1. As Media Evaluation
Questions
Alexandra Davis

2. 1.) In what way does your
opening sequence use,
develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real
opening sequences?

3. Opening sequences are important for setting the overall film. A
good opening will leave the audience wanting to watch more so
it is essential that an opening of a film interests the audience by
creating one that is original and different. Opening of films are
also used to show the audience an insight into what the film is
about. Most openings show the audience information regarding
the characters, setting or genre of the film. The opening may
focus more on one thing than another but it will overall build up
the film for the audience. Within our film we focus on character
and setting. We focus on myself carrying the package
throughout the town round the buildings. This gives the audience
the thoughts of who is this girl? What does she have? What is
the significance of all of this? The two main films we looked at to
base our opening on was „In Bruges‟ and „Forrest Gump‟ within
both of these films they also focus on minimal objects as appose
to diving straight into action. In Bruges focuses on the building
and structures within the churches and Forrest Gump focuses on
the feather floating around the town before landing on the
ground in front of his feet. These show the simplicity of each of
the objects and buildings that give a mystery to the film as it
don't give a lot away to the audience.

4. This is the first shot of our opening sequence. You can see we opened with a
shot of one of the building within the areas we were filming in. There are a lot
of buildings in the town centre where we filmed our work that we put into our
opening sequence. Like the film „In Bruges‟ they also focus on the
surrounding area within their opening. Due to the lights around the church
seen in this shot it adds a different affect to it that we would not have been
able to create with the computer. I feel this adds to us creating an opening
that relates to genuine real ones as we used our surroundings and all the
features to the best of our ability which lead us to creating an authentic
looking opening.

5. Here you can see one of the shots that we used where I was placing the
package on the floor. Throughout our opening, I am carrying the package
around. This shows there is some significance with the package and that
there is some underlying questions as to why I have it. Just like in „Forrest
Gump‟ the main focus of the opening sequence is the feather we wanted to
try and get the same thing across. Unlike the feather the package is not the
sole focus of our opening and so there is some differences. However we
have tried to take more of the audiences focus off of my character by having
the package with me throughout the shots to try and get them questioning
why this is present in the first place.

6. 2.)How does your opening
sequence represent particular
social groups?

7. Only one person is seen within the film opening. A young girl who is
alone at night. She is wearing dark bottoms with a grey hoody done
up with the hood up. This is significant as we wanted the character
to relate to mystery and suspicion. We dressed the character in
these cloths to show how vulnerable the girl was to be alone at night
protecting herself only with her hood of the jacket she was wearing.
Wearing the dark cloths makes the character almost blend in with
the surrounding area and so she doesn't stand out causing potential
danger for herself .The girl is wearing these clothes to also add to
the stereotype of a teenage. With the hood up you can not
determine the specific age of the girl but you can tell she is of a
young teen age. As she is walking around at night with these clothes
on it adds to the stereotype of teenagers being „chavs‟ or „thugs‟ who
look for danger without being afraid to be in these situations. If the
main character was a boy then this may represent the thought of the
character not being afraid at all, however because we a girl this
could show an alternative side to the dress sense of the girl. As she
has her hood up it may be an attempt of protecting herself by not
drawing any attentions to herself. The fact she is carrying the
package may also be another reason, as she may be hiding herself
from people who realise what she has. Further into the opening
when we hear the voice over it states that she is delivering it as “an
act of care” she says she is “delivering a message to the village. It is
of sentimental value to the others. The others we re hiding it from”
using these words within the voice over makes the audience
question the vulnerability of the girl herself. Through she may first be
seen as a „typical teenager in a hood‟ the voice over allows the
audience to question this, leaving them wondering maybe the hood
is up to protect her as she is in fact in danger?

8. The jacket on the left image is the one I wore to film. You can see it is quite a
light shade of gray however when wearing it at night it created a darker look
to it. On the right there is a screenshot of one of the clips within the opening
sequence that allows you to see myself in the whole outfit. You can see my
leggings are of a dark colour and the jacket also looks darker than in the left
image. The hood is also up as you can see in the second image. I think the
whole outfit worked well showing the stereotype of teenagers wearing these
kind of cloths when being alone at night, however we had a twist on this by
making the character seem slightly vulnerable this was also helped a lot by
the voice over describing the events in more detail.
-Sorry I don't have a better image of myself wearing the whole outfit- the jackets
not mine and so I've not been able to take a photo in the whole outfit again!

9. 3.) What kind of media
institutions might distribute
your media product and why?

10. When looking at the different potential film distributors we
could use to try get to advertise our film we wanted to
look at those who produce low budget films and not big
Hollywood blockbusters. We decided that a distributor
such as „Vertigo Films‟ would be a good choice. Vertigo
films are an independent British company and they
cover a wide range of different genres. This works well
for us as some distributors may not have been gone for
our film to distribute but this means that Vertigo Films
would. Vertigo Films also advertise their films differently.
They don't just advertise them on the TV they will come
up with creative new ways to advertise the films coming
up. Vertigo Films also use the advertising technique of
getting the word out about the film through social
networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as these
are seen by millions of people and they don't cost
Vertigo anything to produce.

11. At the start of our opening we put in the Vertigo Films production sign
to make sure our audience knew who the film was distributed by. We
didn't leave it on for too long as this would be time consuming to our
given time of only two minutes of footage. Instead of forgetting about
telling the audience the film was by Vertigo Films, we added in the
name again on the first shot of the opening sequence to allow the
audience to see it again.

12. 4.) Who would be the audience
for your opening sequence?

13. Our film would be aimed at those around the ages
of 13- 25 however it is available to be seen by
anyone over the ages of 12. We had to look into
film classifications and what each of these allowed
to be shown throughout a film. There was no
sexual scenes, bad language, violence etc shown
within the opening sequence and we would
continue this throughout the film if one was to be
created. This means that the film classification of
„The delivered Sermon‟ would not have to be over
a 12 rating. Overall we decided to go for a 12A
rating as this gave us the potential to do more than
with just a 12 rating. This means that if the film was
to be created and continued we wouldn't have to
keep it as calm as the opening. 12A films mean
that the films are appropriate for those above the
ages of 12, however those of 12 years may see it
when with an adult. The next slide lists the
acceptable/ non acceptable things to be within a
12A film.

14. The Guidelines
 Suitable for 12 years and over. No-one younger than 12 may see a „12A‟ film
in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult. No-one younger than 12 may
rent or buy a „12‟ rated video or DVD. Responsibility for allowing under 12s to
view lies with the accompanying or supervising adult.
 Theme: Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable
for young teenagers.
 Language: The use of strong language (eg 'f***') must be infrequent. Racist
abuse is also of particular concern.
 Nudity: Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context it must be brief and
discreet.
 Sex: Sexual activity may be implied. Sex references may reflect what is likely
to be familiar to most adolescents but should not go beyond what is suitable
for them.
 Violence: Violence must not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis
on injuries or blood. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and
discreetly indicated.
 Horror: Sustained moderate threat and menace are permitted. Occasional
gory moments only.
 Drugs: Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be
glamorised or instructional.
 Discrimination: The film or DVD as a whole must not approve of language
or behaviour that would offend a person‟s religion, colour, gender, sexuality
or disability. Aggressive use of this type of language and behaviour is
unacceptable unless clearly not approved of.
http://www.cbbfc.co.uk/guidelines12-12a.asp

15. 5.) How did you attract/address
your audience?

16. Attracting the right audience is vital as you want to make sure your film
fits those who you want to view its wishes when it comes to a film.
You have to make sure you put in what they will want to see and
don't miss out on opportunities to discover extra things they may
want that will be easy for you to add. It is also important to make
sure what you produce related to the age of the audience you want
in case you add in things they wont like therefore jeopardising your
film. Prior to creating our film we asked members of our class what
they thought should be in a eerier horror type film like the one we
wished to create. Once getting or feedback we then took this on
board when coming up with ideas for the actual film opening that we
wanted to create. Some of the main thing that people mentioned
when talking to them was the music and the characterisation. As in
horror films they don't normally start off with action showing the
genre straight away, we had to make sure we got it across to the
audience without making the opening seem fake. We therefore
spent a lot of time working on the music trying to make sure we
found a piece that gave off the right genre for our opening that also
matched the clips we had got and put together. We were initially
going to have a business type woman as our main character
however after hearing the feedback from our class mates we felt this
was the wrong thing to do and so we changed the idea to have the
young teenager instead.

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

18. There are so many different thing I have learnt though this
process that I would never have understood a few months
ago prior to creating this piece of work. One of the biggest is
the different software's that we got to use within the school
such as „Sony Vegas' this is the editing software that we used
all the way through the process of creating our opening.
Before creating this I had never used this and so I didn't have
long to learn how to. Luckily Laura had already used the
programme before this piece of work and so she was helpful
when it came to using it. Throughout the process of editing I
managed to pick up how to do certain things on the software.
This has allowed me to grow confidence with it so much so
that I feel I would be able to edit a piece of work together by
myself. Towards the end of editing I was able to piece things
together by myself with someone who was familiar with the
software watching me. Another piece of equipment i have
become regular with is the video camera and the tripod.
Before A-Levels I didn't take media and so I had never had
the opportunity to be behind these cameras so I never got to
see how they worked properly.

19. During our preliminary task I watched those who were using the
camera and quickly figured out how to work them. Although
this wasn't a lot of help to me as during our opening I was in
front of the camera and not behind it! However it did allow me
to build the ability to familiarise myself with how they work so
I could set it up if asked, this will also help me in the next year
of media studies when I will have to again use the cameras
on my own. There are also a lot of different techniques within
media that I have learnt over the last few months outside of
the technology side.

20. 7.) Looking back to your
preliminary task, what do you
feel that you have learnt in the
progression from it to the full
product?

21. When creating the preliminary task I was unfamiliar with pretty much
everything that we looked at! I didn't know what certain words were
when they were used such as the 180 degree rule or short reverse
shot. I had to research these and write down definitions of what they
were to allow myself to become aware of what these were. I also
had no clue as to how to use the different media equipments like the
camera. I remember trying to record one part of our preliminary task
and ended up taking a photo of random people! Safe to say I sat
back and observed for the remainder of that task! I then got to
witness how to use „Sony Vegas‟ the editing software for the first
time. Now I am able to understand and use the wide range of
vocabulary I have learnt, I am also able to use the video camera,
Dictaphone and the editing software without a lot of help. Also with
the preliminary task I didn‟t take different things into account such as
lighting, camera angles, background noise etc. Knowing how
important these things are has allowed me to gain the knowledge I
need to create a better opening than the one I would have put
together not knowing these things. I know no how to change the
colour of the recording I have using the editing software. I am also
aware the best way to deal with background noise is to mute the
camera and add in sound affects and music after to make sure they
are of the best quality possible.