Looking back at your priliminary task(the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learn in the progression from it to full product? - Evaluation Task 7

Shots

This is my preliminary task, I learnt many things from doing this task and fortunately i made my opening title sequence and scene very effective, powerful and interesting.

during the preliminary task we had to include three types of shots, these were shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. I knew what shot reverse shot was from studying and finding them previously in other films. As i had not doing media studies in GCSE I was weary of learning terminology, however once the 180 degree rule and match on action was explain it soon became clear and without them films would not make sense, it makes films etc run smoothly. The knowledge of match on action enabled us to use it in our films, as during the preliminary task we wasn't used to using it when it can to our opening title sequence we was able to use it in such a away it gave us a greater effect, the information broadened our eyes.

Other shots we included in our preliminary task was a long shot of Zoe walking to the door, this gave it suspense as to where she was going. however in our opening title we used a wide range of shots such as panning around the class, this enabled us to shows some generic conventions such as a school setting, and different stereotypical social groups, it helps us to show this all in one shot without drawing it out. we also used an Ariel shot, this helped us to show the generic convention of party's and that stereotype that teenagers party all the time and this is shown in every teen angst film.

overall what we learnt in the preliminary task shot wise help us significantly with our opening title sequence and opening scene.

 If I was to film the opening title sequence again i would perhaps film in Jessie(the main characters house) using a hand held camera in order to show her room to give an insight to the audience what type of person she was straight away. something i would have likes to show was make up, he getting ready and a girly room to show how stereotypical girls are pressured to look good.

Framing

During the preliminary task we didn't think about what was and wasn't included in the shots. however while films our opening title we include particular characters to contrast and to show stereotypical social groups, this allowed all different types of groups in real life to want to see our film. we also concentrate on certain props in order to represent the social groups, we felt this was important so the audience could recognise there groups.

Mise en scene

again mise en scene was not a thing we really planned during our preliminary task. we never thought about what lighting there was, we just used normal lighting, however if I done it again i would dim the lights in order to create the atmosphere we needed. in the opening title sequence we used high keep lighting in the classroom as it was suitable for a classroom and low key lighting for the party to create the atmosphere we needed. costume was never thought or considered, we wore what we had with us. in contrast in the opening title different social groups wore different costume were considered. the chavs wore dark coats or hoodies, I, the main chav Bianca had my feet on the table to how my negative body language towards school and my disrespect towards teachers and school. the geeks wore sensible smart clothing to represent them caring about their appearance and looking smart. the lazy one had a beanie hat on to show that they don't care what they look like. the popular boys and girl wore up to date fashionable which is common in teen angst film. it represents that they have money to spend on designer clothes and care servilely about there appearance, especially care about what people from the opposite sex think of them, this is seen in clueless. We thought about props a little bit in our prelim task, we include a toys dog with i used whilst spinning in the chair which is also seen in James Bond. we also thought about what we needed to make the story complete about make sense, for this we included an red bag for our jewels. In comparison in our opening title sequence and opening scene we thought for a long time about what props were needed needed in order to portray our characters correctly. props we included were the nerds work, revision book and pens, the chavs had tobacco on the table because it is stereotypical for 'chavs' to smoke, and a screwed up bit of paper with a note to represent the bullying for Jessie. in the preliminary task we was assigned a room as there was so many of us, this was out of our hands so we could not expand on our space however I believe we made good use of the room with the space we had. in our opening title sequence and opening scene we used three settings, out side, in a class room and in a drama studio, filming outside allowed our film to become realistic as many teenagers are familiar with the routine of walking to school, this aloud the audience to relate the main character. the classroom also is a familiar setting for teenagers and one in which they feel comfortable in and they know the gender layout and situation. the drama studio was somewhere which was dark and where we could apply different coloured lighting for it to become more party like and realistic,i think the lighting and space enable us to create the party atmosphere we wanted. However due to people not being available we wasn't able to apply different coloured light and there was not effects we could use during editing. If we was to film it again I would try to organise more people to create a stronger vibe and atmosphere.

Mode of Address
During the Preliminary task we did not consider how our characters mode of address would effect our film and atmosphere. Characters during the preliminary task spoke as they would normally. In contrast to this we considered mode of address in our title sequence and opening scene.Jessie played by Courtney spoke casually and normally, this showed realism in our film, on top of this Courtney's mode of address portrayed her character by showing that she wasn't one of the popular girls who speak arrogant and like they have a higher importance than everyone else, which is stereotypical and a generic convention of teen angst.  Nevertheless during her voice over speaking about the popular boys the audience see that whilst she was with the popular girls she picked up some of there traits. 'They all think I'm easy and disgusting but once upon a time they all wanted a piece of me, I mean who wouldnt'. At the start of the voice over we see how she was one of the popular girls, she tells us how it is to be one of them, then as it gets to speaking how her best friend we see she is not like them. 'I've always have a perfect life, great friends, plenty of boyfriends and everyone in the school bowed down to me'.

Editing
We used match on action during our preliminary task, however as we have not used this technique before during the preliminary task we did not not used it too its full extend and effectiveness. Yet due to the knowledge we picked up we used it effectively in our title sequence when Courtney opens the door and you see her walk in from the inside. We used Shot reverse shot during are prelim task however it was not included in the title sequence as we wanted the main focus to be on the main character Jessie, We did not want other characters speaking, unless it would portray Jessie the way we wanted 'Jessies's a dirty little whore', this made the audience feel sorry for Jessie and was the only other given time another character spoke as we wanted the audience to have a connection with Jessie from the bloody beginning. In our Preliminary task we did not use cross cutting, our film however we did, we showed the generic convention of a class room setting and then turned back time to a party scene(another generic convention) when Jessie got pregnant. We chose to do this to show the point in which Jessie's life turned around, this was partly so the audience could see  how it turned around physically not just through speech and so that the audience get an insight at the beginning as to how her life turned around, further more we done this to teach the target audience which would be teenagers between 12-19, this importance of safe sex. In the preliminary task we used the classic fade at the end, in contrast to this during our film we used a heart transition to take us from the classroom setting to the party scene, we chose a heart as it reinforces the aspect of love in our film, this is also a generic convention of teen . we also chose this transition as the last shot is extreme close up of Courtney's face and with the transition her face is in the transition, moreover love is meant/is seen as a happy thing however Courtney's face contradicts this is she looks sad. This is foreboding that there will be heart brake and it has something to do with the party scene.The was no use of titles in our primimiary task asd we did not consider them or think of them to be important. However we had researched teen angst and realised the importance of titles and how they can give hits to the story and better them depending on where they are placed. We used titles for the Baby on board title, CRC Productions, Director and Characters names in order of importance. The text size was bigger for the more important people. People who should be recognize had there own title where as some others had five different titles on the screen at the same time. The font we used was Calibri (Body) as we wanted the titles to be clear and come across as normal and orginal as possible in order to make the film come across as realistic.

Conclusion
I think overall the preliminary task helped us to understand the details that are needed to be put into a film. This enabled us to make our title sequence and opening scene as powerful and effect as possible whilst also creating the amostphere we desired.

 

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

Mobile Phone
One of the things I used my phone for was taking pictures for evidence of what I have done, I have learnt about lighting and angles I need to take a successful clear photograph. I have learnt that it is also easier to use a phone that a big camera as it is easy to take and upload straight to the Internet through email. furthermore as technology has improved camera phone quality will be just the same or better than ones that our provided. Another thing I did was down load Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and created a Youtube account on my phone as it is easily assessable and I can use them when I'm out to contact the group and look at the results from the survey on facebook, it also allowed me to look at our film on youtube when i was at home so I could see what might need editing out and what I can put in to make it better.

Voice Recorder
Whilst filming we needed to create a voice over and commentary from the producers and director. I learn during this process how to turn it on, how to import files onto a memory stick and what type of file I need to save different kinds of file type. Including diegetic sound through the voice recorder taught us that it sounded clearer and less muffled on the Mac.

Email
During are filming and editing process the group found email very useful and easily assessable on both our phones and a computer.In order to get the producers logo and film title we emailed the pictures to everyone in the group so that we could all see it and use it if we needed it at any point. It was use full to have it over email so that each of us could analyse it and discuss about changing and tweaking the images and storyline and what we could add to make it more successful. It was especially useful when someone was not in or at the weekend. We emailed each other in order to make sure we didn't miss our deadlines. During this process I learnt how to import files on to an email and that email is especially useful during time when we were not together.

Macs
The Macs allowed us to add in things which we wouldn't be able to do on on a basic computer and editing program, we was able to do this due to the program and computer being smart and high tech.As we were working on the Mac for a while we all got a chance to edit and import files on to the Mac. During this process have learn how to edit and take out tiny proportions of a film and i learn what makes a film interesting and good in terms of shots.

The Internet
We used many different websites in order to create, improve and edited our film such as Free Play Music, Facebook, You tube and Blogger. Blogger helped us to understand what we needed to do in order to improve our film, and how to blog what we have done in order to understand the process and think about how we could improve. As it was in black and white in front of us it was easier to analyse it.

One of the main things i learnt from the Internet was how to download a video on to youtube and them import it to blogger. We had to do this on some occasions as the videos would not upload straight to blogger due to technical difficulties so be needed a back up plan. I learnt that you always need a back up plan as if something goes wrong due to technical difficulties you will waste time thinking of another plan. After repeating the process of uploading my videos to youtube i eventually got the hang of it and it has become quite simple.

We used the social media website Facebook to create a survey to know and understand what type of audience would be interested in our film and to also add in some of the things like to our film in order for them to be able to relate to it. I learnt that Facebook would be the best website to post the survey on as is the social media website with the most users.

We used Free Play Music in order to get music for our film which wouldn't be copy right. During the process of getting music to suit two different scenes i learnt about what sort of music suits the teen angst genre and what tempo, tune, volume and lyrics are needed to make a scene works. On top of this our film and another film picked the same song, this showed that we picked the same music as we our the same age so we knew what an audience would like to hear. I also proved we picked the right song for our genre.

Camera
The camera allowed us to perform many different shots including high angle shot, the use of high angle shots showed that they are still young as the camera is looking down on them making them look small, it also showed how many people were there backing up them being popular at party's and it makes it seem more crowed. The camera in combination with with the tripod created really effective still clear shots. The tripod and the dolly allowed us to follow our main character around school in order to back up that fact that people our speaking about her behind her back and are always watching her. We wanted to created the effect that she is being followed by someone. During this process I learn how to work a digital camera and tripod with dolly effectively, I learnt the do and do nots when using a camera and dolly such as don't use it outside as it will wobble, and i learnt different shows you can use in order to make it exciting. This is something that needs to be considered as it is a teen angst film and teenagers need to be kept interested.