EXILE EVALUATION

Joe Candlin
 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
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My media product makes use of the common codes and
conventions of the thriller genre, I made this clear from the
outset of early development and made certain that the
product stayed true to what is considered a thriller.
However - as I did last year - I have hybridized my film with
the horror genre in many instances, specifically with my
similar use of hidden identities for the antagonists (even
though the antagonist of Exile is not as clear cut than in
my AS coursework). One of the most common aspects of a
thriller is the chase, not as an individual scene but as a
concept. Throughout a large majority of thriller films the
antagonist is primarily in some form of metaphorical chase,
in constant pursuit or retreat from the antagonist. W hile I
have explored the concept of the chase (not the TV
programme) within my film, I have also subverted the
common protagonist vs. antagonist battle in that there is no
clear antagonist in the film. The film begins with an
ambiguous atmosphere but lacks an antagonist, it then
establishes the protagonists double as the antagonist but
then goes on to shift once more into portraying the Protagonists Double
interviewer and who she is working for as the primary
antagonist like I said a lot less precise than my AS
coursework. Returning to my initial point that I have
hybridized the film into being an occupant of both the
thriller and horror genres, I feel as though this is becoming
increasingly common among the thriller genre and genre
films as a whole as explored in an earlier blog post on the
significance of genre and whether or not it still exists. In
this view the common codes and conventions that I have
been intending to follow are insignificant in light of the
wider issues surrounding the decline of clear cut genres or
if there were ever clear cut genres. If you consider sub-
genres and hybridization then this argument becomes even
more valid as genres begin to merge with one another, in
one instance giving birth to the sub-genre psychological
thriller which Exile belongs to.
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Drama through Dialogue
Along the course of production I reached a point where I
wanted to rework the plot, a main reason for this was the Zodiac
interest I gained in David Finchers work - specifically
Zodiac (2007). A video essay I watched characterized
Fincher s work as drama through dialogue meaning the
narrative of his films are driven by the protagonist and
simultaneously the viewer learning a little more of the
truth. I was captivated by this form of storytelling and
decided to implement it into my film placing more of an
emphasis on dialogue, which can be seen in the difference
between my two scripts one of which is longer but is
made up primarily of visual descriptions of scenes and has
minimal character interaction, whereas the second version
is largely dialogue and takes place in two locations but is
broken into four scenes. Narrative is entirely dependent
on information, without information there is no story to be
told conversation/dialogue is a highly effective medium
for transporting this information, which is why I made it my
primary focus. Todorovs theory
Another source of inspiration not accredited to an
individual film but a collective is the playful nature that
psychological thriller films take up with the timeline.
To d o r o v s n a r r a t i v e t h e o r y p r e s e n t s a l i n e a r v i e w o n
storytelling, whereas my film takes up a disjointed and
cyclical approach, which is common of the psychological
thriller sub-genre. Exile literally begins at the end but
the viewer is unaware of this until the final scene, the
flashbacks the viewer thinks are being re-told are actually
the present. W hat intrigues me about this style of
narrative is that it involves and immerses the viewer in a
way that traditional linear narratives cant like the
protagonist the viewer is misled into believing something
that isnt true and has their view on the reality of the film
re-shaped.
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Typography
The typography of my film is one of the few factors that
hasnt changed over the course of production, this is most
likely because of my personal preferences to the modern
lo ok tit le tha t m ak es u se of the s an s s eri f f ont. Al tho ug h
the plot came first for the film I still had an idea of what
font I was going to use and had DIN Condensed in mind
from an early stage. My AS coursework had the title
Incognito which was longer and looked better with a large
amount of spacing between characters, Exile is a lot
shorter and uses a different font meaning I had to rethink
my usual spacing to suit the new title. In the end I went
for moderately spaced characters that help to distinguish
the title from basic text but dont make it look out of
place. This type of title is characteristic of the majority of
thriller films, last year I used Oblivion as an example of
this but Exiles title (spacing and font) can be used
across genres I was intrigued by and noticed similarities
with W es Andersons use of the Futura font.
Despite feeling as though I had chosen a better font for
my film I felt as though it was lacking in creativity and
therefore adjusted the face of the X to be red derived
from the Insidious films (taking inspiration from horror as
well as thriller due to the hybridized state of the film).
This change did initially support a plot point that was then
changed but I decided to keep the red X because it didnt
look out of place. The main change I made to the text was
the glitch effect, I was aware I would be using a glitch
effect within the films plot from an early stage and this
was a feature in both scripts. I liked the look the glitch
e ffe c t g a v e t h e t i t l e a n d u s e d i t a s m y m a i n t y p o g r a p h y,
ap plyin g i t to b oth the fi na l fi lm an d the po ste r.
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Typography Ancillary Texts
My ancillary texts make use of their own individual
t yp o g r a p h y, t h e m a g a zi n e r e vi e w u s e s A r i s t a 2 . 0 a n d t h e
film poster uses Steeltongs in its credits/slugline. My
ancillary texts stay true to common conventions of their
respective media texts that I researched throughout the
year.
The magazine article is directly influenced by another
review I researched, as well as taking inspiration from the
reviews layout I have also incorporated the general style
o f i t s t y p o g r a p h y i n t o m y o wn r e vi e w. I k n e w t h a t I wa s n t
going to have my main typography (Exile title) in the
review as the purpose of the text isnt to promote the film
but instead to review it hence the name film review not
film promotion. The typography I used was another sans
serif font but was rounded making it appear more
colloquial as a magazine should.
The use of Steeltongs in my film poster wasnt
necessarily taking inspiration but instead following
guidelines/conventions for film posters. Standard credits
in film posters use the Steeltongs font or variations of it
and therefore I used it in mine to make the poster seem
mo re p rofe ss i ona l. Th e fo nt th at I us ed was a gen era tor
that would type text such as Executive Producer when
typing in lower case; because of this I was able to get the
conventional film poster look. I also used the upper case
variation for the slugline of my film as it visually appealed
t o m e a n d i s a m u l t i - p u r p o s e f o n t a n ywa y.
 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
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Cinematography & Mise en Scne
The visual aesthetic to my film was important to me as I
had been studying films such as Blade Runner (1982) in
the theory of the course. Because of this and my research
into Denver Riddles colour grade tutorial on the film Just
Let Go (2015) I knew that I wanted to give each scene a
specific look that reflected the tone. The most effective
example of this would be the interview room scenes where
I have used a slight blue colour grade and darkened the
shot as a whole to make the surroundings unknown and
ambiguous. My lighting setup in this scene was vital to the
end product looking so ominous as I used a spotlight and
backlight to emphasize the shadows in the scene while
being able to separate the subject (my actor) from the
background.
In some cases I used basic semiotics through my use of
angles to connote meaning in a scene. An example of this
is the initial it was cold monologue from the protagonist
where I have used a close up side view and then faded
into the next scene to indicate to the viewer that they are
witnessing his thoughts as they happen. Throughout the
conversation in the woods I cut to low angles of Sophies
character to demonstrate the power she holds within the
scene, as if the protagonist is looking up to her and the
information she possesses. The cut to closer angles as the
conversation goes on signifying the growing intrigue the
protagonist has in learning a little more of the truth.
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Sound
One of the we ak es t e le me nts o f m y AS co urs ework was
sound, the majority of the film had no diegetic audio for Pills Scene
exactly this reason. Last year I avoided this problem by
having a soundtrack over the entire sequence, which isnt
necessarily bad because a lot of title sequences do this,
however this year I was determined to make the sound in
my film a better standard. Not only did I have a better
microphone this year but I also experimented with editing
sound in Final Cut Pro, specifically in the flashback
scenes. The flashback scenes last 2-3 seconds and have a
visual effect as well as an audio effect. The effect I used
was an echo to make the speech of the interviewer seem
distorted to match the visual distortion on screen, not only
did this suit the scene but I feel it made the message
behind each flashback clearer and the overall scenes more
impactful.
After the feedback on my second draft I was told to build
the Pills Scene to more of a climax (as thriller films do)
so the protagonists relief is more apparent. I Flashback
experimented with increasing the use of the glitch effect
but I didnt like the result and instead opted to use a
soundtrack to signify the climax of the scene. The
soundtrack I used consisted of string instruments building
to a crescendo then dropping off as soon as the
protagonist takes the pill.
The sound within my film is typical of a thriller film and
various existing media texts make use of a similar style of
flashback scene. The main inspiration for the echoing
sound came from a scene in the TV series Gotham where a
character has a mental breakdown (I have blogged about
this.)
 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
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Editing
A key aspect of my film was the edit, specifically the use Glitch Effect
of the glitch effect. I had established that I would be using
the glitch effect as early as the initial ideas as I knew that
a large part of my narrative would be explored through
crosscutting. My animatic was the first use of the glitch
effect and was primarily focused on flashbacks. The final
film makes use of the effect during the protagonists
struggle for the pills as well as in his flashbacks. I felt
this was necessary as the focal point of my poster as well
as the title sequence involves the glitch effect, the whole
purpose of the effect signifying the protagonist being torn
between two realities and shifting between them
i n vo l u n t a r i l y.
Another aspect of editing that I felt was significant to my
film was the structure of the narrative. After having
wa tc he d TV s eri es s uch a s W est world (201 6) an d True
Detective (2014) that make use of cross cutting I made
the decision (in the second script) to implement this into Interview Scene
my own film. W estworld specifically uses its narrative
timeline to mislead the audience into thinking events are
taking place at the same time when in actuality half the
series takes place years apart. My film is similar to this
aspect of Westworld in that I also use my narrative
timeline to deceive the viewer into thinking they
understand the order of events within the film only to
subvert their understanding in the final scene leaving
them just as confused as the protagonist. My intention
behind showing the end at the beginning but letting the
audience believe that it was just the beginning (if you
understand what I mean) was to support the cyclical
narrative and demonstrate that the protagonist is stuck in
a loop or as Sophies character puts it W eve been here
before.
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Postmodernism & Intertextuality
An element of the original script that carried over to the Exile
second version was the conversation between the protagonist
and the informant (his conscience) in the woods, this scene
is inspired by the desert of the real scene in the W achowski
brothers The Matrix (1999). W ithin this scene Neo has the
superficial nature of his reality explained to him by
Morpheus, I was looking to reflect this in the conversation
between my two characters in the woods the woods being
my protagonists desert of the real. Although my take may
look a significantly lower budget to that of The Matrix the
use of the basic chairs is actually significant in light of the
pro tag on is ts si tua ti on. Th e cha irs u se d a re i de nti ca l to the
ones used in the interview scene (which looking back may
have been unclear because I used shots that presented the
upper body). The scene itself was supposed to look like
another interview but this time within the protagonists mind
and although the framing of the shots, the setting and the
The Matrix
dialogue isn't the same as The Matrix the tone and purpose
of the scene is aligned with the W achowski brothers creation.
My film is a common example of what Kirby Ferguson
characterizes as remixing and elaborates on the theory that
everything is a remix. Exile takes influence from a variety
of films and therefore cannot (despite my efforts) be
considered original material as it copies, transforms and
combines various elements from pre-existing texts. My
opening woods shot for example is derived from Cowboys
a n d A l i e n s ( 2 0 11 ) ( Yes I k n o w i t s n o t t h e g r e a t e s t f i l m o f a l l
time) which most likely borrowed it from another film. Star
W ars The For ce Awa ke ns mak e s u se o f a si mi la r sh ot and
therefore emphasizes the view that nothing is original.
 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE/DEVELOP/CHALLENGE
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Poster
My poster is a simplistic take on promoting a film; there are
other forms of promotion that elaborate on the certification
rating, more of the plot and the exact date of release.
However I wanted my poster to be more of a teaser intended
to raise awareness and anticipation for the final product. The
purpose of the poster is to intrigue the viewer and I feel as
though enough questions are raised in my poster to make the
audience want to learn more. I didnt feel it was suitable to
use a slugline as I find that a majority of the time the text
comes off cheesy and takes away from the initial effect of
the poster, especially in a film about induced dreams and
realities the slugline would be extremely difficult to make
impactful. A majority of thriller posters I had looked at
featured only the protagonist looking directly at the camera,
The Martian being a prime example of this (although The
Ma rtia n i sn t nec e ss ari ly a th ril le r, wi th th e fle xib ili ti es of
genre films it works as an example). The common film poster
will usually feature an aspect of its plot in the main image, in
this case I have used the glitch effect that is common
throughout the actual film. I have added the additional digital
effect to the eyes of the protagonist to signify the reality he
is involuntarily seeing before him and believes to be real,
this aspect of the poster was inspired by the quote from
Morpheus in The Matrix It is the world that has been pulled
over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
 IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
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Magazine Review
My magazine review takes direct inspiration from various
aspects of my research, the most notable of which being the
l a yo u t f r o m t h e Ava t a r ( 2 0 0 9 ) r e vi e w. I n m y i n i t i a l d r a f t s t h e
reviews came out looking extremely unprofessional because I
was ignoring my research and trying to come up with
something original. Once I embraced by research and started
conforming to the typical conventions of magazine reviews I
was able to create a product that looked professional and was
at the same time visually intriguing. I decided to go for an
optimistic tone in my review as I didnt feel like ripping my
film to pieces nor did I feel like going for a boring neutral
r e v i e w t h a t d i d n t p r a i s e o r c r i t i c i s e . Var i o u s a s p e c t s o f t h e
final draft make use of actual magazine review features; the
tagline, quotation and what you should know sections enable
the reader to gain information quickly while reserving the
o p t i o n t o r e a d t h e a c t u a l r e v i e w. As I f o u n d o u t f r o m m y
research on how to write the article I knew it was important to
establish the tone of the review as soon as possible which the
t a g l i n e , q u o t a t i o n a n d r a t i n g s d o v e r y e ffe c t i ve l y. An o t h e r
aspect I wanted to include was some form of behind the
scenes images as magazine reviews tend to elaborate on the
actual production of the film as well as the actual film itself
(which I have done in my main text). I originally had two BTS
images but decided to settle for one so that I could include
th e q uo tati on an d t he im ag e fro m the po s ter. Th e c ol lo qui al
tone of the review was also important to me as it helps the
reader to engage with the review as they feel as though they
are being spoken to by an actual person rather than just
reading information. I supported the colloquial tone within the
main text and the tagline but decided that having the facts
section being called stuff you should know was too far
(based on my feedback) and made the article seem
unprofessional.
 HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF
YOUR MAIN AND ANCILL ARY TEXTS?

Each of my ancillary texts complements the main text in that themes, images and typography from the actual film
are carried over. W hen developing my ancillary texts I made sure to have finished the main text before finalising
any of the ancillary tasks, this enabled each text to relate to one another as they were all finalised at a relatively
si mi lar tim e. An as pe ct tha t i s co ns is ten t a cro ss a ll texts is th e d igi ta l e ffec t; t he pos te r an d fin al fil m i nc o rpora te
the in more depth but the magazine review still acknowledges it. Although I had developed mock-ups and drafts of
the ancillary texts prior to the release of the final film, leaving the finalised products till after I had my main text
helped me to establish a thematic range that would be present throughout all of my final texts rather than a
disjointed approach that would have halted any progression of synergy across the texts.
 HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF
YOUR MAIN AND ANCILL ARY TEXTS?

The development of my poster clearly illustrates the development I went through trying to find the balance that
would make the text a successful combination with my final film. The version on the left (second draft) is an
example of how making my ancillary texts too early would have impacted how effective their combination with the
main text would have been as this version still has the watch as a main plot device when in the final film I had
marginalised the watch. The second draft demonstrates me overcommitting to presenting the audience with a plot
device as I had been informed that I needed to give an outline of the plot in the poster, which I now believe to be
false the poster should relate to the film but it is not a description, its purpose is to visually intrigue and in my
ca se rai s e qu es ti ons a mo ng the vie we r. The ve rsi on in th e m id dl e (th ird dra ft) sho ws t ha t I h ad sh if ted my fo cu s to
be more visually intriguing but perhaps too much so as my strive to have a captivating poster concept ended up
backfiring as most people complained it hurt their eyes. The final version makes use of visually intriguing
elements (toned down) such as the glitch effect yet finds the balance in making the audience question what they
are seeing; I included a symbolic feature in the digital effect across the eyes to give the poster depth and
me ani ng rat he r, whi le rel ati ng to the fi nal fi lm . The typog rap hy of t he ti tle rem ai ns c ons is te nt ac ros s all d rafts a nd
is one of the first things I decided upon during the development of my ideas, the text is used in the final draft and
not only has an impactful visual aesthetic but also relates to the plot.
 HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF
YOUR MAIN AND ANCILL ARY TEXTS?

The magazine review differs from the poster in that a review is not typically associated with the film, it is a
separate entity intended to comment on the film and its production not promote. The typography in the review for
the tit le Exile differs fro m t ha t of the fi na l fi lm a nd the po ste r, thi s is to dis ta nc e t he hypo the tic al ma ga zi ne th at
I h ave c reat ed from th e fil m a s th ey a re n ot in c oop era tio n wi th o ne an oth er. Th is re ma in s con s is ten t in as e arl y
as my first draft and is a result of my research into the magazine review medium, the review is for the reader to
understand the film in more depth but it has to come from a third party otherwise the text becomes biased.
Obviously in my case the review is written by me and I made it clear that I would choose to take up a positive tone
but the premise still remains in that the review is not affiliated with the film. I did however make sure to include
images that are related to the film, the poster image being an example of this as the review is still meant to notify
the audience of which film it is they are reviewing, an image needs to be used that the viewer recognises from
marketing and publicity schemes that gives the viewer an immediate reaction to the review as they recognise the
image. The images that complement this are not from the actual film; the upper left being a behind the scenes
look and the upper right being an extended clip that got cut from the final film, these are used to intrigue the
vi e we r f u r t h e r wi t h c o n t e n t f r o m t h e f i l m t h a t t h e y wo u l d n t h a ve s e e n p r i o r t o r e a d i n g t h e r e vi e w.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Feedback In General
Throughout the development of all three of my
texts I constantly consulted those around me for
feedback on my work asking them for their
opinions on what worked and what didnt. A
significant amount of the time I found myself
requesting advice from my peers (on the course
with me) and the teachers of the course as I
valued their opinions the most because they
un de rst ood wh at it wa s I was ai m ing fo r.
The method behind receiving feedback on a
broader scale often entailed asking younger
years at the school as they were easy to reach,
however - as I discovered last year - it is difficult
to get a meaningful response out of younger
audiences because they dont have the interest
required. I began developing a feedback survey
that was entirely multiple choice so that I would
get data no matter who I asked, however I found
this to be tedious and inefficient as I was asking
questions I knew the answers to. Instead I opted
to receive my feedback from a smaller, more
focused group in class as they could give me
answers in greater depth and I could have an
actual conversation with them regarding what
they liked or thought needed to be improved.
Every single draft of a main or ancillary text has
had some form of feedback that influenced its
development, I often documented this with the
improvements to be made sections on my blog
that were usually based on conversations I had
with teachers or peers.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Examples of Class Feedback

Magazine review feedback

Question: What do you think of

the opening scene? Do you
understand what is happening?
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Thriller Genre Survey

Possibly the most in depth example of research I
carried out came in the form of a survey looking
at the thriller genre. Like I said before, at this
stage in my development I was asking closed
questions so that I could guarantee data from
which I could conclude how I would alter my
approach to the final film. At this stage I had not
started filming and the first version of the script
was still in the writing stage so there was still
room for influence on the production process
from my audience. Despite asking the questions,
I had already decided on a lot of the aspects of
the thriller genre I was asking about and was
merely asking to see what sort of popularity
those decisions had among my audience. If a
decision/preference I had was drastically
different to what my audience was expecting then
I would certainly alter my approach but in
knowing that I cant please everyone I was
perfectly happy for example with some people
preferring the spy-thriller sub genre to the
psychological-thriller sub genre that Exile ended
up belonging to. A lot of the questions I have
asked have an element of my film as an option
and if the option that belonged to my film was not
the overall preference it did not make me think I
needed to change that aspect but instead
inspired me to make that aspect even more
impactful than originally planned so that the
audience would be pleasantly surprised by the
outcome.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Questions 1 and 2
Question one is a prime example of me asking a question I already knew the answer to, from my research into
the genre and past interactions with audiences I know that sound and music is a popular choice for what builds
suspense. The purpose of this question was to find out if there were other elements that were valued as well
and from this I discovered plot was in second place and I would like to think that the plot of my final film is
complex and challenges the audience enough to engage them.
Question two was an example of me seeking conformation in my films sub-genre. I have always had an interest
in psychological thrillers and it came as a great consolidation that my audience for the most part shared
this interest, in turn giving me confidence to experiment with the form of my film as much as shown in the final
film.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Questions 3 and 4
Question three is probably the most obvious yet valuable piece of research I carried out into my audiences
preferences. A wide majority of audiences like a twist at the end of a film to spark their intrigue one last time,
asking this question reminded me of how important that can be and the final film revolves entirely around
getting to the last scene where the audience and the protagonist have their views on what they thought they
understood subverted.
Question four was a bad question, simply because you cannot have a singular pace of editing, the pace of the
edit changes depending on the scene. Im glad I picked up on this early on otherwise my film would have been
exhausting to watch if I was operating solely on a fast pace and boring to watch if I was operating solely on a
slow pace. A good thriller will slow down the pace to build tension and speed up during the intense moments.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Questions 5 and 6
The following questions were my way of researching the popularity of the narrative form I had chosen. Question
five was worded badly and meant that a majority of the audience chose linear structure as their preferred
structure, whereas I wanted to use a cyclical structure in my film. I wasnt swayed by this though as I knew
that the cyclical structure could and has been successful in the past, it was just a matter of my viewership
understanding my intentions and not being simply confused.
Question six demonstrates my interest in an audiences understanding of a cyclical or disorderly narrative
form, using Inception as an example. Inception is a film that divides opinion because of its difficult plot to
fol low, ho we ve r a m a jori ty of m y au die nc e sa id tha t t hey un de rst ood in c ept ion s plo t o n a n ave rag e o f 7 /10 , th is
once again gave me faith in my chosen narrative form.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Questions 7 and 8
Question seven is an element of production I revisited after the decision to re-write the script. After developing
an interest in David Finchers work I decided to make dialogue the focal point of my film, despite my audience
claiming dialogue wasnt absolutely necessary which I still agree with but felt that I would have more
success directing my attention to the dialogue scenes.
Question eight gave me an insight into what people expect from a short films character range another aspect
I revisited in the second version of the script. I may only have two actors but I essentially had four characters;
the protagonist, his double, the woman in the woods (conscience) and the interviewer. A lot of the audience
opted for the higher numbers of characters, which is understandable but in most thrillers there is a focus on
the protagonist and who he interacts with is merely a part of the plot.
 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR
AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Questions 9 and 10
Question nine was my way of evaluating how significant a role my poster ancillary text would play in drawing
interest to my film in a hypothetical sense as I didnt actually promote the poster. I had learnt that my
audience appreciated trailers as the main point of promotion for a film and if I wanted to promote my film to a
wi de r au die nc e thi s wo ul d be th e way to do it . Al tho ug h I ha d p la nne d a te as er trai ler I n ever e nde d u p m a ki ng
one, which I partially regret, but with limitations on time and my attention devoted to finishing the film I
disregarded this part of my research.
Question ten was another conformation in my own attitude towards thriller films, the thriller genre is inherently
dominated by male protagonists, which I was looking to conform to. My first choice actor happened to be male
and my audience research supported this casting decision.
 HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Research
Digital media technology dictated my films
p r o g r e s s i o n f r o m i d e a t o s c r e e n e n t i r e l y. Th e a r e a
this is most apparent is in my research, which was
primarily carried out through the internet or W eb
2.0.
I found my most effective form of research to be
through watching actual films that I had either read
about online or had stumbled across on the various
s t r e a m i n g s e r v i c e s t h a t a r e a v a i l a b l e t o d a y. I s p e n t
a lot of time going into Skys crime and thriller
genre, which was where I had originally watched
Finchers Zodiac. This meant that I was constantly
immersing myself in both contemporary and
historical forms of media I wanted to replicate. A
significant, if not all my inspiration was derived
from actual media texts.
IMDB became my go-to resource for researching
directors, DOPs and films that I felt would expand
my knowledge on not only my chosen genre but a
vast range.
You T u b e p l a y e d a n e q u a l l y v i t a l r o l e i n m y
research, channels like Film Riot not only provided
me with short films to analyse and learn from but
also offered helpful tips and tutorials to help with
production. I would then develop my understanding
of actual media texts I had watched by searching
for video essay channels devoted to the art of film.
Every Frame a Painting provided two essays that I
actually blogged about because of how influential I
found them to be.
I used the internet to research existing film posters
and reviews for my ancillary text development.
 HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Planning
New or digital media technology was also
significant in the planning stages of Exile. All
planning documents were produced or at least aided
by computer software.
The storyboard - like last year - was the area that
benefited from digital media technology the most,
despite not actually being made on computer
software. The way I develop a storyboard is by
drawing out the outline of the shot on Adobe
Illustrator and then using then copying over the
de si gn to pa pe r. Thi s was u se ful l as t ye ar a s it
helped me communicate my ideas to my DOP but
because this year s project was independent this
was no longer the case, instead I used Illustrator
as a template to iron out mistakes in the shot and
get a full understanding of what I would be drawing,
this meant that the quality (despite my lack of
drawing skills) of the storyboard was good and
clearly illustrated my idea. I also used this
technique to produce the mock-up for my poster
ancillary task.
O n c e a g a i n You T u b e a i d e d m y p r o d u c t i o n , t h i s t i m e
in the planning documentation. Channels like
Rocket Jump Film School significantly influenced
my pre-filming shot-lists, their video Shots vs. Set
Ups made me re-assess my own filming process
and annotate my shots with what setup they would
belong to, which made my use of time during filming
more efficient.
I a l s o u s e d t h e You Tu b e a s w e l l a s t h e i n t e r n e t t o
research how to construct certain planning
documents in a professional manner such as the
script.
HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?

Example of My Shot-List Technique Script Writing Development

 HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Equipment
A large focus I had for this year was to increase the
overall quality of my main text, the went about this
by using more advanced equipment such as the
Nikon D3200 and an external Rode microphone as
opposed to the in-built microphone and Canon GX10
I was using last year.
The change in camera enabled me to expand the
range of shots within my film; making use of low-
key lighting, focus pulls and digital enhancement
that simply wasnt available with the GX10. The
ability to shoot in manual meant that I could freely
manipulate the frame to my liking, whether that be
through a depth of field adjustment or fixing the
I S O t h e D 3 2 0 0 wa s wh a t g a ve m e a d a p t a b i l i t y.
The main improvement I placed on my AS
coursework was to better the sound in the final
product, shooting on the in-built mic meant that my
options were limited and I ended up using barely
an y a ud io of my own. Th is yea r I h ad a m uc h b et ter
microphone to shoot with and although it caused
some problems (like when I forgot to turn it on for
half a film session) the end product benefited
hugely from having high quality sound that you just
cant get with an in-built microphone.
 HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Post-Production
Final Cut Pro was the editing software I used for
Exile and I feel as though I have developed in my
use of the software as seen in my research as well
as the product itself.
Colour grading was a main concern of mine as a
majority of scenes/shots were shot at different
t i m e s o f d a y, i n d i ffe r e n t l o c a t i o n s o r we re j u s t
simply not fitting with the rest of the film. I made
my research into FCP worth while when I found the
full lesson by professional grader Denver Riddle,
after watching his video I began approaching my
grade in a more methodical and professional
manner.
Because my film consists primarily of dialogue
there were areas of speech that didnt sound right
as they were interrupted by a plane for example. I
used dubbing from re-recorded audio to fix these
errors and a lot of Sophies lines are dubbed
because there was coincidently more interruptions
in her lines. I would have to edit the audio file to
make it sound as if it was in the scene.
Final Cuts effects panel was of valuable use
throughout post-production as I was able to create
a u t h e n t i c e f f e c t s t h a t a d d e d t o t h e f i l m s d e l i v e r y. I
was able to do this with consistency after I
di sc overe d t he Pa ste Att rib ute s fu nc tio n tha t FCP
has where you can copy the effects on one shot to
another.
 HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Post-Production Improvement
One of the things I thought I could have improved on was the state of my edit file, Im not particularly good at
being neat when it comes to editing. This is a result of me liking to experiment with various clips and audio files
throughout the edit and being unwilling to delete the files I marginalize in fear that I might change my mind.
Looking back at my AS coursework I have actually gotten worse in this area, largely down to the increase in length
of film I was required to edit but I still feel as though I seriously need to improve in this aspect of my edit if I want
to progress.

AS Coursework Incognito A2 Coursework Exile

 HOW DID YOU USE NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RESEARCH,
PL ANNING AND EVALUATION STAGES?
Ancillary Texts
To p r o d u c e m y a n c i l l a r y t e x t s I u s e d A d o b e
Photoshop, a programme I was familiar with before
coming into the course and I feel as though I have
used it to good effect. Both of my ancillary texts
feature a level of detail and complexity that just
isn't as easily done on other software, with
Photoshop I was able to explore my visions for both
texts in full and get the best product possible.
I feel as though I could have improved on my
organisational skills within the programme as if you
look at the layers within each document you can
see no clear order or categorization. In certain
areas I have grouped layers but often I find just
leaving the layers in no specific order to be easier,
this is a habit I need to get rid of as I could save
myself a lot of time not having to look for the
individual layer I want to edit.
The more abstract fonts I used such as Arista 2.0
and Steeltongs came from the website
w w w . d a f o n t . c o m, t h i s i s w h e r e I t e n d t o g e t a
majority of fonts I need for a specific purpose as
there is a vast amount to chose from.