I have changed the font of my title sequences because I felt that they were too cartoon looking and did not fit in with the genre and audience I am aiming to reach with my media product.
I have also elongated my music so there are no awkward pauses in the footage and have rearranged my title sequence so that it fits in more with the typical film opening title sequence order.
This is the final cut for my film and as you will be able to see, I have made a lot of changes from my first cut.
I have changed the font of my title sequence as I felt the other one didn't look right with the image I was trying to portray. This was just a minor part of what I changed however.
I also added in a Production Company logo and sound effect to accompany this, which is more effective as it makes my opening more believable and realistic to the conventions of film.
I have also edited the sound so it flows better and added more voice over's during the flashback at the beginning, which was something I was meaning to do anyway but had not thought of appropriate dialogue at the time.
Overall, I feel very pleased with my final product and hope that everyone who watches it enjoys it too.
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I had some problems uploading my Preliminary Task to the Prezi or on Blogger, but you can find my preliminary task in September 2014.
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Before I started constructing this product, I had never experienced filming or editing in the past, as I didn't do media for GCSE. I found this very difficult to grasp at first, but I feel that taking this into account, I have done quite well to achieve the result in product that I have.
I firstly found the filming quite difficult as I was unsure of the different camera shots before I had started studying media in September and because of this, I was unable to distinguish what shots were the best to use for my film. I have learnt that a camera is a lot harder to use well than people think and you need to use quality equipment to make your filming of a good standard. I did not have access to this equipment, meaning that particularly when you watch my zooming out shot, it is particularly shaky as I would need a dolly for this to work perfectly.
After this, I learnt a lot about the editing technologies used to edit my filming. We were given the task of using PowerDirector 11 to edit our footage, which was abnormal to what people had previously used, meaning it took a while to figure out how to do a lot. To help me understand more, I used the following YouTube video.
I found this very helpful as it helped me to understand how to find things and the basics of editing.
By using this programme, I learnt how to upload my footage, control how long the scenes were by being able to cut them down when needed, how to add music over the top and control the volume of the different sounds, etc. I found this part particularly interesting as I had not used a voice recorder before, so when uploading my voice recordings onto my opening, I found that there was a loud click when each ended, so after learning more about the editing technologies that this editing programme held, I was able to edit this out, making the sound of the voice over's flow as if they're completely natural. This has made my film very effective and I feel that I have done a successful job in creating a good film opening.
I have also learnt a lot about how important the use of transitions are and how to use them effectively so that they allow the film to flow. I found when editing my film, there were loads of different techniques you could use, but the main editing aim of my piece was continuity. I used mainly blurs during my flashback at the beginning of the opening, as they supported the conventions of that, however I then went on to use mainly fades during my film footage, apart from one jump cut which broke the continuity, but this was used on purpose to represent how her life is being thrown around and is not continuous, as one minute she is okay and the next is being rushed to hospital.
Overall, over the period of filming and editing, I have learnt a lot about the technologies and have surprised myself at how quickly I have managed to pick it up after only ever picking up a camera to film something like my friends doing something funny, not a graded media film.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
As you can see from the slide taken from my pitch, my primary audience would be women, as the film's narrative is mainly focused on a female character who has fallen in love, but has got a terminal illness. The film would be seen as a 'chick flick' as it contains these conventions by the main character having found the love of her life and wanting to spend as much time as possible with him and her best friend, but because of disturbing scenes that some viewers may find upsetting I would say that my film is aimed at a 12A audience.
This decision is aided by my research on BBFC and also my research into similar films which have the same rating.
When asking my peers about what audience would be interested in my media product, they mainly responded with a female audience of all ages, as although the film is mainly based on the life of a 15 year old girl who has got to fight for her life, it also focuses around the reactions of her friends and family to what is going on. By doing this, I make it easier for my film to be enjoyed by all ages because there are characters of all ages, meaning that more people are able to relate to what is being told instead of an older person trying to relate to the mentality of a younger girl of a different era to themselves.
