If some blog entries, do not appear to work then try reloading the page (in particular, the prezi presentations).

Evaluation: Question 7

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

The links will take you to relevent blog entries.

My Skill Development

Before starting this course I had very little skills require for successful filming good quality footage. Before this course, I had never been required to use this skill, and I had only learnt very basic camera skills for personal use. During the Preliminary task, I learnt a lot about continuity and the filming techniques that go along with this, such as the 180 degree rule and shot/ reverse shot. Again, these techniques were completely new to me and subsequently they took a bit of time to get the hang of. During the preliminary task, this was one of our biggest problems in the group as we had to re-shoot footage multiple times because we had not used the techniques correctly.

However, the prelimary task was a big learning curve, and as you can see, from our main task, these techniques were no longer a problem. In particular, getting the shot/ reverse shot correct was the biggest problem, and the one that the group failed most on, however, we learnt from our mistakes and learnt  how to use these techniques correctly.

Continuity Editing

During the preliminary task, continuity editing was not a significant factor in the brief, and so, we only used simple cutting techniques. Although the software, and continuity editting was brand new to me, the amount that was required in the preliminary task was easy enough to do correctly.

However, in the main task, continuity editting took up most of the main task work. The amount, and quality needed was much higher than the preliminary, and consequently, more skills needed to be developed. We had to develop our understanding of the software we were using. We learnt new techniques such as different types of cut transitions (e.g. in ours we used the fade technique a lot), as well as placing titles over the footage. I feel developing the continuity editing was not as difficult as developing my skills, which was shown in the quality difference between the preliminary task and the main task.



Evaluation: Question 6

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Evaluation: Question 5

Use the arrows to navigate around.

Evaluation: Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

• Our main audience would be middle or working class students.

• This is because this age group have the time and spare money to spend on time on the cinema.

• Research as shown that the demographic that watches this genre most is 18-25 year old.

• The gender would depend on the specific film.

• The film has aspects of horror, which has the target audience demographic of female.

• The film also has aspects of a crime thriller, which has a target audience demographic of male.

• Because of the amount of action and violence, similar to a crime thriller, we would have a target audience demographic of 18-25 year old male.

• Films produced for theatrical release often have the target audience demographic of 18-25 males.

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation: Question 2

Here are some other pieces to run along with the PowerPoint.
http://tcasmedia.podbean.com/mf/web/vnntch/Sequence01.avi

Evaluation: Question 1

What are the conventions of our Genre?

• We have used the Murder Mystery genre.
• There are not many conventions.
• They can be found in the Prezi I have made in previous posts; Click here to view the post on Murder Mystery research.

• Murder mystery conventions:
  A murder takes place.
  The plot involves the investigation of the murder.
  They focus mainly on the character investigating.
  The investigation has twists in the plot.

Did your research help?

• To find out the conventions of the genre, we had to do some research into similar films first.
• We used the murder mysteries 'Se7en', 'Sleuth' and 'Bullitt'. 
• Doing textual analysis's on similar films helped to compile a list of conventions (Textual Analysis of 'Se7en', Textual Analysis of 'Sleuth', Textual Analysis of 'Bullitt').
• We applied this list when creating the first storyboards.



So did our work conform or the challenge the conventions of the murder mystery genre?

• CONFORM.
• The to get a good grade, we needed to ensure it was clear what the genre of our piece was.
• Conforming to the conventions helped to do ensure this.
• Our opening titles kept to the conventions by the following:

Hints at the plot containing an investigation of a murder.

Used a woman as the victim (links the dominant ideology in Britain; women are vulnerable).

Hints at a twist in the investigation.

• However, we do challenge the conventions of the genre in one respect;

We hint at the murder being a women, where as traditionally the murderer would be male.

• However, we generally CONFORM to the conventions of the murder mystery genre.

Research for Evalution Question 1

Question - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and convensions of real media products?




Here is a prezi presentation that I had created when researching the convensions of the Murder Mystery Genre.

I can now use this to help answer question 1.

Evaluation Preperation

In this lesson, we spent the time preparing ourselves to begin writing the evaluation posts. We had been supplied with a 'Prezi Presentation' supplying the basic information on how the evaluation should be written;

AS Media Coursework Evaluation on Prezi

Use the arrows to navigate around the presentation.

During this presentation, we took our own notes autonomously, which had greater depth and will aid in writing good quality evaluations; here are my notes;

From these notes, I have decided that some of my evaluations will need research in types of media distribution, so in between evaluation post, there will be some posts containing further research and planning.

Main Task Final

Here is our final Main Task, Opening Title Sequence:



In the next few posts there will be the evaluation.

Feedback Photo

Here are two photos that were taken whilst we were receiving feedback for our Main Task:

Main Task Update 6

All that our group needed to tweak was the aspect ratio when uploading. This was quickly and easily fixed, and so we feel we have now completed the Main Task stage of the Coursework. In the next couple of posts, we will be beginning the evaluation process.

Editing Photos

Here are some photos that have been taken whilst we have been editing our opening title sequence;

Other Opening Title Sequences From Screening

Here are the incomplete opening title sequences from today's screening;

Main Task Screening

THIS IS NOT OUR FINAL OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE!

Today was the deadline for the opening title sequence to be completed. We had finished our sequence before we left for the college trip yesterday, so we had nothing to worry about.


The deadline was set for today as we were having a screening of the opening title sequences from all the groups in the class. This was so everybody could get a good amount of feedback, as we were going to be given a single lesson to tweak our opening title sequences if necessary.


The only feedback for our opening title sequence was that when the sequence was uploaded, it was upload in the wrong aspect ratio. This was a common feature amongst all the groups in the class. However, this problem is easily fixed, and as this is the only thing that needs to be changed our opening title sequence is very nearly finished.

Main Task Editing: Update 15

Because of an event taking place in the college, lessons where not scheduled to begin until half an hour later than their usual time. However, none of our group were involved in this event, and with the deadline being tomorrow, and the majority of the group would not be there for the whole lesson, we decided it would be a good idea to come in early to ensure that everything was completed for the deadline.

When we first got in the lesson we got feedback to our opening title sequence, these were only small improvements, such as adding a zoom effect to some of our shots. We feel this has improved the quality of our task and we have now finished the opening title sequence.

In our next lesson, the opening title sequences of all the groups will be shown, and people will give feedback on the footage. We will then be given a brief period to work on any of this feedback if it is necessary.

Group Update

For Thursday's lesson, the majority of the group, including myself, will not be there for the whole lesson, as there is a college trip taking place. As we feel we have very nearly finished the opening title sequence, this should not be a problem. However, we are coming in early to ensure that everything is completed, so the whole group agrees.

Main Task Editing: Update 14

Today we were given the deadline to complete the opening title sequence; this is Friday, 11th March. This is so we have enough time to move on to the evaluation process. We feel that as a group, we have very nearly completed the opening title sequence.We have been given the title page to put in.

In the next lesson we will get the final piece of feedback, and make any chances that are necessary.

Main Task Editing: Update 13

In today's lesson we continued implementing the feedback that we had been given. As a group we feel the opening title sequence looks better and is coming along well. In the next lesson we will get more feedback so we can continue to improve our work.

Main Task Editing: Update 12

In today's lesson, we worked on implementing the feedback that we had been given in the previous lesson. We have completed the majority of the feedback, and will continue in the next lesson.

Main Task Editing: Update 11

In today's lesson our teacher gave us feedback on our opening title sequence. Here is the feedback:

• Play the opening title sequence to other people adults and students to see what they think of the Opening title sequence and get there feedback.
• To put something at the beginning and at the end of the Opening titles. Perhaps a picture which will fade at the end.
• Take out name at the end *Jordon Park*, as it confuses the audience, and serves no purpose.
• More distortion at the end.

We will apply this to our footage and get more feedback.

Group Update

We aim to have the post-production stage of the opening title sequence completed by Friday 4th March 2011.

Half Term

In half term we spoke to the members of the group to discuss the issue of the footage that we could not use.

As a group we decided that the opening title sequence was better without the footage, so we have decided we are not going to re-shot this footage. This means we will have more time in the post-production stage, which should be reflected in the quality of our work.

Main Task Editing: Update 10

After the lesson I took home the footage on a memory stick to attempt to convert the footage, so our editing software would support the footage, as the computers at school did not allow me to download the converting software.

Unfortunately, the converting did not work, so this footage was useless. We will discuss as a group whether we will re-shoot the footage again or leave it as it is.

Group Update

It is now coming up to the half term break. This means that the production of our opening title sequence will have to go hold for a week, as the only place we can use the editing software is in college.


We have managed to complete the filming, capturing and nearly completed editing. After the half term week off we will be finalizing the Main Task, before moving on to the evaluation process.

Main Task Editing: Update 9

Today we filmed the shots mentioned in the previous blog entry. The filming process went well and we were finished quickly and efficiently.

However, when capturing the footage, we encountered a problem. Before filming, we had forgotten to format the memory card we were recording on to. This meant that the footage saved in a '.Mod' format, rather than the usual '.avi' format. Consequently, the editing software we were using could not support the files, meaning we could not use them. But, we should be able to convert the files, using simple video converting software.We will try this and if it does not work then we will have to re-shoot the shots again. Hopefully, it will not come to this.

Main Task Editing: Update 8

We had emailed about booking a location for the filming prior to this lesson, however, it was not available until the next lesson, so to make good use of our time, we spent the lesson ensuring our blogs, were completely up to date, and to the best quality, also we went back over the footage to ensure what we had done so far was the best it could be.

In the next lesson we will film the seqences and then edit them back in if time allows.

Main Task Editing: Update 7

We have today finished the editing the opening title sequence from the previous feedback, however, another of the suggestions was that the one of the shots we had used (where a torch light flashed over one of the credits) was very popular, and it was suggested that we use this technique more. So, for the credits where it was just writing on a blank screen, we decided we were going to use this technique.

This meant that we would have to do more filming. So we would have to book a location and equipment again. We have emailed about booking a room and equipment, so we will begin filming again when we hear back.

Main Task Editing: Update 6

We have now finished putting the sound to our opening title sequence. This means we have now got a rough cut of our final opening title sequence.This is the feedback we received:

• No lower case on the ‘C’ in TC Studios
• More distortion on the TC Studios
• Production Designer on one line
• Costume by to be changed to costume designer and on one line
• No ‘by’ in the title for visual effects
• Story By on one line
• Written by on one line

Main Task Editing: Update 5

For our backing track, we needed to edit the track that we had chosen. We first had to make the music fit to the opening title sequence. There were parts in our opening title sequence that we wanted to stand out, and have a striking effect, this meant that we had to cut the music in certain places and the match them up again to make the music flow.


This was particularly hard, which means that it would take a long time to do. However, once we have done this, we will have a rough cut of our opening title sequence. We will get feedback on this to see if there is anyway we can improve it.

Main Task Editing: Update 4

The brief states that we cannot use copyright material in our opening title sequence; we chose to get our music from the copyright free and royalty free website, 'sounddogs.com'. We similarly used this website for the sound in our preliminary task.

We only needed to get two pieces of sound for the opening title sequence; the main background music and a sound affect to go with one of our shots. Because we knew exactly what we were looking for for this piece of music, we started by looking for this, which we found easily.

We decided to go with the following backing track:
http://tcasmedia.podbean.com/mf/web/vnntch/Sequence01.avi

Main Task Editing: Update 3

I was not in the lesson today, due to illness, so the rest of the group continued as planned on finding the audio for the opening title sequence. However, to combat this, we conducted the lesson over the phone. The rest of the group found two potential pieces of backing music;
http://tcasmedia.podbean.com/mf/web/hn9bb4/483603_SOUNDDOGS__mo.mp3

http://tcasmedia.podbean.com/mf/web/ii5ctz/483604_SOUNDDOGS__mo.mp3

The first track is over 4 minutes in legth, so if we choose this one we will cut it down to fit the audio length.

Main Task Editing: Update 2

When we got feedback for the typography, we found out that where we had a limited range of fonts available, we could not find one that created the desired affect. The feedback was that the font look slightly child like, and suited a comedy genre.


We have since changed the font to a more serious font; such as the font used in the opening title sequence of 'Sleuth'. The feedback from this was all positive, consequently we have chosen to stick with this font.


Other effects we chose to add to the font were a fading effect, which we kept the same all the way through, to reinforce the impact. Furthermore, we have also made the name bigger than the persons title as it creates a more striking effect.


We will now look at the sound for our opening title sequence.

Main Task Editing: Update

We have now completed the cutting together of the shots for our title sequence. We have now moved on to adding the credits to the sequence. This will take a lot more time than the cutting part of the editing process as we have to manually write in each, one adding fade affects and timing them so they stay over the shots.

After each attempt we will ask for feedback on them, specifically the typography, so we can make changes. For our first attempt, we have tried to create the text so it looks similar to the typography in the film, 'Se7en'.

Main Task: Editing

We had already completed quite a few frames of our opening title sequence, so we now had to begin fill in the gaps with our new footage. But first we had to pick through our footage as a group to decide what we wanted to put in.We had already completed quite a few frames of our opening title sequence, so we now had to begin fill in the gaps with our new footage. But first we had to pick through our footage as a group to decide what we wanted to put in.


Once we had done this, we just had to focus on cutting together the shots to create a good sequence.


Once we have put together the shots, we will focus on adding the opening titles to the sequence. Then we will move on the sound.


We feel the cutting should not take too long, as it is the easiest part of the editing process.

Group Update

Working in a group can be difficult at times as everything we do as an individual can have an affect on the groups moral levels, and this can result in work of a poor standard. Absences and lack of enthusiasm can affect the ending result which then causes frustration.

As a group I feel we have suffered from this. However, we now feel as a group that we have over come this, and can now continue with the editing, to produce a good quality opening title sequence.

Main Task Filming: Completed

Today we looked back over the footage we had captured after re-shooting. This time we felt the shots were of a good enough quality that we could begin the editing process now.


We discussed the shots with the member of our group who was not present in the re-shooting period and they were perfectly satisfied with the shots we had captured. However before we begin putting together our opening title sequence, we have to remove some of the shots we have, as we shot enough so we could choose as a group which ones we want to use; this is because if we did not, the sequence would run over the 2 minute time limit in the brief.


We can now continue with the editing process.

Filming Photos

Here our some photos from when we were re-film:

 

 

Main Task Update 5

Today, we re-shot the majority of the main task shots after our lesson. We in our lesson we had used our time to prepare the props, so we could maximise our time filming.

As the filming period was out of out usual lesson time, it was very hard to find a time where all four members of our group were available to film, and unfortunately we were unable to find a time slot, so only three members of our group were available to film. This meant it would be hard to satisfy everyone on the group. However, to do as best as we could, we decided to film a few more shots, than storyboards, to cover all our bases.

Filming went well, and we completed all off the shots to what we felt at the time, we of a good quality. However, we will capture the footage from today and review it before deciding if we are ready to begin the editing process.

In the next post will be photos from today's filming.

Prop Creating Photos

Here are some pictures of us creating the props for our filming:

Main Task Update 4

Our location was being used during our lesson, so we had to wait until after our lesson to begin re-shooting. This meant we had the lesson to fully prepare ourselves for the re-shooting process. We used this time wisely to create the vaious props that we were going to use. This would maximise our filming time that we had available. In the next post will be photos from this lesson.

Main Task Update 3

We could not book the room until Thursday, so we were unable to begin the re-shooting process this lesson. This has left us with nothing to do for this lesson, so to use the time productively we looked through all the shots as we felt, as a group, some of them would not work. The shots we decided to remove were: 7/ 13/ 14/15. We felt these shots were not going to work, no matter how many times we filmed them.

Main Task Update 2

In this lesson we managed to finish the editing process as much as we could with out re shooting. We now need to re shoot the rest of the shots, which were going to do to begin to do on Monday, however, we were not able to book the room again until Thursday.


In this lesson we had managed to complete the editing with time to spare, so we begun recreating the props so we are ready to maximise our filming time in the next task.

Main Task Update 1

In this lesson, we captured the footage and begun to look through the shots on the computer. Looking through the footage, the majority of the shots were not as good as we first anticipated, meaning that we have to re shoot a large amount of shots. As the majority of the footage was not usabel, we set to work making the opening credits that did require footage; these are the scenes in the story board that have a black background such as the one below.

We came to the conclusion that the large amount of footage that was useless was due to the way we filmed the shots; when shooting, instead of moving the camera closer to the action of the shot, we zoomed in, and as a result, the footage came out in a bad quality, rendering it useless.

In this lesson we managed to do half of the editing process, resulting in the majority of the credits being completed.

We will continue editing in the next lesson, then, book all the equipment and location ready to re shoot in the following week.

Shooting the Main Task

After coming back from the break we were ready to begin shooting the main task on the first day back; we brought all the props and equipment in and began shooting.

As we only had the room booked for two hours, and we would rather get all of the filming done in one day, so we didn't have to bring all the props and equipment back in, we split our group in two.

The first group, Bethany and Tessa, began shooting the simple sequences, so me and Lisa could go off and set up other, more complex props, such as the "crime investigation board" and the "chalk cut out" to save to time. This worked effectively, and all of the simple shots had been taken.

Before filming, as a group, we sat down and discussed how shooting should go; we discussed in what order the shots should be taken, to minimise wasting time, and to make sure none were left out.

When me and Lisa returned to help shooting, we worked together to shoot the more complex shots.

As a group, we feel that this shoot was a lot more successful than shooting the Preliminary Task, which we struggled with, and as a result, had to shoot several times.

At the end of the shoot we looked at the rushes briefly to ensure that we had got all the shots we needed.

In the next lesson we will look at the shots properly, and assess whether we need to re shoot certain shots again. However, we are confident that this shoot was a big success.

Cast List

We have created the cast list for 17 people. These are what we are going to use:

•  Tessah Scivier
•  Lisa Ellis
•  Bethany Grundy
•  Michael Seymore
• Jordan Park
• Richard Evans
• Mercades Ford
• Pertricia Skull
• Fredrick Pie
• Clair Fry
• John Cook
• Lucinda Sciviaski
• Henry Michael Kang
• Amy Issac
• Marnie Reed
• James Carter
• Morgan Barnes
• Marcus Henly 
• Sophie Williams
• Lisa-Marie Cave

Prop List

These are the props that we will be bringing in:

• Torch
• ink ( for the finger print)
• White boards 
• Black Sugar Paper 
• Weapons ( Window opener, Carry a bag, electrical wire, chair leg and a toy gun)
• Police Badge 
• Photos 
• Fake blood 
• White tape
• Camera 
• SD card
• White boards 
• White board pens 

After creating a list of what we needed we assigned who will be bringing/ getting what prop.
Michael: carry a bag, electrical wire, photos, camera and Sd card
Lisa: torch, ink, toy gun
Tessah: black sugar paper, white tape
Beth: police badge, fake blood
College: white boards, chair, window opener, white board pens and a large white board

Main Task: Planning Update

After completing the story board, we continued planning the final details, so we would be able to begin filming when we come back in the New Year.

We went through the storyboards and assessed what props we will need when shooting, also we came up with a cast list. 

We then went through our prop list and allocated the members of the group that were going to get them for filming.

Next, we searched for a suitable location to film the main task in. We decided on a class room in college, as we could use its resources to help us film the main task. Once we were sure this was where we wanted to shot the main task, we booked the room so we would be ready to film when we get back from the Christmas break.

The following posts will contain the prop list and cast list. We are now ready to begin shooting the main task.

Main Task: Storyboards

Here are the storyboards for our main task: