EVALUATION 7Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to your final production?

RESEARCH AND PLANNING• How have your skills developed and what benefit has this had on your

work?

Throughout the process of making my film opening title sequence I was able to develop multiple skills including using a camcorder to record different types of shots (such as pans, zooms, match on action, and different angle shots), editing video footage in Final Cut Express, recording and importing a soundtrack, and superimposing text to create titles.

• Did you produce work more in line with professional practice as you have a more detailed understanding of the forms and conventions of real media products?

Researching the conventions of drama films made an impact on the types of shots, locations and characters I used in my final product (especially , whereas my prelim was a starting experiment and looked less professional due to many factors (such as the poor quality continuity editing).

• Did you manage your time better?

Making the prelim was a very rushed task and I had much less time to film and edit it, but with the final product everything was well thought out and planned beforehand and all of my filming and editing was timetabled in advance.

CONSTRUCTION

Shot Composition:

Prelim Final Product

• Clumsy and not very well thought out

• Rushed• Shot angles not considered

as much• Shaky camera

• Planned well• Each pan and match on

action shot was carefully composed

• Each high or low angle signified a character’s status or relationship with another character

• Wide variety of shots used• Continuity editing is better• Had more time to re-film if

a shot wasn’t perfect

Match on actionPre

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Fin

al Pro

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ct

CONSTRUCTION

Lighting:

Prelim Final Product

• Dull lighting• Location was a dimly lit

staircase

• Lighting is different per location

• Brighter light from outdoor natural light

• Better quality image

CONSTRUCTION

Location:

Prelim Final Product

• Dimly lit staircase• Echoey space• Unclear where the setting is

• Variety of locations• Locations fit drama genre

conventions• Locations suit the narrative• Well-planned mise-en-scène• Better lighting

CONSTRUCTION

Actors:

Prelim Final Product

• Actors were classmates• Didn’t really know what to

expect so weren’t prepared• Not the correct age to play

the characters• Costumes weren’t planned

• Cast were specially considered for roles that would suit them

• Well acted, emotions and body language were believably conveyed

• Costumes were carefully chosen

• Actors were sensible about it

• Actors did research about the topics handled in the film before filming

CONSTRUCTION

Intertitles:

Prelim Final Product

• No intertitles or titles • Carefully organised titles and intertitles

Sound:

Prelim Final Product

• Echoey• Unclear dialogue• Background noise

• Clear dialogue• Soundtrack• Voiceover

SOFTWARES

I developed my skills through using Final Cut Express to edit my video footage together and add a voiceover and soundtrack. I learnt how to create fade in and out transitions, shorten and cut the lengths of video clips and alter the sound levels whilst layering them up. I learnt how to add text over video footage and edit where and for how long the text stayed onscreen. I learnt how to import video clips and render them and then export them into a QuickTime movie to upload to YouTube or Vimeo and embed into my blog.