Goodbye

Dear Moderator,

I hope that you enjoy looking through my blog  the final cut of my thriller opening sequence and evaluation tasks.

Thank you

Raju Patel

Final Opening Sequence

Question 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?

Looking back at the preliminary task and what we have achieved now, I can say that I have learn t a lot of things such as new skills and learning how to use more programmes. In our preliminary task we were required to produce a scene where a person opens a door and exchanges some sort of dialogue between them. This would show our skills in editing as this was the main reason for this task, as when filming our real sequence we needed good editing techniques in order for it to flow well and therefore to be a successful thriller opening sequence.  As this was one of the first tasks we were given we didn’t know much about the camera shots. We knew the basic, extreme close up and close up. We included other shots like , shot reverse shot and 180-degree angle as this was one of the main aspects of the task. we also focused on match on action, as we needed the continuity to work well. Also in order to give our shots some meaning or power we needed to consider low/high angle camera shots. As we didn’t know much information about these types of shots and why they are used we did some research. This helped us as we then knew how to do the perfect shot for our opening sequence. The preliminary exercise taught me that to make a film successful, the shots have to flow well and the continuity should be perfect.

Not only have i learn't the shot types but i have learn't how to use more programmes. The main programme we used for editing was Final Cut Express. I have developed the skills rapidly as the editing in the final sequence was very good. Also the titles in the preliminary task where done on a programme called after affects. As this was new to us, we didn’t know how to use it and therefore just produced basic titles. However know we used different skills as we wanted our titles to fit into the actual image shown on screen.

For this task, we did not carry out vast amounts of research, except the types of camera shots we were going to film. We did this by drawing a detailed storyboard which consisted of what shots we were going to do and where. This was a good task for us as this helped us later on when creating our actual film opening. Also in our thriller opening we researched more in depth of how we were going to produce it and what our narrative was going to be about.

For out final product we had to produce a thriller opening sequence from a sub-genre from your choice. We had to do more in depth research into the narrative expectations as if this was good then our film would be. We used many films from inspiration but our main one was seven. As we wanted to base our movie on a psychological thriller this was the perfect film. We also planned out our shots in more depth as this was essential. 

 

Here the same type of shot is being used. You can see that it is a very low angle shot which indicates high status of the character. You can see that the shot in the preliminary task isn’t very good as to much is being revealed and therefore it doesn’t show our main focus. This is more of a long shot. This reveals the location of the character which is something we didn’t want. However in the shot we done for our opening sequence it shows more focus on one thing which makes the shot more powerful. Also rather it being a long shot we decided to go for a close up, this would also help the viewer focus on the image more. 

 

When the actor comes from the door the camera is placed at a high angle. This doesn’t work well within the scene as again, too much is being revealed. However the high angle shot we used in our final sequence is close and therefore gives the high authority towards the actor. Also the subsequent shot was a low angle that gradually moved up, becoming a high angle. This was good as it alerts the viewer. Now i think the best shot would be a low angle close up as then you can’t see the outskirts allowing the reader to closely focus on what is happening. 

 

In the shot from the preliminary task you can see this is again, a high angle shot of a person trying to open the door. As our main task was to show a person walking through a door, I can now see we have used the wrong shot selection as this should have been a close-up of  the hand. this would allow the shot after (of the guy walking threw the door) to be more successful in term of continuity. The shot from our new opening sequence is a low angle close-up. This was a good shot as it fitted in well with the next shot. However the continuity was poor for the preliminary task as then we couldn’t edit the next shot well with the one shown. 

In our preliminary task we used a close-up straight after Omar entered the door. This wasn’t the right shot to use as then the continuity didn’t flow. However in our final thriller opening we used a close-up but also positioned the camera in a certain way to capture exactly what was going on. Also we thought about the next shot and how the camera will change from its low angle positioned. This allowed the continuity for the two shots to be smooth. If I redid the last shot in the preliminary exercise it would have done a medium shot at a side angle, as then the continuity would flow.

Overall, I feel that our thriller film opening was quite successful as we meet the requirements of a thriller opening sequence. One of the most successful things about our sequence was our lighting. the effects we created on lighting using after affects was good and allowed our whole sequence to look scary.

Question 6- What have your learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? on Prezi

question 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

This is a video we made in order to get feedback after users watched our opening sequence. We thought, by making a video we would get a better analysis on our opening sequence. We were also able to “wire frame” the footage enabling us to fit it in what was being said.

We choose to select people that reflected our target audience, which was 15+. This allowed us to gain feedback from a range of users from different ethnicities. As we didn’t make a film poster to promote our film, we could send out film to TV companies so they can review our sequence on their show. This will allow viewers to watch our opening for free and give us feedback.

  

You can see that from the feedback given from the first male was very good. He said that our sequence was scary, which was exactly what we wanted it to be. This was because of our character being “unknown”. This idea was based on our results from our questionnaire. Also as we wanted the thriller opening to build anxiety and tension, we thought we could do this by the making the lighting much darker. This was, again successful in the outcome we wanted it to have as from our feedback given in the video the male said it added this affects.  This was said by all 4 interviewees that we interviewed making our sequence exactly what we wanted it to be, in terms of how it made the audience feel. Furthermore the second female said that the close up used added to the tension. This was a good relief as this was the main idea (using close-ups to attract the viewer).

Question 4- who would be the audience for your media product?

who would be the audience for your media product? on Prezi

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

This is a video we produced with our commentary of the distribution.