Friday 27 April 2012

Sarah,Gabby,Georgie prelim

Question 7

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


Preliminary task
    
Opening sequence
Our preliminary task was an exercise we did before we started preparing for our opening sequence, it was the first time i had used a video camera and it helped to help us get used to the camera and the angle shots that we would have had to use. For the Prelim task we used shot reverse shot which was a conversation between two people. We did this by filming the conversation twice and then edited them together on Adobe Premier Pro by cutting different parts to make them fit. In order for this to make sense, we had to use the 180 degree rule, this meant that we could only film each person from the same side as we had filmed the other one, making sure that we do not cross the other side of the 180 line. 

From looking at the two screen shots from the preliminary task and the opening sequence, both images are from when they were about to walk through the door. As you can clearly see we have improved on our filming. The prelim is just a basic shot where as the opening sequence is edited in colour, shot from a better angle and shows more of the person walking through. There is clear evidence that my skills have improved throughout the learning from the prelim task, as the shots are better.

During the preliminary task we encountered a few problems such as speaking too quickly, this made the editing very tough as it sometimes felt as if it didnt fit properly. We also didnt have that many shots to chose from when choosing the correct ones to put in which fitted better. Another problem that we encountered was that the film seems to jump a little bit when the camera angle changes. However i did find the filming of the passing through the door very well done. 


We improved on this from our set goals after making the preliminary task by making sure we had plenty of shots to chose from. In the final product we had lots of choice, making sure we had shots from different  angles also. Another thing we worked on was leaving time at the beginning and ending of each shot so that it was easier to edit, because we could just crop the videos on the Adobe Premier Pro software anyway. 


I feel that the skills i have definitely improved on most is the editing and learning of the camera and editing software itself. I did most of the editing and i really improved on this. I learnt many different things such as changing color of clips, adding text; text color and text transition, cropping, adding music and sound effects. 


Overall during the progression of making my final product i learnt different uses of the camera, i found that larger wide angles didn't really work for our video and unless you use a tri-pod you get camera shake on the film! (I TRIED IT). My editing skills definitely improved a lot in the progression of making the final opening sequence as this is what i spent most of my time on. My organisation skills were lagging, making the opening sequence and having deadlines definitely pushed me to be a more organised person instead of leaving things until last minute. I find that with plenty of time it saves the stress and also gives a better quality final product. I learnt how to create effects (such as making it look like the moon light) during my learning of filming, however, my group and i used natural light as none of it was filmed at night time. There wasn't a lot of dialogue in 'concealed', however there was small dialogue during the phone call. I learnt how to record in the studio and record using the camera to have voice overs during the phone call. 

After making my preliminary task video, i set my self three targets which were:

  • Talk slower during filming
  • Think about potential problems and resolve them
  • Ensure that the clips are filmed longer so that it is easier to edit
I think that during the dialogue with the spy, he spoke a little too fast, however this was okay as it fitted in because he had just had a nightmare. We definitely thought about potential problems - such as bad/good weather because there was a lot of filming outside, we solved this by making sure we didnt film on a bad day! Also, i feel that we achieved the last target as we made sure that all the clips had enough space at the beginning and end to crop and fit into the video. Overall i am overly pleased with the final outcome of my opening sequence, i didnt expect that i could pull this through as well as i did. 

Thursday 26 April 2012

Question 6

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


Camera on tripod


I learnt how to use a digital camera to film the movie. This is the camera we used to film all of our opening sequence video. We used the camera on the trip pod for 90% of the time. The only time we didn't film using the tripod was when we wanted to create an effect to make it feel like we were with the spy/murderer as he moved. We also used the camera to do voice overs; this is used when the wife rings up the spy and speaks down the phone. The camera has a slot in the side of it where we put our tape cassette, our footage then gets saved onto this tape ready to upload to the computer. The camera has a zoom in/out button, this was very useful when filming as we could just zoom instead of having to move the camera, for example we zoomed in on the spy's face while he was on the phone to the 'wife'. The camera also had a panel screen so that we could see what we were filming.




Adobe Premier Pro

The thing i learnt most throughout making the opening sequence was editing our video. To edit our opening sequence and transfer film footage we used Adobe Premier Pro, this is a software (one of the best and most popular) which we had access to in the college editing suite. We would put our video tape containing the film footage into a tape cassette reader, where it would be recorded and saved onto the computer and opened up onto this software ready for it to be put together into a film and edited. APP was the software we used to add effects to our video; colours, cropping, text, slide transitions and sound. APP also has a timeline, this is where we drop our clips into and combine together to make the film. If you look at the image above, our unedited clips are stored on the left screen in the top left corner, this is called the source panel. Lower down is a timeline, this is where we would drag our chosen clips and start editing them. When playing our film, it plays in the top right corner on the right screen, this is called the program sequence. 




Blogger



I also learnt more about blogging. Blogger is a free website for people to blog posts, images and writing. I used blogger to upload all my work, posts and a showing of everything that i have learnt during my experience of media and making my first opening sequence. I found blogger a simple way to stay on track with my work.









I also used YouTube as part of the technology in my work. I found that YouTube was the most easiest form of technology for me personally to find good video examples to compare and research into with my film. My pre-lim video and final opening sequence were also uploaded to YouTube, i find it a very simple way of sharing videos and work. I also used Google as a resource for my images when comparing my opening sequence to other movies and ideas on how to represent my characters from different characterization groups.

I also used paint during the making of my blog. I used this when i print screened images of the opening sequence to add to my blog. I would print screen and then paste it into paint and save it as a image ready to upload. I also used Microsoft power point during the time of the ideas for my video. I made a power point of the ideas my group and i had and then showed them to the class by showing my power point on a projector.

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?



We planned an interview with one of the audience to find out how they felt about our film.


interview

<- this is a shot from when the murderer/spy breaks into the office. I feel like this appeals to my target audience as this is where it gets exciting. My target audience need something to look forward to, something exciting. The music also adds great tension build up on this part. 







<- This is a screen shot from when the murderer/spy is about to hit the husband in the face. The camera here is placed where the husband would have been at work and so when he punches the screen/camera it makes you feel as if you are about to be the one hit. I feel this adds great tension and drama for the target audience and is in some way exciting.




<- Here is a screen shot from where the murderer/spy shuts the husband into the boot. I feel like this is a good part for my target audience as this is the part where we dont know wether he is dead, unconscious, where is he going? and it starts to make the audience ask questions to whats actually happening. I feel like this is good as it is a cliff hanger and the audience will want to carry on watching the film. 

Audience interview.wmv

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product? 

Lowri Williams
17 
Wrexham


Likes : Watching movies, spending time with friends and going to the cinema

Dislikes: Broccoli, too much work and being ill

Hobbies : Scouts, clay pigeon shooting and chess

Films : James Bond, Spy kids, The Godfather, 21 Jump street and anything which includes action and tension build up!

Tv Programmes: CSI Miami and Desperate Housewives

Music: Anything and everything!



I think that my film would appeal to Lowri as she seems to enjoy spy films. She is a typical teenager and fits in with the age group which i chose represents my film; young adults & teens, this is why i think she fits in well for the type of audience representing my film. Like most other teenagers, she likes watching movies and going to the cinema, she also likes spending time with friends and therefor could spend time with them by watching movies and/or going for trips to the cinema! Lowri likes action films, there is a lot of action within my opening sequence and also a lot of tension build up which i think Lowri would enjoy. I feel that if Lowri watched the opening sequence for my movie she would want to know what happens next. Lowri says she likes playing chess as a hobby which is a skill game and takes a lot of thinking, this suggests that Lowri wouldnt get lost in the opening sequence of 'Concealed' and she would enjoy it a lot more. She likes watching CSI Miami which is an all crime based Tv Programme, my film has crime and hints of murder so i think this would intrigue Lowri all the more. Desperate Housewives is actually a drama which includes murder and lots of secrets too... 'Concealed' is a secret based film which includes twists so i feel that Lowri would enjoy this a lot!