Our Finished Opening Sequence

Assessment Evaluation Posts Q 3 & 6 (SJA Feb 10th)

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• Good attempts at making these two posts visual and some creativity in your ideas George
• Good to see moving gifs for Q. 3

EBI

• Q.3 Check your spelling in this post. I think you need to develop this by including images of movie posters, or screen grabs from 'like' films that have (films that are very similar to your) that have also been distributed by this company - include these and use these to explain WHY your film is also suited to the ethos of this company - annotate the movie posters / screen grabs to point out the similarities these have with your own
• Q. 6 - I REALLY think this post needs to be JING, or a similar screen cast George - you want to use 'technology' to show how you 'use technology' ... if you know what I mean. JING lends itself beautifully to this. There is other screen cast software that you can also use to 'talk through' what you do on the computer as you work. I want to see you using final cut in action, and talking through blogger / live type... and all the things that media involves. I really think this post in your evaluation needs development in order to reach higher ends of Level 4 (which is what you need to get your 'A' target)

Overall effort for Q.s 3 & 6: GD

Assessment 06/02/12

7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think I have improved greatly from my preliminary task to my actual media product, I believe after studying a evaluating other media products I have gained more knowledge and creativity to apply to my own work.




I believe I have become a better team worker, my team gets along and we all seem to work together fluidly. Furthermore I believe my use of technologies becomes better everyday, I'm not afraid to try out different things to enhance the product and believe my editing skills are thus becoming more efficient. I also believe that by studying and evaluating other media products of the same genre I have gained a greater understanding or media terminology and applying it. I believe I can now use cinematography, editing, mise en scene and sound to effectively create the right mood and atmosphere for my product.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of an Opening Sequence


-Slow Paced Editing
In an opening sequence the editing tends to be quite slow paced in order to maintain an equilibrium. The fact that it is slow means it shows a relaxed normal state.
-Establishment of Setting/Mood
Opening Sequences often include big establishing shots of the setting so the audience can get a feel for the mood and location of the film.

This is the opening sequence to 'The Shining' it includes long establishing shots of an almost empty but serene area. The camera tracks along with a car indicating its importance, suggesting to the audience the driver could be an important character. The opening sequence also contains slow paced editing to maintain equilibrium.

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This is an establishing shot from our opening sequence, it represents the grey dismal setting but maintains equilibrium. However it does not track along, but a character is centered suggesting to the audience his importance in the film.
-Logos and Titles
Opening Sequences always include titles and logos of the distributing/production companies, the cast and the crew. They always tend to follow the order:
-Distributing Company
-Production Company
-Cast (Most Important to Least Important)
-Crew (Least Important to Most Important)
-Main Title

The order of titles for 'The Sixth Sense' opening sequence.

Order of titles for my own opening sequence following the conventions of an opening sequence.

Conventions of a Thriller Film
My media product generally develops the conventions of thriller films rather than challenging them. The mise en scene is very typical of a thriller film. The setting is quite urban and grey, you can imagine crimes being committed there. The lighting is very low-key, it may be set during the day, but the lack of bright colours brings out the darkness of the scene.

Comparison between our film and another similar thriller 'Taken', Both actors are similar in the way they dress in dark clothes and they both have similar stances, furthermore both settings seem to be quite dull and dark. 

However the first scene is set in a middle class house, which doesn't really follow the conventions apart from the fact that it is a crime scene. The cinematography of our media product follows the general conventions of a thriller, we use a lot of extreme close ups to reveal clues and we have framed a lot of our shots in such a way that it appears someone is actually there, watching what is going on.


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 The editing of our thriller starts of slow and gradually gets faster as it reaches a climatic point, where something is revealed. This is a common technique used in thriller films to build tension. The sound of our thriller opening sequence is also typical of a thriller, it features long ominous tones and swoosh noises, the audience should be wondering whether sounds are diegetic or not.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

What kind of media institution might distribute my

View more presentations from GeorgeBlewitt.

Assessment 23/1/12 LFE

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• George you have attempted all of the posts that we have asked you to do so this is good.
• You have made a good discussion about your target audience using the visual aid of Prezi, you may be able to develop these ideas a little bit further
• You have an extensive list of media technologies that you have used

EBI

• Think about how you challenge the steroetypes of gender, it is not enough to just say that you do. What have you done or shown that challenges them?
• Whilst you have a very good list of media technologies you have used, you now need to turn that list of bullet points into a more visual and interesting post. You could create a Jing presentation showing how you have used these media technologies. Also remember the use of Blogger in your list. Think about how the use of these technologies have helped you.
• You now need to build on your posts and add more detail as well as making them more visual.

Grade: IN (these are drafts and with some work they can become good posts)

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

As our opening sequence is part of a thriller film, we have assumed that most of the audience members will be male, from teenagers to middle aged. Because of this we have made the cast mostly male. The main character is male and the audience will aspire to be like him. The male lead will be capable of violence and action, these attributes will attract the male audience, especially the younger teenagers who will see the character as a role model. The older male audience members will be enticed by the complex story line, with twists and turns. We have catered for most social classes in this film, we have included both middle and working classes and have both challenged and reinforced the stereotypes. For middle class, we have challenged the stereotypes of middle class families being perfect, by giving the family a dark history. We have also challenged the stereotype that the working class are criminals. Other than this we have mainly reinforced their stereotypes, such as their houses and areas.

We based our main character on other successful main characters from other thrillers such as Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson in Taken) and Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper in Limitless). We made Mark a strong, intelligent and efficient man, who is capable of violence. This will help address the majority of the male audience by having a main character they aspire to be like. 

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

Technologies Used

Effects we have used

• Fast/Slow/Reverse
• Transitions
• Equaliser
• Rerverberation
• Adjust colours
• Ghost Trail

Colour Adjustment
We used colour adjustment in the majority of our clips to create a darker and gloomier setting. Furthermore the obvious contrast between dark and light really represents the factions of our product.


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Equaliser
We equalised the sound by adding a high pass filter to make the dialogue sound as though it was playing on an answer machine. By doing this it represent some of the distorted story.

Here is an example of voices on a telephone, the way we acheived this was by adding a high pass filiter, boosting the higher frequencies and cancelling out the lower bass frequencies. This gives the audio a high pitch telephone like feel.

Ghost Trail 
We used gjost trail to create a disorientated first person perspective. This make the audience feel uncertain about the setting.


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4. Who would be the audience to your media product?

Who would be the audience to our media product? on Prezi

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Annotations video to show how our media product represents social groups.