media studies

Friday, 3 December 2010

Synopsis

The narrative will consist of a silent narrator and questions will appear on the screen, to make the film seem more personal. At the beginning it sets up the documentary with the interviewer talking about eating disorders on a normal street surrounded by average people. Then it will lead on to random people being asked what does the word “it” (what sufferers refer to their eating disorder as) mean to them, and then develop to what the word means to those affected by eating disorders. It next develops by showing how such a small thing which most of us take for granted, e.g. eating can mean and be so much more to another person.Then they introduce the place where people go for help. They continue the exploration by talking to the people there and then sufferers who tell of their journeys. The Interviews are the most important events in the film. The ending will conclude on returning to ask other people what the word “it” means to them, and then contrast it with those who it does affect. To conclude the interviewer asks about their thoughts on life now and the future as they see it.

Short story

View more presentations from komedia.

Planning Frame

Characters	Predominantly female, some male. Recovering eating disorder patients. Who will be in film, and purpose: Those who have experienced eating disorders will feature and tell of their journeys, what led to it, what got them through it etc. As to evoke emotion, inform audience of what’s behind eating disorders, and to show how the smaller things mean so much more.
Setting	Some filming would have to be done on the street to film those not affected by eating disorders to make it more casual. Filming of the E.D interviews could be in any room, as long as it had the same backdrop. It would be a bit impractical to film on the street so perhaps we could take the random interviewees into one of the rooms for a more practical filming location.
Events	The narrative will consist of a silent narrator and questions shall just appear on the screen, to make it seem more personal, or a one on one interview with the interviewer being behind the camera. The film will start on an introduction with random people being asked what does the word “it” mean to them, and then develop to what the word means to those affected by eating disorders. It will develop by showing how such a small thing taken for granted can mean and be so much more for another person.
Problem	Eating disorders and people who suffer with it.
Resolution	The ending will conclude on returning to ask other people what the word “it” means to them, and then contrast it with those who it does affect.
Conclusion	How they are now - what they expect of the future

Planning

Location Pictures

We used this location as it was intamite

We used this a location to interview, as it was quite. This minimises background noise

We used this canteen shot, to relate back to our theme of food

Audience Feedback

1. Was the meaning/aim of the film obvious?

I felt the film highlighted the lack of awareness around eating disorders and how the younger people interviewed had little to say on the subject.

The film being based on eating disorders clearly was trying to raise awareness of it. It also showed the lack of knowledge most people in the film had of eating disorders.

Weightless made me realise how little awareness I have of eating disorders, the message of the film was definitely effective for me.

2. What would you improve about the film?

The sound was a little patchy in places. Background noise disrupts the interviews a bit.

The sound quality varied throughout the film, perhaps more male opinions would make it more effective.

I liked the film as it was, perhaps a few less similar opinions but that couldn’t necessarily be helped.

3. Did you find the filming effective?

The close ups helped showed the emotion and sincerity of the interviews.

The variety of angles and steady shots definitely made the film look more professional.

There were very few parts of the film where the shots were shaky; this made it look of a higher standard.

4. What did you like about the film?

I liked how the film attempted some different viewpoints as opposed to other documentary style films.

The film was short but definitely effective with its message.

I liked how it had a personal impact on me and made me realise how uneducated I am on such subjects within mental health.

Audience Feed Back

Sara Louise - age 19

What was you overall view on the short documentary?
I really enjoyed it and thought it was a really good idea for a documentary as it something that is often not talked about. I think the information you included in the documentary was useful.
Was there anything that you think could have been improved?
Yes, I think that a larger range of shots should be used as it would make it look a lot more professional.
What did you enjoy about it?
I enjoyed seeing how others coped with an eating disorder and liked seeing what others though about it. I really liked this idea of including a number of different people
Any other comments?
I think it is good but if you did it again I think it would be really important to add more camera angles as this would make it a lot more effective to its audience.

Ashley Drew - age 19

What was you overall view on the short documentary?
I thought it was ok I think it was a shame that you did not have time to cover more eating disorders as I think that would have mad it interesting. I thought your choice of target audience was clear which I thought was good.
Was there anything that you think could have been improved?
I think that more information was needed in parts as it seemed a little vague at times and sometimes it got a little boring as the camera stayed in the same place and didn’t move much at some points. I also noticed that one or two shots were a little shaky which mad it looks a bit unprofessional at times.
What did you enjoy about it?
I really did enjoy the subject choice as I think it is an important issue. I also liked have the one presenter as this made it simple to understand.
Any other comments?
I think by using young people throughout the whole short documentary it made it very clear who the target audience were and I think that it is important that young people learn about these kinds of issues.

Luke Andrews - age 17

What was you overall view on the short documentary?
Generally I don’t like documentaries as I find them boring but this one seemed ok I think it could have done with a few more shots
Was there anything that you think could have been improved?
More shots would have improved it a lot as it would have been a lot more interesting as the camera was still a lot of the time I think.
What did you enjoy about it?
I liked the places it was set as I think they were appropriate to the mood and what was being said.
Any other comments?
Yeah it was ok I liked the topic and there were some good shots in there to.

Laura Giles - age 18

What was you overall view on the short documentary?
I think everything in the documentary was really good. I thought there was a good amount of information that was useful and I felt that there where some good camera angles and shots used. I liked the settings used as I thought they were all well suited to the topic and mood.
Was there anything that you think could have been improved?
I though most that the documentary was really good apart from a few shots that seemed a little shaky in parts
What did you enjoy about it?
I thought it was a great idea involving just young people as its important they know about the subject
Any other comments?
I think it was really good if you had more time this would be a great idea to expand on

Amy Flight - age 20

What was you overall view on the short documentary?
I really did enjoy it I found it very interesting and educational
Was there anything that you think could have been improved?
Some more shots would make it a lot more interesting, and maybe adding bullet points of key points covered
What did you enjoy about it?
I found the top very interesting and really enjoyed that I also liked having a range of people in it.
Any other comments?
I think a few more shots could have improved it loads but apart from that great

Danni Hale - age 18

What was you overall view on the short documentary?
I though it was good even though there was a couple of shaky shots. I liked the idea and thought it was a good topic. I think all the information was good and useful.
Was there anything that you think could have been improved?
If those unsteady shots were sorted I think it would look great.
What did you enjoy about it?
I liked how it concentrated on young people because I could really understand and relate to it.
Any other comments?
Overall I really liked it

Monday, 29 November 2010

My own Poster

Poster Analysis:
The title is weightless, in "Tahoma" font this has been chosen because its easy to read, bold and serious. I tried to keep the layout simple and uncluttered so people wouldn’t have to spend to long reading it. I made some things bigger than others in value of their importance, so institutional references and the title I made the largest and the tag line I made smaller. The tag line is “4stone and fat” we chose this because the weight is shockingly low and no one who is 4 stone could possibly be fat, we felt it shows the psyche of eating disorder sufferers well and with great realism.

Poster drafting:

We wanted our poster to be shocking, to reflect the documentaries subject of eating disorders. we wanted it to make people stop, and think. The purpose of the poster was to surprise people and show them what an important issue eating disorders can be and then to hopeful interest people enough so they will watch the documentary.

Firstly we wanted our main image to be of a severely thin person to show people how serious eating disorders can be. Although we needed to take the picture and we didn’t know anyone who was that ill with a disorder. We then thought about photographing a delicious plate of food with a tag line saying is this scary… or something to that effect. We thought although it would be easy to do it wouldn’t be shocking enough to grab peoples attention.

Then I thought of photographing someone standing on scales, I photo shopped the number to make it really low. I chose black and white because I felt it made the poster more serious but kept it looking simplistic which I think is important for a poster. The main image was taken by me, and then photo shopped. I turned it black and white and changed the lighting and contrast to make the image more raw. And I lastly added typography saying the information we needed it to contain.