Finished film opening

Finished Film Opening- Morals

Description

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 other mise-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.