Construction Post 10: Looking back - reflections on our final outcome

I am very happy with the final outcome of our film opening sequence; we successfully constructed film opening through the use of good team work, organisation and effective time management. Although there were a few points in the process where we encountered problems that could have jeopardised the success of our final product, as a group we managed to overcome them and ensure the success of our product. The test shoot was one point in the process that proved difficult; it highlighted how a lack of organisation can cause problems. We managed to overcome this by identifying areas to improve and putting them right for the upcoming main shoot.

Once these issues were sorted out, we were able to advance our product to ensure that it met the terms of our brief; to create a 2 minute film opening sequence for a story and plot of your choice. We showed our final product to our target audience focus group once again and they were not able to pick out any issues in opening sequence, and could confirm that the changes made since their last viewing made for a better final product and viewing pleasure.. This positive feedback epitomised of the success of our final product, and it meant that we had effectively met the brief and done things such as connoting the relevant genre of psychological thriller and conforming to the conventions of films with a similar genre and institutions.

In hindsight, if I were to change anything, I would have ensured that our levels of organisation and team work were sustained throughout the project which would have most definitely avoided the problems faced regarding our storyline, the test shoot and edit sessions. If this change was made, I am sure that our already successful final product would have been more appealing and of a higher quality. This said, I am still very pleased with how our final product turned out and hope that our hard work is reflected in the standard of the product.

Construction Post 9: My technical learning curve

I feel that I learnt a lot from this process. Although I was comfortable both editing and working with the camera, as I had not worked with either for a while before this process, I was not as good as I knew I could be. This process helped me to regather my skills and in some cases enhance them, for example in the editing stage I was required to work with new tools such as with key frames. To help me to understand how to use them I googled tutorials and also asked our technician, Emma, to help me understand how to use this tool. This helped to improve my technical skills when editing and allowed to pick up a few skills and tips that I could transfer into the production of our opening sequence. Additionally, this process required me to work with the camera for our shoot sessions. From past experiences of working with the camera, I vaguely remembered how everything worked. Nevertheless, after some time working with the camera, I again quickly regathered my camera skills and in fact furthered them through the help of Emma.

Adjusting camera settings 

Construction Post 8: My personal contribution to the Edit Sessions

I feel like I was very involved in the editing stage of the construction of our film opening. To begin with, I allocated the majority of the time I had free to working on and progressing the edit. This required me to be organised so that I was sure to attend every allocated editing session, and it also required me to have good communication skills as I was constantly in contact with my editing partner, Gabriel, to talk about when we were to be editing.

Editing the sequence on Adobe Premier Pro

Following on from this, there were a few things that Gabriel and I assigned each other to do as we felt that it best suited our expertise, therefore making the editing process more efficient.

Gabriel  - creating the final/official titles and grading the shots

Josh (Me) - cutting shots in the sequence to match the soundtrack and editing for special shots such as editing  the 3 shot split screen using key frames

Looking back, I am very happy with my contribution to this stage of construction as I feel that I put in as much time and effort as possible, which contributed significantly to the success of our final product.

Construction Post 7: My personal contribution to the Shoot Sessions

I think that I made many useful contributions to the shoot sessions. I was actively involved in many roles during the shoot sessions; this includes both the filming and directing of our film opening, and playing the role of Grace's brother in the film which required me to act for a brief part of our shoot. Playing these roles enabled me to enhance my skills using technical equipment and develop leadership skills.

Construction Post 6: Reflections on Edit Week 2

A second week of editing followed the back up shoot, and these editing sessions required us to complete the construction of our film opening, ready for submission on our deadline. Previously in edit week 1, our group decided to split into pairs. This meant Gabriel and I were working together again. We worked diligently to keep on top of the editing of our version of the opening sequence, and to ensure that it was the best it could be. After show members of our target audience our video following the main shoot they noticed the inconsistency in the lighting and colour of all the shots, and they picked out shots that broke continuity, and it was this feedback that influenced us to re-shoot the relevant shots and add/replace the old shots with them, and then to add grading effects to each shots.

Things done in Edit Week 2:

• Added the newly filmed 're-shoot' list shots to the sequence, and replaced old shots were necessary
• Adjusted the sound track (i.e music, dialogue) to suit the sequence with the newly added re-shoot shots
• Added the official/final titles that we created on the Apple Mac Desktops using a software called LiveType
• Used Grading effects on all the shots to ensure a consistency with lighting and colour in all shots

This is me about to use the Apple Mac Desktop to create titles

Construction Post 5: The Back-Up Shoot

For our back up shoot, we needed a way of staying organised to ensure that we could shoot as efficiently as possible. To do this we created a reshoot shot list which entailed several short descriptions on all the shots that needed to be reshot, as well as a new shot that we decided to add in as after reviewing teacher comments, it would help to present a stronger sense of character and the mood.

Revised shot of Grace after back up shoot

Shot of Grace with shoes on

Construction Post 4: Reflections on Edit Week 1

 It became evident to us as a group that the editing stage would demand good organisation within our group, and as result we agreed to sort out an editing schedule. This was organised in one of our weekly meeting sessions, where as a group we discussed who is free at what times and from this. decided on and wrote down initials of the group member that would be present in that session. Throughout this, our underlying aim was to not only ensure that at least 2 members of the group were present at every session, but to ensure that we had a few sessions where the whole group was present. Looking back, this was probably one of the best decisions we made in the process because it meant that we could work as a group and have as many critical eyes working on the edit as possible.

Things we did in edit week 1:

• Renamed all the shots 
• Identified the best takes for each shot
• Set 'in and out' points for the shots with best takes
• Identified and selected a music track
• Put all chosen and cut down shots onto the sequence timeline
• Recorded any other dialogue that we needed
• Created titles

Although we worked well during the edit week, it became apparent that the conflicting ideas in the group were having an impact on group morality. We were struggling to be as productive as usual when editing, so we decided something had to be done. We decided to split our group of 4 into 2 and work as pairs, editing on 2 different timelines; the pairs were Gabriel and I, and Prudence and Ella. We consulted our teacher of this plan, and once we gained their permission, we were quick to start the editing again. From the group point of view, this was the right thing to do as it meant that group relations were not impacted anymore and although we would be working on separate sequences, we were sure to share ideas and consult eachother with any significant decisions made separately.

Construction Post 3: Reflections on our Main Shoot Session

Our Main shoot turned out to be very successful and especially in comparison to our test shoot. Our test shoot left us with a lot of things to think about going into our main shoot. One big thing was the change in location. This turned out to be a very good decision, as it helped to strengthen the presentation of any ideas or themes to do with storyline, genre and characters.

From the group point of view, the only negative that arose from the main shoot was a few minor continuity errors. While reviewing our shots, we noticed that a few of them broke continuity. We informed our teachers of our concerns and they confirmed that we had broken continuity. An example of an area where continuity was broken were 2 shots in which one of them Grace was wearing shoes and in the other she was not. This was one of a few continuity errors that arose and we were quick to ensure that they were included in our shots to 're-do' list for our back up shoot.

Construction Post 2: Our Post-production Kit

The Post-production kit was based around the editing stages in this process. To perform the editing, we were allocated an edit suite in our school media department by our teacher. On these edit suite, the computers had a software called Adobe Premier Pro, and it was this software that we were to use to edit.

Our sequence shots on Adobe Premiere Pro

Post production included:

• Dual-monitored computer
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Macbooks/iMacs
• LiveType (for creating titles)
• Audacity (for recording non-diagetic sound)

Construction Post 1: Our Production Kit

The kit and equipment that we used are as follows:

Camera that was used

• Cannon Legria HF G30 Camera
• Tripod stand
• Shotgun Microphone
• Headphones
• Clapper board