1. Kenya Bell
Question 7: Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In my preliminary task we did not do enough detailed research and planning before filming the scene,
this is where I have progressed for my final task. I made sure I researched as much as possible before
starting tofilm such as creating a paper storyboard, then an animatic storyboard, researching characters
etc.
Before we progressed with our film shooting we created a storyboard and an animatic storyboard. We
done this so that we could work out the timings of our film, such as how long our shots should stay on
screen. The animatic storyboard also describes each shot to be able to bring it more alive and realistic;
I have learnt that this allowed us to see if the story line of our opening sequence flowed well and if it
was just enough to draw people into the rest of the film.
I created a titles timeline as more research for our opening sequence, because every opening sequence
has titles but I needed to figure out in which order they showed up. From doing this research task I
learnt in which order the titles showed up, how long the titles where visible for and how they were
incorporated into the opening sequence, so that they were seen but did not take the attention away
from the scene that was going on behind them. After I learnt all of this we decided to use the order in
which the titles show up, but we laid them out differently in the opening sequence, we also made sure
they were noticeable by giving them their own sound e.g. a type writer sound.
I carried out a questionnaire and emailed it out to different people, this made sure we got reasonable
results back which I then analyses to learn more about the answers and I came to conclusions. The
analysis of audience research showed that many people did not know about the noir genre, because
several people asked what that option was. I learnt that the opening sequence we created must include
the other features the audience voted for, such as they like a plot twist within a movie so we included
one.
Detailed analysis’s where carried out by me for two different opening sequences one was Bugsy Malone
and the other Sunset Blvd. This research was needed to see which camera angles, narrative, and mise
en scene where use in the opening sequence. From these two scenes I decided which parts of them
we could incorporate into our opening sequence and which we should defiantly not use as it would bore
the audience. I learnt that showing the audience glimpses if the best part of the film is intriguing and
therefore we used this technique in our opening sequence in the form of a flashback. We learnt that the
older noir film had the titles all running on a black screen all at once, I learn that the newer audience of
today would find this off putting so we did not use this technique.
As additional research I went out to search for the locations we could and where going to use to film
our media product. After doing this I learnt that these locations where not suitable because the mise en
scene was not correct for our noir film and therefore it would not look professional.
Mathew researched the different certifications and after doing this we learnt that our opening sequence
fitted into the category for age 15. Also we learnt that conventionally noir films would be in between the
certifications 15 to 18.
The institution research I carried out allowed me to find out about different companies; it also showed
me which company’s sold which types of films. We learnt that we needed to use Paramount Pictures to
publish our film because they are best known for selling noir films so the audience would know the film
was good by just using the brand.
I have learnt that to be able to film our opening sequence we needed a huge amount of communication
between each actor and us. We did have several problems with trying to find a date in which a few
actors could film at the same time and date. This caused problems such as actors dropping out on the
shooting day and not enough actors being available at the same data. To solve this I rearranged the
shooting days, which most actors could film on and I also called in reserve actors which we made sure
we had in case of this problem happening.
2. Kenya Bell
From all of this research I have learnt how to make creative decisions quickly in the case of emergency’s
when in the middle of filming a scene. I have also became better at planning an organising filming times
and keeping up to data with work.
In my preliminary task we had to include a match on action which was standard since I had only just
started learning about the camera and types of camera shots. In our opening sequence we included a
match on action which had progressed further than what I achieved on the preliminary task. I included
a close up of the door handle on an angle so that the audience could see the character turn the handle.
My shot types had greatly improved as I included several more shot types such as close up, cantered
angle, pan movement etc. in our opening sequence. This made sure that tension was built up during
the opening so that the audience wanted to see more of the film.
Some cantered angles I chose to include where more noticeable than others because they needed to
make a specific impact on the audience. An example of a recognisable one would be when the audience
can see Tony dead on the floor. The impact of the cantered angle is so that the audience know
something has gone terribly wrong and now there is no salability in the murders life because he has
finally moved to the bad side.
Going from my preliminary task I feel like I have massively improved my confidence with the camera
equipment. I can now use the equipment in an efficient way so that none of the scenes go blurry. I have
also learnt how to use the operations on the camera such as taking still images and recording videos.
The still images came in handy when you needed to portray someone as dead and instead of videoing
them breathing you could take one photo and it would look like they were not breathing.
The tripod was also another piece of equipment that I became more confident with. This allowed me to
record with the camera and it gave a sturdy effect so that the camera did not move from the point it was
put in. I learnt how to adjust the legs height to be able to record at different levels during the filming.
The tripod could also be moved to be able to follow the characters while they are moving. This I did by
loosening the handle control and some blots so that it was more movable.
Once I had leant how to use a tripod efficiently I moved onto more equipment that included a tripod
such as the track and jip. The track and jip was a lot more technical because it included a camera,
tripod, track and jip. The track and jip first had to be set up in the location we were filming, and since
our track was short we had to keep stopping the camera to be able to move the track and jip about to
get a longer lasting shot.
In general with Mac’s I feel more confident using them because I know how to save my work and where
exactly to place it so that it does not disappear. Also I have learnt that on Final Cut Pro when you edit
with the software it will save automatically to the mac I was using. Making sure the examiners could
understand what I was achieving during the lessons I took some screen shots, of work on the mac’s
which I did by clicking cmd+shift+4.
- How successful do you feel your end product is at fulfilling the brief?
