AS Coursework Reflection- Creativity

AS Reflection Page- Creativity

Creativity is one of the most important elements you need in order to plan and create an opening two minutes. It allows you to make your idea to thrive and come alive, right in front of your eyes.

Where did the ideas come from?

To begin with we researched which genre we wanted to make and a genre which, as a team, we all agreed on. We researched many genre from romance to comedy, which in the end we chose horror, which is where all the ideas started to flow. After watching and analysing countless horror openings, we began to understand what we needed for the opening two minutes of a horror. We realised horror openings differed from each other, as some started off with frightening and scary scenes of people getting murder, which introduced the antagonist straight away; but others initiated with a happy welcoming neighbourhood, for example. We decided, as we had a set amount of time our opening could be, we would have a scary opening, therefore introducing our antagonist. Personally my favourite genre for films is horror, as they always keep you on edge and many, have unusual twists, which stun you all, which is why I was very pleased with doing a horror opening. As I have watched limitless horrors, I had many ideas which we could do for our opening, which allowed our group to all input ideas. After analysing openings, we researched various antagonists, which have been used in published films throughout the century; from the antagonist from ‘Scream’ to the Freddie Groger from ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. This generated designs for what our antagonist was going to look like and what we would need to ensure that they did resemble our designs.

How did you work collaboratively to share ideas?

It was vital that we all stayed as a team and that any ideas, thoughts and opinions we had were said, no matter if it meant discarding ideas which other members of the group preferred. To avoid numerous disagreements we decided we would sit together to have a discussion and note down all our initial ideas of what everyone wanted to include. We discussed what shots we wanted to use, how the antagonist was going to enter, if he was going to be present within our opening two minutes and various other elements we wanted to feature in our opening. Furthermore, we then began to narrow down our ideas deliberating which ideas were better and which ones would attract our audience more. Doing it this way meant that all our ideas were taken into account, meaning everyone had a say in the production.

How did you change things?

We had a few problems during the planning stages, for example, we had three ideas of what our opening two minutes could be on. The ideas were ‘HiJack’, ‘The Woods’ and one which involved demon girl in the woods; which we made storyboards for each of them, as it would give us an idea of what each opening would look like. Still after making these we couldn’t decide, so we made questionnaires on which ones which we should do, and the results stated ‘The Woods’. This was the only creativity problem we had during the planning stages. During the filming stages, we had to change many things, such as, the protagonist we were going to use, as she did not fit the part. We also changed what shots we were going to use as the lighting within the woods was changing all the time, therefore having to change the shots, which is where we just experimented with different shots. We usually discussed what, why and how we were going to change certain things during the filming process as it allowed to get our ideas across.

How did you use tools, like Adobe Premiere Elements etc., to achieve something imaginative?

We used Adobe Premiere Elements to edit our shots and to bring all our filming together. We used Premiere Elements to change the saturation and filters of the shots to create a more eerie effect within the shots, which would make the opening scarier for our target audience. To make our opening two minutes more imaginative, we applied the music we made, to our film allowing tension and suspense to build throughout it. However, we didn't really need to apply many special effects or features which Adobe provided us with, as we didn't think we needed them, as we had quite a few effective and unusual camera shots, such as, the under the water shot.

What stylistic techniques were used to appeal to the audience?

The stylistic techniques we used during our opening two minutes were the use of our stylish font. The font which was present within the film was designed to be scary, which is why there were fine scratch marks within the letters. We also involved our antagonist being within our opening, which obviously would attract our target audience as it gives the scare factor to their cinematic experience. The antagonist was also masked, which is expected; meaning this increases the scare factor of the film. Also having the use of blood, would furthermore attract them as these are the conventions of a horror film, which people expect to be included.  Having used an everyday location of a house, makes it even more appealing for our target audience. This is because it means our audience can relate to this, as they feel as this could happen to them, therefore appeal to the audience. Having ended the opening two minutes on a cliff-hanger, especially a scary one, means that it makes the audience wanting to know more, therefore appealing to the audience.

What was the intended outcome of the production?

Our intended outcome was to make an effective opening two minutes of a horror, which we did to the best of our ability. We wanted to make a production, which would not only be enjoyable to watch, but to also scare them as much as they could; hopefully we achieved this. We also wanted to increase the popularity of our film, meaning the opening two minutes had to be the best opening two minutes there could be. This would mean it would intrigue our audience to wanting to watch more, therefore it could be classed as a marketing campaign, as we only show the opening two minutes, where it ends on a cliff-hanger.

How were these outcomes achieved in terms of page layout and camera shot choices (codes and conventions)?

To make our opening two minutes frightening for our audience, we had to cleverly choose what camera shots would aid us for doing this. We used a lot of close up shot to increase suspense and tension, as these shots do not allow the audience to see much. We also had used a low and high angled shots within our film, which, firstly the high angled shots made our protagonist more innocent and timid, whereas the low angled shot made the antagonist over powering and scary, especially the last shot. Some of the shots that were use were continuous shots, meaning it also built up tension. Having this tension present for the duration of the opening two minutes, meant that the final shot would have the biggest impact, and creating numerous unanswered enigmas, as this is the first time you see the antagonist and maybe the last time you see the protagonist…

AS Coursework Reflection- Digital Technology

AS reflection page- Digital Technology

Throughout our AS year we were introduced to various new technology, from technology we have never used before to technology we have used previously, therefore allowing us to develop our skills and abilities in using these. We used vast amounts of different forms of media technology during the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages, providing us to produce a high quality opening two minutes.

What software was used?

The research phase was vital for uncovering the foundations of our film, which involved finding out what genre we wanted the film to be, what shots were needed for this and even what props and make up was required for our production. This meant we had to use the worldwide software, Google, which provided us with all the information and knowledge we needed to create our opening two minutes. The software we used during these stages ranged from using Adobe Premiere Elements 10 for editing, to using Photoshop for the font. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 was a new piece of technology, which we used throughout the final stages of constructing our opening two minutes, as this was where we cut, cropped and created our final version of our film. The complexity of this software was fairly high; consisting of countless special effects, where you can alter the saturation of the video to where you can crop sections of the footage out; which tested our ability of editing. Also during the editing stages, we used software such as Paint and Photoshop, which is where we designed and produced the ultimate font we wanted, by using our previous research of fonts. We used both these software as one was more beneficial for us than the other. Paint is a very user friendly piece of technology, which was ideal for the template of our fonts, however, we needed to use a more high tech software, which is why we converted the template of our font to Photoshop. This software allowed us to add fine detail to the font making it ideal for our genre, horror. After finalizing our film, we used YouTube, another type of software, to publish our film onto the web, which would be seen as a marketing campaign strategy as it would intrigue our target audience to wanting to watch the whole film. We also uploaded behind the scene footage, which again would intrigue our audience. It would also provide us with data and information from the reactions of our audience, which we would be able to take into account. The final piece of software used was Blogger. Blogger showed the development of our production, which displays a step by step process, from start to finish of our opening two minutes of ‘The Woods’.

What equipment was used?

We used high quality equipment during the construction stages, such as a Canon 9000 camera, clearly one of the most vital pieces of equipment in producing our film. The Canon 9000 allowed us to gain high defined, clear sharp images and sounds, making the footage we captured as realistic as possible. Also the Canon 9000 had a detachable lens, meaning we could change lenses for different shots if we needed to, which opened up lots of options on what shots we could use. This camera was very easily transportable due to it being compacted, which was ideal for us due to the two locations used. We also used another camera, the Kodak 900, which we used within the bathroom scene. We used it here as it had a waterproof feature, which enabled us to place it underwater for the sink shot, one of the most effective shots within our opening two minutes. When we were using the Canon 9000, we used a tripod, which provided stability for the camera, meaning it avoided shaky and blurry shots, which would have affected the continuity and quality of the film. During the filming process, we had to make the shots as realistic as possible, meaning we had to use clothing which would, firstly, suit the genre of the film, and secondly; clothing which would make the antagonist as scary as possible. We used clothing from a scary stitched face mask to using a white blouse for the protagonist to reflect innocence. All the pieces of clothing were vitally important as they connote different things, meaning we needed to portray the right connotations for our audience. To further provide a realistic atmosphere within the film, we used make up equipment, such as, fake skin and blood for the cut on the protagonists hand and even used this equipment during the planning stages as we had to trial the make-up equipment. The final piece of equipment we used was obviously a computer, which was used during the editing, research, planning and evaluation stages.

What were the technical pros and cons of the software and hardware?

There are many pros about the software we used, such as the use of YouTube; this allowed us to broadcast behind the scene footage, which would have increased the popularity of our film, as this would be part of our marketing campaign. However, the disadvantage of this software is that when uploading a video to YouTube the quality of the image decreases and becomes very pixelated, meaning it would disrupt the atmosphere which we created within this film. Blogger software enabled us to show a step by step method on how we made our production, from minute details, for example the make-up tutorials, to the details which would affect the whole production, for example, the setting and location. Another technical software we used was Adobe Premiere Elements 10, which is where we edited and added special effects which would make our opening two minutes fluent and high quality. This was good as it enabled us show what we are capable of as we could apply various editing techniques and special effects which made our production effective and ideal for our target audience. Photoshop and Paint were other software’s which we used for font designing for our film, as it created a suitable font for the horror genre. However the disadvantage of using the Paint software was that it wasn't as high tech as the other software, such as Photoshop, which we used instead, after trying to use the Paint software in more complex ways, which it was not capable of.

The hardware we used was a Canon 9000, KODAK 900, a computer, costumes, make-up and a tripod; the essentials for filming. The advantage of using the Canon 9000 was that it enhanced has to gain a high defined image, with no pixelated disturbance, which was perfect for when making a film. The Kodak 900 was also very good as it was waterproof, meaning the camera was able to be put under the water, to create an unusual and very effective shot. However, a disadvantage of using this camera was that it did not provide as good of quality of image as the Canon 9000.

In what ways was technology used to create the production?

As I have said, we used a range of technology throughout our film which aided us to make our final production as horrifying and frightening as possible. I have explained earlier how we have used a lot of the technology, however I haven’t mentioned the soundtracks and music present within the film. We used the equipment of a piano and other instruments to create the music as we could not find music which suited our film, therefore we had to make our own. After experimenting with different instruments and what went well together, we decided to use music technology on the computer which allowed us to to change the pitch, volume and even apply special effects to the instruments to make the music sound eerie and unwelcoming, ideal for a horror movie.We added effects to make the music continuous and to be suitable for our genre. This meant we added rustling of the leaves and an eerie piano playing at the end of the film. Read previous paragraphs to see how we used the technology during the production.

In what ways did the technology constrain or enable the production to be developed?

The technology we used had its benefits and disadvantages during pre-production, production and post-production.

The technology we used did very much improve and enable our production to develop, for example, the cameras gave us a clear sharp picture, which meant that the film seemed very professional. Not only did the cameras help us for capturing the actually film, but they even enabled us to take behind the scene footage, which we uploaded them onto our blogs to attract our target audience. Also technology such as Adobe Premiere Elements 10, allowed us to edit our production, which meant we could add in editing techniques such as match on action and many more techniques within the film. This software also had many features which allowed us to change and adapt various elements of our shots, such as, the filter of the shot. The technology furthermore aided us to substitute non-diegetic music into the film, meaning we could crop out unwanted sounds and replace them with sounds which would make our opening two minutes increasingly scary. For example, we removed our voices when we were directing our actor and replace them with eerie music.

However, the technology we did use occassionally constrained the production of our film. Although the camera allowed us to capture shots for our opening two minutes, there were a few problems which hindered the film. Firstly, the battery of the camera kept running out when we were filming for large periods of time, which meant that we had to pack up our equipment for that day and postpone filming for another time, therefore production took longer. We also had further delays due to the memory card becoming full, meaning we were unable to carry on filming, again meant another time filming. However, when this happened it allowed us time to look at the shots and to discard and keep the ones we liked and the ones which were appropriate to use. During the editing process, there were difficulties which we had to overcome, such as, the software we used to edit the film, Adobe Premiere Elements 10, kept crashing as our film was a big file. This meant for a few times we lost work which we had done, which made us having to redo our editing; this was one of the biggest problem we had. The final glitch was the music, as we couldn't find any music which suited our shots, as it disrupted the continuity of the film. Therefore  we created our own music, so it was ideal for our film and was unique.