Final Edit

Other Filming Edits

This is our forth edit



This is our third edit.

Filming Edit

We were struggling to find the a sutible text to use to we started to add in the credits that we wanted to use in certain orders so we didn't waste time. We wanted to have a black background in the beginning to give it some structure rather than it just going straight into the opening scene.

This is some more of our shots that we made shorter as they were over ten seconds long. We then made to make them six seconds or less. We also added in jump shots for the long shots that we couldn't leave out. It then made it more interesting.

We finally managed to find a suitable text to use that would suit the mise en scene. We then replaced all the other text with the new text. This was easy to do as we had already written the text on.

This is our initial edit and second edit of the filming.

Other Comments on Editing 
We then started to work on the music which was difficult as there wasn't any music that was obviously matching our opening scene genre. We eventually did find a song called "slow motion" which we added in but we only included the but where the beat dropped in otherwise it would have made it boring and slow for our target audience. We also didn't add in the phone scene in the end because it didn't seem relevant and it was coming out as the quality we hoped for.

Dates of Filming

First Filming (2nd December)

We have just filmed some of our opening scene. Me and Katie met up with out actor, Rob, and we used a borrowed camera. Rob plays the character of "Zak". We stated to film around Thornbury outside. Firstly we did some shots of Rob walking past school and into school. We were going to include the sign of "The Castle School Thornbury Sixth form" but it had no relevance at it was taken as a picture so it didn't seem to flow with the video. We then filmed the phone however the time on the phone was wrong and didn't fit in with the timing in the opening scene. We had to redo the phone in the next filming. We then continued to film the wanted poster outside and showed the significance of it.

Second Filming (5th December)

Our second filming we focused on the beginning on the opening scene when he wakes up in the house. We tried to make the setting as accurate as possible so we designed the bedroom that way, we used Katie's house to do this. We then filmed some more walking shots in various angles. After we had to film outside the shop because they wouldn't let us film inside. We also re filmed the phone so it said the right time that fits in the opening scene.
Third Filming (11th December)
Our third and final filming too place at The Castle School Sixth Form Centre. We filmed our last frames of the scene in a classroom. We used several minor actors, one teacher and Rob. Our video was rather long so we had to edit most of it out. 

Scheduling

-Due to planing free time with Katie I had to take some time of to get the filming done in order to have plenty of time to do the editing. This particular date was the only time we could do it in a resolve time.
-I also asked to borrow someone else camera for videoing so we could have a really good quality picture. I also asked to borrow a tripod for a stable film. This was fairly easy and flexible to get hold of
-We also had to borrow some important props which were sometimes not available and we had to re arrange another date to film. For example we had to use a specific red hoodie which belonged to someone else. It was being used for our actor, Zak, so it was crucial we had it or no filming could be done. This did make the filming difficult to pursue at times.
-We also had to use a classroom for our filming so we had to ask the teacher that was in our film if it was okay to use her classroom, she let us film in there

Sound Planning

These are some of the types of music we were looking at for our opening scene. They are all copy right free so we can use them for our own use for our opening scene.






Although these are potential sound that we could use they aren't quite appropriate enough for our opening scene. These seem to be verging on a "party" like opening which portray quite a joyful opening and we needed a fairly sympathetic opening. This is so we can get the characters feelings across. We need a slower down version and slightly more gloomy tune. However its still got to appeal to our teenage audience so the "party" like aspect still needs to be there which is what the strong beat does. We were mainly looking at dubstep but due to us not finding the right music we may try other genres. As we start too film we will tart to experiment with music over the opening scene. After listening to the songs on repeat and filming one song seemed to fit the opening scene. We eventually chose a music piece called "Slow Motion". Although the music isn't very modern it fits the mood of the video. It is slow but still has a beat to keep it going.

Credit Typography

This is some examples of the typography that we may use for our opening scene. We decided to film it first and then put the music over it so that it would be clearer to see what one best suits the opening scene. We wanted to make sure that the typography didn't look like it was in the genre of horror because of the scratched writing but we also wanted to give it a "youth" look. We had to get the balance to fit our action opening scene. Our final decision was that we picked "Octin Spraypaint". this i because it looked like a spray can which matched the "youth" look which was our target audience. Also the other fonts were struggling to work on iMovie so we our choices were narrowed done quickly.

Props, Location, Fashion, Risk Assessment Planning

This is a list of things that we need and is the detail that will be necessary in our filming. By doing this we can get it all sorted out so it will be easier and quicker to film. I have also included the "wanted poster" for our opening scene as this is one of our main props. Another one of our main props was a red hoodie which was difficult to get hold of sometimes.

Draft Script

Now that we have drafted our script our actors will know exactly what they are doing which will make it easier and quicker when filming. We decided not too include too much text because it would give the audience more time to guess what the main character is like. Also the music is going be to be of big significance so we wanted that to be heard the most during the opening scene. The main acting of the scene will play the part of telling the narrative and what is happening .

Storyboarding and Shot Lists

We now know exactly what we are doing for each scene, this will make it a lot easier when we film as it is all organised. We also know the exact camera angles as we have placed temporary post it notes on top of every scene. This is so we can still see the scene and take them off when we have done it so it makes it easier. We also added a shot list which again, will make it easier to film as we have a simple chart of what o do for each step.
When we started filming we shot similar shots but not this exact order because of the resources on we on each day, we could only film what we could in one day.

Audience Research

From completing who my audience are I can now develop my ideas appropriately so that my opening scene content will appeal to them as they will be watching it as I know the gender and age. I can also take into account the secondary audience as well. As our audience is the same age as us it should be fairly easy to produce what they want as we will like what we produce. Our target audience is crucial to getting our opening scene right.

Character Profiles

We only had one character showing in our opening scene so our main focus was getting him so that the audience knew him well as he was the only one, because of this we needed to create a in depth detail about this character. This is also the main character of the narrative. Furthermore we have a teacher at the end of the opening scene however she isn't a character of any importance in this part of this film and will only appear to help give an insight to what the main character is like. Due to this there was no point doing a character profile of the teacher.

Thinking of a Concept/ Final Idea

In this task I will do a mind map of our initial ideas. 

Fashion- For our main character we will dress him in typical teenage clothes e.g. hoodie and joggers, this also suits his situation

Representation- We would like to portray a teenagers who have had a tragic event in their life that has made their personalities and actions bad but inside they still have there hidden talents that no one else sees as they are focused on all the mistakes they have done.

Institution- The institution for our film is film 4.

We had to adapt our opening scene to the lighting. We established that the lighting outside would benefit more than inside so the majority of our scene will be shot outside. We can now start to develop our ideas in detail, as we know our narrative and opening scene. Furthermore we had to change our age certificate to 12 as we felt that from our audience research that we would have more viewers. Also our scenes are suitable for 12 year olds. By doing this task we can get a good understanding and foundation for our opening scene. We also know what we need to develop on. Finally the name of our film is going to be "Masked".

Preliminary Task

For this task I am going to make a short film to get some initial experience in cameras

180 Degree shot- This is where the position of the camera stays in the arc pf 180 degrees and swaps from person to person
Shot/Reverse shot- This is when the camera is placed so you can see two individual same perceptives of each other, typically over the shoulder
Match on action shot- This happens when the editor cuts to the next shot from the first shot e.g. Someone places there hand on the door handle in the first shot and then for the second shot its the door being opened on the other side

Prelim Evaluation

From making this short video I have learnt that I have a better understanding of planning, filming and editing. Our planning was a simple story board which was simple yet effective. We included all three camera angles which are listed above. Our filming was done on a tripod which was how we made the camera so still, I think this should always be used in our video to make it easier to see by the audience, it also made filming less of a hassle. However we could have changed the background as there was too much light and it made our actors hard to see their facial expressions. Also the camera wasn't a very good quality so the picture and sound quality wasn't sufficient. Overall the movement and camera angles of the video was good. Our editing was fairly simple as we filmed it in short clips so we only had to put them together, this will be easier for future videos as it saves time. 

Representation In Films

For this task I am going to research the social groups and and then identify how they are represented by analysing three opening scenes.  The social group that I will be analysing will be teenagers. 


Learning Comments

Firstly I have learnt that there is a main trend in all of the films that I watched for representing a social group of teenagers. The main trend is that they seem to have a majority of teenagers and an individual that are represented in two completely opposite ways. The majority of the teenagers are represented as a very stereo typical view. They seem to dislike their parents, go to parties and seem to act with an attitude. this portrays most teenagers in a negative way. However they then use one individual that seems to portray the "perfect teenager". They seem to have their own style and have a good repetition. From this in my opening scene I am going to try and make my social group as positive as possible and not generalise. However I might consider incorporating the individual as they seem to portray teenagers in a better light.

Narrative Structure

For this task I am going to explore how directors and writers engage there audience in the first part of the film. I will explain this using the narrative theory. 





Learning Comments

From this task I have learnt the narrative elements and how I can apply them to my opening scene so that will give it more structure. If it has more structure the audience will be more intrigued into the film and enjoy it more. I will now do a checklist of elements I will add so it will be easier for me to develop:

-Equilibrium
-Character types (most should be included)
-Binary opposites which are shown obviously very different
-Signifiers
-Action codes which relate to the character and can be repeated (perhaps using a prop would be easier)
-Enigma (posing questions and then answering them)

Initial Ideas

These are just initial ideas in preparation for my opening scene.

Through talking to Katie and my teacher, we have come up with initial ideas. Firstly we watched the opening to Romeo and Juliet. We liked how the in the beginning there was a commentator who explained the narrative as its quick and easy to understand. The commentator was set out on tv and it zoomed in further towards her. We also talked about that we needed a inebitable ending to help with a basic narrative like the Titanic. We understood that we would have to have children as actors as its about a teen drama. We came up with a few people who might be able to participate in ur video. After the narrative talker we wanted an opening a bit like "Juno". this is were the main character is only present Lastly we talked about stop motioning, as we really like this effect and we know how to apply this. This is just ideas that we may consider developing in the future.

Romeo and Juliet Opening Scene

Juno Opening Scene

Example of Stop Motion 

Analyse Previous Students Work

For this task I will look at previous OCR students opening scenes to give me some inspiration to help create my own. I shall also discover grade boundaries and how grades alter from different pieces of work. This should make me aware of what I need to create in order to get the grade I want. 


The first opening scene was called “Wrong place, wrong time” was fairly poor in my opinion so I feel it was a low grade. Firstly, the camera movement they used for the opening scene was very poor. This made their scenes seem poorly done even though their ideas were good. The camera they used made it so you couldn’t hear the characters when they were talking, it made the slow motion look poorly edited and the picture quality was insufficient. However, the general miss en scene and script of the opening scene was good, as they seemed to delay the characters in beginning and slowly introduce the characters with speech and sound to let the audience know what was happening. Although I wouldn’t call it a horror genre, which is what they were suppose to be portraying. This is because there wasn’t any suspense or scary scenes- it seemed to be more of an action genre. As there was lots of running around and fighting, the fast music helped this along. Also the characters seemed awkward which was reflecting on their acting. The typography they used I feel was appropriate as it was informal as if it had been written- also they way it was edited was very good as it suited the theme. The music they used was also good however when quietening the music down so the character could speak it was poorly done. Furthermore, when the characters spoke you could hear noises in the background, which wasn’t part of the scene, which made it distracting. I felt that the material was very appropriate for teenagers as the characters were teenager. Also some of the scenes they were doing could relate to a teenager’s lifestyle and the setting they would live in. The setting also could have been more morbid as it was set in a busy centre, which didn’t make it scary. Overall I liked their ideas but I did not like how bad the camera was however they did use a range of camera shots.

The second opening scene was called “Captive” and I felt that it would have got the highest grades. I really enjoyed watching the opening scene to this as the editing and camera angles and movement was precise, the quality of the camera was amazing, the character was convincing and I felt scared and uneasy as it was the theme of horror. I felt that the suspense was built up so well but still kept the audience interested. The typography seemed to be scratched away and broken which made it appropriate. It was also in white, which seemed cold and it stood out. The camera made the graphics a very good quality and you could hear the character perfectly. The charter himself was so convincing you could really feel hat the character was feeling. The flashbacks were also a way to show the narrative and helped create flashing scenes, which created a natural thriller scene. The setting was good as it was a deserted place with on one around. It also had vandalism, which made the character vulnerable- it also suited the theme of horror. Lastly the make up on the character was very realistic and scary. The only area of improvement was in minor was a clearer narrative but I felt that if there was a bigger narrative then it would have had the big suspense that it did.

Learning Comments

From watching theses two videos which are opposite ends of the grade boundaries I now know what to avoid in my opening scene and what too include. Also how to apply my opening scenes and any other techniques I have found. I will write it out in bullet points to make it easier thread when looking back:

-Firstly it has to be a good quality camera in order to show my ideas clearly
-Variety of camera angles to show my ability of camera shots
-Setting has to be fully appropriate to my theme- teenage drama or it doesn't give the same effect.
-Characters have to be fairly convincing to the audience.
-Make up on the charaters should also be fairly professional
-Characters have to be heard at all times when speaking and the music needs to be quitened slowly
-Music needs to help set the theme
-Typography is clearer in white and can be linked to a theme
-Simple and clear narative so the audience understand but it doesn't get tedious

Title Research

For this task I had to research the typography in three different films in their opening scenes. 

Learning Comments

From looking at opening scenes I now have an in depth understanding of opening scenes as I have looked at three quality film openings. They all looked really professional so I would like to incorporate this into my work. In order to this I will create a checklist of what I need to include in my opening scene. Check list of what I need in an opening scene for the titles:

- Film Production/s
- Producers e.g. Music
- Designer e.g. Costume
- Main/ Actors
- General Cast
- Film Name
- Broadcasters

Audience Research

For this task I going to complete a quanitive and qualitative research to enable me to qualify audiences. 

Our survey that will ask people (Qualitative):
Create your own user feedback survey 

Our facts and figures memos (Quantitative):

Learning Comments

Firstly we waited until there was a sufficient amount of people that took the survey to make it as accurate as possible so we could get the precise information that would help us more for our opening scene. Overall we have learnt from out survey that we can use information from the audience to have a broad understanding of how we can make our opening scene suit them and specifically add what they want into our video.
From completing our data on our memos we found out that critic and audiences really rate coming of age films. the critics scored high on a popular film and audiences rated coming of age films very high. The cinema companies are also making money from these types of films. Furthermore the producers of these films are making an immense amount of money from these films. This is generally because a variety of people watch coming of age films. As coming of age films have younger based characters more young people tend to watch them, also younger people watch films more than older people. This also boots the number of younger people watching these films. I think that it was a good idea to conduct this research so that we understood that this films are increasing popular and because it was good to see clear figures  however I feel that the data didn't necessary apply to us as we are only making an opening scene.