Evaluation Question Seven - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?

Research and Planning

When creating my prelim task all I did was to make sure to follow the rule of thirds when filming and to overlap footage to allow editing to be easier. The conversation which takes place was completely improvised so the quality appears poor not only because of that, but because I paid little to no attention to cinematography, mise-en-scene, diegetic sound or lighting.

As I developed understanding of the conventions of real media products through my research and planning it became apparent to me the complexity that is involved when creating a moving image product. Not because the production itself is complicated but because it has to be well planned and every detail needs to be specific and to a high standard in order to achieve a professional looking final product.
My product was well planned in the sense that I knew exactly how I wanted everything to be and had it all planned to the minor detail but my time management was not what it could have been. Some sections of my product had to be altered completely from the initial idea due to lack of time.
I made sure that I paid close attention to each detail to ensure fluent edits in my final product and used a range of camera angles so that there was a wide variety for the audience.

Construction

The location of my film was difficult when shooting because I wanted to make the areas seen in the product seem bigger than it is in reality, to do this I purposely angled each shot so that it looks as though my actor was travelling through different areas as oppose to the small circle he was really walking in. Some camera movements appear more shakey than they should be, this is true because a still shot might have looked more professional but the constantly shakey edges of the screen ensure the audience isn't calm whilst watching the film. It was intentional to fit with the genre of my final product.

All diegetic sound in my product was kept, similar to my prelim task although I did add non-diegetic music for the entirety of the sequence, this was to captivate the audience more and the diegetic sound was left in completely so that it adds an aspect of realism to the product.

The two screenshots above display my final product (first) and my prelim task (second). One immediate observation when comparing the two is that the camera angle chosen for my prelim is simple, the one used in my final product is not. This shows that I became more confident with my skills when using a camera whilst creating my final product, using what I learnt from my prelim.

I did not choose actors for my prelim task, there are no genuine reason why it is those two people specifically in the sequence. For my actual moving image product I chose a character that may seem unusual to some people, as though he is up to something mysterious that no one can figure out. I also paid slight attention to mise-en-scene in my final product, the character is wearing a hoody so the audience gets a feeling as though he must have caused some sort of trouble, it's not raining and his hood is up. He didn't want people to see his face.

The lighting was not taken into account until I had to re-shoot part of my final product to improve it from the rough cut. I realised that it could be noticable since it was shot entirely outside, I scheldualed shooting on multiple days untill the weather matched what was in my original footage so the editing would be fluent.

Evaluation Question Six - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From using the video camera to capture the footage for my product I learnt how to actually execute specific shots and camera angles as oppose to just having the knowledge of what they are and how to identify them. I also learnt about control with lighting and depth of field, and how both are factors that need to be considered when filming or I would risk poor quality in my final product.

With use of the tripod I learnt how it can greatly enhance the quality of some shots captured with the camera because it can maintain a steady shot, without this the footage would show signs that it was handheld (slightly shakey edges on screen). Although that was the intention of my product and none of the footage I shot with assistance of the tripod was put into my final product, I still learnt how it is useful and arguably required.

The Imac was something I was not at all familier with since I had rarely used one before and instead prefere a windows PC. Despite this the advantages of using the software available on the Imac became apparent once I had experimented with them and discovered how to use them efficiently. I've learnt that the Imac was the perfect piece of hardware when it came to finalising my product and putting all of the footage together. Editing and soundtrack creating was rediculously easy once I knew how to work each program too.

Photoshop benefitted my production as it was the program that I used to created my company logos and the title screen for my film, all were placed into my final product and were of great quality because of this software.

Final Cut Express is the program that I used to view all my footage once it had been shot and transfered (via firewire cable from tape) and to edit everything into place. This benefitted my production because without it, everything would have had to be one constant shot, with not editing of effects added at all. This would not only have resulted in a poorer quality product but would have massively limited creativity.

GarageBand is the piece of software I used to compose and create the soundtrack to my product. This

helped to improve the quality of my product as without it I would have had to record a soundtrack with real instruments and just imported it into Final Cut Express. With this program I was able to compose with small pre-recorded segments available on GarageBand itself, mix them together and cut it to size to match the requirements for my final product.

Prezi helped my production because it was a convienient way to display all my audience research and made it easy to reflect on it whilst creating my actual moving image product.

Evaluation Question Five - How did you attract/address your audience?

- Using Primary Audience Research

My audience wanted to see a product that would primarily keep them entertained through curiosity and a lack of understanding the narrative untill a subtle final reveal. This is the objective for other producs that share a similar genre to what I have created.

The way in which this is evident in my product is that it begins with a low profile action sequence, showing the protagonist fleeing from something unseen to the audience. This cuts to the protagonist leaning against a wall with a cigarette, the editing style I used added to the illusion of the narrative by cutting between these two scenes for a few shots before blending into the rest of the opening sequence of my product. This initiates a flashback sequence and therefore lays the groundwork for what to expect from the rest of the film, that the narrative would maintain entertainment whilst slowing revealing the backstory.

- How I Used Audience Feedback Throughout

The difference between the rough cut of my final product and my actual finished product is the entire first half of the opening sequence. The initial idea was kept but with an action sequence added as an extra prologue to grasp the attention of the audience immediately. I was required to re-shoot the wall scene with the protagonist smoking because in the rough cut it was a single 40 second shot with an unstable camera. Because of the genre of my product I needed more variety in my camera angles and editing so I filmed the sequence three more times and edited it together adding a more captivating technique.

- Final Audience Feedback



- Conclusion Of How I Attracted My Audience

What attracted my audience towards my product is the unique style of editing with a constant irregular pacing and the actual title of the product. Having 'Confusion' as the title for my film confirms what genre it was intending to be but also makes the audience expect a complex and difficult to interpret narrative. The main attraction for my audience is curiosity of what will happen after the sequence I created has finished and wanting to understand the narrative. My product shares similarities with other products of the same genre but displays alot of differences as techniques are 'borrowed' from different genre stereotypes to create a unique final product.