Media Evaluation

Of Conscience Film
Opening
By George Turner

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?
The film industry divides film into genres and these genres can then
further separate into Sub-genres or Hybrids. The reason this was of
importance is we had to research these genres in order to find the
conventions that we can include in our film opening because otherwise the
audience would not recognise the genre and would be left confused. In
addition to this we researched Hybrid genres because our audience survey
told us that our predicted audience would want more psychological
conventions.
Our media product uses the conventions of a war (thriller) film to explore
the nature of warfare in World War Two and how it effects the subject today.
Most conventional war films focus on the survival and sacrifice of a group of
soldiers within a battle usually within where the odds are stacked against
them. This is present in the film saving private Ryan especially the beach
scene. We used this convention so that the audience would recognise the
repetition of a soldier without any help. However we subverted these
conventions by only having the film focus on one soldier. This is because
we felt that while doing our research families felt that their loved ones who
went to war are just presented as a death rate. This is present in Saving
Private Ryan because of the vast amount of death while following one
character. To explore our protagonists loneliness and isolation we singled
him out from any other character in the opening. The use of PTSD provided
a development in the use of this convention and allowed a more
psychological war thriller compared to the usual war film we had seen in our
research. This change allowed for our audience to have a unique viewing
experience because they were provided the repetition of the soldier having
the odds put against him from a war thriller however still subverts the
mainstream conventions by making this a hybrid genre with a psychological
thriller.
Furthermore I wanted to understand how the director and production team
used the mise en scene to set a time period and tell the characters story. I
looked at a variety of war films including short films because I wanted to see
how they achieved the correct mise en scene with a lower budget, which is
more realistic to what we as a group had. The conventions of mise en scene

We used a similar shot as Saving Private Ryan.

However we wanted to present the character as
isolated therefore we had the character by himself.

The costume was again based off Saving Private

Ryan as well as the other short film I analyzed.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?
Another aspect we wanted to focus on from our research is the idea of it being
a bit surreal and psychological. This is because we wanted the events to take
place in the characters mind and this meant we had to look at psychological
thrillers and how they used conventions to tell a story. The aspects we
eventually found were the use of video editing to make the frame shake and
jitter which we used when our opening became surreal. To find ways in which
thrillers used this technique I looked at film openings like Seven and some
television series such as Whitechapel and American Horror Story. This is
because these media products uses this jittery look to connote the
psychological impact. Furthermore the Television show Whitechapel uses
intense flashbacks to create scenes in which ninety percent of the action takes
place. I wanted to use this to show PTSD because it worked to show a panic
attack in the television program. The flashbacks must share similar editing
techniques because this is a connotation of psychological mental damage of the
characters within it. I wanted to use the familiarity of this technique to create a
mentally damaged character and used the conventions of fast paced editing to
create an intense flashback scene.

This is an example of a snapshot from

seven. This fast editing style was
incorporated into our flashbacks.

Moreover these flashbacks were often accompanied by ambient sound. These

ambient sounds are harsh and and also are used to build up to a flash back. For
example in the opening of Se7en the soundtrack contains vast amounts of
these ambient sounds when ever sharp object or fast flashes occur. This means
that ambient sound can be linked to danger in this sequence. If I use this
These snapshots are from White chapel.
This included high color corrections,
convention it creates repetition within the opening , this means that the
flashing and fast editing. These conventions
audience can link the conventions together. The reason this is is useful is
are common when its to do with the mind
because the repetition creates tension because the an ambient makes the
and thrillers
that is why
used them.
Lastly
convention
wewe
watched
had in the openings
audience expect danger within our sequence. However we
didasubvert
the that most of the
consisted
ofwe
mystery
conventions of the soundtrack from psychological thrillers
because
had in order to build suspense. This was shown across all thrillers I
looked
at. ToI wanted
achieve this we had our younger characters identity almost hidden for
mixed these ambient sounds with an uplifting sound track
because
entire the
opening
some music to relate to the era of the flashbacks and tothe
contrast
actionand
on even when he was in shot it was jittery and hard to see. This
convention
is usually used for the for the antagonist- to hide his/hers identity
screen. This created contrapuntal sound because the non
diegetic soundtrack
however
goes against the diegetic world presented on screen. This
is usedwe
in subverted
films such these conventions by having the antagonist the victim of the
protagonists actions, this causes a haunting within his head. Usually the protagonist
as Reservoir Dogs to create tension.
would be the victim of someone else's actions however this time its because of his
own. We used the inter texuality of television genre and film genre to create
something unique because we took the editing from ITVs Whitechapel and placed in

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?
The camera work was based off a film I have watched, All Quiet on the
Western Front. The war film used very old filming techniques. I further
wanted to incorporate this by having more static shots where the
camera did not shake. We see this in films set in this time period
because it is how they were shot back then. This convention is in war
films because it distinguishes the build up to action from action. In our
film it was very important because the shots we wanted needed to
move and follow the character. For example the dolly shot had to stay
smooth otherwise the idea that the audience is following him calmly
would be ruined if the camera started to shake therefore destroying the
build up. This is because we found that the convention of a handheld
camera is only used when action takes place. This is because the shaky
camera contrasts to the rest of the scene making the action stand out
therefore adding to the surrealism of the scene
taking place.
found
However
for theWe
house
explosion I wanted the camera to be still and I would
this in action sequences from Saving Private make
Ryan,it which
used
the
look handheld and react to the explosion in post because then I
camera to further intensifies the action on screen.
would have more control over the effect instead of trying to fit it in with the
handheld shake, which is very limited. The explosion was the climax of our
opening because we wanted to upset the equilibrium without upsetting the
storyline by say, killing someone. This upsets the usual conventions for
thriller in general because usually the openings are slower and dont
contain much action so there is a build up of tension slowly. However our
film zig zags up and down because this is how we felt the protagonists life
would be because of the sudden flash backs.
We also used high contrast levels similar to what I saw in the World War
Two short film I watched for inspiration and techniques. This is because for
the the older character scenes we wanted a dark and gloomy feel providing
suspense because of the mystery in the shadows. These also would show a
distinct difference to the flash backs which have a high lit glow and blur to
create a surreal effect. This technique is usually used in psychological
thrillers however because we wanted a psychological feel I am challenging
the conventions a of a war film and blending the two genres techniques
together.
The camera was then used again to create emotion through fear by getting
an extreme close up, which contrasted to the other shots making this part

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?
The mise en scene was very important to this film because we were not
only traveling back in time but were exploring someone in the present day
at the same time. This meant that we had to find locations that looked the
part depending on which character was on screen. I went into great detail
finding props and locations that were accessible but still played the part.
In fact we bought eighty ponds worth of props including a Thompson
replica BB gun which I then had to masking tape and paint so that it
wasnt bright orange. Although this gun is only on screen for roughly six
seconds I felt that it had to be right because it is the opening shot of the
film and this is where the audience like it or hate it.
The lighting of the scenes inside the house is all low key because a
convention I found in is thrillers in general was that the contrasting
shadows provide visual mystery within the opening. This creates a hook to
capture the audience. However we did subvert the convention of low
saturation in our opening shot which had vivid colors compared to Saving
Private Ryan which had high contrast and low saturation. This meant that
the scene stood out compared to our other scenes and packed more of a
punch. We managed to pull off the idea that the older man was in the
present day by having an age difference that was believable. This worked
because within the mise en scene we had wheelchair and modern
equipment to support our character in the present day this overall allowed
for the ideas to be pushed further.
As for the rest of the film most of the props were already provided because
I used my grandparents house even though scouting location was not my
job. This saved us time in getting the mise en scene together because the
location was a typical ready made elderly persons home. This including
pictures of grandchildren, photo frames and old books. These all added
depth within our scene. These props gave the actor space to interact with
instead of randomly moving where I said, this made the scene feel more
natural because he had motives within his movements. The scene also
tells its own story by having objects surrounding him, furthermore because
they are in focus it shows he's surrounded by his past and cant move on to

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?
Our opening sequence didnt have a specific
soundtrack to fit the film because we didnt want
our opening to be based of the track like a
Tarantino scene. This is because our music had
to be edited in order to establish pacing. This is
because my ambiguous soundtrack didnt help
the already terrible pacing that the first draft
suffered. This is because in thrillers I have
watched the music marks the moment in a film
and further establishes pacing. The reason I
wanted to use this conventions because pacing
allows the audience to follow the opening more
easily.
In order to find a soundtrack that contrasted our
film but still was relatable to the time period Katy
and I set to work looking across the web for
1940s songs. The reason we looked at songs
from the 1940s is because some of them were
very upbeat and I wanted the music to contrast
the eerie feel. This is a technique subverts the
conventions of music in war films because its
used in more modern thrillers and isn't often
seen within war films because they were made
before this technique was used. To further
intensify the action in a scene when the danger
approaches I have my character walk away from
the music causing it to be drowned out by the
siren. This creates moment when the music is
suddenly cuts off causing a marked moment of
silence in the sound track.
The reason the music worked so well is because
of the juxtaposition between what is seen and
heard. Furthermore the use of the explosion to
cut of the sound intensifies the climax in the film
because the music and ambient sounds build up

You can see where the

music and sound effects
climax and where it goes
quiet. I have zoomed in
below to show how we
used this convention to
create tension at certain
points. I used a lot of
crossfades to mix the
music to where it fitted
best. This is the ambient
sounds and this is the
music.

How does you media product represent particular social groups?

Our particular social group would be veterans from World war two. This older
generation is presented as traumatized by the experience of the second world war.
This meant that we wanted the makeup to make him look exhausted and old
because we wanted these flash backs to of drained the character. The bland plain
clothes present the our character as dark and enclosed. This presents the
generation as broken however keeps a strong face to cope with their struggle. This
defied the conventions because usually the male lead it presented as the strong
character within the film however our character is much more helpless because of
his mental battle with his conscience over what he did in the war. To show this
helplessness as a character I blocked out my actors movements and told him to
move as if he was always in pain. In addition to this the camera moved around
him from high angles because from what I learnt in my research: high angles show
helplessness and lack of control. I used high angles to shoot every shot of my older
The costume was very simple because we wanted him just character
to have darker
clothingI wanted to present this older man as helpless.
because
to reflect a sense of depression caused by the constant stress of PTSD. Often in
thrillers the antagonist is dressed in dark clothing because we his the source of evil.
However the source of our protagonists pain is caused by himself. This results in
him also being presented as the antagonist through the dark clothing. We did this
because we wanted to subvert the conventions of a war thriller by having the friend
and foe on the within the same person linking in to the psychological twist. The
collar would reflect that he tries to stay civilized but the rest of the jumper
connotes he depression taking over him as a character/person in the film. Our
character interacts with various props including a book representing his effort to
carry on his traditions and way of life the best he can but the lighting of our scene
shows that the danger of his past is catching up. The camera is mostly shot in high
angles to represent the social group as weak because of the danger they face.
Furthermore the older generation are usually seen as wiser and in control however
our character challenges those conventions in film because he doesn't understand
he can only be to the mercy of his condition. However our protagonist still has an
able body so doesnt link to the stereotype that he needs help moving around his
home with careers etc but still is in need of help mentally. We chose a white male
because although some may perceive it as racist I believe that people in England
will recognize him as a soldier more easily if he was white compared to the Indian
soldiers who fought alongside the British in World War Two because of the British
Empire.

What media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The main distributing companies in the UK are:
- BBC, ITV, UK Film Council, Film Four and
Vertigo Films.
These companies are the people who get our film
seen by people in cinemas and eventually discs or
streaming. So, if our opening was to continue into
an actual short film or a feature film we would need
backing from one of these companies to distribute
our film to the public and critics. To choose a
company we must first research the companies
preferred genre to distribute. This is because each
company has the genre they are associated with.
Although the lines between genre are becoming
blurred because of films like this with Hybrid genres
the company still has to market it as a genre
because its what people want before deciding
whether or not to watch the film. In terms of
features, a distributor is generally an organisation
who handles the theatrical release of a film in a
particular country as well as the marketing and
circulation of films for home viewing (DVD, VideoAnother option for our film is that it could be made into a television
On-Demand, Download, Television etc). Often
series. I would strongly consider this after the close links to television
feature films have different distributors representing
this film has and due to the recent success of shows like Downton Abby I
them in different territories and different distributors
believe that this time zone is a strong possibility that our film holds the
handling the home-viewing circulation. Independent
aspects for a short three part thriller series much like the show White
film distribution in the UK is generally managed by
chapel this was based off.
indie distributors such as Metrodome, Optimum
Releasing and Momentum.
The other alternative for our film is using the internet to broadcast our
short film on the web. This would involve using social media to promote
However our film could not just become film for
our product and uploading it onto websites like YouTube and Vimeo. The
the pubic because we could go independent and advantages of this is that the audience and viewing possibilities are
enter film festivals around the world. This could
almost endless because of the extent the web has expanded.
help us as new film makers because we could
Furthermore the we could hit our target audience (15-25) because they
gain awards and credit for the making of this film. are most likely to be viewing these video through the internet. However

What media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The company I would choose is the UK Film Council. This
is because the company has a near thousand films under
its belt and they work closely with the BFI (British Film
institution). This would be good for us because I have
worked with this company before and know them, which
means we could easily contact and show our opening to
them compared to the BBC which is much larger and
harder to contact. This company also holds connections to
film festivals and I think that our film will be better shown
to other film makers because they would understand the
conventions we were challenging and may enjoy it more
than the public. Furthermore these companies allow the
flexibility to distribute the media as a television show for
the BBC and or a short film for the BFI/UK Film council.
This flexibility allows us to create more than just a film on
the big screen and would help market the film with
shorter episodes for a web series or a television series.

Furthermore the UK Film council wants to export internationally meaning

that our film could be seen all over the world. This company supports
upcoming filmmakers, which is perfect for us because it wont be tough to
get in. Furthermore because our film is targeted at the British market due
to popular media like Downton Abby being viewed by mainly British people
we feel that because of the time period it would be better for national
viewers compared to international. This is perfect for UK Film Council
because they have a wide range of local connections. I believe that if the
public did like it we could also adapt the the story to fit a television series
because I think this story has so much room for rapid storyline
development. For example marvel has many television productions to link
in with their whole universe that people interact with on a daily bases.
This film has the potential to be a feature film because of the two
entangled storylines provide a unique narrative to be explored. The flash
backs provide a gritty psychological feel to a war thriller, which if given a
bigger budget could be prolonged into a storyline that can explain why the
older gentleman is in so much distress. This mystery within the storyline
creates the tension especially if the flashbacks are unexpected. However I
think it would be better to build up to a feature with inter series, television
shows and short films to build an audience around our product because it
allows the interaction that the modern viewer wants.

I want this flexibility because our target audience is not

just fixed to a television they are always looking for ways
to interact with the media and find new easy ways to
access it. Therefore if we could only export the media as
a film and not have the power to create many different
forms of media to access we would start to lose our
audience because our audience wants interactive media.
This would mean that instead of just releasing a trailer
and a poster I would want a Facebook and twitter page
along side a Snapchat account because from what I have
learnt about expansion I can tell that Snapchat can access
millions
of viewers
by simply
putting
snap
on the
story
This image
is a snapchat
story
in use aby
a video
game
company. The idea is that
of
theshare
account.
Furthermore
allows
our film
would
they
10-15
seconds of this
footage
teasing
their
audience of millions over the
become
more interactive
and would
become
more
app. Although
it has not been
done by
a film company
I reckon it would be a great
sharable
compared
toadvantage
the standard
trailer, the advertising techniques.
idea to use
this to an
andposter
try toand
modernize
which are still important to the marketing of the film.

What media institution might distribute your media product and why?
This is a film poster from one of my favorite
films. I love this film poster because it not only
captures the film but also sells it. This is very
important to getting audiences wanting to
watch our film. There is always a clear line
between promotion and artistic value because
otherwise the audience may become confused.
Explosion represents the action surrounding the
action packed super hero. This sells the story
because the audience expect action from these
films. In addition to the flames its also the
shape. I want to use these signifiers in our film
poster.
The building within the background shows a
layer of mystery because nothing is reveled
furthermore the smoke sets the tone of the film.
I want to use the idea of mystery in our film
poster to set the tone of the film.
Bold text creates a large striking title that an
audience would remember because of the links
between Dark and the colour of the poster.
List of actors who star in the film in the slightly
large text because it may be a selling point.
Credit block is essential for providing relevant
information on who made the film without
obscuring the title or image. I will have to
include this in my poster in order for it to look
the part even though we dont have a lot of
people compared to this film.

What media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Film posters will be important to selling our film to the public
and critics because it links to the tone and style of the film.
Furthermore it gives our audience a taste of what they can
expect from the film, the poster also reflects the genre and story
in the film and this is one way we can attract our audience.
Initially I gave the task to Mariella because I was pressed for
time and she could use Photoshop. While on shoot we decided
to take some cameo shots of the younger character because we
felt that he had the potential to be the main character. We
wanted to capture the desperation of the characters. We wanted
to capture the tone of the film with the uniform and the props,
we also wanted to keep the familiarity of the text used in our
opening.
As an initial improvement I think we should have got more
cameo shots of Fraser but just had no time. Mariella managed
to take this brilliant picture of our character looking fearful and
mysterious. This was important to match the tone of our film
through choice of colors and positioning. Mariella made the
character central to the poster which links to the ideas behind
the film. This is important so whoever looks at the poster can
immediately identify the tone and ideas behind it.
In addition the poster provides a lot of mystery because the
location is ambiguous and doesn't reveal a story. This did take
the sense of mystery I wanted however I wanted to make some
improvements so I made my own film poster because I now had
the time.
This was our first poster. I loved the photo and the use of a
vignette to focus in on the character. The poster also includes
most of the promotional material making it possible to sell our
film as a feature. However the people I have shown it to dont
believe that this film poster provides the correct elements of a
real film poster. This was because of several reasons, to begin

What media institution might distribute your media product and why?
This is my version of the poster used the same image. I used
the same information and promotional material from the
previous poster and set to work creating a more metaphorical
meaning behind the poster. This was because I didnt like the
way that the other film poster failed to push the mystery
forward. To further add a sense of mystery I added higher levels
of contrast because we used the same technique within the film
so I thought it would make sense to transfer that across to the
film poster.
I wanted to show the dread surrounding the younger character
while still having the psychological aspect present . I used a
different background to give a selection of colours which
blended with the red. I created a textured layer to show the
audience the time period because of the worn look. This is to
present the character as worn down much like the older
character. I further used the red to associate death or danger,
which is present throughout out thriller. The red and black
mixed nicely with the yellow and the green because of the
strong contrast it created.
I made the text smaller in this version because in our
improvements for the actual opening we had to have smaller
text because we believed that it was to in our face. I thought I
would apply this to our poster because it is a similar principle. I
again adapted the text to add a the psychological aspect which
I didn'tt do to the other titles because I wanted the main film
title to stand out. These posters will be both digital and physical
to inform people about our film.
The reason I zoomed in with the image is because I wanted the
Home guard symbol to be visible to set the time period. This
would allow a viewer to already link the poster to a genre and a
time period. I further used the zoom to cut out unnecessary
space so that it doesnt take away from the emotion.

Who would be the audience for your media product

Age: Our audience would have been expected to be an
older generation because of the relatable time setting.
However because of the added psychological aspect to
the film it attracts a much larger younger audience
ranging from teenagers up to young adults. This may
be because of the people who we informed of our film
due to it being rare that I have a friend above fifty. This
may of caused our target audience to change slightly
and we should of spent more time initially thinking
about who watches these films. This is because
questionnaires on the web may not of suited the
generation we wanted to access. This means that the
film managed to keep an audience who I thought
wouldnt be as interested as the older generation.
However we have setup another questionnaire for after
the film because we wondered if our audience has
changed from an older audience to a younger one
because of the originality surrounding our film. Due to
the audience being this young I believe that the rating
of the film would be fifteen because of the violence
that could be put into it. For example the drowning
scene includes a graphic representation of the water
boarding used by the Japanese in World War Two.

These images show the age rating picked

because it would be displayed to the audience so
that this can help them decide whether or not to
watch the film. This links to the waterboarding
scene which is the reason why the the film could
be violent if continued.
This photo shows
the ages of the
people who to the
survey (16-21 and
22-30) . This
Race: The influence of the film on the audience when
means that the
helping them understand PTSD and the effects of war
people who took
would mean that the race of the audience would be
the survey were
most likely from UK. This is because they may feel
younger than
patriotic about the country and may go to see the film
expected.
because the character is apart of the British army. For
Furthermore I think
Gender: Our
films
could relate
be dominated
example
people
in audience
England could
to the
we should of paid
by males because
the action
andcountries
interest in
character
the mostof
because
of the
more attention to
war. It is alsoinbecause
War one
Two could
saw a argue
lot of that
involvement
the war.World
However
Strong violence, swearing frequently, discriminatory
young
menallied
thrown
into battle.
These
males
could behavior and sexual references are all elements that are the gender of our
any
of the
countries
maybe
even
the enemy
audience because
relaterelate
to thebecause
strugglethey
in their
ownoflives
and
could
would
all suffered
similar
expected from a fifteen. I think these could be present in we didnt have a
connectissues.
with the character. However women
mental
our film because of the time zone the flashbacks are set question relating to
could show the same interest.
in and the desperate men that are shown within these
that.

How did you attract and address your audience?

To draw our audience in we used a build up of guns
and explosions to signify danger before the opening
shot even commences. This anticipation creates
mystery and suspense and uses sound bridges to
connect the sound to the first image. We used the
sound to create a battlefield without having to have
an actual battle taking place. This use of action to
open a thriller is used a lot in psychological thrillers
and sometimes war films because it shows the
character is struggling to even sleep. This then
presents the character as weak right from the start
of the film and immediately isnt what the audience
expect. Starting the opening with this first flashback
creates action, which is expected from a war thriller.
In addition to this the use of a flashback means that
the psychological aspect is clear from the start
which was the mix of genres our audience wanted
from our serve so we delivered.
The first scene in the house is where the older
character is first introduced to our audience his
opening shots raise a lot of questions, which could
be answered later on in the film therefore keeping
them gripped throughout the opening. The use of
the wide shot on the bed represents his loneliness
and isolation of the character. This mixed with the
close ups allow the audience to feel sympathy for
the character. This means the audience will care
more for him as the opening goes on. This means
the audience will stay to see what happens to him
therefore creating a hook that keeps the audience
gripped.
Our narrative was gripping because of the
interesting idea that this character has a continued
battle that nobody knows about. This idea is
supported by the fact that no other character is

Overall I think the use of sound, camera and edit

was all used successfully in unison to create a
gripping and interesting opening.

How did you attract and address your audience?

We used constant criticism from the internet to help with the making of this film This is because we
wanted honest and constant feedback to further improve our film therefore allowing us to address our
audiences concerns and needs. We used social media to locate a target audience (15-25) and sent them links
to both the current version of the film and the survey. This then further allowed for use to understand what our
audience wanted from the film helping us improve it. Instead of just having tick boxes we found the free type
text box useful to gain valuable information in terms of improvements because the user could then provide a
full explanation instead of just having loads of the same answer. I further promoted the survey to anyone who
watched the final film to see if we had achieved our improvements from previous drafts. We did have mixed
responses, which meant that it was tricky when it came down to what to take out or include because with such
a range of feedback we were unsure how to use improvements in our opening and just had to leave it out for
example Longer opening wasnt a possible goal because our film opening couldn't be more than two minutes.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?
The equipment side of things were not something that I was new to
as I use the equipment in my films I make outside of school. This did
give our group an advantage because I knew how to get the shots I
wanted instead if going back to class room then being told we had to
re-shoot. Furthermore the equipment we used was all mine including
the camera, reflectors and tripod. However a the problem I did still
have is that my group were used to normal tripod shots where the
camera is dead still. I noticed this in the continuity task when I
wasnt behind the camera. This was a problem because they would
often just place it on the tripod and then when it came to moving the
camera to follow a character the camera would jerk. The problem
with this is our camera movements In our older characters scenes
had to be smooth so that they contrasted the flashbacks. So, to
improve from our continuity task I decided that I would be the main
camera man along with the director role. This is because I knew my
equipment the best therefore can get the best result and to further
improve our camera work we did more test shots along with using
another piece of equipment in my arsenal: the X grip. This allowed
our camera to be smoother in the shots we wanted to be free hand
because we weren't holding the camera body directly.
Another challenge I faced was that our camera movement was very
dramatic because in an actual production we would of used a crane
and a dolly track to create these dramatic shots. However we didnt
have access to these sources of equipment therefore we had to fake
it. In order to do this I had to really get creative with camera
techniques. For example for the dolly shot I had to put Mariella in a
wheel chair holding the camera while I pushed her to track Fraser. To
get the shots that we were happy with we did each shot a minimum
of three times making it longer to edit for me however did avoid a
re-shoot. This was an improvement from the preliminary task
because we hardly did more than one or two takes per shot making
them sloppy and filled with bad camera work.

These are the two shots used in the film that

required our dolly shot improvisation with the
wheelchair. I the film the worked well and built
up tension.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?
The editing was a lot longer than the preliminary task because it
involved more footage than before. I learnt that organisation was
important from this because I had to edit quickly and didn'tt have
time to be going trough seventy takes to find the one I wanted.
The editing was important to our film because it involved getting
the tone across and further was important to get the visual effects
in place. To achieve this I had to research visual effects and how the
editors create the pacing of the film and the war look. I had to take
these editing techniques and apply them to my editing because it is
these techniques that can make our film have the feature film feel.
The pacing was a challenge in the editing because I didnt have the
music to match the clips to at first because we wanted the same
ambiguous soundtrack as the test shots. However we learnt that
the music was important to establish a pace to the film and I had to
learn how mix the music to create this pace with the song my little
sunshine and the ambiguous sound. This was a challenge at first
because I had never done this before but after some time it worked
well and then I matched the footage to the music.
The visual effects of the film were important in selling the damaged
mind of the soldier because this is also the climax of the film
opening and was very important to gripping the audience. However
I had never used After Effects before because it usually crashes and
deletes my work but I decided to give it a shot for this film with the
muzzle flash and the explosion. I learnt that After Effects used the
same basic principles of Photoshop. This was great for me because I
can use Photoshop because I have already learnt that in my free
time. This meant that I understood how to use layers and just
applied my knowledge of Photoshop to After Effects. I used about
seven layers to build up this effect because I had to create a mask
for the light to glow in, this would mean that the explosion would
come from inside the building. I further learnt about using pre
keyed elements such as the fragments the fly out of the house to
give the more 3D look. I had to use my knowledge of colour

This image shows a snapshot of After Effects

CS4 which I used to create the visual effects
in the film opening.

I had to also use my knowledge of key frames to make the screen

shake at certain points to make the shots stand out compared to
the rest of the opening. This image above shows one of the

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of

constructing this product?
The editing was a big part of our film because we kept having to
re-edit our film because another shot would work better that we
had there initially. Furthermore it revealed holes in our narrative
because the opening originally took place over a number of days
but after watching other film openings we didnt think that this
was suitable. This is why we cut out the shots from our
storyboard where the character walks across a field because in
editing it ruined the pace and didn't make sense that he was
magically outside then inside. It was this constant critical
analyses that allowed our film opening to grow and progress
further towards a feature opening.
This image of the timeline shows the constant use of sound
bridges in our film because I learnt that these are often used to
link a narrative together. This was useful because it meant that
we didn'tt have to include shots of our character walking to each
destination. Instead I just overlapped the sound. The timeline
further shows the distance between titles were spread out across
the opening because I learnt that film openings often start with
more titles and then they become less frequent. I tried my best to
re-create this acing because its the repetition that the audience
expect.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you

have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The improvements from our preliminary task to our final
product is outstanding and shows the full progression in
ambition and knowledge in the group. Our first ever project
together as a group lacked organisation and co-operation this
is because we had never worked together before and we didnt
know each others strengths and weaknesses. However after
some reflection and group discussions we quickly established
roles and went out to film the actual continuity task. We learnt
a lot form this task because we quickly realised that our
location is key because the location for our continuity task was
very limited. This was because of the narrow hallway which
caused a lot of problems when the actors had to move
because the corridor restricted them and it looked very
unnatural. However by the actual film opening we had a much
The continuity in movement also improved because in the
larger location that our actor could move around in more freely
continuity task our actor has the gun move from hand to hand
allowing more detailed blocking and natural movement.
making the audience become distracted from the tension build
up. The reason that this is important is because in real life
doesn'tt change it stays consistent which is why it has to on film
even with different takes. This proved challenging at first for our
actor but after I after blocking it was fine. This improved my
directing capabilities because I had to explain my ideas clearly
through a detailed storyboard and animatic because everyone
on set was not an experienced film maker.
My organisation skills had to improve form the first task because
I had to get four to five people in the dame place at once,
arrange transport for actors and crew, arrange the location, get
the equipment to the set and make sure that the film was
constantly being edited for the next week. This meant a lot of
list making and time keeping but eventually it all came together
as seen in my vlogs. This organisation was essential to the
production of our film because of the tight filming schedule we
had over the month of shooting.

This image is from our preliminary task, which shows the

problem of the space within the corridor. This shows the
improvement of character proxemics within the space in the
second picture.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you

have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In our preliminary task we tried to use close ups to
show the anger in our characters. Although we
understood what a close up could do we didnt yet
understand how to execute this professionally. This
meant that it lacked style and cut off the actors head
at the top create an uneven space between the top
and the bottom. This means that the neck of the
character is more visible than the characters face. The
reason this is a problem because it stops the
characters face becoming the center of the frame and
distracts the audience from the story. This had to be
improved by the final product because although in the
close ups in the actual film opening we still cut off his
head it was to create drama so that the audience
focus on his face. In addition to this we cut off both the
top and the bottom creating an even frame within the
composition. We improved our framing by the final
product because we kept our focus on the shot before
we hit record and while recording because in our
preliminary task I didnt feel that our focus was on the
camera work as much as it should have been.
This combined with the improved editing of the colour
correction and blur made a much needed
improvement to the film. This is because our colour
correction in the preliminary task didn'tt provide the
depth required to engage the audience . I learnt that
the colour correction is just the beginning when trying
to get the look of a feature film. The difference
between the two images in terms of colours is
incredible because I did a lot of experimenting with
elements such as blur and masks that allowed our
colours to progress and provide depth.
Furthermore the location in the background provided
much more depth compared to the blank walls in the

The images show the difference in the framing and editing

between the preliminary task and the final media product.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you

have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
The improvement to the actual titles was great
because when we first started looking at typography
we didnt want he text to just looked slapped on.
Instead we wanted the film to have text which had
more thought into it. Firstly the text in both out
preliminary tasks didnt for the bill because they were
just slapped onto the scene, however by the final
product we wanted a typewriter text to be typed on.
This proved to be too much of a challenge because it
distracted our audience from the film it self because it
took so long to actually get typed on screen.
To avoid the text being slapped on I used the same
effect that I did on the final title on all the other titles.
This meant that they still moved however I could fade
them in and out quickly without it taking control of the
scene. They first time I did it I had the text to big and it
still took away from the film and it lacked constancy. In
order to improve this I decreased the text size and
placed them consistently in the bottom left corner.
This meant that the audience knew where the text is if
they wanted to read it but it wont distract them from
the sequence. I leant loads about typography from
this.
Furthermore we went through various colours of the
text from yellow in the original edit to green then
white. The reason for these improvements is because
we learnt about our titles presence on the screen. This
was because in our research we focused too much on
the effects used to make the text be apart of the film
and not enough on text size and colours. This meant
that we had to do extra research while editing the film
because otherwise the text would have been too bold
in colour and size. Furthermore the positioning was not

The first image shows the text in its boldest form because the green
was used in this image. In addition the image shows the way that the
text originally was in the top right. This is what I meant when I say
thrown in their face. However by the end product the text had moved
to the bottom left with less green.