Presentation – Where I will be uploading my Short Film

Research

From my recent blogs about Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and Instagram i realized that the best two option for publishing my short film would be YouTube or Vimeo. A post by Film Shortage give support to my brainstorming (showing bellow)

”If your goal is to get as many clicks and views as possible, than perhaps YouTube might be a better resource for you. But be careful, of course everyone wants the most views possible, but you need to differentiate between catering to thousands of random people, or to hundreds that actually care. Vimeo certainly has the smaller market while YouTube reaches over millions, but your audience is much more concentrated in people that are looking for creative films, as for YouTubers usually look for entertaining clips.”

This shows that having Vimeo as my publishing site means that people that are going to be watching my short film will be movie lovers and enjoy watching all movies. This is good to an extent but these people are not my customers and if i was creating a real film i will need to access a much larger and more specific target audience. On the other hand YouTube allows me to find my target audience and reach customers that could be interesting in making my short film into a actual film. Although YouTube has so many people on the platform and it is not all short films. This means it is going to be hard to get people in as i must have a large following for this to be possible. This is where Video is slightly better as not many people are on it and there isn’t any many video that are short and entertaining like there is on YouTube.

The Quality is a lot better on YouTube. ”YouTube picked up its game since introducing HD videos, but most of the time the video is played in low 360p for faster rendering at first – with a non-obvious settings pane to turn to highest quality. You can set your player to always get the best quality somewhere in the settings, but let’s face it, your average user will never bother to go there.” However Vimeo ”has always put more emphasis on video quality and size, and keeping things simple with an easy to find on/off HD toggle. Loading time was considered to be a bit slower, but since the introduction of the new HTML5 player, loading times are quicker than ever.” As a whole this research i am going to publish my short film to YouTube as it is over all better. Next i am going too: create a questionnaire liking this researcher and i will see what my audience thinks about where should publish my short film.

So from comparing my top two choices from my past research and what my audience has wanted i now know that i will be publishing my short film onto YouTube. I can now cross this off the list and move onto what aspects do my audiences like about action and comedy films.

Ref:

Indie Film Hustle. (2019). 180 Degree Rule – Understand the. [online] Available at: https://indiefilmhustle.com/180-degree-rule/

Should I Publish My Product on Instagram?

Producers that make short films have the opportunity to build a relationship with there audience and encouraging them to engage in conversation. They do this by using posts, polls and questions. For polls, upload a photo related (could be an advertisement for a film) to your chosen topic—especially if connected to a director they want users to engage with—and click the ‘poll’ option under Stickers to add it to the photo. Add the question you want to ask viewers, and users will then be able to select yes or no when viewing that particular story.

 

In addition, Instagram encourages users to engage with Stories posts directly, you can also take advantage of the video feature. Which is also great for showing your fans teasers for upcoming film ext…

This is great for creating a fan base however publishing a short film will be impossible as Instagram has a 1-minute cap for videos. However, they do have a second section to Instagram where you can post videos up to 15 mins however the resolution is fixed to portrait and this aspect ratio isn’t good for modern short films.

After doing all this research in my past few blogs i need to see if my target audience agrees with my desition on picking youtube as my publishing site.

Should I Publish My Product on Vimeo?

Vimeo – Really good for privacy setting and you can manually target your audience instead of a machine doing it (like YouTube) but its a lot for work.

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The explore page isn’t that well organized and i think it will be difficult for my target audience to search for my short film. Unlike YouTube they have a recommended page where my audience will be able to find my short film without me manually sending it to them. the only think that Video has differently, that is usfull to some people, is that having a video uploaded and needing a password to watch, comment and download the video. However, this wont be usfull to me as i want as many people watching my short film as possible.

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Also Vimeo has so many more unique setting however you must pay to use these features. As a independent filmmaker that has no budget I cant spend money on this to publish my short film.

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This is a lot more appealing for the audience as it gives them a chance to save and  comment on the video. Also you can see the exact number of stats that the video has and it isn’t being hidden. There is also categories that the video has to help your target audience find you video without you advertising and forcing them too.

I know need to look at Instagram…

Should I Publish My Product on YouTube?

YouTube – Really good for videos and you can target a specific audience and a lot of people. This is how you can:

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There are so many option you can change when uploading a video. YouTube have added settings like these to help creators reach there target audience. The only problem is that if you are not experienced with uploading video its difficult know which settings to change. However i have over 3 years of experience with this where i have uploaded over 100 videos to YouTube.

Screen Shot 2019-06-12 at 12.56.46.pngSo this issue, of not figuring out what setting to use and change, wont be a problem for me when figuring out setting for my short film.

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The description section is great in informing your audience what your journey was like when creating the video. It is also a good way to finish of the audiences experience once they have finish watching the video.

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The rating system is okay but it doesn’t give a specific rating of say 1 to 10 or what percentage of women like the video compared to men. also when you rate a video you cant link your like or dislike to it. However i can work my way around this by asking my audience manually with a question are what they think about my short film (that’s if I was going to use YouTube as my chosen publishing site).

I know need to look at Vimeo…

Should I Publish My Product on Facebook?

Facebook is a social media everyone is on it so it will be impossible for people to watch it unless you promote it. Facebook is a lot like twitter however it is more popular so more people will be able to see your posts.

Image result for pixar facebook page

Here is the front page of the Disney Pixar. At the cover photo on there Facebook page they hare there most popular and recent film which isn’t what i am looking for. They also advertise not only there most popular film but there recent films. Facebook is really good for adverting and getting your audience hooked and hyped for your film. However there is no sign of full films which is what I am looking for. So I am also crossing Facebook of the list for publishing my short film.

I know need to look at YouTube…

 

Should I Publish My Product on Twitter?

Twitter is used for mainly text and sometimes picture. However when it comes to the film industry its used to advertise films through trailers and posters.

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Here is the front page of the Universal Pictures. At the top they are advertising a film called Get Home Safe and there is a trailer for an animation that they are adverting. Twitter is really good for adverting film and getting your audience hooked and hyped for your film. However there is no sign of full films which is what i am looking for. So i am crossing twitter of the list for my short film.

I know need to look at Facebook…

Film Festivals

Looking at Filmfreeway there where film festivals that allowed unknown filmmakers like me to publish my short film. Here a few that stood out to me:

The Dark Hedges Short Film Festival

Logo

”Launched in 2018 BanterFlix’s, Dark Hedges Short Film Festival aims to create a platform for Irish filmmakers to showcase their Horror and Sci-Fi shorts to local audiences here in Belfast. Please note this a festival for Irish filmmakers and screenwriters only!” This Film festival looks great from the outside however they want Irish filmmakers and I am not Irish so I think that means I can show my short film which is bad. There is no point in looking at the rules for this festival as I don’t qualify.

Depict Short Film Competition

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”Depict is Watershed’s international short film online competition running since 1998 as part of Encounters Festival (Bristol, UK) – one of the world’s leading international festival for short film, animation and virtual reality, and also an official gateway to the world’s most prestigious awards; the Academy Awards®, BAFTAs and the European Film Awards.” This short film festival looks great and would work perfectly with my VFX short film. However, upon looking at the rules, it states that ”The duration of your film(s) must not exceed 90 seconds including titles and credits.” My short film will be a lot longer than that as my story and my effects will be a lot longer than 90 seconds.

BFI Future Film Festival

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”Are you a filmmaker aged 16 to 25? Would you like one of your short films to be considered for inclusion in the 13th BFI Future Film Festival, in February 2020?” Yes i am!! so far so good.

”We’re inviting filmmakers to submit their work to the BFI Future Film Festival, the British Film Institute’s annual film festival for young people, held at the BFI Southbank in London. This year we’re pleased to announce we have up to £15,000 worth of prizes including money to support your next film and your career.” Sounds perfect for my Short Film I hope I can qualify in the rules.

I qualify for the rules as well. Here are the rules:

”Before you send us your film please make sure you have read the following: 
The director, producer and the majority of the production crew should be aged 25 or under at the time the film was made. For the avoidance of doubt this does not include the actors who can be of any age. 
Films must not have been completed earlier than 4 August 2017. 
Films can be any style or genre, but must be no more than 10 minutes in length. 
All the images and soundtracks used in your film must be your own or you must have permission of the copyright holder to use their music/images in your film 
Films in a language other than English must be subtitled in English, unless dialogue or commentary is unnecessary for comprehension and appreciation 
To be eligible for the Best International Short Film Award the filmmaker/submitter must be based outside of the UK or a non-UK passport holder whose normal domicile is outside the UK. (‘Normal domicile outside the UK’ meaning that the person has lived in the UK for less than 2 years and does not intend to stay permanently). International students currently studying in the UK and those within the country temporarily are eligible to apply.

By submitting your film to the Future Film Festival you give us permission to screen your film at screening(s) during the Festival and at special preview screenings or at spin off screenings such as BFI Future Film Labs events. You are also giving us permission to acquire the rights to put your film into the BFI National Film and Television Archive, to screen through BFI Player and other BFI Future Film Festival channels including online platforms and BFI partner platforms 
Please send us a digital copy of your application with a working link to your film online (Youtube, Vimeo etc). Please note – we no longer accept DVD submissions. 
Please submit two still images from your film, any poster artwork and press materials that can be used for promotional purposes (Hi resolution JPEG – no more than 3MB in size) 
Films submitted for consideration must be clearly marked with the film title, director/filmmaker name, age, running time and a contact telephone number. Please ensure you have included everything you need requested in the pack and on the form
We do not guarantee films will be selected for the Future Film Festival and we are only able to notify successful short-listed applicants. 

Selected Films 

Not all selected films will be nominated for an award but all films will be screened during the festival. 
If your film is longlisted: 
We will contact you by email or phone to inform you and request a downloadable high quality copy of your film from you; preferred formats are high quality Quicktime File or DCP 
You will need to provide a detailed list of contributors 
You may be asked to provide proof of age 
If your film is selected from the longlist (i.e shortlisted): 
You will be invited to attend the Future Film Festival and will receive a free delegate day pass each and additional allocated seats (for cast/crew or friends/family) for the screening selection that your film will feature in. We hope that, where possible, all filmmakers showcased at the festival are able to attend.”

I am going to submit my short film to this festival once i have finished my short film.

I am now going to look at different social media’s to see which one i can also upload my short film to on there.

Muzzle Flashes effects (Losses – Playlist)

I wanted to get my editing knowledge up a bit as my example interview question works so well.

I will be using the advanced muzzle flashed as I want my project to look as realistic as possible.

Hears what I learned.

Drop your footage into After Effects and change the footage to 32bit and the workspace to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 and check to Linearize Working Space. This mimics what the real world does with light meaning if there’s no light its black and if there is light its white. The other settings simply allow more effects to be added and the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 setting makes colour correcting easier and look better. I learned this in a Photoshop tutorial a while back.

To add the muzzle flash you need quick a lot of different effects. go to the timeline where the gunshot starts. Then add a sold that’s a light orange and change the blending mode to colour dodge. Then with that solid selected and then mask around the character. If the character is near a wall you might want to mask part of the wall as well. Add the muzzle flash to the timeline, line it up to the solid and then move the flash and position it over the and of the gun (using the 3d setting make it a lot easier to achieve). Then if actual footage is blurred make the muzzle flash blurred to make the footage. You can also change the blending mode of the muzzle flash to add. This is to make the flash look like it is in the scene.

Adding smoke added a little bit more realism to the muzzle flash. Drop the smoke film into the project, change the blending mode to add or screen and then line it up to the gun. You can also change the opacity of the file to blend it in even more. However, if there is a camera shake you must track the shot and then add that info to the smoke effect. This is because the smoke will be on screen for a lot more frames than the muzzle flash so it will be noticeable if the smoke isn’t moving with the shot.

There are some additional effects that you can also add such as a flash, lens flare and a distortion of the environment. These effects are fairly simple to add and must only be on screen for as long as the muzzle flash is shown.

Some things I came up with: You can animate the gun so that the slider looks like it is moving. You do this by duplicating the layer, masking around the slider and tracking it. Once you have done this you can move the slider by using keyframe markers and moving the position to match the way a gun would look. Or you could just buy a bb gun that is a replica of a real gun and buy blank bullets. Blockbuster films use these however if you are on a low budget just edit them in instead.

 

(This video is if I need any more help creating wounds on characters. This is just an extra thing if I need any more help. I can also look at some of the other videos in this playlist if i need any more help when creating my imagination sequence.)

I now need to get back on track to and find out more about my target audience. So I much do some research on where i should publish my short film. There is no point in creating a short film if i don’t know where to post it in the first place. I am going to start off with Twitter and then work my way up from there.

 

 

Interviewee Imagination example

Interviewer (Unenthusiastically):

It says here that you use to be a pizza delivery guy for 2 months

Narrator:

The interviewee mind drifts of to a scene where the interviewee arrives at a door delivering a pizza, the costumer asks him if he can let him off 20p. He then gets shot by the interviewee

Interviewee (Gormless Face):

Well… Yeah I enjoyed it but it wasn’t really for me

(This is going to be how most of the scenes are going to go. The interviewer asks a normal question and then interviewee imagines a dramatic scenario.)

I like this example so much i am actually going to put it in my short film. I know need to do some research on muzzle flashes so that when it comes to the editing side of this scene i can refer back to this research.