Wednesday 25 March 2015

Evaluation Part 8: Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Evaluation Part 8: Looking Back At Your Preliminary Task, What Do You Feel You Have Learnt In The Progression From It To The Full Product?

Looking back, there are many lessons that I have learnt that will improve my work. I believe the title sequence Hannah and I created has been successful as we established what we wanted to convey in our sequence to our audience. We used the GoPro for the first time and found it be semi successful.

Before we established our narrative for the title sequence, Hannah and I individually researched into various title sequences to gain an idea of the typical conventions and codes that are in different genres. This helped us decide what genre we wanted our title sequence to be and we then proceeded to establish our narrative. Overall, this process enabled us to gain more of an understanding on making a title sequence and also enabled us to understand our genre further.

The production process enabled Hannah and I to experiment with the GoPro to which we had used before. We successfully found the props we wanted which were easily gained. The filming process was quite difficult as we found it challenging to obtain the right angles we envisioned for our sequence. Eventually we were able to gain the right footage needed. In addition, if we were able to develop our sequence more, I would also incorporate more footage of the female character to convey her age and appearance more. This process helped me learn that planning and preparation before filming begins is key as I felt we wasted a lot of time due to poor planning.

We received feedback after we exhibited our sequence to our class. The majority enjoyed our sequence but there was confusion in parts of the narrative which we cleared up in the second draft of our sequence. This process has given me knowledge in the importance of the exhibition process- this is because without feedback, our title sequence would have been confusing for an audience. The feedback given helped us improve our sequence and enabled us to adjust the issues risen in order for our title sequence to succeed. 


Overall, the incorporation of different technologies and our production was semi successful in my opinion as we stuck to the majority of our planning and storyboard for our title sequence. Our research gave us inspiration that also helped us achieve a conventional title sequence that fit our genre of crime mystery. In addition, our research was also successful as we managed to create a title sequence that was heavily influenced by the opinions of other from the narrative, editing choices and the typography used in the sequence.

Evaluation Part 7: What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?


The narrative of our title sequence follows our antagonist as he plans for his next murder. Hannah and I decided to use a GoPro to obtain point of view shots rather than using a DSLR camera in these scenes. This was used in order to allow the audience to feel as if they were the antagonist following their latest victim to their death. In addition, a GoPro is much smaller and we were able to attach the GoPro to our male character's head- which made the shots more realistic.

For the scenes in the 'den' Hannah filmed using a DSLR camera; this decision was made because Hannah and I did not want our sequence to use too many varieties of technologies as we wanted the use of the GoPro to be the main focus in our sequence. 

Even though we found the GoPro footage to be a success, Hannah and I found the fish eye lens to be unsuccessful. Although we liked the extreme wide angle at first, after editing we found it distorted the footage slightly too much.  In addition, Hannah and I thought the fish eye lens drew the attention away from the female character as we would have liked a more tight shot so there would be less emphasis on the background and more emphasis to the woman.

Through this production process I have learnt there are many ways and techniques to shoot footage tas opposed to using a DSLR camera.

Voicenote: Evaluation Part 6: How Did You Attract Your Audience?






Powerpoint: Evaluation Part 5: How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?


Powerpoint: Evaluation Part 4: What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop, or Challenge Forms and Conventions Of Real Media Products?

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop, or Challenge Forms and Conventions Of Real Media Products?





Wednesday 18 March 2015

Evaluation Part 1: Brief

Our brief was to create an opening title sequence of a narrative of any genre and narrative. The sequence had to be between one and half minutes to five minutes long and contain at least ten different shots and use micro features of cinematography, sound, editing and mise en scene in our sequence. We were allowed to work in groups no more than four- I worked with Hannah. The blogs were used to document and develop our progress in making the title sequence.

Hannah and I discussed the title to our sequence extensively ranging from 'Foul Play' to 'Acidic Encounter' until we finally decided on 'Incursion' - which means an invasion or attack, usually a sudden or brief one. This title sums up our narrative of an unidentified man- later revealed to be a police officer- partaking in a series of acid attacks.

The sequence presents the first murder of a female police sergeant- the sequence acts a prologue to our film. The antagonist in the film follows her as she goes about in her everyday life. To create the feeling of him following her, we filmed this section of the sequence using a POV shot. The sequence also contains footage of her unidentified killer adding pictures of the female sergeant to his 'den' where he collects and presents pictures of previous acid attacks and various images of women.  In addition, footage of the killer in a science lab burning a image of his latest victim and collecting bottles of acid is shown. The sequence alternates from these scenes using cross cuts.

The sub genre of our crime film is mystery which we conveyed as we kept the identity of the killer a mystery to the audience.

Tuesday 17 March 2015

Title Sequence: Third Draft


This is our final draft of our title sequence: Incursion.

Editing: Third Draft


This is our final draft of the sequence. Ultimately, Hannah and I decided we wanted to add some sort of sound during the fast cuts towards the end. After a brief discussion, we decided to try a thumping sound  as we believed this could create a feeling of tension and add a dramatic climax to the sequence. We chose two sound affects, to which I alternated between the fast cuts in editing.



The outcome of our sequence was successful, after presenting our final cut to our audience there was nothing we needed to add or change. The majority of our audience understood that Hannah's character was a policewoman and they understood the plot much better.




Title Sequence: Second Draft


This is our second draft of our title sequence: Incursion.

Editing: Second Draft







For our second draft we added more footage showing Hannah's character as a policewoman and we also shot scenes of an image of the policewoman being burned. This was to show the audience the villain holds a strong dislike for the woman. 




For the ending of the sequence, inspired by the Zodiac title sequence, I added a series of fast cuts taken from the GoPro footage. This was because our feedback suggested we needed some sort of climax as the sequence built up to nothing. I also added the sounds of knife to further create excitement for the audience however both Hannah and I did not like the outcome of this as we decided the knife sound was not relevant to our sequence and it did not create the affect we wanted.




I also added in scenes of small spaces to further build the suspense and tension for our audience, Hannah and I wanted to further establish the plot of our sequence which is why we decided to include footage of acid bottles. This was also to extend the length of our sequence in order for us to reach the time limit. 





Monday 16 March 2015

Police Costume


After we presented our title sequence to our class, there was questions over the female victim's occupation as they did not know why she had a picture of our male antagonist.


Our narrative explains the female victim is the antagonist's former police partner. Although the audience is not supposed to know our antagonist is a police officer, they are supposed to know of the female's occupation. To clarify this, we added in shots of her in a police uniform.

Feedback: Title Sequence First Draft



After presenting our title sequence to our audience who also gave us feedback. Our audience did not understand our female character was a policewoman which we failed to convey in our sequence. In order to resolve this situation Hannah and I will include footage of the female character in a police uniform. Overall, the feedback we received was positive.  













Title Sequence: First Draft



This is the first draft of our title sequence: Incursion.

Editing: First Draft



Hannah and I decided to divide our roles in making the sequence- she took to the main role of filming while I took the main role of editing the sequence.

Our first sequence was under the required time limit therefore we needed to add more footage. We struggled to find appropiate music for our sequence- we initially decided for Inexorable as at the time we thought it created the right atmosphere for our sequence. Yet upon further evaluation we decided to change the music for The House of Leaves which is our final choice.




Hannah and I also wanted the wall scenes to be black and white as it adds to the mystery of the killer. In addition, this choice was to show the contrast in the wall scenes and the GoPro scenes. We added in the text fonts the audience liked- however we are yet to finalise the placement of the text as we do not want the text to take the focus away from the footage on screen.











We were given feedback after we presented our first draft. The feedback given told us we needed to convey Hannah's character as a police officer as that was not understood in the sequence. We need to reshoot and add some more footage revolving around Hannah's character. 


Filming Locations



We filmed in Victoria Embankment Gardens as part of our locations around London. We were to film around the Embankment, Trafalgar Square- to which we showed in the background to the bus scenes- Charing Cross bridge, the walkway and the station. 



These scenes presented Hannah's character to be walking around London in her everyday life as the villain follows her unbeknownst to her. 















For the wall scenes in our sequence, we used a practise room in music. 


This is because we needed a wall to stick the newspapers and further 'evidence' up. The room was small enough for us to film the shots needed and we were able to quickly film the footage we wanted.