Feedback on my opening sequence

We presented our opening sequence in class and received very positive reviews.

feedback received in class:

- very scary

- created an uncomfortable atmosphere

- great cinematography

- good set/design

- interesting use of shots

- large variety of camera work

- creepy music was effective

feedback from friends and family:

- original camerawork was very interesting

- great selection of props

- good lighting

- close ups and detail was a very interesting perspective for the audience to watch

feedback from teacher:

Great camera work, really interesting lighting and amazing variety of props.  It might be nice to have some weirder or creepier items eg insects, more organs etc or have Doug cutting in to organs etc..  The sound at the start of the opening is a little quiet as well.  

Cast explanation and confirmation

The main protagonist in our opening sequence "The Collector" was played by one of the drama teachers and head of performing arts- Doug Quinn.

We casted him as he had lots of acting/ camera acting experience.

Doug's appearance also fit the description of our character, as we wanted a middle aged man who has rough-ish hands from practical work e.g. building his collection.

We went to go and talk to him before filming to let him know what the sequence was about/ what he would be needed to do (if he felt comfortable doing it) and how long we would need him on set. We discussed costume and asked to look at his hands as we wanted our Protagonists story/ history to be as accurate as possible.

editing workshop 2

 As we approach the final few days of our editing week (days 3 and 4), my group and I have edited over half of the rushes and put them into a log bin titled 'The Collector'. We spent most of today assembling the clips together, re-watching the footage and finalising the fluidity and smoothness of the clip transitions. As I have done a majority of the editing so far, Emily had worked on finding music for our opening sequence and contacted a YouTube channel asking permission to use their soundtrack as a feature for the film. Furthermore, in addition to editing, Zoe and I have been adding titles to the opening sequence such as the Production company, actors and director. We are now 3/4 of the way through the opening sequence. I believe we will send days 5 and 6 editing the sound of the sequence and possibly changing the colour grading of the shots.

editing after filming 1

 After filming our footage for our opening sequence, we have started the 'editing week'. The first 2 days of editing have gone very well. At first, we watched all of our footage and eliminated all of the rushes that were un-usable/ bloopers or similar shots. We then started to order the un-edited clips into a rough version of the opening sequence. My group and I then began to make a start on editing the sequence to fit the clips together. Overall, I am very happy with the editing I did.

shooting day blogger and my role

 The day before we filmed our media video we transported all of our props and set to the media room to save time. We collected about 80-100 props/ objects to film and designed the media studio with a large oak wooden table, dark wood cabinet and antique Persian rug. On the day we filmed I woke up and didn't feel nervous or worried about filming because I had planned a long list all of the shots we wanted before hand and knew that I would be in charge of most of the filming. Before we started filming, Matt showed us some example shots of very few props in order to prepare us to use the 'Macro-lens'. We filmed in the media studio, which workers well as the black curtains could be pulled 360* around our set to block any unwanted lighting or background images. The Macro-lens also worked well in the media studio as it proved very shallow focuses, blurring anything in the background such as shelves or equipment. This also helped us create the basement styled location as the blurred equipment added detail and looked like more items the character had collected. Using the media studio was an ideal location for us as it gave us plenty of room to use all of our large props as well as space to manoeuvre the camera and florescent light. On the shoot day we divided our group into 3 roles. Florence and Emily helped set up and unpack the props between filming and record sound. Zoe documented our day by taking photos and also helped me with the lighting by changing the angle of the light and moving it during shots. Zoe also helped Florence and Emily when recording sound. I was in charge of the camera and filming shots.  I also helped our actor (Doug) by giving him instructions on what to do and marks on set such as where to walk/ stand. Although these were our main individual roles, we all participated in different areas of production. On my shoot day I feel like I made a great effort to direct my group and the actor as well as setting up the camera for good angles and shots. The main problem we faced on our shoot day was over complicating shots with too many props or being too indecisive when creating a shot. We solved this by using a maximum of about 4 props in each shot and using the shot list I created earlier to film the important shots e.g. ones featuring Doug. The most successful part of the shoot was capturing the light when gliding it move props to create a light to dark theme and add a creepy tension during the shoot. However, I believe the parts where we filmed Doug blow out the candle could have gone better as the candles kept going out and we settled for footage that we will have to edit out bloopers. The part of the shoot I enjoyed most was directing Doug using props on the desk and in the drawers. I enjoyed this most because I felt best appointed to be directing the scene and could visualise the shot. I am looking forward to seeing the props emerge from darkness and fade into black during the edit as the movement of the lighting is one of the best aspects of our opening sequence. As a production team I feel that my group achieved all of our goals and most desired shots. However, I do believe that Me and Emily did a majority of the work leading up to and on the day we filmed. During the media shoot I learned how to direct crew and use different camera lenses during specific shots. These skills will help me when recording our next media video as I will have a better perspective of shots and how to schedule the day.

Targeted audience for opening sequence

Characteristic of target audience	How my film opening sequence will engage those people
Adults between 18-40 years old	Use of explicit content/suggestions and images is engaging for adult audiences The main protagonist would be in his late 30’s, attacking women in their 20’s, which is recognisable to older audiences.
Mostly male with some female audiences	The film is about women being targeted and kidnapped which would attract the female audience as it is relatable. The film would also attract men as they see themselves in a position of power and find it more entertaining to see a male protagonist
Working class D/E	The setting is late at night in alleyways of cities, which is more relatable to the working class. The narrative revolves around kidnaps which typically happens to working class women.

describing your target audience

Describing your target audience 3^rd may

 

-       Must be specific and narrow down our target audience

-       Narrow it down to: gender, age, nationality, sexuality, ethnicity, relationships, parental status etc…

 

Socio-economic status:

A status- upper middle class- higher managerial, administrative or professional

B status- middle class- intermediate managerial, administrative or professional

C1 status- lower middle class- supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional

C2 status- skilled working class- manual/ labour worker

D status- working class- semi and unskilled manual worker

E status- lowest level of class e.g. students- state pensioners or widows

 

Psychographic:

Mainstreamer- seek security- tend to be domestic, conventional, sentimental. Normally largest group

Aspirers- seek status- materialistic, acquisitive. Typically younger people

Succeeders- strong goals, confident, work ethic. Typical professional occupation

Resigned- authoritarian values. Typically older people

Explorers- energetic, invidualism. Younger people, normally students.

Strugglers- alienated, gamers, disorganised. Eats junk food, lottery tickets and gambling.

Reformers- social awareness and independent judgement, antimaterialistic. Attended higher education and uses products of higher quality.