Evaluation Question 7 - Preliminary Task

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In the following I will look at the similarities and differences of my pre-lim task and my final opening scene. I shall also talk about what i have learned in the process.

Below are both of the films, the first being the pre-lim: Sweet Potato, a film revolving around a man in love with a potato. The second The Disciples: Back On The Block, the story of 2 singers struggles of making it big again.

How did you find the preliminary task and what was the hardest thing to overcome?

My preliminary task was difficult for me because i had little to no practice using cameras or editing software. This left me to figure out what looked good and worked well. It was evident that the pr-lim would have to focus around one character due to the time limits otherwise the audience may become confused with the plot. The pre-lim also faired difficult due to the lack of locations we had access to film in. I feel the camera shots we did eventually get worked well but compared to our movie opening they are weak. The hardest thing to overcome was without doubt getting to grips with all of the equipment and software that we were required to use. For example the cameras uploading time was painfully slow on the Mac's but experience taught us to upload the footage to the normal computers first and transfer it via USB.

Where you happy with the pre-lim task?

I would say all in all i was happy with the pre-lim, despite the stresses. Compared to my editing on Back On The Block, Sweet Potato lacked in graphic effects as i had not researched some good effects to use. I would say that Sweet Potato also lacked in scene variation due to the fact we didn't have access to a lounge in order to create the first scene. The main mistake in my pre-lim task was ridiculous as i managed to mix the names up. This meant that my character had the same name as my colleague, Issak's character, which meant the film was extremely difficult to grasp. I made sure i did not make this mistake again.

How is your final scene better than your pre-lim?

My final scene was a great improvement due to the time and effort that i put into the planning, the shots, and the editing. I also took time to find the best settings for Premier, making the film widescreen at a 16:9 aspect ratio to cater for bigger screens. I was also happy with the pitched film due to its frequent indoor setting as this eliminated the problem with lack of winter daylight.

Shot Comparison:

First Scene:

The first shot of my pre-lim was a still, introducing the characters with no sound. This seems fairly bizarre looking back now as i gave no background to the characters.

This differs to a graphical entrance in Back On The Block, with exciting music and fast paced media. This really created a great cinematic experience due to a number of things: I scouted the sound effects better, i made the titles more prominent and i made sure the film was recorded at a better quality.

Second Scene:

I am proud of Sweet Potato's second scene as we used a difficult match-on-action shot. This created a sense of movement for the character and required alot of preparation an editing in order for it to look correct.

The second scene of Back On The Block slowed the pace down from the first shot, due to its dramatic nature. It contrasted well due to its shot of inanimate objects that meant alot to the character. The mise en scene was also very well planned as it effectively contrasted with the character, giving him emotional depth. One being white and pure (a bathroom) and one being dark and tainted (C.Dot).

Third Scene:

The third scene on Sweet Potato is the running scene in which close ups of the character can be seen, this aids to give personality traits to him, mainly him being unhealthy, relating to the couch potato comment early from the other character. This is fast paced and a..... interesting scene.

Back On The Block's third scene is without doubt the best in the movie. It took a enormous amount of time to create but without it, i feel the film would have never reached its potential. With majority effects and little filming, it really set the seen for the music industry side of the film.

Final Scenes:

There is only one other scene in Sweet Potato, the dramatic ending, this features a close up and a potato bite. It then ends with the Titanic film music and crying scene along with the title of the film.

Back On The Blocks has many more scenes indicating its faster pace than Sweet Potato, i feel this works well as it keeps the audience engaged. The interviews are very important as it really shows some personality behind the characters, along with short performances from the pair.

Evaluation Question 6 - Technologies

Technologies I used to create the film (as featured in the video above):

Apple iMac 21.5 inch - 

This is the primary technology i used. This assisted me through the whole project, from planning to uploading the final project. I worked on OS X Yosemite, the systems operating system. With lightening fast processors and stunning graphics, this was the perfect platform to create our movie on. The only downside of the Mac's where their speeds when transferring video footage.

Windows Computer (Dell) -

Although most of the project based on the Mac's, i often used a computer for other tasks such as transferring footage from the camera to a memory disk. This was because the cameras which we used where designed to cater for a Windows based system meaning transfers where a significant amount faster. I chose not to use this platform to create our film on due do their less sensitive mouses which made fine editing harder than on the Mac's

Sony 8.9 Megapixel HD Handycam - 

This is the camera which we used to film the vast majority of footage needed for our opening. It proved extremely good at shots from afar, recording everything in detail. It was average for closer shots, struggling with some lighting. The feature to easily watch back footage directly on the camera was extremely useful as we could see it before the transfer, preventing any scene re-films. Its upload speeds were painfully slow on our primary PC,the Mac, although proved better on a Windows PC. We were pleased with how easy it was to attach to a tripod, making still shots easy for us to conduct.

Microphone -

From the start we wanted to record an original piece of music for the opening. We completed this using a microphone to capture a good sound quality. Although a difficult task to set up in the recording studio, we eventually managed it, recording the vocals for our soundtrack. Once placed on the computer (audacity) it provided us with a clean sound with minimal sound interference. 

Headphones - 

I used headphones in many different situations. They proved to be very helpful in the recording studio as it enabled us to listen to the soundtrack which we created (The Traamps - Rubberband mixed with The Game's - Hate It or Love It) whilst singing over it. This would mean the soundtrack wouldn't have to be played outlaid, reducing the quality. I also used them throughout the editing process in order to hear imperfections in the audio which i may not have heard if it were to be played out loud.

Tripod -

We used these to gain access to steady shots by attaching the camera to it. They seemed easy enough tho operate. The only criticism i would have is that they are fairly hard to manipulate in order to change angles of the shots, taking up a lot of time. They also were very stiff meaning it was difficult to move the camera during shots.

Lighting - 

When using the green screen, we decided to add lighting in order to create authentic looking footage. Although they were heavy, large and often in the way. We managed to work out the situation, placing it out of shot meaning the green screen would not be interfered with. They added a natural glow to our characters, also meaning the green screen footage was easy to UltraKey. 

iPhone (various models) -

These were our go to gadgets, whether it be researching on the go, recording voiceovers or emailing images. They were influential throughout the whole process making little tasks which may have been insignificant back then extremely easy. These little tasks built up to make the whole project, meaning this gadget was one of our biggest assets. The whole of the original soundtrack was entered around these phones. The lyrics had been written on it. The lyrics had been performed using it. The soundtrack had been played through it. It was an all-round winner. I have no criticisms for this piece of technology.

Audacity - 

I used this program to edit the majority of our sound. It provided a simple, yet effective platform which could provide easy sound editing for us. Despite this, the program was often glitchy and wound me up due to some outdated programming. The criticism is valid but it could be argued its designed for Windows 2000, a fifteen year old operating system. 

Youtube -

I used youtube multiple times. A primary example was for one of the visual effects in which the films characters' music video can be seen. It also aided me through the planning process as aided us in our film research. I would criticise that it often provided slow service and upload times but that was to be expected.

Safari - 

This was our research browser. It was another technology that was used throughout the project. Although often criticised as a slower, less supported browser, it seemed to fair well with everything we used it for. It was an obvious choice for our browser as it is native to the iMacs, meaning it was going to be speedy. This also was the home to many other of our technologies such as youtube, blogger and gmail.

Blogger -

We used blogger to document our work from the beginning to the finish. This included our film pitches, the planning leading to production and our final publishing. I would have to complain though, it lacked in user friendliness and was very unreliable. It was hard to navigate but all in all it done the job. 

iMessage/WhatsApp -

These are 2 messaging services me and my peers used to communicate both in and out of school. It allowed us to brainstorm and communicate when we were not with each other meaning we could cut out communication sessions in time where we could be doing other tasks.

Microsoft PowerPoint -

This was a great piece of software due to its wide variety of functions and user friendly image editing. Although it may not even be considered in the image editing world with titans such as Photoshop dwarfing it, this program saved me many hours. It cut down the time when creating graphics such as our flagship title scene. I would criticise that it was not as fast on the Mac's as on the Windows computers. This would be due to the fact it was created by Windows' makers.

Microsoft Word -

A program which we used to document a lot of the planning and evaluation. It enabled fast and effective word processing. The file sizes were small and easily transferable and media could be added if necessary.

Gmail -

Used infrequently but enough to be considered as one of our technologies. We often used it to mail larger files to each other but this wasn't often due to our different specialised fields. Mel completing the majority of the documents, Nathan filming and starring in the film and Connor editing kept us fairly separate with sharing documents and media. 

Adobe Photoshop CS6 -

I used this briefly to create our film poster. Although a lot of the media was manipulated on PowerPoint. This added some effects that cannot be accessed on PowerPoint like layering. I didn't use this program alot due to its large variety of unnecessary functions that i would not need.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 -

My best friend and my worst enemy. The single most important piece of technology in the process. I probably have got into the days where i have sat infant of a computer, tweaking an effect or changing a sound on this program. Before i started this course, i had no experience with this program but its safe to say i quickly learnt. With a huge variety of effects and features, this program is an editors dream. I started with the basics, importing all of our footage and setting it up. Organising took a lengthy amount of time but we managed it. Once this had been complete, i started playing with effects in order to learn what the program was capable of. Key moments of our film were made possible by this program, for example the image based titles. It allowed me to green screen, with great success. It allowed me to fade, distort and change both image and sound with great success. And finally it allowed me to create my film with great success. The program performed in most fields but burdened me with rendering, and unless i frequently rendered, i couldn't watch the previews. Within the entirety of the project, 1/3 of it was rendering. Other small problems were the length of time needed to change colours using the 3-way colour wheel, not providing me with a preview once i had, and minor UltraKey problems in which the background would show over the upper layer, although this was easily fixable. All in all it served me very well despite its time consuming.

Evaluation Question 5 - Directors Cut

Evaluation Question 4 - Audience

Evaluation Question 3 - Media Institutions

Evaluation Question 2 - Representation

Evaluation Question 1 - Conventions

We watched many documentaries and mockumentaries films such as 'One Direction - This Is Us', 'Michael Jackson - This Is It' and 'Spinal Tap' where all three films conform with the theme of our film Comedy/Documentary, however Michael Jacksons and One Directions films was far more serious and more like a fly on the wall documentary whereas our film was more staged. We also watched some other films and television series that fit within the mockumentary style, such as 'The Office'. Watching these films and these televisions series enabled us to compare our own film and get inspiration for it to better our film and make it more comical. We related our film to some things to conform to the genre conventions to make our film stand out from all the others. To fully answer this question I have separated it into four sections: Narrative, Conventions, Characters and Style.

Narrative- 
Levi Strauss devised a way of analysing narrative and studied hundreds of myths and legends all around the world, from that he found out that we as humans make sense of the world, people and events by seeing and using binary oppositions. He found out that narratives are arranged around the conflict of binary opposites. Basically that binary opposites are the central climax of a narrative structure. Using Strauss' theory, we set up an binary opposition: that Keith and C.Dot are so opposite in how they are and also how we would usually see a musical duo to be, they are the complete contrasts to this.
Another theory that we adopted in our film is that of Barthes' enigma code, this is five codes which are woven into any narrative. The main code we used was the 'Hermeneutic Code' which refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the viewer. The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all will be revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved. This relates to our film because it raises questions such as, Why are these two characters together? How did they meet? Why was Keith in prison? What was the real reason why they broke up in the first place? Why are they back together?

Characters: Keith Abraham Lovesworth (One of the two protagonist)



Keith is presented as an extremely holy, church goer who has found himself and has been born again. We can tell this because of the clothes he wears, which are very smart, simple and religious looking. We can also tell this by the way he speaks and what he says;' however later on in the opening sequence, you find out that Keith has been to prison which then juxtaposes what we thought we knew of him and does not make him as holy as we thought. The audience sees Keith as a very flamboyant character because of his monologue he has nearing the end of the opening, which the shots of him walking, and when the camera pans down when he is lying on the grass are all shown over his speech, which the viewer found amusing when surveyed, therefore makes him loveable because the viewer knows that he's been to prison yet still found him funny.

C.Dot (The other protagonist)



 

 

 

 

 

C.Dot is presented at the start of the opening sequence as non-stereotypical singing partner, who happens to look like a harden criminal that grew up on the streets of London, which from the offset creates an amusing atmosphere as it contrasts Keith entirely as the viewer wonders how they got together as they are completely opposite. Later on in the sequence when C.Dot is looking in the mirror seriously, we still think he will be the serious tone to C.Dot which will continue throughout the whole of the opening sequence and my group all hoped to make the viewer think that they will not really learn much about him as we all hoped they would think he will be the guarded character out of the two. This all changes when he starts speaking because of the way he sounds as we find out that he is rather geeky with a bad stutter; which now makes the audience feel at ease with him as they find him more approachable.

Style:
After doing a vast amount of research on various opening titles for the genre we wanted to create, Connor edited in the titles throughout the task and then added footage in to fit around it. We took inspiration from Justin Bieber's title openings, Michael Jacksons title opening and Spinal Tap's title opening. We wanted to take inspiration from these three films because we tried to keep within our specific genre when researching as we wanted to make it look as professional and as realistic to the three film openings as possible.
Mise En Scene


Costume:
For our costumes, myself and Connor wanted to really stereotype the characters as we wanted our audience to be shocked when the two characters started to talk. We decided to dress Keith up all in black smart clothes and make him wear a dog collar, which implies that he is a vicar thus reinforcing the fact of him being extremely religious. For C.Dot, we decided that he should mainly wear hoodies, hats, sunglasses and a lot of gold chains to portray to the audience that he is some sort of gangster.

Actors:
Our main actors are C.Dot and Keith, who are played by Connor and Nathan. They play a failed singing duo who won the X Factor and had hits all over the globe but then something happens which make the pair fall out, but now they are reforming the band for the biggest comeback of all comebacks.

Make-Up:
We used no make-up during the filming of this opening sequence as we did not need to convey anyone being hurt (blood, gash).Setting: The majority of our film opening is set indoors, we used the green screen a lot to emulate the allusion of being on stage singing to thousands of screaming fans. It was set in the outdoors for Keith as he loves God's gift to the world (mother nature) and for C.Dot the shots were mostly indoors in the recording studio to represent that he likes to make mix tapes.

Props:
We used a microphone, a guitar, gold chains and sunglasses for our props. They all represent their musical back ground and their time in the spotlight.


Lighting:
During the majority of the filming process, we used natural light for Keith outdoors shots to make the film look more real to life. However, the majority of our lighting was the use of studio lights because it made our skin look better when in front of the green screen. Connor used an effect on Premier to make the first few shots in black and white to illustrate the failing of the band, this was pathetic fallacy as the emulated how Connor felt at the time.

Genre Conventions:
Our film challenges the traditional documentary conventions because it is mocking the music industry making it more amusing than serious and factual. It mocks celebrity life and pop culture. Our film is extremely similar to the film Anchorman as they mock the news industry which makes it the most similar to ours as we are mocking the music industry, they both intertwine together because news and music are connected showing that we based our characters and the way they act on how actors/actresses act in Anchorman which is very sarcastic.