Superimposition of Images

"Using the techniques of superimposition and photo montage, photographers can blur the lines between past and present, reality and fiction, and imitation. Whether by manually holding up an object or photograph against a carefully chosen backdrop or using image editing software, these imaginative artists have created alternately quirky and poignant images bringing together various urban worlds."

"In these haunting images by Sergei Larenkov, the harsh realities of life during the siege are juxtaposed with modern photos of the city to provide a glimpse of St. Petersburg’s dramatic past. Larenkov picked through archival images of the siege to find images that could be merged with present-day photographs, and the effect is compelling and eerie."

A2 Short Film - Draft Version

I finally managed to complete my A2 production film, so it looks more or less reasonable to understand the narrative. The feedback from the audience was surprising. Audience were thinking that instead of sci-fi film, it appeared to be more psychological, which was very surprising for me. Another interesting thing was about notes. Some people thought it would be better to deliver notes through voice over, rather putting them on the screen. However, the notes were written by hand, which made them look a little unattractive(as you will see in the video below). For this reason, I have decided to change the style of the notes, to make them look good. 

Please watch the draft version of my film:

Promotion and Marketing - audience feedback

As my film was being promoted by Samsung, phones play a big role in marketing as well as promotion of my film. First of all, as the length of the film is not very long, only 5 minutes, it would be a good idea to distribute the film on Android tablets and smartphones. Distributing short film on gadgets, would significantly increase audiences' popularity among the genre. Marketing the film in smartphones' market, would significantly boost the chance of promoting film to global audience.

In addition, YouTube can be used to market my film.  Because of interconnectedness of mise-en-scene in my film (Moscow and London), putting it on YouTube will combine audience from both Russia and England. It would be also possible to collect some feedback through comments under the video in YouTube or by using other social media websites, such as facebook or VK(the russian version of facebook). Creating an opportunities, which allow to demonstrate a personal view, will significantly increase the chances of improving already existing products, especially ancillary once. For example, poster and magazine review.

Furthermore, hosting local festivals such as the WaterSprite one, is going to add even more popularity to the ancillary products. Additionally, a lot of people from my college have attended that festival. I have talked to a couple of these people, who have attended the festival. Here is what they said:

Here is what Artur (friend who has attended WaterSprite festival) has mentioned:

"  "

Eduardo (another friend who has attended WaterSprite festival) however said:

"   "

WATERSPRITE Cambridge Film Festival 2015

For the purpose of getting an experience, and to see some of the short film, I have attended Watersprite Film Festival in Cambridge. This year Watersprite received submissions from 52 countries around the world. This made the competition stronger then ever. From Nepal to Switzerland, from Mexico to Russia, nominees have travelled from all over the world. I have only attended animation and fiction films that showed the impressive talents of the producers. It has been overwhelming to see how many people are willing to give up both time and effort to produce such amazing short films and animations.

After watching short films and animated cartoons, I have taken some photos.

The screening room was quite small, however there were quite a lot of people. The organisation was also good. Each person was given an audience response sheet, which was about rating film from the scale of 1(awful) to 5(amazing).
Personally, I have awarde 5 to every film I have seen in that festival, as I think the effort put to production of these films was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, It was not possible to take videos in the screening room.
One of the film, I have watched, was named the"Warm Snow". It was an animated short film, produced in Israel. The surprising part was that it was fully in russian with english subtitles, therefore, this film was very interesting to watch, at least for me. The screenings were divided into two parts. The first one was called "With love" and the second part(which involved 3 animated and 1 documentary films) was called "Watching over"

"With love" explores the powerful, often turbulent, yet always touching dynamics of family relationships. On the other hand, "Watching Over" shines a light on the role of the guardians and protection in both fictional and real worlds.

This picture shows sponsors of Watersprite Cambridge Film Festivals. I think it is quite important to sponsor such film festivals, so more people would attend festivals like this.

I found it very interesting to observe how so-called stop-motion films are made. The effort for making those kind of animated films is incredible. In order to produce 20-30 second video, you have to work 15 minutes, in order to change the position of toys and take a shot of every changed position. There was a gathered crowd simply watching how stop-motion films are done.

The girl who makes stop-motion. Everytime she had to go and change the positions of toys which were made of plasticine. It took about 10 minutes to produce 20 sec video.

There are about 20 nominees from around the world, who received an award from Watersprite festival. This shows, how interconnected and interlinked the media had become, especially with the development of different technologies.














This map shows, where Watersprite film festivals took place.
I was very surprised to see Russia among the list of countries where the festival was held. As it is noticeable on the map, United States also was part of the festival. India was also one of the countries which held festival. One of the short-films I watched was Indian documentary about disabled girl, who was studying in the school, in order to financially provide her family in the future. I found it very interesting and not surprising of India's participation in film festival.

 Stop-motion has a premier position in the UK, with digital technologies evolving to give rise to a stop-motion renaissance, expanding its influence to media areas including commercials, TV series, feature films and SFX productions. Stop-motion techniques provide you with a diverse range of technical and creative skills. Knowledge of stop-motin as a communication tool will allow to understand the nature of new theories that have resulted from changes in technology

 I observed how stop-motion films are being made.

I have gained a lot of experience and understanding about the production of animated as well as short-films. It was a great film festival to attend as it involved production work from countries around the world. Furthermore, I watches stop-motion film being made, which was very interesting and entertaining activity.

Oscars 2015: The Best Animated Short Film nominees.

One of the most entertaining categories at the Academy Awards is for the Best Animated Short Subject.

Below are trailers for each of this year's nominees, as well as some behind-the-scenes videos showing how these talented artists used hand-drawn, stop-motion or computer animation to create memorable characters and fascinating narratives.

"The Bigger Picture"

Filmmakers: Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees

A "life size animated short," with painted characters and props in a room shot in stop-motion, shows the tensions between two brothers caring for their aging mother.

"The Dam Keeper"

Filmmakers: Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi

A parable about bullying, featuring a young pig and his tentative friendship with an artistic fox new to his school.

"Feast" (WINNER)

Filmmakers: Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed

A little dog's exhaustive menu changes as his master's romantic relationships change. What's a hungry pup to do?

An Oscar Winning film producer interview

Oscar short-film awards

Best live-action short film

WINNER: The Phone Call– Mat Kirkby, James Lucas

Aya – Oded Binnun, Mihal Brezis

Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox, Ronan Blaney

Butter Lamp – Wei Hu, Julien Féret

Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi, Stefan Eichenberger

The live short action film, which is called "The Phone Call' won an oscar for the best live-action short  film. Mat Kirkby and James Lucas’s film tells the story of a woman working for a crisis centre phone help line who receives a call from a suicidal older man. It is an encounter that changes the lives of all of those involved in the call.

"Thanks to my crew, who all give their time for free. Short films are made not with money. They’re made with tenacity and lots of favours. Impossible to do it without them," said Mr Kirkby.

Before the Oscars’ glory, the film had earned plaudits from the Tribcea Film Festival and the Seattle Film Festival.

Please follow the LINK to know more about "The Phone Call" and to experience an oscar winning short film from the point of view of its producers.

Ancillary products

In addition to my short-film, it is also necessary to develop two ancillary products. These ancillary products include one magazine review and the poster for the film. For this reason, it would be necessary to search the web, and that is what I did. I found a lot of useful examples of posters, as well as magazine covers, which could be used to write a review in. Film, poster, and magazine review have to interlink with each other, as it will form the whole picture of an advanced portfolio process making.

Here are some decent examples, of already existing movies.

I have to be sure that my ancillary products will match the existing "label" of my film. According, to the examples above, the image has to be easily caught by the audience when they see it. Such big movies, like Harry Potter, or Iron Man, do not have very detailed posters, however have a big influence over audience. For example, who would not want to buy a magazine where Harry Potter simply looks inside your eyes. Such a powerful advertising seem to be very simple if you look at it closely. Therefore, I would want my ancillary products to not look too complicated.