Skills Reflection

Research and Planning: 

Over the past year in Media, I have developed wider skills in Research and Planning. The first continuity exercise did not require pre-production research such as Vox Pops as we were given a very specific brief with the action and skills they wanted to see, however our BSR opening sequence, with a much more open brief did, since we had to ensure it was suitable for our target audience and that they would be interested in the genre and the themes. This helped us make a more informed narrative and make changes to our planned treatment so it would fit the criteria that the target audience wanted to see in our opening sequence. The continuity exercise planning was a storyboard we created which you can see on the right. We also created a planning post where we showed and explained the shots we had to use and where we got the inspiration for our idea.
In both the continuity exercise and BSR opening sequence we watched past students work. However this skill had developed as during planning for the opening sequence we analysed the students work much further than before, saying why it was a good/bad example and if it followed the conventions of a typical BSR and an opening sequence. This made us much more informed when filming, enhancing the importance of continuity but also a clear storyline from the beginning to grip the audience.

When planning our BSR opening sequence we were sure to be informed of the institution that we were making the opening for. Therefore we studied Film 4 as an institution in terms of facts and figures by making a factfile and also other BSR films they had produced. This gave us the understanding that the films they produced were not created for family audiences and were quite gritty and controversial in their approach.
In our continuity exercise we didn't think about the conventions of a particular genre since it was more focused on the skills we needed to learn. However when making a film within the BSR genre, it is important to understand the many conventions it holds. We spent a lot of time learning about the conventions and watching BSR films to understand how they are used and the affect it has. Therefore our planning for this task was much more detailed, making shooting scripts, treatment, location reccies, call sheets, production schedules 

(here is a location list and cast list we created)

and then also our research such as making vox pops and analysing our target audience. This helped us understand our audience's views and opinions and what they expect from the opening sequence. 

(vox pop)

(meet my audience)

Conventions:

My knowledge of conventions were improved over the course last year since our opening sequence required the conventions of the genre British Social Realism, conventions of an opening sequence and the conventions of institutional credits. However the continuity task was more about learning about different shots used in continuity filming therefore did not carry out much in depth detail into the conventions. When planning for our BSR opening sequence we carried out research into the themes and conventions and the development of the genre over time by creating a timeline. 
A main film we looked at was "The Selfish Giant" where we looked at the representations of characters in the film, which was helpful when making our own characters as we knew the archetypes of BSR characters and which ones we wanted to mould our characters around.
We also watched many BSR films and analysed different features such as mise-en-scene and sound, such as Kidulthood and Fish Tank.
An example of analysis of an opening sequence can be seen below:

We also studied the conventions of credits by looking at the film "This is England" which was interesting as the opening credits actually say a lot about the film itself in terms of era and culture.  

Creativity:

The creativity of my work has improved over the course last year since our brief for our continuity exercise was much more strict in terms of camera shots and action whereas with our opening sequence, we created the narrative and decided on our themes, which made us feel like we had more freedom with what we wanted to make. I think we were much more excited about the process of making the BSR opening sequence which I believes shows in our work. The themes are serious in comparison to the continuity task which I think made us more serious in our approach. 

The BSR film is of higher quality to me since we were more creative, for example using the non-linear narrative and the wide variety of camera shots that actually seem to flow together well with the music (http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/tomorrow) which we spent a long time trying to find so it gave the atmosphere we were looking for, and the editing style. 

However our continuity task felt like we were just trying to fit in all these different shots, even if it didn't feel right just to showcase us learning a new skill. The shots do not tell us much about the characters whereas our shots in the BSR opening sequence made it obvious to the audience that Becca was vulnerable and isolated.

We were much more creative with our shots, for example:

This extreme close up was much better executed than the one we used in our continuity task and from a much more aesthetically pleasing angle. This may be because we experimented with hand held to get a better shot. Also this mirror shot was something we had never tried before, which was also filmed hand held which created a different perspective for the audience.

Post Production:

Since I only started Media Studies last year, the first task was my first time using an editing software. I think my editing skills have improved since the continuity task since I have had more experience and a better understanding of the tools. 


For example, the crop tool was used in our BSR opening sequence to make the scene where Becca is grabbed more dramatic.

We came to understand the tools better, for example we had sound issues with our music, the original being too loud and also background noise needing to be copied to avoid a jump in the sound levels.
This helped the BSR opening sequence come together better and made it flow better.

We also learnt new skills by creating credits in LiveType which was the most time consuming part of our production process due to technical difficulties when overlaying them on the footage. However, I feel I have learnt more about the software and would be able to make credits fairly easily again.

I feel our editing is much more precise, since if you see our continuity task below the match on action shot of the door could be executed more smoothly and we could have edited out the camera shakes.

Our post production skills have improved since we have now learnt how to use Final Cut which is a more advanced editing software, which we used when editing our remake of a music video.

Digital Technology:

My use of digital technology has improved over the course last year. Our camera work is much better in the BSR opening sequence especially with the use of hand held camera which was surprisingly non shaky. A lot of the shots are filmed hand held to reach the desired angle we needed since some of our locations had a difficult and small space to film in.

My use of digital technology in my coursework has also improved by creating videos such as Vox pops and also to evaluate my work. Also I used powerpoints and spreadsheets on OneDrive to show my planning which is a clear way to present our work. We also used PowToon to reflect on our progress during production.

We have come to learn about a few softwares over the past year, iMovie, LiveType and Final Cut which has expanded my knowledge of editing. For quick videos like the one above, we have now started only using iMovie for this. However for our main coursework, we will use Final Cut. 

Since I only started Media Studies last year, all skills have vastly improved as the whole experience has been a learning curve. I think that in every aspect we improved upon our continuity task and made an opening that we were proud of and genuinely happy with especially since we finished within our deadline.