First Draft (with response)

We then asked a few people to analyze our first draft and give us feedback on what we did well and what we needed to improve. We then took this feedback in to consideration and changed our final piece based on the feedback.

Targets:

The overall response we received on the first draft of the sweet truth is negative; however we will use this as constructive criticisms and set ourselves targets moving forward with editing and additional filming if necessary.

The feedback on this question was that it is doesn’t come off serious enough and it was seen more like a comedy rather than an informative short film about diabetes, The editing techniques we used in this first draft were not suitable for this genre of short films. We will remove the effects that didn't suit the piece. One other thing mentioned is that the flow of the documentary doesn’t feel natural, we will overcome this by using transition between the shots to give a better sense of continuity.

The response on this is similar to the first question, the issue being the poor jump cuts and music being inconsistent.  We will find a track that fits the piece a lot better and has better consistency. As for the jump cuts between narrations, we will work on making the continuity of the short film more realistic as it is supposed to be done in a continuity editing manner to stay true to the genre. 

We also aim to give more information about Abdul's routine as we did for Jeppe because the feedback we got was that they didn't learn enough about the unhealthy diabetics routine because it only really showed him getting out of bed. So we will film more scenes of Abdul explain how he got his diabetes as well as what happens next. We will also try to give the equal amount of scene time between the two characters and this should present the story more clearly.

Production Company Logo Design

Costume and Props Planning

For our costume and props planning we wanted to create a contrast between our 2 actors. I will discuss what we decided on for each character:

Abdul:
Abdul is portrayed as the unhealthy diabetic and one way in which we wanted to show this was through his costume. So for his costume we made him dress up in baggy clothes to show he doesn't really care about his look, he just goes for the first piece of clothing he finds. We did this to try and reflect his attitude towards diabetes and show that he doesn't really care for his health and body.

Jeppe:
For Jeppe we wanted to portray him as the opposite of Abdul, a healthy diabetic who cares about his body and way of life. So we did this through dressing him up kind of smart with a polo top in some scenes to show he cares about his looks, also reflecting his attitude towards diabetes and we also have him in a Real Madrid top towards the end to show that he is a sporty character to show the audience that he does exercise and stays fit and healthy.

Props:
we didn't use many props in our short film because we wanted to focus on the actors but the main prop that we used was the insulin pen that is needed by all diabetics. We were able to get a hold of these through Jeppe who is a diabetic himself so we had a sufficient supply of the pens. We also including a few other diabetic apparatus to make our film seem more realistic, for example the device that test for your blood sugar.

Social Media Research

Social media is very important when it comes to advertising our final piece. now a days social media is used all the time for absolutely everything so thats why it is a good platform to promote our film.

examples:

Facebook

one way in which our film can be promoted is through Facebook. Facebook is the biggest social media out there and is used by a mass amount of people every day. Projects can be advertised through Facebook pages which anybody can view and gain information about the film from the page. for example The Avengers which is a well known superhero film has its own Facebook page that provides the audience with details and information about the film. it can even promote videos such as interviews with the actors or tease trailers of the film.

YouTube:

Another big social media website that is used a lot to promote media is YouTube. YouTube is a website where you can upload videos of your choice to be viewed by everyone in the world. You can create your own channel that you upload your videos to which you can use to promote you project with tease trailers, extended trailers, interviews, etc..

Editing (Titles and Credits)

Titles and credits are essentials when it comes to a short film so that the audience can identify what the piece is about from the title and who it is by from the credits.

For the title you want to make sure that it placed in an ideal area so that the audience has a clear view of the title and it stands out. For our title i placed it over the establishing shot of the doha skyline in order for it to stand out but at the same time informing the audience that the film takes place in Doha.

I added a cross dissolve to either side of the title for it fade over the skyline just to add a little bit of flair to the piece rather than have it just pop up because it looked tacky and unprofessional.

Credits are always used in any type of film because it informs the audience who has starred in the film and who the film was created by. Just before our credits i added a few facts about diabetes in Qatar from professionals and diabetics effected in doha to try and engage with the audience and send a strong message to audience with deep impactful events that have happened to people. I used basic titles because it was a serious message and it wouldn't be as impactful if the title was flashy because it diverts the audiences attention from the message and for the credits i just used the stereotypical scrolling credits to give information to the audience in a manner they are use to.

Editing (Effects)

To make our piece more advanced i wanted to add some effect to improve our piece and add more flair to our final project. I used a lot transitions such as cross dissolves and fade to colour in our piece in order to speed things up by jump cutting but also at the same time be more attractive to the viewer rather than it just changing shot because it adds continuity to the piece. I used the fade to colour when changing location or time to inform the viewer that a change is taking place. for example when it transitions between jeppe's house to Abdul's house.

I also used some other effects to improve the final piece. for example the scene when Abdul passes out and wakes up dazed and disorientated, i added on the focus effect which blurs the screen to make him looked dazed. i did this to portray the fact that Abdul is dizzy and doesn't know where he is which shows the audience that he is struggling. 

This is the scene where Abdul is disorientated. i chose focus because it was the best option from the blur effects and also the blur was in the shape of an eye so it was ideal for use because we were showing it from Abdul's point of view. i decreased the amount of focus used because it didn't look too good with 50.0 because too much of the screen was blurred out and you couldn't see what was going on in the shot, so i reduced it 30.0 and increased the softness by a bit to get the right amount of blur but able to tell what is going on in the shot. 

Editing (sound)

Sound is very important in our piece as it sets the tone for the piece and also adds realism to our project. I wanted to use any kind of sound effects when necessary in order to make it seem more realistic and divert the viewers attention from the fact that it is a film not real life. I did this simply through final cut pros sound effect in the music category.
For example for the very first shot i added construction sounds to drown out the silence.

The main part when editing sound was the primary background music. I browsed the internet to try fit a soundtrack that would fit with our piece. i experimented with different pieces in order to compare and deduce which piece was the best option for the short film. I downloaded a few pieces off the internet and imported them in to final cut pro and added them to the film to see which worked best. 

http://www.audionetwork.com/content/music-for/music-for-documentary

this is a link to the main website that i got the background music from. 

script for voice overs

we wrote a script for each character so that we could record them speaking over themselves acting. we did this because we wanted to have 'the voice of god' effect in our piece to try and make the speaker seem more impactful. 

jeppe
Hi my name is Jeppe Laursen

I have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes for just over 5 years now 

Since I was diagnosed at a young age I have had to change my lifestyle completely 

I like to get up early everyday and get the day started 

In order to stay healthy I maintain a good hygiene and eat well 

I make sure I take my insulin after every meal I have throughout the day and check my blood sugar as well to make sure I'm all good 

After my morning routines I like to go out for some exercise or if I have any doctor appointments make sure I attend them 

abdul 

Hi my name is Abdulaziz and I've been diagnosed with type two diabetes for just over a year now 

My doctors told me that I got this disease because of my lifestyle 

I get out of bed whenever I really feel like it, my room is a mess to be honest, I'm not bothered to stay very organised 

When I go out I tend not to bring my medicine because it doesn't look cool

Last month my life changed, I went out to get food at my favourite place, as I got my order I started to get dizzy. Everything started to fade and all the sudden I fell over.

After this I do not remember much, I heard peoples  voices calling for help

A guy apparently came to help me, he was also a diabetic. After waking up in the hospital I was told by doctors I needed to change my lifestyle otherwise I wouldn't have long left.

After this I met up with the same guy, he put me in touch with some good people who helped me turn around my life