FINAL FILM

7. Eleanor, James, Aniqa, Ralph, Jacob from 283goswellg on Vimeo.

Making the soundtrack

When making  the track I begun with the violins starting with those high pitched, mysterious notes. Then, soon after the baseline accompanied it. The synth and choir came last when I realised the track needed a crescendo to match the title 'Mia'

Editing

We edited using After Effects. This is a screen shot of a scene in our sequence. At this point we were cutting the scene down as we wanted to make it flow better in the sequence/ We also didn't want to prolong the tension that is already extremely prominent in this part; so by keeping the shot short, it enabled the audience to be in tune with what was happening in this scene, keeping on their toes.

Sign off

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my group over the past months. Despite the filming and editing process taking longer than expected, I am more than satisfied with the final outcome of our title sequence.

I am also happy with the new set of skills that I have learnt over the period of the course, especially with the knowledge I have gained in Adobe Premiere Pro in terms of editing and use of effects.

If I were to take this course again, I would change my early motivation for the course to try and get the filming started earlier and finished quicker so that there would have been more time spent on editing to further improve the quality of the opening sequence.



Auf Wiedersehen.

Signing off

I have enjoyed working with my group in order to create an exhilarating, exciting and enjoyable title sequence. I enjoyed directing the scenes and making sure that they flowed well and I hope the audience enjoyed it too.

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Q2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Q1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Q4- Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

GROUP 7 QUESTION 5

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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?

Q3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media project and why?

Q6- what have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product

Q6

Pre lim

For the filming of our pre lim task we used a video camera and to edit the footage we used premiere pro.

For the actual filming of our creation a professional video camera was used. At first the camera provided us with shaky, mediocre footage however once we got accustomed to the camera we were able to use the zoom and focus lens to produce cinematic footage. In my opinion the most useful technology we used was premier pro as it gave us full control over the footage we had captured and allowed us to shorten clips that were too long, which could have drawn the audience further away from the film. By organising the clips in an order the app allowed us to create a narrative and plot where one event evolves onto the other. If premier pro was not available I do not believe that we could have created a title sequence.

Premier pro allowed us to gather all the footage placing it in the order we wanted, cutting the scenes to the correct length so that the film didn’t lose its interest and flowed correctly. For the creation of our logo we used ‘online logo creator’ where shapes, patterns and text were used to form our own ident. Using the zoom and focus helped us to create more interesting scenes for example the one above. We used the focus to convey the text messages being sent from one to the other. By switching up the camera work it meant the scenes were left unpredictable and kept interest throughout. Instead of using a pre made soundtrack we decided to make out own using logic pro x. By using the stock instruments in the software I was able to create an eerie opening soundtrack ending with tension when the title 'Mia' appears on the screen. The tension rises during this part of track as the volume increases and the violins are accompanied with church choir chants and a suitable synth.

Q7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product

Q1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

The function of a film opening sequence is to address to the audience who is involved in the production of the film; including titles of actors, directors, sound editors and producers etc. More over the title sequence should hint to the audience what genre the film will be, plot clues to the rest of the film but to also help recognise the setting and characters in the film.

an example of the title credits displaying the director. A close up shot iconic of thriller/horrors

This shot exemplifies this idea of acknowledging the genre early on. We understand that the film will have sinister connotations through the dark lighting and silhouette.

 The title of the film chosen in big bold text. This helps to let the audience know the importance of the title and how Mia is the main character.

The general order of titles begins with production and distribution idents, followed by names of the main actors, then the title of the film, and following that the rest of the actors, casting, sound, costume, and at the end the producer, the writer and the director

The reason it is in this order is that showing the idents first help give the audience familiarity in the type of film they will watch.

An example of an inspiration for our title sequence is the film ‘fear’

Several shots in ‘fear’ included close up's and match cuts, in which we wanted to embed this type filming into our own work, where we had match cuts of actions by Mia i.e. pressing the button at the crossing, using her phone and the last scene with the close up of the stalker.

I also admired the disturbing nature we get from the stalker which we hoped we conveyed in our sequence.

Here we can see a medium/closeup shot showing us the relationship between the two characters.

 

We included scenes of flashbacks to the protagonist's boyfriend confronting the stalker which were short in length and loud in volume so to shock the audience and attempt to get them to question the possible relation between the boyfriend and the stalker. In this instance we used this idea of conflict between two characters just like this snapshot suggests. Also with a sense of threat that both scenes reveal.

Another film that inspired our group was "The Breakfast Club. The lighting in this film helped add a thin dark tone to show the unexpectedness of the social group of friends, which we tried to add into our own film, where we had dark shots in a classroom that both Mia and the stalker were in. This film gave us the idea to have a young cast and have the setting of the plot to be in a college, similar to theirs.

In some ways we have challenged the codes and conventions of our genre by filming youths rather than younger/older adults. We did this to shock the audience but to also make it relatable

Q2- How does your media product represent particular social groups

Representation are ways in which the media show different cultures, communities topics from a particular view.

In our genre the typical social group you would expect to see would be young adults where the person being stalked is left clueless and vulnerable. The stalkers in the films are usually placed above the victim with full control over the victim. We have mimicked this concept. In regards of relationships the boyfriend usually come across a s very protective and hostile to anyone threatening the victim. We have also used this stereotype for example in this scene where the boyfriend confronts the stalker.

 Sticking by the stereotype the boyfriends threatens the stalker whilst the stalker denies it.

We decided to shoot with young adults as it best helped to precisely constrict our target audience to teens so what happened in the film would be more relatable fore the target audience, inevitable making the audience empathetic of the film. Once again the ‘breakfast club’ helped entice our decision to film young adults. Also, as young adults we are surrounded by possibilities that add realism and therefore intensity.