My Progression from AS Level to A2 Level - Evaluation task 4; Part 3

 Written by Emma Taylor

Evaluation Task 4 - Part Three

The following essay will explain my progression from AS Level media studies to A2 Level. This will incorporate my experiences and growth in media production skills including digital technology, creativity, research, planning, post production and using conventions from real media texts.

Despite having experience in film making prior to starting AS Media Studies I have learnt extensively about the production processes needed in directing the opening of a thriller film and a trailer, which is a role I hadn’t undertaken in my previous filming work. In the preliminary production I learnt film making rules and concepts such as the 180 degree rule, match on action shots and shot reverse shots which were incorporated into my production using the DSLR Canon 550D camera and Pinnacle Editing Studio. I was able to incorporate basic editing and camera work techniques into this short filming exercise (involving a phone call and a meeting) which were then also put into our AS Level thriller opening at a more advanced level, taking into account continuity errors such as changes in clothing due to filming on separate days which were seen in our preliminary production. 

Since AS I have developed, polished and honed my skills as a film maker through digital technology producing and directing various different short films and music videos with professional film makers and actors. Through looking at various real media products such as the teaser trailer for ‘Gravity’ and ‘How I Live Now’ on websites such as IMDB, YouTube and Vimeo I have been able to analyse conventions of thrillers and trailers to adhere to in my production. For instance, many thriller feature film openings have text overlays with the names of the principal production contributors such as the director. producer and the actor’s names. I have learnt new cinematography techniques (such as lens flares which are created with a low aperture setting on the camera and having in intense light source catching the lens, these are included in two of the shots in my A2 Level trailer) and key directing principals needed to create tension and suspense within films (telling the audience more than the characters within the movie and creating dramatic irony) which I  have learnt by working with my producer Tony Lund0n and my DOP (Director of Photography) on the national music video release ‘Let it Out’ which I directed and partially edited on Final Cut Pro X. When creating my A2 trailer I put the knowledge I had gained making these films into practice. For example, in my AS Level coursework I had learnt how to colour correct in Final Cut Pro X but with guidance from Tony Lundon, he taught me to colour grade on the same post production software, to create particular moods. In my A2 Level trailer I have colour graded each scene effectively and creatively to provide a cinematic shot by clicking ‘colour balance; correction1’ and altering the colour, saturation and exposure of particular clips. In the scene where our protagonist Grace has been tortured and tied up in a basement, I graded the clip to have a blue tint to make the scene feel cold. I also digitally underexposed the shot to give a more sinister atmosphere and increased the saturation of the mid tones in order to give manic colouration, which connoted a sense of deep disruption to this scene through a chiaroscuro lighting style. The work was also enhanced by using my new camera the DSLR Canon 6D which enabled me to film on a Sigma wide angle lens making the production look more professional as the focal range and quality was greatly enhanced from AS Level. Due to the high spec camera, we were able to effectively film in low light as the ISO setting on the camera could reach to an impressive 25,600ISO which proved useful for Grace’s kidnapping scene in a low key; high contrast chiaroscuro lighting setting. On the Canon 550D used in AS Level, however I was only able to film up to 3200ISO making the scene where Jess pulls out her knife a grainy picture limiting the professional quality of the production. The sound boom we used to record the diegetic sound when filming scenes provided us with clean sound which could be used in our productions. The quality of the sound was enhanced by using a Rode wind muff/ dead cat to stop any wind noise from disrupting the sound recordings. I learnt from working alongside a sound technician on the feature film ‘Candyfloss’ after my AS course that the closer to the sound we could get, the better, as it’s clearer and can be altered in post production. He also stated that a film is 40% sound, and that a good film could be ruined with low quality sound recording, so taking that on board in our A2 trailer, we made sure we made wild tracks on set of the surroundings to create atmosphere in the film and recorded sound efficiently and effectively whilst making sure we stuck to our filming schedule. In the making of our film poster for the A2 ancillary task I used Adobe Photoshop CS5 to create a thriller esc poster with a deeply contrasted photograph which I had taken on location for that purpose where Grace was covered in fake blood and bruised, to denote the thriller theme of the production. 

Creativity was an integral part of our production process emerging from initial idea mind maps, creating animatics, looking at other media texts similar to our own and looking at how we could use our hardware and software specialisms such as camera work and editing to provide a creative piece of work. At the end of our trailer we had a fast montage edit of all our key shots from the trailer flashing onto the screen consecutively to provide an extreme flash back type effect. This was aided by the non-diegetic sound effect of a ‘wooshing' backwards sound to conclude our film and to add to the tension and drama within the piece as we could not show the ending of the film in the trailer. Another key creative aspect of our trailer was the ‘Modify; Retime; Rewind’ special effect we used in order to film a pen dropping from Grace’s hand onto the floor, which we could then rewind , so it looked like the pen was flying into her hand to show she had special powers.  An extra ‘sweeping wind’ sound effect was added onto this in our second trailer edit to make the audience draw particular attention to this crucial part of the story line. Whilst we did use creative special effects in our AS opening (using green-screen and chroma-key technology to fake a suicide jump) I had previously done this whereas I had not had practice at reversing shots in such a way that it would be convincing that a pen was flying through the air. In order to make sure this was filmed correctly on the day of shooting my assistant director and I practiced filming and editing these shots twice to make sure we has the effect polished for the day of the shoot, and extensive research and planning was needed to ensure that this idea was going to work. Being on an acting agency and working on films previously meant I had an extensive range if actors who were willing to act for us both as a favour and to enhance their own portfolios, and this proved effective in making the trailer a success and looking more professional. I was more ambitious with my A2 coursework than my AS as I felt more confident due to increased work experience on set and in post-production. We therefore requested the aid of 14 extras from a local drama school for three different scenes in our trailer (house party, assembly and classroom/ pen flying scene). This taught me how to manage and direct a large number of actors on set effectively, sticking rigidly to set timings in order to get all the scenes complete, a skill which I hadn’t fully developed in my AS work as I was only directing two actors. 

Technology aided planning within our coursework. We were able to look at teaser trailers such as ‘Gravity’ and ‘How I Live Now’ in detail online to analyse the conventions within them which we would implement into our own teaser trailer. In the soundtrack for ‘Gravity’ we found that the pace started mellow and slow and then build up at the point of disruption in the trailer, and our trailer adheres to this idea in our trailer as it builds up tension until the point of disruption where we hear the bang from the explosion after a brief black pause in the frames before, the same as ‘Gravity’ does. As we recorded our coursework ‘journey’ online on Blogger, an online blogging website hosted by Google, we were able to share work such as shot lists, props lists and character profiles. Through using Vimeo as a hosting website for our trailer and all our graded rushes from each scene, it enabled us to upload the compressed version straight from Final Cut Pro X to Vimeo which could be shared using the HTML code from my Vimeo account, which made it time efficient as we didn’t have to upload the footage to everybody’s individual accounts.

In conclude that I have developed my skill range and experience extensively since starting my Media Studies course enhancing my film making knowledge through creative and digital media devices, and I have learnt a great deal from looking in depth and analysing real media products similar to my own, including the low budget film ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. This has enabled me to make concrete and successful films which I hope to continue to make in the future. I have been able to look at my past mistakes (such as the continuity error in my preliminary production) and gain knowledge in these areas to improve. To avoid continuity errors in my A2 trailer I bought two identical tops for Grace to wear as one was going to get stained in fake flood in an early film shoot and so we needed another for a scene previous to her kidnapping where she had to wear the same clothing. I have been able to look in depth at areas of production I previously wasn’t confident in such as costume design and when picking costumes for my actors now I understand that ‘moire’ could be a factor in not choosing a particular costume as the design of a t-shirt (with two separate designs i.e.. lines interact with each other to create a third line moving with the light resulting in a disorientated viewer).