What would you do differently if you had an extra day?

If i had one extra day, I would make sure all the final touches are done on the film opening and ensure that there are no unrendered bit of footage which appeared on my final opening video. I would have liked another day just to have a little more time, and to get everything as perfect as i believed it could be. However, I still believe my opening sequence is as good as i can do, but the extra day would help with rendering parts and ensuring the video is done effectively, with no parts that need rendering.

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)
My film opening challenges and uses the film opening or trailer of The boy in striped pyjamas as this was where i originally got my idea from, and i thought it would be a great creative idea to do something different, therefore aiming towards the foreign area of film. It uses the idea of a story with a young protagonist in the time of war. My film opening also uses the idea of persepolis, using the idea of subtitles to help the audience understand what is happening. Although it is not an animation, it still follows the same idea - also similar to Pans Labyrinth. I also studied the title order of independent films such as Napoleon Dynamite and used this order in my film opening sequence.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
my media project represents the social group of a fairly older audience, and features a young protagonist as the main character. The young girl as the main character represents growing up around the time of world war 2 and anyone who can relate to this would find this film interesting. The idea of the young girl moving to country to country represents the social group of anybody who has moved from one country to another and found this difficult, confusing and upsetting.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think any media institution that is interested in foreign film, or any industry interested in the idea of european history. Perhaps the same industry that produced Pans Labyrinth or Persepolis. Maybe even a Russian industry, it does not have to be an english industry. I think they would distribute my media project as it is an in depth look at world war two and the idea behind it, from the perspective of a young girl as the main protagonist.

Who would be the audience for your media product?
My audience range could be between the ages of around 16 or anything above, really for anyone who enjoys european history. It could also represent the social group of not just an english audience, but a Russian too and perhaps even a German audience.It is an independent film so is not produced by big companies such as warner bros etc, and appeals to anybody who is interested in world history and real life drama.

How did you attract/address your audience?
The brief gave a suggestion of what audience we should aim for or to appeal to, but my brief did not give an audience so this was quite open in the way we appealed to our audiences. I thought a war film would be a good idea to appeal to older audiences and i liked the idea of combining my knowledge of history with my media. We attracted our audiences simly by how our film would be, the time and date set, the outfits worn and the actual idea of the film all contributed to what audience we were aiming to appeal for. I appealed to an older audience by making my pictures black and white and the film, as this sets the film in olden times such as WW2. I also appealed to a foreign audience by having Russian dialogue, with english subtitles, appealing to both a Russian and English audience - and maybe even German due to the fact the young protagonist moves to Germany.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt an extensive amount of knowledge of how films are made and what distinguishes one film from another when constructing my media project. I learnt the difference between independent films and international films, and how the titles should be arranged in both of these aspects. I learnt the difference of titles in a film trailer and a film opening, and also studied independent films and got the title orders from this to use in my sequence. I also learnt what to put into an opening sequence, not to give too much away but simultaneously try to explain the story in a mere 2 minute clip of the film. Ths was a lot harder in my opinion than making a film trailer but the experience i gained from this will help me extensively in future projects.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
From our first preliminary task, I did not have a lot of knowledge about continuity as we had only just started the course. Since then, i now know how continuity works after doing another continuity exercise and editing it all myself, it is quite hard to get it all correct. I have learnt when editing it it is best to edit in in certain 'action points' and shoot from both angles and then cut and put into a correct order. I did not know that continuity errors can be so easy to make, therefore it is essential to pay attention to small details such as nothing has changed during the sequence, for example if a door is open in one shot and closed in another, this i a continuity error and these errors are often easy to make.

Film Opening Sequence Final

Here is my final for my film opening sequence. Overall i think everything went well, but I could have benefitted from a little more time. Other than that i am generally pleased with this opening sequence and think the Russian dialogue goes excellently with the mood i was trying to create.

Class Feedback

Today we were given feedback from each member of the class after showing our video of our rough cut to everybody. I now understand what i need to do to change my film opening and make it better. The feedback i received was mostly positive, with some points about how i could improve my opening.

The class believed in summary that:

Font was too bland. Here I am going to use a Russian typeface which i have explained on my earlier posts below here, i simply used Arial to see what the whole idea would look like and to have some text in the rough cut, to judge what the text looked like on the pictures and what was the best place on the screen for them.

There were too many shots of the tanks. With hindsight i can now see that too many shots of tanks were used, and the focus should be more on the main character (the young girl) rather than the tanks. Perhaps one or two shots would be effective, as they establish the location and date, but more than this is unnecessary.

Shots were too fast and could be slower. I agree with this, and getting rid of some of the shots could benefit my film as i would have space to lengthen the shots appropriately and for the class to fully understand what is going on. I now realise that there were a little too many shots in the sequence.

Avoid using the same shot twice. I think this is good advice, and the shot of the tanks was used a bit too much.

We need some more focus on the main character. I agree with this, and getting rid of some tank shots but then adding stills of the young girl will help to shift the focus more onto her and her emotions, which should then help the audience establish her as the main character. I only have some footage of the young girl, so I will take some still shots of her from the footage and add this into the sequence.

The text on the screen needs dialogue. I agree with this, and am going to put dialogue on it, i just simply put the text on the screen for the rough cut so i know what order it is in and it also helps the audience understand the opening a bit more. The dialogue will be in Russian, with the text in English for subtitles.

The titles could be in Russian. This seems like a good idea, as at the start the title 'Russian Arts Council' suggests the film is in Russian, however i don't think all the titles should be in Russian, as this would be too complicated and not necessary if i am having Russian dialogue as well. I think that if the Title of the film was in Russian this would be effective, it could then fade to English or vice versa and this i think would be a good effect.

It needs a soundtrack. I did not have time to upload the rough cut with sound as i had not found the right track, but now i think i have found the perfect soundtrack for my film, with the music changes after the glass break picture, here the music will be more calm and relaxed, sounding a little melancholy to also symbolise the girl's feelings when she has to move from Germany. Also, i may remove the sound of the glass smash and just have the music when the screen smashes, but have the music change at this point, i think this may be more effective than the glass breaking sound effect.

Rough Cut

Here is the Rough cut for my film opening sequence. I think it is almost there in terms of editing, but still needs the sound and dialogue added, then i think it will benefit a lot from this. Overall i think the rough cut follows the storyboard quite well, it is not shot for shot, but it is in the same idea and you can see where my ideas have originated from and grown.

The font will also be changed in the final opening sequence, as the font i have used currently is just a plain font used to try and see what the opening sequence would look like, and i was focusing more on putting everything together, not the font at this time. I have two fonts in which i am going to choose from, deciding on which one looks better on final cut and in my opening sequence. Therefore, the font is simply Arial for now and for the rough cut.

Points of advice for future filming

• Make sure the actors are ready and available at the appropriate time i want, otherwise this could potentially be a problem for future filming.
• Continue to shoot the shots a various amount of times to ensure the shot is effective and no tiny errors or mistakes are made.
• Think of atleast two suitable locations to film, as the location could not always be available or what you think it appears to be. Always take test shots before and check out the location to ensure it is ok to film there.
• Organize the day so that I always have time to film and that the filming is not rushed, as this would appear in the final film. Make sure on the day/s I am filming that nothing else preoccupies the day or gets in the way of filming.
• When shooting, always use a tripod as when handheld the camera can be very shaky.

Overall best moment during project

My overall best moment during the film opening project would be when i was actually filming. When I had the HD camera, and found a perfect location, this was overall the best moment as i felt i had accomplished filming - and when i began to film and noticed that the shots were really effective, this made me feel like i had progressed in the course and project.

I was also extremely pleased with my location, and as i had chosen two beforehand, i was lucky as when we got to the first chosen location, it wasn't what i had wanted at all and it was alot more modernised - it did not fit the criteria for an appropriate location. We then went to my second location, which was the Science Park, and found this was actually a lot more suited and relevant than the last location.

Final Font

Here are the two Russian fonts, and as you can see from a text preview the second font is quite hard to read, and some letters look capitals even though they are not, such as the letter N n the word 'didn't'. Therefore i will download both these fonts and take them into college to work on them in Final cut and make a final decision which font looks overall better.

Fonts

These are my four final fonts to make a decision on. The final font i think will not be calligraphy like i originally thought, but my other decision of a font style of a 'Russian font'. The two Russian fonts are the two fonts on the bottom of the 4 above. I think either one of these two will be good in terms of a final font, to go on my final film opening project. They will be on a black background and the font colour would be white, similar to the arrangement of my font on my Animatic.

Overall, how did filming go?

Overall i believe filming went very well on monday/tuesday. I think the location was great and i am glad that i found a good location to film in. We had to make sure there were no buildings in the area, as the buildings are all modernised - so we simply found a very grassy area with lots of trees so we went there. We went to more than one place at the science park and spent quite a while finding the correct location which i thought would be suitable.

I think using the HD camera was excellent and much better than the ones we normally use. I liked how sharp the image looked on the camera, even with black and white with editing later i still think the footage will look sharp and effective.

We spent about 2 to 3 hours finding the location and filming. The filming was not the long part, but walking to the science park and then finding a suitable location with no modernised buildings was quite hard to do. Overall though i believe filming today went great and i am glad i had planned everything before the day so i knew what i was doing.

What I have changed

From my initial storyboard, a few parts have changed and I think it helps to establish what parts have changed and how.

• The shot of the girl, where the camera pans away has stayed the same, but the girl is now holding the army hat instead of not holding anything, and i did this because i believe it would give more emphasis to the shot and help the audience to understand her emotions.

• The shot of the close up of the fathers face remained similar also, but he is not wearing the army hat, and you cannot notice this is the opening as i thought it was more important to get a closer shot, therefore you cannot see the top of the actor's head anyway.

• I did not do a silhouette shot of the girl growing up, i thought this was not really needed inthe opening sequence and the dialogue showed her emotional feeling when growing up by the phrase 'All my childhood memories involve conflict.' I thought this was a better way to express emotion and did this rather than having the shot.
  

Filming

Filming

Time: 2.30 - 4.30
Actors - 1
Location - Science park



Today I went to film my shots for my opening sequence. I got the camera off Dave early/mid afternoon so i could shoot today rather than tomorrow, so i would have a little more time on my hands. We went to the science park to film, as i think this was an overall better location, with wider variety of area and shots, and a less modernized feel to the place. I took my niece (my only actor) to the science park and we found two perfect locations to shoot in. I got her to wear a long black skirt and a white top with a black coat, paying attention to Mise En Scene, as she couldn't wear anything modernized due to the time setting.

Overall i think the shooting went well, but the pan away shots could be a problem. As i explained in earlier posts, the floor of the location is uneven due to a hillside and panning away could be difficult due to this reason. Therefore i then shot in a different location with a flatter ground surface area.

However i did not pan away walking because i thought the shot could look shaky. Therefore i simply zoomed out (using the camera) very slowly so it appeared like i was panning away from the actor. I think this should be effective and therefore should be good, i also shot it a number of times in each location so that there would be no errors or mistakes. However i hope this method of shooting went alright and the camera did not appear too shaky. I made my niece (the actor) hold the hat and panned away from her holding the hat this way. This was effective and has changed from what the shot was like in my storyboard because i thought having the young girl hold the hat would create more understanding of the shot and the emotions of the young girl.

Filming approximately took 2 hours, from half 2 to half 4 at the science park. We did not shoot the whole time, the majority of time was looking for suitable locations. The weather was not a problem as it was dry and sunny today, if it was wet and rainy we would have had to shoot another day due to safety etc - so this was an overall good turnout. I just hope this will reflect in the final opening sequence. I am yet to find a shot of a puddle, as the weather ensured there was no puddles! So i will look for a puddle Tuesday to shoot. Other than this i think the shooting went the best it could have gone, and i have shot the shots a number of times in case there are any mistakes made.

Test shots - location 2 science park

Location 2 - Science Park on Milton Road, Cambridge




Here is the second of my two considered locations. I ideally preferred this location to the other one of the youth centre as it looks older and less modernised. Here are some test photos i took when i went to look at the location and find a suitable area.

I think the science park would be an ideal place to shoot due to its marshy, muddy and forest location. It seems quiet and would be an easy and varied place to shoot - with lots of different locations to choose from as there are many lakes and rivers. It took some searching but i have finally found the area where i will shoot my short clips for my opening project.

The pictures give a good representation of what the area was like, but due to a tracking shot this may be a problem, as the area has alot of hills and is very uneven in terms of ground. However, practising with my own camera i found out that if i slowly zoom out using my camera it looks similar to a tracking shot, and is still effective, although the camera may lose focus this does not matter too much in the idea of the shot, as the idea is the young girls father watching his daughter as he drives away.

In terms of shooting though this could be a problem, but shooting in two different areas may be a solution. I could shoot on the uneven ground i found or the next location shot on a flat ground. I think the zoom will be most effective rather than walking away as i could lose balance or the shot could shake slightly where i am walking.

Test shots - location 1 youth centre

Here i have the test shots i have taken with my camera, both the green end road youth centre area and the science park, in the end considering the science park as a better option overall, it is clearer with more trees and marshy area. The youth centre has recently been built so this makes the area more modern, most of the trees are gone and there is only a small tree area, with the science park there is alot more variety and a bigger area to shoot in.

Prop change

Unfortunately, the prop of the military hat i was going to use i an no longer get, but have found a suitable hat instead which i can borrow, it is not the same style of hat but still looks old and world war 2 like. It is a flat cap, similar to the ones i have researched, and is checked, so looking very military. I have taken a picture of the hat, (below) and will take it with me on Sunday when i aim to take some pictures of locations.

There are two i am considering after finding my first location was not what i'd hoped it would be, it is now modernised with hardly any marshy area or any trees. My alternative would be the science park, which is an excellent area to film in, the same marshy area as in my shots of tanks shown in the footage i have already started editing.

When going to look for a suitable location, i will take the hat with me and try out some shots of it. Since the footage will be black and white the colour of the hat should not matter.

Test footage of opening sequence

Here is the footage i have been working on today, I have used the earlier video posted on my blog of tanks and cut the bits i need, so obviously the shots of the front, back and side of the tanks for my opening sequence. I have used colour correction and then changed the colour from black to white and added noise to make the footage look 'scratched' and similar to old footage in a way. I have then began to add titles, from my title order on my blog.

I have also used the free footage of the leaves, (establishing shot) and Barney showed me how to get the clip to start off in colour and change to black and white as an effect on final cut, which symbolises the mood of the film and the emotions of the girl - which i thought was quite a good effect. The above video is what i made n todays lesson - which i think is an effective start to my opening sequence, and was also test footage to see how i got on in final cut and what the footage would look like.

Dialogue/Subtitles/Footage effects

I have decided to use Russian dialogue and English subtitles, similar to the film Persepolis where they use English subtitles. I decided this would be better for my film and more effective because it would add a foreign edge to it, rather than simply doing English dialogue and Russian subtitles which would be easy to do.

I have also found that there is an effect you can use to make the screen smash, you can either take footage of a glass breaking, for example footage of a stone being thrown at a window or anything that shows glass or stone breaking, then overlay this onto actual footage and this will in turn look like the camera screen has been broken.

Also the tank silhouette idea can not be done with footage from Youtube etc, as to do a silhouette onto the background of the Youtube videos would be tedious and you would have to daw round the tank on each frame, and then colour this or fill this is with black colour. This would take too long and therefore an alternative method would be to get pictures of silhouettes of tanks and then to create motion of them, and then to add a background to the back of the footage.

Titles in order

Below are the titles for the independent shane meadows film 'A room for Romeo Brass' which i will base the order of my titles on.


Alliance atlantis and BBC films present
In association with the arts council of england
A company pictures/ big arty production
A Shane Meadows film
Introducing Andrew Shim, Ben Marshall, Paddy Considine
A room for Romeo Brass
With Frank Harper, Julia Ford, James Higgins, Vicky Mclure, Ladene Hall and Bob Hoskins
Costume designer Robin Fraser Paye
Editor Paul Tothill
Production designer Crispian Sallis
Director of Photography Ashley Rowe
Story editor Robin Slovo
Line producer Ronaldo Vasconcellos
Screenplay by Paul Fraser and Shane Meadows
Executive producers Andras Hamori and David M. Thompson
Produced by George Faber and Charles Pattinson
Directed by Shane Meadows

This is my order of titles based on the Shane Meadows film, as you can see I have changed the names but kept the original order of an independent film. There are 15 titles in total and this is about the correct amount of titles for an independent film.

Tara and Media films present
A Tara Cox film
In association with the Russian arts council
An independent pictures production
Introducing Kaitlin Long, Matt Leonowicz, Mike Shaw
A young Girl at War
Costume designer Lauren Reeve
Editor Kevin Peterson
Production designer Philippa Price
Director of Photography Alex Smith
Story editor Robin Phillips
Screenplay by Helen Potamitis
Executive producers Kirk Kemp and Mike Shaw
Produced by Tara Cox and Daniel Long
Directed by Tara Cox

List of Dialogue

Line 1
"All my childhood memories involve conflict"

Line 2
"Every day my father leaves for the army, every day i miss him.."

Line 3
"One day i knew there was something wrong, something was not right."

Line 4
"My father was sent to Germany for Russian aid.."

Line 5
"I didn't realize it was permanent.."

Line 6
"And i did not realize we were going, too."

HD continuity task

This is our individual continuity tasks using the Sony HD cameras, we shot a continuity task and then had to upload and edit it into Final Cut. We had to choose the right points to cut and kirk helped me with the certain 'action' points which helped a lot. We edited individually so this video was edited by me. Kirk, Dave and Loz have different versions to me.

A problem we had was the sound, for some reason the sound did not appear clear and there was a static sound throughout the sound. This is because the HD cameras volume settings were too low, so it did not pick up any sound. This was obviously a problem but the video footage was more important than the sound overall.



Below is the continuity task i acted in, filmed not in HD. We were asked to add the one we acted in aswell as the one we directed, edited and filmed.

Risk assesment 4

Activity 4
Prop loss

Hazard
losing or misplacing the army/military hat

Persons in danger
Myself and the owner of the prop

Severity
3/5

Probability
1/5

Risk value
3/5

Measures/comments
The hat is not mine, so if lost i would have to pay for the damage.

Risk
3/5

Risk assesment 3

Activity 3
filming on muddy location

Hazard
Slipping on mud

Persons in danger
Myself

Severity
1/5

Probability
2/5

Risk value
2/5

Measures/comments
Like my niece, i could be in non slip shoes, or alternatively be extra careful in the slippy muddy areas, and try to avoid filming while standing in the area, some parts should be less muddy and dryer than others so in turn these could be safer.

Risk
2/5

Risk assesment 2

Activity 2
Camera safety

hazard
Dropping of camera

Persons in danger
Me/Colleridge school

Severity
1/5

Probability
1/5

Risk value
1/5

Measures/comments
Camera could in the worst situation break, then i wold not be able to film and would have to pay the damage. Or the camera could land on my feet and injure me, which could also damage the camera.

Risk
1/5

Risk assesment 1

Activity 1
Filming on a muddy location

Hazard
slipping on mud

Persons in danger
my niece

Severity
1/5

Probability
2/5

Risk value
2/5

Measures/comments
My niece could be in welly boots or non slip boots, and this would not matter as she would be a silhouette anyway in after effects. Alternatively she could just be extra careful in the muddy slippy areas.

Information concerning filming

When are you filming?
Half term, tuesday the 18th

What are you filming?

• A shot of a puddle, held for 5/6 seconds
• A shot of an army/military hat on the floor, hold for 6/7 seconds
• A shot of the young girl left at the location, the camera either pans away or i film it still and import it into final cut and create motion. Hold for 7/8 seconds

Who else will be there?
My niece is the only young actor i need, and it is only for one shot so this wont be a problem filming.

Where are you filming?
Green end road, in Chesterton, near the youth centre, or the science park on milton road - as they are both muddy and marshy areas and this will be perfect to film in for my location.
It is similar to a marshy area and matches the grass and mud in the footage i have found of tanks, if i do not use this footage then it will match the colour scheme of the background where the silhouettes of tanks will be.
If this location in any way means i cannot film in it, there is another marshy area and field near the river in which i can film, as i do not need to do alot of filming so this will not matter if my location changes.

Checklist

• Storyboard sequence in detail - what happens when? I have explained the full storyboard sequence below in previous posts, including my anamatic, i have also said in my problems that the sequence may change a little depending on what video as and angles i can get of a tank and how this works out in the end. I have found some good footage now just need to test and edit it.

• Create a shot list - What order are you planning to film the sequence in? the shotlist is explained also in previous posts.

• Found locations - If using a specific location check if you can film there. I have found a location to film my two or three non silhouette shots, the location is on green end road, there is a real muddy patch of grass etc and here is where i will film my shots of a puddle, the army hat which i have located, and the small girl being left by her father.

• Found actors - Who is starring in your production? What do they need to do? Only one actor is needed in my film, and I am going to use my niece as the actor for the young girl. Not alot of acting is needed, i only need her to stand at the location and i use the camera to pan away from her, i may create this shot into a silhouette, so the young girl trns into a silhouette, but i am not sure yet. Therefore i will need a consent form from my sister (As her mother) and the filming will take less than about 15 minutes to shoot, which is not very long at all.

• Found props - What props and costumes do you need? Have you got/made them? I only need one prop, which is of an army hat, and in the post below i have explained that i have found a suitable and relevant hat to use. This could be filmed in the same time as when i shoot the puddle etc and the shot of the young girl. Also i would need a camera to take home, but i do not mind using the old cameras if there are not enough new ones, also the old cameras may help with the footage of war and melancholy atmosphere.

• Planned alternatives - What happens if your actors, locations, props all fall through? How important is the weather? Do you have a back up plan? What is it? I have ensured i have the least number of actors and props possible in order for them to fail, the location is fine and will be perfect, it will not change as it is near the local youth centre, and the area is pretty muddy which would be perfect. The weather is a problem at the moment, but once the snow clears up there should be rain, and this would be perfect for when to film the puddle shot etc as it creates a melancholy atmosphere to the film. My back up plan is to not film at all, and simply get similar footage of Youtube and silhouette this, creating a film opening this way, but it will not be nearly as effective.

• Post production - What effects do you plan on using? Can you do them on the software? Most of my film opening sequence will be done in After Effects and Final Cut Express, and mostly i plan on shortening, cutting and editing clips from Youtube and footage i have shot, also the main effect i will be using is the silhouette effect, which i need some more help on how to do, we did it in class as research but some extra help would be beneficial.

• Soundtrack - What sound effects are you planning to use? Who is making your music? If you are using someone else's music have you contacted them for the copyright? I can easily find a suitable soundtrack in Garageband, and i found some decent music in my animatic which i thought sounded quite melancholy. This is the music type i was looking for, and a piano melody or something like that would be perfect. This just involves having a further look in Garageband, and i am adamant that i can find a soundtrack on Garageband and this will not be a problem.
  

Completed:

• Shotlist
• Storyboard
• Props
• Location
• Actor
• Storyboard sequence
• Animatic
• Typeface/font research

Still needs to be completed:

• Order of titles
• Decision on final typeface/font to use in film
• The dialogue (Russian)
• Russian subtitles (using google translator)
• more help on After Effects
• Final Cut Effect (screen smash effect?)

Font Research

Here are some fonts i thought would be effective for my film opening project. I researched fonts before too, but they only had the test writing on and i think with the actual film opening title written it makes it easier to choose which font to use. I got these fonts from the same website as where i researched them before, www.1001freefonts.com
They actually had a category called 'Russian' which was very helpful, as this helped me decide some fonts which would look Russian and war like. I also searched in the category 'calligraphy' as i wanted a handwriting font, like old handwriting when a quill and piece of parchment were still used, like the writing was from world war 2, from a diary etc, which links to the monologue idea.

Prop research

I have been able to locate a prop which i can use for my war hat. The prop/hat looks similar to the one above, which i believe looks like an effective ww2 hat. Although it does not look like my original hat ideas below, it still looks very effective and i believe locating a real Russian war hat would be difficult, i would probably have to pay for one and would not be allowed to rent one, so this is the best alternative so far. If i manage to find a better war looking hat, i will decide whether to use the hat like the one above or that one.

Prop research

I have been looking online for the kind of prop i need. i need a military hat, or if i cannot find or get one of these then simply a flat cap, anything that looks old.

Major problem 3

3. Problem
The amount of high quality cameras and how/when to use them, how do we share 4 potential cameras between a class of 16?

Solution
I do not have a lot of filming to do at all, considering most of my opening sequence is done in After Effects or Final Cut. So therefore i do not need the camera a lot compared to others who are filming their whole opening sequence. Also, some people may not mind using the old cameras and some perhaps like me do not need to film a lot.

Major problem 2

2. Problem
The adverse and snowy weather conditions could make the whole class lose a substantial amount of project time and could end in us all not completing the project.

Solution
We could all just do some more planning and research to help with the project, or work that needs to be done so that it is out of the way. Also, some work could be set for us to do at home since we cannot come into college to complete the work.

Major problem 1

We were then asked to choose our 3 most potential problems and think of solutions and ways in which we could overcome it, and if not, alternatives for the problem.

1. Problem
I do not have Final Cut, After Effects or Photoshop at home or on my home computer. This is potentially a big problem as it could give me limited working time, and since i am doing most of my opening title sequence on After Effects, this could halt my opening altogether and i could perhaps not get it finished.

Solution
I could get these programs at home, or could alternatively do all the After Effects and editing at college, and do different work over half term. However, the easiest alternative could be to get the programs at home, so i have the most amount of time and this would allow me to do the opening sequence most effective. The people that could help me in case i face problems could be Matt, Dave or the teachers - anyone who has knowledge of these programmes.

Potential problems

We were asked to thing of 10 potential problems we may face creating our film opening sequence and filming it etc. They were split into 3 categories, Nuisances, Minor concerns and Major issues. The nuisances were things that would agitate us but wouldn't effect our project to a great extent, the minor concerns were things we were worried about but we could solve and the major issues were things we were most worried about that could effect our project to quite an extent and perhaps we could not solve them, so we would have to think of alternatives.


Nuisances

-Correct or appropriate location for filming, it needs to look old and war-like.
-An effective organization of time so the project is finished on time.
-The two days lost of our project due to adverse and snowy weather.

Minor concerns

-Where can i get the correct prop/s to use in my film opening?
-Who can i get them from, if possible?
-Time schedule, what aspects will i work on in half term week?
-My shot list may alter a little, does this matter?
-Contact details of who will be appearing in my opening sequence and who could help me if i face problems.

Major Issues

-I do not have Final Cut,After Effects or Photoshop at home.
-The weather could make us lose more time of our project.
-The amount of good quality cameras, we are only getting a potential 4 from colleridge, who will use them? How will we share them?

Marauders analysis

Here is the Hurtwood House video Marauders. I decided to do more research on film openings created using the silhouette effect. Marauders fitted this category perfectly and is very similar to the silhouettes i hope to create in my opening sequence. The way the silhouettes are created is very effective and works with the feel of the marauders opening sequence and he music blends effortlessly too - i hope i can create this effect in my opening sequence. Another silhouette opening title sequence is 'Catch me if you can' which is very effective and i have looked at it previously on my blog.

Feedback

This is the feedback i received from Sam, but it was late and due to this i am only just putting it on my blog.

Your blog looks very good and incredibly informative with alot of text and a good amount of visuals linking to your research in many feilds.the only thing that i didn't like about it was that there was a lot of large blocks of text, these could do with sub titles or paragraphing or somthing along those lines.

I think this feedback is a good analysis of my blog, and i do agree that perhaps the paragraphs could be broken down into smaller paragraphs of text as sometimes they do appear as big chunks, so breaking the paragraphs down would make the text easier and clearer to read and catagorise - and will try to do this in future posts.