Evaluation Activity 3 - Directors Commentary

I made a directors commentary to go with my video, this is so the audiance can see what I was considering for my video whilst I made it. I got rid of some of my effects for the clip so you can see some simplicity and made sure that I covered all the points of the directors responsibilitys and what a production company has to do. This finished all my evaluation activitys for my opening two minutes of my film.

Paranoia Media clip - Final Two Minutes

My research and planning has led to the editing of this clip, the opening two minutes of the genre of drama. I have made a few changes to my video as I progressed, but the idea is still in place. The few changes I made were the choice of actors, as I thought the use of actors who weren't related were better as it would confuse the audiance on who they were. I also changed the name of the film to Paranoia, this is because it represents how the character looks further into the clip.

I think I have achieved a lot since my my preliminary tasks as I have experimented more with mise-en-scene and used editing on the sound of the wind. I challenged most on the sound as the frequency's of the wind changed via each clip that was made, but on my own I think I achieved the best I possibly could. I am impressed the most with the different camera shots however as this is where I think I have achieved the most. The merge together nicely and give a fundamental structure to it. The costumes that my character wears further insinuates the look of hiding away and not caring about the scenery around her, contrasting with the beauty of the surroundings. The end of the clip shows where she fits in the most, and starts to blend in with the shadowing of the surroundings. This is where I think the best aspects of my clip come in.

I am overall happy with my video as it shows the different personalitys that come into show, and the best part of mine is the editing in the clip. I tried to show the image of the character being a ghost by making her dissapear gradually in the area that she is sitting, this use of editing is effective in determining the genre of my clip, which is why it is made more effective. I also tried to show this in the titles by making them flash for a split second before they gradually went onto the screen again..

I think sound might have been slightly incorrect and I would need to further look into this, however,I think my film shows all these qualities and has been successful in mise-en-scene, editing and camera work.

Evaluation Activity 5 - Attracting/Adressing my audiance.

I used YouTube annotation tools to create a few notes and speechbubbles to show the different ways in which the audiance would be attracted to my film and how it fulfills being the style of film that it is. It includes mise-en-scene, camerawork, sound and editing. It also has a few examples of films which follow the same style as mine does, which is where I got the inspiration from. I think this is how I can show the sucess of my film and how it made it look more believable to the audiances eyes.

Evaluation Activity 1 - Conventions of Real Media Products.

1. Story And How The Opening Sets It Up

The plot of my story is to introduce you to the scene that is occuring around my main character, and from the general direction that my actor is walking you can identify that the purpose is to get to a destination. The lack of exitement shows that it moves you towards the general direction of a drama, as it has no plot for the clip at the moment. Iwas trying to make it seem as the plot would gradually grow as the film progressed, leaving an confusing introduction for the audiance.

2. Title Font And Style

The font for this title is different to the fonts on each clip, further bringing across the fundamental idea of confusion. I have made sure however that each font helps the audiance understand that this is a drama clip, as the font is bold and stands out to the viewer. The placement is so that it encourages the viewer to look in the general direction to where the character is going to sit, as you can see this from my clip. I think that this gives it a more interesting look.

3. Costumes And Props

The use of plain clothing suggests my characters lack of caring on her appearance, but i made sure that she was wearing a hoodie so that she could hide away from what she was seeing. This was effective in making her fade more into the background where the lighting is considerably darker. The props used was the bag which she placed on the table, making it more understanding that she was in school. Again, the bag is plain and understated.

4. Genre and How The Opening Suggests it.

The genre of this clip is drama, and drama's can resolve around the idea that the unknown is recognised, which I have managed to achieve with the editing of this clip. I have made my other character dissolve and fade away from the screen, which is effective in making the audiance realise what is happening in this sequence. I think that this is the best achievement of my oepning two minutes, as this is what makes the audiance interested and want to watch further for what is going to happen.

5. How The Characters Are Introduced

My main character is introduced through the use of dark lighting which hides her face, this makes the audiance question whether she wants to be seen. I tried to make it seem like it was a representation of her shying away from everyone around her, which is why the audiance question to the character that dissapears what her role is going to progress to in this clip.

6. Setting/Location

I made sure that the setting was empty and had different angles, which is why i used a series of establishing shots. The one in particualr that I have chosen is a good example as it has the sunset of the scenery. This was a representation of the day growing progressively lighter, to which my main character then comes out from the hill. I made sure the hill was also used so that it looked like my character had travelled a distance before she made the top.

7. The Title Of My Film

The title of my film comes up at the end of my opening two minutes, and this is typical in films as it allows the audiances to understand the surroundings of the plot a little better first. Puttting this on the black background gives the audiance a glimpse at the genre of the film, which is a drama. The use of drama is portrayed in the font as I have made it literal in the sense that it is dramatic on the screen compared to the dark background. This I think I have successfully put across as it becomes the main focus of the audinace and the name of the film is remembered. I changed the name of the title as I progressed as the clip began to make my main character more agitated and the plot of heroin doesn't happen until much further in the two minutes, so again I changed the title to the literal sense of her being paranoid.

8. Special Effects

I had used a minimal amount of special effects, but the effects that I did use were on the lighting of the beginning establishing shots. Some were too light for the setting that I was trying to gradually grow lighter, so I added some fading in to make it look more darker. I think I achieved this as it looks as if it is getting darker and this way my clip wasn't a waste to use. I also think the use of clouds allows the audiance to see the day, and it adds a contrast to how the character should be feeling.

9. Camerawork Editing

My camera work editing was with the text on different areas of the screen, as some areas worked more effectively than others to achieve the rule of thirds for the text. I think that mine works well to stand out against the blue of the sky, again contrasting with the happy emotions that this colour should be giving the audiance to the font that is used to support this. The bold could symbolise that the audiance knows more than the character does by an urgency that could be related to it, and this grows further to open the film. This is why I think I have succeeded in the conventions of real media products.

Evaluation Activity 7 - Progression from Preliminary task.

Compared to my Preliminary task, I think that my film shows my progression as it has more editing and camera shots involved, but the style of match on action is the same. Match on action is the camera work where you see it from one point of view and with editing it jump cuts to the opposite view from where you had just seen. I did this in these example for the preliminary and opening two minute tasks.

In the preliminary task they are seen having a conversation with each other, and you can see both faces from both sides of the conversation. This is an example of shot/reverse shot as well, and I have included that in my opening two minutes where you see the main character looking over at something the camera can't and it is followed by the camera looking towards my other character. This works well as it allows the audiance to see both facial expressions.
My opening two minutes however was different because it shows the use of match on action in the beginning sequence of the clip as the camera follows my character into the room, and we see her from a behind point of view as if you are walking it yourself to then jump cut to seeing her walking face on into the camera, whch is also a good use of match on action.

 

I have used different editing techniques to create new shots I hadn't used in my preliminary task to show my progression, and one example is when she is just about to walk into the building. The camera plays on her for a few seconds before it pans round to face the building she is about to walk into, and it is more effective by her walking into the shot from the bottom right third of the screen. She then takes possession to the middle of the screen. This shows my progression from the preliminary task as this features a mid shot of her walking into a room, and the rule of thirds wasn't recognised.

When walking into the room, I kept on one side of the main character, this is so I didn't break the 180 degree rule. I had done this for the preliminary task as well, where the conversation is filmed on only one side of the area so the audiance don't get confused about who is sitting on each side. I have progressed for this reason onto my opening two minutes by continuing the same thing.

The preliminary task helped my be able to get a bearing on what I should be including, and I think I was able to include this into my blog, but I have also progressed by using Adobe Premier Elements more for the use of text onto the screen. This shows I have a wider understanding of the task and editing techniques.

Evaluation Activity 6- Equipment I used

To create my opening two minute clip, I used a variety of equipment which helped me aid my way into being able to record it, and to make sure it was the best quality I could manage. The camera was the most important part of my clip as it assured that my footage was filmed. This picture was the camera I used, a flip video camera. This was my own camera, and I found it easier as this way I already understood how to use it. It videod all of my clips and came out in good quality. I only used one more piece of equipment to get my video filmed, and that was the tripod. This tripod was the schools, but the mechanics of it was easy to understand and it worked well for my camera. This tripod was neccesary as it aided me into making sure that my clips were at the best possible standard the could be, because it gave it a steady level and this way the camera couldn't shake. It was best that the camera couldn't shake because then the clips would make the audiance feel that it was more realistic.

They were both good for the problems the were used for to be overcome, and I have produced some good pieces of footage.

 The programs that I have used in order to create the opening two minutes was Adobe Premier Elements, which had some problems with the use of different editing i had to do. Eventually I had finished my opening two minutes with different alterations and used Youtube to upload my video onto my blog. The blog I have used is blogspot.com.