(Evaluation) Part 8 - What I have learnt from my preliminary editing task to my opening sequence

For the PRELIMINARY TASK I was set, I filmed and edited an interview scene between two of my peers.

Overall, although I did not get to do all the planning I would have like to for the task, this made me think on my feet more and come up with fresh ideas. When it came it producing my opening sequence I did lots more planning as this had to fit into the British Social Realism genre. Through creating a DIGITAL SCRAPBOOK, researching into THEMES OF BRITISH SOCIAL REALISM and CONVENTIONS OF BRITISH SOCIAL REALISM I got lots of new ideas and useful information that I could and did use in my opening sequence.

To do this I used a Panasonic GS230 Camcorder and a tripod, to make sure the camera was steady and to connote the formal structure of the scene. The simple use of one digital technology to create my interview worked well as it made it easier for me, a first time user of this digital technology, to work out where each shot should be placed in the scene as most of my footage was filmed in chronological order. I learned from my preliminary task that using a handheld camera would make the scene more shaky and realistic. To fit into the British Social Realism genre and to give verisimilitude to my opening sequence I used a handheld camera for most scenes. For my final product I used what I had learnt to improve how the film fit into the British Social Realism genre .

 

Using a tripod to make the camera steady,
connoting the formal structure of the scene

  



Using a handheld camera to give verisimilitude to the scene

As this was my first time putting together a scene, the creativity of it was not as impressive as I would have hoped. However the scene did have different shot types, which worked well and helped me improve my camera and editing skills. In my two minute opening sequence I improved on the creativity side of production. As the preliminary task had already taught me the skills I needed to produce and edit a scene, in my opening sequence I tried hard to improve my creativity by using different new technologies, such as a mobile phone, to make the product stand out from the crowd, whist still fitting into the British Social Realism genre. To add creativity into my opening sequence I played around with the chronology of the films narrative. I did this through showing the main character of the film being arrested first, then rewinding the shots in this scene and then having the scene where the character is getting ready for the day in which she is arrested. I tried to add creativity and originality to my film by making the main character edgy, for example, having died hair and having posters stuck on all her bedrooms walls. also, I tried to do this by having a voice over in my film. From the feedback I received the voice over did make the film stand out and seem creative and original, because voice overs are not often heard in British Social Realism genres. Yet, this type of voice over worked, because it seemed as though it could be diegetic sound from a protest, which it original was.

I found post-production to be the most successful and easiest part of the task, because I already had an idea of what the interview would look like in my head. However the one part of post-production that I found hard was continuity, this was because in some shots I had placed props and in others I had not. I improved from the post-production of my preliminary task to my final opening sequence by spending more time on each different shot in a scene, making sure the mise-en-scene fit into the British Social Realism genre and taking time to research the genre to make sure my opening sequence did fit into the genre.

(Evaluation) Part 7 - What I learnt about technologies from constructing my opening sequence

Decisions about technology during pre-production, production & post-production:

pre-production:
- Before I began filming for my opening sequence, I went on a student protest march in London and filmed some practise shots using my mobile phone. This helped me gage how easy it would be to film footage in this environment. From the recci, I found out that using a mobile phone was easier to film with, under the conditions of a real protest, as it was more portable than a video camera.This was a successful use of new technology as the footage was good enough to use in the opening sequence itself and was a useful tool in teaching me how to film in similar locations when I went back into London to film more footage for my opening sequence.

Production:
- I decided to use a flip camera when filming footage of a student protest, because I felt this would make the scene feel more realistic and powerful. This is because the movements of the camera and close-up shots will allow the audience to connect with the scene and feel as though they are at the location of the scene. This was a successful use of new technology as the flip camera added verisimilitude to the scene and made it fit well into the British Social Realism genre.

Post-production:
 - As my time was limited, I decided it would be best only to use Final Cut in one scene in my TWO MINUTE OPENING SEQUENCE, as I had never used Final Cut before and having to learn how to use it would take to much time. I felt that using I-Movie would allow me to have more confidence about what I was doing, because I was already familiar with I-Movie from previous tasks,such as my CONTINUITY EXERCISE.

- By only using i-Movie when editing most scenes in my work, it helped the film seem more edgy and realistic as the scenes flowed together, which fit into the British Social Realism genre of being more interested in the storyline of the film than the editing aspects of it.

- I did however use final cut for one scene in my opening sequence, the news report scene. (below)

- Final Cut was useful to me in this scene as I needed to add non moving features to footage I filmed of a news report. I decide to use final cut to add these features, including a production logo of the news company and a clock, as I found that this software made the still features look part of the scene and make the scene more realistic as a news report.


- I decided to use music from the website FREE PLAY MUSIC to create the foley sound of a radio in the opening sequence, because this music fit best with the flow of the scenes it was played in. I used free music, that was not copyrighted, as this is what was asked of me in the brief.

- I tried to use a flip camera in post-production to create foley sound of a frying pan for a scene in my opening sequence where the mother character is cooking breakfast, however I could not get the sound completely perfect so that it seemed natural. As a result, I decide not to use foley sound of a frying pan here and instead left the foley sound of the radio in this scene, along side diegetic sound from the location, such as the sound that was original made from the actress moving the frying pan on the cooker and the singing done by the actress as she pretended to be singing along to the radio.


What I learnt:

from the process of creating my opening sequence I have learnt that:

- when I am editing my footage I should take care to make sure continuity is perfect, because it makes a big difference to the flow of scenes. For example, when filming an actor opening a door and then filming him closing it behind himself from another angle. To help make sure my continuity is perfect I have learnt that I should take advantage of the technology available to me, such as using a flip camera instead of a camcorder, as the cameras available to me have a bigger screen than the camcorders do, so they allow me to see more easily, in playback mode, whether my continuity is perfect or not.
- When editing sound I should spend more time changing a song I have downloaded to make it fit my piece of work and the British Social Realism genre better. I should take advantage of the softwares available to me on the I-Macs to do this.

- I have learnt not to question myself so much on whether I am doing something right or not, as even if I am doing something wrong, such as when editing music, in the long run it might sound better the way I have done it anyway.


This is a table of what technology I used, in what stage I used it and why I used it:

Technology used table

(Evaluation) Part 6 - How we attracted our audience

More on how we attracted our audience:

Audience feedback: Although the audience feedback I received mostly gave me improvements for the technical aspects of my product, I did also receive some feedback on how I could improve my film to make it appeal more to my target audience.
Zarna and Anmol both said that I should make the typography bigger and add more detail to it, because this would help the film fit into the British Social Realism genre. In light of this perhaps next time I will take inspiration from the British Social Realism film Full Monty when producing my titles.

Typography I used

Example of typography used in a British Social Realism film

(Evaluation) Part 5 - How my media product represents particular social groups

Part 5 Evalution


See my TREATMENT for information on how I represented particular social groups.

(Evaluation) Part 4 - Directors commentary, discussing how my product uses, challenges or develops forms and conventions of real media products

More information:

The narrative of my product is established through its dialogue, including a voice over. The voice over helps denote the narrative of the film as the voice over is about student protesting and standing up against the government to enable the working class to have an eduction. the voice over used in my product develops conventions of a real British Social Realism film as the dialogue is similar to what you would here in British social realism themes, e.g. conversations about aspiring to do better for yourself and your family. This can be seen in British Social Realism films, including Looking for Eric, where he aspires to be a better person and have a better job. His aspirations are heard in his dialogue with, dialect such as 'I will do better, I promise'.

(Evaluation) Part 3 - The impact Film4 had on each production stage of my work

Evaluation part 3

Click here for my RESEARCH INFORMATION on This is England.
Click here for my FISH TANK ANALYSIS

(Evaluation) Part 2 - The audience for my product

More information:


The target audience for my product is 16-24 year olds, from working class backgrounds. They may be interested in political matters, such as student cuts, and will be interested in how they can make a change for themselves and other people from their class and age. As my target audience is 16-24 year olds, they will properly be interested in new technologies, such as laptops and mobile phones. For this reason, I have tried to incorporate these technologies into my film. My target audience is mostly students at university or college.
Although this target audience may seem niche, the film may also able to a wider range of audiences as I have chosen to use a range of different races, cultures and ages in the film. This will allow for a greater range of audience appeal.

The research I did in a AUDIENCE, MARKETING AND INSTITUTION CASE STUDY
on This is England and information i found from EXIT POLLS on the UK FILM COUNCIL WEBSITE helped me to have a better understanding of who my audience is and how to attract my audience.

(Evaluation) Part 1 - The Brief

The brief I was given:


My brief stated that, Film 4 had commissioned me to make, I was to make a new British Social Realist film aimed at British 16-24 year olds. To give Film 4 an idea of how the film would develop, the brief stated that i was to produce the first two minutes of the film, including a clear sense of the graphical, editing and musical style the film will use. The film must conform to the CONVENTIONS OF THE BRITISH SOCIAL REALISM GENRE and meet audience expectations of the genre. The films visual and audio material must be entirely original (except stock sound effects), to keep cost low.




Title and summary of the opening sequence for my film:


Title: 'Heart Of The Left'
I choose this title for my film as I felt that it connoted the passion the main character has for standing up for what he believes in and as the film is about left wing politics and human rights I felt that it worked well.

Summary of the opening sequence:
The opening sequence of my film is split into two different sections/scenes. The first section, which includes a news report and handheld footage from student protests, is about how the protests are getting out of control. The second scene is where the audience gets introduced to the main character as we see her getting ready for a student protest. There is a more detailed description of what happens in my opening sequence in my TREATMENT. 


How my film explores themes of British Social Realism:

From the research I found when looking into THEMES OF BRITISH SOCIAL REALISM, it is clear that my film centres around the theme of British politics. This is clear as many of the shots used in my opening sequence are of close-ups of posters protesting against cuts the government have put in place and strong views against the government. For example:

 Although not specifically, it could be said that my film is similar to how the Film 4 film HUNGER explores the theme of British politics, as both films explore people's journey to try and change the government.