Note To Examiner

Dear Examiner, 

For the last eight months i have been working on my Media Studies coursework. I have learnt many ways over the period to improve my filming and editing and hopefully this comes across in my blog.

My blog works from bottom upwards, this means that my preliminary task is at the bottom of my blog. My opening sequence is first on my blog followed by the evaluation and the planning of it. To the right you will find a "blog archive" containing a structured account of my project by month, hopefully this will make it easier to navigate around my blog.

Anyway Enjoy!

My Opening Sequence

My Opening Sequence

This is my new opening sequence video called the "Wandering".

Synopsis

George (Played by George Miller) goes unexpectedly missing one day. The opening sequence depicts the feelings and emotions that the family are feeling after George goes missing. The opening sequence shows the little brother (played by Sam Hytner) and the mother's (played by Joanna Grayson) emotional reaction since their loss. The opening sequence also flashes back into memories of George and Sam to show the relationship they had before he went missing.

Opening Seqeunce from Lucy Hope on Vimeo.

No. 7 What have you learnt since your preliminary task?

Here is a video analysis of what i have learnt since my preliminary task. It explains what i feel i have done better since my preliminary task and what i have done differently.

No. 6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

No. 4 and 5 Who is My Target Audience & How Did I Distribute It To Them?

who was my target audience

View more presentations or Upload your own.

I tried to research what my secondary audience thought about my opening sequence. I felt like it was more important to find out what they thought than my primary audience. This was the case because i wanted to widen my target audience. My primary audience will hopefully like my product but i was not sure about my secondary audience. This is why i thought it was important to find out via a video. 

Below is the overall response of what they thought:


target adueince from Lucy Hope on Vimeo.

 Overall i was very happy with the response from my secondary audience. I learnt a bit about how i should change my product, but also learnt that i could distribute it to a wider target audience.

No. 3 What Media Would Distribute Your Product?

 Here is a video about what media company i think would distribute my product.



  I think that using a video is an effective device to express why a small company like the BBC would probably distribute and exhibit my product and not a big disturbing company or studio like Warner  Brothers. What i didn't mention in my prezi or my video is that even though i would want a small company like the BBC or film 4 to help distribute and exhibit my film, i would still need outside investment to help fund the making and distribution of the film. Therefore i would try and get outside investment from a company. An example of the outside investors I would use would be the National Lottery.I would also try and get outside investors from making teaser trailers that may get investors to help fund some money.

No. 2 How Does Your Product Represent A Specific Social Group?

My Survey

Click here to take the survey

Here is the survey that i made to try and figure out what my target audience would be. This was an effective way at trying to distribute my product because it was able to get people aware of my final task.

Here is the survey:

No. 1 In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Conventions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions

My Calendar

Using a calendar helped me a lot, because it helped me keep track of what i need to do, and when i was going to do things. It also was able to keep me up to date of what i had done and when i had done it. This was important because using a calendar made sure that i did not miss anything important out.

Script

Opening Sequence: WANDERING

Characters: LITTLE BOY, LOST BROTHER AND MOTHER.

Sound: SIREN fades in

Sound: SIREN fades out

The scene starts with the siren fading out and the LITTLE BROTHER staring down the camera lens.

VOICE OVER by the MOTHER: We lost him on the 20th December 2013, the worst day of my life. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. I don't know where he is, what he is doing and if he still alive.

I think back to the two them, laughing and playing. The two of them being happy in their own company, they didn't need anyone else, the two of them worked just perfectly. He doesn't smile any longer, he doesn't understand but he knows he gone.

He doesn't understand why, to be honest neither do I, it would maybe be better if I new what happened but I don't.

That's the hardest part. Where is he.

Maybe he is just wandering.

Sound: Voice Fades Out

END OF SEQUENCE

Voice Over

I decided to add a voice over to my opening sequence, this is because i thought that it would be able to guide the audience through my opening sequence. It was able to tell a story, that with my images i failed to do so. I thunk that un the end it was a really good decision to add a voice over as it made my opening sequence much better and less confusing for the audience.

I recorded my voice over on garage band, this was an effective recording program as it was easy to record on, i was able to get a professional recording of my voice over, without any noise in the background.

I then edited my voice after i recorded it on garage band, this is because i wanted to create a echo sound, this is because i thought it would go effectively with my opening sequence as it would create tension when I spoke.


I then exported by voice over to iTunes, this made it easier to add to my opening sequence as i could just easily transfer it over. I could of transferred straight from garage band, however i decided not to do this because it was harder and more time consuming to transfer. However, it may of been effective not to export it to iTunes as transferring it right over would of made it have a more clear sound.

 I cut up the voice over in final cut pro, this is because the voice over was only 44 seconds long, therefore i needed to elongate it over the whole opening sequence, therefore i cut it up so that  it carried on over the whole of the sequence.

Directors Commentary

This is my commentary of my sequence, it describes the different shots and ideas i had behind each shot. It focuses on why I used different formats on FinalCutPro like the SLR format that I used. The directors commentary hopefully describes why i took certain shots and the rules i used when shooting them.

Directors Commentary:



Directors Commentary from Lucy Hope on Vimeo.

Opening Sequence So Far

This is my opening sequence so far, however i may add a voice over since my audience feedback because i was told that the story was quite hard to follow, therefore i think it may be easier to follow if i add a voice over.

This is my opening sequence so far without a voice over:


Opening Seqeunce from Lucy Hope on Vimeo.

Camera set up diagrams

These are diagrams of the set up of some of my shots. These are the shots that i thought needed the most planning.

Shot diagrams help you realize what you need to film and how you need to film them. I already new when filming what angles i needed to use, which helped make my filming more effective as i new exactly what i needed to do.

The first shot was by the gate, i did this from straight on. I was going to use as shown in the diagram a light that i had set up, but in the end natural sunlight was enough to lighten the character and highlight him against the backdrop.

This is an important shot, that i wanted to get right. I used the rule of two thirds to try and make my picture more visually interesting. I only used natural lighting for this shot, because the character was lit enough with just the sun. I did have an extra light but because there was so much light, there was no point using it because it got lost in the light. 

This is my set up diagram of the shot above, as shown I filmed from straight on, so that I captured the actor from straight on. This set up diagram helped me get the rule of thirds right and the positioning of the camera right also.

This is a birds eye view set up shot of the shot above, I also drew this because i thought it was important that i was able to plan where i would position the camera in relation to the actor.

This shot is a close up shot, i like this shot even though the screen shot is blurred, it shows that I filmed the actor from straight on. 

This is the camera set up diagram for the shot above, i needed to put my camera really close up to the actor so that i could get up a close up shot. Again i used natural light for this shot because it lit the actor enough, so that i didn't have to use the light as shown in the diagram.

For this shot i used the rule of two thirds, this is because i thought that it would look more visually interesting that way. In the shot i love the red arrow, as it is one of the first things that the viewer focuses on when looking at the shot, the fact that they color of the arrow and the boys red jacket i also really like.

For this shot i positioned myself further away from the character as i wanted to get the background in as well as the little boy. Again like all the other shots natural lighting from the sun was enough and therefore i did not have to use the light as shown in the set up diagram. I filmed this from straight on instead of at an angle because i thought it was the best position to capture the little boy at.

The Making of My Opening Sequence

This is the making of my opening sequence.

The video describes the problems that I encountered during filming, how I edited my film and what went well during my filming.

I created this video to show what i did during the filming of my opening sequence. The video includes shots that I used in my final opening sequence. It also includes shots that i didn't use, some of the shots could not be used because they did not fit with the final sequence but the video includes blooper shots. I included blooper shots to show the behind the scenes of filming.



Creating My Task from Lucy Hope on Vimeo.

Things that went wrong during filming

The fact that the two boys where so young, made it extremely hard to film them. This was because they did not listen to direction very well and it was hard to get them to repeat an action when I wanted to film a different angle.

The boys would sometimes walk off camera, this would cause problems as i would have to have to begin the scene all over again, this was hard when editing because no two scenes that i filmed where the same and therefore it was hard to edit together

 I also had problems with lighting and trying to get the light bright enough, this was i filmed to late in the day and most of the natural light had gone. Therefore i had to finish filming on that day and begin again the next day nice and early so that there was enough natural light

I only used a tripod my second time filming, this was because I did not think i needed it however, some of the shots that I took where extremely shaky and i needed some shots that where completely still. However I did like how some of the shaky of the shots and included lots of them in my opening sequence as I felt like the shaky nature of the camera added to the suspense on the opening sequence.

My editing process

I used iMovie at the start, however I wanted to use a better and more effective editing process so I swapped and started using finalcutpro. This editing process allowed me to edit my opening sequence in fine detail and focus on the important element within it.

The main important feature that I focused on when editing was distinguishing time frames this was from the present tense and the past. My video focuses around the loss of boy but also includes flash backs to when the boy was with his family. With final cut I tried to distuingish the two time frames. I ended up making the past tense time frame in the format of an old video camera, this made the shots that looked like a flashback look old. By using the forms of an old video camera it also made the filming look realistic, like a family member had taken it. 

Costume

I basically planned the outfit before I filmed, I obviously wanted them to be dressed in young outfits to try and stress their age. However I also worked on the colour of their clothing. I focused on having the little brother in a red coat, and the lost brother in dark blue. I chose this because I thought the dark blue siginified loss and darkness, you normally wear dark colours to funerals and the the dark colour maybe forshadows later events. The red of the jacket of the little brother stands out compared to his brother, as his jacket gets lost in the background where as the littles brother jacket is noticeable. The colour red siginifly danger and sadness, also being able to foreshadow later events.

Audience Feedback

"Great variety of shots that you have included"
William Van Horn - 16 

"So good i loved the opening sequence"
- Max Fox - 16

"The editing was done amazingly and the shots that you have taken are really good!"
 - Kinvara Boorman - 17

"I love the titles and the sound effects that you have included! Well done"
 - Izzy Friere - 17

"I liked the opening sequence but I think that the past and the present is quite confusing"
- Jack Wallace -18

I asked a variety of my target audience what they thought of my opening sequence, i was very pleased with the feedback I received, i am happy that there was not much criticism but the comments where able to help me figure out what i should do next.

What I learnt from my audience feedback

I learnt from my audience feedback that i needed to make the whole opening sequence more clear. Especially I learnt from one comment, to try and distinguish between the past and present of my opening sequence. Because of the fact that it was quite confusing I used different filters on Final Cut Pro to try and show the difference between the two time frames. I also used the filter of an old camera, this conveyed that there where old memories. 

I also got comments about the sound effects. I realised that i wanted to add more to make it more sound effective. Therefore i added a police siren at the start of the sequence. This sets the audience up for the fact that the sequence is going to involve something to do with the police, and creates tension before the sequence has even started.