Finished Short Film- 'Unnatural Comfort'

Powerpoint presentation for evaluation

Here is our Powerpoint Presentation for our evaluation

Ancillary: Unnatural Comfort Magazine Reveiw

Above is the two page spread of our magazine review for our film Unnatural Comfort.
We have designed it based on research into other professional magazine reviews from successful magazines.

The layout is simple yet effective, this shows a level of professionalism which makes the audience to read further on. It fits in with the conventions of a film review with the title at the top, a brief catchy headline, some images to draw your attention around the two pages and a text body which describes our film on a contextual level basis.
The images are spread out equally across the two pages allowing balanced compositional rhythm between the images and text structure. This way the audiences attention will be drawn to both pages. They see the images of interesting screenshots from our film then are drawn to reading further to find out more. The same applies to the fonts and design of the title and heading text.
At the start of the first paragraph of the text body on the first page we enlarged the capital letter which helps lure the audience's attention to reading without them being aware of it, somewhat like a subliminal message. This works well with the small film role style image layout beneath the heading with its bright outstanding colours and design.
We used the same font and design for the title and text in our magazine review as well as the background text as we did in our poster. This helps create a strong sense of brand identity linking all of our products together.

For our magazine review we chose to use a black background, the mysterious dark colour promotes the unnatural ominous theme of our supernatural thriller in a unnoticeable subliminal message kind of way as we do with the protagonist in our film. We chose not to use the same white layout of our poster because we did not want to seem repetitive. Also, the poster highlights the parody of the story of our film where as the magazine review aims to acquaint our audience in a more in-depth way to further attract their attention.

We constantly promoted a sense of our brand identity to attract our audience' throughout the entire layout of our review.
The the large eye catching titles images, the text and extras like the rating and most importantly the cue of our production company title, Flowmotion Films.

Altogether we have presented followed a conventional rule as we have used brand identity in a way for our audience to recognise it through all of the elements we have used in our ancillary products. Our magazine review follows a conventional rule through the use of header, headline, brief description in our magazine review, which is a conventional element for our magazine review.

Ancillary: Unnatural Comfort Poster

Here is the final copy of our poster. Beforehand we researched into a variety of posters to get an idea of what a conventional and successful poster should look like which inspired us to create our own poster in the way we did.

Our poster works well with the conventions of a supernatural thriller short film creating a strong sense of brand identity which is maintained throughout the film and ancillary products which helps to successfully attract our audience. Our film includes many subliminal messages, for this reason we have decided a way to retain the identity and apply it to the poster. We have added a layer of subtle blue text in the background with keywords reffering to the situations the protagonist faces within the film. This helps give the audience a sense of the film. We have carried this on further by adding an image of the chair in the foreground and the desk in the background. We added a gradient effect on the desk which hints the ongoing of a supernatural heppening in the story. The presence of the chair hints that it has a strong significance in the story, this helps attaract the audiences attention throughout the film, making them wonder what is going to happen because you would not expect such an outcome in a story.

The overall white colour creates a dissorientating feeling as it usually refers to a blank mind, confusion, mystery or unnatural situation when used in a supernatural thriller. This also works with the traditional choice of black, although we wanted our film to stand out and cause confusion as it is a parody.

The bold, black release date stands out above everything else in the image other than the film title and almost forces the audience in their mind to want to go and watch the film. This helps add significane and poularity to our title and brand.

These elements combined have allowed us to market our poster to our target audience successfully to a wide range of audience. We kept a strong sense of brand identity by metioning our production company name and logo on the top and bottom of the image. Our poster is very conventional as it follows the trait of a psychological short film, with the use of colours significant objects and the subliminal text in the background. Which results into attracting our audience. The isolation is shown through the use of a plain background, this again portrays our film overall which is one of the conventions of a short film.

Ancillary task: Poster- Original images

Here are the original images for our poster. We used these images because the presence of the chair and desk allowed us to represent the significance of the objects in our film. This way the poster would reflect aspects of our film.

Unnatural Comfort Draft Poster

We have been hugely inspired by the poster of "I'm not there' because it is rather sinister and attracts the audience. We have decided to include a chair in the film as it is an important element in our film and is based around the chair. The title of the element is embedded onto the chair, again showing the significance of the chair and it also arises questions of what the short film is about, therefore, marketing the audience successfully. Also the colour theme would be dark and grey, which will give the poster a brand identity to easily recognise our film, this will allow us to attract the audience more successfully.
We believe our poster is a conventional poster, as it follows the trait of a psychological short film and also arises question within the audience.

Draft film review article

Here we have a draft version of the film review article, we have researched into other types of film magazines such as Total Film , Empire, and Screen magazine. This had inspired us and gave us ideas on what to include in our magazine in order to follow up the convention of a magazine article. We have included the headline in our magazine article as it is crucial in order to catch the attention of our target audience, we've also included large picture throughout the magazine article in order to create a strong sense of brand identity which is kept throughout the film and poster. Brand identity helps our target audience to perceive our brand, which allows us to market our brand more successfully.
We have followed a strong sense of convention rules throughout our magazine article, also successfully delivering a strong sense of brand identity.

Draft Production Logo

Here is a draft of our production logo, this draft was too simplistic and not creative, it also did not relate to our aim of our production company.

Here is our final draft of our production logo, we have also decided to make it animated and add sound effect in the final logo in our video in order to make it more catchy and professional.
I have developed an idea for our final production logo, this will enable us to recognise the, pros and cons of the production logo to make it further more professional.

We have decided to make the film reel flow towards the screen, within our film reel there will be scenes from our movie, the name of the production company will follow the flow.

Video Editing

Editing our video is a key element in film making, it will allow us to bring our film together and make it understandable and interesting. We had first started by importing our film onto the hard disk drive using Final Cut Pro which had took a whole lesson, we then sorted our film out buy putting them in folders. As we have many different scene, we needed to get organised to make editing process run more easier and smoother, we put them inside a folder according to where they should fit in such as Scene 1, Scene 2 etc.
We were given specific task in order to make this film work, Zeyad was doing the editing, while Shayez and Naji suggested types of effect and how the film should be made. We had worked as a group to create an effective film, combining our ideas and choosing the ones which works perfectly.
We then began to delete the useless and incorrect scene and get them out of the way so that we can pick out the useful clips and apply them onto the time line. By applying the clips onto the time line, we get a sense of how the film will be portrayed and we all, as a group, decided what should need altering in order to make it unique. We then began to cut the scenes and apply them together allowing us to familiarise our self with the film so that we can apply what effects will work to suit the atmosphere of the film.

We then experimented with the a wide range of effects and picked out the best ones which will work, we have used videos from the Darren Brown show such as the instruction video and subliminal video. This gave us a further idea of how the effect should be portrayed in the film as the film is related to the Darren Brown videos, we cut in between scenes to give a quick flash of an image making it seem subliminal, this allowed us to give the audience an awkward unnatural feeling.

While editing our short film, we realised the sound was a big issue as it cuts back and forth from different scene, in order to make give it a more continuity feel to the film, we added a natural ambient sound effect which remains consistent throughout the film. Another huge issue with our film was the fact that the light levels in different shots of the film sometimes vary, we used the colour level in order to match up with other films to give a natural feel to the film.

The film colour level and sound remains constant throughout the film giving a natural feel to the film, the effects work very well to the film making the audience jitter with subliminal messages as well as entertaining them, therefore making the short film very successful

Feedback Review

After showing our film to a few people we had some audience feedback. The all had very similar feedback. Many explained: "Allot of the scene had no action, nothing interesting going on", "Boring", this made us focus allot of our attention to the editing, we needed to add a variety of technical and sound effects to make it more entertaining and appealing. This was easily overcome through the use of Subliminal type messages. We used the idea from the film Fight Club where subliminal messages were flashed during some scenes giving a psychologically dominating effect towards the audience which would cause them to feel they are within the film. We added static shots throughout many scenes to make it interesting and entertaining while keeping in sync with the narrative. Another major drawback was the fact that the audience didn't the flashback which confused them, we added a black and white overlay effect to strongly suggest it is a flash back. The sound was also a major drawback as the sound wasn't in sync with the whole movie, we had added ambient sound to give a natural effect and also the sound of a voice over to give it an interesting effect.
Many of the audience were unaware of what was going on in the film, and didn't realise that the movie was based on the Darren Brown event, however, we had included a mini clip of Darren Brown instruction video to show that the movie is related to the Darren Brown Event.

Unnatural Comfort Film Review

How to control the nation. This is the famous quote which shall be remembered by Britain as the day we have been incapacitated to believe we were stuck to our chair. Darren Brown, the nations most renowned magician, demonstrates his astonishing powers by inviting us to be part of a special TV event which will literally have you on the edge of your seat. This had inspired 3 students from Paddington Academy to create a short film which shows a character fallen into Darren Browns mind control, this film goes by the name of 'Unnatural Comfort'.

The idea of this film came into mind when the group of student were discussing the effects of Darren Brown and whether if it had really worked and the conspiracy behind it, until we decided to have a perfect idea which will open up to a wide range of audience and entertain them by projecting the Darren Brown event onto a short film. The original idea slowly developed from a small suggestion which grew into a spectacular short movie.

Unnatural Comfort holds a similar trait to other films such as Fight Club and The Usual suspect, mainly for mind twisting endings and psychological effect throughout the film. The short film follows the conventions of other short films, allowing the audience to fall into the stress and frustration of the main character. The film is based in a quite isolated workplace of, ironically, chair building company, this immediately shows a connection between this movie and around the Darren Browns highly popular 'how to control the nation'. This creates a constant atmosphere throughout the film, allowing the audience to feel the protagonists depression.

The character is suited perfectly for the theme of the short film, an average everyday 9-5 worker, who is sick and tired of his job and walks carelessly throughout the film, a perfect victim for Darren Brown, allowing Brown to put images and subliminal message into his mind. This makes the film more interesting and entertaining as us audience as we love to see the struggle of a character.

The scenes throughout this short film are professional and the students have clearly taken in the idea of big blockbuster type movie, the direction and camera works explore different variety of shots to feel as if we are spectating the film. The acting was amazing and fitted the role for the film, the actor had clearly taken on board the natural attitude of the character. However, the props in the films are chosen carelessly without taking any consideration, such as, the chair specifically chosen for the film has wheels, the protagonist makes it seem as if it the wheel is stuck making it seem rather strange and awkward.

Overall, this spectacular movie is worth to watch, it had worked well in many ways, the film delivers a mind boggling and entertaining plot, the scenes have been edited in a professional style to give it a blockbuster style movie, the atmosphere and feel of the movie stays consistent thoughout.

Day 2 Filming

During our second day of filming we have set up the workplace for the location in which a scene from the film will take place. The props were already set up in the room which was more convenient for filming over the period of production. We went straight onto filming, we have filmed all the office scenes in order to quickly get it out of the way rather than to come back to it which may cause problems. We have successfully filmed all the office scenes in many different varieties of angles, which will then later be used in the editing suite. This will ensure us to find the better shot in order to give an idea of continuity towards the audience. After finishing off the scene,we then put the room back in it's normal state,we were given a responsibility to clean up and put the furniture back in the room.

After gathering all our required equipment such as the camera and props, we proceeded to our next scene in the canteen. We filmed during the school holiday which was convinient as the canteen was empty which created a isolated envinroment. Everything in the canteen was laid out perfectly. A water cooler was readily available for us. We had to take down the posters around the canteen and add our own posters in,this will make the film more realistic and build up the tension within the film as the audience will be dragged into it.

We then filmed the corridor scene which was empty, clean and plain which created the same isolated effect. We used the dolly and tripod to track the main character as he moved down the corridor. The posters were up on the side of the wall, the posters were clearly visible and can be seen by the audience.

After two full days we finished filming and called it a day. We have left the uploading and editing for another day.

Day 1 filming

We have all agreed to meet on the 27/10/09 at the first location of our filming, which is the isolated street near the school. We have gathered all our props such as the costume of the main character, the posters in the background, the dolly, the tripod, a Sony HVE A1E with a microphone. This was then ticked of our checklist and ensured us to start filming quicker. We have then proceeded by sticking the posters on the wall, at the idea of the posters we thought it wouldn't suit the setting as it is isolated, however, it had worked very well and came up on the screen very clearly. The day was rainy and gloomy, this had a great effect on the film as it reflects on the characters mood and behaviour. We tried to catch the shots from many different angles in order to get a different variety of shots which can ensure us to find the best shot to include in our film.

We then decided to move on to our next location, when the main character enters the workplace. This location was located in the back entrance of our school, this had an ideal work style effect, with the brick wall and the glass doors, the glass doors gave us a chance to put our poster which will still continue to give a natural effect. We have successfully used a panning shot, however later, we were worried that the glass door might reflect our reflection on, not just the character.

We then filmed the opening scene of the character in the office,we have needed further props which was the clock, posters, desktop equipment. This was very easy to find, as there were these equipments lying around the school. One of our biggest problem was that the room we were meant to use for the office scene was currently under construction, however, there were similar rooms around the school. One of which was a room in the media suite which had the equipment laid out giving it a more natural feel, another advantage of the room was that it's small which gave a catastrophic and awkward feeling towards the audience. We've had many problems filming the scene as the location was in a small room, therefore limiting our shots of camera. we've managed to shoot half of the office scene up to the part when he is about to leave to get some snacks, however,our time for filming was up and we called it a day.

Influences - Fight Club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGPyXgtKzDE

We have also been inspired by the film fight club, throughout the movie we see subliminal messages, such as the images of a character created in the protagonists head. We have decided to do this for our film, however our main character will have a headache, as soon as he touches his head, a quick flash of an image or a video will appear. These images and videos will show a chair, derren brown or someone sitting on a chair. This will allow the audience to figure out what's going on and also build up tension before revealing the consequences of the character. This will allow us to make the video more exciting and entertaining for the audience rather than the whole film following the main character.

Influences - The Usual Suspects

In most of our film the protagonist sits behind a computer screen. However, the wall in front of him with posters and diagrams of chairs inspires him to give him new ideas.
This scene is inspired by this image, this image is a scene from the movie The Usual Suspects. The villain in the movie manages to create a lie and build up a story by using the board behind him, however in our movie the main character stares at it uselessly not knowing the fact that it's having an effect on him.
">

What influenced us

The derren Brown live show was quite extrodinary, whilst many people viewed it and claimed to be effected by it, true or not its very entertaining and people found themselves watching with great intensity. This inspired our group to base the idea of our short film on the darren brown experiment. We slightly twisted our film from a strange experiance to a dumb down parody, but this still sticks to our initial idea.
What also influenced us is the way Darren brown works and plans out his stunts in advance so they all come together at the end which is what we are trying to acomplish with our short film.



Another piece of media that influenced us to create a short story based on unexplained events is "The Blackhole" This gave us an idea of how we can utilize silence to build the suspence until the climax.

Costume

The costume we have chosen for the main character would be a pair of plain black trousers with a white shirt and black tie. The shirt should be slightly rugged and loose, also not properly ironed. This is important as it conveys the character's attitudes to life, he is reckless, frustrated and tired.

The reason we have chosen this costume is that it makes him fit into the role of an stereotypical office worker at an average job. This makes it realistic and allows the audience to relate to the character.

Location Scouting

We want to base our film in an isolated office as it is the stereotypical environment of a typical office worker. We have chosen to use various rooms within our school as they mimic an office style workspace and all of the props such as desks, computers etc. are already available in an office layout which saves time for us and looks very natural.

We have chosen to use an isolated location by a bridge for the shot where we introduce the main character as it allows us to create a secluded theme as if the man is cut-off from the rest of the world.

For the rest of the locations such as the corridor and the canteen we have also chosen to use locations within the school campus again. The reason for this decision as we explained before is that they already have an office style layout which saves time and makes them look more natural, we based our storyboard on these locations.
We have also chosen to use these locations for the reason that most of the walls are a plain white colour which we hope to create a neutral feel with, but also one of lifelessness because the colour is plain and draining. The location as a whole creates a realistic feeling as it is a real, ready available workspace not a studio set-up.

Script

Script


EXT. Street - Morning
CU – A drenched newspaper is shown briefly on the wet floor as the character walks above it.

MS Tracking – We then see the character walking along side a building and enters through the back entrance.

INT. Office – Late night
MS Trucking – A Clock is shown, then character whilst he is sitting at his desk.
Cut to:
CU – The character tapping his pen against the table whilst looking at computer screen.

CU – The character is stressed, he pulls at his face whilst looking at computer.

POV – Stares at a blank document on screen.

CU – Shows character tapping his pen again.

MS – The Character stands up to go and get a drink of water.

MS – Camera tracks character walking left to the water fountain through a corridor.
Quick Cut to:
CU – Characters hand shown with cup getting water.

MS – Character looking directly in front at a poster whilst drinking water.

OTSS – Character looking at poster after finishing his drink.
Quick cut to:
CU – Picks up crisp packet.

MS – Camera tracks character whilst walking back through the same corridor.

LS - The character reaches for the door and finds that its locked.

CU - Man tries to open the door whilst its jammed.

LS - Man is seen giving up and taking the longer route, camera tracks left as it follows character.

MS - The character reaches his desk and throws the crisp packet down.

ECU - An email is shown to have been received.
cut to:

CU - Characters confusion as he notices the email from an suspicious sender.
cut to:
ECU - The character is seen clicking the email and a massive flash appears from the screen.

CU - The character again is seen playing with his pen, as he thinks and fidgets he drops his pen, this is shown by a mid shot.

LS - A low angle shot as the man tries to to reach for the pen, a focus pull enhances the scenes intensity.

LS - The character realizes he cannot get up from his chair, as he struggles the camera slowly zooms out.

ELS - Character is still seen struggling to escape from the chair

THE END

Unnatural Comfort Storyboard

Here is our Animatic Storyboard.