Feedback

To find out whether our opening sequence was successful, I will be uploading our piece onto the social networking site 'Facebook', this will give us an insight into what the targeted audience think of our work. Their views and opinions will be used constructive criticism to see if we could improve in any possible way, any form of compliments would be a bonus.

After we uploaded the video, we posted a link on our profile to draw attention to our piece, this way our 'facebook friends' can view our work and give their personal opinions. Negative opinions will be used as constructive criticism to help us progress furthermore and will help develop our knowledge of filming, any compliments will help us realise that we are progressing in the right direction.

The 'like' button on facebook is used as a simplistic view to show a person's appeal of something. Here are the results from the 'like' button:

Here are also a few of the comments we recieved:

As you can see a majority of the comments were postive which highlights how successful our work was. Feedback is important in media production as society has the power to determine whether aspects of media are popular or not. Success of media production is normally based upon the recognition of a brand, label, business, company etc or through the purchase of popular media products.

Editing

Editing the clips

Once we finished all of the filming we had to upload our work onto the computer which took roughly around 5 minutes or so. We again used Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0 to edit our 10 minutes worth of footage, as we only have a restriction of the opening being at the most 3 minutes long. Therefore we had to cut down a large amount of our shots as a majority of the shots ran on for too long and became visually boring. As well as reducing the amount of shots, we also had to exclude a few elements that were originally in the plot as the set boundaries and restrictions that were set wouldn't enable us to keep our original plot. Firstly as a group we decided that the girl's whispers at the start of the sequence would not be an effective addition to our zombie apocalypse, so therefore that idea was scraped, as valueable time can't be wasted. Many of the shots that we had captured were of a high technical quality, but again they ran on for far too long, so we kept the vital movements and actions and edited over the errors and mishaps that occured whilst filming, making our opening sequence flow smoothly.


Editing the chase scene.

When it came to editing the chase scene we had to make sure that it was fast and energetic so that it could counteract the earlier theme of isolation as the teenage boy is now suddenly trapped in this dangerous environment. To do this we cut down the long clips of me running to more shorter and sharp shots as they flowed into one another effortlessly once we had edited, which then created the impression of fast pace and speed. We also had to scrap one of the first shots establishing a cluster of zombies running towards the camera from a far distance, as there was passing traffic in the background, which ruined the overall shot, we felt that this would may possibly ruin the sequence if this shot was included. Finally at the end we reduced the playing time of the shot where i clutch the grass, to create the effect of slow motion which then faded out onto the movie title. I personally think that this leaves the audience engaged as the climax builds towards a cliffhanger, leaving the audience wondering at the teenage boy's unquestionable fate. We discovered that changing the colour scale can make the shots lighter or darker, we decided to lower the tone of colour to produce a grey and dismal atmosphere, which makes the weather conditions less noticeably in the sequence.

Editing sound and music

Firstly we muted a majority of the shots taken from the road as traffic can be overheard in the background, but we did manage to keep some sounds that added to the sequence such as the clinking of lock of the gate and the rattling of me jumping over the fence. I think that these intricate sounds add a nice subtle touch to emphasise how isolated the character really is. We then edited the music on a progam called Audacity which allowed us to chop and change sections of the soundtrack so that it would fit in with the timing and pace of the edited clips. I managed to cut the introduction of the soundtrack 'The Sadness Will Never End' and use it repeatedly throughout out the isolated to walk to reflect this deserted environment. I also enhanced pace on the soundtrack 'Death Breath' to help create a more energetic atmosphere with a few lyrics at the end which helped combine with the zombie scream to create more of an impact. I particularly liked how I faded the song at the end highlighting that the opening is coming to an abrupt end. I personally felt that we could've used a better soundtrack to the chase scene, as I felt the song was too upbeat in places and didn't flow as I thought it would but despite this I was happy with the whole of the editing process.

Editing the soundtrack in Audacity.

The Filming Process

Before we could start any filming our group had to carry out a risk assesement, assessing potential signs of danger and how they can be measured to lower the possibilities.

Filming

Our group decided that we would film the opening sequence on 3 separate days during our week of filming, as filming all in one day would be too much hassle and organisation.

9th of March

On the Tuesday we began filming the isolated walk of the teenage character. The group decided to scrap a few ideas as we felt that they didnt flow smoothly with the storyline, but whilst filming, we used some creative flair and improvisation to help develop the storyline further. A majority of the filming was done by the new addition to the group Jordan Kennedy whilst Josh was directing shots and explaining how they should be constructed. The weather was bleak and grey, therefore conditions were perfect to help convey the cold atmosphere. A couple of shots had to be retaken, as props were out of place and were in the way of the shots. A slight error which we corrected. We also had to make sure the traffic was avoided at all costs as it would ruin the isolation.

11th of March

On the Thursday we gathered our group of zombies and began filming the chase. We decided to film the last section of the opening sequence as that was the only convenient time that the group could help filming after school hours. We found that assembling the group of zombies was harder than we first anticipated as it was a challenge to get them to organised in certain positions for various shots, but they did a great job after a few attempts despite the cold and harsh conditions. Again the weather was dull and grey, again perfect for the cold isolated atmosphere. Again shots didnt go according to plan but we used our creativity and improvisation to make the shots appear more technical. Josh and Jordan both played their parts in filming various shots on that day.

16th of March

The final day of filming came on the following week. We decided to do the most of the filming on this day as we all had the most spare time on our hands. We thought that we would have to work around each section we filmed the previous week more carefully as aspects that we filmed may have alternated. The conditions were brighter than we wanted, but we thought that this could show the passing of time through the day in our piece which could look effective. Josh and Jordan again swapped filming for various shots, as we had more time on our hands we thought we could make the shots more technical, which resulted to Josh's attempt to film the teenager walking across the bridge from a roundabout, again cleverly avoiding traffic and vehicles in the shots. Jordan played the part as the dead body and did a fantastic job. We were all very pleased when the filming was finished and we were all very excited about the prospect of editing the 10 minutes of footage we could play with.

Props and Characterisation

Props play a vital role to help convey the genre of a film. It also helps define stereotypes and ages amongst society which is normally expressed through peoples appearance, without props the audience would be left clueless as to what the representation of characters symbolises in a film.

The main character who is a stereotypical modern day teenager in society (me) is lost or trying to escape the society which he is surrounded by as he is in severe danger. The teenager is left isolated and anonymous to help detatch the character from the audience, as no identification of the teenage boy is established, the audience can't emotionally connect with the character, creating this tense and cold atmosphere. The teenager is escaping from a situation that is unfamiliar to him as he is portrayed as being lost hence the warm clothes and satchel to express that this is his only way of survival. The teenage boy is dressed in a black bomber jacket, a grey hoodie, a pair of dark scruffy jeans, with a tattered belt and black plimsolls to help create the rugged look that Josh and I are aiming for.



The selection of clothes the teenager will
be wearing.



For the chase scene we needed a relatively large group of people to play the zombies, so we asked 7 fellow colleagues and asked if they would like to participate in this scene, which they thankfully did. We asked them to bring old ripped clothes and to hairspray to mess up their hair to create a wild look. We also made fake blood which consisted of flour, water, coffee and red food colouring which we dripped onto their clothes to make the zombies appear savage and violent. I thought that this was a useful addition which could look effective whilst filming. We told them to run fast but more limp and awkward to emphasise their deformed appearance to help portray the rage infested zombies. I personally feel they played their parts well and contributed greatly to our work.


The group of zombies.

One last additional prop which we will be using is the newspaper article that Josh created, the edges have been torn delibrately the show how time has passed. As the article is only barely seen for a split second it creates curiosity and mystery as well as conveying the genre and creating a subliminal message.


The newspaper article.

Soundtrack

For our film opening, Josh and I were hoping to use a soundtrack with a slow and steady beat, creating an eerie atmosphere as it adds tension to the desolate walk towards the open field. We also thought that this would convey the zombie apocolypse genre without having to use dialogue. It will hopefully emphasise how isolated the character in the unusual surroundings. A majority of the opening will be focused on the introduction of the soundtrack 'The Sadness Will Never End' by Bring Me The Horizon which has an eerie beat as the piano plays with gushes of wind in places to enhance the isolation. We also needed a sharp and edgy soundtrack with pace to highlight the intesity of the chase, building towards the end. We thought that 'Death Breath' also by Bring Me the Horizon would work well as the fast drumbeats help reflect 'Dan's' anxiety.

Bring Me The Horizon. The zombie look we are

hoping to achieve?