Skills Review

Research and Planning:
At first I didn't realise how much research and planning I needed to do in order to make a 2 minute film opening video. I didn't think it was necessary however later on I was proved wrong as this helped me with my ideas and I had my research and planning to fall back on while creating my film. The storyboard I created helped me the most, as it was on paper and I had it with my while recording my film opening. It helped me with recording, as I had a structure to keep to and I knew what I was supposed to record, so I didn't miss anything out. I learnt from this that the storyboard will defiantly help me for A2 in structure wise.
I made a questionnaire on 'Survey Monkey' where I was able to find out what my audience was looking for, which helped me structure my film more, in terms of how many characters I should introduce (the average said not many) and what they liked to see in an opening.
I think I should have got my research and planning done quicker, as I took quite a long time to complete it overall; therefore not leaving much time for improvements. I have learnt from this and will now complete tasks quicker.

Using conventions from real media texts:
To get ideas for my opening I watched many different genres of Gangster films, and decided I liked the detective genre the most. This particular film was called 'Se7en', where I got most of my film inspiration from. I noticed that they used close ups of object of significances to an effect, highlighting key items such a knife which could have been a murderer weapon. It also used close ups for other significant stuff such as blood and the detective's faces, highlighting their emotion.
Establishing shots were also used to set the scene at certain points in the film - to show that they're at the victim's house, and the victim is just an ordinary person who got murdered. In my film opening I think I should have tried something like this instead of just using close ups and extreme close ups; I should have experimented with shot types more.
The sound - being slow and steady created a spooky atmosphere which inspired me for my film opening, as I focused on this most.

Creativity
I mind mapped my thoughts and ideas at the very start so I could conclude all of them into my film opening. Watching other gangster genre films helped me to do this. I had a strong idea of making a film opening based on the film 'Se7en', and went along with this idea. At the start I had lots of ideas to do crazy editing similar to like the film did, however my lack of knowledge about the editing software meant that I couldn't do this. Instead I kept to a more simple idea, and went through with this. I did add a few flashes in my film because I thought that this made the clips flow better when put together. To overcome this, I think I should have watched videos on how to edit or ask friends/family that are confident with editing, to teach me how to do better effects.

Digital Technology
I had some knowledge of basic cameras as I had previously done photography for GCSE, and the cameras weren't that different. I had never recorded anything with this type of camera so in this aspect it was quite new to me. I used a Tripod throughout filming my film, and now I understand the  camera and how to put the camera on the Tripod by practising - as I had to re-record a few times, as I was not happy with the footage before.
I had never used Adobe Premier Pro or After Effects, and had only previously experimented with a basic editing software; Windows Movie Maker. I did attempt to make my film at the start of the year on After Effects, however I didn't find that it was best for me. I then tried Premier Pro, and it was much easier to use so I used this software to edit my film opening. I also used Photoshop to create the company's production title that appeared at the start of my film, as I didn't have much knowledge of making it on After Effects.

Post - Production (Editing)
I have learnt how to use the software from my AS project, such as editing on Adobe Premier Pro. I will again use this piece of software this year, and have learnt and improve on the ones I already have. I had learnt from using the piece of software how to add flashes - which I included in my AS project, and how to cut down clips which will defiantly help me for the future.