Evaluation Question 7

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

By looking back on our Preliminary exercise I feel that we have improved greatly. One thing that we improved greatly was the title. The Preliminary exercise title was simple and unoriginal. Whereas in our final piece it looks professional and unique. This shows that we have research into other films openings to see how they have edited their films to make them look original and have designed our own to fit the purpose of our film.

Another way we have improved is by learning how to film better. We have shown a clear improvement in panning the camera. In the Preliminary exercise it is shaky and rough whereas in the Final clip it is smooth and steady showing that we learned how to professionally control the camera. The print screens below show the effectiveness of the camera and editing as  the one focusses on the centre character and keeps her in middle third so the audience is always looking at her. However with the Preliminary the camera doesn't follow at the right speed meaning the character moves into each of the thirds.

In our preliminary exercise we had some minor faults including the lens being just partly covered. In our  final piece however we made sure this problem did not occur as we took great care into avoiding slight errors.
The sound we have used has also improved from out preliminary exercise. in our final piece the sound is clearer and easy to understand whereas the preliminary was quiet and pointless. Also our final piece has non-diagetic sound making it more professional

Evaluation Question 6

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

This is a picture of Adam Whaley taken while he was shooting on set. As you can see from the picture he is using a camera and a tripod to accurately record one of the shots, we found that the extendable legs of the tripod came in very useful when finding the right height to record.The swivel top on the tripod also made it a lot easier to pan different shots . We found it significantly easier to use this tripod than the previous one given to us. I feel this was because this tripod was larger and the swivel was not as stiff.

We had to use two different cameras during the process of making our film opening  the first camera we used had a fault in the editing software and froze up when any kind of title was added. The first camera filmed in 1080p and 16:9 aspect ratio. This proved to be a problem as our backup camera was only able to film in 480p and in an aspect ratio of 4:3. Adam managed to minimize the effects of this is editing but couldn't completely remove the difference between them.

We also learnt that editing can be very temperamental at times and when videos are rendering they may fail. We were also able to develop our skills as editors and learnt a lot of new things about Premier Pro. A key special effect we used was a lighting one which helped us maintain a constant level of lighting.

We also used YouTube a lot through out the course of us making our film opening. The features that are offered are extremely useful, being able to edit after we uploaded are video is a bonus as we can fix any lighting issues YouTube creates.

Another technology we utilized while producing our film opening was Twitter. We found this to be extremely helpful with keeping us in touch with other production companies. It also allowed easier access for any one who wanted to too view are progress.  This taught us that using the right websites can significantly increase the amount of support and feedback you can get.

Another key technology we used was 'Prezi'. This was vital in helping us share information between the group and it is also a neat and easy way to present data to the public. It can easily be uploaded to our blogs via using the embedded code. We learnt from using this that there are many different ways to present and highlight certain information.  

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 3

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The Production company i feel that would distribute our film of 'Laugh your last breath' is New Line Cinema. This is because the genre of our film is Action Thriller and New Line cinema has distributed films such as Shoot 'em Up, A nightmare on elm street and the film we looked at, throughout the creating of our opening, Se7en. However New line Cinema is set mainly is US so the production company i fell that would distribute in the UK is Entertainment in Video. They distributed films such as Texas Chainsaw massacre  Apollo 18, Saw and of course Se7en. 

The production company we created was World's End Productions. The logo is a photo of the earth. The reason for this is our production company is based worldwide and organise with many different other companies.

The reason we have focused on Se7en is because we feel our opening is very similar in ways it starts and also that while creating our opening we kept looking back at Se7en for inspiration. Another film that is also similar to ours is the movie Dextar. It starts with a psychopath getting ready just like ours and makes the audience attached. The titles we have used show the people who are involved in the creation of our opening. We put the director last as he was the person who made it happen.

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

Our media opening consists of many different codes and conventions. These include:

• Creepy Voice over
• Low key lighting
• Gun
• Victim
• Psychopath

We used the creepy voice over because it shows that our main character is insane and feels pressured to killing the girl. It also suggests that he has no one else. This is typical in a Thriller film. The low key lighting when he loads his gun gives it a intense feel and makes the viewer realise he is dangerous.Low key makes it look creepy and twisted. The setting we used (Outside) looks old and Erie which is typical in a thriller. The kitchen scene is mainly black and white. This is because the white shows the innocence of the girl but the occasional black item shows that it has been tampered with and slowly being tainted. The super imposed editing in the kitchen scene gives a fast paced feeling and multiple points of interest. Shot 6 shows the aggressive nature of the psychopathic.

Our final opening

This is our final media film opening for Laugh Your Last Breath. Through two other rough cuts we managed to create this one. It is a lot better then either of the rough cuts as it involves better editing and better quality.

Props

We only used one key prop while filming our opening. This was a BB gun which has been made to look as realistic as possible. We used this in order to make our opening as real as possible in order to make our audience shocked and make it feel more serious. It may also make them feel like the victim and make them feel more sympathy towards them as they might also feel threatened.