Ancillary Texts

Magazine cover

Analysis of exsisting Empire film magazine covers:

I looked at three different Empire magazine coversto analyse the features used in them, and also to see what features occur on all of the Empire covers.

In conclusion, There are a number of things that 'Empire' use regulary on their covers, such as, the 'Empire' masthead is always in the iconic text that 'Empire' is recognised for. also the central image is often, in this case both covers have a close-up of the person linked to the Main article of the cover. Another thing that occurs regulary is that the featured articles are in smaller font, much like any magazine cover really. Other than the Central image there arent really alot of other supporting images on the cover. Also, 'Empire' often use a small amount of colour in their palette, using a small number of different colours to create a theme on the page, some colours are often taken from the central image itself.

The research into 'Empire' covers has given me some ideas for my own 'Empire' cover, featuring my short film.

Mock ups of 3 Empire magazines done myself

I used photo shop to mock up three potential covers of my own, using different but limited colour schemes, obviously this will change on my final cover to fit with the central image, like the real 'Empire' magazine covers. 

I really like the colour scheme of this cover, I think the colours really compliment eachother. I aslo think the layout of it looks nice and neat, simple like the professional ones by 'Empire'

This cover includes; Featured articles, a main article, puffs, a banner, barcode, price and date, flashes, and of course, the iconic 'Empire' title in the recognisable font used by them.





I dont really like the colour scheme of this mock up, but i do like the layout of it. There's one major thing that may become a problem with this layout and that's that there isnt alot of room for a central image and as 'Empire' use close-ups of a character as the central image, i intend to do the same so it dont think this layout will work properly for my final cover.






My final mock up is quite similar to the first, only the featured articles are on the opposite side, as is the flash. I like the colour scheme on this mock up, the only problem is that I dont think it really connotes to the emotion given by my short film, which i think it should.

Final cover

I am really pleased with how my cover turned out, i think i used the techniques that 'Empire' use well, such as, the small price, issue number and date, The iconic font of the 'Empire' masthead, the medium close-up central image in direct address and the simple colour pallette.

I have also challenged the way 'Empire's' covers look by adding alot more supporting imagery in the film strip at the bottom. I also added a banner at the top which i know from last year is a convention of a magazine cover, alothough on the two 'Empire' covers i looked at neither of them had one on, but this helps the cover to be more mine and not just a copy of 'Empire' covers.

I really like the colour scheme of my cover and i think it compliments the central image quite well, the colour of the masthead was actually colour picked from the tie in the central image and the title 'Condolences' colour was picked from his hair, this was how i made the image part of the rest of the cover.

Another thing i think works well is the quote "...But real love is forever" that is under the main article name, it works because once the reader watches my short film they will see that it is actually a quote taken from it, i think this was agood technique to use becuase it makes it actually about the film. After creating my final 'Empire' cover i analyised it the same way i analysed the real 'Empire' covers;

Poster

Analysis of exsisting film posters:

I analysed two posters for films that fit the genre of my short film to help me create my own poster.

My poster

I am really please with how my poster looks, it used the techniques from the posters i had previously anylised and also has a few things that are unique and new such as the two characters are in seperate images.

the image of the female character is in black and white and is also slightly faded, this shows that she could be absent from his life but still there through his memories, which are in black and white in the film to fit with the black and white image of  her.

The colours scheme of my poster is mainly light colours but quite dull,which reflects on the emotion of the film, giving the audience an idea of what the film might be like.

Analysis of my poster

Production Process

To begin the production of my short film i needed to create a story board of the shots, costume, props ect. it's important to create a storyboard so it makes the filming process much more simple and also makes sure you know what you need for what scenes and who you need/ when you need them and how long you need them for.

Here are a few examples of pages from my storyboard.

My storyboard helped alot when i first started filming, but as i was getting more into filming and realising certain things didnt work/ or look as good as i had hoped i started to change the script and didnt make more storyboards because i changed it during filming.

I also had to create a shooting schedule, to make sure i knew when i was filming, who and where i was filming and how long for, this helped me to manage my time properly in order to get the filming done in time.
however, it's not all that easy just to write out where and when you need someone to act for you, they could need to be somewhere urgently and you have to re-schedule your filming to suit them, which can be slightly annoying but it happens.

The filming process

When filming i made sure i filmed each scene a number of times to make sure i had enough good footages to create the scene the best i can when editing later on
During the filming process i ended up changing quite alot ofthe script due to things not looking as good as i wanted, not having things that i need and even weather issues, due to the short amount of time i had to do my filming compared to what real film productions get.

This is what my script ended up being like:

CONDOLENCES

BY DANIELLE HERBERT

PRODUCTION LOGO

TITLE SEQUENCE

FADE OUT

FADE IN

EXT. COURTYARD- EARLY EVENING

(CAR ENGINE SOUNDS)

LONG SHOT showing a car driving round and parking in front of a small house.

FADE TO:

LONG SHOT showing him walking from the car to the house, he starts to open the door.

CUT TO:

INT. HOUSE - EARLY EVENING

LONG SHOT showing him entering the house.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT showing a young girl walk over and hug him, they kiss.

CROSS FADE TO:

LONG SHOT of him standing alone. He throws his keys onto the kitchen side.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. HOUSE- EARLY EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE UP from inside wardrobe showing him taking off his jacket. He turns to take off his tie. 

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

MEDIUM CLOSE UP showing the young girl come over to help him take off his tie, they kiss.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. KITCHEN- EVENING

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP of him getting a pan out of the cupboard.

PANNING SHOT showing him walking over to the sink with the pot and filling it with water.

PANNING SHOT showing him walking over and putting it on the hob.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT showing the young man watching the young girl cooking. He gets up and goes and hugs her.

CROSS FADE TO:

LONG SHOT showing him cooking alone.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT. KITCHEN- EVENING

LONG SHOT showing him washing the dishes. As he goes to pick up the tea towel…

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT of the couple fighting with the tea towels.

CROSS FACE TO:

LONG SHOT of the young man looking at the tea towel. He throw it on the floor.

CUT TO:

He bends down to pick up the tea towel

CUT TO:

CLOSE UP of his hand as he see’s jenga pieces under the cupboard. he goes to pick them up.

CUT TO:

MEDUIM CLOSE UP from underneath the cupboard of him touching the jenga pieces.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

MEDIUM CLOSE UP from under the cupboard of a jenga tower falling over and two piece bounce underneath the cupboard.

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT of the couple playing jenga.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

INT.BEDROOM- EVENING

LONG SHOT showing the young man lying in bed alone, as he rolls over…

CROSS FADE TO:

(BLACK AND WHITE)

LONG SHOT showing the couple lay in bed cuddling

CROSS FADE TO:

LONG SHOT showing him sitting up and seeing the bed empty, he lies back down facing the other way.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

MEDIUM CLOSE UP showing the young man making two cups of tea. He turns to give the young girl hers only to find she’s not there, he tips one of the cups down the sink.

FADE OUT

FADE IN

Quote written out on screen, each line comes up separately.

“When the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on, is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever”

FADE OUT

CREDITS

 After filming



After doing all the filming, i used movie plus to capture and edit my film, i'd never used a movie suit before so it was pretty time consuming learning how to do everything right in order to get my film edited, i used the cut tool to cut up each scene which helped me to delete the footage i didnt need.

After i had only the scenes i needed it put them in the right order on the timeline and then addded the different transitions that are in my final script, such a cross-fades, fade out and fade in. To cut to a scene i just put it right next to it without adding a transition.

All the memory parts are in black and white, i did this by using the FX button that then brought up a window with different ways you can colour/ edit the film. I also used this to brighten some of the darker parts of my film to make it easier to see.

After editing the visual footage i brought in the music to go with it which i got from a free non copyrighted music site. i used three different pieces of music altogether in my film.

I then watched through my film several times and got other people to watch it aswell and they all said something was missing, so i decided to write a voiceover for the male role to read that will play over the video footage and the other music track in the film.

Voiceover:

Condolences

#Voiceover-

(Car driving and parking)

Everyone should have someone they can’t go a day without thinking about, someone to love and be loved by, someone to share the happiest memories with.

(Walking into house)

I’ve been with my girlfriend for two and a half years now and I love her with all my heart, I’ve never been so happy as I am when I’m around her. She makes everyday just that little bit brighter.

(After closing the door and girl goes over to see him)

Seeing her beautiful smile is best part about coming home from work, well that and a cup of tea that usually greets me.

 (Throws keys on side)

Without that perfect smile I’d feel incomplete.

(Getting changed)

There isn’t a thing that I do that doesn’t bring back a memory of her. even the simplest things bring such happy thoughts back into my head, the memories that make me smile.

(Girl comes over)

Just like the tie she bought me for Christmas that year.

(Getting the pan out the cupboard)

She taught me to cook, mainly pasta and rice, well I say she taught me, she’s not so good at cooking herself to be honest, the food either comes out burnt to a crisp or not cooked at all (laughs)

(Girl cooking dinner)

Usually she just stands there smiling at me, that beautiful smile that never leaves my mind, she laughs at nothing she has the cutest laugh. I can’t help but hug her tight and never let go.

(Stirring on his own)

I hate it when she’s not here. It’s like there’s a part of me missing

(Washing dishes with her/tea towel fight)

She always turns everything into a game, even I’m not in a playful mood she puts me in one. She’s amazing the way she always cheers me up when I’m down, with her smile, her laugh, and her silly playful ways. (Slight laugh) She always insists on fighting over the tea towels while we did the washing up after dinner, just like in the movies, she says.

(Throwing tea towel)

Now that they’re just memories, I hate not having those movie moments

(Picking tea towel up and finding jenga pieces)

I’m forever finding things that remind me of her. She just loves to play games.

(Lying in bed)

I love having her here sleeping in my arms, making those cute little noises that she does.

(Rolls over to hug her/wakes up to see empty bed)

Sometimes I think she’s here, but then I wake up only to find her side of the bed empty, and I’m on my own

(Making two cups of tea and realising she’s not there) 67secs

Every morning we’d have a cup of tea, she’d always makes me make it even though I like her tea best. She’d never believe me when I told her though. She’d always laugh because I have more milk in my tea than she does, although she did tell me it was cute. Everything’s started to become a habit for me, every morning I get up and make two cups of tea. But when I go to give her hers she’s never there, and she wont ever be there. I keep telling myself she’s gone and there’s no way of getting her back, no amount of fighting will get her back in my arms, she’s gone to a place impossible to bring her back from. If only I had picked her up that night, she’d never have got on that bus, never have been in that crash, never have left my side.

I miss her. So much, I miss her as much as I love her, with all my heart, with all my soul, with everything that I am

After adding the voiceover i feel my short film is how i want it to be and i am pleased with it. I also added a female voiceover saying the quote at the end of the film before the credits

Quote: "when the people we love are stolen from us, the way yo have them live on is to never stop loving them, buildings butn,people die, but real love is forever"

i decided to have the female voiceover to make it seem like the young girl had said it to her boyfriend whilst alive and its something he's remembered her saying. also it makes it easier for the audience to catch the quote incase they're slow at reading.