LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE LEARNT IN

THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

LOOKING BACK

I believe that I have made a lot of progress from the preliminary task to the final product. The preliminary task was a quick task that involved simple camera angles, no sound effects, had poor editing and did not look very professional as a result. With the use of research and inspiration from other opening sequences I started to develop my skills further as we progressed through the course and applied them to my final opening sequence.

CAMERA When looking back on the camera angles we used within our preliminary task it is clear that we only used basic shots. We did successfully create match on action and stick to the 180 degree rule within the preliminary task and continued to use this skill within our opening sequence. We did however change our use of shots on reflection from the preliminary task. We as a group ventured in to using many other types of shots which created a more enticing opening such as birds eye and establishing.

The camera we used for our preliminary task was one of our schools basic recording cameras which left us with a poor quality picture. This meant that our preliminary video was slightly blurry. In our opening sequence we used one of our group members camera which was a Canon D600 which resulted in us getting a much clearer picture. In addition to this, this camera had auto focus which resulted in us getting clear footage with every shot compared to the camera we used before had which produced blurry footage due to the fact it had manual focus in which we forgot to focus before every shot. Whilst editing, we did however blur the first establishing shot in order to make the shot more effective as it was the first thing the audience see.

Opening sequence Preliminary

TRIPOD AND LIGHTING When looking back on my preliminary task it is evident that a tripod was not used as the footage is shaky and as a result has caused the picture to be blurry. To ensure this did not happen in our opening sequence we decided it would be best to use a tripod in the shots that were purposely planned to be still. In some of our shots we didn’t use a tripod and purposely shook the camera in order to show that the stalker is holding the camera; it feels as though we are seeing events through the characters eyes.

In our preliminary task we didn’t manipulate the lighting in any way so we used the lighting we had. This resulted in some of the shots being incredibly dark and resulted in it being hard to see the characters. This was avoided in our opening sequence because we used equipment such as a large flash light in order to shine light in areas that we wanted to be visible. We also brightened some of our shots while editing as we found some of them to be slightly too dark. With both of these factors we were able to get the low key lighting that abled our characters to still be visible. This factor ensured the audience knew what the genre of the film was.

Using the light

With no light (preliminary)

MUSIC AND SOUND

We used no music or sound effects in our preliminary. After further research and planning we found that the use of music and sound effects was a very effective way of portraying the genre and creating an atmosphere for an opening sequence. It was a difficult task finding the right music for our opening sequence, but eventually (through YouTube) we found a piece of music that we believed was perfect for creating tension which we thought was great for portraying our genre to the audience.

In addition to this, we added non-diegetic sound effects/voice recordings to our final piece during editing. We used police series as this is a very well known iconic sound that something bad has happened. This mixed with the voice recording of the police operator and the young girl (Katie) talking the audience are able to grasp what is going on in these final moments of the opening sequence and I believe this is very effective and enticing.

CONTINUITY

To ensure that we could create continuity throughout our opening sequence we ensured we used the same location, costumes, actors (characters) etc. I believe we did this very well. We filmed on multiple occasions as we missed some important shots the first time we filmed so we decided to revisit the location. We ensured that we filmed in the same location at roughly the same time of day (lighting purposes) and made the characters dress in the same costumes as previously before.

This is an important factor whilst making an opening sequence as It adds a sense of fluency to the sequence. It makes the sequence more enjoyable to watch and helps the audience easily follow what is going on in the opening sequence.