Evaluation

Over the past four months, me and my group were given the task to create a two minute film opening. Most of us, including myself had never filmed and edited a film opening before, which means we didn’t have as much experience as those who has studied media for the past two years. However not all was bad; after analysing many film openings, we surely got the hang of what techniques and devices was to make a good and decent film opening.

Throughout these four months, we came across many problems during this production. One of them was simply getting started, where to start? What shall our plot be? Where to film? This is when we realised it was a great moment to prepare what is going to be done. The first take was to decide our plot and its genre. We all agreed that most films we enjoyed was horrors and comedies, but what one to choose? At first it was to start with a comedy, nobody could go wrong with a comedy! Yet its not all what it cracked up to be. From looking through other media film openings with the comedy category, it didn’t seem to be funny at all? This is what we feared most, what we might find personally funny, others may not.  This is why we came to the final decision of making a horror. At this point everyone was looking forward to film and edit such a dark film opening. The next step was the plot. We chose to create a story bored, it took us many story boards until we got it right. One of the plots we were close to using was a plot of a prostitute on a street at one point, then she was gone the other. The mood would be set by being filmed in a dark, careless place, however, we thought it would be hard to show the darkness if the setting was under a lamppost, and too dark without it. This is why we chose a girl in a dark cellar, but to brighten up the background, we used a small light on her face when it came to filming.

From the start, it seemed pretty obvious who was willing to be a character in the opening, and who was wanted to do which part. The main character, Daisy; was played by Grace Robinson, voice monologue by Shannon Sutton, extra female characters by Katie Parkinson and my role was to film, think of new shots, but my special task was to take special care with music. Yet, when it came to handling technology such as cameras for filming and especially editing, the whole group tried to take part. This way we could all get a chance and the experience to say we have all tried it. By the end of the four months, I have noticed that everyone has done a bit of everything; I know I don’t appear in the film; however more meets the eye then what it seems. One of the shots we did was the main characters point of view, this was done by persevering with what we have, and use our fingers as the eyelids, many viewers including ourselves thought this was very effective and clever.

Moving on to more about the shots, it was hard to film within such a small space, this was a cellar of a group member. Except the main character of cause as she was being filmed, we all tried to film in different directions and angles, and stick to the 180 degrees rule at the same time. From filming Graces feet, to filming the rope the tied her up, it seemed to be impossible to find a way to help the shots simply flow. This is when we came up with the idea of using the main characters point of view, this way the audience could see what she sees, and maybe begin to help them feel how Daisy feels.
Another place we filmed was in Gillingham Park. This was much easier to film different shots. We filmed the main characters feet while walking, a long shot, plus a shot of the kidnapper’s point of view. I think this last shot was significantly effective because it built up tension as well as another chance to show the situation, which was an innocent and vulnerable girl walking her dog. Filming outside was a bit tricky, due this is because the weather had to be exactly right; otherwise this would be noticeable. It was also essential that we filmed in the weather we wanted, this way it would help to set the mood. this is why we chose to film on a sunny, bright day. This would set a happy mood and situation.

Another problem we came across was with technology that we used, in this case uploading the footage onto the computer MACs. At the beginning of the year, no one knew how to upload tapes to a computer straight from the cameras, always been used to film footage saved on devices such as memory cards. To overcome this, we asked for help to give us some guidelines, once this was done for the first time, everyone in the group was easily able to do this.

To edit our film opening, we used a program on the MACs called "Final Cut Express Pro". This program is specially designed to make and edit films or short footages. It allows most aspects of editing to be done, such as adjusting the sound, colour, speed and transitions. One of the features it has was playing footage backwards. We wanted this to happen on one of our clips, as it was not quite right. Yet, from doing some research on the internet, this became very manageable and even made the film more to our specification.

Looking back over the past four months, the ideas for our film opening changed a lot. To start with, the opening was going to start off with parents of "Daisy" shouting her name. We thought this beginning would get the audience thinking, why are they shouting? And who are they? However, this became a challenge for us because no one that we believed to be suitable for the parts, was willing to take part in the film, another reason for this was the time, it was hard for them to find time. This was understandable because I have come to realise that it takes at least two hours to get the filming right. 
Another idea we used was to film, pin bored with pictures of young teenager girls on it. This was very close to being used in the opening, yet we felt this would have gone straight into the film, and that there should be more of a build up. This is why we put the end, at the beginning.

The due date of the film opening was approaching fast, and still what footage was going to be used was unclear to us, this is when we decided to work on the film at least three times after school to work together. It was hard to get a time that everyone in the group can do, but we came to the decision that not everyone had to be there, as long as we all took turns of taking time into editing, this would be fair. Within this time, we looked over the clips, and decided what to use, gradualy a plot was forming.

In conclusion, the past four months have been a rollarcoster. It has tested our filming skills and techniques plus our team working skills. It has made me realised how much care has to be made into making simply two minutes of a film! Even the slightest mistake can be noticeable.