Laura Davies summarizes the skills and experience she gained from creating an opening sequence for a film noir project. She used various digital technologies like an HD camera, Cubase for sound editing, and Final Cut Pro for video editing. Research into the noir genre and conventions of example films helped her plan shots and incorporate stylistic elements into her sequence. For her A2 project, she aims to further develop her skills in areas like video editing, sound design, and incorporating genre conventions through research.

1. Personal Skills Audit Name: Laura Davies
Skills acquired How did these skills
contribute to the creation of
your product?
How will you develop these
skills during the A2 project?
Digital technology
- What
equipment/software
packages did you use to
produce your
production?
A HD camera was used to film
my opening sequence. The
camera was used in
conjunction with the track to
create specific shots. The
camera was also placed on a
tripod. Software used included
Cubase to record the
soundtrack of the opening
sequence. Online programs
such as Prezi where also used
when planning our production.
Blogger was online program
used to create a blog to show
all the research, planning,
construction and evaluation of
the opening sequence.
Using Slideshare – a website to
share presentations.
The camera helped record the
shots in HD creating a high
quality outcome. The track
contributed towards the
creation as it allowed me and
my group to create the opening
shot that we wanted. Creating
the soundtrack in Cubase
resulted in having a soundtrack
that suited the film very well as
it suited the genre. The tripod
helped create steady shots.
Prezi allowed exploring the
conventions of the genre we
chose to give ideas and
inspiration. Slideshare helped
share presentations that I
created when doing research
and planning tasks.
In A2 I hope to develop my
skills and use of the software I
used in AS to create high
quality work. Having a better
understanding of these
programs will enable me to use
more advanced features and
produce work of a higher
standard. In A2 I will be using
Blogger again to present my
coursework so these skills will
develop further. Online
programs such as Prezi and
Slideshare may be used again
as they were both very good
ways of sharing information.
Post production
- What software did you
use to create your
production?
- Discuss specific features
After filming the opening
sequence the program used to
create the final production was
Final Cut HD. Specific features
of the software that helped
Features of FinalCut HD
contributed towards the
creation of the opening
sequence as it allowed me and
my group to make our opening
As well as developing my skills
with digital technology in A2 I
am also going to develop
editing skills further as editing
was not my main job in the

2. of the software. create the final piece included
being able to incorporate
transitions. Also features in the
program allowed the sequence
to be changed into black and
white. Live Type was used to
create titles for the film. After
filming we used the TV studio to
create a short sequence of
evaluation. Wixx was used in
post production also to
contribute towards the
evaluation.
sequence suit the noir genre by
changing it to black and white.
After creating the titles we could
easily add them to our opening
sequence to make it suit the
necessary requirements. Using
the TV studio helped evaluate
our product as we played the
opening sequence behind and
discussed it.
group. Having a brief session in
the TV studio has made me
want to learn more so in A2 I
hope to do more practical work
using the TV studio to develop
my skills further. As I was the
main person responsible for
creating the Wixx website I
know a lot about the program
but still I believe I could develop
the skills further.
Research and Planning
- What tasks did you
complete when
preparing to film your
sequence?
- How did your planning
help the smooth
progression of your film?
In preparation before filming me
and my group completed a lot
of research and planning tasks.
We researched into the genre
(noir) exploring the typical
storylines, themes, visual style
and iconography. We also did
research into audience and
institution to help understand
the target audience and
institution that may release our
film. We watched and analysed
many noir style films, analyzing
the first 5 minutes of the
opening sequence to
understand were titles are
These skills contributed
towards our product as
conducting research enabled us
to take inspiration from noir
style films we analysed, as well
as their storylines influencing
our product. Researching into
the audience and institution
helped me and my group
decides what company would
market our film after seeing
which companies produced
famous noir films. Also,
researching into the
conventions helped us
incorporate the genre into our
In my A2 project I hope to be
able to incorporate the genre
really well again after studying
it. I again want to do initial
research, not only into the
genre but also into the types of
audience that these media
products are promoted to. After
realizing how important
planning and research is to
create a successful media
product, in A2 I am going to
ensure that I research deep into
the genre I choose to base my
music video around so hat
when I create my final product,

3. added appropriately. media product as we could take
inspiration from the costume,
camera shots and narrative.
Planning helped the smooth
progression of our film as we
could easily decide the
conventions of our media
product after researching into
the history of the genre and
understand the genre.
it has all the key elements to
incorporate the genre.
Using conventions of real
media texts
- Which texts did you
analyse?
- Did you take any
inspiration from the
conventions found from
your research?
Noir style films that I analysed
in research in planning are:
‘Kiss Me Deadly’, ‘Momento’,
‘Taxi Driver’, and ‘Sunset
Boulevard’. I also researched
into the key conventions of
these media products so that
when producing my noir style
opening sequence, I could take
inspiration from the narrative,
theme, characters, visual style,
setting, and iconography.
Taking inspiration from real life
media products helped the
production of my opening
sequence of noir style film. For
example taking inspiration from
the costume, we used 50’s style
dresses and triblies. Our
soundtrack was inspired from
real media products, using
instruments such saxophone to
incorporate the genre with a
jazzy sound.
In A2, I am going to use
conventions of real media texts
to give inspirations for my final
media products.
Creativity
- were our ideas for your
portfolio imaginative and unique
or did you adhere to
conventions?