How A2 differs from AS

How A2 differs from AS

Over the past two years I have learnt new skills, increased my ability to use different programmes and overall improved on how creative I am when I work. Looking back from the product that I had produced last year (being an opening to a film) I feel it is extremely evident through the products that I have made this year have hugely improved/developed. Despite the change of the project from last year, my editing skills, filming skills and organisation skills have been a lot more advanced. I have worked harder in order to have more successful products, and have ensured that throughout the duration of creating these products that I have stayed dedicated. I feel that the determination that both Fern and I portrayed had become more evident from the trailer, magazine and poster compared to the film opening that we had created last year, simply because we had considered including every element that real products include i.e. billing block. I was a lot more pleased with this year’s outcome simply because I felt the entire organisation and preparation that we had carried out had become useful for when gathering the material that we needed, for instance; creating a story board had allowed us to ensure that when videoing our footage that we had incorporated all of the narrative that we had used in the story board, suggesting that it was a supplement for a ‘guide’

I have experimented with different editing skills on iMovie such as; transitions, effects, text, layering footage and synchronicity between our audio and visual clips. Not only did this positively impact on our products, but I had enjoyed increasing my knowledge with these features.

Having now completed my A2 project, I am able to pick out parts which I think are successful and which parts disadvantaged mine and Fern’s finalized products. Our expectations weren’t entirely met, as throughout the making we had made some changes such as characters (simply because one of the characters we had hoped to use wasn’t willing to take on this role in the end) this was different from our AS project as Fern and I hadn’t experienced being let down by one of our assigned characters. Due to this struggle that we embarked upon we had to compromise instantly, to ensure that our trailer wasn’t held back. The trailer that Fern and I had produced compared to our AS film opening was a lot more professional in terms of following the thriller conventions. Both years we had decided to do a thriller genre nevertheless this year I felt that because of the fast cuts, effects, transitions and narrative, the thriller genre was a lot more visible to the human eye, we had continuously returned to the research that we had done to ensure that we was meeting all of the needed requirements, and if perhaps we were challenging them. Again, this was another positive change that we had made from AS simply because although Fern and I had carried out a great deal of research in AS we often disregarded it instead of taking on board how essential it was.  A trailer has to evoke concise feelings on anticipation in order to draw an audience in, Fern and I hadn’t realised this in AS, as many of our shots were extremely long, therefore this would definitely be considered as a positive improvement that we have made from last year as our trailer does include pasty cuts, which are prone to build suspense and excitement especially for our target audience.

The preparation and organisation that we had carried out was a lot more focused and in depth this year in comparison to last year, we was more aware of what was essential to research and what wasn’t needed. This obviously impacted upon as both individually and together as it had meant we hadn’t wasted time on studying things which weren’t important. The research was extremely useful this year, for instance; when researching upon real ‘Total Film’ magazine covers; we got an indication of the layout and the conventions that this magazine covers use, and therefore were able to replicate this when we had created our own magazine.

Another contrasting point that Fern and I had made from our A2 work compared to our AS work was the programmes that we had used on the imacs. This year we had used Imovie and garage band which we had previously used the year before, nevertheless in addition to this we had also used Photoshop. We practiced excessively this year to widen our skills with all three of these programmes, applying techniques which we haven’t yet used before; at times this was a struggle nevertheless once we had sussed how to do this specific things Fern and I were able to near enough work out anything on these programmes.

Using Photoshop was something we hadn’t used in Media before; nevertheless fortunately Fern and I were already aware of how to work this programme therefore this had advantaged us when we were editing our photographs simply because we were able to enhance our photographs instantly without having to look up tutorials.

Fern and I had included some of the features that we used last year in our work in this year’s product; we had done this obviously because we felt as though these elements were relatively successful. An example of this is the use of ‘Slow motion’ effect on imovie, this effect is very engaging it allows an audience to focus on that particular shot for longer and overall creates a mysterious mood, ultimately being a winning feature as it meets the thriller conventions.

Last year the footage that Fern and I had collected was rather ‘simple’ it wasn’t exciting enough to lure an audience or develop the feelings of anxiety. However, I feel this year Fern and I have made a turning point and have displayed camera work which works a lot more better for instance, the tracking of Fern being dragged up the stairs, this is extremely effective as it makes an audience feel involved as if they are following the demanding movement of her body, and shows the power that this thriller trailer contains- undeniably giving the urge of excitement for an audience to see the actual film.

I feel this year Fern and I have majorly improved in all areas of our work compared to last year’s accomplishments. We have ensured that all of the work that we applied was to our best standard and hadn’t at any time went off task or was distracted, this was a huge improvement for both of us as during A2 we were often distracted. I feel that this year individually and together we were more captivated with the given tasks, which is obviously evident from this year’s work in comparison to last years. I personally believe I have evolved in all areas of using an imac computer as I now feel more knowledgeable of the software’s that the computer provides. I believe this year the narrative that Fern and I had decided on was more enticing for our target audience, having formed a mysterious film narrative Fern and I feel as though our completed products are averagely successful.