Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I think i really improved on the filiming and editing together and chosing shots from my preliminary task to my actual movie opening in various ways, for example one key feature which was really not sucessful in my preliminary task was the continuity editing as from shot to shot there were gaps where the chararcters involved had clearly changed their positions, also camera shake was abit of a problem although a tripod was used, especially on the high low angle shots, so i was aware of this while filming my opening.
These two shots are from my preliminary task and as you can see the shot goes imediatly from him drinking out of a cup, to a shot of him looking down at it; so this shows my really bad ability to sucessfully portay continuity editing, and this is something i beleive i improved on a great deal when filming and editing together my movie opening as there is continuity editing throughout the second half sequence. Whereas the first half of all the close up art shots do not need to focus on continuity editing.
In this shot reverese shot you can see that all positioning of the male character being film are completly different once again showing bad continuity editing another thing i had to always remember and consider when filming my opening.
In comparison to my movie opening where i used a tripod throughout and focus on keeping the camera steady at all times, i think the quality of filming is much better than the preliminary task. Also the continuit of the whole piece worked really well also in me opening.
As you can see here, these are two shots my my movie opening which are next to each other and the continuity works really well as the shots are from different angles but in both the character is stiring the tea, so from the audiences perspective they would see it as being one whole sequence, but from another angle rather than they fact i filmed from two different angles, at sperate times.
This is another example of where i think the editing worked well and it was where the shots chnaged from her making the tea to walking over to the table and it was from two complete opposite sides of the room in which i filmed the shots, but keeping to the 180 degree rule in filiming and always keeping to one side of the objective meens that the shots look the way they should, and arnt confusing to the eye through continuity editing.
Throughout the whole of this project i have used many types of software and technologies which have been new to me, and i have learnt to use to enable me to create my final coursework opening piece. Below are some example of new thing i have to learn in order to sucessfully do so.
LiveType
Livetype is a programme i used in order to create my titles that appear throughout my opening, this was a very complex programme that i somtimes struggled with, in order to sucssfully create my titles, i have to set many different thing individually including the font, timing, transitions of the text, the spacing of where they were to be seen on the opening and also the ammount of time they were to be on the opening for; all these aspects were something that had to be set and applied in livetype.
Slr Camera
Throughout the project many types of camera were used, one in which was and slr, which i used in order to take photos for casting, and i also atempted to filmd footage using the slr, but the quality wasnt appropriate so i decided to use a HD camcorder.
Apple Mac
The whole of the editing of my piece was done using a Apple Macpro which at first i found extremly difficult being used to an ordinary computer, but this is where all my footage and every aspect of my opening was made, another new technology i had to learn to use!
Final Cut Pro
Final cut was the programme i used in order to edit my clips together and make the piece work as a whole, i added fades between shots here and cut the clips down, and converted them to the appropriate file type. Things such as the titles and the soundtrack were thing i had to import into final cut and edit into the piece, colaborating the different programmes together in order to creating a piece was also somehtign new to me.
Flip Camera
A flip camera was used in order to film tesing parts and also i use the flip camera to upload people video responces to my oepning, this was surprisingly simple to do as the camer consisted of a usb and a cable from the mac pro working togetehr in order to uploading the videos to the mac, then quicktime, and then uploading them to youutbe to post online.
Blogger
Blogger was a programme i have heard of before and was fairly familar with, so was quite easy to come to terms with, and i find it a really useful way in which i could keep track and keep up to date with all work.
HD Camcorder
The HD camcorder was the technolgy in which i filmed the footage for my opening and i firstly found it very difficult to work and control; once i got used to using it, along with a tripod, it was down to angeling the shots and keeping the camera steady.
Youtube
Youtube was an extremly helpful online programme in which i used throughout the project, for research, uploading my own videos, and also uploading the responces to my opening. the most difficult aspect was the converting of the video and chosing the right settings in order to the videos being recognisable to the programme meening they can be uploaded sucessfully.
Soundtrack Pro
A programme in which i used to create the soundtrack for my opening, and this involved choising the different sounds, sometimes extending them, and creating the different sounds through many layers of sounds. I had to look for sounds that i thought would work well in my piece and create tension and atmopshere.
I believe if my opening were to be made into a full length feature film it would appeal to a younger audience between the ages of say 15-25 and i wanted my opening to still appeal to this audience age range. One important thing is that i didnt want my opening to appeal to just one gender, so i had to think about this whilst planning my opening. The opening does only reveal one character who is female, but i think this doesnt particularly matter, and doesnt meen it is a female dominate film, as the eerie gripping opening i think reveals and hits at the idea that the genre is thriller/mystery and i think this appeal to both genders.
If my film were to be full length it would feature many other aspects as music, possibly music from similar artists as kings of leon, or chase and status as some of there tracks are effective along with visuals in creating tention. Other aspects will also be included, possibly like crime, alcohol, music and betrayal, as these relate to the genre and would work well with fitting with the age range of 15-25 as these are often subjects in which they are interested in or can relate to at that age.
This age is also the most dominate audience for thriller films which is why i wanted to aim my film at this age range. Below are some examples of typical teenagers which would i am aiming this opening at, i have also asked people from this age range of there responces to my opening and the out come was positive, meening that if this were to be a feature film i believe the audience age range chosen would be appropriate.
In these shots you can clearly see images of my main charatcer and what she is wearing, i chose this choice of clothing as i believe the clothes are very basic and classic, not too revealing for the audience, showing that she is a modest characters. Along with her innocent activity, for example, making tea and calmly reading the paper connates that this girl is quite intellegent. Also in the surroundings of her own home the audience would gather that the girl would have a middle class status, due to the respectfull looking location and resonably sized kitchen.
When looking at the first part sequence of my opening you can see parts of the characters coat and jewlery which look particular expensive also, so this once again highlights the class of this charatcer would be middle class. There is a long shot of the charatcter laying down, abandoned, at the beggining and it may not be very obvious, but you can see the girl is wearing wellies, this also connoates that the girl may be middle class or even higher class, living the country lifestyle, and the fact the location is in the countryside.
In Comparison to the female character staring in my opening, you can clearly see the difference between the 'gritty' girls style from independent movie 'This is England' who are portryed as much lower class, and you can tell this due to clothing and body language, i purposly didnt want my charatcter to be portayed in this way as i belive the 'innocent' girl next door look creates alot more sympathy and grabs the attention of the audience alot more.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The start of my movie opening i believe works really well, as all objectives are built up gradually, including the music and the visuals, and the music increases and the dynamic and interesting shots used gradually speed up and i think this is very common with movie openings; as its not often that the movie dives straight into something action packed and fast, its common for openings to gradually built up, have a questioning part to it and make the audience question what is going on, and keep them engaged in the opening.
Its also very typical to have opening credits and 'staring' name slowly running over the top of visual footage and i think this worked particularly well, as once again its a key feature that keeps the audiences attention as they follow the visuals and they staring names.
As the opening sequence rolls there are many quirkey shots used that are almost quite eerie, which creates alot of questioning and tenstion form the audience, as the opening carries on the shots get faster, and shots change quickly this grabs the audiences attention and is simliar to existing openings as quirkey images are often used to grabs the audiences attention. Also the countryside setting, in which you can see the unusual shots also creates an atmosphere; with a location such as this you would expect a independent movie to be shot in a similar location to this, and this is what i would relate my film to be if it were made into a full length feature film, as the britsh settings would be similar to a britsh independent movie. The eerie shots and the fact there is a motionless body in the frame could hint at the idea that this movies genre could be thriller, crime or mystery, and i think its effective leaving part of the awnsering to the audience to decide on a genre.
Similar to existing movies, i thought after the gripping, fast shots i used at the start of my opening it would be effective to dive straight into the title 'Possessions' which relates to the previous shots of a girl, laying motionless, and many closeups of various objects, possesions, which can also be later seen in the latter part of my opening. I thought dropping the title in here with some blunt non-diegetic sound worked really well as it split up the two parts of the opening the more artistic obscure angles and then in conparison to the section after which is the same girl featured in the first half, going about her day to day activities.
After the title is shown, the shot then changes to a medium shot of a kettle which is boiling, i think this visual works really well after the eerie first sequence, the shot is then interupted as a girl, the same girl featured in the first half, reaches into the shot with a mug and makes a cup of tea. Now this is quite common for an opening as after an artistic or unusual opening it works really well when human activity is first noticed.
I took some video footage of the charatcer going about her day to day activities, as i think by this time the audience will notice that this girl is the same girl featured in the opening shots, and this will make them interested in what is going to happen next, a gripping topic, similar to other movies, keeping the audience interested. The fact that these shots are quite casual and its a girl in her own home location could also introduce the idea that this film could be set under the title of drama as a genre, as similar subjects and locations would be used in a drama.
Attached here is a video of an opening of movie, 'Harry Brown' Featurinf Micheal Caine relased in 2009, which follows a similar idea to mine, where in which something quite peculiar and gripping happens, then credits roll, in my case its the movies title name, and then this changes to a character going about there day to day activity, this video example shows at the end the slight snipet of the character waking up, and then clip then stops; but in the actual longer version in the film it carries on with the character waking up and getting ready. I think this was a similar example i found to the idea i used in my piece, and relates quite well.
Inbetween shots of the character going about her day to day activity i have included the running credits of the productions company, distribution company, who funded the movie etc, as in the first part sequence i revealed the staring characters, i thought showing these inbetween clips would work well, as it breaks parts up, making it more interesting and creating a gradual build up.
In comarison to the first half of the opening the second part is alot slower and more casual, as its almost as if we are just watching the girl, and these shots used are alot longer, and i think this works well as its almost like the actual movie is begginging and a build up is starting, but as she is reading the paper, we see a change in attitude, and she becomes very anxious and storms out the house.. this is where the opening ends, but i think it works well as this slight built up to her storming out creates alot of questioning for the audience, and they would start to relate and try to fix together how these two seperate parts work together, and what happens inbetween for her to be in the state she was in at the start.
