Final Piece

Target Audience Feedback Survey

Below is the link to the survey we created in order to gain some audience feedback for our product.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/172x-t1evDRJI5zE2iLT-YJYyVo79CdZEQSOBqebLp-c/viewform

Production Title

Callum has set about making the opening title of our production company 'Lightning Productions' and roughly this is what has been created so far. 

We felt that the black background with the white writing stuck to the typical generic conventions shown to us through real media products during our research. We then decided to modernise this with the lightning bolt making it more appealing and interesting to the audience. We also liked the idea of lightning because it links with the saying 'the calm before the storm'  and this fits with the narrative of our opening. This is because we start with slow continuity and little action until it builds up to a climax towards the end.

As a group we like this title and we will have to play around with it on premiere and see whether it would be best to animate it, or to simply leave it as a still image with simple dissolve effects surrounding it.

Final Shoot

We have recently completed the final piece of filming we needed for our title sequence. This involved filming more of the younger version of our protagonist as part of the flashback asking questions about her brothers disappearance. We will then slot these in towards the final sections of our title sequence to create a more melancholy atmosphere compared to the aggressive and agitated atmosphere we previously we wanted to create. We felt this change in representation would allow the audience to connect with the protagonist and sympathise towards her therefore, drawing them into the rest of the film. 

The physical filming of this section was quick and thorough as we knew exactly what we wanted to film due to writing a list of the questions we wanted our actress to send as well as a short shotlist. Therefore, we filmed exactly what we wanted with very little hassle. 

Overall, I think my group and I have progressed in our filming ability a lot since the start of the course due to all the practice we've had. Furthermore, we can now entirely focus on the final editing and piecing together of our product in order to ensure we create a product that is to the highest standard we can achieve. 

Rough Cut 2

With the help of our teachers my group and I sat down to review our progress so far.




Firstly, it was decided that our first minute was really good and the music we've chosen to use fits very well and helps to create the lonely, isolated, and sad atmosphere we wished to create. This has been achieved through the use of our establishing shots of the protagonist by herself looking out of a window providing a reminiscent mood which then leads on nicely to the flashback. We are extremely pleased with our flashback and believe we have shot and edited it into our piece effectively through the fade into the white screen and back into the action. 

However, to improve our second half it was suggested that we filmed more of the flashback and intercut that between some of the protagonists action in order to help move the narrative forward and represent the girls innocence. Furthermore, we thought as well as filming some more of the flashback, we could record what the young girl says and possibly use the dialogue as a voice over to parts of the action too. This would help reinforce the juxtaposition between her younger self, and herself now and make it clearer to the audience how her childhood has affected her. As well as this it shall provide some variance in the action so it's not too similar. In addition, our titles need to be finalised and we need to decide which font we want to use and where each of them shall be placed.

What we need to do:

• Finish the titles (font, colour, placement)
• Complete further filming of the flashback scene
• Make final changes/adjustments to the music
• Adjust the sound levels

Overall, as a group we are content with our progress and our second rough cut and plan to do whatever we can to make it even better. Therefore, we have each given eachother roles to complete by next Monday (18th) in order to make sure we will complete the project in time to meet the upcoming deadline. 

ReShoot 2

Today we filmed the last part of our sequence that needed to be re-shot. This consisted of our flashback and we received the feedback that we needed to include and film a reaction shot of our protagonist when she was younger and receiving the information she was given in order to make it more realistic and see how she reacted. Hence we cast a girl in the lower part of the school called Sharon who was perfect for the part. In order to be organised we created a short shot list before filming that enabled us to be prepared when it came to filming because it meant we didn't have to improvise on the day what shots we wanted which I believe overall improved the standard of our filming. We also filmed many more shots than we'll actually need because we learnt this was a good idea when we filmed the main part of our sequence as when we started editing it meant we had a large variety of shots to pick and choose from. 
We needed to make sure the filming for this scene was perfect because it could be argued it is one of the most important scenes in our sequence because it provides the 'trigger' for the following action in the sequence. However, I believe my group and I filmed it to the best of our ability because our filming skills have improved greatly since we started the course. 

Camera

The first camera shot we used was a mid shot of both of our actresses sat opposite each other on chairs this gives the audience a sense of location because otherwise the shot would go straight into a close up of each of the actresses faces and this could be confusing. We then had a close up of the young girls face looking worries, a close up of the teacher informing the girl her brother has gone missing, and then a close up reaction shot of the young girl. When it comes to editing we will then be able to see which shots look appropriate and suitable and which do not. 

Mise-en-Scene

We decided to add verisimilitude to our filming by ensuring that the young girl was wearing school uniform as she was at school, and the teacher was wearing smart/casual clothes as appropriate to her character. We then used a small room with plain white walls to not add any distraction away from the action. 

To sum up, we have now completed all of our filming in terms of re-shoots so we will now be able to solely focus on ensuring the continuity of our editing is to the best of our ability. This means we are definitely on track to meeting our deadlines but there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of editing and sound that we'll have to do in the next two and a half weeks. 

Editing so far and our Title

So far all of our shots have been placed in the correct order and we've played around with each of them and the overall sequence and made a few very slight changes. Firstly, we have moved our flashback nearer the beginning of the opening because we feel it is better for the narrative sequence. Furthermore, after revising the research we did on the placement of titles we have moved out title into the middle of the sequence allowing us to show the titles of our actors beforehand and crew members afterwards. In addition, we have decided to place our titles over the top of our shots instead of on their own with a black screen because otherwise we felt we were likely to go over the time limit. During our editing session today though we had to overcome a problematic issue of the fact that when two of our shots were joined together they created a jump cut effect ruining the continuity of our editing. Hence, we had to see which other shots we had filmed and spend a lot of time deciding how we were going to resolve the problem. In the end we simply used another one of our shots and changed the sequencing slightly and luckily it worked.


 Above is the title we have created and are contemplating using in our opening sequence. We have still not finalised this decision because we haven't received any advice or feedback on it but we are hopeful it will be positive. The reason behind the idea is that the smoke can be used as a metaphor for the brother because his sister can't catch him the way you can't catch smoke as he drifts away from his family. The use of sans serif font is bold and eye-catching drawing the audience into the rest of the film and overall I am pleased with this title because I feel it achieves the mysterious and ambiguous tone we wish to create during our opening sequence.

Overall I believe my group have been working really well together in order to finish the project as soon as possible and meet the deadlines as we've each taken on different roles to help the project move forward. Once the titles have been finished and the last bit of filming is completed tomorrow all we will have to do is finalise our choice of music. However, this is will be an important feature which we will need to carefully consider and spend lots of time on. 

Filming and Editing our Re-Shoot

Filming
As soon as we had decided as a group that we needed to re-shoot we got together and found a date where we could re-shoot as soon as possible in order to meet our deadlines successfully. When filming our re-shoot we all found it a lot easier and more efficient than our fist day of shooting because we were more used to the equipment and knew exactly what to do in order to create our desired shots. Therefore, we were able to complete the filming much quicker and more smoothly than before. Once we got to our location we decided that we needed to capture an establishing shot as we were criticised for not doing so beforehand, and also discovered a more suitable location within the same house. This turned out to not be a major problem because all our shots had to be re-shot in the first place because our actress had dyed her hair. Overall, this has ended up working to our advantage as all the shots are now at a much higher standard meaning they will be easier for us to use when we edit.

Editing
When we started editing we decided as a group that the best point to start at would be to find all the clips we wish to use, and place them in the correct order and once this was done we could see what worked well and what parts didn't fit. We've also discussed many revisions to our idea including shortening our protagonists section in order to elongate our antagonist section where we plan to add a bit more drama and excitement to our overall opening. So far though we have made a good start in editing our product but to improve this further we may want to go away and watch some videos online on how to use Adobe Premiere in a more advanced way.

Below are some screen shots of the editing we have completed so far:

Overall, we've made a good start in developing our project so far but there is still lots of work to be done. Therefore, we have discussed as a group appropriate times and dates for us all to come and do some extra work on the project either as a group or individually to ensure the project continues to move forwards in order for us to meet the deadlines.