Evaluation: Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Preliminary Video:

When beginning the Media Studies course, of the majority of the group were completely new to the subject. I, however, and one other, were not as we had done Media Studies GCSE in our previous school.
   In order to ensure that I was able to successfully carry out the AS level project, I had to create a preliminary task to learn and display my knowledge of the basic rules of creating a media product.

Planning
  When I started planning for my final piece with my partner (Beckiee Turner), we looked at both of our preliminary tasks, and noted any significant methods and processed which we learnt when carrying it out. The first choice we made was that we didn't want our final piece to be quite to precise and perfect. As we wanted it to be a lot less Hollywood, and a lot more independent like the majority of British Films.
   Even though we couldn't relate to any planning which either of us carried out for either preliminarys, as neither of us did plan, so we did discover how incredibly important  planning was, and I thoroughly believe we did improve a lot from this stage!

Shooting
   When researching before we carried out our preliminary task, we looked at what camera angles and shot types we used in the film industry. When actually carrying out the task, my partner (Henry Wright) and myself decided that we wanted to keep it as simple as possible, this meaning we could focus on the actual task set, and try to get used to using different camera angles to give meaning and effect.
   When Beckiee and I decided on our shooting style, we decided not to make it overly proffesional. With it being a independent film (as mentioned earlier) we wanted it to be quite rough looking, this also mirrors our storyline and some of our characters. Even though we did choose to shoot in a completely different way, we still found our preliminary helpful as it enabled us to use camera angles to our full potential, and effectively, just like we did in the preliminary.

Editing
   Even though I was not new to the subject itself, I was completely new to the editing software which we were using (Adobe Premier Pro). Therefore, having to carry out a preliminary task, it enabled me to ensure I was able to reach the maximum potential which I was capable of when editing my final piece. This helped a lot when coming to edit the final thing, as we did encounter a small sound issue, which meant we would lose quite a few marks as not all audio was clear. However, we were able to overcome this due to having the preliminary task, as it enabled us to have a proper play around with the software and develop our knowledge and understanding.

Final Cut:

Update!

Today, we put our idents and our final piece together. We took our some film transitions that we didn't think fitted, and we are thoroughly happy with what we have created.

Update!

Today we made our own "company" idents. Our first ident was for the "studios it was made in":

Our second ident was for the "production company" used:

 

 

We created both idents using Adobe After Effects, this enabling us to make them not only move, but have effects on them - like the blur in the second ident.

Update!

Today we edited all of our scenes together with music fitting in perfectly. Over the next few lessons we are planning to add in transitions and we are hoping to create our own ident.

Update!

In todays lessons we were editing again. Trying to get the music that we've chosen to come in at exactly the right moments, and to make it look right. Also, we had to edit up our voice over sections, and ensure that they only overlap the specific areas which they are talking about.

Update!

In our double period of Media Studies today we were editing our final piece together, picking the shots that best showed our media ability. However, we did come across a problem - one of our shots was too dark, so you couldn't really see what was going on and didn't fit the emotion/mood that we were trying to portray.
Also, we came to the realisation that we did not clearly show the relation between the siblings and Candice. Therefore, we are going to take some more shots, and create a "photo frame" of the "family".

Weekend of Filming.

This weekend we have carried out all of the filming that we have needed! Everything appears to have gone to plan, with our actors acting with enthusiasm and professionalism, the weather staying constant, and the evening shots, where the dark was needed, falling into place.
We organised - for the party scene - to have our group of friends come over to my house, and pretend to party, but as they already knew each other, there was no problem with them relaxing and getting into the "party mood".

Storyboard

This is each little segment of our storyboard, including timings, lighting and shot type.

Character Costumes

Location 1: Alleyway:
    In this scene, our characters will be wearing casual clothing, like jeans and a coat, something you would just wear everyday.

Location 2: Living Room:
    Wearing causal indoor clothing - jeans, t-shirt, hoody.

Location 3: Doctors Surgery:
    *Similar to location 1*

Location 4: Bedroom:
    *Similar to location 2*

Location 5: House Party:
    Party clothing - Dresses/playsuits (girls) Jeans, t-shirt (boys)

Length of shots.

Beckiee and I have discussed that we dont want to have extremely long lengthed shots because this not only gets boring, but it doesnt achieve anything. The only time we have decided to use long lengthed shots is if we're to have estabishing shots etc.
  Our other shots are up to around 6 seconds long. The longer shots being used in conversation, or emotional moments, and the short shots being used in action areas, and hectic moments - like our party scene that we plan on having. Having these shorts shots enable us to give the impression of a really big, loud, atmospheric surrounding for our characters.

Music for our opening

At the beginning of our opening, we want to create a dark, tense and intimidating atmosphere to match Kacey's attitude towards Candice. Whilst searching through Youtube, we settled on this instrumental to this song as it creates the atmosphere we want to achieve:

Further on into our opening, we want to create a depressing scene as it dawns on Candice exactly what lengths she has to go to provide for her younger siblings as her mum is uncapable of doing so herself. We decided on the song below as it creates a very dramatic and emotional atmosphere, and causes the audience to feel pathos towards Candice and her situation:

At the end of our opening, we want to create a carefree atmosphere during the house party scene to show how so many other teenagers are oblivious to the struggles that others may have. We decided on this song as it has been played at several house parties that Courtney and I have previously been to and has created a light-hearted and untroubled atmosphere:

Lighting for our opening.

During our planning, we have taken into account the lighting that will be necessary in each scene. In areas where we will be outside, we will obviously be using natural lighting, this is because that is clearly the only lighting available to us - with this we also need to take into account our outdoor filming hours, as we still need to see our characters, and for the lighting to be consistent within each shot so it makes sense.

  However, when filming indoors, we are able to have much more of an effect on the lighting available. Therefore, we will be able to set moods and emotions within our scenes, as well as make the locations (events in the locations) more believable and realistic. Types of lighting we will be using indoors will be: artificial low key lighting, artificial high key lighting, and artificial medium lighting.