To gather feedback for our finished opening we shared the Youtube link of our project onto Facebook, to gain a variety of feedback. We received many comments of appraisal for the project. As well as what they didn't like about it or improvements they think the opening could include.
Here is what some feedback consisted of:
'This is so good!'
'You've used a variety of camera angles which looks effective and the editing looks very professional.'
'The ending has worked well as it ends suddenly adding a dramatic feel, I can tell the genre is a melodrama.'
'You can tell it is a dream sequence'
'Your credits are really well blended into your film.'
'If you had conversation it would have given us a bit more emotional attachment to the characters.'
'Good cut away shots and nice variety of shots and nice variety of shots!'
'Emotional attachment through more vocal!'
'Really enjoyed it Emily well done :)'
After reading the comments, on our next project we will consider adding conversation. We didn't in this opening as we wanted it to seem more dreamlike and surreal.
Emily Read, Sacha Wyatt and I together created 2:07 of the beginning of the film 'Morals'. We individually researched all the background information that was needed to plan the film and the opening. After brainstorming we came up with the plot for the film Morals. Then from this we developed what would happen in the opening as this would be the most important part and helps the audience understand the whole film. We then planned a rough sequence for the opening then arranged a date in which to film taking into consideration we had to all be available and other aspects like the weather. We then together edited the opening together, then uploaded the piece to Facebook for feedback. After obtaining feedback we developed the opening further to then end up with our final piece which we uploaded to Youtube and Facebook.
Analysis
Challenging conventions
Most of the filming was fairly easy to do, as the character of Beth bought a train ticket we was able to portray this easily due to the fact there was the chance to film this from many angles, and we were able to film shots of the signs and othermise-en-scène.But the convention we found hard to portray within the filming was the part when the character actually fell in front of the train. We wouldn't be able to have the character on the train track as it broke to many health and safety rules and any trespassers are fined. So we had to create a build up that allowed the audience know something bad was going to happen, we would also include sound effects. We tried filming a variety of shots that made it seem the character had fallen this included her feet seeming as if she had tripped over her shoelace, but this didn't look realistic and made it seem cheesy. We also tried to make it look as if the character of Beth reached out to catch her, or the character of Beth had run forward towards the edge to try to help. But in the end we edited the speed of my hand grabbing 'Charlotte's' coat in attempt to show that Beth had tried to help. This along with the sound effect I think looks effective and the audience are now able to tell clearly what happens in the opening. Media Institutions
By looking at the outcome of my finished product the media Institution that would distribute my media product is Universal pictures. Although this was already our chosen film company, I also think that it is very suitable for our film. This is due to the fact that Universal's films that they have distributed before some have included controversial content and they have always pushed boundaries such as Dracula, E.T, Jaws and many others. As our storyline includes the struggle of a depressed, mentally effected teenager this could affect some viewers as they might perceive this as being wrong by showing this. Especially the opening that include shocking events, but I think Universal Pictures would be able to distribute this successfully. Social groups
As our opening includes two teenage girls who are close friends, this reflects on most typical teen life. You can see that it is just the two of them which means they have been allowed the permission to be out without parental guidance. This reflects late teens as they become more independent. They also purchase tickets as well as planning to travel by train alone. These are all examples shown within the opening of the representation of independence these two girls have and what most girls there age have.
Evaluation
What I think went well- Camera shots
The main reason I think that our opening is good, is because it has a wide variety of shots. This was due to the fact that the setting it was taken in allowed us to experiment and have this variety. One effective shot is the match on action when the two characters walk through the door of the building. This shot is effective as it shows the character walking smoothly as if they hadn't stopped but the camera angle is now shown from a different perspective, this also allows the other shots taken from this point so that the audience aren't confused by the angles being jumbled up.
Another shot is the 'over the shoulder' shot, although you can't hear the characters talking you are still able to see that they are and the over the shoulder looks very effective. It shows the how one character looks and talks to the other, this relates to the audience the type of relationship they have and from our shot you can tell they a good friends due to the fact they are laughing.
My favourite shot is the one that the two characters are shown to be walking past the camera as the camera stays still and they step into a puddle as they pass. As they step out and ripples are left in the puddle, we faded in text. This I think has worked really well and looks like a professional shot.
Filming skills and preparation
Around November we knew we needed to start filming pieces of the opening, as the sooner the better so that we could spend more time on editing. So we spent a short time brain storming the preparation for the filming, but shortly after was the day we filmed. Once there I found it very easy to film, the surroundings gave me and my group a lot of inspiration for diverse shots. The one thing we made sure was to keep the camera still so the shots weren't wobbly and it looked more professional. But as we filmed we started to see more and more chances for the shots that what we had originally planned. We decided too many shots would be better than not enough. Whilst filming we worked very well as a team and used each others ideas as inspiration and was able to develop on them together. Once we watched the clips back over we could see that we had got the shots exactly how we wanted them and began to edit. Comparison
Looking back at my Preliminary task that we first created at the beginning of the year, I was shocked to see how much more developed our skills had become. Not only just through creativity of the content, but through filming and editing skills too. Watching the preliminary task I could see we the scenes appeared jumpy, the lighting wasn't very good and other small mistakes. Then comparing that to our opening, I could easily see how much we had improved and that we had broadened our techniques of shots as well as editing skills. You can see how much more consideration is put into our final piece that we would not have considered before, things like filming during the day before daylight was lost, including a larger variety of camera angles that before we would not of known of as well as a larger use of props and the characters interacting with the surroundings.
We used Final Cut Express to edit our opening, this allowed access to a variety of techniques that we would be able to use on our film. We could easily cut clips to get them the exact length we wanted and not include parts that weren't needed.
Another technique included reversing a clip, this technique is unusual and we wanted to include at the end of the opening a reverse clip of the whole scene before the character awoke from the dream. This was effective as it happened straight after the accident to add drama to the event and emphasize the feeling that something bad had happened.
We also used lots and one of these was to create the look of CCTV camera footage, this makes it look realistic and professional. We took this shot from a higher up position so that it appeared as it was actually taken by a security camera.
We were also able to slow down clips, this adds dramatic feel and emphasizes for the audience, this was portrayed in the shot were the character of Beth grabbed Charlotte in attempt to save her from falling. Also as this shot was extremely important part as it determines to the audience exactly what happens, we wanted to make sure it looked realistic and tried to avoid it appearing cheesy. So we added an extra effect to this, to make the shot appear blurred and add to the drama that it all happened very quickly although the shot is slowed down.
We could also speed up clips to make it seem more sudden and dramatic, an example of this is the clip in which the train that Charlotte falls in front of, speeds towards the platform we made this clip faster to make it seem like the train was travelling at a lot faster speed and this made it more dramatic.
There were many other effects that we used throughout like black and white colour effect when including the reversed clips so that they were more separated from the other shots. Also included are transactions at the beginning and ends of some clips so they gradually faded in and out. We used this not only on shots but also with the music as well as we thought it made the introduction of the sound more subtle. Such as the heart beat sound effect we used a large transaction to fade the sound from the background until it was the only thing playing so when the title was shown only the heartbeat could be heard. We thought this was very effective as it made it seem more dramatic. We also used the transaction technique by fading for one shot to the next we used this between the shot of the warning sign into the tracker shot of the yellow line, but this was the only time we used this as we didn't want to over use the technique.
Shots that were taken by me
As myself and another member of my group were the characters of our opening this meant that we weren't able to do most of the filming. Although we still took it in turns to film parts that we were not needed in. Such as I filmed the setting, such as the running shot of the yellow line, the warning sign, all of the shots of the moving train and many more. The other member of our group (Sacha Wyatt) was also able to film the sections of me purchasing the train ticket and other parts she was not in. This way it was fair for our group, and everyone had the opportunity to film.
To gather feedback for our finished opening we shared the Youtube link of our project onto Facebook, to gain a variety of feedback. We received many comments of appraisal for the project. As well as what they didn't like about it or improvements they think the opening could include.
