• How do your products represent social groups or issues?
When beginning this project, we knew that we wanted our short film to be somewhat relatable and definitely realistic. Since we all created horror films in AS level, we wanted to try a new genre which ultimately came to the idea of making a drama. In school, we are taught about mental health and all the ways students could be struggling in silence. We wanted this to be a visual representation of this not only to educate, but to take a more creative approach to our film. By portraying the lives many live today, we have given those who choose not to speak up their health the opportunity to share freely with those who have realized the severity of these circumstances. The first topic tackled in our movie is unexpected teen pregnancy. Although it could be positive to some, most aren’t prepared and are often scared when they find out they are expecting at such a young age. The second topic is eating disorders and body dysmorphia. We chose to represent this issue because of how many people deal with it without knowing or telling anyone. People consider it embarrassing to tell someone they have an eating disorder and when asked about it, it’s usually denied. This occurs in many lives today as social media sets a standard for what is beautiful whether it’s super skinny and fit or looking like an “hourglass”. Eating disorders do enough damage themselves to your body, but we wanted to represent someone that had been going through it for a while and is now giving up. Lastly, we created a character with fighting parents. Although this issue is not directly created by the one suffering, violence in a household can often make one feel like it is their fault. Our movies represents these issues for an audience that could possibly be completely oblivious.
• How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Creating this project came with the task of promoting our short film. One of the first platforms we created was a website. With this, we could post updates, reviews, and link our social media accounts with ease. After creating this website, we made accounts on social media most used by society today. We made pages on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook under the name of our short film. Planning this out before filming allowed us to plan posts and updates for promotion. This aspect of branding fit into the category of planning and pre-production for our short film. When beginning to film, we made sure to film updates (in between takes) to later share with followers of our short film. The physical filming portion was important not only because it’s a physical depiction of the movie, but it allowed for these updates to be created for branding of the movie. After filming, we went on to create our postcard. This would be a physical advertisement for the film with showtimes and our social media usernames printed on it. We also edited in post-production, which opened a new opportunity for promotion and branding of our short film. We found that we had tons of outtakes which could make for great entertainment for audiences following our production progress. Our website, social accounts, and postcard have allowed us to share our process, but without the processes of pre-production, filming, and post-production, we wouldn’t have discovered the small details in promoting our movie.
• How do your products engage with the audience?
As stated before, our film tackles the issues of teen pregnancy, eating disorders, and violence in the household. It is created to inform audiences of what may be happening to those close to them without them knowing and shows people with these issues how it can affect them if kept to themselves. The audience experiences the emotions of the characters through different camera angles and shots. For example, we used close-ups to express the emotion on the faces of the actresses. The audience is able to live in the scene created and possibly relate. We also created social media to allow the audience an inside look at our filming process. This was a part of our branding process and could be used by the audience to get updates on what we were working on. Our website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all allow information to be shared from us to our audience. This way, the audience feels like they’re part of the process, encouraging them to see the film when it’s released. Lastly, our postcard allows for showtimes and social media names to be shared to the audience. This also gives the audience the opportunity to plan to see the movie for themselves. The physical film, the media resources, and postcard all allow the audience to feel in touch with the process, outcome, and story created for this short film.
• How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
When beginning our project, my group and I knew that we wanted to create a drama short film. In AS level, we all made the first two minutes of a horror film, so we decided we wanted to explore another genre as well as go through the process of creating a full-length short film. Previously, we didn’t have to learn the aspects of branding, however this year it was important to be educated on every detail when it comes to creating a film. Before beginning to brand, we did some genre research. When researching the genre of drama, we often found that the movie would have a light-hearted or bitter-sweet message. For example, the movie Clouds follows the final months of a teen dealing with cancer through song. The movie is mostly positive, even though the main character faces his uncontrollable death. However, many times drama movies can be ominous or convey a negative emotion. We decided to go this route, keeping the emotional aspect of a drama film. We then transitioned into creating our social media platforms. Before doing this, we looked at examples from films that were already created. In doing this, we were able to set up our accounts like professionals. We used this knowledge we had gained to create our platforms, making sure to include things such as a description of our short film. In the end, our film and branding strategies both used and challenged conventions to follow certain guidelines, but add our own creativity and uniqueness to it.
