AS Coursework Reflection- Post Production

AS Reflection Page- Post production

The post production was where we uploaded our final opening two our blogs and onto YouTube; allowing our audience to watch and offer us with feedback. This feedback would enable us to see what our target audience thought about the film; from what they liked and what they didn’t like. This feedback would be taken into account so we could use it for our next production, which will be produced in our A2 year.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

During the research and planning phase, we needed feedback for many aspects, such as, our initial ideas, what the antagonist would look like and so on. To determine these, we designed a questionnaire, which would answer all the queries we needed to resolve. This allowed us to see our target audience input, so we could design our production around what they suggested to us. This showed us how important the feedback from our audience was as it provided us with new ideas but also aided us in developing old ideas.  After our audience previewed our opening two minutes, the response we gained was very positive and encouraging. The feedback at this stage was vitally important as it would represent how well we achieved and manufactured our opening two minute. It would also provide us with an idea of what we needed to improve on for next year, even it was meniscal. The audience stated that they loved the range of shots we used as they built up continuous tension, which kept them on the edge of their seats. We also learnt that they liked how we ended it on a cliff-hanger, as it created numerous enigmas, therefore making the audience wanting to know more; increasing the popularity of the film. The only negative piece of feedback we got was the use of the piano in the background music, as it was slightly out of sync, which we will ensure we get correct next time.  As this feedback was all very encouraging, it has given us confidence and determination in making an even better production for our A2 course.

What editing decisions were made?  How did they inform the production?

There were a few editing decisions which we applied to our production, so that it would be fluent, so no disruptions throughout the production. Firstly, during the wood scene there is a POV shot, (point of view shot), which originally we weren’t going to have this in the opening, as we thought it was too blurry when we filmed it. However, when we uploaded the shots onto the computer, our multiplatform device, we thought it would fit perfectly within in our production. Therefore we applied a match on action shot, to ensure continuity but also to show our ability of editing.  Further on during the editing stages, we realised we had a filming mistake, as the light was switched on in one scene, but the next shot was her turning the light on. This meant we had to somehow remove this mistake, which was reasonably challenging, however we did find a way. We first cropped out the pause of in which commenced before our actor turning the light on, which made it seem like the protagonist was just touching the switch. We then cut the ending of the shot before so the shots would flow into each other, which worked reasonably well; however, if we had more time we would have probably reshot this scene. Another decision we had to make during the editing stages was how we were going to fit the underwater shot, as it was an unusual shot to have. This meant we added the shots of our protagonist turning on the tap as it would introduce what the girl was doing.  We used match on action to make the scene flow, which was where we made the cut weep with blood so we could follow the blood drop into the water. The finally decision we had to make, in terms of editing, was the placement and transition of the font. This was important to take into account as we didn’t wasn’t the titles to disrupt the atmosphere we created. This entailed lots of experimenting of transition and where to place the fonts, which in the end we decided to be them either at the bottom left or bottom right. We also discovered that just by using a simply fade in; fade out transition was ideal for our opening, as they did not distract you from the main focus, which was the images on screen.  However, we had challenges to overcome, there weren’t too many editing decisions we had to make, which could be due to the extensive planning and research we did before the filming and editing stages.

What particular editing tools were used and to what effect?

There were many editing tools we used during this phase, such as the cropping and cutting tool. This allowed us to cut out section of the video we didn’t wish to have present in it; for example, when shots were too long we were be able to cut them down to make them shorter. This tool also enabled us to cut out sounds within the shot, as some of the shots had us directing our actor, which meant we had to remove them and replace them with diegetic and non- diegetic sounds. This meant we could see all the sounds which were present in the shot, meaning we could remove what was necessary. Another editing tool we used was the transition tool, which allowed us to apply transition between shots, ensuring we kept continuity throughout our film. This tool supplied us with a range of transition, from fade in’s to random bars fades, which meant we had a lot to choose from. In the end we chose the fade in and fade out transition, as it suggested a time change, which was ideal for our production as we used two locations. For our opening two minutes we had to provide titles, as this conforms to any opening two minutes, which meant we had to use the font tool. This allowed us to convert the font we designed in ‘Photoshop’, to our film, which we then were able to place the font wherever we wanted them to go. The tool also allowed us to resize and the font, which we beneficial as when we converted the font on Adobe, the image was very large. As we converted our font, it meant that the background colour was present, which meant we had to use the transparent tool. This was a simple tool which made the background transparent, therefore shot the video behind it, meaning our title’s appearance were professional looking and high quality. There were also special effects tool, where they consisted of various effects, such as a stabilising tool, which made the shots become stable. We didn’t have to use this effect as we used a tripod during our filming stage, meaning fewer things to worry about during our editing stages. However we did use a few special effects, which changed a filter of the shot, but we didn’t use many as we could use the filtering tool for this. The final tool we used was the filtering tool, which was where you could change the saturation, filter and lighting the shots. This meant the shots we filmed when the natural light was disappearing, were edited so that the lighting was the same as the other shots. This tool also allowed us to make our shots look eerie and mysterious, which create an uncomforting atmosphere which we wanted, due to it being a horror.

How did the post production process enhance the overall production?

The post production process allowed us to adapt and change the shots, after filming in our chosen locations. This meant that we didn’t have to return to the locations as we had the option to transform the shots by using the special effects, provided by Adobe Premiere Elements. At the beginning of this process, it allowed us to look through the shots we captured during the filming process, meaning we could keep and discard shots which we didn’t think would fit the continuity of our film. Furthermore, if we deleted or discarded any shots which we decided we wanted to keep, we could retrieve them from the delete box, which helped massively. Even though this took a long period of time, it allowed us to edit accurately and ensured that the editing techniques used, such as match on action, were correctly cropped and flowed together. This phase also was where we had to make the music which suited the production, which also took a long time. However, as we had filmed all the shots we needed, it helped us what kind of music was needed. This meant we could watch what we edited and then apply the correct music for the shots, either diegetic or non-diegetic. Although this took a long period of time it enabled us to compare each shot with each other, meaning we could be sure that we picked the better shot; which made it ideal as we wanted to make the best opening two minutes as we could; therefore enhancing the overall production. During this process it meant that we could also review what we had done and if any shots needed any special effects, which ensured continuity for our film, again, enhancing our overall production. Once we thought we had complete our opening two minutes, we watched the opening two minutes, as if we had never seen it before, which would meant that we could pick out parts which we thought that didn’t either make sense, affected the effectiveness or continuity of the film or if we just didn’t like the shot. Acting as if we were in our target audiences shoes, meant we could deleted, develop or decide which shots we wanted and the ones which we didn’t; making it an effective enhancing way to finished our opening two minutes to the best of our abilities.