Question 7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what have you learnt in the progression from that to the final product?

Question 6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

For my film opening, I used a few different programs that I have never used before. The main program I used was iMovie on my MacBook. I uploaded the videos to iMovie and started experimenting with the order of shots, and learnt how to do different transitions and chose a few to use in my opening for it to look smooth. I also learnt how to put music over the top of the film and adjust it where need be.

I also used the program Final Cut Pro X to make my titles at the beginning of my film opening. This program was completely new to me and I learnt several different techniques. Firstly, I learnt how to change the font of the title and the size and where to position it on the black background. I then could start making effects so that the titles would either move or glow. I then merged Final Cut Pro X together with iMovie and added sound effects to the titles, putting them with the rest of my film opening.

I realised a lot of work went into creating a film opening, but not how difficult it was, so using different programs meant I learnt a lot through the process.

With the camera I used, I could adjust the focus to make the depth of field more clear, and I am particularly proud of the close-up shots of my protagonist playing guitar and when he writes the titles. Here are a few of my favourite shots:

I am also proud of the editing, in terms of matching the music with the different camera shots and actions the character makes. This was difficult, as I had to start the music at the right time so that the guitar matched exactly what the character was playing so that it was not out of sync. This helped the continuity of the opening.

There was however a few limitations to my creativity. I obviously had a low budget, so I couldn’t use high end filming equipment, as it was not available to me. To fix this however I made my own dolly by using the tripod with only 2 legs, and holding the 3^rd to guide the camera when filming the wall shots. Also, the protagonist in my film opening is my brother, and he went to University straight after filming, therefore I couldn’t film anything extra if I needed to change anything and so I had to work with what I had. This was a limitation because I could not improve any shots, and had to work around it. This mainly included the voice-over I chose to add nearer the end of the process, where I had to use somebody else’s voice to act as his. This wasn’t too much of a problem as the audience would not be able to tell it is someone different, but it made the process a little more difficult.

Question 5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Question 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

I figured out the target audience for my film opening by firstly conducting a questionnaire and analysing the results. The results show that the dominating gender audience is male, with an age of 16-20. The audience would be familiar with drama films and their favourite sub-genre was a melodrama/teen drama. This shows that the target audience would be a teen themselves as they can relate to the teen character in my film, and my film is also a melodrama as it focuses on the character’s emotional journey to his dream. From my questionnaire, the audience liked the music that is included in my film, with Metallica being the most popular; therefore using their music in my film opening would appeal to the target audience.

 Earlier on in my blog, I outlined the typical viewer/audience member. This is the predominant target audience member wrapped up in one individual, so I get an idea of who would be watching my film.

Question 3. What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

From researching institutions, institutions such as Beacon Communications might distribute my film opening. This is because I researched the films Almost Famous and The Commitments (both similar films to my own), and found that Beacon Communications distributed The Commitments, and is low-budget and not a well-known company. This would suit my film more because mine is low-budget and is not aimed at being a worldwide big seller product, like Almost Famous.

For my film opening, I used my own institution and own logo that I created myself. This is because I didn’t want to copy an already existing one and wanted to experiment with different software on my Mac. I first made up the name ‘FUSION FILMS’ as I thought the word ‘Fusion’ worked well the rock music theme of my film. To create the logo I used Final Cut Pro X, which I have never used before, so experimented with this program taught me some new techniques. I then created ‘ROSIE SUTTON PRODUCTIONS’, which I created on iMovie.

Question 2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?