AS Coursework Reflection

Digital Technology

•I used Adobe Elements, this allowed me to use precise timing to cut and edit my videos together, making them look smooth. This also allowed me to see edit sound files precisely so they came in a the moments when needed and not too soon or late.

•I used a HD Camera. This allowed me to film in high detail so the audience can see clearly what is happening on screen.

•With the Adobe Elements the videos would not always run smoothly, it would run the video smooth for around 2/3 seconds and then would start jolting about making it difficult for me to see if sound/video files ran smoothly.

•Technology was used in every way possible when creating the product. from the actual filming of the clips to the editing of each clip and the uploading to YouTube.

Creativity

•To create the idea of my opening two minuets, I looked at different action films and what they focused around, the two main types of action are either where there are a team who are all guns blazing running into the battlefield or a lone man who is faced with the task of taking down an entire gang. I liked the idea of a loan man being full of suspense, where every could lead to his possible demise.

•As I was working alone it was purely my idea, but I did ask other peoples opinions about what they thought what would work or not work within my film, to get a general idea I asked both Media and non-Media students.

•When it came to creating the film I saw that there were a few problems with my idea that either did not make sense or didn’t add or take away from the film meaning they were unneeded. So to improve the outcome I either changed what I had in mind or I removed it completely.

•Adobe Elements allowed me to use a feature that slowed down what you saw on the screen. I used this to make the death seem more significant and shocking due to what they saw before hand.

•From seeing action films that focus around a single character I saw that they like to use shots that make the main character seem like they are at a point in which the only out come is death, but always find a way to survive and still beat the bad guy.

Research & Planning

•The focus audience I observed was mid-teens to adults. By looking at different rated action films you can see what makes the appeal for each of the targeted audience. For my audience it was more around the use of high risk factor. When an audience watches a action film they want to escape the everyday boring life that they see and be captivated by this amazing, adrenalin pumping life that these secret agent/rebels have every day of their life.

•From looking at this information I found that when creating my final product I should keep in mind that the audience want to see things that are dangerous, such as near death experiences. They want to see something that will keep them gripped on the edge of their seat and keep them there for the entire of the film.

•Recording the research was easy, when I was looking at the different information that I had been given I was picking out key features that I thought would be useful for me and put them into word documents that I emailed myself enabling me to view both inside and out of school.

•When we stared our research and planning we looked at the opening two minuets of different films of different genres, so we got a good idea of what the clichés were and how they were used effectively, it also gave us the opportunity to explore genres that we hadn’t thought about creating and gave us ideas that we would be able to use if we came to that genre.

•Once this had all been completed we looked at more than just what we saw, we looked at what we could hear within the clip and how it was used effectively to effect the audience, we looked at what we could see in the background of different clips and what they were used for and if they did their job, and also the key thing of looking at what different camera angles and shots they used and how they effected how we felt about what we were watching. We found that by simply changing the angle of which the camera is looking at a camera would effect how the audience viewed the character.

•From looking at all the different techniques and things that we’re able to use allowed us to broaden our ideas and create an even bigger picture of what we wanted to create. Allowing us to look at different shot types and how they effected the scene and if they would work within the idea that we were creating. All of this was useful to us as it gave us professional help to make our products as good as they could be.

•The effectiveness of looking at all these different aspects was high, it allowed us to see where we were going wrong with work and how we would be able to improve it. This allowed us to make our work as good as we possibly could.

•Different results allowed us to get an over all opinion of what works for each genre, allowing us to get a good idea of what we wanted to do for out product. One of the hardest parts of this project was the starting idea and getting a good grip on what you wanted to do. Because the options were so vast it was difficult to pick one and stick with that idea. But from what we researched it allowed us to see what we wanted to do and if it would work allowing us to see if that idea was one that we wanted to keep and continue throughout the project.

•Storyboards allowed us to get a general idea of what we wanted to be seen on the screen. This allowed us to play around with different shot types and see what would work and give the best effect for what we intended the audience to see. The shot lists gave us a variety of what we could use and how we could use it, this allowed us to get more out of a simple shot. Writing the script was easy to do but was difficult to fuse with what we wanted to see of the camera screen, for many different shots would work for that scene but we needed to find the ones which did the job that we really needed.

Post-production

•When editing there were many thing in which you needed to consider for the clip. You needed to think about continuity, because if each small clip didn’t flow smoothly into each other then the audience would be able to pick that up and single it out, even the smallest misplacement would ruin the whole two minuets. Another thing you needed to think about was if you can hear what was going on within the scene, if the audio wasn’t loud enough then you needed to increase it. This was a challenge for me as the audio was very quiet even when I had increased it to the maximum of what it could go. Finally we needed to think about weather that shot did the job that we needed, if you wanted one character to feel like they had dominance then the best shot type to use was a low angle shot making the actor higher than the viewer, making the actor on screen seem like they have the power within the scene.

•The main tool that I used within editing was the simple cutting tool. The shots which I used I didn’t want to alter much so I just wanted them to flow smoothly from one to the other. The cutting tool is easy to use but everything needed to be precise to make it look good.

•I think that the post-production process helped the end outcome as it allowed me to take all of the best bits of filming which I had done and put them together in the right way that made them flow and look smooth.

Using conventions from real media texts

•Within real media products I found that when at high rick moments there is a lot of quick cutting from shot to shot, allowing the audience to get the idea of the confusion and desperation within the scene. Another aspect which I used would be the slow motion death, when action films was to make a death look significant or dramatic then they will either have a team mate run over to their dying body and have a heart to heart convocation that ends with the person using his last breath to say something that will stay with the team mate, or they turn to slow motion. One thing about slow motion is that it can be used in many different ways to make different out comes. For me I chose the slow motion as the person who dies is alone.

•Within my product I didn’t challenge the conventions much, I chose to stay close to what is used as within the action genre.

•I believe my work to be more experimental as when creating my product I found that there were many things which I would have liked to do differently but because of what I was doing I found that they fit the most. If I was given the chance to redo my final product I would do a lot of things differently.

•I do not believe I have yet developed a style as my product was only an experimental one. But I am able to look at what I have used and see what I do like and don’t like.

•When thinking about the action genre I take inspiration from Zack Snyder, but I don’t believe I put much of his work into my final product.