In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Appearance
Both characters are similar in terms of appearance, they are both about the same age (8) and their appearance is similar due to clothing. They are different gender which is one of the only significant differences.

Costume
Their costumes are the same in terms of time setting and clothing. They are both in old clothing and I have considered Mise En Scene in my opening and have dressed my character in what i believe was the correct clothing for the time setting. My character's costume is in black and white, and the young boys in is colour in this film, but they share the same idea and principle about olden day clothing.

Role in film
both the characters role in the films are almost exactly the same. They are a child in a time when there is massive conflict and war happening - and the film is from a child's point of view. I think this is the best example in terms of similar characters for this aspect of the role in the film. The young protagonists both look up to their father in my film and 'The boy in striped pyjamas' and this is also a very good similarity.

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why? How did you attract/address your audience? - Final opening with Voiceover

Here is my final film opening with the voice over added over the top in a kind of 'directors commentary' way. To make sure the voice over was loud enough, i have gotten rid of the music as this overshadowed the voice over for this version. The Russian is still in there though, but just quietened down.

Overall i think the voiceover does explain quite a bit, and helps to help the audience understand my film a little bit more, for example who i aim to address as an audience, who would distribute my film etc.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Feedback from Jake & Jim

In today's lesson, we had media professionals Jake & Jim in our lesson, who have produced music videos, adverts and films - in to help us with our work and give us some helpful feedback on how to make our opening better for next time.

The feedback i got was very helpful and will help me in future projects. They thought my film opening was a bit different in the sense that it was not a conventional film opening - and it was not very stereotypical of an opening. They believed the dialogue and subtitles made the film opening look a bit like a trailer - but once i explained it was a bit different and similar to a monologue - they agreed and thought it was interesting I had not taken a stereotypical route.

They liked the shots of the tanks to establish setting, and the pan away of the house they thought was very effective. They also liked the pan away of the young girl - as they thought this showed her emotions well.

Overall I think this feedback was very helpful, and if I had more time i would change some of the things they mentioned, such as the 'jittery camera' on all the shots rather than on some and not on others, and would take on their advice to help my film opening look a bit better.

This feedback also links to the evaluation question of How did you attract/address your audience? I think getting feedback from media professionals helped me to understand what audience would be attracted to my film and who would favour a different film. Jake & Jim thought my film was a bit different in terms of it was not a convential or stereotypical foreign film, but they still understood who the target audience would be and agreed it would be a foreign audience or the older audience who have a good amount of knowledge about WW2.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Feedback from Level 2

We were then given a sheet of feedback from Level 2 Cm diploma, which was helpful to us in terms of what went well and what did not go so well. They were given set questions and asked to explain them.

This also links to the evaluation question of How did you attract/address your audience? I think getting feedback from level 2 helped me to understand what audience would be attracted to my film and who would favour a different film. When answering the question of who the target audience would be, they write "A foreign audience as it isn't in English". I think this is the audience i hoped to attract, as well as an older audience who have considerable knowledge about WW2.

What kind of 'genre' do you think the film belongs to? Why?
I think this is a 'war' film as the little girl talks about missing her dad who is sent away to war. Also It could also be labelled a 'foreign' film as the film is both German and Russian.

Who do you think the 'target audience' of this film would be? Why?
A foreign audience as it isn't in English.

What's your favourite image from this film? Why?
The young girl standing with the hat, as i think she is missing her dad and this shows her emotions well.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In Final Cut Express I have used various effects, for example I have used motion keyframes to add motion to still images, and have used the pen tool to fade both pictures and music both in and out, which helped considerably in my opening, as these effects both helped when i was editing my opening sequence.

In Adobe After Effects, I have also used new effects which i did not know how to use before, therefore learning new techniques. These two effects were the glass smash effect, which was called Shatter in the effects toolbar of After Effects. This is exactly what i wanted and fitted well with my opening sequence, as it symbolised breaking of the family and the girls emotions.

I also used After Effects to edit a version of my individual Long road logo, where we made the letters and symbols of the long road logo move in the way we wanted them. I used After Effects for making my own ident logo too, which symbolised me and my media industry. This was a good editing program to use as we were then asked to put the two logos at the front of any media work we done, branding it as our work.

On YouTube I have uploaded all my videos i have done for my media work, aswell as finding videos and examples to help me with my coursework, which i then edited and modified. I have also found other students work off YouTube and studied this, which helped with my research when i put it onto my blog, as I explained what I liked about the sequences. YouTube is where all of our media videos are uploaded too, so it helps us as a source from where to get our videos from if we are not on the same computer all the time.

On the websites Stockfootageforfree.com and 1001freefonts.com i have researched both fonts and footage which I think will be helpful in my own opening sequence. For the free footage, I found a great establishing shot of the leaves which i have used in my film opening. Also, for fonts, i have used 1001freefonts to find a Russian font which i thought looked better in my opening sequence than a normal font like Arial etc, as my film was set in ww2 and the font i used symbolised this.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In my film opening project, i have used and learnt a various amount of technologies, with the visual side shown below. This picture shows images of a Tripod, a HD camera, a microphone (for recording the Russian) and a Macbook for editing purposes.

The main picture shows me using all of these technologies, with the Macbook and camera in the shot also. Then below this is all the editing programmes i have used, such as Final Cut, Adobe After Effects, Garageband, (with screen grabs from all of these) and then websites i have used to help with my opening sequence, for example www.1001freefonts.com and www.stockfootageforfree.com.

I think this picture on the below post shows clearly and effectively what technologies I have used in my film opening project. Also, the screen grabs of me using the editing programs is a good idea as it gives a visual interpretation as well as a written one.

The editing programs all interlaced together when making my film opening project. After Putting all the pictures and video into Final Cut Express, you would then drop this into After Effects to make an editing effect such as the screen smash, and then you would import it back into Final Cut with the effects added. You would then get the music from Garageband and add this into Final Cut with the video. You would then when finished export this using Quicktime Conversion onto YouTube. You then embed the file into Blogger from YouTube. They all interlace in some way which I think is very effective in explaining how the editing programs were used.

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing 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 is a continuity error and these errors are often easy to make.

While doing the continuity task we learnt an extensive amount about editing, such as breaking the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shot etc and I think this has helped me, perhaps not in my opening sequence as i did not film much, but in anything i shoot using a camera.

My film opening sequence is more similar to a montage rather than a continuity editing film opening. I did not shoot alot, favouring to have dialogue and subtitles explain the story rather than alot of various shots - and because of this i think my film is more like a montage than a continuity film opening.

Similar Keyframes - Narrative

These keyframes are similar in the way they both let subtitles tell the story, and have a foreign version of dialogue over the top of the subtitles to help explain what is happening.

Similar Keyframes - Camera Movement

These keyframes both symbolise moving away, and they both either pan away or move away from the original house to show that they are no longer staying there.

Similar Keyframes - Visual Effects

These images are similar, not in terms of visual effects but in terms of frame and overall storyline. The parents are arguing in both pictures, and one is taken from 'The boy in striped pyjamas' while one is from my opening sequence. I chose these two shots as i think they are very similar in terms of the storyline.

Similar Keyframes - Framing

Similar Keyframes - Setting

These keyframes are similar in the sense that when the film starts, they show either weapons, trucks or tanks to symbolise a feeling of conflict and violence - showing that at the time there was conflict or war happening.

Key frames Explanation - Bottom row 7-9

Visual Effects
I only had a couple of visual effects in my film - and i decided to choose the keyframe I have because I believe it is one of the most important keyframes and shows more depth than the other effects. I have used a screen smash effect, found in After Effects, and have used this to make the screen apear to look smashed, when the two parents are arguing. This is very similar to a shot in the film 'The boy in striped pyjamas' where the parents are arguing. It is not the same shot, as i have used a still picture rather than filmed the arguing, and although the screen does not actually smash, i think the principle is the same.

Typography
For typography, i have used a keyframe of my Russian '10 cent soviet' font to show the type of font in my film and to symbolise that the film in Russian. I do not know a film that has a similar font to mine, and think it would be quite hard to find one, as the font is unique and i have researched films but none of the fonts are similar to the font i have used.

Narrative
For the keyframe of narrative, I have used the keyframe of some of my subtitles for my dialogue, and think this shot is very similar to the film of 'Persepolis' where they use subtitles and french dialogue. I think the shot of my subtitles represents narrative very well as the subtitles and dialogue in my opening sequence are the main thing that tells the story.

Key frames Explanation - middle row 4-6

Framing
My fourth main keyframe is to do with framing in terms of a shot. My keyframe i have chosen for this is the pan across shot of the young girl's father, which is in my opinion framed very well - the shot makes the character look defiant and strong, and a close up of the characters face shows emotion. I think this is similar to the film 'Blood diamond' yet again, and similar to a very particular shot in which Leonardo Dicaprio is framed in exactly the same perspective.

Camera movement
For my next main keyframe to show camera movement, i have shown a pan away shot of the house the young girl leaves when she moves to Germany. I think this is an effective shot as the camera pans away from the house, in a way showing the girls eye - view when she leaves - which i think is very effective in the way it does this as it gives you an idea straight away that the young girl is moving somewhere. It is similar to the shot in 'The boy in striped pyjamas' when the young boy moves house, and you see the car driving away from teh house. The shot may not be the same, but it still shares the same aspect and idea as my film opening.

Transitions
For my transitions key frame, I have used the shot at the very start of my sequence, when the shot of the leaves goes from colour to black and white. This symbolises two things - one, it also symbolises time as going from colour to black and white shows the film must be set in olden times, and two, it symbolises the girl's emotions - at the start of the film she is happy but when they move she starts to feel unhappy - and I think this shot symbolises her feelings.

Key frames Explanation - top row 1-3

Costumes/props
For my first key frame I have used a prop of the hat i have used in my opening sequence. I think this shot is a good keyframe to show costumes/prop wise as it shows i have thought about Mise En Scene and props in my opening. I also think this film is similar to 'The boy in striped pyjamas' in the way the costumes and relevant props are arranged so that they match the clothing at the time of WW2.

Lighting
My second main keyframe is to do with the lighting in my film opening. Because my film was mostly black and white, it was hard to find a shot where the lighting helped considerably and showed contrast and brightness. However, the shot for keyframe 2 i have chosen - i believe is very effective in the way the lighting sheilds the young protagonist's face - almost as if suggesting you should not see the face of the young girl. I think this is similar to any black and white film, as the lighting does not give away alot about the characters.

Settings - time etc.
My third keyframe i think is very effective. It is of the establishing shot near the start of my film opening, where the tanks are shown. It is a very strong vivid image of a tank, and this immediately suggests war or a time when conflict was happening. I think this is a good idea of setting, as it reveals the time of the film almost immediately when the film is shown. I think it is very similar to the film 'Blood Diamond' in which at the start of the film trucks and guns are shown to symbolise a time when there is confict or war.

Key frames numbers

I have numbered each key frame on the picture on the below post to match to these explanations above about what the key frames are in terms of. For example key frame number 1 would be relevant to costumes or props, and so on.

(1) Costumes/props
(2) Lighting
(3) Settings - time etc
(4) Framing
(5) Camera movement
(6) Transitions
(7) Visual effects
(8) Typography
(9) Narrative

Invoice Questions - Action plan

Identify three practical/technical skills you feel you would like to work on developing. How could you organise this for your next project?

- I need to offer my help to perhaps a few new people, and this would in turn broaden my range of people who i have helped.

-I need to develop further my knowledge of final cut and after effects, as this was what i spent the most time on, and needed help with certain small things which i now know. If i can develop my knowledge of these editing programmes even further, this will hopefully allow me to spend less time on the editing programmes and i can get my work done quicker.

Choose three people you did not assist or get assistance from in this project. How could you go about identifying ways in which you could be of assistance to them on their next project?

-Alie
-Philippa
-Alex

none of these people recieved or gave me assitance in this film opening project, so i will try and make sure i help these people in future projects and will then benefit from helping a wider range of people. I could give them ideas for the next project, or could help them with any imformation or anything they are unsure how to do if i know myself.

Invoice Cloud

Here is my 'invoice clouds' which i have added to my blog. We were asked to create a document in which to show our invoices, for example if you had invoiced someone once, they are in small size 12 font, but if you invoiced them twice, the font is 24 and so on.

This is the same when looking at invoices someone else has given you. We then had to sort the invoices into order of best feedback, for example how many lines they had written, if they had written not alot then this would not be as good amount of feedback as someone who had given 2 sentences or more feedback.

Editing techniques used

Research - Schindler's List

Films similar to mine in terms of time setting and character wise. This is another way in which my film challenges particular social groups.

Schindler's List is an American 1993 biographical film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Speilburg and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally.

The film begins with the relocation of Polish Jews from surrounding areas to the Krakow Ghetto shortly after the beginning of ww2. (This film is similar to mine in terms of time setting and war.)

There is a scene in the film which I think is very similar to my film opening - which i did not realise before. It is the scene with the little girl in the red coat, therefore a similarity is that my opening film and Schindlers list both feature a young girl, although Schindlers list does not feature the young girl as the main character - they are very similar in terms of characters.

Schindler sees a little girl wearing a red coat. The red coat is one of the few instances of color in the black and white scenes of the film.Though the film is primarily shot in black and white, red is used to distinguish a little girl in a coat.