Evaluation: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

1. Throughout this project there have been many new things which have become available for me to use. Initially beginning the course we focused on the 4 micro elements of media and this automatically made an impact as when watching TV I found myself stating the shots and noticing some continuity errors.

2. As well as doing coursework for media, when learning information for the written exam, it allowed me to come to terms with these micro elements and allow me to apply them to my opening. For instance, using the correct clothing for 'Rosie Johnson' to portray her youth and vulnerability in comparison to 'Derek Brown' who wears monotone, dull colour to imitate anomalies. 

3. During producing the Life on Mars clip, I was able to pick up on how accurate clips need to be cut in order for them to look accurate and professional. Following on from this when looking at how transitions can create a mood highlighted how key these effects are in film and television in order to achieve the best media product possible. When looking back at my Life on Mars clip, myself and my partner should have looked closer at how accurately edited it needed to be. This was at the start of using final cut and you can tell due to the end of the clip being un-professional and inaccurate.

LIFE ON MARS EXERCISE

4. Within the continuity exercise we had to remind ourselves of the 3 key rules when recording - match on match action, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule. At first we kept getting the rules wrong leading to us having to re-record our clips numerous times. However, when we understood the rules, the editing and rules became much clearer as we were able to concentrate on what we wanted the final product to look like. 

CONTINUITY EXERCISE

5. Finally, when having to produce my film opening i had to undergo multiple numbers of research in order to produce a film opening which was professional to an extent. I did this by watching numerous openings and taking notes of their key features, these included:

• how long the title was on screen for
• how many titles there were
• amount of dialogue
• how many protagonists/antagonists were introduced
• the transitions used
• the 4 micro elements - mise en scene, camera shots, sound and editing

By looking at previous films it allowed me to gain knowledge and an understanding of how i wanted my opening to look. I chose to have no dialogue as this related to the way in which the characters were conversing with one another - no dialogue, only through social networks where no voices were heard. This created a sense of ambiguity and also allowed an audience to assume the ending of the film instead of it being obvious from the start.

In retrospect, whilst using blogger to publicise my progression throughout AS media, I have found my skills have broadened over time and I have managed to produce a somewhat professional film opening which the target demographic are fond of. The skills I have learnt can be applied to future times I use these programs or even in A2.

Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation: Who would be the audience for your media product?

I presented this question by writing my thoughts.

Overall, the young girls who watch the film will most definitely relate to the main protagonist as social networking and Facebook is extremely popular in this century. 

Evaluation: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? from ciaraolive

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Process of Editing

When seeing our clips for the first time we found that we had recorded the correct amount of footage in order to successfully portray our storyline without giving too much away. Due to working in pairs it meant having to split the editing equally between us. Therefore, I did one half of editing and my partner did the other. We would discuss the things we needed to change with one another's editing in order to make it fair and as good as possible. Final cut express was a simple and easy to use program, which successfully edited our film to the best of our ability. We were able to add audio tracks, titles and transitions in order to increase our films professionalism. The clips were easy to locate as they were always kept on screen meaning they were simply dragged and dropped onto the timeline.

Deciding on a title was one of the most difficult challenges whilst editing as it meant using a font, colour and effect in order to illustrate the theme effectively. It was hard to not make the title look childish, as this would decrease the effectiveness of the opening. We would have liked to have had a better title, as it would then allow us to be more confident with the film.

When adding our audio we originally chose a rather cheesy, pop group girly track however when it was playing whilst the male antagonist was on screen it didn’t fit well. Therefore we decided upon a sinister yet upbeat track which fit with the genre more so than the girly accompaniment. We made sure that the clips and titles corresponded to the music for example when there was a beat we would ensure the female blinked on this beat to show the strong correlation between these. We also added in cross fades to the audio allowing parts of the diegetic sounds to be heard, e.g- the door opening towards the end. 

Finally we received feedback from our teacher and she told us to remove the cross fades on the audio when the titles come on screen as there was no purpose for sound to increase and decrease. She also said not to worry about the title as it did fit with our theme and genre. We were also complimented on the way the female was shown as vulnerable and young in comparison to the male antagonist.

Film Opening