A2 Media Blog

A2 Media Blog

And So it Happened...

Hello, and welcome to my blog! It has been wonderful this past year to learn about the many different aspects of film making and the media industry, I have learnt so much from how to edit a small scale preliminary task of someone walking into a room, to a full opening sequence of a movie made from scratch! I hope my blog will meet the exam criteria as I have really enjoyed studying media this year.

I hope you enjoy my blog, and thank you for reading!

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 4

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 5

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 7

Above is a video we recorded in order to answer the final evaluation question. We decided this question would be best to do as a group as there was a lot to cover.

Sound

Since our previous sound edit, we have been closely editing the audio to make it as precise as possible. We have now managed to make all of the noises blend into the sequence and all the footsteps match up with the actions, etc. we have also added the ambient sound to the beginning of the clip as I stated that we would in the previous post, we have also added a music track over the top of the page turning to add atmosphere and to make the clip less boring.

We will continue to fine tune our opening sequence until we are totally happy that everything fits.

Rough Sound Edit

Below is our first rough sound edit. we created this in order to place what parts of the original sound we were going to use, and what new sounds we needed to add in.

From re-watching and taking on board the comments from our teacher, we now need to cut down and edit the volume of the sounds so that they bled with the footage. At the beginning of the clip we are going to add some ambient wind noise in order to help create atmosphere and make it seem more natural. It also emphasises the isolation of the setting. We are also going to add a music soundtrack over the top of the page turning as the clipseems too quiet for too long.

Rough Edit

Below is the first rough edit of our opening sequence. we created this so we could sort out the order of our clips to begin the editing process.

After making this edit we decided to removes some clips to help with the flow of the video.We decided to re-film the music box close up as we decided it look really unnatural with the candleheld next to it
We also decided to remove the clip of the doll's face as it was filmed on a different device and was therefore a different video resolution to the rest of the video.

Filming

Whilst we were filming we created a time-lapse in order to capture our experience. We decided this would be a good way to portray our filming as it is an on-set video.

As you can see from the video, we did a some of the filing away from the room and by the door (this is why you an see the door opening and closing at the beginning)

We then moved on to filming in the office room which is the main setting of our opening sequence. as you can see, we spent a while setting up the room ready for filming (lighting candles and setting up the table). 

This time- lapse was recorded over a five hour period.

Location

We decided to film our opening sequence in a barn/workshop at the Hinksey Heights golf club. We chose this location as it was easily accessible and suited our genre and story line as it has an eerie atmosphere and looks quite run down.

The big wooden door create an eerie creaking noise which adds to the ageing effect of the building.

The odd stone brickwork with bits missing also emphasises the age and maes it look more as though it were abandoned, which in turn makes the whole location look more mysterious.

Props

Since our opening sequence was based on a reporter/detective finding a book filled with 'missing child' adverts, we decided that our props should be relevant. Here are some of the key props we decided to use:

• Rocking horse
• Leather bound note book (containing articles)
• Children's toys
• Dolls
• Candles
• Jewellery box [with spinning ballerina]
• Desk and desk chair
• Filing cabinet.

Our chosen location already had a desk, desk chair and filing cabinet situated in our chosen room, which meant all we had to do was find the other props, and collectively we owned it all already wich meant out budget was kept to a minimum.

However, we did have to buy the note book, so we found one on eBay that we liked an bought it. Unfortunately the description wasn't clear and it turned out that the book we ordered was bearly 3" in width and height:

So intead we decided to make our own using someold card, paper, string and some old leather-like fabric we found in the textiles department. Here is the finished product:

Titles

our brief staes that out opening sequence must include titles. As a group we dicided that it would be best to incorporate our titles into the book thst the reporter finds, this way it will be hidden wihin ghe scene making it look more authentic and more planned out and not like we just added them in a the end.

The image above shows how we incorporated our titles into our book.

Costume

in our opening sequence, the characternwe have chosen to fit our story line is a news reporter/detective. We have chosen this character because we think this most enhances our opening sequence.
For our typical detective style character we decided she shouldmbe wearing a long beige coat like the one below, and carry a camera around her neck for documenting her discoveries.

Here is the final costume for our actor:

Production Meeting Three

In our third and final production meeting we discussed the different scenes we were going to use and what would happen in each. In total we came up with four key scenes:

1. Reporter entering the building, walking up the stairs and going i to the office.
2. The reporter looking through the filing cabinet and finding the mysterious book.
3. Reporter looking through the book. (Titles included here)
4. Reporter looks up to see the front foor opening and hears foot steps coming up the stairs to the office. Scene ends when the door to the office creaks open.

Our initial Due date is 13th of February 2015. We plan to take too days filming and to hae all the footage recorded by the 13th January which gives us a month for editing.

On our first day filming we plan to record scenes 1&2 and leave scenes 3&4 for the second day. Organising our filimg allows us enlugh time to make sure we get all of the correct necessary shots.