Evaluation of my film opening

'When I Changed' takes up the form of a media product being a film opening sequence. It follows the forms and conventions of real media products, following the main protagonist post-death journey. I used my titles in a chronological order I thought suited the film. As the focus is on the main protagonist, we sense the isolation of her character, through the use of 'one shot' in a number of the shots used, as well as medium and big close-ups to see the emotion conveyed through the character's facial expression. My media product doesn't represent any particular social groups, though there is a shot of a couple of young teenagers on the playground, could sense that it is quite a middle class environment, though my character, due to what she is wearing looks fits more into the upper class, which could heighten the isolation she comes across. My film opening will go straight to DVD. As it's quite a low-budget film, it won't have the right income to distribute it by cinema, and I have researched numerous film companies, and have concluded with the BBC. For my media product, the audience preferably be aiming towards teenage/ young adult girls, as the main protagonist fits into that description, that way the target audience can relate, but it could be watched by a universal audience.  Through the process of constructing this product, the technologies I have built up my knowledge on is the program final cut express, which I have used previously for my continuity exercise and 'life on mars'. I also worked in a group, so the work was divided amongst us, and I didn't get much use of control of the camera then and I did for this. Through filming I used the stand and the camera, which I had built up through my experience. Through planning the composition of my shots on my storyboard, I found filming easier, because I had a routine of what I was filming, through I didn't film entirely by the plan, I'm still happy with what I have ended up with. Looking back at the preliminary task, I feel that I have improved, especially as this was my second time doing the filming entirely on my own. Adding music and titles was not included in the previous task, and was this task's main general focus. I am really happy with my music, and feel that it has matched up with my sequence, effectively, as well as being a very good effect for enhancing the main genre of the opening. I had used Garage Band for my first time, and I found it very interesting coming up with music which could set the tone of the filming. It took me a couple of projects to come up with the right composition, because several of them fit more of an action sequence, and made my sequence seem comical, but I am now happy with the music, because it allows the audience to be sympathetic along with the melancholic aura towards the protagonist. The jumpiness of the hand-held camera adds to the mood, and builds up the tension, as it is part of the main function of the equipment, unlike if it was all smooth, I feel it would have felt more simple, and I didn't really want that effect placed upon the sequence. I've accomplished not making my opening sequence into a short movie, or a music video. which I had feared. I feared if I added a ready-made song, it wouldn't come out as a opening sequence, though adding the titles, would have made a difference. It's not a movie, because the sequence does not fit the equilibrium. disequilibrium, resolution, and then getting the equilibrium  restored. But I feel that I have accomplished the necessary elements in which an opening sequence needs. Most of all, I had understood the relevant importance of the music in a sequence, and feel that it has been the main participant of making it into what it had become.

Continuation of evaluation

Throughout my sequence, I have used both hand held, and steady cam varieties of filming. The shakiness becomes more relevant at the end of the filming to convey the development of my character's grief. I ended up not re-filming many sequences, and only cutting out very small amounts which I thought did not fit the best it could have.  I feel that the length of my opening film title is considerable enough, counting I have got rid of many aspects of the filming which did not relatively fit editing wise. I have added the 'fade' in some of these cases, as well as dragging out the sequence, to make it's length suitable as an opening sequence. The sound is what makes my sequence effective, which is what I like about it, because I feel it sets the mood of the relevant theme of the genre. The music is created to make the audience feel sympathetic towards the character without knowing what the narrative of the 'movie' is about, which is an element I feel that I have accomplished.  What I had found quite a challenging task is that in many of the titles I have watched online, there is limited filming, and quite simple, many using scenery, or close-ups of one individual. I have focused on one individual throughout, and her journey - in a way.

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I have finally made my opening to run for a suitable length of time. Since the start, I have added music, titles, and have edited out unnecessary shots. I chose BBC as my production company, as I have researched their movies that they have produced, and had come to the decision that they would be the film company that would most appropriately for my film. During my free time, I have went into a routine, that whenever I watch a movie, I seem to focus more on the film titles. I have taken into account the order the film titles appear in, and have realized that the film titles appear in different order. I picked my order for my titles, after watching the opening of 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. I did watch other opening sequences as well on Art Of The Title, mainly focusing on the length of the titles, ad well as the music. But taking all these factors into account, I feel that I have been able to contribute my research into my opening sequence, and feel that my interpretation matches up to a proper film title. I have just listened to all my music, to make sure I have chosen the right track, out of the three that I had created. The other two didn't quite fit with my theme, and felt more suited for an action, or detective sequence, and so I had to create the track I am now using, later after those two tracks, and I feel that the music now fits perfectly, due to the tonal change which has been carried throughout, and fits to the different scenes within my sequence. One of my biggest fears about the music, was when I added it, to not make my film sequence into a music video look-a-like, which I have fortunately failed to do.  I was alright in having pedestrians in my shots, to create a sense of realism in my titles. One of my favorite titles is when my actor is on the swing, and the music changes, and then it says 'music by', which  puts emphasis on that specific title and the music sequence. The effects I have used are 'dip to' and 'additive dissolve', which helps to make the sequence seem longer, as well as make the edits between the cuts seem more effective. Before I had 'starring' in front of the titles of the names, but I thought it looked better without that title, so I got rid off it.

Evaluation of my opening sequence

My opening sequence goes through different shots, edits, scenery and the sound which I have used. I tried to makes these four subjects key in my opening,  to reflect the character. I wanted my character to be dressed the way she is, to make the connotation of the opening sequence as a mourning scene, as if she is about to book the funeral for who was dead. At first, for music, I wanted to use a song which was already created by an artist, but then I couldn't find a track that would fit my opening, without making it seem comical. So it took me to make three tracks on garage band until I had come up with one which had fit with the sequence's atmosphere. I used a range of shots to give a variety to the sequence, with use of long shots, and close ups to experiment with different angles, instead of making the shots of the sequence the same. When I was filming, I made sure I had enough space in my shot for the titles, so I had to take in the area of where I was filming into consideration. I shot my sequence in the same location for all the shots, so it wasn't difficult in that way. The title sequence reflects my genre, mainly because there's no speech used, and the music tone is used to make the audience symphathise with the  character, which was one of my main targets at the beginning of this coursework. Reflecting upon my storyboard, my sequence more or less follows the narrative planned, though there are some aspects which were not used. In my storyboard, I wanted my person to sit on a bench, drop the letter in a pond, walk to the church, and then get on the bus and leave. This turned into my actor walking by the pond, dropping the letter into a puddle, walking from the church, swinging on a swing, and then walking to the funeral store. Otherwise, I more or less used the same setting in which I had planned to use at the beginning, I just didn't quite use the same order. I also added visiting the funeral shop since it was there, so I thought it wouldn't be bad if I used an extra shot for my sequence. In my storyboard,my actor was meant to go on a bus, but this did not happen in the shot, since it took some time to wait for the bus, and then having the person to get on the bus, and go to the next bus stop.

Exploring the theme of my film title sequence

I wanted this sequence be linked to the overwhelming emotion that I had wanted to convey, with the stress of the music. I tried to alter the music through the different shots used to highlight the time passing, to create some sort of chronological narrative. I have used a variety of shots, including a range of close-ups, as well as wide shots, to try to attach the theme to the character. The music doesn't change really through the different locations used, to stress out the character's long mourning time, before she visits the funeral shop, but I have used different volume and tone of the sound, to reflect the roller coaster of a journey that she is having. A lot of my shots are hand held, which I sort of wish I had steadicam, to make more of a linear shot, and so it feels more controlled. I also added some video transitions such as dissolve to show time passing, as well as the music, it helps to show the different places my character went to, and stresses out the long length p the time. I also used fade in and fade out to try and make the audience connect to the piece, I also felt that the editing between the titles was too fast, and I wanted to slow it down, to also to read the titles.

I feel that I have done the best I could with my editing, and that I will soon need to be moving on to the next stage of the course, which I believe, is my self-evaluation/analysis. I decided to get rid of my titles, and to try to make the other titles last longer, so they seem more effective, and that the audience will be able to read them, and find the titles entertaining. The only downfall which still remains is that some of the shots are still jumpy, and are highlighted by placing the titles there, which makes them more visible, so I need to move them. My film fits into the 'tragedy' genre, which is what I had hoped it would be, and I have found that the music more than the actual filming has helped make the theme of the filming more effectively shown. But my opening seems to be really short then I had imagined it would be, because of me taking out the shots which did not make the title sequence.

I feel that my music fits the sequence perfectly, and that all the titles have been used, and in a righteous order. The only downfall, is because the filming is a little bit jumpy, this makes the titles jumpy as well, so I may need to work on placing my titles, but I do like the jumpy effect as it highlights the anxiety of the character, as well as the build of suspense in my title sequence. Overall, I think I'm coming towards a near finish of the editing, and soon I can get on with the other part of my coursework. Now, I just need to make sure that I have done the best I could with this piece of coursework for my media. I have also made sure that my titles come in  with a change of music, to make it seem more effective than it already is, and to create some sort of consistency. Another downfall is my film title is not as long as I would like it to be, because I have edited out some parts which did not fit, or where some unnecessary props got into the shot. After I edit, or cut out my shots, the shots tend to divide and have  a gap between each shot, so I have to make them flow, which causes the reduction of the time length of the film. But, I have stretched some shots to make the title longer, as well as maintaining it's continuity to make the narrative of the story, as well as the order of my titles seem sequential.