The student created a 3 sentence opening sequence for a film called "The Vanisher" with a partner. They drew inspiration from other superhero films and comics. The student found filming and editing enjoyable but planning and developing ideas was difficult. Some challenges included time management and finding actors. Overall the student felt they gained skills in filming techniques and editing, and the final product had a good storyline though could be improved with more actors and consistent understanding.

1. Evaluation – The Vanisher
By
Bryn Hughes

2. Introduction
We were set a task to plan film, edit and evaluate a
series of our own choice. We were also allowed to
choose a partner for the assignment and share roles,
working as a team. First we had to start planning, by
doing character profiling, locations recess and other
parts. Once we had completed the planning, we then
did storyboarding and the shot list. After we had
completed that we started our filming. Then once we
had all of the filming completed we uploaded them to
the Apple Macs. Then we started editing by using
techniques such as cross-cutting and fading. Then we
started on our evaluation.

3. Comparison with real media products
To give me ideas I looked at two opening sequences one of which being
The Crazies and the other Heroes. The Crazies gave me and my
partner the idea of the scientist and him turning evil to cause pain
and takeover the world. Heroes gave us the idea of the superheroes
who are two best friends that try to save the world and stop the
Vanisher. I also researched the comic ‘Vanisher’. Our original idea was
a Villain called Vanisher is on the loose, to cause havoc and chaos to
the world by using uses his ‘special’ camera to suck people into the
camera. There are two advanced students and James Thong to stop
the Vanisher on his mass crime spree. When looking at mise-and-
scene we used the comic ‘Vanisher’ as the villain in the comic. Also,
he is bald and wearing a hat with a leather jacket and jeans. The
leather jacket and hat could suggest he is a villain as they are dark
clothing and hiding his identity. In every sci-fi/fantasy drama there
Superheroes and the villains.
We chose to use James Bond as one of the heroes. We tried to get a suite for the actor, but our budget
was limited so we both compromised and used dark jeans and a jumper. In the end it still fit in well. For
the rest of the actors the costume’s were everyday clothes as a student would wear and not in a suit or in
a mask as that is not ordinary for a student to wear everyday. Unfortunately, we didn’t have access to
professional equipment and we had no budget, but it made me and my partner think more which gave us
ideas that would probably be praised for. We had access to good quality camera equipment and editing
software which was supplied by the college. Most of our props used in our opening credits were either
borrowed or owned by us.

4. When me and my partner were looking at the Heroes opening sequence
we saw that they have featured a number of different locations rather
than stayed and filmed in one. This is why we used five different locations
to film at. I think this will work as it will keep the audience entertained as
they will get bored watching a film in the same location. We suggested
that an establishing shot would be good to use for the audience, so that
they are aware of the location we are using. We used a panning shot so it
looked like a CCTV camera. Also, the camera was placed behind a fence
which made the location look like it was important and cannot be
trespassed onto. We decided to use an establishing shot which makes the
audience aware as a lot of popular TV series use them

5. My partner suggested that in our sequence we have a special flash effect
made, which would show it is an unordinary camera. My partner used
Adobe After Effects and YouTube tutorials to do this, as it was his first time
he used this software. When creating the credits for our sequence we
referred to the TV series Heroes. They had they’re actors names in one
corner when introducing them, so we used the same technique. Also, we
made the frame freeze to focus on the credits, I think that this was
effective as the credits were clearer and also gave us time to show of our
editing techniques. The name of the TV series first, actors and lastly the
producer, director and and who devised it. We found this copyright free
font type that we used and I think it fits in well as it has the distorted
effect, which links into the ‘Vanisher’s’ them. We used this font for all of
the credits, to keep it consistent which is important to do so, otherwise it
will get confusing and not look professional. Me and my partner
researched on the internet to find out if there are any TV series that are
similar to our final product and we found nothing, so our idea is original.

6. How did you find the construction
process
The aspects I found most enjoyable in this task
was the filming and editing. I found the
filming enjoyable because we had to act and
for me that wouldn't be an experience I would
face everyday. The editing was enjoyable for
me because I like playing around with new
techniques within the editing of the film such
as cross-cutting.

7. The aspect I found the hardest was some of the editing and
developing ideas and preparation for shoot. I found the editing
reasonably hard to link the shots together as we did not sort the
shots in order or removes the various takes that we were not going
to use. The planning for shoots I also found difficult, as it was hard
to think of detail to go with each character in their profiles and
there was also not many pictures on Google which related to the
character itself as appearance. The production design was also
tricky, as I couldn’t draw very well so me and my partner had to find
clothes as images and insert them.

8. The problems I faced through this task was:
• The time in which it took us to film as we thought
wouldn’t take as long as expected. This was a
problem because it put us behind our schedule
which we created and gave us less time to edit.
But we resolved this by taking the Apple Mac
home and editing, and filming in our free lessons.
• Finding people to act in the sequence with us. We
resolved this by asking a classmate to join in
which he happily did and was a good actor for the
role.

9. • I found working in a team very enjoyable and
much easier, as when I was stuck for ideas my
partner would have many things to say, vice
versa. We also get on well together, such as
acting and laughing off the embarrassing
moments. Personally I think it helped both me
and my partner complete the sequence. We
also planned when we both had free lessons
and for some of them, to come in and film or
edit and get on with the work.

10. Legal and ethical consideration
• One legal consideration is the crime
in the sequence (murder and theft).
The murder was too realistic of the
security guard for children so it may
be certified higher than what we
wanted it to be. Also the Vanisher
might become a role model for the
children and they might start
stealing and hurting people because
of the sequence.
• One ethical consideration is filming
and getting a builder in shot with no
permission. This could be an issue
as the builder may consent to this
and problems could occur.

11. Skills development
The equipment we used was Apple Macs, a camera, a
motorbike, costumes (Hat, toy gun, etc). We used the
Long Road Sixth form site to film on. The techniques I
learned from this mainly involved the filming and
editing. What I learnt from the filming where simple
but effective techniques such as leaving a five second
gab before and after the shot. The techniques from
filming where cross-cutting the shots together
smoothly.

12. Quality of final product
The target audience we aimed for was mainly children aged under 15 as it is a
superhero and villain TV show. It is also aimed for the parents of the children as it
also is in some aspects comedy. I think the product could do with improvement
but has a good story and base to it.
Strengths:
• Good storyline.
• Good use of special effects.
• Music is tense which fits in well, sound effects are precise and work well.
• Fluency in the editing by using cross-cutting.
Weaknesses:
• Acting and lack of actors.
• Consistent understanding of the sequence.
The final product was very much like the original idea although there were some
changes throughout the process.