Our Final Opening Sequence

 Our Final Opening Sequence

Below is our final opening title sequence entitled 'Gathering', that we have worked on for the last months. 

CCR Task 4 - How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?

 CCR Task 4

https://tomgoss.wixsite.com/gathering

Here is the link to my website that I created, answering the question:

CCR Task 3 - How Did Your Production Skills Develop Throughout This Project?

Below is the embedded presentation I created on the online platform Prezi to answer the question 'How did your production skills develop throughout this Project?'. 

 CCR Task 2 - How Does Your Product Engage With Audiences And How Would It Be Distributed As A Real Media Text?

Below is a blog post discussing how my product would engage audiences and additionally how it would be distributed as a real media text. I have also included a poster for the film which would be used as a marketing tool. 

Previously, I have discussed the notion of a target audience. In the post below I explain what a target audience means and how I have applied it to the opening scene. 

https://tomgossa1media.blogspot.com/2022/03/target-audience.html

So, we have decided as a collective that our target audience would be for those between the ages of 18 and 20. 

I have designed a poster as a marketing tool to promote the film. Below is the poster design which I would use during the campaign to create awareness and demand for the film. 

 CCR Task 1 - How Does Your Product Use Or Challenge Conventions And How Does It Represent Social Groups Or Issues?

In this blog post, I have embedded a presentation to answer the question 'How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? 

Post Production - Editing 2

 Post Production - Editing

Once we had decided on our order of shots and set them in order on the editing platform, the next thing we needed to add was the titles. We adopted the traditional method and order of titles that are shown in opening scenes. Luckily, before the moment had arrived for us to embed the titles in the scene, each member of the group had researched what order they should come in and what the titles should include. For example, the initial title is usually the company or group that has invested in the project and provided the production team with finances. As we did not have a budget for our film and there was very few people involved, we invented names for companies and actors. In addition, the character in our opening scene is not the starring role so he was not the first name mentioned in the credits. We decided to place the titles in different areas of the frame using a rectangle outline on the screen when embedding them. The dynamic placement of the titles creates a more interesting visual for the audience. 

The next area of editing we embarked on was sound, the sound process was probably one of the longest areas of editing to complete. We had to adjust the volume on almost every shot and created a soundscape with sound effects and eventually a soundtrack came into play also. First of all, as a group we decided on a soundtrack to use for our opening title sequence. We decided to use a soundtrack as we agreed it would create tension and suspense in the scene - two elements that are integral to the horror genre. The soundtrack was an instrumental piece which presented a horror theme. It is in a minor key and the harrowing theme is shown through the use of string instruments. After embedding the soundtrack, we went through each individual shot and doubled the sound, layering the overall sound created depth. The sound effect we used was the yelp of a dog to represent the murder of the character "Ziggy", we spent some time deciding where we should include this but combined it well within the scene whilst not distracting but enhancing the narrative. 

Finally, we spent some time changing the gradient of our scene to match each shot to the next, before thinking of a title. When changing the gradient, you have to take into account wether a shot is warm or cold, the exposure, brightness, brilliance, shadows, contrast, saturation, tint and highlights. All these elements come together to create the visual spectacle you are looking for. 

To conclude, myself and the group felt proud of what we had made. Combining the props with the editing, created what we wanted to achieve - a gruesome horror. I was happy with the editing and the speed in which we completed it, taking into account the illnesses we had to face during our editing week. In particular, I believe that the titles capture the atmosphere and overtone of our scene. The only aspect of our opening scene I would change would be the weather on the day of our shoot as the rain added extra complications to our sound editing. Most importantly, I think that our target audience would continue watching our film because of the fast past editing and visuals which was our main goal. 

 Post Production - Editing

After we finished shooting, the next step for us to complete our opening scene was initiating the editing process. So, begun the editing process by going through our 'rushes' and watching every shot, enabling us to become familiar with the footage. As a majority,  we were happy with our footage but knew that the gradient on some of the shots did not match how we would like them too. The issues we had with the gradient derive from the changing weather on our shooting day. Next, we named each video and discussed which shots were successful and named those that were not. Before, placing videos on our timeline, we briefly discussed a brief order. Once we agreed, we begun cutting and joining shots together helping us to see how the scene began to work. 

Working with Ziggy was fun, enjoyable and appropriately fit our scene but was sometimes difficult to capture in the frames. So, there was a lot of takes from some of our shots that we needed to go through. The first hour we spent on editing involved watching and naming the footage and not much more. The editing process takes time if you want a successful product once you finish. As this was our first shoot, we did make some mistakes and this included talking throughout the shot when we were directing the actors which picked up on the microphone, meaning we could not use these shots. 

During the editing process, we made different choices in order to layer the detail in the opening scene. One of which was the font we used for the titles, we used a font called Herculanum. We chose this font because we believed it portrayed the satanic and horrific essence of our title sequence. The blend between the natural landscape and the text foreshadowed what was about to take place which I think is a really nice detail that enhanced our original concept. A second choice we made during the editing process was the varying shot duration in our editing. To begin with, the shots were quite long and gradually they get quicker and snappier creating pace and tension in the scene.