The document discusses the filmmaker's process in creating a film opening, including attracting their audience, the technologies they learned, and reflections on their preliminary work and progression. To attract the audience, they used tension, conventions of the war genre, and interesting characters. They learned how to use a Panasonic camcorder, Final Cut Pro, LiveType, and Photoshop. Working alone allowed them more control over the project compared to working in a group. Time management and adjusting to changes were important lessons learned.

1. Evaluation Questions
5-7

2. How did you attract your
audience/address your
audience?
• In my Opening the way I attracted my audience is to build
tension, use of mise en scene and conventions of the war
genre. The composition and use of shots was one of the main
focuses I wanted to include in my opening, if the shots are
pleasing to the eye and are professional people will appreciate
it and believe that it is a professional product.-
• Using interesting characters so that the audience will feel for
them and be concerned about the characters situation in the
opening and to keep the audience interested and wanting to
know how the character got in the situation and what
happens to him. Having that attachment makes the audience
want to know more about them.

3. What have I learnt about
technologies from the process
of constructing this product?
• When making my media product I have learnt a lot about
different technologies to create a successful media product. I
filmed my opening using a High Definition Panasonic SD900
with a Rode Video Mic on a Velbon DV-7000. This was the first
project I have made with my new camcorder. The software
that I worked with were Final Cut Pro, LiveType and
Photoshop. Final Cut Pro and LiveType were programmes I
Wasn’t familiar with however by the end of the post
production I have learnt a lot about how to use the
programmes.

4. I have used Photoshop a lot and for the project I decided to
create a official film poster that I printed out and put up in
my school to create awareness of my project. The process I
went through to create it is to edit the photo with the
desired effects then to add Title, Credit block, tag line and
star system. For more details see blog entry “Official Poster”.
Final Cut Pro was enjoyable to use, I had used Final Cut
Express during the preliminary however because I was in
a group I didn’t have full opportunity to explore it. The
mac I was working on had Final Cut Pro, Everything that I
did to make the final media product I learnt during the
process of editing, for further details see blog entry “In
the editing room with Jordan Reynolds”.
Again with Final Cut Pro, LiveType was a programme
that I was not familiar with, using Live type I created
the title and quote at the end of the opening. For
more information on the process go to blog entry “In
the editing room with Jordan Reynolds.

5. Looking Back on the
preliminary task , what do you
feel like you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full
product?

6. Pre-Production
Planning and idea stage is very important when setting out to make an opening of a film.
When it comes to the ideas and visuals of what I want I find it easy to imagine what I what
and how I want something to look like in my head then to write it down. Everything went
well with the planning however once it got to production actors that I casted we unable to
do the shoot, the problems this posed was the original idea had to be cut and only a section
of what I wanted to do was possible. It was a difficult situation because I was left having to
change the whole opening redoing storyboards and cutting parts which I had intended to
do. So from the original idea I kept a certain part which was still possible but I had to create
a scene which would fit in and would work. The idea I had was simple, cutaway from the
story to a small set up of props old newspapers etc. which would focus just on the credit
side of the opening. What I have learnt from this stage is to be prepared to make
adjustments and compromise on the original idea, if I was to do this again I would make
sure that there is something that is smaller.
Working On my Own was enjoyable and much more relaxing. Looking at some of the
groups in my media class that were in a team some did not cope very well and people
would disagree with each other argue which would use up time and slow them
down, the reason I did not want to work in the group is because everyone needs even
input. When making a film everyone has a job role and that is what part they play
however working as a group on this project everyone had to have even responsibilities
and had to all agree on every stage of making the opening film. What I have learnt is
that it is a lot better working on your own because you still have to work with a team of
people, there still needs to be a cast of actors and a small crew, so there still is that
element of team work and the whole process was much more realistic like working on a
actual production.

7. Time Management is very important because deadlines have to be met and
without it everything would collapse. I kept to my schedule it was easy to meet
each target .
Production
Camera work was a great experience. I have made a short before so it was
exciting to get back to filming. When I film the most important thing is not only
the performance of the actor is what I want but that the shot is well framed and
looks pleasing to the eye. Composition for me is very important I would use the
rule of thirds grid to make sure each shot was what I wanted. With a good tripod
and a steady hand panning was smooth and rewarding. When it comes to camera
work I did very well and feel like I achieved what I set out to do.
Lighting and weather conditions the lighting needed on the day needed to be
good so I could film in total focus and end up with a clear sharp picture, I picked a
slightly overcast day because i was going to saturate the footage I thought if I pick
a slightly saturated day it would help to see what it looked like and to get the
actor in the right state of mind and feel more real for them so he could perform
properly. Luckily once I finished shooting it started to rain so I done it just in time.
Mise en Scene was very important and a process I took very seriously, every
element was taken with a great sense of care and detail. Refer to Evaluation
Question one.

8. • Post production
• The final stage and seeing everything come
together, again was a very rewarding process in which I
learnt a lot in terms of the programmes I used to edit
and create the final media product. Refer to “In the
editing room with Jordan Reynolds” for more
information. Time management was very tight due to the
demands of over subjects however I managed to
complete everything within the time limit. Overall to sum
up the process it has been a great learning curve and an
enjoyable experience creating the media product, I hope
you enjoyed the final product
• Jordan Reynolds