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. 

Check Lists NOT FINISHED

In order for Fern and I to stay on track we had constant checklists carried out to see what stage we were at in our project. Our teacher had done this, which positively impacted our products simply because we were able to make sure that we hadn't wasted time on things, and ensured that all things got completed. 

This was the first checklist that was carried out. Evidently, Fern and I hadn't completed a lot by this time simply because we were just introducing ourself to the tasks that we had to complete. At this time we had only carried out preparation and hadn't actually created anything, this wasn't a weakness to our project purely because at this time it wasn't our task to have had everything completed. This stage that we were at was when Fern and I begun to make our crucial decisions, therefore it was significant that we had centred our time on doing this, to ensure that all of our decisions were made accurately.

This was our second check list. Evidently, at this time we had made a lot more progression compared to the first checklist that was carried out. A lot of decisions that we had previously made in the first check list had now been blogged meaning we had completed this section of the research and preparation. The majority of planning we had done at this time had been blogged, therefore this positively impacted upon our timing simply because it showed that individually and together Fern and I weren't falling behind. From this checklist we were able to highlight upon the areas which we have begun but need to be finished, for instance; 'Research and plan poster and magazine' Fern had nearly finished this at this time,whereas I hadn't blogged this section at all , because of this I was able to pick up that this needed doing instantly, 

The Promotional Package

Promotional packages are what A-list movies rely upon- it builds on the advertisement which then leads the target audience to watch the film. The Magazine cover, poster and trailer are all the products which create this ‘promotional package’ the more advertisement that is exposed, the more income the film will gain, ultimately suggesting it is a successful movie. Promotional packages can be shown through different presentations for instance; trailers can be shown on the television, on the cinema before the film starts and on the internet. These are all sources which an audience can access therefore it is difficult for an audience to disregard any form of advertisement. It was significant when planning our promotional package that we had ensured there was a link between all three products, if the poster was completely different compared to the trailer and the magazine cover for instance, and then it would be considered as ineffective and wouldn’t be a complete promotional package.

Our intentions for our promotional package was to enable an audience to feel suspense by the narrative that we are exposing, we wanted to guarantee that our target audience would instantly understand what category of genre our film would fit into. We were keen to automatically represent the disruptive and struggles the protagonist experiences throughout the film, and this would be the reason for why we had published her on both the magazine cover and film poster, and obviously was one of the main characters within the actual trailer.

Film Poster

Magazine Cover

Film Trailer 
NEED TO BE INSERTED HERE

Making of the Billing Block

The image above doesn’t represent our final billing-block. We had used Photoshop to create this, however the step that we have reached now means it would be extremely difficult to continue with using this programme, therefore we shall transfer this work onto Power point, although this may seem like the easier option, this programme allows Fern and I to make vast changes instead of coming across a lot of faults until we reach a finalized product of a ‘billing block’ Fern and I had created this billing block by downloading a specific layout from the internet, once this was downloaded we had then used Photoshop to add in all of the text that was needed, the process of doing this was extremely simple yet it had taken patience when positioning all of the text in the accurate places.

The final billing block I had made the smaller text within the text to fit underneath one another, like the of Rock Of Ages billing block.

I had used the internet to explore different billing blocks, and had found that they all look similarly alike; nevertheless I had opted for replicating the billing block of the Rock of Ages purely because I felt this template looked capable to reconstruct, it had given me the expectations of what a billing block should look like therefore I was sure that it was ‘honest’

At this stage the only thing that I needed to change was where it had said ‘Title of the film’ the reason for this was simply because Fern and I hadn’t decided what we was going to name our film, nevertheless through the progression that we have made since then we have decided on the film title ‘Caged’. Therefore from this we were able to alter this part of the billing block and then add the title of the film.

I felt that Fern and I producing a billing block was a successful feature to add to our film trailer and film poster, it provides the audience with a sense of professionalism, allowing them to take note of all the individuals that were involved to create this film i.e. the director. It undeniably benefited our products as it showed that we considered all of the significant factors that these products should present.

THE ROCK OF AGES BILLING BLOCK- INSPIRATION

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