Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Question 6:What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Final Edit

This is the final edit for my opening sequence.

Taking onboard the comments I received from the assessment and feedback from my first edit, I have been able to change and improve details of the sequence ready for the final deadline.

Firstly, the production cards at the beginning. I removed the music audio from 'Glass House Productions' because feedback felt as though it looked too 'LiveType' and not sophisticated enough, and overall I felt as though this was the best decision to make, and kept it silent. 

Secondly, the tiles appearing in the sequence itself, such as 'Directed by' and 'Starring...' etc, looked very pixilated and lacked enough colour to be clear enough to the audience. This was easily resolved after I spent a little time looking over the controls in the 'Final Cut' panel, and the result is that they are now a lot clearer.  

Finally, towards the end of the sequence, I have the band making a cameo in the sequence as buskers. Originally, I just used shots of them and overlaid the titles, however the feedback suggested that I attempt to sync the music playing in the background so it looks as though they are miming the words. This took a fair amount of time, but I finally got there and successfully managed to sync some of the audio and visuals together. 

Unfortunately time constraints didn't allow me to re film the section where Theo's parents are arguing, as I wanted to replace the slap and walk out, with older actors, but time wasn't on my side. However, their voices are what are important, and you only see them briefly. Also, this is supposed to be a flashback, when Theo was only young and his parents were very young when the flashback is set. 

First Edit audience feedback continued

During todays session, I had my first edit watched and assessed by two members of the class.


The improvements suggested really support other feedback I have had on this, such as the argument between the parents. However, there are some new pieces of feedback which I have not thought about until now.

• establishing shot of the house before the argument in the flashback. 
• sound effects, ambience, before the music starts so it doesn't slip into a 'music video' convention.
• the colour of the titles, appearing during the flashback, sometimes blend in with the background and are hard to see. 

Other than these improvements, my opening sequence was well received and even aspects of it which I was not so fond of, were positively commented on. Such as the dialogue with the voice overs and argument. 

First Edit Audience feedback

Recently, I recorded an audience feedback video. This was taken during and directly after they watched my opening sequence and offered positive feedback and constructive criticism for when I went back and made my final edit.

I took away a sufficient sense of what I need to change for my final edit.
Making the flashbacks clearer and a change of actors for the parents.

However, I do not think it would be wise to change the actor who portrays Theo, due to time and my personal belief and others opinions that he fits the role.

First Edit after thoughts

Recently I have been thinking over the order my titles have been appearing. In order to do this I watched other films, in a similar genre just to see how titles are presented in those.
It has made me think about whether or not the order makes sense, so I will be going back to my first edit to generally switch a lot of the titles around so they make sense.

First Edit

This is my finished first edit for my two minute opening sequence, Searching for Solace.

Generally, I am very pleased with the way it turned out, although I did face some problems along the way.

The titles are an issue I know I will have to keep improving upon, as I still wasn't happy with the way they were presented onscreen.

Also, the timing was also a major issue, as I am fully aware of the fact that I have passed the maximum time length. However, I am already trying to think of ways to resolve this.

Once I have recieved feedback, I will improve upon,

• overall general timing
• titles and how/where/when they appear
• production cards, as these were rushed due to time constraints.

Editing 17/01/12

Today, I will be recording the voice over for the opening sequence. Once this has been completed and edited to meet my standards, all I will have left to complete will be the titles and production cards.

Re Filming and Editing

On the 14/01/12 I decided to re-film the extract of the sequence where we can hear Theo's parents arguing. My reasons behind this choice were because the dialogue sounded too scripted and structured and I wanted to make it as realistic as possible. Overall, I am much happier and content with the content filmed and now that it has been edited, it is looking a lot better than my previous attempt, even though I personally think that it could always be improved, it just comes down to finding the quality of acting I need vocally and piecing together the argument to make it as realistic as it can be. 

Editing 13/01/12

During the course of todays lesson, I successfully completed the editing of timings of clips, music, and transitions in my opening sequence. The next step will be to record the voice over and create the titles. 


However, I am re filming the argument scene between Theo's parents with two different actors, as I am not entirely happy with what it's like at the moment. 

Editing, session two.

This session, I managed to finish cutting and arranging the clips before the end of the lesson time. With the remaining time, I continued playing with the clips to see if the order needed changing, especially with the Cathedrals & Cars cameo, as I felt the order did need changing due to the continuity. Although this is the section of the sequence I am the most pleased with. 

I have also been looking at the argument scene in the middle of the film. I am quite happy to leave it how it is, however, I feel as though I could re film it again, this time with different actors. But as I said, if time does not permit, the clips already existing will be absolutely fine. I would just like to experiment with different voices to see which work best. However, I am proud of the shots I used, as I like the fact that you can't actually see the parents arguing, just a little look into the house and how normal it seems in comparison to what really is happening behind closed doors. 

 Overall, however, once the music was added to the sequence, I immediately felt more confident with how the sequence was starting to look. 

Editing

During the course of todays session, I started the process of uploading my clips onto Final Cut Express. 
The next step was then to start editing shots, in regards to the which shots I actually wanted and needed, and the shot length. 
This was a difficult task, especially with the band cameo, as I wanted to show various shots of them in the short space of time, also, it did take a long time cutting the clips to the correct timing.

This Is England.

Recently, I have been spending a vast majority of time watching This Is England and it's television sequels, '86 and '88.

It would be an understatement to merely say they 'were good.' When, in fact, they are a credit to British Drama and what Britain has to offer in the film making sense.

First of all, Shane Meadows initial idea to explore what Britain was like in 1983, immediately after the effects on the Falklands War and the radical racial views in the society and location it is set in.

For me, this was an incredibly difficult topic to watch, as the language used was vulgar and very hard to digest. However, that is what makes the film so true to life and successful, Meadows isn't scared to show what it most probably was like and this makes the film gritty and very very British with how straightforward it is.

The shots compliment the mise en scene with the setting. There are no special effects or fancy lighting used, it is literally as if you were following the characters around yourself, and this really helps when the camera zooms in on various characters faces during a scene to show the various emotions from them.  

The film itself won Best British Film at the 2007 British Film Academy Awards and the Best Film category at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards.

Thomas Turgoose also won Most Promising Newcomer and was only 13 years old when he took on the role.

It's his performance which really makes the film what it is. How natural and normal he is, which reflects the whole cast. All of the scenes have particular direction to follow, to move it on, but there are pieces of dialogue which seem so natural from the cast, and it seems like their not reading from a script at all, which adds to the realism feature.

Also the performance from Stephen Graham, who plays Combo, in some terms the antagonist, but in this film there is no clear structure of protagonists or antagonists. Graham's performance makes certain scenes difficult to watch, as he acts his part so perfectly, you can almost believe what is going on.

Shane Meadows even broke through the difficult transition from a successful film to a sequel. Some sequels can ruin a film and it's reviews, but the televised '86 and '88 are, in my opinion, the most successful attempts at sequels.    




I hope to take away a wider understanding of the use location and shot types, as these were the most prominent features of the film which stood out to me. 
The simple use of the location, really makes the importance of the storyline and shots clear to the audience. 
I would also like to incorporate the use of the close up and focused shots into my opening sequence as I also think it holds great significance to show the initial and immediate reactions from the actors/characters.