Key conventions

We researched into opening sequences by watching various openings such as Kick-Ass, Brick, London-Brighton, Shifty,In Search of a Midnight Kiss and Train spotting and this is what I found to be the typical conventions :

• First of all they have the titles including producers names, directors an actors/actresses. Usually with music but can also have no music which can create a very different effect. For example in London to Brighton we see just a black background with titles over the top. This creates a big suspense and a mystery of what is gong to happen.
• Another convention is that voice-overs are used over the top of footage of different characters. This allows to get to know the characters.
• There is sometimes writing over the top of the film such as 'six months earlier' seen in Kick ass. This gives us a sense of time so things make sense when watching it.
• There are also freeze frames used to to show the different characters.
• Another convention is that the enigma code is used where questions are created for example in brick where the boy is looking at the dead girl, we want to know what's happened to her, who she is and what's his involvement in the situation. 

The main points of an opening sequence are that introduces us to the different characters and therefore the actors/actresses playing those roles, such as in Kick ass we can tell through the opening sequence that Dave is a very normal person although lacking in female attention. It should also perhaps use Barthes Enigma code theory so that Different questions are raised such as in Brick, straight away there is a mystery as to who the girl etc. Opening sequences should also gives us a sense of time and setting such as again in Kick ass we can see in the opening sequence a normal maerican type neighbour hood street and also stereotypical american highschool, and over the top of this, at one point, we also see 'six months earlier'.

Main Task

Our task is to create the titles and opening of a new fiction film to last a maximum of two minutes.
These are my deadlines:

• Research Deadline: 26/11/10 
• Photo-storyboard Deadline: 3/12/10
• Filming Deadline: 07/01/11
• Production Deadline: 28/01/11
• Evaluation Deadline: 11/02/11

Targets

My first target is to make sure that sound is continuous and suitable.
The second target is I should organise time efficiently so that filming time can be minimal and editing time can be as long as possible to get a better outcome.
My third target is to Plan the story board better.

Evaluation

Continuity editing is the predominant form of editing that is used to immerse the audience into the story. The main   parts to continuity are 180 degree rule, eye line match, shot- reverse shot and match on action.

 These two shots show shot- reverse shot, an eye line match and the 180 degree rule.

These shots show a match on action.

We used a digital SLR camera to take the pictures for our photo story board. I found the camera easy to use because I had used one before and also because we used the automatic function on the camera which meant that we didn't have to change any settings. To get these images onto our story board we used the sd card to transfer the images onto the computer and then into photoshop.



I feel that we could have been more organised in knowing exactly when we were going to film each shot so that we could get filming done in the shortest amount of time possible so that we could get more time editing. To improve on this we could have written a timeline of some sort where we would write the times and dates of when we would film each shot.

I found using the digital video camera was quite easy as I had encountered these before. I was also confident with using the camera with a tripod. However, it was a bad idea look at any work we had filmed as it could have meant that we would tape over our existing film.

We then uploaded the footage into onlocation using a fire wire. Onlocation allowed us to capture the parts of the film we wanted. We then opened these files on Premier. 

To edit the clips we used Premier. I found this program difficult to use at first but quickly became comfortable using it. To cut the clips down to the length we needed, we used the cropping tool. I think the outcome could have been better maybe if we had more time to edit it. We didn’t face many difficulties; however it was quite difficult because some shots were quite short and it became hard to crop them.

To get the video onto my blog, we first had to put them onto YouTube so we could then copy and paste the URL into our blog.

 It has been helpful using blogger to display our work because it was easy to organise work and present it well.

Post-Production

Editing the clips was quite difficult to start with as I had never used the editing software before, however I quickly became used to the software and was able to use it more successfully. Here is the finished task:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjNtTrWkuys

Production

Filming the interview went quite well. We knew each shot that we had to shoot because we had the story board to show us. However, most shots required more than one try to get them perfect, especially shots involving dialogue where the actors would forget their lines etc..

Pre-production Task

Before the preliminary task we created a photo-story board of the interview. This included the shots types and also any dialogue in each shot.The story board allowed us to know what shots we had to to film during the filming process.  Below is the photo story board we used:

Continuity Editing

Continuity editing is the predominant form of editing that makes the change in shots,
flow as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. The purpose of this is to immerse the audience into the film or TV programme and make them get carried away in the story and therefore seem more natural. Continuity editing has several central elements to it, these include such shot types as; shot/reverse shot, cutting on action, the eyeline match and also the 180 degree rule.
   

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. This will include updates of my practical work for AS Media Studies. My first blog will be the preliminary task.
 This task will include the filming and editing of a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down opposite another character. They will then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. The video will show match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. I will also include a cut-in and cutaway, i will make sure these flow well and are relevant to the conversation.