 3 and 4. Scene 3 is an important one (the meet-up scene of Scott and Robyn), so we attempted to keep the editing to a minimum to allow the narrative details to be conveyed effectively. Scene 4 is a short scene and we wanted to make quick, frantic cuts to reflect the ebb of the pace in this scene.

Film review analysis

The second of two ancillary tasks I shall be doing in conjunction with our short film is a film review of The Correspondent. It is important that I study film reviews from existing publications to attain as good a grasp as possible on how to structure my review. Below is a copy of the review for Hitchcock, in EMPIRE Magazine. I have annotated it discussing the many common features of reviews found here. (click to enlarge)

Poster Finalisation

I have made some more alterations to my poster design and am nearly finished with my final poster for my ancillary task.

I have reduced the contrast slightly, to make the image slightly less harsh, alongside making the title and release date more vibrant. These two things now stand out better against the image background, which is important: the title and release date are (arguably) the most important things on a film poster. I have also changed the BBFC certificate to more accurately reflect the final content of our film short.

fig. 1

I have added credits in a small font to my poster, reflective of most theatrical posters. I initially wrote the credits in the same serif font I used for the rest of the text in my poster, but to make it look more authentic I changed it to a san-serif font, Agency FB. I am in two minds as to whether the credits should be at the bottom of the poster (fig. 1), which is more standard of film posters, or whether they should be underneath the title (fig. 2). I personally like the way they look in figure 2, as it looks a little more old-school similar to the way I put "in The Correspondent". I have decided to do a bit of audience research and ask around to determine which I will keep as my final poster.

fig. 2

Editing Session 4

We are finishing off editing scene 2, and are working on the transition between scenes 2 and 3. The background noise level of our audio could stand to be reduced to produce a better sound, and after we have sorted this (likely after we finish the rough cut) we plan to modulate Robyn's dialogue over shots of Scott for her to sound more authentically like Scott is listening to her through a telephone. We are also discussing how to end the scene properly: we filmed a shot of the road sign for "St. Mary's Court" and are experimenting with how to include this effectively. We are considering cutting it as it is not completely necessary: Robyn already states where she is during the phone conversation.
 

Film short title -- "The Correspondent"

After much deliberation, we have decided on the name for our short -- The Correspondent.

We chose this name for a number of reasons. A 'correspondent' is a well-known term for somebody that works for a news agency or newspaper, and hints at a distinct 'other' from the protagonist: Robyn. This harks back to titles of classic noir films such as Stranger on the Third Floor, referencing an 'other' that presents an immediate threat; The Correspondent is slightly more mysterious than this, but coupled with the right image for our poster ancillary task, should successfully create an enigma to draw in the viewer, something very important in advertising.

Editing Session 3

In our third editing session we finished a rough cut of scene 1 and decided to move onto scene 2: we have decided to produce a rough cut first before refining later. We cut the audio from some shots of Robyn on the phone and have them play during shots of Scott on the phone to speed up the pace of the scene, as well as trying to keep Robyn as mysterious as possible to the audience by minimising her screen time in the first few minutes, similarly to the over-the-shoulder shots of her we used in scene 1. We are a little worried this may be a lot longer than the guideline minimum of 5 minutes! It is shaping up well, though; we will finish this scene off in our next editing session.

Poster Ideas contd.



In furtherance of my ancillary tasks, I have produced another poster using Fireworks CS5 experimenting with a few different things, and improving a couple of things from my first two test posters.



fig. 1



I think this is an improvement over the first two and like this style. The two-tone colour scheme I have experimented with—burgundy and olive—are colours used in the final film in Jade's and Robyn's costumes respectively, and makes the poster more visually interesting. The use of this simple colour scheme would also be conducive to a more expansive marketing campaign, the colours being an easily-recognisable motif that could be used in a variety of locations and advertising media.





fig. 2



The font I used in this poster is Century Schoolbook, another serif font similar to Book Antiqua. I prefer this font to Book Antiqua as it looks cleaner and I feel looks more classic/stylish. I decided to put the title at the top, preceded by "in" (a reference to the starring actors) as it harks back to classic film noir posters (fig. 2).



Similarly to the initial poster ideas I placed, I altered the colours of the poster to reflect the style of our noir: I raised the contrast level while lowering the saturation. This contributes to the mood of the poster and better suggests the tone of the film than the vanilla image (fig. 3). It accentuates the light placement of the image: we placed the light in a fill light position to illuminate one side of Chris's face to signify innocence and had Ellie's face remain relatively dark and hidden, posed as if Robyn were whispering in Scott's ear. This is a strong signifier of her corrupting influence on Scott.

fig. 3





I intend to work further on this poster as my final poster for my ancillary task. A couple of things need to be changed, including the addition of small print detailing production at the bottom (see fig. 2 for an example of this). Also, we decided that the film would likely be rated a 12 by the BBFC, so I need to change the rating logo on my final poster accordingly.



Editing Sessions 1 and 2

We have started editing our film. In our first session we uploaded all the footage from filming and went through each clip individually to pick which ones we were likely to use and which we could bin straight away. Below is a video of our second session, where we started with editing our opening scene.

Poster Ideas



For one of two ancillary tasks we need to complete, I have chosen -- along with the rest of my group -- to produce a poster for our film noir short. I have experimented with and mocked up a couple of posters using Adobe Fireworks CS5 to see what works and what doesn't.



fig. 1



Figure 1 is a mock-up of a pretty typical theatrical release poster for a film. The text on the poster is minimalist, detailing the names of the principal actors and release date alongside the title of the film. I used this shot to introduce the titular 'correspondent', Robyn, who is looking directly at the camera (direct address) to grab the viewer's attention. Jade also features in the poster, placed behind Robyn: the look on her face suggests she plays a smaller, if still important, role than Robyn does. The contrasting nature of the characters we would hope to make the viewer question how the two of them are involved.



fig. 2



Figure 2 is more indicative of a teaser poster. There is less writing on this poster than in the theatrical poster mock-up (fig. 1), and the face of the character depicted is not shown. This still was taken on-location at Reality Checkpoint, Cambridge, during the shooting of Scene III. It is colour-corrected to how we wish the final film to look, and this coupled with the low shot and pose of Robyn hints at subterfuge et cetera. I also wanted to see how the inclusion of a tagline might work or not work. I decided to go for "Read all about it." as a darkly humourous play on a well-known archaic phrase shouted by newspaper boys in the 19th and 20th centuries: it further suggests the film, or events within, are worth reading about.

The font I used for these two posters was Book Antiqua. I like this serif font as it looks quite newspaper-like but I will keep looking to see if I can find a more suitable one.

Robyn & Jade Character Photoshoot

In order to have some high-quality stills featuring the characters for our short to complement some of the stills taken on-location, we decided to use the school's photography studio and take some shots of our actors. Lauren studies Photography at A2 level and she took the photos below. These could be very useful when it comes to constructing our posters as one of our two ancillary tasks.

We wanted the pictures of Robyn alone to hint at her mysteriousness and seductive powers; we shot her in moody low-key fill lighting, illuminating only one half of her face. This is a commonly-used sign in films to signify multifacetedness.

We wanted the stills of Jade to portray her as innocent, but perhaps hiding a dark secret. As the girlfriend of the dangerous 'K', we shot her wearing expensive-looking yet intriguing jewellery and in a black dress, similar to her costume in Scene V, the prelude to the Handover Scene.

We took some stills of both Robyn and Jade together, and experimented with proxemics and lighting to signify certain things about the characters. This shot is particularly effective: we have Robyn in the foreground with Jade (artificially) blurred slightly in the background. Robyn is using direct address to capture the attention of the viewer while Jade seems concerned and is looking away.