Reflection on AS Learning

Reflection on AS Learning

Media AS has taught me a lot about the film making process however there are many things that I did at AS that I would change for A2.  These things are listed below:

1. Real Media Conventions

I would ensure that our media product fully conforms to real media conventions. Our film opening was a montage of different shots, in different locations. This was a clear subversion of the usual film opening convention of continuity, which made some members of our test audiences mistake it for a trailer. For my A2 film trailer I would like to stick more strictly to real media conventions clearly telling the audience that it is a trailer, giving it a more professional feel and making it much easier and clearer to watch.

2. Genre Conventions

 I would also give my A2 trailer a very clear genre. The genre of our AS film opening was confused slightly in the production process as we cut and changed shots taking the genre away from out intended thriller genre and making it more of a social realism film.  For my film trailer I would like to decide the film's genre very early on and alter shots, framing, editing and narrative to fit what we have chosen.  By giving the trailer a clear genre the audience will immediately understand what to expect from the film and will know whether or not it is the type of film they want to watch.

3. Research and Planning

For A2 I would also like to spend more time in research and planning.  I'd like to research, in depth, about forms and conventions before starting planning and creating the final product and put more effort into the planning elements of production, taking more time in areas like location scouting and lighting and sound testing.  This would help with establishing the genre of the film but would also give us a clear idea of what we want to do with our trailer giving us new ideas as well to help develop our trailer.

4. Narrative

The plot of our AS film opening was fairly ambiguous, being left open to interpretation  with audience members deciding where they think the film is going to go.  However, for my A2 piece I want the plot to be very clear to the audience and to make a trailer which very clearly tells the audience what to expect from the film, while still leaving an air of intrigue.  I want the trailer to give away enough of the films narrative to reveal the genre and basic plot of the film but not too much so that the audience remains captivated.

5. Role Allocation

In the production of our AS film opening my group divided up with each person taking on different roles.  For the production of my A2 film trailer I would like to play a more active role in all aspects of the film making process, including playing a much bigger role in the editing and post-production areas.  I think this would help broaden my horizons in the film making process and would mean that I can learn new things and work with different technologies.

6. Creativity

Our AS piece contained a lot of similar shots, making it potentially boring for the audience.  As I make my A2 trailer I would like to include a much bigger variety of shots to make it more visually dynamic.  Using a wider variety of shots is almost required for a media product like a trailer and would be both a challenge for me and would also make the overall trailer more appealing to the audience

7. Post-Production

For my A2 trial I would like to explore post-production much more and be a lot more creative with how I use it.  My AS piece was fairly basic in terms of post-production, with my group only really needing to explore editing, colouring and some basic non diegetic sound, I would like to use a much wider variety of methods, for example using more foley sound and include more diegetic sound in our trailer for us to work with.  I think that these features would make our trailer much more professional looking, would challenge me creatively and would force me to broaden my technological knowledge.

8. Digital Technology

My AS film opening did not have much in the way of CGI, as we wanted to maintain a sense of verisimilitude.  However, going in to A2 I would like to explore the possibilities of Green screens and after effects.  This would make the film trailer more interesting for the audience, but it would rely on the trailer having a story line which requires these methods and would not fit with the conventions of many film genres.

9. Organisation of Blog

During my AS, I neglected my blog for a large portion of the year, having to catch up on a lot of blogposts in the final moth before our deadline.  This meant that we were producing our film opening with very little research into what was expected of us and our film.  For my A2 blog i would like to stay onto of the work I have to do writing Blogpost regularly and when they need to be written.  This will also help in deepening my understanding of how to make my film trailer giving me more information to inform filmmaking decisions earlier on.

10. Time Management

When we were making our AS film opening we didn't really take time into consideration as much as we should have.  Once we decided on our location it took weeks for us to start thinking about when we would film and once we did we were confronted with many group members' clashing calendars.  This meant that we didn't actually start filming until quite late on leaving us minimal time for post-production.  When making my A2 trailer I would like to take more care of how long we have left before our deadline so we are not rushed at the last minute.