Evaluation Question 7

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

There are many differences between our preliminary task and our final product, the main difference that is most visable is the quality of our product, this is due to the cameras we used and our knowledge of the programme we used to edit, IMovie. When making our preliminary task we used a standard non-hd video camera to film, as we had never actually made a film opening before, we had minimal knowledge of how to use the camera and the types of shots and camera angles we were going to be using, also we didn't use a tripod which meant that our shots wern't always steady. However when we filmed our final film opening, we had experience and a lot more knowledge of how to make our film opening look good quality and professional. We used a brand new HD Canon video camera, which meant the quality of our film was conciderably better than our preliminary task, also when filming our actual film opening we used a tripod, this meant that our film was steady and all the shots looked smooth and professional.

We planning our preliminary task we did minimal amount of planning for it, we only did a shot list, storyboard and script, we went into the filming with a very limited idea of what we were going to do, we only had a rough outline of what we wanted our preliminary task to be about and we filmed with mainly unprepared actors, minimal costumes and props, which at points looked very unprofessional and fake. However when it came round to making our final film opening, we did a very large amount of detailed planning into the genre we were filming, previous films in that genre, the titles, the institution logos and the audience we were aiming it at. On the day of filming we all had our own packs with our planning, our multiple storyboards, shot list, scripts and roles inside them, so we all knew what we were doing and when we had to do this, unlike in our preliminary task. This extra planning for our final film is clearly visible in our final film, this like props and quality are clearly different and improved. For example the gun used in our preliminary task is quite clearly fake, where as the shells in our opening are obviously real. 

In our preliminary task we didn't have an establishing shot, this meant that the audience were being thrown straight into viewing the film without knowing anything about the location or setting, whoever in our final film opening, we used an establishing shot, so the audience knew where they were and the location of the film opening. We used a lot more complex shots in our final film opening, such as pans and low angles, where as in our preliminary task most of our angle and shots were shaky and unsteady. We made sure this wasn't the case with our final product, and after doing various rough cuts and watching our final cut, it certainly isn't. 

We know definitely feel more confident and comfortable using the equipment and cameras, when we filmed our preliminary task we had very minimal knowledge and confidence with using the equipment meaning our shots and angles and overall outcome of the film wasn't very good, we entered and came away from making our final film opening with a much better understand of how to use things such as cameras and the setting that they have on them, tripods and the different ways you can move and adjust it, and the editing software which we used on the macs. When we did our preliminary task we had very limited knowledge of iMovie and didn't really know what we were doing most of the time, but when it come round to editing our final film we knew what we were doing and where everything in the programme was. 

We also took into consideration the costumes that our actors where wearing a lot more in our final product than we did in our preliminary task. In our preliminary task we simply mentioned to the actors roughly what we wanted them to wear and look like and just let them bring their own costumes, this meant that our preliminary task looked very rough and unprofessional because the actors weren't wearing very good costumes. However when we filmed our final task we made sure that we had planned what we wanted our actors to wear and had given them the exact specifications for their costumes, meaning our film looked more professional and well finished. 

Evaluation Question 6

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

 The camera we used to shoot our film opening was a Canon HD video camera, the video camera was brand now and allowed us to film in very high quality, meaning that our filmed looked very professional and had a good end result. The camera was extremely easy to film with, it gave us a very wide range of settings to use and chose from when it came to filming, it was easy to attach to the tripod and it had an easy setting which allowed us to watch back every clip we had filmed in really good quality, quickly with the sound, meaning we could check it we liked the shot or not and could see if we needed to re-film anything. The camera came with a lens hood meaning that any glare or flare was stopped, meaning that our footage had an even better, more professional finish to it.

We didn't encounter any major issues when filming our film opening, we only had a few minor issues which were easy to resolve. When filming on location we did have an issue with how smooth the tripod panned at some points, meaning that some of our shots were jolting and didn't look very continuous, to resolve this we looked back on our shots and worked together to make sure the tripod ran smoothly. Another minor issue we had was when it came to recording our voice over, we were initially going to get the actress to record the narration directly to iMovie on the Mac, however when we put the recording to our rough cut we found it wasn't the best of quality, so we decided it would be best to record it onto an iPhone and import it into iMovie, this worked a lot better and the quality was improved.

The editing software we were initially going to use was Final Cut Express, we did some testing on this software, but we soon realised that although it would make our product look more professional and give it better quality, none of us actually had enough knowledge of the software to use it properly, so we decided not to use it. Instead we made the decision to use iMovie, we had all used this software before, we would easily navigate around it meaning that we could edit our opening with ease.

When using iMovie we encountered few issues, this is because we had filmed the correct amount of shots that we needed so all we needed to do in iMovie was edit them together and add the titles narration and music. We only made a few adjustments to the clips, we changed the brightness and contrast to give the clips the look we wanted. We also didn't like any of the fonts that were in iMovie, as an issue iMovie has is that the choice of fonts are very limited, so we decided to import one we liked from the internet and use that instead.

Next time we do any work as a group, or if we were going to make a whole film, we would most likely learn more and improve our skills in Final Cut Express, if we want our product to look professional and good quality, this software would be a better choice than iMovie.

During filming on the beach, we used a tripod, this helped us a great deal, it enabled us to position our shots properly, it also helped us keep them straight and stable, this improved the quality of our film a very large amount and made it look more professional, we could've used a dolly for some of our shots, however because we were filming on a beach we couldn't use one.

When it came to working as a group, we worked very well in the planning stages, we went location scouting together and went together to take pictures for our photographic storyboard, we didn't have any major dis-agreements either. When it came to the day of shooting, we all worked together really well, we all had our own role to play on the day, we all had our own script and pack with the plans and storyboards inside it, so we all knew exactly what we were doing. When it came to editing, we did work well together, however due to the fact we had clashing of lessons, some of us couldn't attend some of our scheduled editing sessions, however in the end we all shared our responsibility well and worked very good together as a group.

We used the website Blogger to document the research, planning, filming and editing stage
of our film opening, we all contributed to the group blog, and we all viewed it regularly, which meant everyone was in the loop with what we bing done and what needed to be done. It helped us to order or work in an effective, organised way which meant it was easy to read and access. Blogger enabled us to embed and upload video, document and pictures of our work and of other peoples past work to make comparisons, meaning we could improve and compare our work effectively. 

Evaluation Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media insituion might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1

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

Our film opening creates a sense on anticipation and also mystery, you get a good idea from our film opening that the film is going to be about two young girls who are best friends, also the audience learn that there is a loss in their lives, this is through the use of voice over. Our finished product uses, develops and challenges conventions which are used in media product a great deal.

 The title of our film is integrated into our shot which means it is part of the clip and we have used our location and surroundings to make our title. This challenges the typical conventions of a film opening because in most drama film openings the titles is not integrated and is he same as every other title, it normally just comes up in the same font with the titles of the people in the film and the people who helped make it. For example the film My Sister's Keeper (2009) uses a very small white font in the corner of the screen for their film titles, where as we have chosen to write the name of our film in the sand, so it takes up the whole screen and draws in the audience.

When picking a location for our film, we wanted to pick somewhere which would suit the story line and plot of our film but also suit the situation of the characters involved. A generic drama location is somewhere which the audience have probably all been to, which means the audience will be able to relate to it and will have memories of being in this place. We decided to pick the beach as this is somewhere you would expect two best friends to be playing and also somewhere the audience have probably been before. When picking our location we stuck to the typical generic conventions of a drama film. An example of our location being used in another film in the same genre is My Sister's Keeper once again, as part of the opening to this film is on the beach.

When we picked the costumes for our characters we wanted to focus on making the audience aware of the genre of the film, we decided to dress both the girls in dark colours, as opposed to light colours, which would be common of young girls to show that something bad is going to happen as the film progresses. We dressed the character who is going to die in a darker colour than the other to show that something bad is directly going to happen her, by using a dark blue/black we conveyed the message of death or tragedy to the audience, a drama film which uses colour in its opening to show an impending death or tragedy is Now is Good (2012) which dresses the main character in the colour red in the opening, this also conveys a message of death, due to red being the colour of blood, to the audience. In this aspect of our film opening we used the typical generic conventions of a drama film.

In our opening we wanted the camera work to focus mainly on the way the two girls interact with each other and to highlight the friendship they have with each other. We used a variety of camera angles and editing to show the friendship and the future that the girls are going to have. In shots where the girls are walking with each other, we use fades to show how the girls friendship is going to fade and this allows the audience to get a clue of what is going to happen later on in the film. We used a variety of long, mid and close shots to show the audience how the girls interacted with each other and to highlight their friendship. We used a pan from one side of the beach to the other with the girls in the middle of the frame, a shot like this was used in the opening of the film Now is Good, in our opening I feel we used camera angles and editing which is generic of the genre drama.

When picking a font for our titles we wanted to stick to the generic font of a drama film, we did research into font types and decided to use the font we picked because it fits in with the mood of the opening because it is classic with a twist. A font similar to the font we used in our film opening is the font that was used in the opening of Now is Good, the opening to both our film and Now is Good both have similar moods as they are both presenting the main character of the film to the audience and both hinting at the fact that something bad is going to happen to them as the film progresses.

We set up the story of the film opening and the rest of the film by using the two characters featured, making them interact a lot with each other while also making them give the audience an idea of what their friendship is like and what may be happening in the future. The thing which helped us set up the story the most was the fact that we used a voice over of the character Amy, who is left to deal with the grief of losing her best friend later in the film, even though the audience are unaware of this, it still adds to the setting of the story and also adds emotion which is a generic convention of a drama opening. My Sister's Keeper does similar to what we have done in our opening by showing you shots of the family interacting like the one above, however I think in our opening we have developed this because we have to characters interacting through out the opening.

We introduce the genre of our film from the very start of the film opening, a combination of effective shots, music and a voice over means that the audience are able to tell from the very start that our film opening is in the genre of drama. One of the main generic conventions of a drama film is the use of a combination of music and voice over, we use this convention to help set up the genre of our film and help the audience understand from the beginning what it is. The film fits into the sub-genre of Tragedy Drama, this isn't completely obvious in the opening however some viewer may realise that the voice over hints at the character in question is 'forgotten' and almost 'uncared' for. A film similar to ours which uses music and voice over to present the genre is again My Sisters Keeper, it had the main character giving an over view of past event and what has happened in their life, while also giving an idea of what the future holds, like our film.

We introduced the characters in our film opening by giving the audience a rough look back on their lives so far, this is a very common thing with a drama film due to the fact the audience need to know about the characters past in order to understand their future and what is happening in their lives now. Our film opening is a flashback, a look back of the girls life and friendship, with a voice over explaining what has happened briefly, this is very common of drama films. The first shot you see of the girls in our opening is of them running down the steps onto you beach, this portrays them as very happy, carefree children, this juxtaposes the voice over of the film, as the shots seem to be very happy, however the voice over shows the turmoil in their life and their problems. A film which present the main character in a similar way to ours is Now is Good, this shows how we presented our characters in a very generic way considering the genre.