Main Post 12.7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

After looking back at my preliminary task and comparing it to the main task we have completed I noticed some key points and aspects which I have expanded on  below.

My Opening Sequence flowed more smoothly than my preliminary task. - techniques used throughout editing were more intriguing and effective. Each shot flowed more efficiently and each cut was more clean and smooth also the camera angles were straight and used a spirit level in our main task to prevent the camera being wonky, of which was a problem in our preliminary task.

The sound track - The copy right music used in main task made the audience want to keep watching and kept them on there toes, where as the sound track on the preliminary didn't have as much of an impact, but both link to the genre of each piece.

Another point to point out is that we didn't keep to rule of thirds within our shots in 'the break up' as in some shots we cut out parts of characters heads off and we center of the camera which didn't look effective which  we greatly improved upon during 'Contamination' and made sure that we didn't and wouldn't break the rule of thirds. Which we did well as a group to ensure we didn't in our main task, progressing greatly from our preliminary task.

Also all of my editing techniques have developed and my editing knowledge has improved greatly and is strongly evident as shown in the improvements from the preliminary 'the break up' compared to 'Contamination'. Being able to now know how to use the adobe premier software effectively and knowing how to chop and change shots, I am now able to change the lighting and the speed of which I did in some of the shots in the main task to make the finished outcome more interesting and effective.

This shot here shows the first shot from my preliminary, its a great example of the camera being off balance of which could have been prevented.






I feel I have learnt a lot and progressed dramatically since my preliminary task, of which I learnt a lot from such as how to work all different types of media equipment and technology's such as a video camera and adobe premier, I feel that if I hadn't completed this preliminary task I would have been thrown straight into the deep end not knowing how to use or work anything which would have out come'd to a tragic Opening Sequence.

By completing the Preliminary task I was able to see what worked and what didn't and tried to use some of these techniques and ideas within my Opening Sequence, which ended up getting a lot of positive feedback, showing that its considerably better from our prelim task.

Main Post 12.6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Youtube - I used Youtube to watch other opening sequence and get inspiration, I also used it to upload and embed videos onto my blog such as my prelim film and my opening sequence.

Blogger- I used to blogger to complete and post all of my as media work, due to not having used blogger before it took some time getting used to but now am up to date and appreciate the website.

Flip camcorder - I used a Flip camcorder to video record feedback from others as its a quick and easy way of getting footage and can easily upload to youtube effiently.

PowerPoint - I used powerpoint to create most of my woke of which I then turned in to JPEG's so that I was able to upload on to my blog effiently.

Adobe Premiere - I used the software Adobe Premiere to edit all the footage for my prelim video and my final opening sequence. As had never used before took some time getting used to but once know where all the buttons and contraptions are its easy to work and edit footage.

Google - I used google to reseach, collect images and find links to websites ofwhich i used that link to my work.

Prezi - Prezi was a new programme ofwhich I have not used before so once watched some youtube clips on how to use, I was able to create a Prezi ofwhich I then embeded into my blog.

Scanner - I used the scaner to upload and scan in any hand writtern documents, which aloud me to insert them into my blog.  

Main Post 12.5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Main post 12.4: Who would be the audience for you media product?

Main Post 12.3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

There are many media institutions that might distribute our film 'Contamination', the main, most well known institutions being Warner Bros, Sony, Fox and Paramount. But due to our film being a low budget British film its difficult to get the funding from these main stream distributors. But if had the choice would choose Sony Pictures as has many connections and subsidiary arms all over the world in different countries, meaning and allowing my film to be widely distributed well. Also due to Sony having so many other elements to their company they can promote films easily and cheaply through their products such as phones, consoles and also promote to the gaming industry of which is a whole new audience. 
Also in the past Sony have distributed and produced many massive Action Adventure blockbusters such as SkyFall and Spider Man. Of which shows that Sony Entertainment would be perfect to distribute our media product successfully. But due to them taking the piece on being rather unlikely, i researched and found an alternative. Of which most British production company's go to BFI. Here is a Link to the BFI website.

http://industry.bfi.org.uk/distributionandexhibition

Most Studios, creating a film have funding for each step including the distribution of there film, A production company is a company that produces the film (such as ours Contamination) the production company takes the film up to the distribution stage where sometimes other companies join together to market and distribute the film. Small British films cant afford all of the production stages or don't have the resource's or connections to market their film properly so tend to get funding from production company's such as the one I mentioned above BFI. 

Main Post 12.2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our opening sequence, you only get to see one character the rest are introduced as the film progresses. But we wanted our character to be represented in a manner that portrayed him as a stereotypical average man/boy, suggesting that what happens latter in the film could happen to anyone. His costume portrays this as its very average and everyday like.

Main Post 12.1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Here is a video of Our Opening Sequence, Contamination of which I have completed a Directors commentary and inserted in over the top of our video, talking about aspects of mise-en-scene within, our chosen sound track, shots and things we could have included.

Here is a brief summary of what I spoke about during my Directors Commentary:

The structure of our opening sequence, slightly changed from our original plan, as when we started to edit shots together they didn't look as flush as we wanted them to and they also didn't run as smoothly into one another as planned.

We chose to use this specific sound track as it created a tense feel as though building up to a climax and created an eerie atmosphere

By having heavy breathing over our point of View shots, it creates an interaction with the character.

Jumping/tripping shot:  To make this shot even better we could have added in a close up of Jacob after he tips to allow the audience to connect with the character also enhancing the sense of action within the piece.

Mise-en-scene:  We decided to film in a wood as was the most suitable for our opening sequence as was lots of objects and nature around making it seem as though the character is in the middle of nowhere.

We have used panning at the beginning of our piece as to establish the location and setting of the piece.

We have filmed lots of shots of Jacob running, of which we have tried to fast edit the shots together to make a greater impact on our sequence. Also by having Jacob running in different directions all over the place it creates the sense of confusion within the piece and disorientation.

We chose this specific typography as looked effective and interesting, we chose to fade it in and out so that it slowly disappeared and reappeared.  

We used the effect dip to black throughout,  as some of the shots didn't run smoothly as from the Point of View shot to the still shot didn't work so by suing a dip to black enabled us to create a smooth flowing connection.

Main Post 12a: Evaluation - Audience Feedback

Rough Cut of Opening Sequence Contamination: 

After completing a rough cut of our Opening Sequence, we went out and recorded students of our target audience, to find out there opinions and views on our footage and typography so far, so that we could use there feedback to make changes and add in any suggestions that would make our opening sequence better.

Here is a list of questions I asked, so that didn't just put the groups of people on the spot.

- What were your initial thoughts after watching?
- What was the best part?
- What improvements would you suggest?
- Would you do anything different?

Here is a video of the rough copy feedback of 'Contamination'

After getting this feedback and watching the clip, I was able to summarize and see what we had done well and what we could improve on, so I took all the feedback into consideration when finalizing the finished opening sequence, enabling us to make our piece as effective as possible and so that its intriguing and interesting to our target audience.

After watching and getting the feedback from our rough copy, we decided to make note and make a few changes, we swapped one of the point of view shots, so that the shots run more smoothly into one another, we also made an impact by using and adding in an eerie, dramatic soundtrack over the top, which made our overall footage more interesting and have more of an impact when watching, we also finished adding in all our typography which made it feel like more of an opening sequence.


Final of Opening Sequence Contamination:

Once completed the final opening sequence I went out and got feedback from numerous members of the public, seeing and finding out there initial thoughts of our opening sequence 'Contamination', I asked for positive and negative feedback so that in future I would know what would be an effective idea and what would not be.

For the showing and getting feedback from our final opening sequence I asked different questions. Here is a list of some of the questions I asked...

-What were your initial thoughts after watching?
-Where do you think the film would go from this?
-Would you do anything different?
-If so what would that be?
-Does this look like it would be an effective film?

Here below are a few videos of feedback on our final opening sequence 'Contamination'





Overall I would say our feedback from our footage is very positive and that any changes that were noted have been taken into account, allowing us as a group to see what is effective within our piece and what is inadequate. So if was to complete this task again would know what to improve on and add in.

Main Post 11: Final Opening Sequence

 

Here is the video of our final opening sequence, due to technical difficulties uploading the whole of our opeing sequence on to youtube, a copy will be sent by my teacher (this is due to the begging opening typography and ending typogrpahy to our piece is missing when uploaded to youtube)

Main Post 10: Post Production

After we had finished filming, we needed to edit our footage. To edit we used the program  adobe premier and had to capture our footage and transfer it in to this software. This was a mission and very problematic to succeed as there is only limited equipment within our media department so we had to make sure we had booked each and every piece of equipment and an editing suit, so we knew that it was all available at the times that were convenient for us as a group.

During our editing we were un able to stick to our shot list and story board as, due to the lighting changing throughout our filming and due to filming on two different days not everything was perfect so some of our shots didn't match up as nicely as we wanted them to, so we re jigged and edited certain moments and shots so that it was in a convenient order so that our final piece looked as good and professional as possible. For example one of the changes we made was that we had to add in 'dip to black' transition from one shot to the next to connect mainly moving shots that went straight into stationary, of which wouldn't work, as for it to work we needed to have stopped the camera in a still position after our point of view shot so that it allowed the two shots to run smoothly into one another rather than looking jerky  Which by using the dip to black transition allowed us to recover our footage and create a smooth flowing opening sequence.

While editing I noticed a small continuity error of which was that in some shots 'Jacob' has both hoods up from  his jumper and body warmer whereas in others he only has his green hood up, this is a small continuity error of which could have been prevented. 

Also while editing we noticed that we didnt have many close ups of the protagonist 'Jacob' Which would have made our opening sequence more interesting as would have enabled the audience to have more of a connection with the character, being able to see more of his emotions. Here are some still shots of 'Jacob' of which show what we could/should have included especially after he tripped over and when he was running.

Below are some screen shots taken during the editing process.

This shot shows us cutting and editing our footage, it also shows the last shot of our footage before we added the typography.

This shot shows us inserting a title into our footage we added in 'two days earlier...' to make our opening more impactful and make the audience wonder whats going to happen next.

This Shot shows us adding in typography into the different video sections within adobe premier. It aslo shows here how we layed out all our footage and typogrphy within the software.

This shot shows jacob during a running shot, it also shows what our editing suit looked like on the software adobe premier before exporting our finshed footage.

Main Post 9: Production

As a group we decided to film during the day, so that we could use the natural lightening and also as would be the most quiet part of the day as most people were either at work or school meaning less interruption  during our filming.  Overall our filming ended up working out really well, it took us two attempts first attempt went wrong, due to weather conditions and wrong equipment, but after learning from our mistakes we got back up and re filmed our footage for the second time to the best standard possible, also only having to complete a handful of retakes, which in the long run benefited our end footage a lot.

Here are some photographs of our group setting up the equipment before filming and some shots showing us filming our action adventure opening sequence 'Contamination'.

Mollie and Rosie setting up the sound for the camera before filming.

During our editing we had to make a number of numerous decisions, such as where to put the opening titles, what fonts to use (so that they stood out and didn't just blend in with the footage) and what transitions we were going to use. We wanted it to look as similar as possible to most other Action Adventure opening sequences also wanted it to look interesting and effective. We watched numerous Opening Sequences and made lots of notes allowing us to create and input our own typography into our opening sequence. 

Main Post 8: Pre - Production Documentation

Full Synopsis of Film: 

An outburst of disease, suddenly strikes the United Kingdom. Jacob thinks he is the only survivor however he does not realize that he is not alone as a shadow appears frequently in the distance. Although, Jacob can sense that someone’s following him but doesn't know if its safe to make contact so keeps his distance while he is on his travels to find safety.  Jacob finally meets the shadow character and the audience finds out and realizes that they have been working together all along but they just didn't know it.

After meeting each other, Jacob and Catlin (the shadow) Figure out if there able to trust each other and become companions, we then follow there adventurous journey of which they encounter wild animals which have been exposed to the life threatening disease. Of which they fight for survival. Then on their travels they find others that have not caught the disease also finding out that they have paid to keep safe from catching the contagious disease and are introduced to the inconsiderate characters of which don’t care about anyone else and created the outburst.

The audience then find out at the same time as the characters, Jacob and Catlin, that the government were the reason behind it all to get money to help the economy but all when wrong and the disease they created out broke, harming and disfiguring harmless, innocent people.  The film then moves on as we come across other survivors of which was not part of the conspiracy to do with the government, the survivors all come together and we witness an action packed scene where the survivors fight against the government for what’s right and make them survive the consequences of their experiment.

The film then comes to a resolved ending and the survivors work together to make a safe haven of which they go off a recruit and help find other survivors of the contagious disease, creating a new civilization.

Synopsis of Opening Sequence:  

In the opening sequence for our film Contamination, It starts in future events showing the main character Jacob lost in the woods searching for other survivors  after the disease outbreak. It shows him struggling and running around through woods and fields, unsure if anyone else is out there. Its going to be fast pased, with a lot of quick cuts, showing that Jacob is vulnerable and lost.  Its going to start with an establishing shot of the location and then finishes with " 2 days earlier " on a black screen, emphasing that the film is going to go back in time. 

Our opening sequence is going to include close up shots of feet running and jumping to create and show a sense of action. It going to have Point of view shots to create his perspective and show the audience that his scared and out of breath. Sound is a key aspect in our opening sequence as the snapping of sticks and crunching of leafs creates a dramatic effect and adds tension, also hearing heavy breathing makes the audience aware of what he is experiencing  making it more realistic.

The opening sequence ends with dialogue from Jacob "Is there anybody out there?" then the camera slowly backwards tracks away from Jacob who is sitting on a broken tree log which enhances his loneliness.

Location Recce:  

Shot List: 

Story Board: 

Script:

Risk Assessment: 

Crew List: 

Rosie Christopher: Sound Operator, Editor. 

Mollie Bugg: Camera Operator, Director, Editor.

Fiona Aldwin : Camera Operator, Director, Editor. 

Jovell Williams : Actor, Editor. 

Mise-en- scene: 

Set Design/Location
Woods – natural setting, move rubbish and unwanted trash so location is as rural and realistic for our opening sequence as possible. Will work with location and if needed will move branches and trees.

Props
No props used other than natural resources such as tree branches.

Lighting
As in a wood will have to work with natural lighting that shines through the trees, so for our location it will be quite low key lighting, which we will be able to adjust by using a reflector to create more light in specific areas where needed and to add emphasis

Character Movement

There is a lot of character movement from the start of the opening sequence. As it is an action adventure film it is going to be quite fast pased which means that there is going to be constant character movement. In our film we have character movement such as; running through the woods; jumping over broken trees; walking through the woods; siting on a broken tree trunk; Stepping on branches and leaves.

Costume

The main character Jacob is wearing:

Blue chinos

Green Hoody - hood up

Navy body warmer - hood up

Black trainers

Hair / Make-up

Actor - Natural hair, make up: Powder to prevent shininess when on camera .

Shooting Schedule: 

 

My Individual Report: 

The Main Idea was to create an interesting, thought provoking action adventure opening sequence, that is aimed at 12A audiences but our main priority would be towards males and females 20 - 40 years of age. The main problem and decision we faced as a group was deciding how we were going to make the opening sequences fast paced and to look like an action adventure opening, we decided that we would do this through the use of fast editing. 

After we completed the full synopsis of the film we all had lots of ideas that we all wanted to share but the difficult part was deciding which ideas we were going to use in our final opening sequence shot list, after much deliberation we decided and produced the pre-production above, which we were all overall satisfied with. Overall I believe our decisions as a group will produce an interesting action adventure opening sequence. 

(Completed as a Group)

Main Post 7: Focus Group

Here is our focus group video, Fiona (me) asked two males ages 17-18 and a female aged 17 to give some feedback and ideas about and for our opening sequence. From the focus group feedback they all said they thought our Idea would make a good film and suggested we make the opening sequence catchy to get the audience involved. They also said that they see action adventure films as being fast passed and moving, which we want to suggest and portray within our opening sequence. 

Main Post 6: History of chosen genre.

Main Post 5: Timeline

For my Timeline I watched the opening sequence from an Action Adventure Film. Whenever a title, typography or audio sound came up, I noted it on my timeline. I picked the opening sequence from the action film Quantum of Solace (2008)  there were many reasons for picking this opening sequence two main reasons being that it was influential  to my ideas, secondly it is an action adventure movie.

This Activity was very useful as it influenced and showed me where and when to put my credits and sounds, at the same time as allowing me to follow the conventions of an action adventure opening.

Main Post 4b: Narrative/Character Research

Contamination :  Jacob Character Research

Background: 

Jacob is an average everyday person who used to work as a HGV driver, but does extreme sports as a hobby. His father was a retired solider who fought on the front lines for Britain after being badly injured and being sent home. Jacob was left to look after and to care for his father whom of which taught him everything he knows, of which helps him to survive when everything goes wrong. In the film Jacob loses everything and everyone he ever loved, having nothing to fight for, which is why when he finds out the truth about the disease and that the government where behind it, his anger kicks in as they are to blame for all of his miss fortune. 

From researching other action adventure films this is a stereotype of what would actually happen if you were in a situation like that, as your feelings and emotions would get caught up in your actions. Also by having a family relative of which he learnt all of his survival techniques from it helps the audience to understand how someone so average was able to survive in such a situation. Having the extreme sports as a hobby in his past suggests that his a fit, energetic, healthy young man, ready to face whatever is thrown at him, creating the perfect action character, who will complete all sorts of extravagant stunts on his travels to help make the adventure come to life.

Here are some links of websites I used to generate and find information about Characters and their backgrounds in all sorts of films.

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/231010/10_star_wars_characters_with_more_history_than_youd_think.html

http://listverse.com/2012/06/16/top-10-iconic-background-characters/

http://www.writersbestfriend.com/2012/10/narrative-themes-character-development/

Main Post 4a: Plot Development

Title: 

Contamination 

Genre:  
Action/Adventure 

Target Audience: 
12A

Log Line:
Is anyone else out there?

Synopsis:

An outburst of disease, suddenly strikes the United Kingdom. Jacob thinks he is the only survivor and that he and the shadow that’s following him in the background are the only two left, which they know of. Jacob can sense that someone’s following him but doesn't know if it’s safe to make contact so keeps his distance, while on his travels to find safety. Jacob finally meets the shadow character and the audience finds out and realizes that they have been working together all along but they just didn't know it.

 After meeting each other, Jacob and Catlin (the shadow) figure out and learn to trust each other and become companions, we then follow their adventurous journey of which they encounter wild animals which have been exposed to the life threatening disease. Of which the characters fight for survival against. Then on their travels they find others that have not caught the disease, also finding out that well off wealthy people have paid to keep themselves  safe from catching the contagious disease and are introduced as inconsiderate characters of which don’t care about anyone else and created the outburst.

We then find out at the same time as the characters Jacob and Catlin that the government were the reason behind it all to get money to help the economy but all went wrong and the disease they created out broke, harming and disfiguring harmless, innocent people. The film then moves on as we come across other survivors of which were not part of the conspiracy to do with the government, the survivors all come together and we witness an action packed scene where the survivors fight against the government for what’s right and make them face the consequences of their experiment.

The film then comes to a resolved ending and the survivors work together to make a safe haven of which they go off to recruit and help find other survivors of the contagious disease, creating a new civilization.

Opening Sequence Outline:

In the opening sequence for our film Contamination, It starts in future events showing the main character Jacob lost in the woods searching for other survivors after the disease outbreak. It shows him struggling and running around through woods and fields, unsure if anyone else is out there. It’s going to be fast passed, with a lot of quick cuts, showing that Jacob is vulnerable and lost. It’s going to start with an establishing shot of the location and then finishes with "2 days earlier" on a black screen, emphasizing that the film is going to go back in time.

Our opening sequence is going to include close up shots of feet running and jumping to create and show a sense of action. It is going to have Point of view shots to create his perspective and show the audience that the character is scared and out of breath. Sound is a key aspect in our opening sequence as the snapping of sticks and crunching of leafs creates a dramatic effect and adds tension, also hearing heavy breathing makes the audience aware of what he is experiencing making it more realistic.

(Completed as a Group)