Major Project: Critical Reflection / Final Film

''I Pull The Strings'' has finally been created - what do I think of the overall project?

It's definitely had it's ups and downs! I think the film has come together really nicely, however, there's lots of things I would change about it if I had the chance to do it again - and the money! Vic and I definitely worked well together and I felt like there was a lot of support there throughout. Our cast and crew worked really closely with us, and although not everything went to plan, everyone kept pushing for the film to be done to our standards - especially Adam, which was great.

Pre Production

Pre production through the past unit and the current one has felt like non stop work. I have had lots of troubles with casting and locations, however, I am happy with the overall locations that was picked. The theatre is definitely my favourite location and it's something I was so close to not finding. I also really like the dancing/old rehearsal room location, I think it fits with the story really well, and it's not too over dramatic. Although originally I mentioned it was going to be quite dungeon like, I'm glad I didn't chose that location as in reality - not many small theatres have dark, cellar like rooms. The lighting worked really well and I think the best scenes were definitely filmed in these two locations. Overall, as a script writer, I felt pretty confident at the beginning, I was proud of my script and thought it would make a great story. Although I still enjoy the story - especially the ending, I think it can be improved on drastically and I don't think I have wrote the best story I could.

Props was something I really enjoyed looking for, during every project on the course i've always loved to find props to make the scenes come to life and to give to the characters to make them seem real. During this unit, I was so excited to get all the masks for the extras, to find the backdrop for the theatre play, and to find Bethany's end costume for the show. I do think I did well as a producer in the mise en scene of the film as in every scene nearly theres things added to create a better atmosphere and make the characters have a real life. For example, I set up a photoshoot with Amy and Joseph to take some photographs for some photo frames and for a mug. I think these photos worked effectively and really brought truth to the idea that they was a couple. I also bought lots of trophies that had 'Bethany Hutson' engraved into it (we didn't end up using these but!). Overall, as a producer for pre production I think i've done well and I'm really happy that Vic helped me throughout as it was a lot! of work to do. If I was to change anything throughout, it would be to change the story slightly, as a lot of time was spent trying to find the perfect theatre and I think the story idea was a little too big for a short film.

Production

Production was really stressful for both me and Vic. I was really happy how well Vic did with directing, as there was a lot of people and he managed them all really well and got on with what he did. He knew what he wanted and made sure that the actors knew his vision which worked well. As a producer on some occasions I felt a little overwhelmed. This was especially when the extras for the scene didn't turn up, everyone turned to me and I didn't want to freeze up not knowing what to do. I felt like I handled it well though as I waited a little while, and then decided to move on to the next scene as it would be wasting valuable time that we had of the actors and of the location. I am really happy with Chris' support throughout our production also, he always was there to give advice when we asked, and came with us on every shoot - along with climbing up a ladder to help put the back cloth up! 

A problem with production was sound - I think it let us down the most, and although some scenes aren't too bad - a lot of them are. I think to fix this we should of checked the equipment more thoroughly before use, however, it often sounded great and then went back to tin like - so it wasn't guaranteed that during a check we'd of known anyway. On the day the zoom recorder wasn't working properly and we took it in to Ferg who confirmed it was a problem with the recorder. 

I think I managed the team overall well through production and tried my hardest to push forward with filming without rushing Vic.

Post Production

During post production, I tried my best to help Vic by doing the sound editing. It was such a huge job that definitely isn't as simple as syncing the audio to the video. There was so much noise reduction to do, fixing the levels, and adding in sound effects and music were necessary. To help manage ourselves, a post production schedule was made for both of us. I made sure that I'd evened everything out so that I wasn't giving loads of things to do for Vic in only a few weeks. I tried to split the weeks between editing, sound and colour grading. This proved to be helpful as after a slow first few rough cuts, Vic managed to edit the rest of the film quickly and confidently. Collaborating with the composers was initially really exciting, Declan is such a talented composer, and created the song that is in the dancing scene with Bethany and Francis. However, we struggled to receive music as the months went on, and although our composers were good it was stressful as the film needed the music. Post production was something that felt like it kept going and going. Whenever we would watch the film through fully, we would notice something that needed to be fixed. Although the film wasn't the best when we first saw it, I think Vic did really well to edit together a story with what he had. 

Overall

Now that we've finished, it's definitely helped me to see what i'd like to do in the future. I think I need more time to practicing my writing, however, I would like to carry it on. Producing wise - it was so stressful, but when you see the film finished, although it's not the best, it's still rewarding to see all your work put together. 

The best aspect of our production was the team work. Vic and I both had a similar vision to the story which helped greatly in deciding on ideas that we could do for the film. 

www.ipullthestringsfilm.com

Major Project: The Opening Scene

Throughout post production, I was thinking a lot about the beginning in Iron Man, and really liked how they started with his face really bright and close to the camera, and then cut to 48 hours earlier. I think the technique of teasing the audience with a dramatic scene in your film is something which works really well, as, if done well it can hook the audience from the beginning.

Originally, our opening scene was Bethany on the stage having a heated argument with a man, in which she is punched and dragged off stage. However, I looked over this scene with Vic and felt like we could change it to make it much better and dramatic. Vic and I had a long talk and I showed him the Iron Man scene and he agree'd it fit really well. We began brainstorming and thought the scene were Bethany is tied up in the old dressing room would work well at the beginning of the scene. This is because it's very clear footage of her face, clearly showing she is injured, and it's very close to her. 

I decided beforehand, to look into some films which are similar to ours, and start (near enough) at the end and see the different impacts different styles have on the viewing.

The beginning of Memento also starts with the end, however, it's quite a long scene and I think it's not much of a teaser as the whole film isn't linear anyway. Although it still works well, I think if we followed this technique our scene would go on way too long.

Fight Club, however, is styled very similar to our film. Just before this video starts, the man is shot in the mouth which is shown at the very beginning of the scene, he is in a dark room and the light is very strange and he is very close to the camera. I think this works really effectively as it's such a dramatic beginning that it makes you wonder what could happen next. Towards the end of the film, we go back to this scene, and it carries on until the end when they are stood looking out the window.

The introduction for Limitless is also another film which works really creatively. The film begins with a man in a building talking over the clip. The room is very unusual as it's empty with boxes and someone is banging on his door. Soon after this, we see him stood on a very tall building, looking over the edge. The music really builds up the enigma, and although it doesn't start straight away on the building, it builds up to it which is really effective. Something that also works well is the voiceover, it really helps to build the tension and suspense building up to that moment and immediately hooks you into the film. I think this may have worked with ours if we had more voice over like this film does, however, if we did voiceover I think it would definitely ruin it.

The final video, is the opening to Iron Man which is what I looked at first. It really inspired me to think about how we can make our film much more dramatic. Although the film doesn't start straight away with Tony at gun point, it builds up to it and we are still a little lost as to whats going on. However, I really like how the bright light comes on and there is a close up of his face, with unfamiliar voices in the background. At this point we're still not sure what's going on, just that he is in danger. I think it's such an effective way to start the film and really builds up the tension. After this clip ends, it goes back to Tony in a office meeting, with the titles '48 hours earlier' written on the screen which also helps the audience to know what's going on.

Although it's not that much of a change, I still think it makes a huge difference in our film and will be really effective in the final film after it's had colour correction and sound added to it.

Major Project: Foley Sound Research

Throughout shooting, I began to realise that a lot of sounds would need to be added in in post production - even those that I thought wouldn't need it. Initially, I thought to look for sound effects online, however, it's not always so simple and a lot of the time they aren't exactly the same, or have to be paid for. Worst of all, it's very time consuming and if it's not right then it will push the level of professionalism down in our film as the sound is extremely important in creating a believable story. 

I decided to look into Foley sound - as this is the one thing that is used most in films.

A foley artist is someone who 'recreates' sound effects for film and television. Foley artists don't just record the specific objects they want to use, they use other objects to mimic the sound and make it clear. For example, a foley artist may use a different object to mimic someone being punched. 

A foley artist usually recreates the sound in front of a screen which is playing the film. (See image to the right)

I began reading some articles on Foley, and Philip Rodrigues had an interesting point.

''On a film set nothing is real - the sword is made of plastic, the marble floor is painted plywood. Foley replaces or enhances that live sound; the result is a sword that rings like metal and floors that echo like marble!"

It would make much more sense to add in realistic sound effects, since a lot of the set is fake - as we don't want          something rubbery/plastic to be recorded and used as the sound. 

He also points out the fact that when you cut in-between takes, the sound can mess up - which proved the same with our ballerina music track.

''The process of filming also creates dips in the sound since each scene is filmed from different angles over several takes for the best look and performance. Once cut together, the picture flows from shot to shot in a fluid motion but the sound can become choppy and overlapped. Once again, Foley provides a foundation that bridges these gaps.''

Here is an example Philip uses when he describes how the foley artist, actor and sound editor can work together to create seamless pieces of sound.

Let's say in a scene the actor grabs his gun, walks to his motorcycle, starts it up and drives away...

Foley would recreate the sound of the leather jacket and jeans as the actor walks, footsteps (heavy cowboy boots!), the gun pickup and handling, handlebar grab and bike moves - and maybe some key sounds as he puts them in the lock.

The Sound FX Editor would create the roar of the motorcycle engine starting and driving away, a tire squeal and background ambiances (birds, wind etc.)

In an ADR studio the actor would rerecord his line, "I'll be back...", which was inaudible on location with the motorcycle engine running.

The Dialogue Editor would conform the production and ADR into one.

When played together, the tracks produce a seamless tapestry of sound.

Reference: http://www.marblehead.net/foley/whatisitman.html

Foley was created in 1927 by Jack Donovan Foley. Foley got the idea of projecting the moving image in a sound stage and recording sounds in sync with the actors' movements, using different surfaces and an array of props. It was said that Foley could make the sound of three men walking together using only his two feet and a cane.

Gary Hecker is a world known foley artist working on films such as Superman, Robin Hood, Django Unchained and A Knights Tale. 

I decided to look at a video which entails him showing us exactly what he does to create different sound effects. The video was really inspiring and I was amazed by the amount of different things he does; especially using his own voice for horse noises and for breathing sound effects was something I definitely didn't expect. Gary shows us the amount of layers of sound he creates for just one small scene, however, it really does paint a picture and build up the scene to make it so much more realistic and powerful.

It's amazing the amount of detail which goes into foley - and although we don't need foley to this level, and we definitely don't have all the props and skill it takes, it would be great to experiment with it to get a much more crisp and professional sound design in our film.

Reference: http://nofilmschool.com/2012/11/foley-artist-gary-hecker and https://samnealesoundandcamera.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/gary-hecker-foley-artist-sound-research/

I also looked at some more videos to see how other artists create the sound effects which was also really interesting. 

I think foley sound design is such an important part of films that often gets overlooked by small budget films. Researching into the amount of sounds that are actually added is shocking but really encouraging as at first I did wonder how we could get such crisp and fine tuned sound from our actors - but listening to Gary and the other foley artists has proven how much is added, even down to small things such as breathing.

Vic and I have booked out some sound equipment for a week and we are going to try our best to add in some of our own sounds. We've already got some ideas and this research has really helped to make me think much more creatively and out of the box to what we can use to record the sound effects.

Major Project: Sound Design

I have taken up the role of doing the sound editing. The sound is such an important aspect of the film and it shouldn't be overlooked - but often is. I knew when we was recording on set that there wasn't only the dialogue to sync and music to add, but there was a lot of foley and sound effects that needed to be added. I wanted to do some research to find any techniques that may help the process along, and all the right technical information such as what the levels should be on.

I first decided to create a sound design, a list with information on where needs music and foley sounds.

                                       

From here, I looked at the video below which has some basic information on audio. This included the levels of each particular audio, the difference between stereo, dual and surround.

The video was really helpful, and I learnt a lot of tips that will make editing easier.

Something which I struggled with what making sure the levels are all correct.

He explains that the correct level OVERALL (once music and audio and sounds are sync together) should be at 0. If it's over 0 it may sound distorted when you play it after its exported. 

A tip I found to always monitor the levels, was to double click on the small audio meter next to the main time and the levels will come up at the right hand side. This is really helpful as when playing the film i'll constantly be able to see if the sound is going higher than it should be.

In the image above, I also found a technique that's handy for cut the clip at certain points. When the red line is on the section you want, you can click Option [ to start the clip where your line is, or Option ] to end the clip where your line is. This is so much more beneficial than having to keep cutting it using the blade tool as it's not always accurate.

https://www.macprovideo.com/hub/final-cut/5-editing-tips-every-final-cut-pro-x-editor-should-know


I also was reading the article ''Mixing Sound for Film'' and found the correct levels that have been suggested below:

• Max peak: -2db  (This was absolute on everything that I tested probably because of BS1770-3/A85)
• Loud sound effects (explosions, gunshots): -3db to -2db
• Louder soundtrack or score music not competing with dialog:  -5db to -4db
• Dialog level: -11.5db to -10db

Peach pit's article also discusses the level of audios, interviews, sound effects, and music. 

''Most audio mixers set the dialogue, interview, or narration to an average audio level of –12 dB, which allows plenty of room for adding sound effects, music, and other elements without risking over-modulating. This average audio level also provides a little headroom if you want to make a specific sound deliberately louder than the dialogue (such as a music swell or explosion).''

They also mention that sound mixers who work on theatrical films set the dialogue levels to -24 dB or -31 dB as they turn up their speakers so the dialogue plays at a comfortable levels. I've also noticed in our footage there is a lot of unwanted hum and noise. In some clips, the sound is extremely bad from the sound recorder not working on one specific day - it sounds very tin like and is something which i'm working hard on to remove. 

I found that because final cut pro is just a video editor and the sound editing isn't very reliable, we should try other programmes such as Audacity to fix the audio.

I've watched a few videos and the hum removal tool looks especially helpful. We also have a few high pitched tones in our audio which I really want to fix so hopefully I can find another software that will help out with this. In regards to the tin like sound we have (dinner scene + Lucy and Bethany in dining room) I think it is unfixable, as you can't add audio that isn't there (there voices sound quite different) but nevertheless, i'll try my best to fix the audio we have.

However, beware of using this trick if your target platforms are computers, handheld devices, or televisions without fancy sound systems. Those lower-quality speakers may not be able to reproduce so much dynamic range (variance between the loudest and quietest sounds), and your audio mixing artistry may come across as a muddy mess.

I've decided to work on the sound from a small external speaker due to the laptop sound not being very loud at all, this will enable me to edit sharper sounds and make sure that I can hear everything in the scene clearly.

Source: http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1879718

Major Project: Promoting Through Social Media RESEARCH

Our film is getting closer to the screening date, and I want to make sure that we have all the promotion needed on all our platforms to make sure we are giving the best behind the scenes and pictures as we can. I have begun to research into other upcoming films ways of promoting themselves and have found a variety of techniques and ideas which could potentially help our films promotion. 

I looked at the website Smashing Magazine (https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/movie-website-designs-examples-and-current-practices/) which was extremely helpful on things to post onto the website, it included so many examples and some things I knew, but hadn't fully thought about.

Some of the things which they mentioned are;





FLASH

A lot of websites now use Flash, which allows them to have moving content on the background, such as videos or games. These are really great things as audience love things which are interactive, and videos will give them a better insight into what the film is about. It would be great if I could incorporate these onto our website but I'm not sure what sort of thing to put, as I like the idea of the trailer not being TOO big.

LARGE BACKGROUND IMAGERY 

A lot of films now have huge pictures on their backgrounds as the main image, and then other smaller videos and imagery beside it , which really stands out. I have already done this on the website when I created it last year, however, I think it needs updating and I can use some imagery we took, or some dramatic stills from the shoot which could work well also.

SHORT PAGE LENGTH
This is something I researched into last year and tried to do on our page - have everything on the page, without scrolling down. This ensures the viewer gets to see everything and doesn't need to scroll for any other information as all the links and videos are there infant of them.

DOWNLOADS
Something I hadn't yet thought about that was brought to my attention through this article, was a downloads page. This can feature imagery that the viewers can download and would be an interesting concept to have on the website.

FUN EXTRAS

Some websites also have additional content such as games and activities. This works on most genres, however, I feel for our film it would not work as our film is very serious and there wouldn't be a game we could create that would fit without it looking like we created it just to put it there. Additionally, i'm not sure how much it would cost and we don't have the budget to do this right now!

Reference: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/02/movie-website-designs-examples-and-current-practices/

Add content & build pages

As complicated and high-tech as some big-budget Hollywood film websites may appear, they’re always short and simple when it comes to information and content pages. The standard things they’ll always include, however, are as follows:

• A trailer
• Release date information
• Synopsis/storyline
• Awards and nominations and/or critics’ ratings
• Names of cast, crew members and all companies/studios involved
• Images and videos of the main cast
• Social media buttons and icons

Reference: https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-to-make-a-website-for-your-film/


The image below, is for the upcoming film 'Criminal'. Although there isn't many pictures featured heavily on the website homepage, they still have a lot of information about the film and have made it stand out with the colours and fonts they have used.

Although 'Bad Neighbours 2' isn't in the same genre of film as ours, I still looked at it to see what they would do to market their film, as I know for the first film there was a lot of marketing and build up to the film. I noticed that on the homepage they have stills and short videos of the cast and have made them really bright and colourful to fit with the summer vibe of their film. The continued theme of pictures goes all the way down the website and it's something I could also try on our website. I'd have to take some stills from the film as I obviously don't want cast and crew in it, however, i'm not sure if the same effect would work - as this film is very comical, whereas ours is more serious and the nature of the writing may not fit, unless I made it very dramatic and bold.

Another detail I have noticed is that all the films start of their film with the trailer playing HUGE, on the front page. This is something I definitely want to do, this will mean it's the right thing our audience see's and will straight away have a little insight into what the films about. This will also encourage them to stay on the page to find out more information on the film if they enjoyed the trailer. Right now on the website, we have a teaser which is featured, however, this will soon move to another page, and the trailer will be featured first on the front page.

'Now You See Me 2'

I looked at the website for 'Now You See Me 2' which has done amazing with their marketing techniques. Obviously, they have a lot more budget and team behind them but we could still do some of the smaller things which they do such as imagery and video effects. As the film is based around magic and a thriller theme, they have tailored their website around an animation in which you scroll through the different 'levels' and see information about the film while also getting a taste of what the film will be like. There is a lot of colour and pictures throughout which makes you want to carry on scrolling through to find out more. It is probably one of the best film websites I've seen in a while as right from the beginning it's like a puzzle that you go through and on each animated section theres lots of things to look at and it definitely keeps the viewer interested and is a great way for you to make them look through the whole website and information without them even intending to - animation/pictures definitely work a lot better than just text by itself.

They have also created individual posters for each cast member which when you scroll through them all together on the website, it's really enticing and they have made it look really strange to fit with the theme of the film.

This is something I hadn't thought of however, if possible, it would be great to do some individual posters of each cast member to edit them to fit with the style of our film.


Instead of just looking at the websites alone, i've moved on to looking at their other social media pages to see if they have put the same amount of effort into each one. On the image to the right, you can see that they have filled their page with videos, imagery and the same theme as on their website, which is great as I can immediately see that it's the same film. I also like that the logo on the default picture is so simple yet really fits the theme of their film and isn't boring at all.

I also found that on the Facebook page they have gone to a lot of trouble to create short GIF's, moving images of the cast to tease the audience into wondering what will happen. Scrolling further down they have done this a lot and the videos aren't at all boring, although very quick the colours and boldness make you want to click to watch them.

 The website has also heavily featured posters that they have creates which is definitely something I will be doing once we have created it. Along side the poster they write simple messages to accompany the image.

I also checked out their Twitter, which is also quite similar and sticks to the same themes once again, posting a variety of cast and crew imagery along side animated imagery that they have created purposefully for marketing. There are definitely some things we can do to create enticing imagery for our social media and i'll definitely look more into it.

Finally, I looked at the film 'The 5th Wave' and it's promotion on social media. It was quite similar to the others and also featured a video as the background, along with the trailer playing in the upper left corner. I really like how they are all so simply yet really effective. They also stuck to the small page idea, not having to scroll to see anything else and all the links and information on the landing page.

Something this website has done, which I also made sure to do, was to feature a track playing in the background, which can be paused if the viewer doesn't want to listen to it. I think this builds up the hype on the website and allows you to feel how the film is going to be like - style and tone wise.

Looking into their Facebook and Twitter pages, they carried the same theme across, allowing us to easily establish that they are the same film. Once again, their logo is very simple, yet so effective. I think I have been thinking too much about it, trying to make it over the top and stand out, when a simple font on a simplistic background can really make it pop. They are also constantly posting on Twitter, not only about the film directly, but advertising the film indirectly. They post pictures along with little quotes from the characters which is nice and entices you to wonder what will happen.

Another thing they did on their Facebook page, is the same thing again with the quotes but a little differently. They have edited the character with an effect, and placed a quote in the post. I think this is a great idea to do and will allow us to show more of the characters before anyone see's the film, along with letting the audience get to know the characters more themselves.

Overall, this research has been very beneficial to me, and although the website has already been created, it will be great to develop it further from the pre production stage and with more content now available to me, I can update all the social medias further to create more enticing pages for the viewers.

Major Project: Marketing and Promotion

To promote our film, I need to make sure I am not only posting on social media, but also looking into other ways I can promote the film. I have decided to research and read some books on marketing and promotion techniques that I may be able to use.

First, I looked on Animation Career Revier. This particular article about promoting your short film was helpful to me as it discusses techniques which I can look into on how to promote our film. Here is some information on what I found, along with ways in which I will use the information for myself.

1. Create a website that best represents your short film. 

To start promoting your film, there needs to be a “home base”.  One place that you can send people that has all the information about your movie, including the premise, cast/crew info, where they can see it, etc.

Don’t feel like you have to go flashy.  Keep it simple and succinct.  A great resource is to check into local universities to see if there are any students who are willing to work for less to generate content for their portfolio.  There are many people who ask students to work for nothing, if you have the heart to pay even a little, the results will be so much better.

Once you have the site up, submit it to sites like Digg and Del.icio.us to get a wider viewing audience and high search engine hits.

Creating a website is something I've already done and I am trying to constantly update it. However, I decided to look further into Digg and Del.icio.us to see what they are all about and how it could help me.

The site is really interesting and it has a lot of random posts that are either factual, entertainment, sports, science and more different topics. People submit their articles/short films and you can look on the website to see different things. This would be a great way to spread our short film. If I sign up and submit it once it's done, or just submit the website, it'd let people see our film and website and get more views and a variety of audience.

2. Keep a process journal about the making of the film. 

Instead of only writing it on paper with pen, post it publicly online.  People root for the underdog.  People love being compelled by someone’s journey.  There are many students and amateur filmmakers that want to create their own short film.  When they see someone else making it happen, they feel empowered to do it themselves too.  Not only that, they are more likely to share it via social network or word of mouth to their friends. 

This has given me an idea which would of been great to do from the beginning. If I could go back I'd of gathered the team together and discussed the idea that we could of all done a weekly video on our Facebook page, discussing our films ideas and our roles. I think this would of been a great way to get people more interested in our films as they might of been excited to see what we would say each week and it's nice to see the producer and director talking about something they are passionate about. However, although it's too late to do this now since we've already done the majority of filming, we could still do a production diary in the form of a book with pictures and information on what we did which could also work out great too.

3. Create a HEAD SCRATCHING teaser 

Essentially you want this reaction from the viewer:  “What is this movie about?!  I MUST KNOW!” 

Obviously, they will sign up for updates because they are so bewildered and intrigued.  This means that you better have your website clearly posted at the end of your teaser so your potential fan knows where to go for more information.

We have already created a teaser for our film, but this was done in the style of our film and only had one of our cast members in it. So it would be greatly beneficial to create another short 30 second television teaser which would quickly intrigue our viewing audience. I definitely think this is something extra we can begin to do and then move on to the official trailer. 

4. Create a JAW DROPPING trailer 

A few things on what not to do when creating your short film’s trailer include DO NOT make it longer than your film and DO NOT tell the whole story.  Again, you want to intrigue your audience and catch their attention.  

When creating the trailer for our film, I'm definitely going to do some extra research into how to create a great trailer and look at a lot of examples in how to do it. I want to make sure the trailer doesn't give anything away yet make sure it's enticing enough so the viewer wants to watch the film.

9. Submit to online film sites 

Once you’ve hit the film festival circuit, do the same online.  Some will have your short film posted in their archives infinitely and some are only for a limited time.  Either way, this shows off your film to an even greater audience.  

Here’s a short list of great film sites: ShortOfTheWeek.com, Undergroundfilm.com, iFilm.com, AtomFilms.com, BrownFish.com.

The more places you can get your film seen or written about, the better.  Whether it is a amateur or professional movie blogger, or even something off radar like a fashion blogger writing about your movie, that increases your film’s visibility.  

This is really helpful as I didn't know that you could submit to online sites as well, so I will definitely look into these other online film sites and see if I can submit our film to these to get more publicity and views on our films. 

Reference: http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/10-ways-successfully-promote-your-short-film

I also looked onto Indie Wire, which is a website that shares thousands of articles around tips and techniques around movies, filmmaking and television. I found a particular article that was helpful when looking at tips on promoting our film with a campaign.

1) You shall engage an audience before you launch a campaign

Social media should be treated like a dialogue between friends - a two way street rather than a one-way road with no turns.
This is something that I've definitely been doing from the start. We began with setting up the pages and then I began posting constantly before posting anything about the website which I think was very helpful as it made our audiences wait and become excited to see what we was going to be releasing.

2. You shall give value with every update

You'll want to show your followers that you're worth the follow.
When posting, I want to make sure every post has something to offer, whether that be letting our audience know about any upcoming filming, or whether it tease about the trailer being released. I think this is important as it will let the audience know that when we are posting content, it's not just ramble about nothing, that every post has something to give to them.

3. You shall be active on no more than five social media sites.

Any more and your own level of engagement is bound to wane, thus you won't be able to interact as much.
Currently, we have a Twitter, Facebook and website, so we are balancing all the updates easily and being able to engage with the audience at all times.

4. You shall always use relevant hashtags.

On Twitter and even on Facebook,, be sure to hashtag words and phrases relevant to your film campaign.
This is something i've been doing a lot more of, as it establishes the hashtags that are relevant to our film and if for instant, some one was to search for us on Twitter, they would find our film immediately. It also encourages viewers to use the hashtags which means it will allow more people to see the hashtag and become interested in looking into the film.

5. You shall use images because they speak louder than words.

This is something i've been trying to do more especially on filming days, as I know they are extremely eye catching and if we post about filming with a picture, it's much more engaging and interesting than just posting without imagery. It's also really exciting as it brings our project to life in a way we've not seen before. We can finally post about our film with actors faces to our characters which is really nice and exciting for not only the viewers, but for ourself too.

6. You shall keep up your activity even after the campaign ends.
I definitely want to keep doing this as I think it will engage the audience more and make them excited to see the films development. It's also a great way to allow the viewers to catch up with stages of the edit and see sneak peaks!

Major Project: Post Production Research

Throughout post production, I know that I will need to always be overlooking the project, making sure we are sticking to deadlines and making sure that the composers are constantly giving us music updates. Luckily, the composers have been on board with the project since last year and have already began giving us pieces and tests of what we want for certain scenes. I have decided to look further into a producers role in post production to allow myself to look at other jobs I can do to help myself get organised more, as well as looking into other films to see how they update social media and keep the audience interested. 

''Your function will be to hire people and oversee them by dropping in for half an hour here and there.''

I looked onto Indie Wire which has a few articles entailing tips to help yourself in post production. I read these tips and found a lot of them really helpful - it was also reassuring to find that I had already done some of the tips, meaning I was hopefully on the right track! Here are the tips and what I will do to follow these along with any actions I will/ have already taken.

• Screen the movie, collect feedback.

If handled the right way, screening a rough cut of the film in private, for friends and family and those you trust, before locking picture can help identify problems early on. If the majority of the audience flags something as an issue, then it is better to know that before the film is put in front of real audiences. I combine these screenings with a 1- or 2 page feedback form given out directly after the movie has finished and then collected before a verbal Q and A starts. 

I know that we will definitely be getting feedback through a through sources from giving rough cuts to our Simon, along with guests who will be coming in such as editor Tim Bentham and producer Sam Adams. I will definitely be keeping notes along the way, and I want to also try show people who have no idea on the films storyline such as friends and other people so that we have a variety of feedback. I will also try to look at the film from the audiences' perspective - this is particularly hard with our film as it is a mystery drama and I want to make sure that the film makes sense, and that the audience know what's going on without having to explain it too much.

• Deal with music early on.

Leaving music to the last minute is another common mistake. This includes both source music and score. Remember, a composer needs time to come up with themes and ideas, so including them in the screening of rough cuts can be useful. 

I'm happy that the composers have already began giving us pieces, even before we began filming, and are in constant communication with us. However, I think the advice to keep giving them rough cuts is really helpful and beneficial. It will help so much if they begin seeing visuals instead of just going off notes and ideas that we have, i'll definitely be sending them a lot of rough cuts. 

• Know your director and his needs.

Every director has a different process. This relates to time needed to edit, the staffing support they need during the process or simply the way they work best. Talk to your director about how he or she has worked in the past and build a post schedule realistic to their needs. Plan and budget accordingly so no one is surprised later on.

This is something very important with our film, we don't have all the time in the world to edit this film, and usually, it takes 8-10 weeks for a feature film to be edited, so ideally, we need the edit to be done in less time. I want to make sure that the edit isn't being edited right down to the last minute and make sure we have enough time on each section - editing, colour grading and sound. I think each one of these should be scene as it's own project, as the edit is such a huge thing to do, and then the colour grading and sound are also huge things to think about. So, I want to make sure we have a schedule that is not only organised and planned, but is also realistic to our project. I have been talking to the Director/Editor Vic, and have created a schedule that I think will benefit all of us. It will allow Vic to know how long he has until the next rough cut viewing, and allow us and our composers to know when we will have music by. Creating the post production schedule has really helped me to see more clear how long we will have after the final filming day and definitely puts everything into a more realistic perspective.

Post production schedule:

March Schedule 

April Schedule

Reference: http://www.indiewire.com/article/the-8-keys-to-a-successful-post-production-from-the-producer-of-blue-valentine-and-half-nelson?page=1

I decided to also look further into the actual role of a producer in post production. I want to make sure I am doing everything correctly and fulfilling all my jobs. 

The Role of Producers
in Post-Production

Producers have the responsibility of delivering the film in whichever formats are required at the end of post-production.

As well as making sure that everything is completed and that everything from the production phase is closed down properly, the Producer will support the Director, as in production. As such they are a sounding board in the editing suite and are likely to be preparing for pushing the film towards exhibition while finding ways to promote it, possibly with the assistance of a Marketing team.

Producers have often worked their way up through other departments to gain the necessary understanding of the industry and a strong network of contacts, crucial for finding talented people to work with and ensuring the film gets made. They tend to either have a background in development or production but can come from other areas or disciplines entirely.

reference: http://www.myfirstjobinfilm.co.uk/producersinpost.html

Something which I need to be constantly working on as the producer is marketing. I need to be promoting the film and making sure that it is getting hyped up for the audience. In post production I had a lot of ideas what we could do after doing research on larger movies marketing. However, it doesn't fit in our budget and would take too long. However, I've still got some ideas which I could do to market our film such as creating behind the scenes footage, and creating a trailer which can go on all of our social media platforms. I've also been looking into films which are going to be released in the summer, and I want to see how they entice their audience through images and pictures on their website. 

Finally, I have decided to look at Raindances' '13 Steps of Post-Production'

The 13 Steps of Post-Production

1. Pick an editing format

For our film, we will be editing on Final Cut Pro.

2. Hire a picture editor

The Director Vic will be the editor for our film.

3. Hire a sound editor

For sound as it's just a huge job and will need sound effects, music, and voice syncing in, I will be doing the majority of the sound editing whilst Vic will be editing the film and doing the colour grading, however he will also be helping with some sound too.

4. Do ADR

(Automatic Dialogue Replacement) This is when the actors lip sync to what they have said and you re record it. However, we won't be doing this step as we recorded the audio separately so we have to just sync it up with the video.

5. Do Foley

This is something I have been thinking a lot about recently and we will definitely be needed to record some foley for any sounds which we just couldn't get on the filming days.

6. Secure Music

For our project, we have got a lot of music already from our composers, however I have also found a website called https://filmstro.com in which you can download the application and download unlimited songs for around $7 a month. This is such a helpful website as when you are picking the songs you can change the depth of the song and turn some of the instruments up and down along with the pace of the song. This website is really helpful and we will definitely look more into it as we can cancel the membership afterward and still have the licence for the music. 

7. Do The Mix

This will be layering all the sound effects, music and voice overs together which I am confident will be done right in the edit.

8. Get an M&E

This is when you just export the film with the music and effects - no dialogue. This is so that other producers can add dubbing to it. However, we will be skipping this step right now due to not sending our film to any other country.

9. Get your titles

Once the edit has been finished, or whilst it's still being finished, we will need to create some titles for our film. Vic and I have had lots of different ideas on how to do this, if we want to incorporate them into the film or if we want them just to appear on the screen separate from the videos. We will work on this further together and create some titles for our film.

10. Get a DCP

A DCP is a Digital Camera Package - a hard drive which has your final film, encoded so that it can be played in the cinema. We will be putting our film onto a hard drive however, it doesn't need the cinema coding as it will not be playing into a full cinema. We do need to check with Ferg though in which format our film needs to be in.

11. Get a dialogue script

A dialogue script is a version of the script which has the prices time code so the dubbing artist knows exactly where to place their dialogue. However, this is something which we once again don't need so will skip this.

12. Get a campaign image

The campaign image is something that should have titles and credits and should let the viewer know exactly what our film is about. During pre production we took a variety of images of our main actress and the mask to use on our different poster ideas.

13. Get a trailer

A trailer is something I definitely want to have as part of our final film marketing, as it's something that will help encourage our audience to want to see the film and will allow us to put it on our website and build up the hype of the film.

Reference: http://www.raindance.org/the-13-steps-of-post-production

I'm really happy that I read this and it's really encouraged me with what I will be doing such as marketing as a lot of the steps we are already in the process of doing. 

Overall, the research I have done into my role as a producer in post production has given me a further insight into what I should be doing and all the extra marketing work which I can look into. It's also helped me to schedule myself and Vic further and now we have more detailed deadlines and times for the post production schedule and i'm confident we will be able to get it all done.