Evaluation

Here is my full evaluation of my short film and ancillary tasks.

The Last Brian On Earth - Final Edit

Here is the final edit of my short film, The Last Brian On Earth.

Ancillary product 1 - Film Poster

Here is the film poster I produced to go alongside my short film. It shows both characters, that are the same person to represent his mental illness. 

I chose to give away the most important pieces of information which therefore means it's classed as a theatrical poster. Although it shows the film title, the characters name and it's release date it doesn't show where it will be distributed. I chose to reveal it like this, as it could then be distributed on many platforms including the internet, and several cinema conventions.

Seeing as I changed the name, I will need to produce a new poster. However, I will probably change the format, and go with either a teaser poster, or a character poster so that I can represent the two different styles for my film.

These are my 2 Character poster's. I decided that along with the theatrical poster, I would create two character poster's, so that I could use them for advertisement. They would lead up to the theatrical poster to give the audience something to look forward to, a sneak peek at the film's main character(s).
As the film is about 1 person, seeing himself, I chose to highlight this very clearly in the different poster's. The  top photo, as it's of Brian (The imaginary Brian) I wanted him to stand out from the background, to look added in, unnatural. Therefore I decided to put the back ground as black and white, and change his natural colour to red. Red is often a signifier of danger, and although the character poses no threat, he isn't real and there it's showing Brian (The real Brian) is alone. I believe the different colours work well to make him stand out, and it work's well as a simple character poster.
For the second character poster, I decided to keep the colour's natural, as it was of the real Brian. I slightly changed the brightness and contrast to make the photo seem a bit more "fantasy" ish, however not too much so it stepped away from reality. This again is just a simple character poster, but I like it as it gives the desired effect. It clearly shows the character, and his name, and therefore suits it's purpose. 

Ancillary product 2 - My Film Review

Here is the first draft of my film review. Made in a slightly unconventional way, in which is breaks down everything that happens in the film in a critical way instead of highlighting certain aspects in which the director has done well.
I decided to create the review like this because I read a fight club review in which it was very critical of Fight Club, and because Fight Club is one of my inspirations towards my short film, I thought it would be a good idea to create something similar.

The link to the fight club review: http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,4267,102483,00.html

 The layout was taken from Odeon's review of The Waiting Room. I decided to do something similar to that because it was a film review that was very minimamlistic in style, and quite a basic design but I thought it looked good overall and did it's job.

Review analysis

Here is my break down of The Waiting Room review by Odeon. 

For my film review, I will be trying to almost replicate this idea because I like how it's not the most professional review. The style of this review matches my film, and the film style well. 

Magazine review

Model example focus - Layout - Structure

Body of text / Terminology

Literacy level - Elaborated / Restricted / code - mode of address - formal / Informal - narrative focus - Teaser / critical / promotional.

Audience type:
Film Buffs / fans.
Entertainment seekers.
General - sunday suppliment.
Demohraphics - Age/ gender/ class
Star fans.
Techno geeks.

Online / offline / both.
Insitution and industry - Does it add merit/ validity - Why/ how?

Poster analysis

There are 3 main types of film poster, all of which are made and viewed differently.
The first one is:
The teaser poster.

A teaser poster is very basic in terms of design and idea, but when launched it can be extremely powerful in gaining an excited audience. It may only decide to show the main character in some sort of action, and the name of the film, however it wont give away any dates, or where it will be distributed.
It's solely for getting the audience before the film has been launched.

The second is:
The theatrical poster.
A theatrical poster is more information related than a teaser poster, so it will tell the audience who the director's/ producer's are, more actor and actress names. It will also most likely show where it's going to be distributed. This is so people know when and where to go, and can base the idea of if they will enjoy it by the actors, or directors.

The third one is:
The character poster.

A character poster shows only one thing. One or two characters. It will have the main good, or the main evil character in most cases, and show them standing upright and strong, or in the darkness to represent different elements of the character. A character poster is used to promote individual aspects of the film, instead of the whole thing. 

Sound - Dubbing

For the voice, I had an idea to make it seem as if the main character is only speaking in his head. This means all voice would be dubbed in after filming.
As the voice will be done by the same actor for 2 different characters, the audience may get confused, but this is what I want.

Also, for the music parts, I will use Garage band, and see if I can create a music track to fit the short film's atmosphere, if not I will use sounds in the editing software.

I had to change the soundtrack several times to fit the vocals, and the action more, but eventually I feel I got it right and I think it fits the whole atmosphere very well. 

Representation

My short film is a psychological thriller and therefore my character needs to fit the conventions of a thriller film.
For example my actor is male, as male characters are portrayed as stronger in both mind and body.
In films such as:
Man on a Ledge.
Limitless.
Looper.
All of the main characters are male.

Changes

Due to difficulties with filming, and finding actors, I've decided to change my idea slightly to allow filming with only 1 person as a pose to 2. 
The pieces of writing in bold and underlined show the changes to the narrative plot, in order for me to be able to film with just one person.

The film starts with Brian laying on a field. 
The screens goes into black and white, stops at the image on screen and Brian's name pops up above his head. When his name pops up, the camera slowly zooms out to give the shot a little action. A couple of seconds later, the screens goes back to colour, and a high angle tracking shot in a full 360 circle reveals Brian (2) laying, and the screen stops, goes black and white, and his name pops up. Again as his name pops up, the camera slowly zooms out. 
The film cut's to a long shot of  both Brian's laying together, and one of them starts talking.
"Dude, Where is everyone?"
Another cut to a high angle, and then the other Brian replies.
"Everyone is gone..."

The way I will do the above is to have one angle showing Brian in full colour, and then as Brian (2) speaks, I'll cut to another angle in black and white.

A cut to medium shot as ambient music starts playing in background and the guys get up and wander across the field (camera panning) and out onto a nearby street.
As the guys disappear the camera cuts to a medium low shot from the street, to see their feet and legs appear.

In the scene above, I will either cut back and forth between black and white angles, and full colour angles to show the different characters.

Long shot pans across the roof of a car to show the guys walking up to it, and start talking.
"Can you drive?"
Camera cuts to close up behind them as Brian (2) replies.
"No... can you?"
Camera cuts to close up of Brian (1)'s face, as he replies.
"No... I guess we're walking then"
Musics start to play louder as they wander down the street. Camera cuts to extreme long shot in front of the guys, walking towards camera.
Brian (1) reaches into his bag, to find nothing inside (close of up inside bag) and asks:
"You got that drink?" only to find Brian (2) has disappeared.
The music stops. And camera tracks around Brian (1).

For the conversation scene, I can do a shot reverse shot of the one actor, showing the back of his head as one character, and then his face as the second character.
Another way I could do it is to record the same person saying both parts, and then split the screen to overlap the conversation. 

"Hey, where did you go?"
The sound of a heartbeat fades in, getting louder. Camera cuts to medium shot looking out of bushes towards Brian (1).
"This isn't funny!"
Brian (1) starts to walk, and gradually gain speed until he is running. Camera cut's to medium shot in front of Brian (1) and pans fast as he runs past. Just before he runs past camera cuts to his point of view, and the cuts back to match on action panning where there are both Brian (1) and Brian (2) running.

For the scene above, I can do it 1 of 2 ways.
1 way to do it, is to film the actor running twice in slightly different places and overlap the footage.
Another way is to have the screen turn black and white after the point of view shot. This won't be as visually pleasing, but it will be easier.

"Dude, why are we running?"
All heartbeat sounds stop and camera cuts to close up as both runners halt.
"Hey man, I need to tell you something.. but you might want to sit down.."
Camera pans to view a bench, as the guys walk over to it.
A loud thump sound plays as Brian (1) sits down. Over the shoulder shot from Brian (2) looking at Brian (1) as Brian (2) starts talking:
"Well I don't know how to tell you this... but you suffer from multiple personality disorder."
Over the shoulder shot continues throughout the conversation:
"What... What the hell does that mean?"
Brian 2: "It means I'm not real.. I'm just you, well... I'm me, but I'm you. It's all confusing really.."
Brian 1: "Wait... What?"
Brian 2: "I'm your other personality, I don't exist. But, I have more bad news..."
Brian 1: "Bad news? Judging from the absolutely jolly news I've just heard can it get worse?"
Brain 2: "Seeing as I'm not real, you are technically the last person on earth."
Camera cuts to medium shot as dramatic music starts to play, gradually getting louder.
Camera starts to pan round in a 360 circle and when the view gets back to Brian (1), Brian (2) has disappeared.

Again, For the scene above I could just do a shot reverse shot of the same person, switching between face shots and back of the head shots for each bit of the conversation, or have the screen split and film the same actor talking twice for each character's part.

Music stops, and heartbeat fades in. Fast moving shot following Brian (1) running up the stairs of a tall building, and then cuts to long shot on the roof of which Brain runs out of the door and towards the edge.
Heart beat gets louder and louder and fades to black as Brian jumps off. 

Location shots

Here are the location shots I took so I can have an idea of where exactly I would like to film. 

This picture is of a field in Mousehold woods, it's very big and close to a street, which would mean I could do the first couple of scenes all in this same area.
The downside is that the street is quite busy, and therefore would interrupt with my film concept.

This field is in Heathgate. Again it's large, and quite close to a street, however it's more of a hill so the first scene will seem unusual from the viewing angle.

The location above is Sloughbottom Park, near Anglia square. I'll probably choose this one as it's close to a very quiet street, so the transition between scene's will be continuous.
The only downside is that the field is small and I may get houses and such in the background.

This is a backstreet, which is a good place to film the second and so on scene's, as there won't be many people around at pretty much any time. This will allow easy filming.

This is another backstreet, which will be good as there won't be many people around. However it's behind a school, so there might be a lot of background noise during different times. 

The shot above is of a backstreet that leads out onto a main road. This may be good, because hardly any car's park there, however the noise and car's driving past will ruin the scenes.

This road has a lot of car's parked, however very few people walk down it so it may be good for a running shot, or perhaps the second or so scenes. 

This is the backstreet that leads out from Sloughbottom park. Again this will probably be the location I use as there are very few car's parked, and there will be minimal distractions from people and background noise. 

This is the bench of which I may use to do the conversation scene. I may need to find a new one however, as there will be cars constantly driving past which will ruin the shot.

This will most likely be the car park I use for the final scene, as there are stairs that I can shoot the running shots up, and a great view from the top. 

Depending on the background noise, car's and people etc I may have to change my locations.
However, as of now these will be the ones I will definitely use.

Shot Types

My short film with have a range of different shot types. Going from the basic close-up, medium and long shots to point of view shots and shot reverse shots.

The shot reverse shot will be used to emphasize the conversation scene, giving each character the spotlight when they speak.

The point of view shots be mainly be used as transitions between other shots, so that the film flows better as a whole.

As for the other basic shots, they are used to give a little action throughout the film. For example, close ups to add atmosphere and eeriness, long-shots to give the film some depth, and medium shots to just keep the film running. 

OTS/ End Credits

For the opening title sequence, I have a couple different ideas.
I could go with a moving back ground as the title shows. For example, a wide shot pan of the field I decide to film on, or just a wide shot pan of a desolate street. 
This would give a bit of action to play whilst the Title shows, so it isn't boring for the audience.

I could just do a black screen with the title showing, zooming in or possibly a different effect and then fading to the first scene. This may be boring, but it's easier to do and doesn't require any extra filming. However this is very standard and won't look as visually pleasing. Also in my opinion it will stand out for the wrong reasons and look odd at the start of the film. 

Another option would be the extend the first scene to allow enough time for the Title to show before the main action starts. This could be a good idea, however the first scene may drag on a bit longer than wanted and would mean the audience would get bored. 
Also, being as the first scene already has a part of which Brian's name pops up, if the title popped up about a minute before, it would seem weird and would take away the effect desired. For example, the audience may think Brian is the name of the actor, as a pose to the characters name. 

I think my best option is to do the moving background as it shows action, and ties in well with the rest of the film without giving the wrong effect or idea. For example if I do a wide shot pan of the field, I can then almost directly link it with the first scene and give a sense of flow. 

For the end credits I also have a couple of ideas.
I could go with the standard black scrolling background that shows the actors/ actresses names, along with sound effect website links, director, producer etc, and have a music piece playing. Maybe a heart beat that fades out to a heartbeat monitor beep that's constant signifying death. 

Another idea is a cut to a long shot of Brian (1)'s body laying on the floor after jumping off the roof, and having the standard credits showing either around the body, or scrolling to the side. 
I like this idea a lot better than the first one, as it looks better and will round off the film well. 
Also, I really like the sound of the heart beat fading out the a constant beep of the heart beat monitor. 

Film name

For the name, I can't decide whether to play with the story and give it an obvious name. Or take the original name of the short film I'm basically recreating. Or give it a slightly humorous name to almost confuse the audience as to what they are viewing. 

For the more obvious names I could go with:

Schizophrenia.

MPD (Which is short for Multiple Personality Disorder)

Sanity. 

Not Insane? 

These names play on the fact the main character has multiple personality disorder which is considered a sanity defect. 

Due the the fact I am recreating: The last man on earth, I could go with:

Last Brian on Earth.

Last Man Alive.

The first one 'Last Brian on Earth' is a light hearted take on the original, whereas 'Last Man Alive' is an obvious name, that puts the film in a specific genre straight from the start. 

Or I could just generally go with:

Brian.

All Alone. 

These two are very different. 'Brian' is misleading as it doesn't say much about the story, it just gives away the characters name. 

'All Alone' is obvious, but doesn't necessarily give away the story either. It doesn't give away the fact that Brian has a sanity disorder, or the fact he's the last man on earth. 

Actors/ Actresses

I am hoping to film with two male characters, as that's how I wrote the story. Two male characters both named Brian.
However, I'm toying with the idea of having Brian (2) as a female. It will add a little comedy/ confusion to the film.
I can change the script, or add in little parts of speech such as: Brian (2): "Didn't you think it was a bit weird I'm a girl, and my name is Brian..."

Also, it gives confusion in the form of questions like: Are they boyfriend and girlfriend, are they brother and sister etc. This is good for the style of my film, as when they realise Brian (2) is completely made up it will both answer the question's of their relationship, and answer the question of Brian (1)'s sanity.
Also, I know a male and female that may possibly be available whereas I don't know two males that want to and will be able to.
If I had a girl and a boy, it would solve some difficulties however I would have to edit the story, and script a little to accommodate the change in character.

Scene timing

Due to lighting throughout the day, I will need to shoot at a specific time.
Early in the morning would be perfect for the surroundings as there would be near to no one around. As well as the fact it will be light, but not too light.
The difficulties at shooting early in the morning is availability of actors. They might be busy due to school/college.

Midday is good for lighting, however if the sun is highly visible it may give too much light and make the action in film hard to see. A benefit would be that actors may be available and one of the only times I can film, but still be in enough light to see.
A difficulty of filming midday is that people may be around, and therefore give me a hard time when filming. I'll have to film in little chunks whilst waiting for people to walk past etc.

Filming at night is extremely bad for lighting, as it gets dark very quickly and will mean the film will have low visibility. A good thing is that actors would probably be most available at this time however there will also be a lot of people around coming home from work, or going out.

I will probably be filming midday, as it gives me the best chance at combing availability of actors and lighting. Once I choose my actors, I will see when they can film and choose a perfect time.

Area/ locations/ Lighting

For my short film, I need a large field, a street that doesn't have many car's, a street with a bench, and a tall/ accessible building (Possibly a car park).

I'm in conflict with two ideas. I can either try to find most of these area's close together to allow almost constant filming. Going from the field, straight out onto a street and then up a car park. 
Or I could just choose specific locations, and just move between each. Going from a field, then moving location to a place that may be a while away and filming there. 
I have a feeling, it will be better for continuity to choose area's close together, and potentially modify the film to allow the setting to be right. However some of the locations I want may be far away, so for a better looking film in terms of set it may be better just to choose locations and edit it to give continuity. 

Also timing of shot's will need to be almost perfect, as lighting is essential. If I film one shot early in the morning, and film the shot that will go earlier in the film later in the day the lighting will be wrong and completely throw away continuity. 
I want the film to be pretty light, as it will give a better look. Also there is a larger chance there will be less people around. 
However this will give difficulties in terms of getting actors. 
I could possibly film midday, as it will still be very light but there will be a lot of the public walking around, making it impossible for me to film 'the last man on earth'. 

For the tall building of which Brian runs up the stairs and jumps off the edge, I most probably will use Anglia square car park. This is because it's easily accessible, and can give a good view from the top.
There are a couple of fields that I could use, for example Catton Park may be good as it is large and some area's are empty for long periods of time. 
Another field would be one in Mousehold as again they might be empty for a while, and because they are smaller than Catton Park it could give an easier transaction to the street shot. 
For the street shot I could use a street directly off the field, however these may be highly populated giving extreme difficulty to film a desolate area. I may need to find a back street, or an industrial location as both of these will be almost empty of people. 

If I want to film almost continuously, I could use Slough-bottom park, as it's close to Anglia square. This means, I can come off Slough-bottom park, onto the backstreet that leads towards Anglia square, then across the ground level car park and up the multi story car park. Also, there is a seating area between the backstreet and the ground level car park so that's almost all of the scenes covered. 
However, the backstreet may not have any cars at all, therefore I won't be able to get the 'Over the roof of the car scene'. 
Other than that, I think this may be my best chance at continuity between all of the scenes, and depending on the time most of the area's might be empty. Midday is when most people are at school, therefore the park will probably be empty, and many people will be at work so the backstreet and seating area may also be empty. 

Soundtrack/ sound effects.

Most of the film has sound in the background to add different atmospheric feelings, for example there will be a piece of music playing to make an eery, or tense feeling for the audience.

Another sound that will be almost constant for many scenes is a heart beat. This will gradually get louder the show that something bad is about to happen. A signifier of slight evil.

For the heartbeat, I can use a standard heartbeat effect from the editing software, if there is any. If there isn't, I will download a free heartbeat sound from the internet.

For the sound's: (Ambient sound and eery sound) I will have to download a free soundtrack from the internet to use to avoid copyright. 

Other sounds such as running, or the loud thump when Brian sits down I can either pre record, and just add in once i've filmed to avoid the loud sounds of traffic or other such things. Or I could try and find a quite area to film, and catch the sound originally whilst filming. This choice will be made once i've filmed, because if the diegetic sounds are too loud I will have to add in non diegetic sound. 

Story Board - Hand Drawn

High shot of Brian laying in field. 
(5 seconds)

Close up on field , showing Brian's left eye and grass in background.
Screen turns black and white, cuts to medium shot and slowly zooms out as Brian pops up in top right corner. 
(10 seconds)

Continuing zooming out to long shot, screens back to colour.
Camera moves round in a semi circle to show Brian (2) laying on field.
(10 seconds)

Camera continues cycling round the field in semi circle  until Brian (2) is laying in almost the exact position as Brian (1) in previous shot.
(5 seconds)

Close up of Brian's (2) right eye, with grass in background.
Screen goes black and white, cuts to medium-long shot and slowly zooms out to long shot.
Brian pops up in top left corner.
(10 seconds)

Extreme long shot of guys laying on grass, camera turns back to colour.
Speech: "Dude, where is everyone?"
(5 seconds)

High shot of both Brian's laying on field.
Speech: (In reply to previous speech) "Everyone is gone..".
(5 seconds) 

Medium shot as the guys get up, look around and start walking.
(10 seconds)

Panning long shot of field as guys walk across it.
Ambient/ Spooky music playing in background. 
(5 seconds)

Medium low shot from street looking onto the edge of field.
Showing both Brian's leg's as they walk out onto street.
(5 seconds) 

Long shot across roof of car as guys walk over to it.
Speech: "Can you drive?"
(5 seconds)

Medium shot from behind the guys with car in background.
Cuts to close up of the left side of the back of Brian's (2) head as he replies:
"No, can you..?"
(10 seconds)

Close up of Brian's (1) mouth and top of his body.
Speech: "No, I guess we're walking then..." 
(5 seconds)

Extreme long shot of street, in front of the guys.
The guys walk towards the camera.
Ambient music gets louder. 
(5 seconds)

Close up of bag, showing the inside of it empty. 
(5 seconds)

Long shot of street and Brian (1) holding bag.
Speech: "You got that drink?"
(5 seconds)

Close up tracking on a 360 circle around Brian's (1) head. 
(10 seconds)

Camera stops tracking on close up on left side of Brian's (1) face.
Speech: "Hey, where did you go?"
(5 seconds)

Medium shot looking out of bushes towards Brian (1)
Sound of heart beat fades in and gradually gets louder.
Speech: "This isn't funny!"
(5 seconds)

Medium shot of street in background as Brian starts running towards camera.
Camera pans as Brian gets closer.
Cuts to point of view (shaking to give realism).
Cuts to match on action shot as camera pans round and there is both Brian's running away from camera.
Speech: "Dude, why are we running?" 
(20 seconds)

Close up of feet as both guys stop running.
Heart beat stops. 
(5 seconds)

Speech: "Hey man, I need to tell you something.. But you may want to sit down.."
Medium shot panning to a bench, as the guys walk over to it.
(10 seconds)

Over the shoulder shot of Brian (2) looking at Brian (1) sitting on bench.
Loud thump sound when Brian (1) sits down.
Speech: Brian (2) "Well, I don't know how to tell you this... But you suffer from multiple personality disorder."
(5 seconds)

Over the shoulder shot of over Brian (1) looking at Brian (2).
Speech: Brian (1) "What.. What the hell does that mean?"
(5 seconds)

Over the shoulder shot throughout the whole conversation.
Speech: Brian (2) "It means I'm not real... I'm just you, well... I'm me, but I'm you. It's all confusing really.."
Brian (1) "Wait... what?"
Brian (2) "I'm your other personality, I don't exist. But, I have more bad news..."
Brian (1) "Bad news? Judging from the absolutely jolly news I've just heard can it get worse?"
Brian (2) "Seeing as I'm not real, you are technically the last person on earth"
Dramatic music starts to play gradually getting louder.
(30 seconds - 1 minute) 

Medium shot of Brian (1) on bench.
Pans around to a point of view shot.
Pans back out to the medium shot of Brian (1) on bench, but Brian (2) has disappeared.
Dramatic music stops, and heartbeat fades in.
(20 seconds)

Fast moving shot follows Brian as he runs to a building, and up the stairs.
Heartbeat getting louder.
(30 seconds)

Long shot of door on roof of the building.
Brian burst's out of the doors and runs towards the edge.
Camera pans from door to the edge to show Brian up against the edge.
(10 seconds)

Heart beats gets louder and louder as screen fades to black.
Before the screen turns completely black, Brian jumps off edge.
Heart beat stops on black screen, and sound of a loud thump plays as Brian hits the floor.
(10 seconds)