Evaluation 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?

Evaluation Question 6.

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

Filming Calendar Dates.

I used a calendar for my filming and production of both my Preliminary Task, The Incident, and my Opening Sequence, Chasing The Lost, so that I could be organised throughout the year and filming time. I believe that using a calendar was a good idea and helped me produce the best possible media product i could.

 

Problems and solutions With Shoot.

When filming there were a couple of problems I encountered.

Firstly, On day 2 of filming at the Barnes Common location it was raining, this was a problem because there was no rain on day 1 of filming. However, I found areas, covered by trees where the rain was not visible so that the continuity of the film was kept throughout.

This is one of my crew members, Toby, helping to protect the camera from rain on day 2 of filming at Barnes Common.

This image shows rain on the branches of a tree on day 2 of filming at Barnes Common.

The second problem I encountered was when filming underwater in the 'flashback' scenes. The water proof case I used was faulty and as a result the flip camera I used was water damaged and deemed unfixable. However I managed to dry out the camera after hours of different 'drying' techniques and thankfully still managed to redeem and use the footage I filmed. 

The shot when the Flip camera was damaged. To solve the problem of the damaged camera I placed it into a bowl of rice, which absorbed the moisture and fixed the camera.

This is the camera submerged in the bowl of rice.

Camera Set Ups For Filming.

These are the camera set ups and movements I used when filming my opening sequence for 'Chasing The Lost.'

Note To The Examiner.

Dear Examiner, Over the last academic year I have been working incredibly hard my blog which shows all my progress from the beginning of the year, in September, starting with my preliminary task 'The Incident' to now with my final piece opening sequence 'Chasing The Lost.' I have shown a massive improvement in both my editing and analysis skills. The evidence for my improvement is shown throughout this blog to produce my final production. Below you can view my final piece opening sequence to 'Chasing The Lost', a Charlie Whitfield Production.

Shooting Schedule.

This is the shooting schedule I used for the filming of the opening sequence to 'Chasing The Lost.'

As you can see I filmed on 3 different days: 13th November, 2nd December and 6th December. I separated the filming days due to location and weather conditions.

Opening Sequence Story Board.

This is the story board I used when filming my opening sequence of 'Chasing The Lost.), I found that the use of a story board helps the overall filming run smoothly and gives basic structure to how the filming takes place. I liked using a story board as I knew what I was doing before I even picked up a camera to film. In the story board for my preliminary I used colour to add realism to what will be filmed.

Unlike my preliminary task, when drawing up my storyboard for my opening sequence I had an idea of what I was doing. I think this storyboard is a great improvement from my last one.

Chasing The Lost Opening Sequence Commentary.

This is a commentary of the intro to Chasing The Lost. It explains what is happening throughout the opning sequence.

Evaluation Question 5.

How did you attract my audience? 

I used several techniques to attract and draw in my audience. In the pre-production stage I created poster to draw the audience in and get them 'excited' about 'Chasing The Lost'. Posters are often very useful in gathering and targeting an audience as they can be strategically placed to allow a certain group of people to view them.

Using my graphic design and photography skills I created a few posters which could be used to promote my film, 'Chasing The Lost.'

This image is a screen shot taken from the film, showing the main protagonist, Ace, looking upset and stressed about what he has done.

I cropped the photo, and chances the colour settings to '3 tone' so that a more 'cartoony' and modern fell was shown.

Afterwards I created a back round for the poster. I copied the initial picture and altered the colours to not be as dominant. I chose the pattern of multiple images of the main character 'Ace' to portray the frustrations and confusions in his head.

That was the process of my first poster design. I didn't add much text to the poster, because I knew it wouldn't be my final choice.

For my next poster design I wanted to created something which gave very little away, yet a lot at the same time. I used Adobe Illustrator to create it.

This poster at first glance just looks like a lot of shapes. However, after a closer look, one can see a door in the middle of the page. This door is a sign of escape or entrance. The shattered glass look is used to represent the broken heart, mind and soul of the emotional character. Putting both the door and the shattered look together, the audience will hopefully be able to see the door as a sign of escape from the characters emotions.

My next, and final, poster design is the one I feel is most fitting for the film as the image used shows so much emotion without even showing the face of the character. The photo was taken on a film camera, not a digital camera. I prefer to shoot using a film camera as it gives a special feel to a picture which is not possessed when taken digitally.

This photo is supposed to represent the main character, Ace, staring out of a window deciding what he will do, wether he will stay or go after making a wrong decision.

 After choosing the photo I then added type.

This is my final poster with the film title and film credit included.

Another method I used to attract the audience was the variety of editing techniques, which can be very exciting when viewed on the big screen. These techniques included flash backs and interesting fades to different shots.

Costume for Opening Sequence.

The common theme of the costume design ‘uses’ the usual conventions of a thriller film. These conventions involve dark clothing, expressing the dark and depressing thoughts going on in the mind of the main protagonist in this opening sequence, and throughout the rest of the film.


Ace, the main character is wearing a hoodie. This is rather stereotypical of a ‘teenager’, something viewers of a similar age, allowing them to possibly relate to him.

The clothing the character is wearing is of a nice quality, and is not torn up. This shows that he is not living in a rough way. This suggests to the audience that he is maybe from a wealthy back round, and has rebelled from those roots.

The clothes I chose for the character of Ace to where are all dark clothing, giving very little away about his personality keeping the audience curious about him. 


            

This jacket in particular can give the most away about the character, the fur hood shows wealth as it it expensive. Ace also wears the hood on his hooded top up, possibly to hide or disguise himself.

Evaluation Question 4.

Analysis Question 4.

Evaluation Question 1.

Opening Sequence Analysis Question 1. from charliexx123

Evaluation Question 2.

Evaluation question 3.

Opening Sequence Questionnaire.

To find out what my audience thought about my opening sequence, I created a questionnaire, using the website www.surveymonkey.com, so that I knew wether the viewers enjoyed it or not.

Overall, I was pleased with the feedback which I received from the from the questionnaire, as it seemed to be positive and showing my piece was successful in what is was portraying.

Opening Sequence 'Chasing The Lost' Promotion and Feedback.

To see what the audience thought of my opening sequence to 'Chasing The Lost' I used social media to both promote and  receive feedback on the piece.Firstly I used Facebook and Twitter to promote 'Chasing The Lost', so that people knew where to watch it.



This is a post on the Facebook group I made to promote my Opening Sequence of 'Chasing The Lost'.

This is a 'Tweet' I composed to boost the promotion of my Opening Sequence.

Feedback came in the form of both comments on my YouTube Upload and on a Questionnaire I produced on SurveyMonkey, a website which allows you to create professional looking survey which can then be taken online by anyone.

The image above shows my YouTube video comments. 

Feedback is incredibly important as it allows the direct, producer and everyone else involved in the creation of the film to know what the audience liked, so that it can be used again in other films or produce.

Title font analysis.

When deciding on the font for my opening sequence I looked at film similar to my genre to see what they used. After looking I used the evidence from other films and it had a great influence on my final choice. 

Before actually deciding which font I wanted to use for my Opening Sequence I had an initial idea of what I wanted. I  considered using some more stylised fonts initially.

This is a serif font, with a crusty feel which is more stereotypical of a thriller.

This font gives a representation of a film with a some scary scene, due to the dirty feeling font. I did consider this due the setting of the opening sequence, but rule it out as I believed it would suit a horror film more than a thriller film.

I liked the leading in this font, the space between the letters as its really gives a spine chilling feel, even though it is just serif font.

This was the title font choice which I nearly chose. There are number  of features in this font which led me to believe that this was the font I would go with. Firstly, I really liked the splatter effect, which could represent blood or danger. The bowls in the 'A' and the 'O' is a plus (+) sign which can often represent a hospital and also danger. 

However after doing research into what other films of a similar style or genre I changed my mind.

Both of these images are from the 'American Psycho' title sequence.

I felt that because my film was promoting a thriller genre, alike 'American Psycho' it should use clean, sharp letters in the titles. I would defiantly say that I used this font style shown in the images to inspire my final decision to use 'Century Gothic' as my title font. Overall I believe that my decision was well thought out and works really well in the piece.

The title and font used in my opening sequence.

Why did I chose Final Cut Pro for Editing my Opening Sequence?

Final cut pro is one of the best editing software an amateur film maker can buy, with a range of effects (both visual and sound), transitions and title options it can be used to create an incredibly professionally looking piece.

After struggling to understand the software when editing my preliminary task, I managed to learn how to use it properly to create a visually compelling piece of film. With the editing of a film being a huge part of wether it is a good film or not, I felt it was key for me to use Final Cut Pro to edit my media piece, Chasing The Lost.

Final cut pro allow for so much more editorial improvements than iMovie and most other editing programmes. 

I adjusted the colour to a more faded affect, as it suited the indie - thriller theme more than brighter colours. I reduced the exposure and de-saturated the image to do this.

Above shows when I adjusted the colour effects on the 'eye zoom' shots, I really wanted this to look professional because it is a important part of my opening sequence.

I also used final cut pro to add my titles. I used a 'typewriter' effect when they appeared on screen. I received amazing feedback from doing this.