Evaluation Activity 8

From looking at the work that i have produced at the beginning of my media AS level, i am very proud of the progress that i have made and the skills that i have learnt that have enabled me to create an end result (my opening 2 minutes of my film) that i am very happy about. However, i still believe that there are many more areas within the editing stages and the filming stages that i would like to learn next year and there are also things that i have learnt that i would like to make a lot stronger.

Next year i am going to make sure that i do a lot more detail within my planning so i know step by step what my end result is going to be like and show a more clearer journey from the beginning of my initial ideas to the final product. I am also going to watch several Youtube videos that may be focusing on an area which i would like to learn and also videos that may inspire me to use a certain editing technique within my film to make it a lot stronger.

One thing that i believe i did well within this year and the build up to making my film was the ability that i had to work on my own, this gave me a lot of independence and i believe will help me within the future because i have sourced all of my own ideas and thoughts and put them together and i hope that my film reflects this. Working on my own has also made me self reliant and hopefully this will help me next year within media when i am asked to discuss the editing techniques i used and so on.

One thing i do believe that i am weak at is my editing, i believe that is still a lot to learn when it comes to editing and i am very proud of my progress since the start of the year when i had very little knowledge about how to create my own film and add in certain areas that i believed to be relevant. But as i have previously said, i will be using a lot more knowledge from professionals on Youtube to strengthen my ability.

Overall i believe that my work this year has benefited me hugely as it has allowed me to gain both the basic and also higher range of skills that i can use next year when i am creating a television trailer.

Evaluation Activity 7

When comparing my Preliminary task to my final opening 2 minutes of my film i can see a huge improvement between the two. 

I have been able to look at the difference that is made by using a higher quality camera such as a 1080p. Where as the camera that i used within my preliminary task was a camera that i borrowed from school which had a poor quality camera and also a poor quality microphone. 

Also, i have learnt how to insert titles into my videos which make it look more professional and also give my audience some indication as to what they are watching if they were not aware. I will now always make sure that i include titles within all of my videos and films that i make as i can clearly see the difference that it has made to my content.

My editing has also improved from my original preliminary task editing. instead of cutting like i did within my preliminary task, my opening 2 minutes has a nice flow between shots so its is more realistic and the audience feel like they are being taken with the character instead of just being behind the camera. This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in the video and allows them to relate to the content more.

Also, from looking back at my preliminary task it has shown my the importance of using the right shot and angle when filming to give off a certain effect. For example i am not going to use a close up of something such as a flower if it has nothing to do with the content of my video. I will instead use a close up to show facial expressions, a medium shot to show body language and a low angle shot to show power.

Overall i believe that these two videos are just some of the evidence of the progress that i have made this year and has shown me that at the beginning of next year i should also create several videos within my work to show a journey.

Evaluation Activity 6

Here i am going to discuss how i edited, filmed and set up my film to make sure that everything went as i had planned.

To film my film, i wanted to use a camera that would allow me to shoot in 1080p which would give me high quality and a sharp picture so i used the Nikon D3200 which had an 18-55mm lens which was one of my own personal cameras. I used this camera because it is very simple to use as it already has a camera setting which will automatically adjust the lighting within the film so that the film can appear as realistic as possible.

I did not need to rely on the microphone or an additional microphone within my opening 2 minutes as my film did not have any conversations within it. However, if i was to include a conversation within future films i would use a microphone that can be attached to my camera as this will make the diegetic sound clearer to hear. However, if i did not have an additional microphone attachment, then i would use the microphone on my phone to record seperately what my characters were saying so that i could layer it over the top later on when editing so that i could hear what they were saying.

I placed my camera onto a tripod whilst i was filming which meant that my camera remained perfectly still and continued to remain professional. This prevented any movement that may have occurred if i had filmed the film whilst holding the camera with my hands. I borrowed the tripod that i used within my film from my school. However, i will look into buying one for personal use and also to help me with my photography A level as having a tripod will better my images.

I edited my film by using Adobe Premier Elements. I used this because it was on my school user account which is free. I chose to use Adobe over Windows Movie Maker which i have both at home and on my school user because Adobe allowed me to cut my shots more precisely which made my film more intense. It also meant that there was more of a variety of effects and editing tools to use which made my film a lot more proffesional.

Evaluation Activity 5

I have adapted my opening 2 minutes and added why i chose curtain areas within my film and what effect this has on the audience.

Evaluation Activity 4

Prior to making my film i did my research and planning and within this section i needed to look at what age group i should aim my film at to make sure that 1. people would watch it and i would get the most amount of people going to see it as possible and 2. most importantly, i had to make sure that my audience would enjoy watching it. The audience may not have enjoyed my film, had it of been aimed at the wrong age group. From using the feedback i got from a questionnaire that i created to ask the general public of varied ages and my own research into what my film would have to involve to have to be a certain age, i decided that my film should be a 15 because it suited both peoples expectations and fitted what i wanted to put in my film with the age rating it should be. Although the age rating is 15, i believe that my film is aimed at 15 - 25 year olds which is quite a large age range considering my film is a horror film. However, had my film be a different genre, i would have to look at other factors to include within my film to make sure that it appealed to a larger audience because from what i have found within my research and planning is that people above the age of 30 are no longer interested in horror films. However, other genres can attract people of all different ages.

From what i have found from my research into the age ratings that i should give films depending on their content, this will help me when creating films in the future so that if i know i want to aim my film at a certain age group, then i will be able to reflect on my knowledge that i gained from my previous research and planning and apply it to the content of my film..

Evaluation Activity 3

Evaluation Targets

Hannah, make sure you look at (obviously without taking...) some examples of exemplar work at the evaluation stage.  You should be aiming for a 16/20 and will achieve this is you are thorough and are analytical!

In your responses to your final production make sure you are clearly referring to choices and outcomes in an evaluative way - make sure you are addressing the areas outlined by me below:

What did you do? Explain a transition or effect you opted for in the editing process.  What effect did you achieve?  Explain how the choice you made was intended to make the target audience think or feel.  How does this show progression in your use of skills? Explain how this is better than your AS production's outcomes by linking to what you did in your portfolio last year.

These choices are really important for you to reflect on to show you fully understand how you have developed your skills - and make sure you evaluate the comments made by the test audience (the class) using specialist terminology.

We do not have long until the deadline for this final stage of your portfolio - so make sure you are pushing yourself and achieving the marks your efforts this year deserve!