EVALUATION 8: What targets will you set yourself for G324- When making trailers?

Targets in which I will set myself for next year's course (G324), is that I would use a tripod when filming, as this will help me to stabilize the footage, and will improve the quality of the footage, which will make it look more professional. Using a tripod would allow to edit the film or trailer for next year, as the footage will be better , and it would be still and the quality of it will show a clear meaning with each movement whilst filming.Also, by using a tripod we would be able to move it better without the footage becoming shaky and look out of focus the whole time. Also I would trial different cameras to try the quality of it and experiment with them as we didn't do that in the first place so ended with a less quality one which effected the overall quality of the footage.  

Another target that i would make is that I would make sure to complete planning and and make sure we know what we are doing before it all gets to much as I found that we were rushing to get the film made this year and that we could have made it better having given ourselves more time. However,  filming in the sixth form, we need a crowd and busy setting to create the appropriate setting and the week which we were filming was the last week of school and so we did have to rush to finish it. Also we could of filmed more before this week but our characters in the film took different subjects and so during free periods meant that filming was limited as we had to negotiate time with them as well.  Another target could be of using actors who both have time on their hands to make sure that the filming could have been done over a longer period of time allowing us to actually have the time to sit and plan each and every shot we were using before going out and filming the part of the film.

    Another target would be making sure the lighting was correct, so making sure the contrasting was right  in the camera before recording because it would allow us to not have to re-film other parts to fit in with other clips.As during filming we had areas in which which the lighting was very dark. So we could either add lighting or film somewhere the lighting was bright enough to show up on camera. We could also make sure the sound was correct in the camera before recording because we assumed that it was okay but when it came to editing, we found that the sound was much to loud and that it was hard to hear what the characters are saying. So next time we would make sure film things more than once and replay it before finalizing the footage onto the CD. Having said this, the common room was quite busy and so we wanted the background noise to make it seem like it was a busy collage setting therefore suggesting why we left it in. When adding the soundtrack music, we had to make sure it  was lower than the dialogue but in order to successfully do this, we had to lower the volume so it could barely be heard and then increase the volume of the characters speaking which made it seem like they were shouting and also the background noise in the common room was too loud.

    Next year we would make sure that the setting would be quieter and if we needed the added background noise we would add this as a voice over as it would mean we could control the volume of it, Also making sure that the voice over fitted with the relevant actions in the film or trailer.

I would personally set the target of making sure I fully understand the editing software so it does not take as long to edit our film. We found that both of us were trying to figure out how to use certain tools in the first few hours of editing that we actually lost those hours of editing, so by this we could take more of lead when it came to practicing tools. Having used Adobe Premiere Elements 10 this year, I think that when it comes to editing next year, I would know where tools are and the best layout for the editing process. I would also know how to fade sound in and out and also the appropriate transitions to use on our product which will make it  looks theatrical and the best quality it can be.

EVALUATION 7: Looking back at our preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

PRELIMINARY TASK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjvP7OfMLr4&list=UUWiH3yYi97qF-XFKRKco3iQ

 These three frames are from our preliminary task, showing different shots and angles and editing that we have used. In the first frame we see in the preliminary task we use match on action as the closeup of the door being pushed opened. This is effective as it allows the audience to continue to understand on what is going on in the scene. So that the audience can taking along with character, so they can experience the what is going at the same time. The second frame shows a medium shot, showing a conversation between the two characters, this allows the audience to find out what is going on, and allows audience to understand the story line. The last frame shows an over the shoulder shot establishing a different conversation between two other characters and it also shows the facial expressions on each character as they are talking to the other character, shown in the over the shoulder shot.

PRACTICING SHOTS

These frames have been taken from the practice shots, of a short scene that we created on the theme 'what you doing here'. The first shot shows a long shot of the character walking down the corridor. This allows the audience to to follow the character so they will feel apart of the characters experience.  The long shot also establishes the setting of the scene, and allows the audience to identify where the setting is, which is in a school, this allows the target audience to to aimed at a younger audience as they will be able to relate

The second shot shows a cut from the previous shot from walking down the corridor, then cut as the character starts to walk down the stair. The medium shot with a side angle of the character as she walks downs the stairs, allowing the character to see from a different perspective of the scene, allowing the audience to be apart of the journey of the character. It also allows the audience to continues to following the character.

The high angle has been shown of the characters walking down the stairs. This allows the audience allows to get another perspective of the character and allows them to be a part of the scene as they will continue to follow the character. Usually a high angle shout would used to portray the character as powerless and seem vulnerable towards the audience, if put in appropriate context in terms of setting, mood and what effect its trying to create for the scene.

A two shot has been used to establish a conversation between two characters, and allows the audience to engage in scene as the dialogue takes place and allows more information to be given to the audience, to understand better about the scene. The two shot also presents new characters to the audience, allowing them to find out more about them. It can also show the relationship between character through having a two shot.

Peer assessment and Evaluation

After we presented our overview of our film we show them our opening tow minutes and afterwards got some feedback on what they thought the strengths an weaknesses were of our film.

The strengths of our opening 2 minutes were from the feedback:

- We were able to meet the conventions of a romance film, as the audience were able to easily identify the genre of the film, for example the slow music going over the top, and the two protagonist looking at each other occasionally. I would agree with this feedback as we tried to stay with the conventions of a romance film so it makes it easier for the audience to find out what type of genre the film is and so being able to identify this would allow them to build certain expectations on what should happen in the film, so having the calming music allows to creates a calm atmosphere which allows to show bit of personality of the protagonist

-  The camera was professional and said that that there wasn't  much jump cutting, however I would disagree as there were a few jump cuts in the middle of the opening scene. But this is from someone's perspective.

- The cutting from going up the stairs and shown in a high angle where the two characters come up the second set of stairs.

- Liked the fact that the camera followed the female protagonist as it allows the audience to follow along with her and her experiences and her journey. I would agree with this as our aim was that the camera should follow the female protagonist as it will allow the audience to be apart of film and go along and get to know the female protagonist, as she will be someone to focus on throughout the film.

- The setting suited well with the film. I would agree with this as we decided to have a school/college setting, a this will attract a younger audience, and they would also be able to relate to some of the thing that happen in the opening.

- Over the shoulder shots, showing her perspective of what is going on, allowing the audience to see in the same perspective as the main character.

- Introducing the main character at the beginning and she has been portrayed as a innocent and would appeal to younger audience who are starting school or college and would be able to relate.

The weakness of our opening scene were from the feedback:

- That there should be more of a conversation or have a moment in which shows the glance between the two characters. Taking this advise to improve we could have more of a conversation between the main character to establish there meeting.

- That we should should of used a tripod to avoid shaking whilst filming, and that could increase the quality of the film.

-  Have more of a wider variety of camera shots such as closeups of the characters and longs shot of the setting.

- The background noise was very loud as the dialogue took place, so it made it difficult to hear was was being said, so we should have dipped the music background music more so that the dialogue could be heard.

Having this feedback would allows us to know what to differently for the areas of weaknesses, to improve the audience's viewing of the film.

Presentation

Here we did a presentation on how film talking about initial ideas, and about our changes in our current ideas and the reasoning behind it. We gave a short overview on what our opening is about. We also talked about the location in which we filmed and why we decided to film in these locations shown in our opening scene. Also we mentioned about our target audience and how it would appeal to them. We also mentioned about the strengths of our film as well, and some of things that we would next time.

EVALUATION 6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 The things that we use to produce our film, include of:
Adobe premiere elements 10

We used Adobe premiere elements 10 to edit our film, as I have learnt how to use the program and tools, and experimenting with the software as I tried out different transitions which we have used in both the opening film and the preliminary tasks and the practice shots task, it allows us to to crop out footage, experiment with adding transitions so for example the black fade in, so putting them in different areas of the footage. Also using this software I learnt how to put titles into our film, so we experiment with different font styles as they gave us varies option on what font we should choose. Also I learnt how to add music into our film and being able to fade it in and out using this software. I have also learnt how to control the volume of the soundtrack, when we put it with the footage. so making it quieter or louder in the appropriate areas in our opening film. Also learning how to crop footage if its too long, as it has a crop tool in which allows us to control the length of each footage that we had filmed. Also when we finished editing our film, we were able to directly upload from the software onto youtube.


YouTube

YouTube is another source that I used in order to help create my film and the research and planning part of the film. This is because it gave me ideas and inspirations on what I could possible do. I also used it for looking up current film openings scenes an analysed them to find out the convention of particular genre films. Using YouTube helped me with the production setting looking up tutorials either on makeup, hair as this would give us suggested ideas how we should present our cast. or a particular editing video that would help with the editing with the film. We used YouTube to upload the preliminary task, an the practicing shot types and our opening two minutes so we were able to access it quicker on Blogger.


Adobe Photoshop CS4

I also used adobe Photoshop, which helped with cropping photos, such as the storyboard frames, This was useful as it gave the pictures which were cropped a neater frame and looks better when posted onto the blog. Also this software was useful as our production titles were created using this software, being able to create the frame in which introduces the film so 'The lost locket' frame was created on Photoshop, along with our production titles of 'Clouds Productions' was also created and used the drawing tools to create the white smudged section underneath the title. we also created the blank frame using the paint pot, giving us a selection of colors to choose from.

Microsoft word

We also used Microsoft office and PowerPoint as to create mood-boards for our chosen genre of film, as we couldn't create the mood-boards on Blogger as we had difficulty in arranging the pictures, so we put the pictures on to Microsoft word or PowerPoint and then screen shot them and put them onto Photoshop and crop them out and then save it on my computer and then uploaded it on blogger, then analysed them on blogger. Also I used this software to create the questionnaires for our my public analysis of types of films, then I uploaded that on to blogger along with the results.

EVALUATION 5: How did we attract/address our audience?

We added annotation to our opening scene, and it will shows the reasoning in which we put certain music, dialogue, talking about both the male and female protagonist, and how we how we have represented them. Also it will show how presented them to allow the audience to get a sense of idea of what the film is about and will get a sense of what the genre of the film is.

EVALUATION 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

 The target audience for our film is for teenage girls aged 12-15. so taking a stereotypical view of what the target audience would like look,in terms of who would come and watch the film. There main interests would be shopping and listening to pop or main stream music so they can keep up with the trends keep up with the trends, so having similar interests as there friends. TV program's in which they are more likely to be watching are reality TV shows, this is because they would be eager to know a lot about celebrities life. Social media is another thing in which is becoming more and more popular as it allows people to file share online, so gaining a wider audience, in promoting our film. Also by promoting our film on social media will help attract more a wider audience so more on a worldwide scale. Our audience for our film will also help promote the film, through word of mouth as this will inform be about our film. Our target target audience would most likely to watch romance, stereo typically as they are more interested as romance films can also a sense of expectations in which are shown in romance films, as they may get advise or show how a relationship should be, showing that they would build upon there expectations. They would also be able to relate to the female protagonist and her experiences maybe similar to hers, so watching the film may show how the female protagonist deals with certain situations.